Here's an idea I originally posted on Giovanni/HannahTheUsulFan's HATIC discord, but I think it deserves to be discussed here because it will also affect the HATPC Reborn campaign if I go with it.
The general idea is to incorporate HATPCR into the HATIC story and add a third game based on another event in the HATIC storyline, thus creating a connected trilogy of Hannah games:
(1) Hannah and the Pirate Caves Reborn
(2) Hannah and the Desert Caves (or something of the sort)
(3) Hannah and the Ice Caves Reborn (or whatever we end up calling it)
This post is gonna be long, so consider that your TL;DR. If you do want the full scoop, here goes:
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First of all, this whole storyline is heavily based on the HATIC storyline comic on Neopets. I highly recommend you check it out. Heavily featured in the storyline is the character Kanrik, who doesn't actually appear in either of the original games, but will have a larger role in the proposed trilogy, so pay attention to him. Here it is (requires flash):
http://www.neopets.com/winter/plot_hic.phtml?chapter=1
Here's a synopsis that hits the relevant major points in case you didn't read it or need a recap:
(1) Galem, leader of the thieves guild, wants a particular treasure and sends his thieves to try to get it. Kanrik is one of those thieves.
(2) Hannah boasts about her exploits in the pirate caves in the tavern, while Kanrik overhears.
(3) Kanrik approaches Hannah with the map to Galem's treasure and tells Hannah it's a map to a cure for his dying village.
(4) Hannah and Kanrik set off to the lost desert to explore the ruins that the map pertains to.
(5) The explore the ruins, which contain traps and such
(6) Hannah accidentally steps on a hidden button which curses her and she falls off the walkway, but grabs onto the edge.
(7) She calls to Kanrik to help her, but he refuses and she falls into the pit.
(8) Kanrik and some other thieves take the treasure Galem is after, a sarcophagus. Meanwhile, Hannah conveniently stumbles upon a big red gem deeper in the ruins.
(9) Hannah gets out and finds a doctor who sends her to terror mountain because the plot requires it. Wait, actually Hannah decides to go to terror mountain on her own... and IDK exactly why. Not important, really. The plot requires it.
(10) Hannah passes out in the snow
(11) Armin finds and rescues her
(12) Kanrik finds out that the sarcophagus contains a "great beast" and releases it to try to take control of the thieves guild.
(13) He fails and is exiled to Terror Mountain while Galem teams up with the beast and they set off to Terror Mountain together, because at the heart of the mountain is a really big red gem that the beast wants to destroy and Galem wants. BTW that gem is keeping all of Armin's people alive or something. It's important, mkay?
(14) Kanrik stumbles across Hannah and Armin... and they end up teaming up because reasons
(15) They find their way to the heart of the mountain at the same time as Galem and the beast tunnel in.
(16) Big fight
(17) During the big fight, Hannah plugs the red gem she found earlier (which is the keystone to the heart of the mountain because plot) into the heart of the mountain and Armin's people wake up and they help out.
(18) Good guys win, yay!
(19) Oh, BTW Galem is dead and Kanrik becomes head thief, and Hannah's curse gets cured.
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You can probably already see where I'm going with that 3rd game added into the middle there - plot points 5 through 8 take place in a system of underground ruins in the Lost Desert that are riddled with traps and seem right up Hannah's alley in terms of game material. That game would feature Kanrik as an NPC who helps out Hannah for the first part of the game, then betrays her and leaves partway through, leaving Hannah to fend for herself in the later part of the game.
As for the full proposed storyline (including changes to HATPC's story, here goes:
(1) Armin's people are frozen in the mountain, as before. Unlike before, he knows about the keystone that will awaken his people, and HE has the treasure map to the desert ruins, not Galem/Kanrik.
(2) Armin seeks out aid to find the keystone. He comes to Kanrik in the tavern where Hannah works to ask for his help.
(3) Hannah overhears and volunteers to help. Thus we get the 3 major players together right off the bat.
(4) They set off together on a merchant ship to sail for the Lost Desert. However, Kanrik secretly hires a pirate ship to waylay the merchant vessel so he can take the map for himself, since he wants the treasure for himself and is the traitorous sort.
(5) The pirate raid goes off as planned and Hannah, Armin, and Kanrik are all captured by the pirates.
(6) Of course, Kanrik, being the one who hired them, gets released. He heads to the cell where Armin is held to seize his treasure map, but Armin doesn't have it because Hannah was borrowing it to examine it when the ship was attacked. So Kanrik heads to Hannah's cell instead.
(7) He arrives at the cell where Hannah was held only to find that she has picked the lock and escaped into the caves.
[HATPC Reborn happens]
(8) Hannah eventually escapes from the pirate caves and heads back to the tavern where she finds Kanrik.
(9) Kanrik says that the pirates eventually released him and Armin, that Armin went back to Terror Mountain to tend to his people, and that they should head to the dersert ruins without him. Hannah, of course, doesn't know that he's a traitor at this point, so they set off together.
(10) When they get into the ruins and get to the sarcophagus, Kanrik pushes Hannah off the edge. The whole curse subplot is kinda pointless so imma just ignore it. This happens partway through Hannah and the Desert Caves (or whatever we're gonna call it)
(11) Hannah, still in possession of the map, further explores the ruins in search of the keystone and finds it, then finds her way out. This is the second part of Hannah and the Desert Caves.
(12) Meanwhile, Kanrik grabs the sarcophagus, returns to the thieves guild, and attempts to overthrow the leader roughly as before.
(13) In the ensuing chaos, Armin, who was held in the thieves guild's custody since Kanrik transferred him there, escapes.
(14) Unlike in the original story, Kanrik succeeds and takes control of the thieves guild.
(15) He sets off for the heart of the mountain with the beast because a giant red gem sounds like a good haul to him.
(16) After Hannah escapes from the desert caves, she heads off to Terror Mountain to find Armin, and seeing as he's escaped from the thieves guild, they meet up.
(17) They set off to find their way to the heart of the mountain
[HATIC Reborn happens]
(18) When they find their way to the heart of the mountain, Kanrik and his thieves have also found there way there, with the beast in tow. Kanrik's thieves move to grab the heart/gem and the beast turns on them.
(19) Hannah sneaks in during the chaos and slots the keystone into the heart.
(20) Armin's people wake up, and together they drive off the thieves and defeat the beast
I think that this story
* Is cleaner than the original
* Incorporates HATPC, HATIC, and the new game into one overarching story
* Provides a better character for Armin since he's introduced sooner and instigates the story (Instead of Galem, who is basically written out of this version)
* Makes Kanrik into the villain he deserves to be rather than the guy who betrays everyone and then sorta gets redeemed because reasons
But I want to know what YOU think. So let me know.