
This quest intro has just never been thought through. It makes sense when you start the game in the Coldharbour prison. But if you're getting the quest when you've never been to Coldharbour, how did you die and wake in Oblivion. What are you doing walking around Tamriel with full body and soul? Though starting in Coldharbour, you won't have any hooded figure approaching you.
The hooded figure will send you to Coldharbour, and then you will wake up in Oblivion with your soul torn from your body. Ideally, the hooded figure should be a precursor quest to soul shriven in Coldharbour. But if that's too much, at least start the quest with the information that a hooded figure approached and you should find out what he wants. Leave out all the stuff about dying and waking up in Oblivion until after you've been to the Hooded Figure.
With the new update building on the original story, this seems like an excellent time to fix this thorn in the flesh.
Favourite NPC: Wine-For-All
Mostly PC-EU , with a lonely little guy on NA.