I have checked everywhere, and apparently there are no prerequisites for this questline. You simply walk into the Blue Palace, and the Jarl should be holding court, when Varnius Junius is supposed to speak to the court regarding strange noises coming from the caves yadda yadda. After which, you should be able to speak to Falk Firebeard about this, and he will ask you to investigate. For me however, it never gets this far. I can talk to Firebeard, but only ask him about mundane, useless topics, again and again and again. Varnius just stands by the top of the staircase, and never moves, day or night. He never addresses the court and therefore I can never receive the quest. I have tried everything, including spawning several more Varnius's to see if any one of them would address the court, but they all wander off and do their own thing, and I wind up losing them. I have the money to buy this house and I want to very badly, plus I'm a level 30ish and I really do not feel like restarting my character... Can anyone please tell me what I can do?