Mind of Madness-- Key Unavailable, Glitch or What?

[kaitou1011]

First off, I know the resolution to this problem, if it is a glitch, is to use the console to give myself the item ("player.additem 0002ac70 1"). I want to know if anyone else is having this problem or not and if anyone knows what might've caused it. I first suspected it was a mod problem, but my quest-timing mods don't touch the Mind of Madness, so I would be suprised if that was it. Is this a glitch that I can resolve to fix with the console without feeling like I cheated in a playthrough I've worked hard to make intentionally difficult for myself, or am I misinterpreting an intended part of the gameplay?

I haven't done The Wolf Queen yet, so I don't know if Faulk shares the "no key" problem or if its just the maids, but I've never had a problem getting the key from the maids before as far as I remember. Its not that I'm failing the persuasion/intimidation/whatever, those speech options don't show up at all. They tell me that the wing it closed and no matter what I press or don't press, the dialogue ends right after, rather than allowing me to try to make them think Faulk gave me permission as I usually do. I've tried reloading the earliest save I have and the problem was still there. I've also riffled through the pockets of all three of them and the keys aren't in their inventories to be pickpocketed, though, like I said, I've always passed the persuasion with the maids so I don't know if that's normal or not.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? I don't want to use the console if this is somehow an inteded part of the gameplay-- this playthrough I'm level 11 btw (and using Live Another Life and haven't gone to Helgan yet, if that might effect it, but I'm relatively certain I've done The Mind of Madness on a Live Another Life save pre-Helgan before :S)

[smr1957]

Did you speak to the beggar near the Bards College, Dervenin?
For more info, see:
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Mind_of_Madness

[kaitou1011]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Did you speak to the beggar near the Bards College

Yes, I did. I have the quest in my journal already, I have the hipbone, and I have the first dialogue option about getting in the wing, which I wouldn't if I hadn't already spoken to the guy. Thanks for the response, I'm sure there's a lot of people who make that mistake... but did you even read my post? When I explained where the dialogue problem came up-- ie, after I asked the chicks for access to the wing, I didn't get the persuasion options I normally do-- I thought that made it pretty clear I'd already talked to the dude, because the request doesn't show up otherwise.

Originally posted by smr1957:

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Mind_of_Madness

Thanks, but that's where I checked first. My problem is neither listed in the known glitches or addressed in the walkthrough... the lack of addressal makes me think glitch, but I figured I'd post in case anyone was familiar with the problem or if it's a known issue not on the UESP.

[smr1957]

Good, you've done the basic stuff - that's a relief to hear for a change! You've already done the earlier save bit, so that's out. The only other thing I can think of trying (and it's only a guess based on it working for certain other quests, is to fast travel to an out of Solitude area (like Katia's Farm) and then back - this is just a wild stab, by the way, but it can't hurt.

It is also possible that if you have a large number of scripts running, there may be a delay in this triggering (I had that happen on the becoming thane of Morthal quest - completed the 3 favors, but the credit didn't kick iin till I was on the road out of Morthal a good ways (almost to the robbed trade wagon).

Final thing, see if anybody else has an answer, if not, you may just have to use the console. Sorry can't help you more, but I've never heard of this bug either (which doesn't really mean much, except that it really prevents me from being much use in answering your question). Am subscribing to discussion. Good luck!

[kaitou1011]

Originally posted by smr1957:

The only other thing I can think of trying (and it's only a guess based on it working for certain other quests, is to fast travel to an out of Solitude area (like Katia's Farm) and then back - this is just a wild stab, by the way, but it can't hurt.

I'll definietly try that. I'm currently trying to run The Wolf Queen and get in Faulk's good favour to see if it's just the maids that have a problem (I appear to be underleveled for it, though haha, so it might take a while. I keep getting pwned by this random drugar scourge and his three necromancer friends just a few rooms in and having to hightail it out of the dungeon.) I've got Frostfall with fast-travel disabled, so if Faulk is also glitched when I get back, I'll definietly re-enable fast travel to give that a shot.

Originally posted by smr1957:

It is also possible that if you have a large number of scripts running, there may be a delay in this triggering (I had that happen on the becoming thane of Morthal quest - completed the 3 favors, but the credit didn't kick iin till I was on the road out of Morthal a good ways (almost to the robbed trade wagon).

I have quite a few mods running-- and if it's a conflict somewhere, we'll never find it haha and I'd rather just use the console than try to tangle out a problem with load order when none are related to the quest or characters involved as far as I'm aware-- a few that are pretty intensive, so I have seen those sort of delays on a few quests and on loading some things. That might be the issue. However, I've actually had The Mind of Madness sitting in my journal for about five levels now, so *shrugs* it's had a mess of time to catch up.

Originally posted by smr1957:

Final thing, see if anybody else has an answer, if not, you may just have to use the console. Sorry can't help you more, but I've never heard of this bug either (which doesn't really mean much, except that it really prevents me from being much use in answering your question). Am subscribing to discussion. Good luck!

Thanks. :)

[smr1957]

"I have quite a few mods running-- and if it's a conflict somewhere, we'll never find it haha..."

Know exactly what you mean, if I'm bored with playing Skyrim for a while, I open up TES5Edit and try to find any minor conflicts I may have missed! Hitting the sack now - have to be at work in 8 hours!

[kaitou1011]

When I returned to the Blue Palace after The Wolf Queen, I checked to see if the maids were still unable to give me the key before trying Falk. I still didn't get the persuasion options with the maids, but I did get "Falk, you know I'll be careful" showing up fine, so whatever the problem was, it was only the maids. For the record, I also checked all their pockets for keys and they were still empty, but Falk was still able to give me the key just fine, so it seems the no-pickpocketing at least is an intended part of the game.

Thanks for the help. :)

And I'd still love to hear if anyone else had or is familiar with this glitch because it has me curious. :)

[smr1957]

Glad it got straightened out! I'd be curious to hear if anyone else had this problem as well (and if they did, whether they got it worked out, as well)..