With two more bards on the way after this one, I’ve probably gotten a little carried away. However, I couldn’t pass on the chance to add one with a Nord accent, which JLawrence Kenny manages to do with aplomb. This bard was included in yesterday’s update, although I’m still working on adding all the songs. Should travel on occasion, or be found at his home base at the college kitchen.

Here’s some news, notes, and other things I want to mention while I have the chance:

Maligree is the latest wiki editor to join the ranks, but unlike all the previous folks I’ve brought on, she’s managed to finish a quest page, which you can view here. In contrast to the lazily written pages I put together, she’s added detailed summaries, nice screenies, and even filled out the tables. To put it in perspective, not even the legendary Blauwvis, who did maybe fifty or so character pages, dared try her hand at this overwhelmingly exhaustive task.

In short, Maligree is a true hero of our times and anyone who says otherwise is dead to me.

The second thing I want to address is the ongoing overhaul of old NPCs. Often times, when I approach actors about refurbishing their lines, they aren’t having it, and I completely understand why. Given how expansive the dialogue is, it can be a lot of extra work for little to no gratitude. That’s why I’m thankful to those who are willing to do it. Lila Paws has not only be working hard on Anum-La, but also found time to re-take Morviah. The difference I think is staggering, and should really help this NPC shine. Take a listen to Morviah before and after:

Lastly, I want to once again thank those who have donated their hard earned money as well as those who have removed AdBlock to help support the mod. After all, I like money. It is a relationship I think is going places. But in all seriousness, the extra bit of scratch does help pay for upkeep as well as better resources for actors, composers, and the like. I think outside of that bathtub vodka experiment, for the most part I’ve spent the money in ways that will improve the overall experience for you.

Here is the revamped Melea for v3.04.3. Although the original actor did a wonderful job, her voice was probably a little too old for this character, not to mention the dialogue itself needed some fine tuning.

The problem with an older voice, of course, is that it gave the impression her death was more of a natural turn of events, as opposed to something tragic. EvilSeedlet’s rendition sounds mature and worn down but not necessarily feeble, and it really gives a better sense that Melea is dying far too young.

Heyo! I’ve been meaning to add a new post for a while now, but I’ve been fairly busy with stuff. Lot of stuff to do. Yup. And on top of all the stuff, a lot of shit has gotten in the way too, which is especially problematic given I can get easily distract – OH IS THAT A NEW EPISODE OF FUNNY SITCOM CO-STARRING ATTRACTIVE AND SOMEWHAT ECCENTRIC BRUNETTE WELL SHIT MY NIGHT’S GONE – but for all those who have sent me emails about new roles and the like, I will be getting to them shortly. I hope. As soon as I get finished with all the stuff and shit. In any event, we should be on track for a new release tomorrow with a new quest.

Here are the other notes:

• Nonoodles has been kind enough to make a sword texture for S’vashni’s katanas. I need to remember to add it to the Nexus description page, which is currently a government sanctioned clusterfuck. As President, CEO, and Archduke of said government, I humbly apologize to those affected. I think the music section in particular is missing credit for some of Giramor and Ronja’s work.

• Minor tweaks will still get done as I play the mod and talk to NPCs. The other day I noticed when Gerrod talks about blood and guts, it would be kind of neat if he sauntered over to the table and stared at the actual blood and guts. These are the sort of things that may seem obvious now but were simply out of the realm of possibility when I didn’t know how to script.

• Lastly, Damien has finished the latest batch of Vincent lines for Fallout 4, and since I’m too lazy to learn G.E.C.K., nonoodles will likely release a demo for Fallout New Vegas. It’ll be nothing but generic dialogue because after all, Fallout 4 isn’t even its fetal stages, it’s just a phantom of a sperm cell floating around in Todd Howard’s brain-scrotum. Still, at approximately 300+ lines and counting, it’s not like he won’t have anything to say.

Here is the third of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. This week we have the return of Lila Paws and the beta version of the Black Robes quest. I did my final test run of the quest and polished it best I could, and while I found a missing voice file, Ryan Cooper came in with a last minute save and got the thing fully voiced.

The quest features a resolution to Anum-La’s original backstory, as well as new music from Giramor and the introduction of a couple new NPCs.

I also altered the release notes to include all changes from v3.04 onward, and added a note on installation. It’s basically a reminder that the Hearthfire Patch folder contains only an ESP and SEQ file. It doesn’t have any of the sound files, textures, or scripts needed for the update.

3DNPC v3.04.3 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves

There are probably tens of thousands of Skyrims out there that run this mod. Tens of thousands of Old Hroldans filled with Hjalti’s ghost friend, Asteria the bard, and the precocious boy who gets pissed off when you spill mead on his rug (those mead stains are fucking tricky). And in every single one of those games there’s one other common denominator. An Orc. One who, despite having a name, has less to say than the bandits and peddlers that spawn across Skryim. In fact, she hardly says anything at all. She just sits on a bench and stares wordlessly at the wall.

Yet at long last, her internal, voiceless nightmare may be coming to an end. Duraz may finally get her say.

I never intended Duraz to be the only female Orc in the mod – or at least the only one with more than a handful of lines like Lagdu and Shelur. It’s just that given the difficulty finding a voice for Duraz, adding another Orc on top of that seemed rather foolish. This is why the next two hundred or so NPCs were at times female, and at times Orcs, but never both.

That may change in the future, but we shall see. The first hurdle will be getting Duraz herself voiced, and as I mentioned, things are looking up. The role has been cast and our chickens are halfway hatched. Now mind you, we’ve been down this road before. I even released a trailer for Duraz after half the lines were finished, only to have the actor vanish as quickly as she arrived. However, this time I’m somewhat optimistic.

Here is a GIF expressing my cautious optimism:

Okay, maybe I’ve already counted my chickens. Maybe I’ve already sold them to the local distributor to be chopped and Kentucky Fried. I’ve spent next week’s paycheck, I’ve seen the future, I’ve spiked the ball. Sure, we’re still on the fifty yard line, but the offense is moving and the great Jessica Osborne is playing tailback.

As far as voice actors go, Jessica is fantastic. Good, prompt, and steady. I’ve got her doing a couple of large roles for the mod, so you’ll be hearing more from her in the future. I’m absolutely sure of it.

Lately as part of the NPC overhaul, I’ve been playing a lot more Skyrim than I ever have before, seeing what works and what doesn’t. Along the way I’ve taken a few screenshots, so I may make this a monthly thing provided the photos are worth sharing.

In our first photo, we have Ange set to sandbox around an invisible Xmarker, which is basically to avoid making chairs and benches persistent. The problem is this sometimes leaves her standing in place as opposed to using the furniture around her. In this case, however, it kind of worked out well. Having her and Ingarte stand back to back was just pure serendipity.

Out of all the vanilla followers, I personally like to take Serana with me because she done taken one too many radscorpion stings to the head. Seriously, the woman is fucking nuts. Here she is stroking Alva’s thigh while glancing over at the player for approval. Does it turn you on when I pet the dead woman? Why yes, it kind of does, but only because I’m a pervert. Never change, Serana. You’re the best.

The last couple of times I’ve tested this quest, Renni has suffered from a serious case of gigantism. It only happens when she sits down at the table, but given that’s where the majority of the conversation happens, it can be rather distracting (although given the tenor of the quest, it might be a net positive). Anyhow, I’m used to child NPCs turning adult size at the table but at this rate Renni might have better luck playing power forward for the Portland Trailblazers than tag with the local children.

Yes, Meresine, that’s your bow. You put arrows in them and shoot them at your enemy. The thing on your back, the thing that’s on fire? That’s what we use to light the dark places. Incidentally it also seems to have burned off half your clothes. On second thought, forget what I just said.

What’s going on here? I don’t even…No, Serana! Shoo! Bad vampire!

Anyhow, that’s it for this episode. I probably spend way too much time playing with corpses instead of talking to NPCs and doing quests, but that’s probably Serana’s influence more than anything. After a bit of hacky sack I eventually decided to throw this one into the fire but that didn’t stop old grabby hands from pawing at its boot.

Azzarian is for a new miscellaneous quest that will be released on Monday along with version 3.04.4. This is Glen Michael Cooper’s first role for the mod, but his brother Ryan has done various roles previously, so if you recognize the timbre of his voice, that’s why. Same make, different model.

You may remember Katie Votapka from the Valgus mural she painted a few months ago, but she’s also a talented voice actress as well. I’ve been wanting to redo Carmella for a while, particularly the part where she implies you do quests that don’t exist. The old lines needed to be cleaned up, and with the original actor no longer doing voice work, Katie stepped in and really gave her the sort of dark, sultry feel that was lacking previously.

Subtle changes like asking How does this make you feel as opposed to What does it mean to you? make the dialogue more emotive, and Katie’s delivery really sets the mood.

It’s no secret that when it comes to faces, I have no interest in making a world of Kens and Barbies. It’s not that I have anything against beautiful people – some of my best friends are beautiful. Part of it is a reaction to the entertainment industry in general, where every character is witty and charming and fun and gorgeous, but mostly it’s born out of a fear of my own unconscious – that my natural preferences will leak into the mod.

As I mentioned previously, this is why when I mess with the sliders, I pay little attention to what comes out on the other side. Well, not this time. My newest Frankenstinian creation, Ylgyne, was crafted to be the bachelor of your dreams, complete with rock hard abs, a charming smile, and of course, questionable intelligence. All right, maybe the last part isn’t necessarily dreamy, but I can’t help myself. I prefer my characters flawed.

• Maligree is on fire. She just finished the quest page for Stolen Property, probably the hardest page to do other than Blood of Kings. This is like watching Frank Lloyd Wright in his prime, if he was building quest pages instead of architectural wonders. Although let’s face it, what Maligree is doing is much harder. I mean Fallingwater? Bitch please. Gravity does half the work.

• Quest Progress (In Percentage)

Oddly enough, Azzarian’s Gold is the newest of the four quests, and is already set for a Monday release. That’s the way it works sometimes. Immortal Coil is probably the most consequential of the four, while Azzarian’s Gold is probably the most creative. Thankfully, the major roles have been cast for pretty much all of these quests, so it should be only a matter of time. Just how much is up to the actors in question. Nevertheless, I’m fairly stoked about this next batch of quests, and along with the release of Black Robes, v3.05 is setting out to be a rather hefty update.

Here is the fourth of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. This week we have a new miscellaneous quest as well as the intro to something larger, although I don’t know if anything will come of that. More on this later.

Carmella will be muted in this version, but should return shortly as there’s only a handful of re-takes required. The Khajiit Dro’bar is an NPC I haven’t made a trailer for yet, but is already voiced. Ylgyne, who I mentioned previously, will spawn in Fort Hraggstad (if the Imperials hold the fort) but will be silent for now. Using the console to enable silent dialogue will allow you to take him along.

One last thing I want to note about this version. I altered the vanilla index for Honeyside because the game incorrectly flags it as an inn, when it should be flagged as a house. I don’t think it will cause any problems, but let me know if anything weird happens there. This is to fix Honeyside so followers don’t spew inn chatter while in your home.

3DNPC v3.04.4 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Azzarian’s Gold (Glen Michael Cooper, Jay33721)
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Azzarian (Glen Michael Cooper)
• Dro’bar (Joshua Brayton)
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)

Temporarily Muted NPCs
• Carmella (Katie Votapka)
• Ylgyne (Unvoiced)

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04
• Crabber’s Wife – Juryk’s family not disabling
• Post combat dialogue was not firing for inexplicable reason, moved it to a new quest and works again
• Paper Mirror – Speech check for alternate ending was incorrectly applied to Theron
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves
• Changed vanilla RiftenHoneysidelocation to “LocTypeHouse” as it was incorrectly flagged “LocTypeInn”

Here is some delightful fan art from Evil Seedlet. The awesome part is that you can tell who it is simply by looking at the setting and the way the shadow eagerly tugs at the player’s hand. I particularly like how small she made the silhouette, because Amalee’s actual height belies her child-like innocence. Either that or Evil Seedlet’s player is a giant.

• Evil Seedlet’s Tumblr Page
• Evil Seedlet’s Youtube Page

This is Joshua Brayton’s first role in the mod. Hopefully this location isn’t used by too many mods out there, because it does seem like a place that’s begging for a custom home. Which is precisely why I wanted to use it. I’m a very selfish man.

Although the mod will always be the key and cornerstone of this site, I do feel obliged to give you words to read and music to listen to and videos to watch. So as we approach the two year anniversary of the mod, here is another state of the union post that will do a little of all three.

Here is Merrigan‘s cover of Arisen1‘s Tears of the Hist. I like to imagine her playing this with a flute in her mouth, a harp in one hand and a drum in the other, all while her feet play the triangle. Although science has allowed people to play the parts separately, I find human cloning to be a sketchy practice so I’m going to assume Merrigan played them all at once and sang the harmonies using a less controversial method like time travel.

This is an art project video made by Viridiane and friends called Sinhail’s Endgame. It features a bunch of dreamboat male voices including our very own Aranas. Vi has been hard at work on this and other school projects, but worry not, Zora fans, she’ll get back to it soon enough.

Lastly, the following is pretty much why Alphena will never get finished. This is another demonstration of the difference between the vanilla content and the content after integration. This took me 3-4 hours to finish, and it’s not even new content per se, it’s just for immersion. The other difficulty was trying to make sure the vanilla quest functioned properly when Alphena was dismissed, so in essence everything had to be done twice. In other words, ETA for finishing would be sometime in the year 2088.

On the western shore of the United States, there’s a theme park of some renown, what some may call the final form of our Manifest Destiny. Here, under the watchful guidance of Walt Disney Company Inc, you will be transported (via the enchanted parking lot) to a magical dreamworld, filled with employees whose primary job description is to be photogenic and smiling while interacting with the natives. This interaction does not require much in the way of coaching, as for the most part it is governed by a single, ironclad rule.

Don’t break character.

There are limits, of course. Captain Jack Sparrow cannot commandeer the nice woman’s Mercedes 500SL, hoist an Oakland Raiders flag on the hood and sail down the 405 while downing a bottle of rum. Yo Ho No, that is not allowed. What the Walt Disney Company asks is that its employees confine themselves to the rules of the universe as defined by current legislation. Thus Captain Jack does his best to be a charming, quirky, drunken but law abiding pirate, posing for pictures whilst casually slipping a note to Billy’s mother to inquire whether she would like to partake in sexual intercourse at a later date and time.

As a result, there is no grand theft auto, no lesson in the danger of dealing with pirates. The only theft that occurs is done legally, through the respected practices of corporate scrips, overpriced merchandise and unfair labor practices. Yet this is besides the point.

The point is, the rule of not breaking character is an important one, in that it works. The consequences for failing to adhere to said rule is immediate termination. As such, in the land of princesses, pirates, and Plutos, immersion is rarely broken. The same rule could be applied to games.

The first Neal Stephenson novel I ever read was The Diamond Age, which is analogous to watching The Matrix Reloaded before The Matrix (Needless to say I failed to understand the hullabaloo over the author until after I purchased my copy of Snow Crash). However, one thing I did enjoy about the age o’ diamond was the concept of the Ractor – actors whose everyday job was to play a role in a virtual reality.

I imagine a typical (r)actor would wake up every morning, log into the universe, and play the role of a shopkeeper, farmer, or tavern wench. They would respond to all the player’s banter, inane or quest related, sticking to that most sacred of rules, never break character. When the actor logged off to resume their daily life, the NPC would sleep, and if awoken they would offer a handful of pre-recorded responses, while politely asking the player to go to bed. The hours would be staggered, the work days varied, all to ensure the world achieved verisimilitude. This is a game I would like to play.

You may see where this is going. This is partly because you are clever, but mostly because you are reading a blog about Interesting NPCs. However, the goal of the mod is not to become a magical kingdom (although it could be easily bought by Walt Disney Inc, for the right price, interested buyers please contact my agent for details). The NPCs have been given dialogue that offers both freedom of choice and freedom from choice, because while the responses are varied, they ultimately keep you on topic. You cannot grief the actor and try to poke them like the Queen’s Guard, because the actor has already recorded their lines. Their character is unbreakable. The goal isn’t realism, but immersion.

If virtual reality is a defibrillator, then Interesting NPCs is mouth to mouth, with a little bit of tongue action. It is a simple and easy way to give your universe life.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTENT NSFW

Shinji72 has released a video of the mod Morning Fog Refined, which went from an ordinary review to a piece of fine Machinima. Better yet, it stars one of the characters from Interesting NPCs, and you’ll be pleased to know there’s no shortage of maidens, gore, and blood.

Here’s a video showing some of the things that will be implemented in tomorrow’s update. The biggest addition will be Duraz, who at long last is fully voiced. The where do you want to explore next question came from not knowing how to do idle dialogue. I was able to transfer most of it to that section, but some of it I left for sentimental reasons, I think. I don’t remember.

The video also shows how even some of the more popular NPCs like Eldawyn need a bit of tweaking. Everyone loves her so I generally left her dialogue alone, but after playing around with it myself I figured some changes were necessary and scenes were added to the stories about her companions. Extra points if you notice the easter egg I put in there.

Lastly, there’s a preview of a new tavern song that’s currently just a small duet with Alassea for bard players but may be expanded later.

Happy 2-Year Anniversary, Interesting NPCs!

Okay, so I’m kind of wishing myself a happy birthday, or at least, this creation of mines and yours, but Interesting NPCs was first released two years and a day ago, on February 8th, 2012, so just like last year, I suppose I should write something about the mod to celebrate and tell you how I feel about the project two years in.

Last year, the theme of the post was time – how important it was to save it, and how much we all have to sacrifice to create this thing. Right now, I want to talk more about the notion of opportunity, and whether, if after two years of time, work, and effort, if there’s a feeling that we’re owed anything.

In all honesty, I think of this mod as a lottery ticket. Not in the way most people use that analogy, because it’s usually meant to describe someone who’s gambling on something with the ultimate goal of getting paid. I don’t think of this mod as a way to personal success. That’s the opposite of what I mean. Let me explain.

Now, it’s a popular saying to imply that lottery tickets are taxes for the poor. There’s some truth to this notion, because ultimately wealthy people aren’t the ones standing in line for the next Mega Millions Jackpot. Wealthy people don’t know how to dream. They’re living it.

However, even in my most cynical of days, I never thought buying a lottery ticket was a con. You aren’t paying to win the lottery, you’re paying for a chance to win. That distinction means something. You’re paying for that small bit of euphoria when you look at your numbers, those long hours debating with friends over what you’d buy, who was coming along for the ride, and who was getting the ejector seat. From the moment you make your purchase to the moment those numbers are drawn, that ticket allows you to escape your current reality. It allows you to dream.

Building this mod is something like that. I know there’s going to come a day when the numbers are drawn, when all of it goes poof. In the meantime though, I’m holding on to that tiny, sliver of a possibility that what we’re building here is something people will appreciate for years to come. This isn’t to say I’m some idealistic cunt who loves art and hates money. I actually have a stalker-esque relationship with money. I would very much like to have it, but it won’t return my phone calls. What I mean is, money is not expected. Success, recognition, and opportunity are not expected.

Because ultimately, there’s going to come a day when all the naysayers and cynics and haters will be proven right – in the end, I’m fairly confident this work will be just another mod in a sea of millions of other projects that people never knew enough about to care. That’s just the way it is.

Maybe that makes us all losers. But then again, when I bought my ticket, I was never playing to win.

Here is the fifth of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. This week we have the long awaited release of Duraz, the mod’s first and so far only female Orc (edit: A user pointed out I forgot about Mugnor, whoops.). Hopefully getting her voiced will give me the incentive to make more.

Both Duraz and Daenlyn Oakhollow are now marriage candidates as of this version. I’ve also added some extra dialogue for Alassea and a little song you can play together if you’re a bard. Carmella will also be re-introduced as a work in progress, we’re still re-taking and going over the lines to get them up to code, but in the meantime I think it’s okay to be released (and it already surpasses the audio quality of the previous recording). But rest assured it will get better.

3DNPC v3.04.5 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Azzarian’s Gold (Glen Michael Cooper, Jay33721)
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Duraz (Jessica Osborne)
• Azzarian (Glen Michael Cooper)
• Dro’bar (Joshua Brayton)
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)
• Carmella (Katie Votapka)

Temporarily Muted NPCs
• Ylgyne (William Sawikin)
• Lajjan (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Tanita (Cassandra Wladyslava)

New Marriage Candidates
• Daenlyn Oakhollow
• Duraz

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)
• Seven Septims for Sigurd (Ronja Monto)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04
• Crabber’s Wife – Juryk’s family not disabling
• Post combat dialogue was not firing for inexplicable reason, moved it to a new quest and works again
• Paper Mirror – Speech check for alternate ending was incorrectly applied to Theron
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves
• Changed vanilla RiftenHoneysidelocation to “LocTypeHouse” as it was incorrectly flagged “LocTypeInn”

Before you ask, that’s not a spot on your glasses, it’s just blood. On the screenshot, not in your eye. Maybe. If there’s actual blood in your eye, I don’t want to be responsible for telling you everything is okay. Because it’s not. Just so we’re clear, only go to the hospital if that blood smudge is there when you turn away. Nod if you comprende.

In non-blood related news, the amazing Daniel Hodge has completed all the lines for Arghus, so that will be in the next update.  I kind of want to utilize his talents for a larger quest as well. Another quest I’ve finished writing is a Skjarn based adventure, but I don’t think I’ll release it as silent content as I haven’t  had a chance to test it. But ultimately, I think we will have no problem moving past the 50 quest mark in the next few months. The original goal was 100 NPCs, and now we’re nearing 300. Similarly, the original goal was 100 quests, so while I still think that’s unlikely, you can never  underestimate how obsessed I am with this shit.

DID SOMEONE SAY CATS?

There might be a shitload of cats coming to your area code soon. They are voicing your characters, they are manning the phones. Lajjan is a caravan NPC I’m working on that will be voiced by Cassandra Wladyslava, and Yushari the florist is nearly complete as well, voiced by an actor new to the mod. I just need to figure out how to credit her (Spoiler alert: It’s Jennifer Hedwig).

VERSIONS AND UPDATES

Lastly, the size of the smaller updates has almost gotten untenable. I may need to skip ahead to v3.05 just to avoid hitting the bandwidth cap for WordPress.

This NPC ostensibly doesn’t have much to say. Her conversations aren’t very long, and really don’t go anywhere. While a follower, she doesn’t have any idle commentary, and basically just ambles along pensively behind you. What she does have is a lot of unique hellos.

Lajjan’s meant to be a silent, contemplative warrior type, who speaks when spoken to. Hopefully over time, the list of things she says will be substantial, which provides depth in a different way than some of the other followers.