Hey folks

So I've gotten to the point in Skyrim's MQ that forces the cultists to start spawning to try and get me to start Dragonborn, because the game didn't already lack enough in terms of a narrative focus (Oh? Getting involved in the Main Quest are we? Well perhaps you'd like to play an entirely different questline that is only vaguely and tangentially related to this one!), but that was fine because I assumed that just like every other questline the game throws at you without pausing to hear your opinion of the matter, it would do that and be done with it. I'd kill these Cultists and be able to go about my business, singing and dancing and carrying on.

But the Cultists aren't stopping. They just keep coming at me again and again, selfishly demanding I kill them rather than continue about my happy role play.

So the purposes of this thread are basically two-fold:

1) Kvetch about the unintuitive manner to force me to complete a questline I'd rather do later that Bethesda seemed hellbent on going about when they created this DLC and

2) See if my peers know anything about how to get these damn Cultists to just leave me alone short of starting Dragonborn.

Thanks

You can always just kill them and read the letter. It'll start the Dragonborn quest, yes, but you can just happily ignore that boat in the Windhelm Docks.

To me, it's either being hunted down by Cultists for eternity, or kill them for peace and quiet in exchange for a quest in my log I can ignore.

I've already killed those ones and read the letter, because I realized running around like I was trapped in the Benny Hill Show would fail me sooner or later.

But more and more keep coming. I have 15 different sets of Cultist outfits in my chests at Lakeview Manor.

Hmm...Well, I suppose you could take the boat to Solstheim, them immediately go back to Skyrim?

It does svck when quests are forced onto you like that.

Completing the MQ of the Dragonborn DLC will solve that.

Thus far all I can tell is you'll have to live with it since the event won't stop triggering until you finish Dragonborn, Unless you're on the PC and can locate a mod that alters the activation (But it's already tied to "The Way of the Voice", so technically the best way to not deal with it is to not finish THAT).

Still, it beats the Tribunal DLC for Morrowind. Nothing quite like sleeping at Level 1 on a new character only to be jumped by a Dark Brotherhood Assassin.

Yeah, it seems that if you don't do the quest that gets you recognized as Dragonborn, the cultists won't come.

So, yeah, basically now we can't even do the MQ without starting the Dragonborn DLC down the road. And as if not being able to do the Civil War without starting the MQ weren't bad enough...

Unfortunately, I'm at the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, which I think is where the Cultists start appearing start cropping up.

Yeah I agree that tying Dragonborn to start during the main quest is annoying that why I use a mod called Timing is Everything which allows me to change the starting trigger to after the end of the main quest.

What level do they start spawning?

Must...Have...PC...

Does it allow you to set the trigger to post MQ and Dawnguard? Because that would be marvelous.

No idea if they're level dependent. They first assaulted me right outside Ivarstead after I came down from High Hrothgar for the first time.

During or after 'The Way of the Voice'.

Why post DG?

You think that's annoying? What about hitting level 10 and now every guard in the game switches to one line and one line only: Herd they're reforming the Donguard, Vampire hunters or sumting...

Yes it also allows you to set what lvl you want for both the vampire attacks and the recruitment speech by Durak

Do what i did. Save your DLC like Dragonborn and Dawnguard to a memory stick and take it out of your console before you start the game then delete it from your console's memory. You won't be saddled with baggage like cultists and vampire assassins till you're ready to deal with them since you can add the DLC you want later.

Edit: Unless you have the Legendary edition which allows you to choose what DLC to install and when you want to do it.

With another character of mine (who has Dawnguard and the Dragonborn DLC), I plan to level him up to 9, and just stop. The skills can increase all they want, but I won't access the level-up screen until I decide to.

Is that a glitch? I only ever had them appear once. Granted, Dragonborn does have quite the supply of Main Quest problems.

Do the cultists normally attack more than once? I've only ever had them approach me once while in Skyrim.

I used this mod on my most recent playthrough. I adjusted the minimum level required before the Cultists attack - I think they attacked just before I left to find the Elder Scroll.

I had numerous attacks by cultists and vampires on my only other playthrough until I finished their MQ's so yes it is quite possible to endure multiple attacks. They can be as pesky as dragons at times.