Discussion: Lost storylines/writing errors? (Mabon, Braigiar and book spoilers)

In Starkmoor we find Mabon is missing and are told to go to Dunbog to find him, due to legends of a monster. However, once there, I found no NPC spoke of this monster nor did anyone mention Mabon again. Did I miss something or was this forgotten in the writing?

Later we meet Dagoras, who laments Braigiar's passing 'in an orc ambush'. I don't know if this is supposed to highlight poor inter-Ranger communication, but given that we have only just dealt with Braigiar's passing in town at the hand of Dunlendings, I feel this is an error that should be fixed. Maybe he means another ranger.

Both of those irked me as well. First one looks like a vector quests leading nowhere and the second one made it look like people writing Epic and regular quests didn't communicate at all. We have almost 40 named Rangers with fates unknown, couldn't he refer to anybody else?

Both good points, another that really irked me was Nona, the girl that took up the mantle to fight for her brother Wanu. She was the main questgiver of the book for several chapters, told me to find a ranger once i was done in an area, and never showed up again ? Hmmmmmmm.

I'm not worried about Nona. We last saw her in Bornavon during the Epic and she sure can take care of herself on her own land. Since many elements of Epic could suddenly be dropped only to be picked up again in later books, I'm sure we haven't seen last of her. The above two example are from non-epic quests though and there's the problem.

I'm sure Nona will come back. I foresee her playing a bigger part than just a messenger and handy scout.

Envoyé par Lilka

In Starkmoor we find Mabon is missing and are told to go to Dunbog to find him, due to legends of a monster. However, once there, I found no NPC spoke of this monster nor did anyone mention Mabon again. Did I miss something or was this forgotten in the writing?

that irked me too, alas the npc your send to by the quest sending you to dunbog (the scout at the edge of the bog) states, that they haven't seen anything like a monster recently, so I'd expected a follow-up like "look/ask somewhere else and don't bother me with hearsay-legends"

maybe the story/quest-writers mislaid that somehow we should file a request to Belerophon in that matter, maybe he knows whats going on or if this is one of the dead-end questlines

Envoyé par Lilka

Later we meet Dagoras, who laments Braigiar's passing 'in an orc ambush'. I don't know if this is supposed to highlight poor inter-Ranger communication, but given that we have only just dealt with Braigiar's passing in town at the hand of Dunlendings, I feel this is an error that should be fixed. Maybe he means another ranger.

I recall him stating, that Braigiar was lost in "an ambush in gravenwood", can't remember to have him mentioning anything about whos ambush it was ... but that might be my faulty memory
I should go back to the habit to screenshot every quest-text thats longer than two lines, so I can recapture it later

Envoyé par Sinunu72

...maybe he knows whats going on or if this is one of the dead-end questlines...

Vastin and I had a miscommunication about Ranger names. It happens sometimes. I think the names will get sorted out in the future.

MoL

Envoyé par MadeOfLions

Vastin and I had a miscommunication about Ranger names. It happens sometimes. I think the names will get sorted out in the future.

MoL

thanks for the reply and miscommunications happen everywhere

but your quote was part of what was related to this "issue" with the dead-end for the questline out of starkmoors regarding this little boy mabon ... is it planed to get this questline going further?

or have we abandoned this kid for good? after being repelled by a mere dunlending-scout ... thats not "hero-like" imho

Also,

How did the bad guy from the Pirates of Dark Water end up leading the Falcon Clan. Clearly that place is land locked.

Riddle me this,

The people of swamp town, they built a castle, it burned down, they built another castle, that one burned down and sank into the swamp, so they gave up and live on trucker pallettes now, one day to evolve into Ichtyosapiens. Yet... Yet they seem to own the most pristine grove of trees mountains and flowers and epic mountain back drop that I've seen so far.... Yet they live in the swamp?

Yeah, I've been worrying about poor little Mabon as well. I was sent to Dunbog to search for some large creature who had been seen hauling children off to who-knows-where. I didn't see any clues, no one volunteered any information, and...well...I didn't bother even asking!

I have to imagine this is going to lead to something down the road...maybe the new instance cluster scheduled for the next update? The Rangers clearly have more important things to worry about than lost orphans from a Dunlending village, but perhaps the fate of Mabon will be uncovered in a later Epic. There is definitely some unfinished business and lots of potential trouble to get into in the new regions.

Envoyé par GEARS1980

Riddle me this,

The people of swamp town, they built a castle, it burned down, they built another castle, that one burned down and sank into the swamp, so they gave up and live on trucker pallettes now, one day to evolve into Ichtyosapiens. Yet... Yet they seem to own the most pristine grove of trees mountains and flowers and epic mountain back drop that I've seen so far.... Yet they live in the swamp?

I think the Pristine Grove is sacred to them, by how the guardians treat it. It's more like a shrine. They live in the swamp because 1.) they like swamp food (there's a quest all about this), and 2.) it's a giant defensive zone for their sacred grove.

Envoyé par GEARS1980

Also,

How did the bad guy from the Pirates of Dark Water end up leading the Falcon Clan. Clearly that place is land locked.

He walked inland with an oar over his shoulder until someone asked him where he was going with that funny looking winnowing fan.

--W. H. Heydt

Old Used Programmer

Envoyé par GEARS1980

Riddle me this,

The people of swamp town, they built a castle, it burned down, they built another castle, that one burned down and sank into the swamp, so they gave up and live on trucker pallettes now, one day to evolve into Ichtyosapiens. Yet... Yet they seem to own the most pristine grove of trees mountains and flowers and epic mountain back drop that I've seen so far.... Yet they live in the swamp?

Because they need 'UGE tracts o' land!

Envoyé par Sonsy

but perhaps the fate of Mabon will be uncovered in a later Epic.

I hope so. It's very strange if this was just a completely dropped storyline. It's been bugging me for a couple weeks now before I saw this thread, I've been mildly obsessing about whether or not I missed a bunch of content that addressed this.

Envoyé par MadeOfLions

Vastin and I had a miscommunication about Ranger names. It happens sometimes. I think the names will get sorted out in the future.

MoL

Yeah, but what about brave little Mabon? Lost to the bog-beast without any hope of even finding his bones . . . or to exact vengeance!

I think these are all setups for the instance cluster...we have enough of what seems like dead-ends to make a good cluster:
1. Save Mabon from the swamp creature
2. Save his father (forgot his name) from Saruman.
3. Defeat the old woman of the mountain.
4. Give the Falcon Clan a good old fashioned beat-down.

I doubt that these storylines will continue in the epic book, as I think we'll be involved with the Rohirrim and the battle at the Fords next, leaving Dunland behind.

Envoyé par Nobbins

I think these are all setups for the instance cluster...we have enough of what seems like dead-ends to make a good cluster:
1. Save Mabon from the swamp creature
2. Save his father (forgot his name) from Saruman.
3. Defeat the old woman of the mountain.
4. Give the Falcon Clan a good old fashioned beat-down.

I doubt that these storylines will continue in the epic book, as I think we'll be involved with the Rohirrim and the battle at the Fords next, leaving Dunland behind.

I could see the Falcon Clan returning as part of the Epic, now that they've thrown in their lot with Saruman. Perhaps they will show up as part of said battles against the Rohirrim? Note that, unlike the other examples, they played a big part in the storyline, so I'd be surprised if at least that loose end was not concluded as part of the Epic.

As for the rest, agree, I don't believe they will show up again as a part of the Epics, seeing as they are supposed side-quests. Obviously, you will likely end up doing them while levelling, but due to them being skippable "in theory", they are probably not connected to the overall resolution of the Epic storyline.

Envoyé par Ironcrown

Because they need 'UGE tracts o' land!

But.. But I don't WANT any o' that....

I'd rather.. I'd rather....

SING!

I was wondering what happened to Mabon too.

I was questing in the Dunbog and it was really foggy for me. Off in the mist I saw some huge thing move. I mouse over it and I see it's called an 'Orc Abomination' which is a signature creature. Having been fairly new to the bog and never seeing such a creature before I thought to myself - Ah-ha, surely this must be the thing that has carried poor Mabon away! So I heroically rush in, fight tooth and nail to kill this surely legendary beast hoping it would drop some clue to Mabon's whereabouts... and nothing.

I was a little heartbroken and also confused. But I felt maybe in some way Mabon was revenged; I mean, surely this was the monster! Then a few minutes later I came across a whole group of abominations and I felt a little dumb to learn they were fairly common for this area. ~___~

Envoyé par MadeOfLions

Vastin and I had a miscommunication about Ranger names. It happens sometimes. I think the names will get sorted out in the future.

Awesome - this means we can all choose which ranger we don't mind departing these shores, and which rangers we can keep.

Let's vote for He Who Got Orc'd

I had assumed that the Mabon quest-line was indirectly explained with the "To Lhan Colvarn" and "Ending The Nightmare" quest-lines where you discover that the Orc Abominations are kidnapped members of their Clan and that Saruman has been using them as guinea-pigs. After Delwin insisting they are still people and can be still rescued from their fate, and being told by Blaire, the leader of the expedition to ignore her and not hesitate to kill them all, I pretty much figured that what was left of Mabon died at our own hand amongst the many dozens we slaughtered in our assault on Lhan Colvarn.

Rather a tragic ending, although I'm sure his dad met a similar fate...twisted by the cruel experiments of Saruman, and then cut down by our heroic characters not considering where these "monsters" come from.

Envoyé par TsarithArcher

I had assumed that the Mabon quest-line was indirectly explained with the "To Lhan Colvarn" and "Ending The Nightmare" quest-lines where you discover that the Orc Abominations are kidnapped members of their Clan and that Saruman has been using them as guinea-pigs. After Delwin insisting they are still people and can be still rescued from their fate, and being told by Blaire, the leader of the expedition to ignore her and not hesitate to kill them all, I pretty much figured that what was left of Mabon died at our own hand amongst the many dozens we slaughtered in our assault on Lhan Colvarn.

Rather a tragic ending, although I'm sure his dad met a similar fate...twisted by the cruel experiments of Saruman, and then cut down by our heroic characters not considering where these "monsters" come from.

Would Saruman have had time to make him (Mabon, though it probably applies to his father as well) into an abomination and send him to Dunbog before we get there? We are practically sent there directly after Mabon disappeared; Saruman would have had to work very quick with whatever experiments he had in mind.

Maybe they live in the swamp 'cause none of them like to walk up and down hillsides?

I kind of appreciated that Mabon was unresolved. It felt more real, that we don't have a pat, "here's what happened to conclude your story about that" ending 'cause you are playing a game, but rather a "sorry, no clue who you are talking about" more plausible ending, like if you were searching for an abducted kid in a foreign land IRL.



"Sometimes survival comes down to not being hit. Actually, most times." -the chicken skill, Bob and Weave

Envoyé par ddaedelus

..I don't play video games for insightful glimpses into the pathos of living a life devoid of closure. I have books for that. (Oh, and real life.)..

+rep, even though I almost peed myself laughing at that..

EDIT: D'OH! And I see I've been victimized by the evil forum time-warp monster!

Envoyé par RJFerret

Maybe they live in the swamp 'cause none of them like to walk up and down hillsides?

I kind of appreciated that Mabon was unresolved. It felt more real, that we don't have a pat, "here's what happened to conclude your story about that" ending 'cause you are playing a game, but rather a "sorry, no clue who you are talking about" more plausible ending, like if you were searching for an abducted kid in a foreign land IRL.

Perhaps, but that doesn't mean that it makes for a good game quest. I don't play video games for insightful glimpses into the pathos of living a life devoid of closure. I have books for that. (Oh, and real life.)

The Dunbog area was my least favorite area of the game, and, in my opinion, demonstrates the worst of the expansion's writing. I went there to find a lost kid (the only interesting storyline in the whole expansion) and was instead forced to prove myself over and over again to people I cared nothing about, thinking, well maybe if I kill yet another 10 turtles they'll finally tell me what I want to know. Instead, I end up calling a conclave I never cared about to do something I had no interest in doing (including killing more turtles), and the kid is never mentioned again. Evidently I decide to give up and pursue it no further. Some hero I am.

Envoyé par TsarithArcher

I had assumed that the Mabon quest-line was indirectly explained with the "To Lhan Colvarn" and "Ending The Nightmare" quest-lines where you discover that the Orc Abominations are kidnapped members of their Clan and that Saruman has been using them as guinea-pigs. After Delwin insisting they are still people and can be still rescued from their fate, and being told by Blaire, the leader of the expedition to ignore her and not hesitate to kill them all, I pretty much figured that what was left of Mabon died at our own hand amongst the many dozens we slaughtered in our assault on Lhan Colvarn.

Rather a tragic ending, although I'm sure his dad met a similar fate...twisted by the cruel experiments of Saruman, and then cut down by our heroic characters not considering where these "monsters" come from.

So wait... I killed Mabon?! Oh the irony!

Envoyé par GEARS1980

Yet they live in the swamp?

Because that's where you can get the sweet sweet slug meat!

Thank you so much for this thread. I'm a ways behind my kin in leveling due to my motherboard dying and this story line has been driving me crazy. I kept asking if it ever gets resolved and most of my kin leveled so fast that they couldn't remember. I even went back down to Dunbog to see if I'd missed something. Poor Mabon. And I totally agree that being sent down there to rescue children from some horrible monster only to be told to kill frogs and gather reeds was extremely frustrating. I too, ran across an abomination while gathering reeds and thought I'd found the answer. :/ I'm really hoping that the Devs will add in the rest of the story.

Envoyé par GEARS1980

Riddle me this,

The people of swamp town, they built a castle, it burned down, they built another castle, that one burned down and sank into the swamp, so they gave up and live on trucker pallettes now, one day to evolve into Ichtyosapiens. Yet... Yet they seem to own the most pristine grove of trees mountains and flowers and epic mountain back drop that I've seen so far.... Yet they live in the swamp?

Are you talking about the people of Dunbog? They used to *live* in the settlement up the hill. Saruman took it away from them and filled it full of Orc, Troll, and Dunlending Abominations. The Orc Abominations look like Globsnaga. The Dunlending Abominations act like zombies.

Envoyé par mrnot

but.. But i don't want any o' that....

I'd rather.. I'd rather....

Sing!

no no, stop the music!!!!

Envoyé par ETSubmariner

Yeah, but what about brave little Mabon? Lost to the bog-beast without any hope of even finding his bones . . . or to exact vengeance!

Envoyé par Koomaster

I was wondering what happened to Mabon too.

I was questing in the Dunbog and it was really foggy for me. Off in the mist I saw some huge thing move. I mouse over it and I see it's called an 'Orc Abomination' which is a signature creature. Having been fairly new to the bog and never seeing such a creature before I thought to myself - Ah-ha, surely this must be the thing that has carried poor Mabon away! So I heroically rush in, fight tooth and nail to kill this surely legendary beast hoping it would drop some clue to Mabon's whereabouts... and nothing.

I was a little heartbroken and also confused. But I felt maybe in some way Mabon was revenged; I mean, surely this was the monster! Then a few minutes later I came across a whole group of abominations and I felt a little dumb to learn they were fairly common for this area. ~___~

Ok, I'm a little confused over Mabon. Was he lost to Bloodmaw or the Abomination village? If it's Bloodmaw, I can see the followup quest now...

* Return to Bloodmaw's Den - Search the ruins to recover Mabon's remains. *



They better give a new set of gloves as a reward for that one!

Envoyé par Zioloth

no no, stop the music!!!!

Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.

Ahh, geez, I'm glad I went and found this thread. I was going mad rifling through my quest log and running around the western quest hubs thinking I must have missed something. There wouldn't be a horribly dangling quest storyline left like this, right? Right?

Envoyé par Koomaster

I was wondering what happened to Mabon too.

I was questing in the Dunbog and it was really foggy for me. Off in the mist I saw some huge thing move. I mouse over it and I see it's called an 'Orc Abomination' which is a signature creature. Having been fairly new to the bog and never seeing such a creature before I thought to myself - Ah-ha, surely this must be the thing that has carried poor Mabon away! So I heroically rush in, fight tooth and nail to kill this surely legendary beast hoping it would drop some clue to Mabon's whereabouts... and nothing.

I was a little heartbroken and also confused. But I felt maybe in some way Mabon was revenged; I mean, surely this was the monster! Then a few minutes later I came across a whole group of abominations and I felt a little dumb to learn they were fairly common for this area. ~___~

I had a similar reaction to this. Then I found those other Dunlendings and kept thinking, like ddaedelus, quest after quest--surely they'll finally point me in the right direction. I mean, Mabon's dad was wrongfully dragged off to his doom at Saruman's hands, we work off the debt on Mabon's behalf, then find out he was kidnapped, the homestead is completely abandoned? And.... nothing? /headdesk

To be honest, I was reminded of the "have you seen me" missing child posters we see everywhere IRL, which is just too depressing. :/

Envoyé par Lilka

I'm sure Nona will come back. I foresee her playing a bigger part than just a messenger and handy scout.

When I spotted mention of "Wadu's ghost" in the leading quest to meet Nona, my mind immediately screamed "FOR WADU!!" (though a specific forum thread may have had something to do with that ) I loved seeing her again. I didn't like how she up and vanished, but it's less irksome than this poor kid disappeared forever with not a spot of closure, since Nona can definitely take care of herself.

I'm really hoping the devs will toss us something in Update 5 concerning these little things, but Mabon's storyline in particular.

Envoyé par chetdawg30

Both good points, another that really irked me was Nona, the girl that took up the mantle to fight for her brother Wanu. She was the main questgiver of the book for several chapters, told me to find a ranger once i was done in an area, and never showed up again ? Hmmmmmmm.

When you say "never showed up again", I think you mean, "showed up in Galtrev, then Starkmoor, then Dunbog, then Carreglyn". After that point, yes, she disappears, but she's clearly part of the ongoing epic story. We'll see Nona again, just like we'll see more of Gun Ain and Morflak, I'm sure.

I'm inclined to think that the dangling plot threads (ex. Mabon, The Old Woman of the Mountain) will be part and parcel of the new instance cluster - probably 2 of the 3 3-Mans.

Envoyé par Armaius

I'm inclined to think that the dangling plot threads (ex. Mabon, The Old Woman of the Mountain) will be part and parcel of the new instance cluster - probably 2 of the 3 3-Mans.

I'll be surprised if Gwyllion isn't involved in the new instance cluster. We've confronted her twice in battle now, and had innumerable references to her (e.g. "The Old Woman of the Mountains says we should not trust duvodiad"). It wouldn't really make sense for her to move out of the Enedwaith/Dunland region, either. So I expect us to see a resolution to her storyline in this area, which is to say: instance(s). She might be this update's version of Gortheron; the foe behind the problems we face in the new instance cluster.

Or...we could all be missing something, and Mabons fate is disclosed in the 27th quest in Starkmoor!!

Note: This is meant as a joke, if it turns out true, its not my fault!

Envoyé par Aloro

I'll be surprised if Gwyllion isn't involved in the new instance cluster. We've confronted her twice in battle now, and had innumerable references to her (e.g. "The Old Woman of the Mountains says we should not trust duvodiad"). It wouldn't really make sense for her to move out of the Enedwaith/Dunland region, either. So I expect us to see a resolution to her storyline in this area, which is to say: instance(s). She might be this update's version of Gortheron; the foe behind the problems we face in the new instance cluster.

I do fully expect to see her in the instance cluster, I don't necessarily think she's going to be behind *everything* - she doesn't strike me as a full fledged final 12-Man Raid boss (though I could be wrong). I do think she'll be a boss for a 3-Man, though. I figure that the instances are going to flow through Dunland and the Gap and culminate with the 12-Man in (or maybe under) Isengard itself.

Envoyé par Boggo2300

Or...we could all be missing something, and Mabons fate is disclosed in the 27th quest in Starkmoor!!

Note: This is meant as a joke, if it turns out true, its not my fault!

I like your answer, but the 27th quest (and the next several) are in the Culling Pit. I didn't see Mabon among the foes we fight there.