Cidhna Mine alternative playthrough (spoilers)

I started the Forsworn Conspiracy/Cidhna Mine quest, and when the troops came to arrest me, I of course thought "You'll never take me alive!"

I mean, come on, I've uncovered a massive conspiracy, do I really think they're going to let me live? They'll disarm me and then quietly murder me in a back room somewhere. Forget that.

So, I Fus Ro Dah down the guard to give myself a moment to get armed and start popping off arrows. New guards keep running in, but after dropping about a dozen things calm down.

Then, I get an idea. The Jarl needs to hear about this! Sunlight is the best disinfectant!

I go into sneak mode, and quietly make my way to the palace, popping off guards here and there as I go. Then finally, I get there, into the lion's den.

The guards outside are easy enough, but once inside, I can only drop two to sneak attacks before I'm spotted and it's on. I went through at least another dozen guards, plus two elf troops and their wizard, and finally got to the Jarl, hoping that once he heard of the conspiracy, we could gather up the loyal troops and set things right.

Nope, he just had a bandit colony needing clearing out. :-\

God, damn it.

I like how big and open the world is, and how you can do things in whatever order you want, but it sucks when that freedom is taken away and you have to play through a mission with their per-scripted linear story. The ground is just window dressing, it's the story that's the story.

Now, off to warn the Jarl of Whiterun, who made me Thane and I think I owe a duty of loyalty to, about the impending attack on his city and to broker a peace between him and Ulfric.