Scene: Training Patrol 3 - A law enforcement veteran (QUATTA) is taking a rookie (HILLOW) out on his first real patrol. Both are patrolling a city that’s recovering from a chemical attack by a recurring villain. As they patrol, they encounter civilians trying to get their lives back on track.
EXT: LION'S ARCH STREETS - DAY
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT
(frustrated, touch of privileged arrogance)
Excuse me. I have my documentation. I’ve been verified in the
town's census, but you Lionguard won't take me back to my home.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(Grumbling, annoyed)
Ugh. Citizens. Why don't you handle this, kid?
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(Nervous)
Uh…where do you live? Um…ma'am.
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT
Postern Ward. Down the Windward lanes. I demand to be taken to
my home.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(Horrified)
Oh. I'm sorry. No one told you. Your home…It's a graveyard.
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT
(Aghast)
What?
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(shaken)
I was there, ma'am. During the attack and all. The ward got pummeled
hard. A lot of people didn't make it out. They're buried down there.
(beat)
It's not safe, ma'am. I can't let you stay there. I'm sorry,
ma'am. I wish I had better news.
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT
I…I see. You're the first person to give me a straight answer. Thank you.
(Note: You can see this scene in-game here: https://youtu.be/mOWISXM90ko?t=1m36s)
——
Scene: Training Patrol 4 - A law enforcement veteran (QUATTA) takes her assigned rookie (HILLOW) reveal a little more about themselves. Note: this follows the previous scene.
EXT: LION'S ARCH STREETS - DAY
LIONGUARD QUATTA
Frankly, some citizens...they just want to complain. They'll talk
your ears off if you let them. Anyway, not bad back there.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
I felt like I was going to puke.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
Heh. You survived Scarlet, but talking to the public scares you?
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
I...still get sick thinking about that day. I seriously thought I was gonna die.
There was this charr Lionguard. Came out of nowhere. Pulled me up and
got me out of the city. I wanted to thank him, but he was gone. I guess
he went back in to get other survivors.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(mutters under breath)
Sucker.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
What?
LIONGUARD QUATTA
Nothing. Let's move on.
(Note: You can see this scene in-game here: https://youtu.be/mOWISXM90ko?t=162)
——
Scene: Training Patrol 10 - The veteran (QUATTA) and rookie (HILLOW) law enforcement officers detain a suspected looter, but events escalate due to the veteran’s racism.
EXT: LION'S ARCH STREETS - DAY
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT (SYLVARI)
(pleading for his life)
Please. Don't hurt me. I've never stolen anything in my life.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(enraged, slowly becoming irrational)
You were casing a house. Maybe…maybe it was my house.
You know that looting’s a crime and you were gonna do it anyway.
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT (SYLVARI)
My beloved has Scarlet’s Rattle. I was exploring the city, trying
to find work to pay for medicine.
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT (SYLVARI)
(trying to make them believe)
I heard of a treatment being made, in private. Expensive.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(sigh) Aw, crap. Magnus told us about this in the morning briefing.
Scammers promise a cure and the desperate pay everything they got.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(snapping)
Shut up. For all we know, this one is another Scarlet, just getting
ready to kill us.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(trying to talk sense)
This guy's a victim. He wasn't going to take anything.
LION’S ARCH RESIDENT (SYLVARI)
(pleading for his life)
Yes! Yes! I wasn't looting. I'd never do so. You have to believe me. Please!
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(growling in rage)
We lost hundreds, maybe thousands. This city stinks like an open grave.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(stammering, trying to gather courage)
St…stand down.
Quatta draws her weapon to strike down a helpless citizen.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(shouting)
And it's all because of you and your damn kind!
Hillow draws his weapon against his superior.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(bellowing with authority)
I said: stand down!
A beat. Quatta puts away her weapon, followed by Hillow. Quatta is taken aback. She seems to shrink in her armor. She knows she's gone too far.
LIONGUARD RECRUIT HILLOW
(regaining composure)
Okay then, let's head back to the fort and figure this out.
Quatta, Hillow, and the resident walk to the Lionguard headquarters together.
LIONGUARD QUATTA
(an aside)
You're lucky my partner is here.
LION'S ARCH RESIDENT (SYLVARI)
I am.
(Note: You can see this scene in-game here: https://youtu.be/mOWISXM90ko?t=7m46s)
—-
Scene: Mad King Thorn versus Prince Thorn - Tantrums. The specter of an insane royal tyrant is reunited with the spirit of his bloodthirsty son (whom the father condemned to death as part of a twisted punishment for the son's improper use of cruelty while alive), proving that family dysfunction can survive the grave.
EXT: MAD KING'S LABYRINTH – TWILIGHT
The manifest spirits of MAD KING THORN and BLOODY PRINCE EDRICK "EDDIE" THORN face off against each other on this battleground. The Mad King stands regal opposite his feral, sneering offspring. Both are gigantic from the dark magic that flows through this realm of the damned. They loom, arguing, over the players doing battle with the nightmarish creatures in the maze with them. The pair have no concern over the players and would rather parry with each other.
MAD KING THORN
(mocking)
I forgot how much your little tantrums bored me, Eddie.
BLOODY PRINCE THORN
(outraged at the slight)
It's Edrick! Edrick the Bloody! Let's see how bored you'll be when I tear
you limb from limb, you maniac.
MAD KING THORN
(double the mockery)
Ooh, getting all emotional, I see. Why don't you run home to momma and cry.
BLOODY PRINCE THORN
(snide)
I can't. You beheaded her.
MAD KING THORN
(fondly)
Best birthday ever. What about your stepmother, Estrella?
BLOODY PRINCE THORN
(first line cold, second line upset)
You put her in a coffin filled with rats and bumped it into the sea!
Henrietta was the only one who was kind to me, and you killed her, too.
MAD KING THORN
No, my massacring little moppet. That was you. (laugh) You decided to
play Pin the Tail on the Drake with her.
(beat)
Of course, you literally nailed her hands to the drake. (laugh)
BLOODY PRINCE THORN
You...stop. Stop laughing!
(unsure)
I...I did that? I remember the hammer. All that blood.
MAD KING THORN
(chiding, then warm at the end)
Oh, you never liked her. And she bored me. Besides, I was proud
of you for that.
BLOODY PRINCE THORN
(surprised)
Really?
MAD KING THORN
(sticking the knife in)
No. You've always been a major disappointment.
(Note: You can see this scene in-game here: https://youtu.be/UJxij4tXhwg?t=84)
——
Note: This excerpt is from the playable VR experience Wonderfall: Tale of Two Realms, now at the Pacific Science Center.
WONDERFALL – CHAPTER ONE, SCENE ONE
EXT. VILLAGE OUTSKIRTS – DUSK
This is the fabled golden time, when the setting sun gives everything a warm, amber hue. The village ahead – Tammerdun – is a quaint, idyllic place calling to mind a small European-style town from a fairytale. Crickets chirp, the wind blows lightly, a gentle evening in the making. A series of gas lamps light the way from the forest edge, where the player, is to the town itself, almost inviting the player to come closer.
As the player approaches, they can see faded posters on the walls, artifacts of this world. “Drink TINK: The choice for thirsty inventors” and “Mages Muffins: That magical taste, now with more sparklefruit” along with propaganda posters denoting a time of recent conflict. “Help our wizards at war! Donate your spare spell components today!’” and “Finish the fight! Join the 157th Tinker Division today”. Among these is a fresh poster in the style of a Wanted poster. The face is of a wizened humanoid with evil eyes and harsh features. The poster reads: “Beware Balor! Wizard War Criminal still at large!”
SFX: Thunder
The sky darkens. The player can hear a crackling in the air, along with the murmur of people and life coming out of second-story windows.
VILLAGER 1
Oh, she’s gone and done it this time.
VILLAGER 2
Don’t like the look of that at all.
VILLAGER 3
It’s just like the Wizard War all over again.
VILLAGER 4
Look out! Runaway cart down the alley.
A rumbling in the distance, different from the noises earlier. It’s rushing toward us from the alley off to the side. The villagers who spoke earlier all shut their window shutters.
Zoom! Mere inches from the player, a self-propelled wagon rushes by from the alley to the right (going left) with a DRIVER on top clad in a cowl, hood, and overalls. The wagon is laden with boxes and looks like a cross between a Wild West stagecoach and a Jeep turned inside out, laced with pipes and a box on the back that glows with a purplish magical energy that’s the engine. The cart zooms by the alleyway hitting a bump and slamming to the ground causing crates and barrels to leap from the back and crash in the opening to the upper village.
SFX: Crash.
When the player turns the corner, they will see a large courtyard. Trees, stone pathways. In the middle of the circular courtyard, a large fountain with a memorial to a man and a woman atop. Nearby is a spire of metal that’s thrumming with the same sort of purplish magical energy in the wagon.
SFX: Hiss
Now crashed into the center of the fountain, the wagon hisses, like a car with an overheated radiator. Boxes from the wagon are strewn everywhere.
SFX: Rhythmic humming, broken by crackling energy sparks.
The metal spire is sparkling with magical energy. It’s not stable, sending arcs of electricity everywhere. Parts are rattling off. The sky above darkens and becomes more turbulent, reacting to the spire’s action.
The DRIVER gets out of the crashed wagon and begins to circle the malfunctioning spire, making adjustments to the machine tower.
DRIVER
C’mon, work. The capacitors are working. The crystals are aligned.
Oh, the arcanic coil. Ha, I see you…
The DRIVER produces tools from a belt and opens a panel and starts to tinker under a spire panel.
SFX: Electric sounds and sparks.
DRIVER
There. That should do it.
SFX: A horrific metal-grinding-against-metal sound.
DRIVER
Oh, come on. What’s wrong with you? Work, blast you. Work!
At the last “work,” the DRIVER bangs a wrench against the spire in frustration. A bolt of energy arcs from the spire to the DRIVER.
SFX: ZAP!
DRIVER
Ahhh!
In a flurry, the DRIVER shakes off the arc and flips back her hood revealing ALAENA, a 13-year-old girl in dirty mechanic’s gear and welding goggles. Alaena kicks the spire with a intensity that seems a little extreme.
From behind the player, we hear shutters from a nearby house open. A booming voice pierces the air.
VOICE
Alaena? Alaena? Is that you? What was that?
Alaena has turned back to the spire. She frantically is rewiring cables and making adjustments.
ALAENA
I can fix this. I can fix all of this!
VOICE
Is that my cart?
ALAENA
(to herself)
He told me this would work. I followed the instructions. Why isn’t
this working?
VOICE
I liked that cart.
ALAENA
(looking over her shoulder)
I’ll… uh, fix that, too.
ALAENA continues to work on the spire. Throughout she’s been muttering to herself.
ALAENA
It should be working just fine, but the magic conduits are operating beyond capacity. They’re drawing way too much energy from the Ether. It’s shouldn’t be like this. What? What did I miss?
VOICE
Dear heavens, what happened to the sky?
VILLAGER 1
It’s that niece of yours. She’s going to kill us all.
VOICE
Mind your business, Ms. Penrose. My niece knows that she’s doing. Isn’t that
right, Alaena?
VOICE
Alaena?
VILLAGER 1
See? She’ll doom us all she will. It’s a shame her parents weren’t alive to see—
VOICE and ALAENA (in union)
Mind your business, Ms. Penrose!
VILLAGER 1
Well, I never. I remember when the Desprix family had respected mages and tinkers in their ranks.
SFX: A shutter slamming shut.
VOICE
Alaena? Is that thing safe?
ALAENA
Of course. My spires on Mountaintop and Golden Shore are—
SFX: In the distance we hear a pair of succeeding explosions. We see in the sky a pair of purple energy pillars rise. The spire in the square begins to get louder and unstable.
ALAENA
Oh, no. No, no, no. Please. This can’t happen now. I’m so close.
VOICE
You and your little friends there. Come inside. Now!
Alaena breaks from her spell and notices the player for the first time. She regards the player with a touch of surprise, like she’s caught off guard. She firms up.
ALAENA
Uncle, I don’t know these… strangers.
(to player)
You, leave now. You have no right to be here. You’ll only get in the—
SFX: The spire reaches a fever pitch. A bright purple flash engulfs the square and envelops the player. When the light fades, the player has a distinct purple glow around them, a swirling torrent of magic energy. The player’s hearing should be distorted.
The player’s vision clears. The square is a mess. The wagon is overturned. Windows are broken. Trees are knocked down. However, random boxes from the wagon are floating in a purple energy field. Broken branches drift by, also wrapped in a purple magic hue.
The player’s hearing clears.
VOICE
Alaena! Dear maker, no! You, help her!
The player sees Alaena trapped under some spire debris. A leg and an arm are pinned and she’s on her stomach, unable to roll over or manipulate her free arm to get leverage. She’s trapped such a way that the player can’t get to her, but the player should be able to see the trapping pieces glow with the same purple magic color that’s making the player glow.
The player goes to Alaena, and this begins the first ACTION POINT.
ALAENA
How did you survive? What…? Are you glowing?
SFX: ALAENA makes effort noises, trying to free herself. The spire hums and crackles.
ACTION POINT 1
Using their VR controls, the player will manipulate the objects off Alaena. During this time, Alaena will say certain lines to prompt the player.
If trapped and no pieces are removed
ALAENA
You… have that same glow as some of these pieces.
Can’t move.
If I could only turn over.
How are you still alive?
If trapped and player starts to move a piece
ALAENA
Finally. Wait… how are you doing that?
Just a little more.
Almost… free.
If trapped and one piece is removed.
ALAENA
Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.
Ugh… if you don’t mind hurrying up.
More pieces. Move them.
If trapped and a piece is put on Alaena
ALAENA
Ouch!
You’re not helping.
You’re making things worse!
Once all pieces are moved
ALAENA
Okay, nothing broken. That was close.
ACTION POINT 1 ENDS
SFX: The door to the cottage belonging to the VOICE opens. From the inside…
VOICE
Get in here, now. All of you. Get in here before your luck runs out.
ALAENA hobbles her way into the house. The player should follow suit. If not the following lines should play as a prompt.
VOICE
You, stranger. Get in here.
It’s safer in here than it is out there.
What are you waiting for? Come inside.
Please, come inside. It’s safer in here.
Come in before the spire goes haywire again.
Look, I promise I won’t bite. Just come in!
Get inside before you get zapped again!
If it matters, we have tea and cake in here.