Is It Possible To Fix "No One Escapes From Cidna Mine"?

[Titler]

A bit frustrating this; when I first started playing, I committed a crime in Markarth without realising there was an apparently awesome quest in the jail; I think it started the quest "No One Escapes", and certainly I spent some time trying to find a Shiv. I got as far as collecting the Skooma but couldn't continue, so I tried to beat up Borkul to try and wrest the key off him... At this point i didn't know any use of a Shout or power would turn a Brawl into a murder, and eventually the entire jail tried to kill me, so I fought them all until they were all dead. And still there was no key on any NPC, so I had to mine my way to freedom.

Skip forward many, many hours and to installing the Unofficial Bug Fix patches, and I return to Markarth and complete the Forsworn Conspiracy quest. However upon being sent to back to Cidna by the Guards, the "No One Escapes" quest does not start, cannot be continued, and appears nowhere in my journal.

Typing "sqs ms02" shows every stage of the quest is listed as 0

Ressurecting the remaining corpses doesn't allow any of the quest options again, and they don't have anything on them.

Spawning Borkul's Key in my backpack opens the lock to Madanach, but he won't talk to me.

Attempting to reset the quest before Forsworn restarts does not help (ResetQuest ms02), nor does pickpocketting a key for Cidna Jail and trying to get in through the main entrance. There's nothing in the Prisoner or Evidence chests either (i did avail myself of the guards supply of gold and potions however... take that, Cidna!)

So I'm at a loss how to actually play this through properly. Is there any way at all to reset the quest? Thanks!

[♥ Barney ♥]

No one escapes chidna mine starts for me after the forsworn consipracy, i don't know about the quest starting before that. But anyhow, sounds like with all the console resets you've messed everything up so just go back to an earlier save if you've got one before the forsworn conspiracy. That quest starts with the murder of Margaret when you step through the gates and ends with you escaping Chidna mine. 2 quests in 1 sort of thing. Doing Chidna before the Forsworn Conspriacy has probably messed everything up--i think the mistake you made was getting thrown in jail before you'd completed the forsworn conspiracy part.

As far as I remember in the Chidna mine quest, you talk to the orc, he wants a shiv, to get the shiv you have to talk to someone who wants some skooma in exchange for a shiv, get the skooma and give to him, he gives you the shiv and you give the shiv to the orc. He lets you in to see Madanach. You can also persuade the orc or fight him in a brawl with fists only.

[Titler]

I've tried rolling back to prior saves before completing the Forsworn, but alas the ones I have from before being thrown into jail are hundreds of hours, and 90 odd levels prior. I've also tried rolling back to just before I used console commands, and that hasn't helped either sadly.

[♥ Barney ♥]

Only thing I can think of is that you can kill Madanach, you don't have to side with him on this quest. When you kill him, take his key and escape Chidna.

[♥ Barney ♥]

Theres some info here about bugs and glitches--

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:No_One_Escapes_Cidhna_Mine

[Shrapnel]

Originally posted by ♥ Barney ♥:

But anyhow, sounds like with all the console resets you've messed everything up so just go back to an earlier save if you've got one before the forsworn conspiracy.

Peering into my crystal ball I see a restart in someone's future.
And in this new game I see someone saving. Frequently.
Probably not using console commands anymore eith...wait, no, looks like he'll still be using them again

[Titler]

Originally posted by Shrapnel:

Originally posted by ♥ Barney ♥:

But anyhow, sounds like with all the console resets you've messed everything up so just go back to an earlier save if you've got one before the forsworn conspiracy.

Peering into my crystal ball I see a restart in someone's future.
And in this new game I see someone saving. Frequently.
Probably not using console commands anymore eith...wait, no, looks like he'll still be using them again

I see someone who doesn't read the threads he's posting too...
I see someone who doesn't understand the difference between using console commands to try and fix a single quest and using them all the time...
I see someone who thinks broken coding of a quest is somehow the players fault...
And I see him trying to be an internet bad ass, but just making a fool of himself. Does he roll back his behaviour and attempt to be a better, less laughable poster? Wait no, I guess he'll be doing that for years to come.

Meanwhile thanks to everyone else who at least tried to respond to the problem as is. I'll pop back and see if I can kill Madanach as well then.

[Ceejay]

In the bugs section near the bottom, there are some commands for starting and skipping this quest. Maybe these will help.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:No_One_Escapes_Cidhna_Mine

[Titler]

Thank you Ceejay, those were some of the commands I'd tried, but they didn't seem to resolve the issue... However after much fiddling I've found the correct set of steps to ensure it works again.

1.) Return to The Shrine Of Talos

2.) The 3 Guards inside will speak to you; it doesn't matter what conversation options you will persue, they will attack you anyway. You cannot seem to surrender to them if the follow on quest is broken from killing NPCs in the jail previously.

3.) Either fight with them, or run out of the Shrine of Talos until a normal guard, not one of the quest ones arrives and speaks to you.

4.) Sheath your weapon in order to surrender to them instead.

5.) Accept you're going to Jail, don't pay the fine or persuade them. You'll be moved to Cidna mine now, but the introduction NPC at the start will not be there, and the quest isn't starting.

6.) If any quest NPCs in the Mine are still alive, pickpocket them and see if their item is on them (Skooma, Shiv etc). If they are not, kill them before moving on to the next step.

7.) Find all of the dead NPCs and open the console.

8.) Type "resurrect 1" and target them, leave console to bring them back to life again. You MUST find and ressurect all of them.

9.) Once they are brought back to life, now type "setstage ms02 10". You should see "No One Escapes From Cidna Mine" pop up.

Any NPCs left alive at this stage from before will not respawn their quest inventory, which is why they need killing and ressurecting again. Grisvar for instance survived my first massacre, and didn't have the Skooma quest conversation or a Shiv on him as I'd taken one before. If he's been killed and brought back to life he now should have though once "setstage ms02 10" is done.

10.) If you are still having difficulty due to bugs, as long as Borkul the Beast is up and has his quest speech you can either brawl him or persuade him to pass.

11.) From here the quest should continue as normal; chose the side as you wish.

And that's how to fix it, thankfully!

[finwefeanor]

I don't know if anyone encounter this, but Borkul the Beast equips his pickaxe when I choose the "brawl" option, instead just using his fists. So you can't use any pickaxe, shivs or magic because it breaks brawling and other turn into hostile.

I think it's kind of a bug. Because he should just use his fists when you choose "brawl"