In response to a previous post, BarbasTheDog has offered a script that prevents followers from babbling when engaged in a conversation with an NPC. In the video, you’ll notice the follower quest and all relevant dialogue is disabled while Avulstein is talking. The instant he stops, the follower quest returns.

Moreover, the hellos and one-line chatter from the other NPCs does not disable the quest, which is a good thing since we don’t want passersby to remove the options while you’re engaged in dialogue with a follower. This will work with the main version.