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Expansion: The Skull

Quick find code: 185-186-832-66238917

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

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tl;dr - expansion of The Wushanko Isles to now encompass The Skull, but as a 'limited' area
(ie: batch 1 of The Arc)

Requirements:
- minimum of unlocked The Skull in PoP and completed Impressing the Locals
- story line requires completing all of the Tales of The Arc to continue the story into The Skull

Currency:
- Chimes
- taijitu

Primary Resource to Make for Money:
- Gunpowder

'Limited' Region:
While most of The Arc is open and friendly, The Skull is a heavily fortified area with little love of the west. Thus not all of the islands will be open to the player(s). This has the slight advantage of lessening the dev requirements for the area.
- The Sunlit Veil
- Thalassia
- The Siren's Shell (voyage unlocked)
- Hyu-Ji
- Seeker Synapse
Other areas could be 'visited' during the story telling or for specific contract voyages

11-Dec-2021 18:05:31

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Posts: 32,671 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Making Gunpowder
In The Arc, you can make chimes by doing a wide variety of activities, but you primary money maker in the region is the Shark Soup and Arc Gumbo.
In The Skull, there is only 1 thing of interest: Gunpowder.
The bad news? The area is literally flooded with Gunpowder. The manufacturing and primary resources are all controlled by Khans. There is literally no way the player character could get off the ground the process to supply and manufacture sufficient enough gunpowder to compete.
So ... we have to go into a niche market.

The player will encounter the last scion to a family of gunpowder manufacturers who had left before the region was inaccessible some 20 years prior (basically they got old and stuck in the West).

Upon returning, they give the player the recipes for a pair of vvvveeeerrrryyyy special gunpowders:
- mid grade water proof gunpowder. Most powders have balance to cost to make, range/effectiveness, water resistance, smokeless, etc etc. However, you usually have to sacrifice several of the factors to make what you want. The scion had managed to perfect their family's formula/recipe ... a form of gunpowder that is virtually immune to the issues of getting wet. Now it doesn't grant extra range or anything, but .. it is very useful for an area that hasn't figured it out yet. The market would easily let you sneak in several barrels of it for chimes.
- high grade fireworks. this was the family's greatest secret.
no one
was able to make a better collection of firework grade powder. It was vibrant and ...well ... everything. That this family's brand of firework gunpowder is available again will have the market going nuts over it.

11-Dec-2021 18:05:35 - Last edited on 11-Dec-2021 18:15:21 by Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Posts: 32,671 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Production:
Just like IRL we are going to need:
- Potassium-Nitrate
- sulfur
- carbon

Sulfur can be mined on Thalassia as well as other scattered locations.
Carbon is gotten from bamboo in the region (mining) and a new firemaking activity to convert it to carbon.
Potassium is a 2 step process:
- farming certain animals
- herblore to process the manure
There can also be a higher tier you get from ... bat guano ... just need to use a mix of Agility/Dungeoneering to go down and get it ... enjoy.

Final Production Skill: Herblore
Just as you need Cooking to make The Arc soups, you will need Herblore to make the special gunpowders.

Materials, tools, etc can also be found via skilling contracts and other activities in the area.

11-Dec-2021 18:05:39 - Last edited on 11-Dec-2021 18:24:28 by Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Posts: 32,671 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Skilling Contracts:
Just like in The Arc, a few of our favorite PoP Adventures can be found in the region.

- Marcus Fine
Thieving
Sends you on several Thieving contracts. This can also be a way to snag material for making your gunpowder.

- Zu Zu
Runecrafting
Could have you do things on Seeker Synapse, as well as around the area, to get in Runecrafting XP

- The Exile
Dungeoneering
Our Ramokee could also be found on the Seeker Synapse or an area with 'dungeon delving' for a resource.

- The Biologist
Herblore
While not a fan of explosives, she would still have an 'interest' in the many processes used to refine it.

11-Dec-2021 18:05:43 - Last edited on 11-Dec-2021 18:25:59 by Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Posts: 32,671 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
As mentioned earlier, the area would need to cater to the ability to make Gunpowder. However, that doesn't need to be all the area does.

Some possibilities:

- Bay of Echoes - Explosive Fishing
A fishing method where a player uses some of the gunpowder they make to do fishing.

- Divine Koi - Divination + Fishing
The Memory has found an oddity ... a wisp colony that appeared in a lake filled with koi.
The koi have been engorging themselves on the energy enriched waters and now glow in the colors of the Divine Energies.
Players can use Divine energy to catch the koi (fishing XP), siphon the divine energy out of the koi (Divination) and return the koi to the lake/pond.
What's more, periodically, a 'memory' of a koi will appear. (basically imagine a giant wisp shaped like a koi). Diviners can't siphon it because it thinks it is a fish, and fisherman can't catch it because it it made of Divine energy. You need both skills.
(lore: Kami, the memory, is a collection of Guthix's memories that formed into a single entity. There are butterflies that are fragments of Guthix's memories. It is probable that a wisp with a fragment of a memory could come into contact with the remains of something and think itself to be animalistic and just sort of go about how it was in life ... ie: a fish, a tree, a flower ... Kami would be a unique individual and occurrence due to the complexity of what she is ... but it would also be logical that wouldn't be the only thing that could occur)

11-Dec-2021 18:05:47 - Last edited on 11-Dec-2021 18:33:23 by Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Posts: 32,671 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
- Zen Garden - Prayer + Farming
In one of the Khan's homes or a temple, the player can find a Zen Garden.
By turning it into one of the peaceful images, the player can get XP in the skills.

- Seeker's Synapse
We know it is a giant Seeker. What we do with it is left open to the imagination
- Runecrafting by siphoning tendrils
- Dungeoneering by having to sneak around to gather materials
- Slayer with Seekers we can slay
Materials from the area could also be used in the manufacture of gunpowder

11-Dec-2021 18:05:50 - Last edited on 11-Dec-2021 18:36:11 by Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Deltaslug

Posts: 32,671 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Continued Tales of The Wushanko Isles - The Skull
Required:
- we would get the continued story of trying to recover Trader Stan's Trinket and Jacob Higgs

Possible:
- any back story to the NPCs of the area
- why gunpowder is so big here
- why the Khans are so paranoid
- helping to diffuse the tensions between the Khans and the West
- the sea orphans
- the seeker synapse

11-Dec-2021 18:06:03 - Last edited on 11-Dec-2021 18:39:45 by Deltaslug

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