I have to agree with the OP, I wish there was a way to tell Molag Bal to **** off and desecrate his shrine further, or would it be consecrate? (little joke about "consecrate" being a good spell in dnd and desecrate being an evil spell )

I don't like being forced down a path, even if I'm being forced by the Daedric Lord of domination. A few words as to why; rebellion, uprising, liberation. We should have the option to oppose the Daedric Prince of Domination like we can with Vaermina. There are some daedric quests that I don't mind being forced down (like Sheogorath or Meridia for example because Sheogorath makes me lmfao and Meridia isn't really evil.)

Not sure either maybe together you find a way and it leads towards a anti-Molag Bal version of house of horrors (for people who play a good character or just want a good choice)?

Yea but you could of had a speech check at least. With a high enough speech level you could convince him that there might be a way.

EDIT: It's always better to have choices then to be "railroaded".

I felt really bad about this too even though i don't think twice about killing bandits or murdering nameless npcs who are all human beings and likely better people than this old man. i guess its the torture aspect but i imagine shoving a sword through some poor innocent bandit's chest hurts too.

Really? Massive flame-bait here. You just got this thread locked.

Seriously? did you really have to post this? We just dont want to consort with demons, and it is not ANY of your business posting something like that. Demons are evil anyway.

Okay there is an option to FAIL this quest and ANGER molag bal

Kill the priest when you find him locked in a cage in the dungeon.

This will result in failing the quest and this entry will appear in the journal: "Whatever plans molag bal had for the priest will never occur as I killed him."

I walked away.

REMEMBER - at the start of the dialogue he says "Molag, we've been here before" to which molag retorts "Oh but this time i have my own champion". The implication is that left to his devices, he will purify the shrine and that'll release him from the cage. i don't believe this ever happens in the game mechanics, but you shouldn't feel bad about walking away and leaving him in the cage. The implication is he'll be fine and he's done this before.


For the people saying "Oh but he's just a priest of Boethia" - he's still a HUMAN BEING and you still BEAT HIM TO DEATH WITH A RUSTY MACE. What part of "evil" do you not grasp xD

He serves a cult that would stab you to death with a rusty dagger.

And if he came after me with a rusty dagger I'd defend myself. But he didn't. He's a caged and helpless man, it's a slippery slope you're treading if you start pre-emptively killing people on the basis of religious affilitation, nationality or race.

He's also a jerk. Any character of mine that wouldn't walk away before that point has killed for less.

Bethesda has not "forced" anything on you at all. You've payed money to play their game and you've decided to do an optional quest.

Engaging in stimuli that challenges your morality is a good thing, not a bad thing, because it makes us view the world we live in and it makes us question our beliefs. I love the daedric quests, because they don't pull any punches. They are a great role playing opportunity too because they ask the question is power more important than well being,

I'm very religious to, but I fundamentally disagree with your decision to complain about this.

The only thing I can agree with is the lack of options in the quests. That really surprised me. Fallout, Morrowind and even Oblivion had multiple ways to finish most quests. With Skyrim you're only choice is not to do it.

This Dovakiin pre-emptively kills Thalmor Inquisitors on the basis of nationality. I always attack the mage/priest first because they're the most dangerous and easiest to kill. Then take out the other two. The armor provides some good income.

Now with these Daedric quests.... Boethia? You've got to entice someone to go up the mountain so you can sacrifice him. It's usually not someone you really WANT to take up there (like Maven Black Briar). Finally they've unsanitized the Daedra. But then you did get the DLC for Mehrunes' Razor for Oblivion, right, and ate that human heart so you could take that dagger to add to your collection. And you trap souls so you can enchant weapons and armor. Not exactly good, there, either.

If you've done any of the Dark Brotherhood quests, your character is a murderer already, so what's a few more bodies? Then there's that lovely bunch called the Thieve's Guild. Yeah, everyone here's been such exemplary "Paladins", right? How else do you get rolling in riches? By starting out doing dirty deeds, done dirt cheap.

It's not exactly pre-emptive. That caged and helpless man has himself slaughtered many on that very same alter.

It can be viewed as a rather messy execution.

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You are forced into finishing the quest, though not physically. You're forced by ignorance, by not knowing the next "logical" step or being able to take back the quite "illogical" step you seem to trip over.

You're lured by words of justice (subjectivity be damned), and a strong sense of do-righteousness (blindly, as the OP so eloquently put it). Why would you not banish the Daedra? Why would you not warn the priest? Why would you not accompany him to ensure he both arrives safely and leaves in one piece?

http://pc.ign.com/articles/080/080618p1.html
Oh, Todd Howard. You trickster, you!

In some ways, yes. Not necessarily this quest in specific, but it's endemic of a larger problem Skyrim has with its quests. Quests are thrown on you without warning, and more often than not, the only option you have against it is to not do it and leave it in your quest log, so every time you open your quest log you have to sift through a bunch of quests you don't want.

This is compounded by how you don't have a proper journal. The quest log only really gives you the info needed to continue the quest, but fails to give any description or detail on what the quest is about. If you get a quest early on, after 100+ hours you're not going to remember what the quest is about very well. There's no distinction between a quest you didn't want to do until later, and a quest you didn't want to do at all.

Case in point: early on I visited Markarth and got a quest from Degaine (some homeless bum) to steal Dibella's statue. I didn't particularly like the guy, so I didn't want to do it, and all I could do is ignore the quest. Now, many many hours and 30+ levels later, I see a quest in my log to steal the Dibella statue and bring it to Degaine... well, who the f is Degaine and why does he want the statue? Why did I not do this before? Because it was too difficult, or I just didn't agree with stealing at the time? My character had grown into a little bit of a thief, so I thought I'd do it and see what it was about. It was only after I took the statue and was led back to the homeless bum (via the magic compass) that I remembered who Degaine was, and remembered I didn't want to help him. So there I was, stuck with a quest item in my inventory staring down the guy I didn't like that wanted it, and giving it to him being the only way to get it out of my inventory.

If the game is going to toss quests on you without warning (which I'm all for in certain circumstances, BTW; I do like how House of Horrors and the other Daedric quests are presented), it needs to give you more options than simply ignoring it if you don't want to do it.

LOL, I was about to say, Namira's quest is more disturbing.

OP, the guy is a Priest of Boethiah (evil, in case you didn't know), he's not exactly an innocent.

Namira's quest is extremely odd, i killed the women in the hall of the dead on my 1st playthrough but on my 2nd playthrough i wanted the reward and once i got it i slew all of the cannibals.

I don't think that's anyone's issue. The issue lots of people have is the lack of option to say "I'm not getting involved in your inter-Daedric squabbles. Go find another pawn." if that's what their character would say.

Yeah.... like my girls would say if they could, "Not only NO, but HELL NO, you screaming scumbag of slimy stinking...."....etc.

Blood and Silver is what flows through Markarth.

Well, given Molag Bal's particular domain, you should have to pass a Willpower check--oh wait. Never mind.

*snicker*

well, but you can. Just don't go get the priest, or don't go back to the house after rescuing him.

The fact that you've been tricked and locked in a house with someone doesn't mean you have to kill them out of hand - you can force the Vigilant to attack you and then just defend yourself, and leave.


Yup, get all that completely. It is very annoying, I feel the same. I just don't see it as "forcing" us to do the quest.

Actually, you do. That doesn't remove the quest from the journal, but Molag will release you and let you go about your business if that's what you want.

Yeah, but that's not as satisfying as ANY option that would remove the stupid thing from your journal if you don't want to do it. And of course just being able to remove it is not as satisfying as telling off a Daedric prince.

Personally? I just do the quest to get it out of my quest log, and my characters never speak of that day.