Is Glarthir really just paranoid?

[Dayve]

This post will contain spoilers for a side-quest (not main-plot related at all) in the city of Skingrad. If you've never done it and don't want it spoiled then move along.

So in Skingrad there's a Wood Elf named Glarthir. When you go to the city he seeks you out and says he needs help but that he's being watched so he can't talk in the street. He asks you to meet him behind the great chapel at midnight. If you begin asking around town about Glarthir people will say he's the town eccentric - harmless. If you sleep or wait after asking people about him the commander of the city guard will come to you and threaten you (in the tone of his voice) and tell you to stay away from him and to notify the guards if he asks you to do anything "strange".

So Glarthir wants you to follow 3 people who live on the same street as him. He's convinced that they're part of a great conspiracy against him and are watching him all day. He asks you to follow them all day and catch them watching him, then report back to him.

At first I thought Glarthir was just paranoid schizophrenic (I have a paranoid schizophrenic in my family and I recognize the behaviour and the way they think) because when I followed the first woman, nothing happened. She simply went to her vineyard and worked all day. I went to Glarthir and reported to him that she was not following/watching him.

The second guy I followed was doing the same, except from a distance I saw another fellow creeping up behind him, then creep away. He then shouted "Thief! Guards!". Could this have been a secret meeting between the two, where they briefly exchanged information about Glarthir, but made it look like a pickpocketing incident? Alas, I had to report I found nothing.

The third guy I followed was the most interesting. He worked on the vineyard all day, went for lunch at 12pm, went home, then went out to his vineyard again in the evening and back home again. Whilst following him home at night I was suddenly arrested by a guard! He claimed I had stolen items in my inventory. But I didn't! I hadn't stolen anything! I believe the conspirators against Glarthir knew I was following them and planted stolen goods on me so I couldn't continue following the third guy and he could meet with another conspirator and conspire against Glarthir (and now me).

I told Glarthir I had no information for the third time. I wanted Glarthir to give me more time to follow the people (who I was now sure were part of a conspiracy due to strange goings on when I was following them) but Glarthir began attacking me with an axe, saying I was working for the conspirators. I had no choice but to defend myself and thus kill him (he wouldn't yield).

I got Glarthir's house key from his dead body (because I am a knight and will not use lockpicks as it is beneath me) and searched his house to see if I could find anything. I found notes about how the third guy I followed (Davide Surilie) buried something at his vineyard, but when Glarthir went to dig it up he found only disturbed earth - someone else had already dug it up. I went to see for myself, and I found many disturbed patches of earth at the Surilie farm. I believe Davide to be the chief conspirator! He is spying on Glarthir and leaving information buried on his vineyard for the Mythic Dawn to dig up and take!

All the Wikis say Glarthir is genuinely paranoid and nobody is conspiring against him or watching him, but I believe now that they are based on what I saw and what happened to me (especially me being framed for theft while following Davide).

What do you think? Has anybody found any information about this? I will have justice for Glarthir.

[Equinoxinator]

Did you search Davide Surille's farm? Maybe he has a note or something?

[Hikari.ws]

lol

I doubt vanilla has something that nobody spotted yet. I'm pretty sure other people follows them as you did, but for may days, and even investigated files using CS.

I know you're joking, but let's face it. There are many Mythic Down spies around Cyrodiil. They are dumb enough to attack us during some quests. If any of those were spies they'd do the same.

Oblivion NPCs are too dumb to be that scummy :p

[Rocket]

ya probably picked up a crumb of something that didnt belong to u by accident and the villagers reported u.

[Dayve]

No, I believe something was planted on me. I followed Davide Surilie all day (I use Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, it's my only mod, so the days are way longer than vanilla, maybe 30 minutes of real time compared to 5-10 minutes in vanilla) and we passed tons of guards in the city and by the farm, and none of them ever stopped me. Then when I was stood by a tree as it was going dark watching Davide I started to get bored and waited for one hour. After that one hour he began walking back to the city. When I got near the gate (and the two guards guarding it) one of them ran over and arrested me.

Something has to have been planted on me as I waited. As I said earlier, I am a knight. Stealing and picking locks is beneath me. I would rather use a rusty shortsword as my weapon than steal an epic sword. A knight does not steal. What is a knight if not honest? I don't even take the armour off of fallen foes because a knight respects the dead (though I do take any money they have on them because I can use that money to buy armour to protect the weak!). I also take spoils from bandit lairs. Their goods are forefeit on account of them being bandits!

No, there's definitely something strange in Skingrad. Why would the commander of the guard be so concerned about me talking to Glarthir who is guilty of nothing more than being eccentric? Why would he threaten me so? He's hiding something. Could the commander of the Skingrad guard be working for the Mythic Dawn!?

I must break in to his house to find out. But I am a knight and knights don't break in to houses. I need to enlist the help of an adventurer.

PSST! OVER HERE! MEET ME BEHIND THE GREAT CHAPEL AT MIDNIGHT!

[Lohengrin]

Originally posted by Dayve:

No, I believe something was planted on me. I followed Davide Surilie all day (I use Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, it's my only mod, so the days are way longer than vanilla, maybe 30 minutes of real time compared to 5-10 minutes in vanilla) and we passed tons of guards in the city and by the farm, and none of them ever stopped me. Then when I was stood by a tree as it was going dark watching Davide I started to get bored and waited for one hour. After that one hour he began walking back to the city. When I got near the gate (and the two guards guarding it) one of them ran over and arrested me.

Something has to have been planted on me as I waited. As I said earlier, I am a knight. Stealing and picking locks is beneath me. I would rather use a rusty shortsword as my weapon than steal an epic sword. A knight does not steal. What is a knight if not honest? I don't even take the armour off of fallen foes because a knight respects the dead (though I do take any money they have on them because I can use that money to buy armour to protect the weak!). I also take spoils from bandit lairs. Their goods are forefeit on account of them being bandits!

No, there's definitely something strange in Skingrad. Why would the commander of the guard be so concerned about me talking to Glarthir who is guilty of nothing more than being eccentric? Why would he threaten me so? He's hiding something. Could the commander of the Skingrad guard be working for the Mythic Dawn!?

I must break in to his house to find out. But I am a knight and knights don't break in to houses. I need to enlist the help of an adventurer.

PSST! OVER HERE! MEET ME BEHIND THE GREAT CHAPEL AT MIDNIGHT!

I was over wwith David Surielle, I waited, but nothing was planted on me, I entered the town normially, then went to his house, nothing there, then went to Glarthir

[Skyvion25]

Interesting story man, I tested out your theory and hopped on to my Imperial Knight (perhaps similar to yours) and I am not one to pickpocket or steal but I do loot dead bodies for my earned riches, but besides the point I headed over to Garthir in Skingrad and made sure I had absolutely no bounty on my head. When that was taken care of I went over to talk to Glarthir and Happened to notice Davide slightly pearing past the chapel corner as if listening ( just as a reminder I also use oscuro's Oblivon overhaul and Fanscesco's Oblivion Overhaul as well). I finished up with Glarthir and looked over to where Davide was. I decided to walk over their but to my disappointment he was not there by then I was intrigued by your theory so I investigated more. I did as Glarthir told me and to no avail was there any suspicious activity with the first two folks. Then I was ready to sniff out Davide so I did the exact thing you did, then it was by midnight as he walked home, I was quite surprised that he stayed out that late but then as he gos inside his house I didn't think much of your theory anymore, until I turn around to report my findings to Glarthir the Captain of the Guard himself runs up behind me and arrests me by then I was very jumpy at the time maybe he arrested me on purpose, especially since I did not touch anything the whole time I was in Skingrad. I honestly thought that the Captain of the guard had something to do with the conspiracy. I then reported activity to Glarthir about Davide after I got out of prison. yet he thought I was suspicious and he ended up in a pool of blood sadly... Nothing ever happened after that except one thing. Whenever I am visiting Skingrad now Davide follows me around whenever I am near him. I have also been arrested for nothing over many other occasions. Tell me what your thoughts are. Thanks, BigBoy.

[Clever Monkey]

As I told my Psychiatrist
"I may be paranoid but that doesn't mean the world isn't out to get me."

Without the unofficial patch the suspects can do strange things: using a hoe on the pathway and not the garden, jumping off bridges to their death, and Davide seems to think a little rain will melt him. he will not leave his home if it is raining.

So, who is really crazy?

[Dayve]

Originally posted by XxBigBoyxX:

Interesting story man, I tested out your theory and hopped on to my Imperial Knight (perhaps similar to yours) and I am not one to pickpocket or steal but I do loot dead bodies for my earned riches, but besides the point I headed over to Garthir in Skingrad and made sure I had absolutely no bounty on my head. When that was taken care of I went over to talk to Glarthir and Happened to notice Davide slightly pearing past the chapel corner as if listening ( just as a reminder I also use oscuro's Oblivon overhaul and Fanscesco's Oblivion Overhaul as well). I finished up with Glarthir and looked over to where Davide was. I decided to walk over their but to my disappointment he was not there by then I was intrigued by your theory so I investigated more. I did as Glarthir told me and to no avail was there any suspicious activity with the first two folks. Then I was ready to sniff out Davide so I did the exact thing you did, then it was by midnight as he walked home, I was quite surprised that he stayed out that late but then as he gos inside his house I didn't think much of your theory anymore, until I turn around to report my findings to Glarthir the Captain of the Guard himself runs up behind me and arrests me by then I was very jumpy at the time maybe he arrested me on purpose, especially since I did not touch anything the whole time I was in Skingrad. I honestly thought that the Captain of the guard had something to do with the conspiracy. I then reported activity to Glarthir about Davide after I got out of prison. yet he thought I was suspicious and he ended up in a pool of blood sadly... Nothing ever happened after that except one thing. Whenever I am visiting Skingrad now Davide follows me around whenever I am near him. I have also been arrested for nothing over many other occasions. Tell me what your thoughts are. Thanks, BigBoy.

I think there really is a conspiracy against Glarthir. Unfortunately though he has become so damn paranoid that he can no longer uncover it properly. He either tries to kill the player or he goes on a rampage against the citizens.

[Slimebeast]

Ahh, what a cool quest that was.

So is the issue here if the arrest was just a coincidence or really built into the quest?

[Dayve]

Originally posted by Slimebeast:

Ahh, what a cool quest that was.

So is the issue here if the arrest was just a coincidence or really built into the quest?

The arrest appears to be a coincidence (though one other player has reported the same arrest when following Davide Surillie). But also the way the commander of the City Watch questions you after you are seen speaking to Glarthir.

He seems to be very very unhappy that Glarthir is potentially seeking help against this conspiracy. Plus there's the fact that the commander of the City Watch straight-up barged in to my room at the inn while I was sleeping to warn me not to speak to him.

[Clever Monkey]

Without the unofficial patch Dion is crazy too. I think the whole city is crazy and the unofficial patch Mistakingly tries to make them sane

Bugs[edit]
The name "Dion" seems to have been a late change in the game and he may even have been female at the start. All his AI packages and his script refer to him as "Dionne". There are also two bits of dialogue assigned to Mog gra-Mogakh: "Well. The guards must've been careless. But Captain Dione has the guard on full alert. We'll be safe." and, significantly, "Certainly so. Captain Dione knows her business. And no enemy has ever made it over Skingrad's walls.". PC Only This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

Dion should sleep in his clothes rather than his armor but the "Armor Unequipped" flag is not set on his sleep AI package, which can cause him to sleep in his armor. PC Only This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

It seems likely that Dion was meant to inspect the three locations roughly equally, but the AI package uses ">" (greater than) instead of "<" (less than) in its comparisons, giving the wrong percentages. PC Only This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

Due to yet another bug in the AI packages, Dion will not explore Skingrad at 4pm like he's supposed to, but will explore the Guard House instead. PC Only This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

The exploration packages are set up as "Find" ones, which means Dion will occasionally crouch down - apparently for no reason - and then begin a different routine. PC Only This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

Dion was supposed to greet people by saying "I'm Dion, captain of the Skingrad Guard." but as he is a guard, all the standard guard greetings take precedence and it is never used. (listen) PC Only This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

[Dayve]

Originally posted by Metamorpho:

Apparently there is a book written by a mythic dawn agent that mentions the skingrad guard...

Holy ♥♥♥♥.

The plot thickens!

What is this book? I have to know!

[ReferableOrc374]

Very intriguing fact, if you follow Davide at midnight you will find out that he is contacting with Dark Brotherhood and he is trying to murder Glarthir to earn the entrance. If you killed Davide you would be visited by dark brotherhood but others two suspects are not. Maybe the reason is dark brotherhood saw you killed the potential candidate and believe you are more competent than him. Hope this can help...

[ReferableOrc374]

Might not be dark brotherhood. I'm not sure..

[Dayve]

Poor Glarthir. It has been a year and a half and his death has still not been avenged. I need concrete proof! Evidence man. Evidence!