Scripted events

Scripted events are brief moments of story or action, viewed almost like a movie within the game. These usually show monsters or NPCs interacting in unusual ways, and they may be instrumental to the game, or just a moment of eye candy or extra plot info. Most scripted events are part of quests and missions, and those are described in the quests themselves.

There were no scripted events in Diablo 2 that weren't part of larger quests, but such things as the character speaking to Izual's ghost after the battle, or the Countess' taunting dialogue are examples of (very simple) scripted events seen in D2. The scripted events are far more intricate and common in Diablo 3 than in previous games in the series.

Known Scripted Events

Scripted events in Diablo III have been seen in gameplay movies or played through in demo versions of the game at public events. See the scripted events category for a full listing, or click the links below.

There are scripted events seen as part of every quest and mission in Diablo 3, even though some of them are just a few seconds of dialogue from an NPC.

We're not including such common events as the character uttering a short line of dialogue upon completing a quest, as they did after many of the quests in Diablo I and Diablo II. ("Let there be light." after clearing the Den of Evil, for instance.) This happens constantly in Diablo 3, and isn't really worthy of including in the wiki, this far in advance of the game's release.

WWI 2008 Gameplay Movie

Though the following events have been seen in action, that's not a guarantee they'll remain in the final game. These elements are just as much subject to editing or outright removal as anything else in the game, during the development process.

• Trapped Wraith Room. A room with a treasure chest turns into a trap, when four Ghostly Orbs appear and begin emitting Wraiths.

• Rescue Cain The Barbarian finds and rescues Deckard Cain in the dungeon, along with his two NPC archer protectors.

• Siegebreaker snatch. The huge monster called the Siegebreaker reaches through a wall and pulls an NPC to his doom.

• Thousand Pounder Summoned. Dancing vestal virgins are sacrificed to pull the Thousand Pounder forth from the hells.

• Goatman Shaman Freeze Attack. A Goatman Shaman uses a long-lasting freezing attack to immobilize a Barbarian and Witch Doctor.

Blizzcon 2008 Gameplay Movie

• Skeleton King Summoned The return of the Skeleton King's crown causes him to awake and arise. This event was playable in the BlizzCon demo.

BlizzCon 2008 Playable Demo

Players who got some hands-on time at BlizzCon 2008 encountered a variety of scripted events.

• Basement Grinder. A short but gruesome scripted event unfolds shortly after a new character enters New Tristram, when an NPC is yanked into a basement and messily devoured by some unseen demon.

• Despairing Ghost. The ghost of a woman can be seen wandering around the village, wailing and sobbing over her daughter's lost doll. This is part of the Little Girl Lost quest.

• Zombie Gnawed Villager. The player found a man lying near the entrance to the Tristram Cathedral, with three zombies gnawing on him. When the zombies were approached or attacked, many more of them came tunnelling up out of the ground. After killing them all, the dying villager became clickable, and he would gasp out a few words of warning about the returning Skeleton King. This event marks the start of the quest called The Skeleton King and is clearly an homage to the dying villager/Butcher Quest from Diablo I.

• Conversing Cultists. Once in the dungeons below Tristram, the player was able to see two cultists speaking about a lost item they were trying to find for some nefarious purpose. This was part of the quest The Skeleton King.

• Rescue the Captain. A mob of zombies was seen swarming over a fallen NPC. When the player killed the undead the NPC stood up, unharmed, and asked the player to help him find the rest of his patrol. This event marked the beginning of the Escort Mission quest.

• Four Ghost Towers. As the player approached the Skeleton King's throne, his spirit appeared in a room with four towers. He told the player not to come any further, then faded away through the floor, after causing the four towers to start emitting different skeletons at a terrifying rate. This was part of the Skeleton King Quest.

• Skeleton King Summoned. The return of the Skeleton King's crown causes him to awake and arise. This event was also shown in the BlizzCon 2008 gameplay movie. This was part of the quest The Skeleton King.

BlizzCon 2009 Playable Demo

Players who got some hands-on time at BlizzCon 2009 (or who played the same build at other gaming shows, including PAX and GamesCom) saw a lot of scripted events, but almost all included in the quests. It seemed, comparing Blizzcon 2008 to 2009, that the game designers had spent the past year incorporating all of the scripted events into quests, instead of having so many of them free-standing in the dungeons. Perhaps the Act One scripted events from Blizzcon 2008 were rough drafts or early efforts, or the scripted events were being put in faster than the quest designers could find ways to incorporate them?

Whatever the case, there was just one obvious scripted event in the entire Blizzcon 2009 demo, that was not part of a quest. It's described below. Click the links to the quests to read more about them; almost every Blizzcon 2009 quest did have some scripted events incorporated into it.

Sleeping Fallen

A random event that spawned on the The Howling Plateau about half the time. This one can also be seen in the BlizzCon 2009 gameplay movie.

The setting is the ruins of a house, with just a few walls still standing. Players are directed there, if they approach from the south, by one or two wounded, dying humans lying in the sand. These NPCs are clickable, and when poked they deliver gasping, horror movie style last words, “The demons, they were... eating... us!”

Following the trail of the dead, the character soon finds a small square surrounded by ruined buildings. Sleeping off their feast are a large pack of Fallen, all lying scattered around the square, comical little trails of “Zzz” rising up from their heads. When your character enters this area, the Fallen wake up and attack immediately, but they’re as easy to slaughter as ever, so your character should make short work of them.

When the Fallen are all dead, the few remaining humans can be clicked and freed, and they all say something like, “I thought we were doomed!” Before running out into the scorching, trackless wastelands without food or water. Good luck, boys.

Blizzcon 2009 Quests

Virtually all of these contained some type of scripted event.

• Find Alcarnus
• Blood Money
• Stranded
• The Lost Girl
• Alesar’s Pendant
• The Collapsing Tomb
• The Lost Wagon
• The Necromancer's Book
• A Miner's Gold
• The Idol of Rygnar