Lore/Story Wynncraft: To An End - Hunted mode rework - Part 1

Hello everyone, recently I have been playing some of the hunted gamemode and thinking about the relative benefits and disadvantages that are currently present. And I decided to give it a rework. I have come up with a new system that will be explained throughout this series of posts, sections at a time. It will give Hunted mode a completely different feel, in my opinion, increasing the likelihood of pvp encounters, adding pseudo teams (more on this later), and a new intriguing aspect of Choice while journeying through Wynn.

PRESENTING: WYNNCRAFT: TO AN END

Spoiler: What is To An End? (Endgame connected spoiler)

The To An End quests will trigger upon activating Hunted mode when creating a new character. They give the player a chance to see what the entire game would be like if they fought for the dark side, but they can still fight the darkness as they do.

This post is the rework of the King's Recruit quest. It is definitely longer than the original, but the players who reach it will have already finished A Hunter's Calling, and so have experience with deeper quests that are more than just five stages.
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Some forms of notation I will be using:

Normal text used to describe what is occurring in the quest
Important Stuff
Name: Text used for dialogue
*In Game Text, not dialogue, that has to be read*
-Notes about functions of various things-

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Upon the creation of the Hunted character, the player will be teleported into a completely black space with nothing visible where the following dialogue will play:

???: We two... To an end... The end must begin... but to begin the end, there must be a beginning...

After that, the player will be teleported to the usual starting wagon, and the quest will begin, with the following as the splash title and subtitle.

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Recruit - But for what purpose...

The quest begins like normal, Caravan Driver hitting the rock and all that. But instead of just saying that he hits the rock every time, the driver makes a subtle mention that the rock might almost be placed there each time, completely unavoidable. From there, Aleder runs on ahead, and Tasim calls after him, talks to you and heads on.

*Before you can follow, the Caravan Driver asks you to hang back and have a word*

Caravan Driver:
-Hey, Playername, I wanted to give you a bit of advice before you continue. From what I've seen and heard during our travels, you appear to be fairly intelligent.
-Certainly more than those two bumbling fools you were riding with, no offense to you, of course. Soon, I believe that you will have to make a choice.
-A very big choice, one that can change everything. The correct answer is simple and easy to choose.
-Do not listen to what others tell you of their choice, this choice is yours alone.
-Alas, I must be going now, and you must not keep your companions waiting. I hope to see you again soon. -Choose wisely.

If interacted with again:
Caravan Driver:
-Why do you remain? The fate of the worlds may rest upon your choice!

The quest continues with bridging the chasm with a tree, grabbing the Tosach, and killing grooks for fun, until the player reaches the entrance to the tunnel where combat is normally introduced. As you near the large gate, it is open and a few guards are standing ready by the entrance. Once the player gets within a certain range of the door, it slams shut.

Door Guard:
-Look out!
-...
-Phew! That was a close one.
-Odd though, it doesn't normally do that with visitors from this side.
-Anyway, there are multiple hordes of zombies and the like blocking the way forward and ...

*The world fades out around you*

The player is now standing in a fairly dark room with two doorways on opposite sides of the area. One is surrounded in purple and red particles, the other in white and yellow particles.

*Two disembodied voices begin to speak*

Voice 1: A Choice must be made.
Voice 2: There is no Choice.
Voice 1: For light.
Voice 2: For life.
Voice 1: With hope.
Voice 2: With strength.
Voice 1 and 2: For all who exist, for all beginnings, and all endings, one must choose rightly...

Here, labels will appear in front of the doors, red for the white door, green for the red door. The red label reads The path of Hope and Light and the green label reads The path of Strength and Life.

If the player goes through the red door, a simple flash of bright green light will appear, then the player will be teleported back to the gate.
If the player goes through the white door, white and yellow fireworks will explode into existence. This will continue for a moment, then the player will be teleported back to the gate.

-What follows is split up depending on the player's choice, the two spoilers detail what occurs with each path-

Spoiler: If the player chose the path of Hope and Light

If the player chose the path of Hope and Light:
*You appear back in front of the gate. Nobody else is acting oddly and they did not appear to notice anything out of the ordinary. The door guard certainly didn't miss a beat*
*It almost seems like time paused while you were in that room. You should pay attention to the door guard*

Door Guard:
-And we need your help with clearing it out.
-This should be fairly easy, but every time we think we have them all out, the next traveller nearly ends up as zombie feed.
-Anyway, here is a weapon for you to use, so go and get on in there!" [+1 Weapon]

The quest progresses until the part where the player normally has to run away from zombies. Instead of the zombies spawning only behind you, they appear on all sides. You have to kill 5 of them, Aledar and Tasim take care of the rest.

Tasim:
-I certainly see what that guard at the entrance meant with them being everywhere. Let's keep moving before even more come.

Aledar:
-Too late, I fear...

The ground will shake and then a Hulking Stone Encrusted Zombie, with around 30 health, drops through the ceiling. The player and their two companions must kill it to progress. Once it appears to have been defeated, the stone around it will crack, and the Hulking Zombie breaks out of its shell with a roar. It now has 1000 health.

Aledar:
-What? What is this? We are doomed...
-Unless...
-Click on your compass, Playername, and select the skill tree and unlock your spell!
-That should be strong enough to kill it!

The player casts the spell but it only makes a tiny dent in the health of the zombie.
*It was very flashy, but not very effective. Aledar looks about to yell for help*

-After a little bit, the player is highly recommended to talk to Aledar, who will then yell for assistance. It is not required, but otherwise it will be very easy to die and have to begin the section again-

Caravan Driver:
-Hey! Wait up!
-Ooh! Are we doing some combat practice? Let me try!

The Caravan Driver will charge up a ball of fire which he will then send flying at the zombie. It explodes upon hitting it, reducing its health by half. The Caravan Driver will then leap forward, perform six hard punches to the zombie, then deliver a short, straight kick. The zombie will instantly die and the Driver will relax.

Aledar: ...
Tasim: ...

Aledar:
-That was amazing! How did you do that?
-That was such a powerful creature and you killed it so easily!

Tasim:
-I was rather wondering that myself...

*The Caravan Driver looks directly at you*

Caravan Driver: The Path of Strength

The Caravan Driver then turns and continues running through the tunnel.

Aledar:
-What does that mean? Any clue?

Tasim:
-Not a clue. We should get going before everyone assumes we are dead because we took so long.
-Lead the way, Playername.

The player will continue onward, killing a stray zombie here and there, running until Ragni is reached.

King's Guard:
-Finally! That took longer than normal. What held you up?

Aledar:
-There was this massive

Tasim, [interrupting]:
-Horde of zombies that we had to kill.
-Did you happen to see some dude run past here a little while ago?

King's Guard:
-Nope. You are the first people we've seen today.
-Good job killing those zombies.
-The king is just around the corner and would like to speak with you.

The player speaks to the King, who has his normal dialogue, and then the quest ends.

Spoiler: If the player chose the path of Strength and Life

If the player chose the path of Strength and Life:
*You appear back in front of the gate. Nobody else is acting oddly and they did not appear to notice anything out of the ordinary. The door guard certainly didn't miss a beat*
*It almost seems like time paused while you were in that room. You should pay attention to the door guard*

Door Guard:
-And we need your help with clearing it out.
-This should be fairly easy, but every time we think we have them all out, the next traveller nearly ends up as zombie feed.
-Anyway, here is a weapon for you to use, so go and get on in there!" [+1 Weapon]

The quest progresses until the part where the player normally has to run away from zombies. Instead of the zombies spawning only behind you, they appear on all sides. You have to kill 5 of them, Aledar and Tasim take care of the rest.

Tasim:
-I certainly see what that guard at the entrance meant with them being everywhere. Let's keep moving before even more come.

Aledar:
-Too late, I fear...

The ground will shake and then a Hulking Stone Encrusted Zombie, with around 30 health, drops through the ceiling. The player and their two companions must kill it to progress. Once it appears to have been defeated, the stone around it will crack, and the Hulking Zombie breaks out of its shell with a roar. It now has 100 health.

Aledar:
-What? What is this? We are doomed...
-Unless...
-Click on your compass, Playername, and select the skill tree and unlock your spell!
-That should be strong enough to kill it!

Two casts of the spell, and five main attacks are enough to kill the Hulking Zombie.
-The player can lose life during this phase, but the zombie does not really do enough damage to kill them-

Aledar: ...
Tasim: ...

Aledar:
-That was amazing! How did you do that?
-That was such a powerful creature and you killed it so easily!

Tasim:
-I was rather wondering that myself...

Tasim:
-Anyway, we should get going before everyone assumes we are dead because we took so long.
-Lead the way, Playername.

The player will continue onward, killing a stray zombie here and there, running until Ragni is reached.

King's Guard:
-Finally! That took longer than normal. What held you up?

Aledar:
-There was this massive

Tasim, [interrupting]:
-Horde of zombies that we had to kill.

King's Guard:
-Good job then!
*He looks you in the eyes*
-The King would like to speak with you...
-Well chosen...

The player speaks to the King, who has his normal dialogue, and then the quest ends.

Quest notes:
*The second voice could possibly be Bak'al, and the first voice Lari, but the player cannot identify the true owners of the voices.
*If the player chooses the path of Hope and Light, and actually manages to kill the Hulking Zombie by hand, without any assistance, they will receive the ring Determination at the end of the quest. The ring will be detailed in the next post, along with more details about how To An End functions.

General notes:
*Each quest can take up to multiple hours to make depending on the length and level of detail I desire, so this will not be a crazy frequent post series, but they will keep coming out, slow and steady.
*If you have any suggestions for how I can twist some future quests (above lvl 10, as I have a plan for the main ones under that), I would love to hear them.
*All feedback is appreciated, just please keep it in a friendly tone :)

Thank you,
KingNarwhal74

 

Holy shit is is fucking amazing, I hope to see more from you soon man!

 

really interesting concept!! i've always wanted to see ways to tie AHC or hunted mode into a retelling of the questlines, hope to see more soon!

 

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it. In the next post, I will reveal more on how the player either has a choice or does not have a choice to serve the darkness; there are three main types of quests, each with a different feel :)