The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion/Dark Brotherhood Introduction

Overview
When someone needs to arrange a hit they pray to the Night Mother. The Night Mother then sends her children to do the job. In a sick and twisted cult the Dark brotherhood is a combination of a dangerous cult and a murderous Mafia. Either way they're assassins of the highest degree.

Joining
You don't find the Dark Brotherhood, the Dark Brotherhood finds you. If you commit a murder without witnesses, the Dark Brotherhood will come calling. Note that the victim must be innocent and killed in cold blood – not someone who has first attacked you. When you have killed someone appropriate you will receive the message “Your killing has been observed by forces unknown”.

After committing your foul deed, you must sleep in a secure location, preferably outdoors. Any bandit camp will do, as will any tents outside forts, Ayleid Ruins, or any bed used by beggars. Lucien Lachance will interrupt your sleep and task you with another murder, as well as give you a Blade of Woe (a pretty unremarkable blade, outside of its unique design).

A Knife in the Dark
Lucien Lachance directs you to the Inn of Ill Omen, in search of a man named Rufio. You can't fast travel to the Inn unless you've been there before (though he adds a map marker for you) so be prepared for a bit of running.

When you reach the Inn, talk to the proprietor and ask for Rufio. She will mention that he is downstairs in the "private room". Look for a trap door behind the stairs by the front door. Once you're downstairs, go to the last room on the left (the door should be unlocked).

Normally, Rufio will be fast asleep in his bed. It doesn't matter how much noise you make around him, though for best results you should attack him in sneak mode to ensure that enough damage is dealt to kill him (and also to avoid alerting anybody else that happens to be downstairs).

Note that while Lucien gives you a Blade of Woe and suggests that you use it, it's not vital that you actually kill Rufio with the blade - as long as he dies, your quest will be completed successfully. Go back to sleep in a secure location (such as rufio's bed) and you will join the Dark Brotherhood. It has some nice perks including receiving gold, Shrouded Armor, and Shrouded Hood as a reward.

Tenets and Explusion
Even as a cult full of cold blooded killers the Dark Brotherhood has a set of tenets. Oddly enough though it's impossible to break the first three to my knowledge.

Tenet 1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

If you get thrown out of the guild for breaking into those then you still have a chance to get back in. Next time you sleep you will be attacked by "The Wratch of Sithis" who is a great big ghost with a knife. And let me tell you he is tough. Weapons don't work so if you're not a mage you're pretty screwed.

The first and second time you're expelled killing the ghost is enough to get back in. The third time, however, there is no forgiveness even if you do kill the ghost.

= Dark Brotherhood Quests = Most of the Dark Brotherhood quests will consist of assassinations, often with conditions attached. If you fulfil these conditions then you will get a bonus usually a lot more money or a rare item, it's almost always worth doing it right.

Vincente Valtieri Quests
Vincente Valtieri is the gang vampire. He's the most obvious vampire in the game and is quite kind to you. Since he's your first guy to award quests he always gives you helpful advice.

A Watery Grave
Ok this time you've got to kill a pirate on-board his ship. There's no bonus so just go at night when he's sleeping. Go to the Waterfront district of the Imperial city and there should be 2 ships, The floating Bloat and the pirate ship. Walk on-board the pirate ship and go into sneak mode and go into the small extremely obvious door to your left. The captain should be sleeping in his bed a few feet away. Stay in stealth mode and stab him in the back a few times once he's dead loot him quickly and get off the boat. Pirates will come to see what's going on and if they see you you'll have an unnecessary fight on your hands.

Accidents Happen
This quest is the first time you have a bonus. A man needs to be killed but it has to look like an accident. That rules out the usual stab 20 times in the face as well as bashing his face in with a mace. So what to do? When you're getting the quest Valtieri suggests you loosen the Minotaur head above the victims chair so we'll try that if we want the bonus.

Before you do this though make sure you have a few lockpicks. If you need you can buy em from Ongar a few buildings away from your victim. That is if you're in the Thieves' Guild of course. The best time to go into the house is 8 pm since it gives you plenty of time to get it done.

So go around behind his house and pick the lock to break into his basement. You're going to want to be in stealth mode from here on out. You can steal whatever you want down here since there is no one downstairs. Now pick the lock on the door up to the first floor, and remember BE IN STEALTH MODE. No sneak along in the shadows. If you look to your right you'll see your target sitting contently talking with his huge orc body guard, good thing we don't have to fight him. So carefully sneaking around the doorway and head upstairs. You can steal whatever you want from up here too since no one is looking. In one of the two bedrooms there will be a portion of wall that you can open and enter a small passage way. Move to then end and make sure it's between 8 and 11 (That's when he's in the chair) and undo the knotting and listen as it falls and kills him.

Now you'd think the orc would be after you, but since he thinks it's an accident he just stands gasping at his master. DO NOT KILL THE ORC, if you do then you will not get the bonus for making the quest look like an accident. Steal anything you still want and sneak out the way you came. Head back to the Dark Brotherhood to turn in. Valtieri will give you your money as well as Sufferthorn (a fairly nice dagger) if you made it look like and didn't kill the orc like I told you to.

Scheduled for Execution
You know you've been thinking about this since the first minutes of the game. Killing that damn insulting Dark Elf in the cell across from you. When that secret passage opened up you thought to yourself "someday when I'm powerful I will come back through here and kill him." Well now you get to do it and you get paid to boot.

Vincent gives you the key that lets you get back into the sewers you escaped from so very long ago. Head back in and you'll find it's full of guards. Really they probably only needed one or two guards stationed at the entrance, but whatever.

So sneak through the sanctuary and come back to your old cell. Wait for a moment and listen to the Dark Elves' crazy dreams of escape and glory. Wait for the guard to leave, open your door and shoot a couple arrows through the bars at him.

Head up the stairs and walk out of the prison, head back to Vincent for your reward. Still can't believe you got paid to do that can you?

The Assassinated Man
This quest is a bit on the odd side. A man has hired assassins to fake his death. Yeah that's a good idea. But we get a bonus so off we go.

When you're assigned the quest Vincent gives you a poison dagger and the antidote (you see the plan yet?) Meet the "victim" (Motierre) and talk to him, he'll ask you to wait for the real assassin (gangster) to show up. Quickly stab Motierre with the poison dagger. The other assassin will try to attack you (Why? you just did his job for him) so run out of the house fast.

Come back in town and sleep/wait for about a day. Head to the church basement and give him the antidote. He'll mention that this is his family's tomb. Then he'll mention that his family will see this as desecration and LOOK A ZOMBIE. So you'll have to fight 3 or 4 zombies down here (what do ya know you got to kill something after all!) and escort him to the inn (he apperently thinks that a public place would be a good place to hide) and head back to Vincent for your reward.

Ocheeva Quests
Ocheeva is the female argonian in the Dark Brotherhood and seems to be a bit humbled by your skill.

Whodunit?
This is one of the most fun you'll have on a quest. Five people all targets are locked in a house (willingly) and told to search for a treasure chest with gold and the key to the house. The catch? There is no treasure and the key is with the assassin sent to kill them all. You.

Heres where it gets fun, if you can do it without being seen then you get a bonus.

The first target will be the guy who goes upstairs to take a nap, don't stab him or the dark elf woman will walk in on you. Sneak into the corner that can't be seen from the door and shoot him with an arrow. For fun talk to everyone and watch their reactions.

Next target should be the woman who comes upstairs, no one will come upstairs so be as loud as you want.

Third should be the rich elf. He hangs out downstairs and it's easy to get a sneak attack on him that no one sees.

With three people dead the old woman goes paranoid and the nord will head down to the basement to get himself nice and drunk. Follow him down and kill him by any means you see fit.

Lastly is the old woman. Speak with her and she won't even suspect you in your black clothes. Kill her as you see fit there's no one left to see you.

NOTE: This is far from the only way to do this quest. Be creative and do whatever you want. Some people say you can use speechcraft to make the whole house go to hell without you getting your hands dirty.

Of Secret and Shadow
This isn't so much a quest as a changing of the guard. Ocheeva tells you that Lucien Lachance wants to talk to you and hands you a note. Read the note and it tells you to meet him in person away from the sanctuary and not to show the note to anyone else.

Now head out of town and go to the base where Lucien wants you to meet. Don't head inside though. Walk around the base and look for a large hollowed out tree. Inside is a trapdoor leading straight to Lucien without going through the Skeletons and Ghosts on the way to him.

Finding the Traitor
As soon as you complete the hit on Ungolim Lucien Lachance in person comes and begins to threaten you. He says every hit you've made was a member of the Black hand (Silencer, Speaker, and now Listener) he quickly realizes that you have no idea what's going on and tells you that the surviving Black hand suspects he is the culprit. Turns out someone has been switching out his dead drop notes with their own. From now on you won't be taking orders from anyone you'll be finding the traitor and bringing him to justice.

Following a Lead
Head to Anvil and the next drop point. You'll find a barrel near a statue pretty close to the main gate. Hang out for a while and you'll see a wood elf come and switch the notes. Speak with him and interrogate him as you see fit (threats are befitting of a Dark Brotherhood member.) He'll tell you that a man in a robe and hood has been paying him to switch the notes, judging by his terror he's telling the truth. He tells you the man lives in the lighthouse cellar (what kind of lighthouse has a cellar anyway?) and the lighthouse keeper could give you the key.

Head to the Anvil Lighthouse and go inside. Speak with the lighthouse keeper and he'll give you the key after you threaten him. Head outside and go around the lighthouse until you see the cellar door.

Inside you'll find well pretty much what you'd expect from a dark brotherhood member dead bodies, a couple of dead dogs, and plenty of blood. Don't worry though he's not here. Go through the creepy lair and enter the last room you'll be attacked by a wolf. Kill it and enter the room. Here's where he becomes more insane then the usual Dark brother. There's a small shrine with his own mother's severed (and fairly rotten) head on it. You don't need to take the head, but you can anyway. Read his diary on the floor to see him narrate his entire life. It seems that Lucien Lachance was his father (I could be wrong on this, but he mentions his father and hating Lachance a lot in the diary and he is framing Lachance) and he carried out a hit on his mother. Apparently he's been rising through the ranks and is now a speaker. He's hoping to kill the Night Mother when she chooses a new listener.

With all this information head to the Draconis Farm where Lucien Lachance said he'd meet you. Enter the house and you'll find you're too late. The four other members of the Black hand are there and they have brutally killed and mutilated Lachance. Arquen will tell you that they need to speak to the Night Mother and that you are innocent, she then appoints you the rank of speaker (there have to be five fingers to the Black Hand) and tells you to come back between 12 and 3 AM. One of these four speakers is the traitor, but don't worry he'll reveal himself when we meet the night mother.

Honor Thy Mother
If you come back between 12 and 3 AM and speak with Arquen then you'll begin the final Dark Brotherhood quest. It turns out the Lucky Old Woman Ungolim (the old listener you killed) was actually the Night Mother's Tomb. The four speakers will pray to the night mother as you watch and the statue will reveal a passage to her tomb. Here the Night Mother reveals herself as a ghost and tells Arquen the traitor is still among them. Immediately Bellamont stabs and kills two of the other speakers (you can't stop this it's a cut scene) and rounds on you. Together you and Arquen have to kill him. The Night Mother is pleased and promotes you to the position of Listener. She then bids you to rob her tomb. Take everything you can, because you're never coming back. Speak with her again and she will enchant your Blade of Woe (you still have it right?) So that it deals all kinds of damage. She then Teleports you and Arquel to the Cheydinal Sanctuary.

= Aftermath = Now that you're a Listener and 90% of the dark brotherhood is dead you won't receive any more quests there are still some perks to being the boss though. You can get a weekly paycheck just for listening to the Night Mother and you get a selection of lackeys to choose from. Other then that there really isn't much to do.

Whispers of Death
Once a week you can return to the statue of the Night Mother and listen to her tell you the names of targets that people have prayed for. Do not worry as none of them are in Cyrodiil so you can't personally eliminate them.

Head back to the Cheydinal sanctuary and tell Arquen the names to heard. She'll send some new recruits to assassinate them and give you a cut of the money (200 gold the first time.) Remember you can do this only once a week so after a bit of adventuring see what day it is and listen to the new hits.

Minions
As Arquen works new members will populate the sanctuary. All of them naturally worship the ground you walk on and you can choose one of them to take with you as a lackey. There is a Khajiit with an axe, an elven archer, and a female (Breton?) spell caster. As assassins they are better then normal minions and can obey more commands (ex: follow me, but stay stealthed.) Unfortunately you can only take one murderer with you at a time.