Chapter 2 Kievs Quest Revision - Zythis

This is a revision of the Kievs quest of chapter 2, although there aren't many 
drastic changes, some of what was already proposed is changed in this version.

Basic Summary:
Go to Bern, find way out of town, get to Kievs, talk with Brant, get the 
statue, give statue back p/Brant, Brant gives you key to his office in Bern.

Plot:
While in Bern, you'll find a townperson who tells of a great storm and a ship 
from Bern crashing into the rocks off the coast.  They'll wonder if there are 
any survivors and say that likely any survivors would have been taken to the 
nearby town of Kievs.  Since Kievs is by the lake, however, they tell you that 
a path there would be very difficult through a cave to the north unless there 
was a boat you could take across the lake.  If you go to the lake, the boatman 
isn't there, however, since he took Brant across the lake to the town to 
recover.  So, you go back to Bern and have to find a way to get out of the 
town.  A guard to the north says that he lost his talisman given to him by 
Bern when he became a guard.  The talisman means that the bearer has extreme 
courage and it is the most prized possesion of any guard of Bern.  The guard 
tells that he was rushed to get ready that morning and must have lost the 
talisman as he was running to his post.  He says that he'd look for it after 
his shift, but if you can find it first, he'd be grateful for your service to 
him.  Entering the sewer, you can search for the talisman in the muck.  (At 
this point you could also look for the wine as well, since the plot is non-
linear, however, you might not be able to get it at this point but this is 
meant to only take a short amount of time, anyway, so you can get the talisman 
easily without having to go that far into the sewer.  Some sort of change 
could occur after you find the necessary information about the wine such as a 
huge hole in one of the walls caused by the tarantula or something like that 
so that you can't get the wine before talking to the porter.)  After giving 
the talisman back to the guard, he'll let you exit the town anytime you want 
to the north.  Entering the cave, you fight your way through (no changes 
really from the old quest), and come out the other end in Kievs.  The boatman 
is there and after talking to Brant he'll ferry you back to the shore for some 
gold (I'm thinking around 500 gp one time fee and you can use the boat at 
will, however, you need to remember which side you leave the boat on, or 
you'll have to use the cave) or you can go back the way you came.  Brant has a 
big flashback and he remembers he dropped his statue as the ship started 
sinking.  He tells you that the statue is very important, it isn't just a 
trinket like you've thought so far into the quest but it was given to him by 
one of the wise men and that the wise man told him to hang onto it since it 
could save the world.  At this point you think Brant's going fruity because 
that stupid statue didn't seem like it held any sort of power whatsoever.  
However, you need the writ of courage to see Bern in the castle and Brant has 
one.  So, you decide to go to the shore of the beach to look for clues.  
You'll see driftwood on the beach and the hull of the half-sunken ship off the 
shore (could be the site for a quest later on) Wading into the water a little 
bit (not enough to use the swim skill), you find the statue half-buried in the 
mud and you go back to Brant.  (If you paid the fee to use the ferry, you can 
go back the way you came across the lake and you don't need more gold).  If 
you didn't pay the fee, you need to use the cave again.  Getting back to 
Brant, you give him the statue and he gives you his key to his office.  He'll 
tell you that the writ is in a frame on the wall of his office and that he 
went there periodically to check things out before the war started.  He says 
that he probably won't be able to use it again anyway if the war continues so 
you're welcome to use it.  Using the key you can enter the office, find it a 
wreck and a note from Barok to the messenger on the floor saying to get the 
writ and leave town asap and the Bern quest continues.

This quest sets up the statue for an important role later in the game.  The 
statue turns out to be just as powerful and Brant said.  It has the power to 
open up the various gateways between continents in the shrines throughout the 
world (wherever the portals haven't been completely forced open yet) acting 
much like a combination of the gate key and necklace in Chrono Trigger after 
you get it charged.  At this point, however, you don't understand the power of 
the statue and neither does Brant (which is why he isn't too careful with it).

Problems:
I've come up with quite a few solutions to some of the problems we've had.  
Whether they're good or not, you'll have to decide.

One problem was what to do with the Key to Castle Bern.  I was thinking that 
the porter could give you a key or something else to the southwest tower where 
you can enter the castle at night.  Once you get the key to castle Bern, you 
can open the various rooms within the castle and get some treasure possibly, 
but the key should also open Barok's hiding place wherever he is.  If he's in 
the ruins, the key could open the gates to the ruins which are surrounded by a 
wall, the only part of the ruins not really harmed.  The city of Bern could 
sort of be like ancient Troy (this sounds kind of lame for lack of thinking of 
something else.  Maybe together we could come up with a background for the 
ruins) with the ruins being a former city destroyed in a former war.  One of 
Bern's predecessor's, maybe a great grandfather was killed and possibly one of 
Barok's was on the opposing side which would give a reason why he wants 
revenge on Bern (still a little lame but would sound better if we worked on it 
some more).  To explain why Bern wasn't rebuilt in the same place, it's 
because Bern is now in a more strategic place if war happened to come again 
which was exactly what is happening in the case between Bern and Katwana.  If 
Barok's within Bern, then the ruins are going to have to either be saved for 
chapter 4, which is what I'd like to do with the dungeon part of the chapter 2 
Bern quest, or we're going to have to come up with another subplot.  I'd 
prefer to have Barok hiding out in the ruins, and after you capture him, he 
either flees or you could turn him over to one of the guards. I like having 
him being turned over to the guards which would allow for a dungeon sequence 
in chapter 4 when you look for Bern instead of having it in chapter 2.  I 
think one of the problems is having too much packed into the Bern quest as it 
stands now.  It's creating a lot of problems, and I think that simplifying it 
somewhat would make an awesome chapter 4, plus save a bit when we get to that 
point.

The Bern sequence would include:  getting information, finding the porter, 
getting the wine (and writ if you've given the statue to Brant), getting key 
to tower, getting key of castle Bern, opening ruins, fighting Barok, getting 
blaze, turning Barok in, talking to Bern again, going on to chapter 3.

This way the plot could still be done in any order, but you still need to do 
both parts to get to the end since seeing Bern requires the writ.  The war 
won't be resolved yet, and even better, no more notes except the one that 
gives you a clue as to where the messenger is located.  The plot is also 
simplified, the statue will have a purpose until the end of the final chapter, 
and you'll have some parts of castle Bern left over for chapter 4.