... at the end of every questline.

OK, maybe it's not that bad, but I'm getting slightly annoyed at the frequency with which quest-related NPCs are found lying face down in a pool of their own blood.

The one that set me off most recently was the mill east of Riften (can't remember the name). There's a woman and her son there, and the husband is missing. When you ask about it, the wife is mad at the guy for leaving, says to Oblivion with the bastard, and you get a quest to find him (which struck me as odd... it's not like she wants him back in the first place,.... but anyway, cool, a quest).

So I go to Obvious Bandit Hideout #176 and fight/sneak past bandits. I notice a secret door and think, stupidly, for a split second, "Great! I'll rescue this guy and we'll get out of here! Just hold on dude, I'm --"

Oh. Right. Face down, pool of blood.

So I guess my "quest" now is to break the news to the widow. Which is fine, and I wouldn't mind if it didn't seem to happen so often in this game (and Oblivion, for that matter). You get a quest to find so-and-so, and surprise! so-and-so has been tortured and killed. To death.

It's just starting to get so predictable. What's wrong with a good old fashioned rescue mission once in a while? I know, I know, they'd need to write more script, more voice acting, more AI stuff to figure out, but come on.

"You know what's wrong with Skyrim these days?"

Yes, Mr. Battle-born. Yes I do.

I know that feel, bro.

Almost every single quest involves either selling your soul to a daedra cult, digging up someone's corpse, or killing them yourself. It's kind of depressing and it makes it hard to roleplay.

Agree 100 percent. There's another location where you can find evidence of things appear to have recently happened. Search around to save the individuals - nope everyone is dead. I've only done one "rescue" quest where the victim was still alive. I must be missing something!

I can only recall one quest that approximates a rescue mission. It involves the Argonian Deeketheus (or something) trapped in Darkwater Crossing, I believe. But AFAIK, you don't find out that he's missing... you just stumble upon him in the dungeon. At least it allows you to feel a bit heroic, except that you don't have any reason to go in looking for him in the first place...

You have to rescue the Grey-Mane kid. That dude is still alive.

I agree though. Lots of dead people as quest actors.

Yep, I thought that was fun. Shed more light on the Thalmor!

That's true - I forgot about the Greymane guy.

There is something unsatisfying about that questline, too, though. I mean, you rescue him... and never see him again. He stays in hiding forever. His mother isn't exactly happy.

Oh, and one of the worst offenders is the quest for the old alchemist lady in Solitude. My daughter joined the Imperials, she says, but I haven't heard from her in a long time. Talk to the captain of the guard, she says. I think I'm off on an epic journey to find out what happened and make an old woman happy.

Nah. Captain Aldis knows she's dead but isn't enough of a man to break the news to the old lady himself. So he sends me, a totally unknown civilian, to do his dirty work.

It's like the devs had a quota of crying mothers they needed to fill.

Well, there's infinite radiant companion rescue missions where the damsels in distress are always alive when you get to them.

I can top your experience with the Heartwood Mill quest. I found the husband before I came acorss the wife, but it started the quest anyway. I get to the Mill and start walking towards Grosta, a dragon attacks, she runs off, and during the fracas I get the message that the quest is failed. That's right - a hundred feet or so up the road she'd been killed.

"Crying mothers and bratty "essential" children are what flows through Skyrim, friend. ...crying mothers and bratty "essential" children."

Ooh, ouch!

But hey, one way or another the quest is out of your journal, right?

I didn't know about the Companions rescue missions. Odd, since one of my characters is Harbinger and all....

Well.. There are Companions Radiant quests where you gotta go save some random NPC who was kidnapped..

And there is also the quest to find Derkeethus.. I mean there are still quests where the target NPC is still alive.