Plot Outline

The plot, as of May 15th.

1. Intro
   1. Attacked by robbers
      1. Setting: Desert outside of main town
      2. Heroes get jumped by highway robbers (battle)
         1. We'll see these guys again later, so scene does serve some purpose, plus introduces battle mode.
      3. Robbers defeated and flee. Heroes continue on to town.
      4. Atmosphere: A bit comical, lots of banter from the characters.
   2. In town
      1. Player is free to roam around town a bit, but mini games won't be available this early in game. (I'm guessing.)
      2. ??? Anything else interesting in town? I don't know.
      3. Player will eventually end up in the saloon.
   3. Meeting father dude
      1. While in saloon, Wolfwood is approached by man who wishes to make a confession... of a robbery he hasn't committed yet. (Played a bit comically.) He explains that his daughter has been kidnapped and that he can't afford the ransom. Kidnappers want plant parts, which he had, but they have been stolen. The authorities can't help because they're tied up working on catching the highway robbers plaguing the area.
      2. Vash is sympathetic both to the father, and to those who are apparently without power. He wants to collect the plant parts and talks the rest into it. They suspect the highway robbers are the ones who took the parts, and head out to find them.
2. Plant part 1 – Caves
   1. Cave entrance/Smuggler's cave
      1. They trail the robbers to a cave being used as a smugglers cave. (How, I'm not really sure.) There are some comic reactions to the robbers seeing Vash and co. again.
      2. Part of the cave has been ransacked by a sandworm who came from further underground. It snatched up some stuff and horded it away, like a dragon with it's treasure, including the plant parts that were stolen. Further inward, then!
   2. Cave system
      1. The caves consist mostly of navigation puzzles, the overarching one being a “shoots and ladders” set-up in which some places you slide on sand down onto a lower level or lower ledge, while other places allow you to climb back up. (I don't know if we're planning on splitting up the team at all.)
      2. Not far into the caves is an injured robber, which the gang gives aid to. He, in turn, gives some kind of info/puzzle tip/something useful (lantern?)/I don't know.
      3. Along the way, Vash needs to give some indication that he's picking up something amiss. One of the plant parts is giving off some kind of frequency/vibration/whatever, that attracted the worm to it and Vash is picking up on it, too. (I don't know how aware Vash is, if he's just like, “Do you guys here that? What is that?” or if he's all, “There's plant technology THIS WAY! I can tell!”)
   3. Sandworm
      1. They find the sandworm curled up in his cavern. There seems to be a whole in the roof where he's been eating anything that falls in. They spot one of the plant parts, but the sandworm is hostile and won't let them near. They have no choice but to fight it.
      2. Battle the sandworm. At the end of the fight, Vash calls a halt, saying there's no need to actually kill it, and they should be able to snatch up the plant part, which they do. They agree that they'll have to cut their losses on the other parts and find them elsewhere. Then they use the sandworm as a step-stool to get out via the hole in the ceiling. (YOLO!)
   4. Return to town
      1. The game takes the characters back into town again. The girls say they think they know where to get another part: there's a woman in a neighboring town who's wealthy and collects plant related paraphernalia as a hobby. All of her stuff is insured under Bernardelli's, which is how the girls know about it. After the sandworm, the boys think this sounds like a nice safe idea. Vash knows of an abandoned plant nearby and the boys decide to head that way for the final part.
      2. Mini games are open at this point, if they weren't already.
3. Plant part 2 – Thief
   1. Woman's house
      1. Meryl and Milly go to a neighboring town and find the woman's large house (or flat out mansion). They talk to the woman, who's hesitant to part with the piece, especially since someone's been trying to break into her house lately, probably to rob her, (or they already have robbed her and she suspects they'll be back) which has made her feel a little protective of her things. Meryl and Milly offer to help her with her problem.
      2. Are there other things to do in the town or her mansion? I have no idea.
   2. ???
      1. We aren't totally sure what goes here. Probably some kind of stakeout in the mansion. I'm not really sure what kind of puzzles and stuff would accompany that, though. Another thought is to have a mini detective game, where the girls track down who the thief is.
   3. Catching the thief
      1. Not really sure about this part either, only that the girls will battle the thief to catch him for the climax.
      2. Once the thief is caught, the grateful woman offers to give Meryl and Milly the plant part they were interested in.
4. Plant part 3 – Abandoned Plant
   1. Abandoned Town
      1. I'm not really sure if anything really happens in the town itself. I just thought it would be a cool place to put... something...
   2. Abandoned Power Plant
      1. Full of puzzles that are more tech-oriented, such as cracking passwords to access old computers, finding switches to open doors, etc. There may also be some tricky navigation, in which parts of the place have crumbled so that debris blocks the way, and an alternate route has to be found.
      2. At some point, Vash and Wolfwood will split up, and play will jump back and forth between the two. For example, there may be something Wolfwood needs to do in his location that will unlock a door in Vash's location. Then Vash must do something to allow Wolfwood to progress.
      3. Once the plant part is found, the plant becomes unstable and starts collapsing. It might be triggered by something the characters do. For example, perhaps their pathway is blocked by debris, and Wolfwood decides to clear a path with his rocket launcher, which turns out to be a bad idea.
   3. Side-scroller escape from plant
      1. The climax of this adventure is a side-scrolling segment with a fixed speed in which Vash, who's separated from Wolfwood in the confusion, must race out of the crumbling plant while avoiding debris. Once out of the plant, he's rejoined by Wolfwood, who found a safer way out. Both relieved that the other is okay, they head back to town.
5. Climax
   1. Finding the Rendezvous
      1. The gang regroups in town. They ensure that all the pieces have been collected and find that the ransom note gives a clue to the rendezvous location where they are to meet the kidnappers.
      2. Again, the player is free to roam town and play mini games if they wish.
      3. There's one final puzzle as they use the clue to find the location just outside of town. It reveals a formerly hidden hide-out of some kind. Within are three kidnappers, the girl, and a plant.
   2. Final Battle
      1. The kidnappers reveal that they've rigged the plant with some kind of weapon. Claiming that they were without power and needed the parts for their plant was a lie. The parts are needed to complete the weapon, which they will now test on Vash and co.
      2. Vash attempts to communicate telepathically with the plant, but is unable to help her. A battle ensues.
      3. During the battle, Vash and co. must attack the kidnappers while withstanding the attacks of the plant's weapon. Once a kidnapper is taken down, the player must aim for the equipment behind them to destroy the weapon. As an added challenge, there may be some kind of force field, also being powered by the plant, that blocks two of the kidnappers at any given time. Once all three kidnappers are taken down and the equipment has been damaged, then the weapon is rendered useless and the battle is won.
   3. Falling Action
      1. The girl is rescued and returned to her father. I don't know, maybe there's a little scene here or something with some final dialogue.
      2. The End. Fin. El Final. Roll credits.