Today I finished the first quest line, "A Welcomed Hero"  in Ironhaven, which is the beginning of the main story quest line for Humans. It begins with blacksmith Garrond Harthun at his forge. This is a five piece quest line which acts more like a blacksmithing tutorial. The player is given a pickaxe and told how and where to find mining nodes. Throughout the line the player will learn how to craft ingots and weapons and eventually lead into the next quest line, "Oath of the Thornbound". The Thornbound quest line is more combat oriented, sending the player to multiple locations for combat and also more quests. Both quest lines will gift the player a full set of  armor and faction for the City of Ironhaven, The Ironhaven Crafters Guild and the Thornbound Brotherhood. 

This quest line introduces the base story facts to the player. The player learns that Ironhaven is being rebuilt. This is also why the player is called a Hero in the quest line, since they are helping to rebuild Ironhaven after the war. 

During the "Oath of the Thornbound" quest line there's a mid-tier quest that expands the player’s involvement beyond local patrols and into the wider threats of Ashendale. It also elegantly introduces the player to Gravendeep, one of the major early-game dungeons and connects the Thornbound’s authority structure (Sir Captain Balthric → Lieutenant Morric→Officers→ Soldiers).

Along with designing and implementing both quest lines, I've crafted their dialogs for each quest. This is where all of the work on story line NPCs really comes into play. Since we made detailed notes on each character's traits and attributes, it makes for more engaging dialog which can really bring the characters to life. This in turn helps to make characters more memorable. 

Quests can reward exp, faction, gear, supplies and abilities to players. Players can check their open quests in the quest journal menu, and also track up to 4 open quests at once. Quest tracking is located on the right side of the players screen, and only shows on screen if the quest is highlighted in the quest journal. Once completed the quest tracker will change to "Completed", letting the player know it's time to tun in the quest. Players have the choice to abandon any quest. Any obtained quest items are destroyed and progress is reset. A quest line requires the previous quest to be completed before the next quest becomes available. 

At the end of Garrond's "A Welcomed Hero" quest line, he sends the player to the Thornbound Brotherhood to begin the next line. The player must deliver a sword and in return receives a letter to return to Garrond for completion. If the player does not have the quest sword in the inventory and not on the quest, then the Thornbound Brotherhood will not offer the next quest line. 

Now that we have nearly 2 complete quest lines in the game, along with NPCs, locations, quest items,  mobs and rewards,  it's beginning to feel like a real game, which is very cool!

Implemented Ironhaven quests:

Blacksmith Garrond Harthun  - "A Welcomed Hero"

1. Welcome Stranger!
2. Tools of the Trade
3. Supplies for Garrond
4. Forged in Ironhaven
5. Blade & Bond

Captain Sir Balthric Kaelthorn  - "Oath of the Thornbound"

1. Blade & Bond (cont)
2. A Beetlebug Blight
3. Shadows at Gravendeep
4.
5.

Stay tuned for more to come from Ashendale!