Suggested scripting

After I kill grelod the kind in riften and I start the dark brotherhood quest line, and when Astrid takes me to the abandoned shack, I always am the good guy and kill Astrid and start the destroy the dark brotherhood quest. I have some suggestions for scripted catchphrases the character can say to Astrid that the animators could have put in the game. I. E. After Astrid says "make your choice, make your kill, I wish to watch, and enjoy." Your character could say, "well, I'll give you something to watch and enjoy! A first hand view of sovngarde, to be precise!" Or, after she says, "you are not leaving this shack until someone dies" your character could say, "sounds good to me! Remember to say hello to grelod the kind for me!" I mean, they could have spiced it up a little more than writing "I'll have no part in this insanity" in the scripting. Or, after speaking to commander maro and then entering the dark brotherhood sanctuary, one of the assassins could say something like, "you are not supposed to be here" and your character could say "the penitus oculatus says hello" and attacks them. Again, i usually I try to be the good guy and keep my lifetime bounty to a bare minimum. The character I have now has a lifetime bounty of only 1000 and it came from the false imprisonment on the forsworn conspiracy quest. I do commit crimes while doing the thieves guild quests, but I raise all my thieving skills to where I can do it without getting caught.

If you're on PC, you can go to the shack and use console commands to unlock the door, kill Astrid and release the hostages, and begin the Destroy the Dark Brotherhood quest without having to kill Grelod. The game will still put the young woman in charge, and send out the "new management" letters, though, but you can RP it is she drowned in her oatmeal or something.

Also, there's a new mod on Nexus, (for SE at least, not sure about Oldrim) called Penitus Oculatus. It allows you to join the PO and continue wiping out the DB, including Babette, clearing the Dawnstar Sanctuary, and saving the torture victims there. The PO then takes over the sanctuary and Maro will give you radiant quests to...er..."take care of" troublesome thalmor agents and kill DB remnants. I believe it also includes a player home, though I haven't opted to live there yet.