Narrating Bastian's Artificial Stupidity ... and now Mirri's

RaddlemanNumber7

I have found that, outside of his own three quests, Bastian is not a credible simulation of a normal person. His poor AI and out-of-context comments are just too bad. It's like he's deranged.

So, I've rolled a new Necro (called Libitina), and I'm going to treat Bastian as one of her combat pets.

This is them in the Wailing Prison:

Bastian's narrative runs as follows...

Libitina found herself sharing her cell in the Wailing Prison with another soul shriven - Bastian Hallix. A man of noble birth, prior to his death at the hands of Mannimarco he had been an Imperial Dragon Knight serving in the Blades. Libitina managed to fix him up a bit, channelling some extra animus into his depleted form (there were some as-yet-untapped skeletons in the cell for her to use). This strengthened and stabilised Bastian's body, but not his mind. Unfortunately, Bastian had already lost most of his memory. He also has a significant cognitive impairment. He’s incapable of realising that he is dead, has no real sense of purpose, and tends to just stand around looking like a stunned puppy unless he is given firm direction. Bastian has only a vague grip on reality, which is why his comments are so detached from what is actually going on around him. He frequently wanders off and gets lost while travelling, has trouble remembering what stairs are for, and sometimes gets completely flummoxed by simple problems like stepping over a puddle. Bastian is a sort of revenant, one small step up from being a zombie. Good enough to be the re-animated, persistent, tanky combat pet that Libitina needs to plug that very obvious gap in her Necromancer’s skillset.

The team:

Once Lyris has freed them from their cell, and they meet the Prophet, the story starts to become clear. It turns out that Bastian Hallix is the doom-driven, world-saving hero the Prophet foresaw in his reading of the scrolls. What the Prophet did not foresee was that Libitina would be acting as his puppet master. Libitina is there, on behalf of the Missing God, to ensure that Bastian fulfils his destiny come-what-may, no matter how many times it kills him. She is the dark fairy-godmother who will ensure that he does get to the ball Heart’s Grief on time.

Libitina will not build positive rapport with her pet. Bastian’s guild skill lines will be advanced using a different player character. As far as Libitina’s story is concerned, all that business between Bastian and the Silvels just did not happen.

It is part of Bastian’s destiny to do the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines. That should be fun.

InaMoonlight

Oh I laughed so hard, this is brilliant, awesome!

VaranisArano

Bastian as your necromancer's Pet Vestige is a great twist!

CasgarTheSomnolent

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

Once Lyris has freed them from their cell, and they meet the Prophet, the story starts to become clear. It turns out that Bastian Hallix is the doom-driven, world-saving hero the Prophet foresaw in his reading of the scrolls. What the Prophet did not foresee was that Libitina would be acting as his puppet master. Libitina is there, on behalf of the Missing God, to ensure that Bastian fulfils his destiny come-what-may, no matter how many times it kills him.

This is brilliant. Even in his more lucid moments, you can simply bludgeon him with his Lawful-Goodness into doing anything you want. "What do you mean you don't want to fulfill your job of saving the world?"

Athan1

This is brilliant! Legit more interesting than the real story.

RaddlemanNumber7

WARNING: VIVEC INSIDE
Content may offend.

I've paired up archer Mirri with my tanky DK, Raavin Dreth.

Raavin is a long established character. He was a Buoyant Armiger until he was chosen by Vivec to be his Champion. As such Raavin is now the object of overwatch by, and receives “secrets” from the Living God (who remains seated above his couch at all times, even when he’s in other people’s minds). Raavin has already completed the Main Quest, EP quests, Morrowind and CwC, but has lots of world saving still to do. From this point onwards he will be accompanied by Mirri.

The happy couple. Smiling on the inside?...

Raavin and Mirri: One morning in Mournhold…

It was time to go. Mirri wasn’t out of her room yet. Nothing new there then.
Raavin sighed, called her one last time, and then set out. He shut the big front door a bit more loudly than he need, just to make the point.
As he walked out of the yard gate Mirri caught him up, still pulling her clothes on. The sight of those freckles scattered across her soft grey skin made his brain tingle. Somehow those little blemishes made her beauty seem so much more real.
He growled inwardly, and then tried to regain his focus. There was a job to do.
They headed towards town. Mirri said, “Let’s sample some of the local fare. I’m famished.”
She’d missed breakfast again. He guessed Mirri was running on shein, as usual. He wondered if that was why she hated stairs so much. Any little height seemed to make her dizzy.
There was a fallen ash bough by the path. Raavin stopped to gather some of the wood.
“You can never have too much of that!” said Mirri, smirking.
“Certainly not while you’re around,” thought Raavin. “A nice little present from Vekh, eh?”

RaddlemanNumber7

As a surprise treat Raavin took Mirri to meet Vivec today.

She didn't react, and nor did Vivec. At one point Mirri wandered off and turned her back on the Living God. Raavin tried to talk to her about it, but Mirri had nothing to say on the matter.

This is... suspicious. Maybe Mirri and Vivec have history.

All Raavin remembers is Vivec saying something about the temple records being in disarray.

A note on Vivec’s “secrets”:

The Sermons tell us that Vivec can get into people’s minds, looking for secrets and perhaps leaving behind some of his own.

A recipient of some of Vivec's "secrets" won’t ever know that Vivec has been there in their mind. He slips in unannounced through the tradesman's entrance, as is his preference in all things. The "secrets" he leaves behind are secret only in that the recipient does not know it was Vivec who put them there. A "secret" may be something as slight as a passing sensation. Or it might be a thought, a suggestion, some inspiration or a lingering fascination. But then again, it could be a false memory, a stark imperative, an overwhelming obsession, or even full-on possession by something like those celebration demons mentioned in the Sermons. Living gods don’t need to ask, or tell.

In the psychodrama that is Dunmer life, Vivec always cheats. And then pretends to himself that he hasn't, never did, never would.

Who knows how many Dunmer are affected by Vivec’s mind games. Raavin is definitely one of then, and it seems that Mirri is too.

RaddlemanNumber7

Developing relationship issues:

[snip]
Mirri has now told Raavin he is closer than family, and they’ve moved in together. Their conversations in-doors are bizarre:

Raavin: Oh, Mirri.
Mirri: Feeling chatty are we?
Raavin: Goodbye.

Oh, Mirri.
What?
Goodbye.

Oh, Mirri.
Miss me?
Goodbye.

It’s hard to tell if Mirri is deflecting Raavin’s advances, or if Vivec is making Raavin completely tongue-tied. The motives of the gods are truly ineffable.

Either way, the relationship seems to be going nowhere.

[edited for inappropriate content]

Mandragora

We had great laugh bringing Miri and Basti together into our group during group content in Claglorn, sharing their comments to our actions - like Basti hating killing spiders or giving advices about better combat or being confident how combat is over while boss being still alive or how "it was easy". A good time, still I'm not sure if that was intended that way, so yeah necro Basti is good story aswell.