Selection #1: Veddran gives you the quest to go rescue his adoptive daughter/ apprentice.
- Veddran: Ugh. Please tell me you’re someone useful, and not just another pompous Thane or something.
- P (Thane): I’m a Thane, but I don’t think I’m especially pompous…\
- Veddran: Great. Another politician. Sigh. If you can’t fight, just piss off, please. I have no patience for “milkdrinkers” as the Nords would say.
- P (Argonian/Khajiit): I’m surprised you’re not more dismissive of me, Telvanni.
- Veddran: Yes, well. You’re not my slave. You could be anybody out here in the wilds of Skyrim. I’m not just going to assume you’re some sort of farm tool. That just isn’t productive. Especially seeing as I do not need a farm tool. I need a hero. Are you one of those?
- P (Dunmer): Seeing as I’d rather not piss off a Telvanni master, what do you need?
- Veddran: Dear boy/girl, you already have. It is magister. Did your parents teach you nothing of flattery? Nothing along the lines of “it’s better to call a Telvanni hireling a magister than a magister a hireling?” No? Sigh. I hope your fighting prowess is better than your diplomacy.
- P (Dragonborn): Sigh. Yeah. I’m the Dragonborn. What now?
- Veddran: That will do. My daught—Apprentice—My apprentice is missing. She is somewhere that is protected from scrying, at least by the methods I have tried. Somewhere with a portal into the Soul Cairn. Or near it, I assume. Her name is Minexa. Now, go get her. I will reward you with money and power, blah blah blah. Now go get her before something terrible happens to her.
- P: Nice slip up. I’ll go get your kid.
- Veddran: She is not—Sigh. Thank you. I have been so worried for her.
- P: Any other details you can give me about her?
- Veddran: She’s a very powerful mage. A Telvanni master, actually. So whatever has managed to snare her must be incredibly powerful. She is very, very young, especially to have such power. She has long hair—unless someone chopped it off, poor thing. She was wearing a ratty old moth priest robe. The one thing I never could impart upon her was fashion. Oh. And she’s blind.
- P: How old is very, very young, exactly?
- Veddran: Oh, she’s not even fifty yet. She might be one of the youngest masters in history.
- P: She’s a blind kid and you let her wander off alone?
- Veddran: Minexa is perfectly capable of handling herself! Sight isn’t essential to mastering magic.
- P: How old is very, very young, exactly?
- Veddran: She’s a very powerful mage. A Telvanni master, actually. So whatever has managed to snare her must be incredibly powerful. She is very, very young, especially to have such power. She has long hair—unless someone chopped it off, poor thing. She was wearing a ratty old moth priest robe. The one thing I never could impart upon her was fashion. Oh. And she’s blind.
- P (Not visited Soul Cairn): The Soul Cairn? What’s that?
- Veddran: It’s the place where the things go when they’re put in the things! Ugh! You know! The soul gems! Where souls go! It’s obvious. Have you ever even seen magic before?
- P: How much money and power?
- Veddran: Minexa might be the only being in the whole of the Aurbis I wouldn’t kill to get ahead. She is irreplaceable. Your reward will reflect that. You have my word.
- P: Nice slip up. I’ll go get your kid.
- Veddran: That will do. My daught—Apprentice—My apprentice is missing. She is somewhere that is protected from scrying, at least by the methods I have tried. Somewhere with a portal into the Soul Cairn. Or near it, I assume. Her name is Minexa. Now, go get her. I will reward you with money and power, blah blah blah. Now go get her before something terrible happens to her.
- P (Companions): I’m one of the Companions. Need something killed? Beaten up? Yelled at?
- Veddran: No, no, I need something rescued. Do you do that as well? Or just the violence?
- P: Nah, I just do the violence.
- Veddran: Oh. Piss off then.
- P: Nah, I just do the violence.
- Veddran: No, no, I need something rescued. Do you do that as well? Or just the violence?
- P (Dark Brotherhood): I can be useful. For a price.
- Veddran: I am prepared to pay very well, in money, power, magic, favors, whatever in Oblivion you want.
- P: Just tell me who needs to die.
- Veddran: What? No, no. I need someone to specifically not die. My daught—apprentice is missing. I need her back. But you can kill whoever you want to get to her and bring her here safely, I don’t care.
- P: Just tell me who needs to die.
- Veddran: I am prepared to pay very well, in money, power, magic, favors, whatever in Oblivion you want.
- P (Thieves’ Guild): Depends what you mean by useful.
- Veddran: I need someone to go find and probably rescue my daught—apprentice from what is probably a very dangerous place. Is that within what you can be useful for?
- P: I’m not really used to people heists.
- Veddran: Ha! I have a good many colleagues who would be greatly amused and relieved by that.
- P: I’m not really used to people heists.
- Veddran: I need someone to go find and probably rescue my daught—apprentice from what is probably a very dangerous place. Is that within what you can be useful for?
- P (College of Winterhold): Telvanni, right? I’ll help if you teach me some things about magic.
- Veddran: That seems a very reasonable deal, young mage. My daught—apprentice. My apprentice has gone missing. You will find her and bring her back here alive and in one piece. Then, I will teach you whatever you wish to know.
- P (Bard’s College): I’m a bard! Would you like me to sing you a song?
- Veddran: Oh for the love of the—no! No! I would absolutely not like that, you bumbling coxcomb! Put your lute away before I beat you to death with it.
- P (Morag Tong): If you give me a proper contract at a good price, I can help you.
- Veddran: Ah. Morag Tong. I don’t see this working out for us. You might need to kill people you’re not contracted to, seeing as I do not know who kidnapped my daught—apprentice. My apprentice. She is missing. I’ve been looking for someone to go find her. No avail.
- P (Telvanni): It’s nice to see a fellow Telvanni mage all the way out here.
- Veddran: That it is. Especially one clever enough not to specify their rank, or guess at mine… Seeing as I have not met you, I will assume you are not a magister yet. I am. So, I can help you advance if you help me, or I can have you killed, or worse, if you screw this up or refuse to help.
- P: What do you need done, magister?
- Veddran: Good, you have survival instinct and tact. That should be useful for the task ahead of you. You are to rescue my daught—apprentice. My apprentice. You are to rescue her from…. Wherever it is she needs to be rescued from… And bring her back here, alive and well. No strings attached.
- P: Who are you, exactly?
- Veddran: I am Magister Veddran. I don’t particularly care who you are, unless you can return my daught—apprentice to me safely.
- P: It will be done, magister.
- Veddran: Good. I await your swift return.
- P: Where is she?
- Veddran: That is for you to find out. I assume she’s at least somewhat close to a portal to the Soul Cairn. I have already tried scrying, and all attempts have been foiled, so don’t bother trying that. That is all I have to go on at the moment.
- P: What’s the Soul Cairn?
- Veddran: Now is not the time for jokes, mage… Oh. Reaper’s blade, you don’t know. Well. Go research it yourself! I won’t spoon-feed information to you like you’re some fetching baby.
- P: What’s the Soul Cairn?
- Veddran: That is for you to find out. I assume she’s at least somewhat close to a portal to the Soul Cairn. I have already tried scrying, and all attempts have been foiled, so don’t bother trying that. That is all I have to go on at the moment.
- P: Who is your daughter?
- Veddran: I very clearly said “apprentice,” you s’wit. Don’t make the mistake of trying to use her against me. She is a Telvanni master in her own right and is perfectly capable of sending bits of you to every realm of Oblivion with a snap of her fingers.
- P: Who is your apprentice?
- Veddran: Minexa. She is a Telvanni master, but very young. Perhaps the youngest master our House has ever had. She’s not even fifty. Practically a child.
- P: It will be done, magister.
- Veddran: I am Magister Veddran. I don’t particularly care who you are, unless you can return my daught—apprentice to me safely.
- P: Gee, not really giving me much choice here, are you?
- Veddran: Of course not. This is the life of my daught—apprentice at stake, not whether or not you want moon sugar in your canis root tea.
- P: Don’t threaten me. I’m part of Master Neloth’s household.
- Veddran: Oh? Is throwing around the name of that nasty little fetcher supposed to frighten me? I outrank him. And I know what happens to those in his household, muthsera. You are not long for this world. At least, not fully intact.
- P: What do you need done, magister?
- Veddran: That it is. Especially one clever enough not to specify their rank, or guess at mine… Seeing as I have not met you, I will assume you are not a magister yet. I am. So, I can help you advance if you help me, or I can have you killed, or worse, if you screw this up or refuse to help.
- P (Thane): I’m a Thane, but I don’t think I’m especially pompous…\
Selection #2: Mannimarco, the Worm King, returns from the dead with the help of the player and a devoted follower of his.
(Nenmaire casts a spell, Mannimarco appears in a conjuration poof, on his knees before her and the Dragonborn.)
Nenmaire: My lord…? Mannimarco?
Mannimarco: Unh…
Nenmaire (Reaching towards him to help him up): My lord, are you all right—
Mannimarco: Silence. (He slaps her hand away. Nenmaire backs up. He stands.) I need no aid. (He looks around, disgusted.) Skyrim… How quaint. To whom do I owe the displeasure?
Nenmaire: My lord, Mannimarco… My companion and I have been working very hard to bring you back. I have been studying your work since I—
Mannimarco: That’s enough from you. Your usefulness to me is at an end. You, however, interest me. Your soul is… Intriguing. Let us speak.