Skyrim:Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!

Finish the Dark Brotherhood and rid Skyrim of their kind.

Quest Giver:

Automatic after killing Astrid

Location(s):

Abandoned Shack, Dragon Bridge, Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary

Reward:

3,000 gold,
Word for the Marked for Death shout

Disposition:

=3 (Commander Maro)

ID:

DBDestroy

Suggested Level:

8

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Failing With Friends Like These...

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Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!

Quick WalkthroughEdit

While in the Abandoned Shack during the quest With Friends Like These..., kill Astrid instead of a hostage.
Travel to any city and talk to a guard.
Speak to Commander Maro in Dragon Bridge southwest of Solitude.
Travel to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary and kill all Dark Brotherhood members inside.
Return to Commander Maro and collect your reward.

Detailed WalkthroughEdit

Complete Innocence Lost by killing Grelod the Kind. When you are kidnapped by the Brotherhood and brought to the Abandoned Shack, kill Astrid instead of a hostage and this quest will begin. Astrid has a rather lengthy animation when she jumps off the bookshelf, during which she is vulnerable and cannot retaliate.

After Astrid's death, travel to any city and speak to a guard. Inform them that you killed the Dark Brotherhood's leader, and you will be directed to speak to Commander Maro in Dragon Bridge southwest of Solitude. He can be found in the Penitus Oculatus Outpost.

After speaking to Commander Maro, you will be given the passphrase ("Silence, my brother") to their hideout and directed to kill everyone inside. He says that you should "have the honor" of clearing out the place, meaning you'll be going in alone. Even your followers do not enter the sanctuary with you. However, spectral entities such as Arniel's spirit and the ghostly Dragon Priest (summoned by the Konahrik mask) will enter with you, and they'll assist you in the assault. The task should be relatively simple, as this quest will have them spread out between each room (as opposed to them being gathered and chatting when you first enter as an actual member). Babette, Cicero, and the Night Mother won't be in the sanctuary during the attack. You don't need to kill the frostbite spider Lis, but it will become hostile if it sees you.

Loot what you please. You have access to an Iron Battleaxe of Chills on Arnbjorn, one of the twenty-four "unusual gems" or Stones of Barenziah needed for the quest No Stone Unturned, the Alteration skill book Sithis, many poisons lying around, four different soul gems, part of the Marked for Death shout, and the Dark Brotherhood armor.

Rewards and consequencesEdit

Return to Commander Maro in Dragon Bridge, and he will be overjoyed and reward you with 3,000 gold, regardless of your level. He will also make sure that the Emperor himself hears of your accomplishments. The quest also yields a good amount of valuable loot that you'd normally only be able to obtain by joining the Dark Brotherhood. All parts of the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary near Falkreath will remain accessible and undamaged, as opposed to finishing the Dark Brotherhood questline, where a good chunk of it is destroyed.

Destroying the Dark Brotherhood makes a number of rewards unavailable, namely Shadowmere, a minimum of 20,000 gold, the Summon Spectral Assassin power, access to the Dawnstar Sanctuary, the ability to marry Muiri, the never-dying Dark Brotherhood Initiate followers, the Master trainers for Alchemy and Light Armor, Ancient Shrouded Armor, and Cicero's outfit and offer of being a follower.

NotesEdit

If you have the Misdirection perk, you can rob Astrid of her gear before you attack her, making her extremely easy to kill.
If you cast Calm on a member of the Dark Brotherhood, they will offer the same dialogue as if you had joined the Dark Brotherhood, with the exception of Nazir, who will not give contracts at all.
When you are tasked with reporting Astrid's death to Commander Maro, you'll enter a typical dialogue menu with him. However, when you need to report back to him after clearing out the Sanctuary, you only need to talk to him to get your reward.
Either joining the Dark Brotherhood or destroying it will prevent further assassination attempts against you.
After completing this quest, guards will occasionally comment on your accomplishment. See the Guard Dialogue page for specifics.
After you finish the quest, Commander Maro may show up at your wedding if you get married afterwards.
You can kill any - or all - of the captives after you kill Astrid, without any consequences.
There is a similar quest, "Hunt the Dark Brotherhood", that starts Morrowind's Tribunal add-on.
You may be able to reverse the events of this quest, but doing so may crash the game in the process. Open the console and type setstage db02a 10. Make your way to the Abandoned Shack and enter; Astrid will be dead. Open the console, click on Astrid, and type resurrect. Wait until Astrid exits the shack, then follow her out, and she will "fly" away. Return to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. Enter, and repeat the resurrection and following on all of the dead Dark Brotherhood members.

BugsEdit

The quest may not trigger upon Astrid's death. ^?
- Typing setstage dbdestroy 10 in the console resolves this problem, and starts this quest.
You still might not be able to gain entrance to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary after speaking with Commander Maro. ^?
Completing this quest may prevent the Liberation of Skyrim quest from progressing beyond the Battle for Fort Snowhawk, with Ulfric Stormcloak repeatedly stating that they cannot move on Solitude while Vittori Vici's wedding is in progress. ^?

Quest StagesEdit

Destroy the Dark Brotherhood! (DBDestroy)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I have killed Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. I should report her death to a guard. Objective 10: Report Astrid's death to a guard
20		I've spoken to a guard about Astrid's death. He told me I should share this information with Commander Maro, in the village of Dragon Bridge. Objective 20: Speak with Commander Maro
30		Commander Maro has tasked me with killing every assassin in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary! He has provided me with the pass phrase that will allow me to enter. Objective 30: Kill everyone in the Sanctuary!
40		I have killed every assassin in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. I should now report back to Commander Maro. Objective 40: Report back to Commander Maro
200	Finishes quest	After killing Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, I was commissioned by Commander Maro to wipe out the assassins' Sanctuary. I did so, and was rewarded for my efforts. Of course, it will now be impossible for me to join the shadowy organization...

The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 35, 255.

Notes

Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DBDestroy stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DBDestroy.

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