Introduction
The Dark Brotherhood, a band of knifes-for-hire. They've been playing an active role in the empire for longer then people can remember.
Worshippers of the god Sithis, and led by the legendary Night mother. Join these men and women and join a life of hiding in the shadows.
The structure of the DB is rather different from other guilds, it's led by a so called Dark Hand, four people called speakers and one Listener, the five fingers of that hand. Additionally, each speak has it's own "nail" a silencer, an assassin he prefers.
Some few things that will definitely help your carreer as assassin; Detect life, either a spell or something enchanted with this, and chameleon.
Ranks
- 1. Murderer
- 2. Slayer
- 3. Eliminator
- 4. Assassin
- 5. Executioner
- 6. Silencer
- 7. Speaker
- 8. Listener
A knife in the Dark
The first quest, though not exactly a quest, is getting invited into the Dark Brotherhood in the first place. The requirement is killing an innocent person.
After having done that (Shouldn't be too hard as there are loads of such people around) sleep somewhere. Most places will do, and you'll be awakened by Lucien Lachance, a speaker of the Dark Brotherhood.
He asks you if you wish to become a member of the Dark Brotherhood, and tell you that in order to join the guild, you need to kill a man called Rufio, found at the In of Ill Omen, to the north of Bravil.
You have a choice now, if you ignore this quest you'll not hear from Lachance again, otherwise however travel to the Inn, and find Rufio asleep in the basement "private quarters". Kill him and then sleep again to get another visit from lachance.
This time he congratulates you on the kill, and tells you to go to Cheydinhall, beneath an abandoned house, near the east gate there you'll find a dark Brotherhood sanctuary housing quite a few guildmembers. Once there, you're supposed to speak to Ocheeva.
Fast travel to the east gate of Cheydinhal, and walk due left. This is the third house you find there, enter it, and take the door you see on your right side leading to the basement. Once there simply follow the path leading through a destroyed wall to get to a red door.
It asks you for a password, but speaking to Lachance will have given you this password "Sanguine my brother". Find Ocheeva in there, and speak to her to complete this first of quests and get ready for more action.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark01Knife 100
Watery Grave
This is your first real assignment. Inside the sanctuary, walk to the very back to find Vincente Valtieri. He'll instruct you on your assignment.
You're sent out to the Imperial city's waterfront district. Once there locate the pirate ship called Marie Elena and kill the captain. He makes sure you realise you're supposed to stay unseen.
One tip that goes for each of your assignments here, is speak to your fellow assassins in the sanctuary, most offer some valuable information either regarding the target, or regarding the best way to kill him/her.
In this case, subterfuge is the way to go. If any of the pirates walking near the ship spot you, they will attack. So unless you have either a high acrobatics skill, or a strong chameleon holding item, it's recommended you use a sneaky way to get in. Using high acrobatics you can jump from the dock to the small balcony outside the captain's cabin.
Using a strong chameleon item you can simply walk up to the cabin door and no one will spot you, alternatively there is a large crate lying on the dock. If you stand next to it for a little while, it will give you an option to climb in. Do so and the crate will be moved onto the deck of the ship making it easier to get into the cabin.
Beware, unless you kill the captain very swiftly, you'll be faced with two of the crew members also attacking you.
After the captain is killed, escape from the ship, and fast travel back to the sanctuary to report your success and end the quest.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark02Watery 30
setstage Dark02Watery 100
Accidents Happen
This next assignment sees you travelling to Bruma. You're supposed to arrange an accident for one of the inhabitants there. A Bosmer called Baenlin spends his evenings in his house in his favorite chair, reading.
Travel to Bruma Find the house of Baenlin and walk around it, at the back you'll find an entrance leading to the basement of the house. Sneak up, making sure to avoid the servant Gromm as well, he's not supposed to be harmed during the quest.
Once inside the house, Sneak your way upstairs, into Baenlin's bedroom, and at the far side of the room, there is a section of the wall which you can move. Move it and stand inside the space you have there, replace the wall and no one will know you're there. I found that to be the perfect hiding place.
Wait untill after 7pm, and he should be seated in his favorite chair. If you're unsure, you can always sneak out of the space for a moment and look down from the balustrade to make sure he's in the right position.
When he is, inside the space in the wall activate the rope and wood holding the minotaurs head suspended and it will fall on Baenlin killing him instantly. After that's done, the servant won't bother you anymore as he'll be standing over the corpse of Baenlin, allowing you safe passage out to the basement and then out of the house once again.
Return to Vicente to complete the quest and collect your reward.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark03Accidents 20
setstage Dark03Accidents 100
Scheduled for Execution
Remember that prisoner at the start of the game? The one in the cell across from you that enjoyed insulting you? Well his name is Valen Dreth and your next assignment is to kill him.
Return to where you got out of the prison, the watergate little to the east of the imperial city, and enter it using the key Vicente provided. Once inside, simply retrace your steps and you'll find yourself back in the cells.
Beware though, a number of imperial guards are snooping around there so be carefull not to run into any of them. You should arrive back in your old cell, once there simply kill Valen, get back out of the prison and report back to Vicente.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark04Execution 40
setstage Dark04Execution 100
The Assassinated Man
This next quest is one of a kind, instead of needing to kill someone, you'll need to appear to kill someone, then revive the same person in order to make sure he doesn't get killed.
Vicente will explain in more detail, and ask you to travel to Chorrol. Vicente gives you a special dagger for this quest, so I recommend equipping it asap so as not to make a fatal mistake.
Arrive in Chorrol, and you'll find the house of Francois Motierre in the rich section of the city. He'll explain in even greater detail the need for this quest, and beware because right after he finishes speaking, you'll be visited by an argonian really sent to kill him.
So I recommend standing next to him, and once the Argonian enters the house, stab Motierre with the special dagger, and then flee. It might be tempting to get into a fight with the Argonian, but you're not to harm him, so make sure not to do so.
Exit the town, but don't stray far as you're not yet done. Wait for 24 hrs and then head back into Chorrol, this time travel to the Chapel there. Inside, go to the underwords, reachable by alking down the stairs at the entrance, and locate the body of Motierre there.
Activate the body of Motierre to revive him, and then escort him out of the chapel and into the gray mare inn to finish the quest. Though make sure to come prepared, because the moment you revive Motierre, three zombies appear spread across the underworks looking for your, and his, blood.
Once safe inside the gray mare inn, Motierre will thank you and you're free to report back to Cheydinhal, to Vicente to finish the quest.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark05Assassinated 60
setstage Dark05Assassinated 100
Lonely Wanderer
From now on, your quests will come from Ocheeva rather then Vicente. Find her in the sanctuary for the first quest. She sends you to the Imperial city to kill a man named Faelian.
The best (possibly only) chance you get of killing him without anyone seeing you, and without anyone being able to discover the body is by killing him in an abandoned house. In the elven gardens district, there is a house called Lorkmir's house.
Pick the lock and enter it, you can explore it a bit and find the body of Lorkmir dead in the basement, presumably killed by Faelian though you never find that out for certain.
Between the hours of 11am and 5pm Faelian spends his time drinking Skooma in that house where you're in. So make sure to be there around that time, and hide yourself of course, then when he enters or when he's already there, kill him.
After he's dead, return to the Cheydinhal sanctuary and report your success to Ocheeva to finish the quest.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark06Wanderer 40
setstage Dark06Wanderer 100
Bad Medicine
This next quest will require every bit of your sneaking skill you're ever aquired. Ocheeva sends you off to Fort Sutch, a fort located to the far North of the Anvil lighthouse.
Once there, your assignment is to sneak your way past all the mercenaries inside, to find the medicine cabinet of lord Roderick, and replace the medicine inside, with a poison you get from Ocheeva.
Once inside the fort, you'll find two guards near a locked gate, stay hidden in the shadows untill they finish their discussion. Once done they will open that gate, and head over to Rodericks bedside. Follow them and as soon as the lady turns a left towards the sickbed, you'll see your goal straightahead. Avoid the orc wandering around there, and replace the bottle inthe cabinet with the poison, then sneak back out of the fort.
Another way to complete the mission, but forfeit your bonus is to simply kill Roderick where he lies, I don't recommend that one however, especially not if you have the means to do it the proper way.
Return to Ocheeva to complete the quest and recieve your bonus.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark07Medicine 30
setstage Dark07Medicine 100
Who's the killer?
Well, you are naturally ;-). This next quest is likely the most fun in the guild, at least I thought so. It requires more then just sneak though. Ocheeva sends you to Skingrad, to summitmist manor there.
There are five guests inside, and all five must die. But there is a catch, none of them may see you commit a murder, so you'll need to kill them all seperately.
I have it on a reliable source that there are many many different ways to do this, the way I did it however is as follows. Right upon entering you meet a kind old lady, be nice to her and when she asks you what you're doing her, say that you're an assassin for a nice disposition boost.
Speak to all five guests to learn of their personality and you'll find out some good information. Like knowing Neville and the naughty nord can't stand eachother from the start, or that the nord feels very protective of the lady dunmer, and that Primo and the lady fancy eachother a bit.
Anyway, I recommend simply taking your time here, but the way I did it is thusly; I first spoke to the old lady, the one I met at the door and suggested a partnership to her. I assume you need a higher disposition for that so make sure to have it, after the partnership is in place, suggest that she starts looking in the basement and that you start elsewhere.
She heads down to the basement and will make for an easy first target. Next up, Primo and the lady dunmer. I waited for primo to get some sleep and then I went up to his room to kill him, no one else there, the same goes for the lady dunmer. After you've killed the lady Dunmer, speak to the naughty nord to learn he's really upset about her death and thinks Neville, the former legionnair has killed all three of the dead guests.
He'll cast a nice spell and will run off to kill Neville, after he's dead, you'll have only the nord to kill and then the mission is complete.
Report your success to Ocheeva and this quest is finished.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark08Whodunit 30
setstage Dark08Whodunit 100
Permanent Retirement
This next quest has you travelling to Leyawiin. Apparently a retired guard captain resides there now, inside the city barracks and your quest is to kill him with a enchanted arrow you receive from Ocheeva.
The catch? You need to shoot it at him when he's not wearing his armor. Travel to Leyawiin and you can find out there are but two places where he doesn't wear his armor, the first is inside the city barracks, which is out of the question as you'll be mugged with guards instantly.
Second however is a swim Adamus always takes at 3pm, there's a small pool in the city, near the east gate. Hide at the side of the pool untill he arrives, and after he gets into the water, shoot the arrow at him.
Be carefull though as he's always accompanied by his special guard. So don't get spotted by the guard either. After killing him, activate his body and you'll find his finger on his body. Take it with you and travel to the Imperial city, to the prison district.
Because for the second part of this quest, you're to give a warning to the successor of Adamus. Once there, make sure to go into sneak mode and be sure to be carefull as you're supposed to place the finger inside a desk in the legion offices there, but there's often someone sitting behind the desk.
I recommend trying nighttime to get into the room, as you'll be less likely noticed and the new officer will most likely be asleep.
Activate the desk and place the finger inside. Then get back out and report back to Ocheeva to finish this quest.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark09Retirement 20
setstage Dark09Retirement 40
setstage Dark09Retirement 100
The Purification
Next up comes a real challenge, Ocheeva hands you sealed orders from Lachance, the person to recruit you for the DB in the first place. He asks you to visit him at his fortress of Farragut. It will be added to your map and is just a small way east of Cheydinhal.
Once there, don't enter through the front door, instead located a large round tree nearby, to the northeast to be precise, and enter the trapdoor you find there to reach Lachance quickly.
Speak to him to get some disturbing news, it seems someone infiltrated the Cheydinhal sanctuary. So one of the people there is a traitor, but he's unsure who it is. In order to make sure the traitor is killed, you'll need to kill everyone in the sanctuary.
He gives you two things that will help though, a poisoned apple and a scroll that summons a ghost. Now even at a higher level, you can't hope to win from all of them together so your best chance is by isolating each person, and then taking them out one at a time, without the others knowing about it. Now one option, though it might take a while, is to poison all of them.
Aside from the apple you're given, there is a barrel of poisoned apples in Lachance's HQ there. You could take all the food from the sanctuary, and replace it all with poisoned apples. The wait untill they've all eaten and they'll die. Though this could take a while.
Now vicente can of course be isolated easily, as he never really goes among the others anyway, and since he sleeps alone. The rest however will be a little more trouble. As mentioned, isolate for the best chance to kill them, or get them together and use your ghost scroll to do a lot of damage to them.
Once everyone's dead, report back to Lachance to complete the quest. The reward is one of the best in the game, a black horse called Shadowmere.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark10Sanctuary 20
setstage Dark10Sanctuary 100
The Affairs of Wizards
From now on you won't get your orders directly from lachance, but rather will find them lying around somewhere.
The first location is inside a large rock to the southeast of Farragut. It leads you to Leafrot cave, whch can be found to the south of the place where you find the orders.
Inside the cave you'll have to either fight past, or sneak past a number of summoned undead creatures. And in the second hall of the cave, you'll encounter this necromancer.
Your job is to kill him any way you can, well one way is the blunt way, simply fighting him, another way requires a high sneak skill. Sneak up to the necromancer, and pick his pocket, take his hourglass away from him and he'll die instantly. This saves you the trouble of needing to kill him.
Travel to Chorrol, toe the large tree standing in the center of a square in Chorrol and in the bushes, find your next orders and your reward for this quest in a sack there.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark10SpecialWizard 30
setstage Dark10SpecialWizard 100
Next of Kin
This next quest has you killing an entire family, the Draconis family needs to die for some reason, and you're the one they sent. First travel to Applewatch farm, just to the south west of cloud ruler temple. That's where you fnd the family's matriarch. Kill her, and loot her body for a list of all her childrens locations,
From north to south, one is Matthias, who lives in the imperial city's talos plaza district. He sleeps between 7pm and 5am at which time he's an easy target.
Much valley cavern is where you find Sibylla, again she's most easily defeated during her sleep, you will however find a few creatures in those caves between you and your target so be carefull not to underestimate her.
Next up is Andreas, owner of the drunken dragon inn down the road near Bravil, there is an imperial legionnair near him at most times, so be carefull there.
And last, is Caelia, she's a city watch guard in Leyawiin so killing her is potentially dangerous for your health due to the other guards. But if you can get to her alone, like say after 7am in the three sisters Inn in that city, you'll be able to kill her without anyone seeing it.
Now travel to Skingrad, to the well just near the castle and you'll receive your reward and your new orders.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark11Kin 30
setstage Dark11Kin 100
Broken Vows
This quest sees you travelling to Bruma. enter through the east gate, and J'Ghasta's home will be just a few houses to the left there. Pick the lock and enter it, then head to the basement.
Inside the basement, go right to a point just behind the door, on the floor there is a hatch leading to a secret training room where your target is. He's very good with hand to hand though carries no weapons, so kill him quickly.
Now travel to the imperial city and then head due south untill you get to the old bridge. Underneath, in a crate you'll find your reward and the next assignment.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark12Harem 20
setstage Dark12Harem 100
Final Justice
Before you go off after this next target, I recommend stocking some water breathing potions as you might have to do battle underwater.
Shaleez lives in flooded mine, located north of Bravil. Once inside you'll notice it isn't too large, with some flooded rooms and some normal rooms so depending on the time of day, she'll either be swimming or on the dry land.
KIll her and travel to Fort Redman, located on the east bank of the lower Niben, to the north of Leyawiin. Just next to the entrance stands a coffin and inside is the reward and your next assignment.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark13Justice 20
setstage Dark13Justice 100
Matter of Honor
Along with your orders, you find the schedule of your next target, he travels a lot and can be found in a number of places.
He's also a master of destruction, so be carefull of his spells. One thing your orders suggest is filling him up with mead which will paralyze him, this works and with a high sneak skill, shouldn't be too hard. It requires you to take all the food in all the inns along his route, and replace them with mead.
One alternate route is also taking away the mead, but putting poisoned apples on it's place. Though this might get you a number of other npc's killed as well.
Or you can simply find him somewhere in the wilderness, or in his home and kill him there.
After it's done, go to the imperial city's market district, and enter the passage between rindir's staffs and edgar's discount spells, to reach a hollow stump containing your reward and new orders.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark14Honor 20
setstage Dark14Honor 100
Coldest sleep
This next quest has you travelling to the Gnoll mountains, east of Bruma. At the top there is a small campsite of Havilstein Hoar-Blood. Your quest is to kill him.
Well apart from the obvious trouble you'll have fighting him, your only trouble should be finding the location, or rather the path leading to it. It took me a while so one advice; make sure to follow the road!
After the deed is done, travel to Nornal, an Ayleid ruin to the southeast of Cheydinhal. Enter it, and take the first opening on the right, leading to a submerged room, there's a sunken chest in there which carries both your reward and your next quest.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark15Coldest 20
setstage Dark15Coldest 100
Kiss before dying
This time, you're ordered to kill Ungolim, a Woodelf in Bravil. His house is pretty tight, but either kill him in there or when he walks around the statue of the lucky old lady. He's rather tough to be carefull to come prepared.
After you kill him, you'll find yourself face to face with Lachance, apparently you've been deceived and you've not been doing what Lachance wants you to do, but have instead killed a large part of the Black hand; the ruling council of the Dark Brotherhood.
Lachance first accuses you but soon realises you knew nothing of it, so he sends you out to investigate while he himself hides from the rest of the black hand.
To finish the quest:
setstage Dark16Kiss 20
setstage Dark16Kiss 100
Following a Lead
Travel to Anvil, and out to the statue in the pond there. Put on your best stealth face and simply wait. A woodelf will approach the barrel where you were supposed to find your new orders and puts something inside. After he's dropped it, approach him and ask him who gave him those orders. Some talk will ensue and it ends with him suggesting you look around the basement of the lighthouse in Anvil.
First speak to the owner of the lighthouse, often found either in bed or at the top of the lighthouse and demand to have the key and he'll hand it over.
Entering the basement there will give you some clues after the traitors identity, and taking the severed head on the top of the table with you, will give you the identity of the traitor without a doubt.
Travel to applegate farm, where you killed the lady Draconis a few quests back and enter the farm to behold a gruesome sight.
It seems the black hand cought up to Lachance before you got there and killed him, then strung him up and partially skinned him. They don't blame you for your mistakes, but think Lachance was responsible.
After you're free to move again, drop the severed head you just took from the Anvil basement, and speak to the people there, three will react normally, but one will stumble over his words and hesitate, watch him closely as he's the traitor.
To start this next and last quest for the Dark Brotherhood, speak to Arquen between midnight and 3am.
Night Mother
Arquen asks you if you're ready to visit the Night mother, agree and you'll be transported to Bravil. Apparently the lucky old lady, isn't so innocent, it's really a disquise to the tomb of the night mother.
Stand and watch as the other four open the way, and after they're gone, follow them down to the tomb.
Inside you'll be greeted by the nightmother and some dialogue will play out, follow it along and after a little while, the traitor will make his move and attack two of his fellows and then go after the nightmother.
At that time you'll be free to move again, attack him together with Arquen and kill him. Afterwards the nightmother speaks directly to you, mentions she has known about the traitor for ages and congratulates you and then promotes you to Listener, the highest rank in the Dark Brotherhood.
She'll invite you to loot her tomb, do so and when you're done, speak to her again to be transported to the Cheydinhal sanctuary where Arquen will start recruiting more members again, and she'll invite you to get contracts from the nightmother (she describes the method) and bring those to her and she'll make sure they're carried out.
The End
Well, that's where it ends, you've cleansed the Dark Brotherhood, also decimated it but that can be repaired.
Make sure to bring Arquen lots of contracts, as the more contracts you bring to her, the more populated the sanctuary will get.
And you can ask anyone of those three people that will inhabit it, to follow you and they'll fight alongside you.