Who doesn’t love a nice and relaxing bit of murder? Fortunately, Bethesda’sThe Elder Scrollsgames have you covered thanks to theDark Brotherhood.
This guild of assassins-for-hire is happy to have another blade in the dark, if you wish to join.
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At the Night Mother’s command, they’ll send youstealthing aroundon contracts to kill for profit—and occasionally, to make Tamriel a better place.
InMorrowind,the Dark Brotherhood only show up as enemies during the Tribunal expansion. Your friendly neighborhood guild of assassins is theMorag Tong.Unlike the clandestine Dark Brotherhood, the Morag Tong are accepted by the Dunmer government. Otherwise, their role is pretty much the same.
10Kill Lurbuk
Questgiver
Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary
Once you join any of theElder Scrolls' assassin guilds, you’ll receive a number of contracts and writs to execute NPCs found throughout the game. Powerful mages, political leaders, dangerous warriors … or in this case,a really lousy bard.
Seriously, how bad does someone’s singing have to be to get a hit put out? This is my favorite ofSkyrim’s"simple contract" quests because of its absurd concept. Better yet, you get this contract alongside another contract to kill a damn vampire.
Someoneseriouslyhad it out for Lurbuk.
9Execute Severa Magia
End The Competition
Eno Hlaalu
Morag Tong Guildhall (Vivec)
Similar tovarious Mages Guild questsforMorrowind,toward the end of the Morag Tong’s questline it’s time to mop up the competition. Grandmaster Eno Hlaalu orders you toeliminate the Dark Brotherhood’s “Night Mother"and secure your murderous monopoly over Vvardenfell.
Severa Magia is lesstheNight Mother seen in later games, and more the “Night Mother” who leads Vvardenfell’s cell of the Dark Brotherhood. Hidden away in the lower levels of a Daedric shrine, Ald Sotha, just reaching your target is more than half the battle.
This quest sends you into one ofMorrowind’ssimpler ruins, but has a strong concept and afantasticreward. Eno gives you the Black Hands Dagger—one of the highest-damaging weapons in the game due to its enchantments—after reporting Severa’s demise.
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8Writ For Feruren Oran
Kill For Acceptance
Once you’ve found the Morag Tong’s hideout in Vivec’s Arena Canton, the guild’s grandmaster offers you a “writ” to prove your worth. Track down and kill the dark elfFeruren Oran in Vivec’s Hlaalu Cantonto get entry to the guild.
Well, thatdoesseem like you’re committing murder—so what happens if the guards catch you? As Grandmaster Eno explains, the Morag Tong gets to dolegalmurders. Basically, that writ is a “get out of jail free” card after you kill Oran.
It’s a strange concept, sure. But that’s also why this quest suitsMorrowindwell—the game is designed around presenting a strange place, an alien culture. Turns out, legal assassinations are part of that.
7A Knife In The Dark
Joining The Brotherhood
Lucien Lachance
The Morag Tong attempt to maintain a veneer of respectability, butOblivion’sassassins aren’t anywhere near that friendly. In fact, you’ll need tomurder a random civilianjust to join their ranks.
Do so, and you’ll awake to Lucien Lachance looming over you the next time you wake. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble (well, not with Lucien, anyway). He’s into your murders, and wants you to do another one.
The Dark Brotherhood stands out inOblivionas almost certainly the most callous organization in the game. There’s no pretense of playing nice or trying to better the world. You’re a murderer, so they’re happy to hire you.
“A Knife in the Dark” sets the tone well for the game’s later Dark Brotherhood quests.
6Bound Until Death
No Honeymoon Necessary
Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary (Falkreath)
One ofSkyrim’smost interesting assassinations sends you to kill an Imperial woman in Solitudeduring her wedding.Instead of marking a hope of peace between the loyalists and the Stormcloaks by her wedding to a Nord, your murder hopes to raise tensions even higher.
The variety of ways you may off the target, Vittoria Vici, is what makes this quest quite fun. Personally, I’m a big fan of dropping the gargoyle statue atop her.
This looks conveniently like an accident. It also nets you a bonus reward from Astrid for killing Vici during her speech. Really adds to the murder’s public spectacle (and avoids snagging a bounty, too).
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5Threads Of The Webspinner
Hunting Daedric Items
Despite being, in some sense, a fetch quest, “Threads of the Webspinner” is one of the few really good ones throughout theElder Scrollsfranchise. Similar to the Stones of Barenziah inSkyrim,this quest sends you offhunting for 27 items associated with Sanguine, a Daedric lord.
Unlikethe Stones of Barenziah, these items are actually useful prior to completing the quest. Each “sanguine” item is an enchantment which boosts one ofMorrowind’s27 skills by 5 points.
Better yet, you encounter the cliff racer’s share of these items in the course of other Morag Tong missions. No need to traipse all over Vvardenfell in pursuit. Just keep assassinating your marks, and remember to return their “sanguine” items to Grandmaster Eno.
Complete the task, and the guild’s guardian spirit, Mephala, rewards you with one of the game’s best spells. “Mephala’s Skill” gives you the game’sonly source of the Fortify Attack spell effect.
Combined withMorrowind’sspell creation tools which make itthe best game in the series,this effect can be rather … lethal.
4Innocence Lost
A Child’s Request
Aventus Aretino
In stark contrast toOblivion,the Dark Brotherhood introduction inSkyrimis rather sympathetic. Following rumors in Windhelm leads you to Aventus Aretino,a kid who wants you to kill the mistress of his orphanage.
According to Aventus, self-styled “Grelod the Kind” watches over her charges in Riften with sadistic glee. Kill her upon his request, and the boy gives you a small reward.
More importantly, it also catches the attention of the Dark Brotherhood. Turns out, you stole their prey. On the upside, this gives you an “in” with the Brotherhood, while also sparing the orphans any more misery.
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3Dark Brotherhood Attacks
Please, Just Let Me Sleep
Even though you can’t join the Dark Brotherhood inMorrowind,the organization is quite prominent. Thanks to the Tribunal expansion, the utter bastardsmight attack every time you try to sleep.
Yes, this prevents healing. Yes, it can happen in cities, inns, and so on. No, the guards won’t help.
To stop the attacks, you’ll need to progress the Tribunal expansion’s main quest and take down a nasty boss in the city of Mournhold. Even if you’ve just started a new character, there is still a chance the assassins will show up.
Infuriating and memorable, to be sure. One of the few upsides is that the assassins' armor is quite valuable—a bit of nice loot at low levels if you manage to actually kill one.
2The Purification
Assassinate Your Friends
Fort Farragut
There’s a traitor in the Dark Brotherhood, and your buddy Lucien Lachance doesn’t know who. Logically, the only course of action is tomurder everyone in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary.
One of the most grim moments in any of the Dark Brotherhood stories, this quest is perfect forOblivion’sversion of the guild of assassins. Murdering your friends and supporters isn’t a trivial task, and makes it clear that Lucien is quite cut-throat in his goals.
Which may be relevant to later quests, when the traitor’s true identity becomes revealed.
1Hail Sithis!
Et Tu, Dovahkiin?
The Night Mother
Dawnstar Sanctuary
Any time an emperor dies, it’s a rather big deal.Skyrimgives you the opportunity to put yourself permanently in the history books byassassinating Titus Mede II, the Emperor of Tamriel.
Unlike Brutus, there’s no gang of assassins providing you with extra knives for the job. You’ll infiltrate the emperor’s ship all alone to fulfill this last contract. Succeed, and no one will doubt that the Dark Brotherhood is resurgent. The Night Mother will be most pleased.
Talk about a proper ending to a questline! “Hail Sithis!” features challenging opponents in an interesting environment with a goal which will shape Tamriel’s future.
Maybe an assassination isn’t “heroic,” but this quest certainly makes it clear thatyou’rethe one driving this timeline—not Titus.
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