The Forsworn Conspiracy

Objectives

 * Read Eltrys’ Note
 * Go to the Shrine of Talos
 * Find evidence about Margret
 * Find evidence about Weylin
 * (Optional) Obtain the key to Margret’s room
 * Read Margret’s Journal
 * Find evidence about Thonar
 * (Optional) Obtain the key to Weylin’s room
 * Read Weylin’s Note
 * Find out who “N” is
 * Find evidence about Nepos
 * Return to Eltrys

Quick Walkthrough

 * 1) Witness Weylin's attack against Margret upon entering Markarth.
 * 2) Meet Eltrys inside the Shrine of Talos
 * 3) Investigate Margret’s room at the Silver Blood Inn
 * 4) Investigate Weylin’s room in The Warrens
 * 5) Head to the Treasury House and talk to Rhiada
 * 6) Speak to Thonar inside the Treasury House
 * 7) Go to Nepos’ House, speak to Nepos
 * 8) Return to Eltrys

Read Eltrys Note
Upon first entering Markarth by the front gate, the player is witness to an argument in the market. After a man (Weylin) shouts something about the Forsworn, he attempts to kill a woman named Margret, either failing or succeeding his attempt depending on if the Dragonborn intervenes (assaulting or killing Weylin is not a crime). At the moment that the attacker draws his weapon, the Markarth City Guards rush towards the attacker and slay him. Afterwards, Eltrys approaches and hands the player a note asking to meet him in the Shrine of Talos.

There is no significant difference to the plot between saving Margaret or allowing Weylin to kill her. The way of gathering information about Margret changes, as do some dialogues, but the rest of the quest remains the same.

Go to the Shrine of Talos
At the Shrine of Talos, Eltrys explains that his father was killed by the Forsworn and that he has been trying his whole life to find out why. He asks the player to investigate Margret's background at the Silver Blood Inn and Weylin's room in The Warrens.

Silver Blood Inn - Margret's Room
If Margret is dead and the player obtained Margret's room key from her body, just proceed to her room. Otherwise ask the bar-keeper Kleppr about Margret. The player can also speak to his daughter, rent the room for 10 gold, bribe, intimidate, persuade, or pickpocket Kleppr to get the key. Margret's Journal is inside her room and will update the quest log after reading it. It mentions Thonar Silver-Blood and the next quest step becomes "Find evidence about Thonar".

If Margret is alive she will be staying by the fireplace. She can be persuaded or intimidated about revealing that she is an Imperial investigator, and she mentions Thonar Silver-Blood and the next quest step becomes "Find evidence about Thonar". Reading the journal in her room also works.

The Warrens - Weylin's room
Head down to the Warrens and talk to Garvey. Garvey can be bribed, intimidated or persuaded to hand the key over. Weylin's room is the last on the right side. Look into the chest and find Weylin's Note signed simply with the letter "N". When the Dovahkiin exits The Warrens, Dryston, a mercenary, will approach stating that the investigation has gone too far into somebody's business. There is no option to avoid the brawl; after being defeated, Dryston confesses that he was sent by Nepos the Nose and the quest log updates to finding information about Nepos.

If playing on a higher difficulty, it might be difficult to win the brawl with Dryston. Another option is to lose the brawl, and he will go to Weylin's room and sit in a chair. With decent sneak, you can kill him without causing any alarm from the Markarth guards. He will drop Dryston's Note; if you read it you can continue with the quest line without having to win the brawl.

Going at this point back to Eltrys will grant level dependant amount of gold for both investigating Margret's and Weylin's Rooms. Finding evidence about Nepos or Thonar will trigger the next quest stage (therefore skipping the reward part).

Find evidence about Thonar
The Treasury House is where Thonar is located. Talk to Rhiada there and learn that Thonar doesn't want to be disturbed, although she can be convinced with a persuasion, bribe or intimidation test; the door can also be opened with lockpicking. His room is to the left and then straight ahead. Once inside, Thonar is sitting at the table. He'll say something about not wanting visitors. No matter the response, he will say to get out. As soon as the conversation is finished, there is a commotion outside in the main room. Thonar gets up and runs down the hall where there is fighting going on. Thonar's wife is murdered by Nana Ildene at which point Donnel will join in the attack. They belong to the Forsworn faction so it's safe to kill them. At this point talk to Thonar, and he will reveal the truth about Madanach.

Another approach involves pickpocketing Thonar's Journal from Thonar, so his wife doesn't die and Donnel and Nana Ildene don't attack anyone. The player has to avoid any conversation with Thonar as this triggers the attack.

Find evidence about Nepos
Find evidence about Nepos by going to Nepos' house. You will be greeted by a woman named Uaile who tells the player to go away, however Nepos quickly calls from the background and overrules her. Talk to Nepos and he will reveal that he does not plan to let the player leave the house alive. Make sure to exhaust all dialogue options about Madanach and his plan. After the conversation with Nepos, everyone in the house attacks the player.

Another way to make it more silent is to quickly pickpocket Nepos' Journal from Nepos (instead of talking to him), and then run outside. If done correctly (without being seen at all after pickpocketing the journal) no one will attack the player.

Return to Eltrys
Back in the Shrine of Talos, three guards will say the player has caused a lot of trouble and a lot of work for them. They inform the player they will now be pinning all the murders on the player. At this point the player can choose to go quietly or to fight with them. Fighting them will not prevent the next quest No One Escapes Cidhna Mine, you simply need to leave the shrine of Talos and surrender to the first guard you see. It is possible that when you surrender the game will crash.

Bugs
*Fixed by using Voice of the Emperor, asking her to follow me, and dismissing her, then leaving before the calm effect wears off. Unknown whether or not this is all necessary.
 * After receiving this quest and before meeting Eltrys at the temple for the first time, I pickpocketed Thonar's journal. The quest advanced to stage 90, which leaves Eltrys dead when I enter the temple to meet him. Resetting the quest has no effect.
 * It is advisable to dismiss your follower before completing this quest (certainly before returning to Eltyr) as they may get become trapped in the Shrine of Talos after No one Escapes Cidhna Mine.
 * If your spouse lives with you in Vlindrel Hall, he/she may be present during your confrontation in the Shrine of Talos by the corrupt guards, and attacking the guards will cause him/her to attack you when the guards are dead.
 * After killing Nepos, Eltrys is dead in the Shrine of Talos. The two City Guards standing beside him do not offer or initiate dialogue to finish off the quest.
 * In the scenario where the third guard who is supposed to talk to you about you being framed etc., is replaced by a Legate who only asks you if you want to join the Legion, there is a workaround (although it entails having to start at a point prior to gathering the evidence). The problem may be due to the lack of an "objective" to return to Eltrys after each piece of evidence is found for Margret, Weylin, Nepos, and Thonar. If you gather evidence for Weylin and Thonar and Nepos before reporting back to Eltrys, the Legate will be at the Shrine of Talos and you will not be able to finish the quest. However, if you return to Eltrys immediately after each piece of evidence is found, he will give you gold for the information, and more importantly, the correct dialogue will appear once you go to the Shrine of Talos for the "Return to Eltrys" objective. Keep in mind that when you start the new quest "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine" any miscellaneous quest items (like the Elder Scroll) will not be returned to you when you get your inventory back.
 * ABOVE CONFIRMED TO WORK!
 * If you are wearing Ebony Mail armor it causes the guards to attack you and place a bounty on you when you get into the brawl with the thug out side the Warrens. This in-turn seems to cause the guard glitch later. The fix was to take off my Ebony Mail and continue using another set of armor. I reloaded to before the Warrens took off the armor and replayed till after Nepos the Nose and the rest of the quest went smoothly.
 * Just wait 24hrs in the room and a third guard will spawn to offer dialogue and complete the quest. This method might not work properly sometimes, causing the 3rd guard to stop the conversation about the framing midway and not triggering the next quest (No One Escapes Cidhna Mine) in that case, exiting the Shrine of Talos and waiting 8–10 hours outside and then re-entering the Shrine will trigger the conversation with the guard and the subsequent quest correctly. (This or the below solution does not work, a Legate keeps insisting I go to Solitude to join the Legion. Help?)
 * Try to talk to the guard who rushes past you on the stairs on the way out. If you can't talk to him or stop him from leaving, keep clcking on talk and bumping into the other guard who is often found to the left of the white arrow against the wall. Note, if you investigate Eltrys's body, then this guard will also rush out, so skip that. If you keep bumping and trying to talk to the guard (even pickpocketing) this sometimes triggers him to let you start No One Escapes Cidhna Mine.
 * drag Eltrys body under the pointer of the quest, in front of the right column of the altar
 * (via console): Open the console and type "setstage ms01 100". This will complete the The Forsworn Conspiracy questline and send you to jail. Once you wake up, type "setstage ms02 0", which will force the next quest (No One Escapes Cidhna Mine) to begin.
 * After the above tactics failed to fix the Shrine of Talos bug wherin Eltrys is dead and the guards do not initiate dialogue, the quest was mysteriously completed by killing a Markarth city guard in Calcemo's Laboratory in Understone Keep.
 * Not really a fix, but if you do the Stormcloak side of the war and take Markarth, instead of the Legate who is the guard captain of Markarth showing up, the third guard shows up.
 * When you enter Weylin's room, when activating his chest, if you read the note whilst the chest is still activated and you take the note from the chest after reading it; the quest 'Read Weylin's Note' will be started but not completed.
 * Reading the note after still does not complete the quest, the only fix is to load from a previously saved game.
 * A way to workaround this is by just exiting the Warrens as Dryston will be waiting outside to brawl. After fighting him, 'Read Weylin's Note' will be completed. Unsure if Patch 1.4 fixed this.
 * After finishing No One Escapes Cidhna Mine, guards approach the player and enter the dialog to start the quest again. If the player chooses to be arrested and thrown into Cidhna mine, the dialog loops back to he beginning again. It is impossible to do quests in the city as canceling the dialog results in the guards going hostile. Confirmed. No known fix on 360. UPDATE: As of 2/9/2012, the 1.4 patch fixed this issue.
 * The game to freezes if you choose to go to jail in the temple. Confirmed.
 * The player may get attacked by Thonar Silver-Blood before even speaking to him.
 * If you didn't kill Nepos but just ran away during the quest, he will not be found in his house after you complete No One Escapes Cidhna Mine. You will find him in the Temple of Talos. Be careful, he and the guards will attack you. (see bug above)
 * A solution is to pull the NPCs out of the temple and make a run for it. Then come back later after a few in game days have past.
 * If you do not follow up on Eltrys' original note, instead continuing other quests or exploring, it is possible for the guards to approach you later in Markarth and suggest you've been asking too many questions, if at any point after this you enter the temple you will find Eltrys already dead, with the guards waiting to escort you away, without having followed up on this quest chain in anyway. Very confusing when they start dropping NPC names you've yet to encounter, and suggesting things you've not (but were meant to) have done.
 * If you are somehow able to enter Nepo's House before Weylin attacks Margaret and steal Nepo's journal, Weylin will not attack Margaret. This will be a lot easier if you haven't discovered Markath yet and enter the city through the Shrine of Dibella during the A Night to Remember quest. Confirmed.
 * The player's follower is trapped in the temple when you are arrested, and the guards reappearing to arrest you again if you return to the Temple of Talos to attempt to reclaim said follower. (With me, this happened with Farkas, who I now want my items back from and to be able to do quests with. Would someone mind finding a solution?). Console Moveto commands do not fix this issue, the NPC will move to the player but then immediately begin walking back to the temple. Kill/resurrect does not help either, and neither does resetai. EDIT: Using kill commands on the guards when they reappear before initiating conversation helps SOMETIMES. You still cannot reclaim the follower if the guards were not there to console kill. (NOTE: I married my follower which got her to leave the shrine. I told her to live at my house in Whiterun. Now I cannot find her anywhere...)
 * I have found that by doing this quest on my ps3 that any time one commits a crime in Markarth the guards will not offer one a chance to pay there fine but try to take them to jail causing a conversation loop unless one choices the dialogue along the lines of I won't be taken alive.
 * If you kill the guards in the temple and escape into the mine, a guard will follow you in and all NPCs in the mine will attack you. You are not able to open the gates into the mine. The chains are not possible to activate.
 * Getting Weylin's note before the quest begins causes the objective to come up as completed then and the mercenary to fight you outside, if you then start the quest it is needed to again read Weylin's note inside his room, but despite being given a quest icon to talk to the mercenary you cannot have any dialog and he will simply say random standard things such as "yes". anyone got a fix for this yet i kinda need it.
 * Giving Markarth to the Stormcloaks in the negotiation may cause the quest not to update or function properly.
 * After searching Weylin's place and exiting the Warrens, the brawl against Dryston may cause the guards to become hostile and attack the player. Fix: Must attack Dryston with fists only. (Note: If wearing the Ebony Mail during the fight, the properties of the armor will poison Dryston and act as a weapon. This alerts the guards and gains you a 40 bounty which only increases during the fight. Reload an autosave after leaving the Warrens and take off the armor before your brawl. Wearing the armor, fighting and possibly killing Dryston will cause a quest breaking glitch to occur and this also answers the question as to why the player gains a bounty during the brawl. It should also be assumed that wearing the armor during any other brawl will also have the same negative reprucussions.)
 * After defeating the Mercinary outside the Warrens, the system freezes. Any fix?
 * Resisting arrest inside the temple and killing the guards, and then later getting accused of "Murder and treason, etc." and going to Cidhna mine and finishing the quest will result in the dialogue loop of the guards accusing you whenever you come back to Markarth after leaving during the brawl between the guards and the Forsworn. They won't take a bribe, or any other for of persuasion. You can't pay off your bounty, and if you try going to jail it just restarts the loop. As soon as the guards come up to you in the Shrine, just go peacefully to avoid this.
 * After completing the quest, and after returning to the museum after the Thief Guild quest chain, guards will halt you and get stuck in the Forsworn Conspiracy conversation loop. Clicking "I'll go to jail quietly" does nothing, and the Thane and Bribes options also don't work. The only option is to kill the guards. The Jarl, Thalemor, his Housecarl, and Clerk will all attack you on sight inside the palace.
 * After defeating Dryston, he doesn't talk. He simply walks away and the quest updates to "Find evidence about Nepos."
 * The third guard who is supposed to talk to you about you being framed etc., is replaced by a Legate who only asks you if you want to join the Legion or, if you've already joined, will revert to basic Imperial dialogue. No fix yet.
 * After fighting the Forsworn agents in the Treasury house, Thonar will not talk to you, and he will keep fighting indefinitely.
 * If you are wearing the Ebony Mail when exiting the warrens after getting Weylin's note, the thug will engage you and brawl with you like normal but you will receive a bounty and will have to pay it off in order to get the thugs note or engage him in conversation. (i.e. continue the quest) Note: you will get a bounty no matter what if your wearing the Ebony Mail at this point whether you put your fists up, run, submit to the guards, doesn't matter. The only fix is to take the armor off and reload.
 * It is possible that when "Find evidence about Thonar" and "Find evidence about Nepos" parts of the main quest are left, and you kill Nepos in his house before finding evidence about Thonar, then go back to the Shrine of Talos to inform Eltrys about the Nepos' death, your follower (if you have any at that moment) becomes one of the guards who are already waiting for you in the Shrine for your arrest. As known, you can choose to fight the guards. In this case the follower will be fighting on your side till the end. Or you can decide to pay the bounty to the guards which will prevent you from fighting, but this will prevent you from taking the next quest No One Escapes Cidhna Mine. In both cases, after fighting the guards or paying the fine, you will be able to communicate with your follower and trade some items with him, unfortunately, he will no longer follow you. Even if you ask him to leave your service, the follower will just stay in that very Shrine of Talos. This can be fixed by actually finishing first "Find evidence about Thonar" and only then accomplishing "Find evidence about Nepos". Anyway, it is better for you to ask your follower to wait in a certain place, before finishing the quest.
 * If you first enter Markarth by doing the quest "A Night To Remember" you may end up skipping this entire quest when you first enter the shrine of talos and instead get immediately framed for all the murders
 * After going into the Temple and initiating dialogue with the guards, they only told me to join the stormcloaks. I then loaded a save game from before I went inside and completed the main storyline up until the meeting when you have the option to give the Imperials Markarth. I kept Markarth under Stormcloak control, however, and then went back to the Temple. Now, inside the Temple, Eltrys is lying dead on the floor with no guards at all around him.
 * After com pleting the quest and entering the Tem ple I try to get arrested i said "Fine. I'll come quietly." The guards attack me then when i try to get arrested again it says "What's The  problem" or somthing and then it loo ps over and over.