I need a way for my party to get out of a certain situation!

[Little Adventurer]

Okay, this is something that's been bugging me lately about my game.


In a certain chapter, my party gets pulled into a big nasty whirlpool in the middle of the ocean whilst their ship is caught in a storm. Their ship is destroyed and they all get pulled underwater, Quintus (my Knight) having the worst time, not because he can't swim, but because his heavy armor is weighing him down immensely. They get rescued (not before passing out though), and wake up in a hospital type area that looks very technologically modern compared to what's on the surface world. (We're talking like steampunk looking at least, Sci-Fi tileset at most) They were saved by the inhabitants of Synth (my world is music themed so everything is named as such- musical terms, instruments enc), a technologically advanced/steampunkish style city that's deep underwater and made up of all the people who've been sucked down here by the whirlpool over the years since the world's creation.


The whirlpool was formed long ago when the God known as Crescendo wept as he mourned the loss of his wife, Symphony, after a climactic battle ended in bittersweet victory. One of his tears landed in the ocean below, and formed the strong, ever flowing maelstrom.


The very first person who got sucked down into the whirlpool was an inventor type guy (have no name for him yet). He managed to survive... somehow (I don't know how yet), and made out a little base out of what was left of his ship, using his inventions to help him survive as best he could. He then proceeded to rescue people who ended up in the same situation as him, and they over time, made their own little interconnected bases until they had a flipping city on their hands! Though the inventor was proud of what he and his colleagues accomplished, he still felt more than a little sad. Though they'd staked out new lives here, he wished (and he was sure his colleagues thought the same) to return back to the surface. Unfortunately, any attempts to escape to the surface resulted in failure as the maelstrom just crushed anything within and they were in the middle of the ocean so there aren't any nearby landmasses to swim to.


The thing is... my party (whom I call The Band) ends up there eventually in the story. They HAVE to get out somehow, otherwise they'll never complete their goal, but it's quite clear that once you end up down here, you'll never return back to the surface again...


The only thing coming to mind right now is maybe finding various journal entries from the inventor long ago, and the writings about various attempts (and failures) at escaping, perhaps piecing a plan together through finding all of them. The last entry would mention his final attempt at escape. He went out into the deep blue, but never returned home...

 

[Pine Towers]

Just my 2 cents:


What happened to the creator? You mention that he tried to escape. Is this set to stone? If it is, maybe he left a crude robot, the very first, and because of the lack of skills for true AI, he copied his mind into it. So it is "he" in an old, rusty shell of the first Synth. This robot, as the original, wants to escape, but is trapped. Maybe this robot oversees everyone and if he leaves the Synth might die (or he thinks so). Maybe he is just forgotten in the ruins from where the city grew up, and can't move. After so long being there, alone, thinking and researching, wanting to leave, maybe he did found a way out that the original, flesh creator, didn't think off (this way, the original creator really died in the maelstrom). Maybe he can leave, but by doing so he knows that some evil monster might use the passage to escape to the real world (or come to the Synths, threatening to destroy the creations of the creator).


If the creator didn't died, maybe he is the one doing all the options above...


And I really dig your music-flavored style.

 

[Little Adventurer]

Wait, naming the creator's ship Synth? I never would have thought that! That does make sense, though. Gotta get the name from somewhere.


wait... No, you're talking about robots. No, I'm saying Synth is the name of the CITY, not the PEOPLE. Though I guess they gotta have a regional name. These aren't robots, they're just ordinary people who ended up like him, trapped underwater. He had no "creations" like you describe, because the inhabitants are people, real people, not synthetics. This ain't Mass Effect!  


Glad you like the style! 


I hadn't even thought about robots, mostly because I was picturing Orchestralia to be a medieval style world. Then again, Chrono Trigger's 1000 AD was kind of a mix of that while 600 AD was more medieval. Then again, not like I'm implementing time travel into my game. 


Real world? That implies it's another dimension or something. They're just underwater, man!  *rereads* Oh, you meant the bad guys. Well, I'm having my baddie show up in a different way, but I suppose I could connect it to that as well? I mean, it's part of the plot. Why even have this area, otherwise? 


Hmmm... mind if I build on this? And most likely yes, set in stone. He's long dead by the time The Band gets down there. Even if he hadn't tried to escape and his last attempt failed so spectacularly he died, these attempts would be taking place over several decades and even if he was still alive, he'd be a very old man.


Potential scenario: He tries again and again to escape, trying different ideas each time. Each time ends in failure. It's been years, the once lonely upturned shipwreck has spread out into a nice, beautiful city. 


However, as nice as everything is down here- they have pretty much everything they could need (meaning Synth functions as pretty much any other RPG Town frankly) -they, especially him, wish to return back to the surface and go home. 


He's getting old, but he's figured out some sort of new plan he wants to try out. If he fails this one, he's (personally) going to give up. So, as a backup plan, just in case he does fail, he makes the memory chip AI thing you mentioned (which btw sounds MORE high tech than what we have in modern day! Why is that considered weaker than "true AI" which can't even think like a person or have emotions at all?) earlier and sticks it into said robot you mentioned (possibly alongside all those diary entries I mentioned, though those have probably scattered around due to some sort of disaster) and leaves it in charge until he comes back. If he comes back (the robot probably gets some sort of signal of failure so it's not stuck in a loop). He never does. He died out there, alone, save for the fish. Poor guy. 


Why would the inventor's ship be ruins? I'd think, since the city was built around it, that it'd serve as like a Town Hall or Laboratory or something. Might as well put that technology to use, right?

 

[Warpmind]

Well, the easy way would be to just let the party escape through a plot hole...

More seriously, though - how about a "diving bell" contraption; a huge, air-filled bell that the party carries overhead so they can breathe on the walk back to dry land. The inventor tried it and failed for a simple reason - it needs more than one person to carry the weight as they wander across the ocean floor and up to the shore; incidentally and by random chance, the bell design needs as many people to distribute weight to as there are characters in the party...

It's a long way to walk, but it beats getting killed by the whirlpool.

As an aside, if you use this idea, perhaps you could call the inventor Toll?

 

[ksart]

Perhaps the inhabitants have invented a water breathing apparatus the allows them to wander around outside for supplies and such (they have to have had some way of connecting basses and rescuing people) but the only way to get back to the surface is through an underwater maze infested with dangerous sea creatures. Like a multi-leveled cave that eventually deposits the party on a beach somewhere.... just a quick thought.

 

[LaFlibuste]

Maybe the inhabitants were trying to build a rocket to experimentally send a first party out but they sorely lacked a key component that your party happens to have with them, so they can be amongst the first group to launch out of there?

 

[Ghost of Christmas Kloe]

You found a key to a door.


Magical dragon comes and does a pew pew.


OR it could be there was a way up to the surface using a cave-path but the other people wouldn't let him up because they blame him for the ship crash and so your party CAN get up but he couldn't because everyone was a meanie.


Earthquake? Tsunami? They might help?


Maybe you meet a monster called DUN DUN DUN or Bubble Bubble Bubble and that monster chase you and eventually blasts you back to the surface Team Rocket style!

 

[Pine Towers]

@Little Adventurer Oh, I misread so. I thought that Synths were synthetic (artificial) people (robots) that the inventor made so he wouldn't be so lone down there. Well, glad you could harvest some ideas.


@Warpmind's idea is more technologically related to your setting. The diving bell was a real artifact used.


@ksart have a classic answer: Never underestimate the usefulness of a dungeon.


@LaFlibuste suggestion is great if your party have some sort of gimmick-y device that they still don't know how it works.


@Kloe throwing around good ideas like a submachine.


Keep up the good work!

 

[resquinox]

This is how I would approach it.


If the founder of the city was genius enough to rescue all the survivors and establish an intricate city composed of interconnected biomes using only scraps and salvaged materials, then he probably had the expertise and manpower to create an escape mechanism to leave the sea. The people that he saved probably felt indebted towards him, so he would also have no problem getting assistance or compliance from the survivors to undergo his escape plan.


Therefore, I would approach it like this. Maybe the founder of the city was one of those "lonely genius" archetypes. Someone who never really contributed or interacted with society, but so desperately wanted to. A social outcast, who spent his whole life inventing gadgets and contraptions that weren't necessarily useful, yet they fulfilled his desire, or kept his wandering mind at bay or something like that. After the founder saved all the survivors, he isolated himself in his lab and went to work on devising an escape mechanism. He spent countless days working nonstop on it, and when he finally finished, he had succeeded in developing a way to leave the sea. He left his laboratory, to spread the news. It was then that he realized, that everyone here was happy. Sure they were trapped underneath the sea, but they were all content and at peace. The life-death scenario of the maelstrom changed a lot of the survivors for the better, most decided to leave behind their old woes and worries in order to pursue better lives since they viewed their survival as a second chance at life. The inventor thus decided not to tell anyone about the escape mechanism. The purpose of invention is to simplify life and create happiness by utilizing that simplification. And he had unknowingly accomplished that, his inventions unified countless survivors, he had created a peaceful utopia and he did not want to ruin it. So the founder decided, that he would not tell anyone about the escape mechanism, nor would he use it, unless it was for dire circumstances. For he realized that sometimes, it's best to live life not knowing, because knowing only causes worries. If the survivors knew of the escape, some would be frantic to leave, return to their old lives, and eventually recede back into their old habits and woes. Conflict might arise also due to competition to leave and limited escape capacity. So the inventor decided to keep everyone in the dark, because ignorance is bliss.


So the protagonists would arrive at the underwater city. They would explore and notice that although these people are trapped and isolated, they are all rather happy and content with life. Eventually they will here stories and praise of the founder, which will lead them towards the founder's laboratory/ship. If your game includes lore items/texts, then have the place littered with hints about the founder and the escape mechanism, that way people can piece together the clues themselves or perhaps look back in appreciation after learning the full story. After talking to the founder, and learning about the past, they realize that there was an escape all along and then the founder lets them leave. No need for conflict, no need for dungeons or killing monsters, just a short, pleasant arc about a once lonely inventor living a simple, fulfilling life.


I feel like this method would offer a more logical flow. This would also allow you to flesh out the founder by giving them depth, desires, and personality.

 

[Little Adventurer]

Hmm... 


@Warpmind If the diving bell needs more than one person, why the hell doesn't he test it with the other survivors beforehand? They'd want to leave just as much as he would, wouldn't they? And no, I'm not making the guy out to be a selfish golden hair who only cares about getting out himself. 


@ksart yeah, breathing apparatuses I already figured. How else would they get food or rescue people? I was picturing that there'd be an air limit though. 


Funnily enough, I do have plans for a sequence after the cutscene where they wake up. There are four people in the party- Alto, Minuet, Aria and Quintus. Yet only three of them were rescued. Quintus is still out there. Minuet, my Mage character, isn't having any of that, so she gets up, grabs a breathy thing, and runs out of the base and swims off to find him. Alone. She succeeds and rescues Quintus, though he's going to need new armor (the medical people had to take it off because it was crushing him internally as he'd sunk pretty deep due to the weight of it, and even if it wasn't, they figured it'd rust out anyway since he's gotten so wet), and he's very confused when he wakes up.


@LaFlibuste Perhaps!


@Kloe ...No. Just no. This is serious. It's not a game that's just jokey humor and nothing else. The first time mentioning DUN DUN DUN was funny, the second time... no. I'm not doing that, because it sounds immature and goofy. 


@resquinox Alternative idea: He does tell them... but they don't care anymore, and tell him what you just said. "We're happy down here. We're trapped yes, but we've made new lives here. We don't need to leave." 


And really, there wouldn't be any risk to the device, I think, provided it has seats. Let the party escape (most likely the inventor would be driving the thing, assuming it's a vehicle), then he goes back down and gets everyone else in little increments, provided they want to leave. 


What I don't get is why everyone thinks the inventor should isolate himself from everyone. If the remains of the ship is the Laboratory, you really think they're going to not use it? That's the center of their community! They use it to build new technologies, and make their lives better. Why should he be a loner? What's wrong with having him interact and feel like he belongs in this community, one that he helped create no less? After all, he didn't HAVE to help rescue all these people. He could have just left them to drown if he truly felt isolated from people.  


Also, while the overall idea sounds nice... there seems to really be no connection to the plot I have. Really, no monsters or dungeons at all? No conflict? Then why are they here? 

 

[Azurecyan]

Maybe the tear of the god was a giant droplet stone that caused the maelstrom. His final attempt may be that he found the cause and tried to do something about it, but some of his journal entries were lost because of this. The party goes in search of what is said in the journal and then they arrive to a cave or something that's sealed off. When they enter they realize the cause of it is the droplet stone and try to quell it. After quelling it, they return to the surface.

 

[Warpmind]

Hmm... 


@Warpmind If the diving bell needs more than one person, why the hell doesn't he test it with the other survivors beforehand? They'd want to leave just as much as he would, wouldn't they? And no, I'm not making the guy out to be a selfish golden hair who only cares about getting out himself.

Simple enough... The inventor misestimated the air bubble's lift factor - not necessarily so much that he'd notice right away, but enough that he'd be worn out just far enough from anywhere he could safely rest. The other inhabitants realized there was an error, but failed to convince him to redo the math. Basically, the inventor died from his own hubris, and prior to the party's arrival, nobody else could figure out the inventor's formulae. Perhaps the party can work up designs for more diving bells and some load-bearing contraptions and lead the way out and up on dry land?

 

[Oddball]

maybe they could stop the maelstorm somehow?

 

[watermark]

I think there's three directions you can go with this:


1. For Love of the City: The inventor did find a way out. HOWEVER, using this solution will only save a handful of people while wiping out the City. E.g. A rocket sub powered by overloading the City's energy reservoirs to the point of self destructing. So rather than sacrifice the city he's come to love, he chose to die with the secret. The quandary is once the heroes find his notes, will they sacrifice others to save themselves?


2. For Love of a Goddess: Since this whole thing started because of the death of Symphony. Perhaps the escape has something to do with finding a relic of the goddess to end the Maelstrom. Of course, there is another way to interpret the line "Crescendo wept as he mourned the loss of his wife, Symphony, after a climactic battle ended in bittersweet victory". Instead of death, do you mean the divine couple fought and divorced? If this is the case, then finding a way to reconcile the estranged deities could end the Maelstrom.


3. For Love of Music: The inventor was a genius, but he was no musician. Perhaps the inventor built a contraption that's missing a final critical component that has to do with music. Some critical key to unlocking Crescendo's mystery that only a master musician would know. Since your world is music themed, it might be a good idea to base your puzzles on music. A possible idea could be a specific program of navigating the Maelstrom based on an obscure song of Symphony. Perhaps it's a seemingly silly children's song that is dear to one of the heroes (which you can introduce earlier in the story) that turns out to be an ancient song of the gods, with verses that contain clues.

 

[Little Adventurer]

1. Trying to avoid something like that, actually. The tone is meant to be somewhat lighthearted for the series. Not without dark moments, but not so grim dark you can't see any hope. Kind of like the new King's Quest.


2. No, she's dead. They were fighting the villain (whom I call The Void, a primordial force that's been around since before the world began), and Symphony was mortally wounded and died. She gets revived later on in the series though, and even now, she's been rezzed (thanks to one of her daughters and humanity's sense of hope) but in a deep coma. Relics are fun though! Though that suggestion is already been said here.  


3. I think that's a good idea even past this chapter. Coincidentally, I have in my Database 7 items that are music sheets that I intend to have parts of a song on them, and finding all of them gives Alto his ultimate skill. Also, I have 7 towers on (or planned to be on) my world map. Hmmm... wonder if that's significant?  


Funnily enough, Symphony can be awoken from her coma by music/song/vibration, which is why Bards and Priests and Mages are so important in the world because they use their voices/instruments to do stuff. So if we combine the relic idea with the music puzzle idea... Maybe it'll get a reaction?


Also thought of a reason why the inventor survived initially: Rescued by fish people, and they started working together to help eachother in an alliance which has continued ever since.