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[RELz] Wickwood: TES Alliance's 2012 Halloween Challenge


DarkRider
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v1.1.0 Version Update:

Description:

Wickwood is a Halloween themed adventure plugin for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Before playing, you will need to disable the game borders in your Skyrim.ini by adding bBorderRegionsEnabled=0 under the [general] heading. Once the plugin has been activated and the game loaded, travel south of Riverwood, high into the mountains beyond the borders of Skyrim's land, where in the wilds of the icy summit, you'll find the village of Wickwood begin unraveling the mystery of what happened there. Players are advised to have both a ranged weapon and an enchanted weapon before attempting Wickwood. For the best results, play in the dark without music and without magic effects like "Nighteye" and "DetectLife". Be wary in your adventuring hero...

Features:

Important Info:

Known Conflicts:

Challengers:

How To Vote:

Polls are now closed, thanks to everyone who played and voted!

Levels Revealed:

Wickwood

Author: TES Alliance

Version: 1.2.0

Release Date: 31.October.2012

Updated: 12.November.2012

OldeGods.jpg

"A stranger descended upon us. Those who would not heed his call were burned as heretics and those who followed him were damned."

  • Added missing scripts from Level 2

  • Gaps in chapel walls repaired.

  • Set in an Abandoned Mountain Village
  • Detailed Backstory to Explore
  • New Enemies!
  • Unique Weapons!
  • A Halloween Atmosphere
  • Seven Uniquely Horrific Levels
  • Traps and Puzzles
  • Voiced Dialogue!
  • Big Boss Battle!
  • Fun Rewards!
  • And More...

  • Spawn Mods: Playing Wickwood in tandem with another mod that increases creature spawns may add additional, and unintended, challenge in the village's horror levels. Use with care.
  • Levels: We recommend characters be at least level 15+ before attempting Wickwood. While some enemies are leveled to give a bit of a break, some are not and are rather difficult at lower levels.
  • Godmode: While you may be tempted to use godmode to brave the horrors in Wickwood, don't. There are some scripts running that will not fire properly if you are in godmode and you will not be able to proceed.
  • Collision/Clipping: Do not use the "tcl" console command to navigate through Wickwood. There are collision boxes designed to guide your immersion and trigger zones to progress events, both of which can be drifted through with collision toggled off resulting in a bad experience for you, so give your console the night off.

  • None Reported

  • WillieSea
  • the-manta
  • lilith
  • Vouivre
  • Arion
  • DsoS
  • Ladyflcn

  1. Withdrawn
  2. Fjori Blood-Blade's Cottage: WillieSea *Winner of Trickiest Level to Complete*
  3. Abandoned House: lilith
  4. Wedding House: the_manta
  5. Hollow House: Ladyflcn
  6. Musty House: DsoS *Winner of Overall Best Scare*
  7. The Frozen Shade: Vouivre
  8. Savard's House of Horrors: Arion *Winner of Best Creature Scare*

    Screenshots:

    Heretic.jpg

    Chapel.jpg

    WickwoodLocation.jpg

     

Edited by DarkRider
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  • 2 weeks later...

Note for the moderator: you have my permission to fix any mistakes I make with the Spoiler tag.

Just completed this excellent compilation

There's a very good mix of everything in here! Definitely some understated moments mixed in with some rather bigger horrors.

I will say that a few of these were not exactly my cup of tea, but I think every contributor deserves a huge round of applause.

Now I'm going to slip into some more specific notes here. Please, DO NOT read these until you've had a chance to play through this quite frankly amazing treat!

Entry 02:

I liked this one! It was a very solid way to introduce the set. I "unfortunately" forgot to turn ASIS off, so I encountered 2-3 times the number of ghouls as was probably intended. Still, very enjoyable. The final section was very well set up for an acrobatic assassin - plenty of room to jump around and shoot from. And dat armor!

Entry 03:

Undoubtedly my favorite! I went in thinking I was going to get ambushed like before. Lo and behold - ! Nothing. Disappointed, I took my key fragment and turned to leave, when something caught my eye. There were boots in the big cast iron pot. Boots. In the pot. Then I noticed all of the empty clothes, and the book, which opens with a very poor Symmachus. I realized that whoever had lived here had starved, likely to death; forced to eat the tough leather of his shoes, and maybe whatever other... meat he could find. Somehow, this quiet realization disturbed me more profoundly than any single other thing in this compilation. Hats off to this great storyteller. They've caught what Bethesda themselves do so well - tell a story through a carefully placed pot and its contents, and let the player fill in all the details. All the horrifying, lovely details.

Entry 04:

Honestly, I could have voted for this one or 03 and been perfectly satisfied. Both were exceptionally well done. This one... I was reminded why I hate Necromancers in TES all over again. The maze was the perfect blend of frustrating and thrilling. The beast's cries and grunts managed to echo just perfectly throughout the whole labyrinth, and there were plenty of surprisingly difficult situations. I'd forgotten all about those poisonous gasses that used to pervade those Ayleid ruins in Oblivion. Honestly, I felt that this wonderful house had the most heart put into it, and certainly the best atmosphere. Kudos for taking time on all the custom textures and meshes, and the unique items!

Entry 05

I'll admit that this one just didn't quite catch me like the last two. There were plenty of lovely surprises - who doesn't love a Draugr Deathlord popping out of Oblivion two inches in front of you, it's ethereally blue eyes matching your widening ones? Even so, I just... wasn't scared in the right way for me to really enjoy this one. The fireplace did give me a good bit of queasiness, though.

Entry 06

Holy crap, this one freaked me the heck out when stuff started moving around on me! Bad enough that the dang specters were twice as tough as normal, but the shuffling bookcase just threw me way off! The effect shader or whatever in the basement was perfect - I could have been inches, truly inches from a corpse staring me in the eye, and I wouldn't have been able to tell.

And then, leaving, all of a sudden there's a room, with spacer walls that most certainly weren't there before! I slept in the bed, hoping for something interesting to happen, but no dice. Still; extremely well done!

Entry 07

Ughh... There were some legitimately terrifying points to this one, but honestly it just dragged on a few rooms too long. There was one point when I was unlocking a door, thinking there was probably a chest on the other side. There were a few red specks that I could see just above the lockpicking UI, but I brushed them off as particles in the air or a reflection. Then, just so soon as I get the lock, they start moving. A Vampire had been standing there, watching me, unblinking, while I opened his cage.

That got me pretty good.

It was a pity that the rest of it was just wave after wave of Vampire, then wave after wave of Draugr. The Void section was pretty cool. The character I took out was my assassin, so she just stuck to oh-so-plentiful shadows until the Dragon Priest at the end decided he was having nothing of that.

Don't get me wrong - I liked this one! If the author had stuck to one or the other (Vampires or Draugr in supreme dark), I think the entry would have benefited.

Entry 08

I hate to say that I went into this one with 07 still a bit too much on my mind, and I don't think I enjoyed the first bit as much as I would have otherwise. Once I got into the last area, where the things began just fading in, I was genuinely surprised by the Dragon Priest that materialized almost in me! Made me feel more than a little creeped out, thinking of the un-dead flesh nearly merging with mine....

The Treasury room as I was leaving was just a moment of pure wonder. Have you ever played Batman: Arkham Asylum? Great game. There's a point, near the very end, where the largest number of guys that you ever see in one places are gathered in a very narrow hallway, greeting you as you head in to face the last boss. They don't attack you - they'll just mock-cheer you on. If you attack them, it's completely optional - but it's also one of the most satisfying moments in the entire game, as you rip into the mooks.

That was what this room felt like. Too small to really maneuver, and a few of the Vampires decided to oblige my already cramped circumstances by summoning another couple Frost Atronachs. Yipes. This was a hairy one, and by far the closest to death I came in the entire compilation. It was also by far the most sheer fun I had in the entire compilation. Thank you, author, for a very enjoyable, and quite shocking, stroll in darkness.

And now, for the big 01:

That guy was big. Very big. It's too bad he wasn't immune to poison. Or health-scaled to the Player level. Even so, seeing that flaming brand at his side (literally flaming - I though the place was going to burn down from the heat that thing had to be generating) and his visage was enough to make me prep for a much bigger fight than I got.

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I just did my second run through. Its still just as fun as the first time!

I think everyone did a great job and I was happy to see there were no burnt out houses in town. (Although one would have been good just for the spook factor.)

My Review:

#2 Blood-Blade House

Blood everywhere, skulls in cauldren, dead mother and child from an apparent attack from skeletons. The wolf sound sent a tingle up my spine. Basement key in childs teddy bear was a bit unnerving. Erie summoning well, with next key in burnt body from an apparent summoning gone wrong. Large cavern with pumpkin head which startled me as I moved forward. The rockslide also caught me off guard. Pumpkin armor! On the way out, I noticed the glowing hand banners were left handed.

#3 Abandoned House

Single cell with abandoned look to the house, some food and other discarded items and lots of webs!

#4 Wedding House

An apparent fight occured in this house as its a mess. Notes left around lead me to believe everything is not right in this wedding! The Homunculus (or bag head as I call them) were interesting (perhaps humorous :lol: ). A run through the maze finds me quickly lost and coughing on poison gas! I go to check my map and it shows nothing, Aarg! I run as quickly as I can, trying to find which way to go until I find the troll and make short work of him. (I let the rats attack him first!) I finally find my way back up into the house and grab the sets of keys to make my way up to the master bedroom where I find the scorned woman who is not happy to see me. A short battle later and I have the key! It appears to have been a sad affair...

#5 Hollow House

A quick little jaunt through another empty house. The previous owner is finally found behind a secret door where he must have been trying to hide from the horror that overtook the town.

#6 Musty Cabin

I was initially startled by the 'appearing' skeletons, and stopped in wonder as the bookcase slid accross the floor at me! Heading down into the blinding smoke of the basement, it takes me a while to find the nose on my face before I find the key and head back up, only to be startled again by a wall appearing! Good use of making the place look different, and make me wonder if I even made it back upstairs! :lol: I then exit the house with the key in hand.

#7 Frozen Shade

This place was pitch black! Even night-eye was worthless in this place, so I was reduced to using mage light and a torch so I could even see the doorways (many of them I missed on my first run through) There were a lot of vampires, all waiting to die on the end of my sword. I leveled up my lockpicking skill several times with all the 'master' level locks. It seemed every cage had another vampire as I moved further underground until I finally came to a door that lead to a void of darkness where I certainly did not want to walk off the edge of the path. The draugr were another fun obstacle in the path to my prize. It was not long before I came to the boss dragon priest which I made quick work of. I looted the many chests and found the key and headed out.

#8 Savards House of Horrors

A few Draugr and Vampires suddenly appear through out, usually behind me. Once, one startled me and I clicked the ol' mouse button in fright and slew him in one hit! Whew! And then I heard the sound I dread, spider feet on stone behind a door. It was time to pull out my double flames... I opened the door and hosed the room in flame, taking a few spider venom hits in the process. I entered, and took a look up (being experienced with these loathsome creatures and fried two more of the foul beasts! I nabbed the last key fragment and headed for the chapel in expectation.

Chapel

It looked awesome from outside, I love the architecture used. Reminded me somewhat of the Thalmor embasy raid I went on. Anyway, the piles of candles in the back of the temple was a very cool addition. and the giant death head was a bit scary at first, but easily dispached with my (now) level 81 archer. A dose of double shocks and he soon disintigrated at my feet into an ash pile leaving two awesome weapons behind. My eyes were naturally drawn to the flaming sword as I greedily picked it up and weilded it in glee! Ooooh, flames!

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Easily the best mission mod I've played and better than huge swathes of Bethesda content.

My review...

#2 Blood Blade House

Showing a dead, named family is a great way of adding empathy to the hoards of corpses that litter Skyrim and the super Corrupted Shades being among the best monster types available fit perfectly. The custom work on the banners, pictures, chest and armour was noticeable and appreciated. I particularly liked the grotto, but would have prefered the skeletons to trigger behind the player rather form in a neat line to be shot. The Atronachs were well placed as were the chests. A great demonstration of CK skills on the well housing the fire atronach.

#3 The Abandoned House

Easily the best abandoned house seen in the game to date. A simple cell that has seen every item carefully placed in a way that is rarely seen in Bethesda content. Even after being happy that I wasn't going to hit any triggers, I wanted to leave as soon as I could.

#4 The Wedding House

This was my favorite, from the custom items such as spoiled meat and wedding circlet to the love notes and flower petals. Heading into the tunnels gave the first major scare from the troll noise. I was lucky enough to find myself creeping behind the Initiate (congrats on the outfit!) so didn't struggle in the fights. Leaving the caverns into the ante-room before re-entering the main house saw some well positioned treasure. I especially liked the soul gem fragments. The wisp mother brought a nice end to an area that is better than most Beth work. A custom double-hard troll with unique noises would have seen me turn of my PC and drive to my mums house for the night.

#5 The Hollow House

A small cell with well placed triggers which saw the Deathlord knock me down the stairs. Bastard. The childs skull was simple but emotive.

#6 The Musty Cabin

I voted this as my best Creature scare. The beasties were suitably tough to dispatch, but the killer for me was the un-static, static. The moving items ought to be a staple mechanic on all supernatural levels. Knowing that the CK rule-book had just been thrown away left me feeling exposed and in need of my childhood teddy. The basemet was thankfully small as I didn't want to spend a second longer in this cell than I needed.

#7 The Frozen Shade

Proper dungeon darkness of the type I've only seen Bethesda do once before on Dawnguard saw me reaching for magelight throughout. Add in a load of highly leveled Vampires and you've got Survival Horror as it should be. Perhaps this became a little too linear, but the darkened path, coffin room and circle of tombs added variety. Having your magelight go out as the sneaking eyelid tells you that you've been discovered while fumbling around your hotkeys to put your pickaxe away shows just how intense proper darkness can be.

#8 Savards House Of Horrors

I died in the storeroom several times and loved having baddies appear behind me - Triggers and materialising baddies add so much to the game but what really set my teeth on edge were the spiders. I bloody hate spiders and would be living in Australia like a shot were it not for the size of the beasts. I managed to sneak attack the ones in the room and ceiling, but didn't like walking past them to get the last fragment. Spiders materialising on the ceiling behind you would have blown this of my hard disk.

Wickwood Chapel

Smaller than I thought it was going to be. I was still admiring the candles when I saw The Reaper... Although he died pretty easily, I made sure I had Dragonflesh enabled, Dragon bone arrows tipped with magika poison. The custom weapons are very high quality and the mask completed the terror. I'd have him appear again in ghost form as you leave the chapel - Just to remind you that until the day comes when you remove that .esp - You're consided fair game.

Edited by reality001
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The voting for the second category (creature scare) are check boxes, so people could vote for more than one entry. I just thought I would point that out.

I guess its abit late to take advantage of that after already voting and not able to change it. There were a couple really good ones I would like to have voted for but thought we only got one vote.

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Well, I finally got to start playing, I've really enjoyed it so far, although I'm only up to number 4. I won't do full reviews since I'll end up giving away which was mine but I'll note down my feelings on the ones I've played so far!

House 2: Excellent use of light, sound and ambiance in this house. Opening the basement door to find an array of skeletons and shades glaring at me in the darkness was a definite eep moment. The boss fight was really hard, I had to shout him off the cliffs a few times, a rather undignified end for an ancient warrior of terror. Good job on the armour retexture too! Perhaps the Ancient Storm Atronach could have been earlier in the grotto though? Most of the skellies didn't put up much of a fight and then there were two tough enemies side by side.

House 3: Small but perfectly formed, with a tangible feeling of abandonment and cobwebbery. It actually took me some time to find the key even though it was just lying out on a table. A smattering of gore and some flickery lighting would have made for nice garnish.

House 4: I enjoyed the atmosphere and managed to get good and lost in the maze. There were some very nice decorative spots too. The enemies could have been better spaced though, as they were all in the maze except the boss. Also, the boss arena was not great- a small room with next to no cover was a tough place to fight a wispmother- I ended up shield-bashing her in the face a lot and running from side to side. Very dignified again.

EDIT: I have a few mods that alter leveled lists, did the homunculus in the maze have a big forsworn-looking battleaxe for everyone or is that a different mod getting involved? I know I haven't see it in the base game but I have definitely seen pictures of it before.

General: Many kudos to Dark Rider et al. on a very nice exterior layout, and the looming chapel looks spookily intriguing (with an ironic appearance from the Goddess of Love on the outside). The centre piece to the village was just perfect too!

I don't really have time to play the rest today, too much damn homework, but I'm really really looking forward to it!

Edited by the-manta
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Woo! Finished all the levels, although the Chapel remains tomorrows task.

House 5: Short and sweet, but I really loved it. The sight of that little burnt up corpse at the foot of the stairs was perfect. It really could have benefited from some scarier, dramatic lighting though.

House 6: Lots of nice shock scares in this one, the moving bookcase for instance. When I got to the basement I just stood there for a while, hoping the fog would clear. It didn't, so I just had to shuffle about hoping nothing would kill me in my moment of blindness.

House 7: This one definitely had the lighting points down; hundreds of enemies in almost total darkness. After barely surviving the first fight, I couldn't bring myself to open up any of the doors or cells, and hurried on through the most direct route. This wasn't really enough to stop me from dying multiple times however. An awesome side effect of the vampires in the cells was that you could hear them whispering and muttering as you walked through, very spooky indeed. I'm kind of with deostades though, that maybe it went on a little too long. I was also slightly puzzled to find that it was not possible to fall off the edge of the stone walkway.

Also I contracted sanguinare vampiris here (I can't imagine anyone didn't) which, if I don't get hold of a cure disease potion before I end the horror, could well be an interesting development in my lawful-good scion of Skingrad. He's even named Hassildor...

House 8: The materialising, high level enemies really got me at times- I never knew when something was going to pop up behind me and kill me to death, so that's a guaranteed recipe for horror. I will admit though, I cheated a little... The brides of Dracula, at level 50-something, were just too difficult for my level 17 character. This level definitely had the fear of imminent death down, with unpredictable, high level enemies. I also spent a frightening minute running around the spider room trying to find the way forward as I hadn't spotted the chest.

The chapel remains a daunting heap of terror in the near future, but homework means I'm gonna have to wait a little longer.

Massive kudos to the challengers though, I've really enjoyed every level, and picking my winners is really difficult. It's a shame people seem to have been less interested in this than in previous challenges, but I suspect that next year's, now that the tradition has re-established itself, will be even better than this one!

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Polls are now closed, thanks to everyone who played and voted! :clap:

Levels Revealed:

  1. Withdrawn
  2. Fjori Blood-Blade's Cottage: WillieSea *Winner of Trickiest Level to Complete*
  3. Abandoned House: lilith
  4. Wedding House: the_manta
  5. Hollow House: Ladyflcn
  6. Musty House: DsoS *Winner of Overall Best Scare*
  7. The Frozen Shade: Vouivre
  8. Savard's House of Horrors: Arion *Winner of Best Creature Scare*

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Congratulations to all contributors! All of you have shown how to create a scary, spine crawling atmosphere. :trophy:

I can say that I enjoyed all of the levels, each in it's special way and I had a hard time when it came to voting.

I never even considered to take part myself because of my lack of CK skills :D

I did not publish a review because I had severe problems with my personal game which caused troubles that had nothing to do with the mod and the entries.

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  • 2 months later...

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