Pre Launch:Murmur

From Hellgatewiki.com

Murmur is an NPC found in (at least) the first three towns in Hellgate: London. Murmur doesn't give any quests that we saw during our play time. He comments on all of them though, in humorous, somewhat crazy fashion, and he follows you from town to town, ALA Deckard Cain in Diablo II. If Murmur has some larger purpose than providing a familiar face and making wacky comments, we didn't see it in our play testing time.

Ivan Sulic posted some full NPC conversations in a forum thread some months ago, and they gave us our first look at how the NPCs talk in HGL. Here's how Murmur talks when you ask him about the first quest you receive in a game.

I'm not the one you should be reporting to, friend. I know you've only just arrived in this new and wondrous place and would like very much to absorb each putrid smell and slimy detail, but I compel you to report to [PLAYER CLASS NPC] prior to dallying in the grace of my company.

Surely the information you hold is of some importance. Surely it must be told to someone of equal importance. And that, friend, would not be me. Try [PLAYER CLASS NPC] instead.

Ivan posted the dialogue as it is in the game code, and obviously we'll see it with the bracketed commands filled in appropriately. So Murmur tells you to speak to an NPC of your character's class to advance your quest. We don't know the names of all the Covent Garden Station NPCs yet, but from what Murmur says if you're character is a Cabalist you'll talk to the Cabalist NPC, and the same if you are a Hunter or a Templar. The second block of conversation is what Murmur says if you ask him about the same quest item a second time; he's a bit more terse and to the point, helping you along if you haven't figured it out already on your own.

Here's what Murmur says a bit later, when you complete a quest by returning a box of items to him.

Ooh! Let's see what kind of fabulousness our sponsors have decided is in dire need of escort.

Batteries. Fuel Mods. Bullets. Surprisingly well-preserved Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Miscellaneous Demon parts...

Well, a fine lot of lame this is.

Wait... What's this? A relic? An artifact? An unknown piece of technology!?! And look, it comes with a USB 6.0 cable! How fortuitous!

Let's practice science and see what happens when I jam it into your PDA!

It would appear X marks the spot for you, friend. If only you weren't previously obligated to ferry rubbish back to Covent Garden Station...

Truly, the garbage man gig is for suckers. If [PLAYER CLASS NPC] is ever to recognize your accomplishments, you'll need to develop skills not related to holding crates. So off to the big shiny X with you! Find out where this random USB 6.0 enabled machine has pointed us.

I'll take your box of sandwiches and assorted trash to Covent Garden Station if it'll make you happy. Then we can meet there later.

All of this text will be more interesting in the context of the game, of course.

[[category:NPCs]]