Andor's Trail

The devs clearly intend consequences to actions. Otherwise, what would be the point of offering to stand guard and be lying or not? Once time starts elapsing, we will have the choice of being there or not. If not, done (possible negative gov't effect when the guard reveals you as an accomplice while trying to keep his job). If there, do we see the people of Vilehaven outing a spy, revealing corruption, acting to support a coup? Do we discover evidence of an attempt at a theocracy, perhaps no better the the crown? If the church shows strong evidence of wickedness, is it so bad that Vacor wants to weaken Shadow?

Besides choosing Vacor or Unzel, a fairly wicked fellow could choose to kill Vacor, loot the body for the reward and the four pieces(he should have it on him), return to Unzel, get the XP and cash, then backstab him and initiate a new quest to discover the power of the rift spell yourself. A church-committed person would still loot Vacor for the pieces rather then leaving them for anyone to find and give them to a priest for safekeeping... or perhaps consult the Church first, contact the four "theives" and initiate a quest to act as a go-between, collecting the four pieces and taking them to four different churches.

once timelines start, one could kill the brigand, bury him with Rinzel and replace him to complete the contraband deal.

You could reveal the location of the thieves' Guild, warn the Foaming Flask Guard and set a trap, and include the Guards in the Rinzel plotline, playing center stage in a smuggler's sting

But at HappyJ already mentioned, its possible that Vacor isn't really evil, besides the "evil wizard" look he's sporting.

There's a few NPCs that don't seem too fond of the Shadow, so its hard to say (there's that lady with a statue who believes in a goddess of light that protects her from the shadow, and some of the guards).

Also, I just want to see if anything different happens with the rift being opened.