So I did this quest yesterday. Went through all the motion of investigating (Margaret's room, etc) then went back to the Shrine of Talos where the guards were waiting for me. Instead of letting them take me to Cidna mine I decided to fight them off.

Everytime a guard tried to arrest me I tried using my Thieves Guild influence (not to mention the Amulet of Articulation and the bribe perk in speech) and they kept saying they dont care who I am.

Now my question is since the quest is over at this point (shows up in the greyed out section of completed quests), will I have to let them arrest me because I cant pay off any bounty? I racked up a pretty hefty bounty as well. It doesnt really matter because I hate Markarth and have no intentions of returning.

you have to be arrested in order to continue the quest. it becomes No One Escapes Cidhna Mine. otherwise there is NO way to pay off the bounty.

Ah ok, because right now there is no quest at all. So I should just let them arrest me and do the Cidna mine part.

So basically I'm between quests then?

as soon as you let yourself be arrested, the quest will update automatically in your log.

Thanks

next part is seeing if you paid attention to all the information you just gathered and decide on how you want to get out.