So I got Vanus all put back together (his three essences and all that), and we set off to destroy the Shackle, which is evil and going to pull Nirn and Coldharbour together. All's well, I'm feeling the flow so far. We end up tinkering with some energy flow beam, and that's where I kind of got lost.

I had to find and switch three other energy flows, that's good. But then there were two soul-shriven people I ended up freeing from cages, a mage and a warrior. No introduction, no explanation. No idea who these people are. I free them anyways, they thank me, and, without further explanation, run off to help Vanus.

Alright, that's... neat.

Back to my job. I finish the last energy flow, follow the quest marker to a balcony, see my now-three companions down below, and go down to say hi. Vanus comments on how he didn't realize that changing the energy would make that poor creature explode. Um... What creature, asks this khajiit. I didn't see or hear any creature explode. That would've been cool to see. This one feels cheated!

Anyways, we charge through the door, and, to my surprise, Cadwell is suddenly there with us. The heck? Where did he come from? I hadn't seen him since I first got to Coldharbour!

Anyways, we finish the job (or so we thought. THANKS Cadwell for bursting that bubble), and head home. Leaving me with no exploding monsters, two new companions that I have no idea who they are, why they're here, or where they came from, and Cadwell, who's suddenly appeared out of nowhere to become a bottomless barrel of exposition.