Non Violent way of dealing with Grelod the Kind

[KayO199X]

Now that there is a good reason to get rid a Grelod the Kind (adopting a child, rather than meeting the Dark Brotherhood) there really needs to be a non violent way get rid of her for player who are RPing an honorable character.

Rather than killing her, perhaps the player could make a deal with Maven Blackbriar (who funds the orphanage) in order to have Grelod fired. Of course, Aventus Aretino will still want her dead due to her past crulty, the only difference in his quest would be the location at which you find Grelod (alone at home, rather than in the orphanage).

It just dosn't seem fair that honorable players should be limited to just the 4 kids who are living on the streets. What are your opinons on this?

 

[Adam Warlock]

I did not feel dishonored when killing Grelod although I did put it off for quite a long time because I never considered myself a murderer.
Depends on who you want to protect.
You can protect your pride in your own passivism and a cruel old shrew who makes life for the children a living hell or you can protect the kids.

But I agree with your premise and a speech check option would be nice

 

[Janus3003]

I agree that I'd love a non-violent solution to Grelod (while still leaving a way for the player to destroy the Dark Brotherhood).
In the meantime, I just figure my character maintains that it was one big misunderstanding. It's kind of like the Noodle Incident from Calvin & Hobbes.

 

[DovahCap]

Maybe you could bribe her to let some kids go?

Or just behead her c:

 

[KayO199X]

Another option i was thinking about is that if you deal with Grelod non violently, you still get a different quest involving the Dark Brotherhood. The reason being Aventus cancelled his contract on Grelod when he found out she has been fired or thrown in jail for child abuse. The Dark Brotherhood is now angry at the dragonborn for getting one of their contracts cancelled.

In this new quest, the Dark Brotherhood kidnaps the Dragonborn with the sole intent of killing him/her. However, the dragonborn manages to escape his/her shackles, and must now fight their way out of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. Reporting to a guard, and subsequently Captain Maro will give the player the same reward as the normal, destroy the Dark Brotherhood quest.

 

[bulbaquil]

Another option i was thinking about is that if you deal with Grelod non violently, you still get a different quest involving the Dark Brotherhood. The reason being Aventus cancelled his contract on Grelod when he found out she has been fired or thrown in jail for child abuse. The Dark Brotherhood is now angry at the dragonborn for getting one of their contracts cancelled.

In this new quest, the Dark Brotherhood kidnaps the Dragonborn with the sole intent of killing him/her. However, the dragonborn manages to escape his/her shackles, and must now fight their way out of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. Reporting to a guard, and subsequently Captain Maro will give the player the same reward as the normal, destroy the Dark Brotherhood quest.

I love this idea. Someone needs to script this, and preferably someone at Bethesda.

 

[The Phoenician]

Or just behead her c:

That is probably the best option for dealing with Grelod.

 

[Raijin]

The old bitch tortures and abuses these poor children, and you want a "non violent" way to deal with this old hag like firing her? She deserves what gets to her.

The only solution Look how happy the children gets after you kill her. Why do you want to take that joy away from them?

 

[KayO199X]

She deserves what gets to her.

I knew someone was going to say this. Here we get into the ethics of vigilantism. Someone at TV Tropes summed up the quest like this...

"His [Aretino's] quest, and the overall introduction to the Dark Brotherhood is carefully designed to make you feel a little ashamed of yourself. In Oblivion, it was possible to be contacted by the Brotherhood by accident, but not so in this game. Specifically, you must break into Aventus's home, pretend to be someone you're not (although the only other choice is to walk away and leave the quest unfinished), murder an Asshole Victem [Grelod] in cold blood, and then return to a child and tell him tha you just solved all of his problems through murder. Congratulations on screwing up a kid even worse than he was before, Dovahkiin!"

 

[XbSuper]

Another option i was thinking about is that if you deal with Grelod non violently, you still get a different quest involving the Dark Brotherhood. The reason being Aventus cancelled his contract on Grelod when he found out she has been fired or thrown in jail for child abuse. The Dark Brotherhood is now angry at the dragonborn for getting one of their contracts cancelled.

In this new quest, the Dark Brotherhood kidnaps the Dragonborn with the sole intent of killing him/her. However, the dragonborn manages to escape his/her shackles, and must now fight their way out of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. Reporting to a guard, and subsequently Captain Maro will give the player the same reward as the normal, destroy the Dark Brotherhood quest.

Sounds like a good idea, unfortunately, due to the amount of scripting required for this to work (not to mention the bugs it would create), Bethesda will never go for it.

 

[thomasthelad]

You don't really murder her in cold blood. I guess it comes down to justification. When you go to kill her, sneak in & listen to what she is saying to the children. It becomes quite alright after that.

 

[KayO199X]

Remember that Bethesda games have always been known to give the player options relating to ethics and morality. For example in Fallout: New Vegas...

There is this man named Benny who, at the begining of the game, shoots the player in the head, and has them burried in an unmarked grave. However, the player is rescued by a robot and is taken to a nearby doctor where he/she makes a full recovery.

Later in the game, you catch up to Benny who has been taken prisoner by one of your potential allies. You are giving the option to decide Benny's fate...
1. You can have Benny executed in the most painful and humiliating way possible.
2. You can execute him yourself in a more merciful way.
3. You can callenge Benny to a fair and honorable duel.
4. You can choose to forgive Benny and set him free.

If a Bethesda game can give the player the ability to forgive someone who almost killed him/her, then surly they should give the player other options of dealing with an elderly child abuser besides simply killing her.

 

[Texas fight]

The path of the honorable man is never an easy one. You are asking to be rewarded for kindness. Real world situations never work that way.

 

[jarif]

are you people STUPID??? just dress as a masked vigilante and beat the sh!t out of her but it might awkard though
Son : what happened to grelod the kind?
Dovahkiin : i killed her *while eating bread*
Son : O.O

 

[Jetmann114]

I love this idea. Someone needs to script this, and preferably someone at Bethesda.

Sounds terrible. I do not hate DB at all and I never will, but I will not join them either. I will leave them to their business, they are not evil, the people who are ordering the contracts are.

 

[WarSpectre]

There is no such thing as an honorable murderer, Accept yourself/your character as what they are; honorable/kind or murderer/killer. Murdering Grelod is wrong, and i hate that it is the only choice in that quest. That is at least 2 quests now that i will have to leave unfinished.
That said, an interesting twist would be: Grelod is a dremora that was sent to tamriel to corrupt innocence for her master...

 

[jarif]

Lets be realistic, even if real life was a fantasy, you would not do this, and instead be kinda of a pacifists.

 

[WarSpectre]

Lets be realistic, even if real life was a fantasy, you would not do this, and instead be kinda of a pacifists.

That's exactly right. So there needs to be another way of dealing with this quest. Make her attack the player in some way so that the player can defend themselves? Report her beating children to a guard, have the guard follow the player to investigate and witness it themselves?

Unless I misunderstood your reference?

 

[jarif]

Well when we overhear the conversation, maybe your character gets angry and over reacts. You can pretend your character knocks her out and make up a reason for why shes not their for example because you sent a threat letter at the hospital or she ran away with the fortune she made ect ect.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

You could always just avoid the whole DB thing and then not have to worry about ole GTK. After all, they're just a bunch of orphans, who cares...