The Obsessed Child

The Obsessed Child is a Temple quest available during the events of. The Agent is to investigate a child whose guardian, a Knight, fears has been possessed.

Background
After joining one of the Eight Divine Temples scattered throughout the Iliac Bay, the Agent will be assigned randomly determined quests to complete by the Temple's missionary.

Objectives

 * Speak with a Missionary for a joined Temple.
 * Find and speak with the Child's guardian.
 * Find the Child and speak with them.
 * Journey to the town specified by the guardian.
 * Speak with the priest(ess) after finding them in town.
 * Receive the Holy Item from the Priest(ess).
 * Return to the child and hand them the Item.
 * (Either) Attack and destroy the daedroth if it spawns.
 * (Or) Return to, and challenge, the guardian to retrieve the Item.
 * Return the Item to either the Missionary or the priest(ess) before the time limit expires to complete the quest.

Walkthrough
Speaking with a Missionary from a joined Temple will reveal that the Temple have been approached to perform an exorcism on a possessed child. However, information about the exact nature of the possession is unclear, and so the Missionary instead tasks the Agent with investigating the situation, starting with the child's guardian. Depending on information received, it will be up to the Agent as to whether an exorcism needs to take place.

It should be noted that the ultimate direction that the quest heads in will be determined at this point, with dialogue options changing based on the path randomly chosen.

A True Corruption
The guardian, dressed as a Knight, can be found in a local tavern. When spoken to they will express their grief at their charge's possession, stating:

"You've come from [temple]? Please tell me you can help little [child's name], I can't stand to see [him/her] suffer so. I don't know what to do with [him/her]. Please, take a look at [him/her] and then see if you can persuade that [priest(ess)' name] to help. [Child's name] has always been such a sweet [child's description], but now ... If you want to see [him/her], [he/she] is at [residence]. I don't know what else I can do."

- A child's guardian

A Confusing Conversation
The next task on the Agent's list should be a visit to the child, staying in the same town as their guardian, albeit in a residence rather than the tavern. Speaking to them will result in a variety of nonsense riddled responses such as:

"Gruh, you colly-eyed mortal greel, I would open all your veins and swim in your blood, steaming. They call me [daedra's name], the licker of cat droppings!"

- A possessed child?

Or,

"Poor little [child's name], [he/she]'s rotting in Oblivion, and no one will help [him/her], but kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind, kind [daedra's name]."

- A possessed child?

Or,

"There once was a girl named Vivian, Who met [daedra's name] of Oblivion, They decided to mate, and later they ate [child's name], their child, yum, yum."

- A possessed child?

With that, the Agent may proceed to visit the priest(ess).

The Dangerous Demon
The priest(ess) can be found in another town, staying in a randomly assigned building. The priest(ess) will accept the Agent's story based on their interaction with the child, handing them a Holy Item needed to perform the exorcism. They will also warn that the daedra possessing the child is a daedroth, noted for their "great power."

With the Holy Item in hand the Agent must return to the child and speak with them. The moment the Agent gives them the Item the child will exclaim:

"[Daedra's name] ... oh, [oath] ... [Daedra's name] is out of me ... but ... it's still here."

- A possessed child?

The child will then disappear, leaving the Agent to defeat the daedroth, hiding somewhere in the house. The Agent must now kill the beast, before returning to either the Missionary or the priest(ess) within the time limit to complete the quest.

A Well Researched Sham
After speaking with the Missionary, the Agent is required to speak with the guardian, found in a tavern in the town. When spoken to, the guardian will emphasise the need to get the Holy Item from the Temple, stating:

"You're from [temple]? Thank [temple god] you're here. They say you can get to [priest(ess)' name], the exorcist in [town] and [he/she] has some special [holy item] for possessions like this. I can't convince [priest(ess)' name] to get me the [holy item] myself, but someone like you with the authority of [temple] could. Go to [town] and talk to [him/her]. I know you can convince [him/her]."

- A child's guardian

A Master of Acting
Speaking with the child is the next port-of-call for the Agent, although the child's responses will be much the same as before: High on nonsense, low on use. Regardless, the Agent will have to visit the priest(ess) to obtain the Holy Item, who will have the exact same response as if the possession was true.

The Truth Revealed
Returning to the child with the Item will ultimately reveal that the whole quest was a scam, for the child will miraculously recover, take the Item, and disappear. With no beast to exorcise, the Agent must return to the tavern to challenge the guardian, only to find that they too have made a run for it. In their place will be a prostitute, who will state:

"Good day to thee, [player's guild title]. You're probably looking for that [guardian's description], [guardian's name], who slipped out of here after boasting about stealing some kind of [holy item] from [temple]. If you have fifty gold pieces to spare a friend, I could let you know where [guardian's name] went. What do you say?"

- A prostitute

Paying her 50 fee is the only way to find out the guardian's location, another residence in the same town. Tracking them down can be achieved with a brief interrogation of the local populace, although when finally confronted the guardian will simply scream:

"Don't hurt me!"

- A child's guardian

As the guardian disappears the Agent will be handed the Holy Item. They must now return it to either the Missionary or priest(ess) to complete the quest, provided they do so before the time limit expires.

Reward
The agent will receive a randomly enchanted item for their efforts, received from either the Missionary or the priest(ess). The success or failure of the Agent in undertaking the quest will also affect their reputation in the Temple:

Trivia

 * The priest(ess) will chastise the Agent if they speak to them before speaking to the child.
 * It is impossible to receive this quest from a Temple-centric location.
 * This is because the quest is centred on a tavern meant to be based in the same town, a feature lacked in Temple-specific locations.
 * NPCs will have a variety of responses relating to the quest when asked for any news:
 * Acceptance:
 * "Poor little [child's name]. And poor [guardian's name] having to watch [his/her] ward suffer so."
 * "The heart of [current locale] has really gone out to [child's name] and [his/her] terrible crisis."
 * Success:
 * "Everyone's thanking [temple god] for the [player's race] who saved little [child's name]'s life."
 * "Everything turned out all right for little [child's name], so maybe [temple god] does care."
 * Failure:
 * "[Child's name] and [guardian's name] left [guardian's town]."
 * "We'll never know if [child's name] was really possessed."

Bugs

 * Quest locations may be missing from the journal and/or conversations.
 * Dialogue with the prostitute may have the Agent's rank replaced by their name.