Strife:Traitor (Dark Brotherhood)

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Overview
The party has an unexpected opportunity...
 * Quest Giver: Unknown Imperial.
 * Location(s): North of Suran and south of Bal Ur.
 * Prerequisite Quest: None.
 * Next Quest: Loose Ends.
 * Reward: Admission into the Dark Brotherhood as Apprentice Rank, 1000G.
 * Optional Bonus: None.

Quest start
When resting in a room post-murder of a civilian, a party member (preferably the lightest weight as they are the most likely to be the lightest sleeper) awakes inexplicably. Note that if they try to awake other party members, they notice a green glow fill the room and their words make no sound. They see ''a thick black smoke envelop the doorway and fill it out, blocking the lights from the next room. The front layer of the smoke dissipates and falls to reveal a black cloaked figure standing in the doorway. They look up, to show the face of an Imperial male looking directly at the awake party member. The smoke falls to his feet and turbulently follows him as he walks towards the party member who is somewhat and somehow unable to move. Now glowing a purple tinge, he stands over the party member and begins to speak: "You all sleep rather soundly except for a group of murderers, except you. Why?"'' If the party member tries to reply, they cannot, the green glow still envelops the room. ''"Ha, you prefer silence then? Of course, I jest. I have been observing you, but I do not yet know the extent of your abilities; this is a silence spell, you are also paralysed, the same goes for your friends. Listen! And listen well, I will not repeat my words, and those questions rattling around in your head I will not answer. 200 feet north of Suran is a camp-fire in a rock formation, a lady is temporarily living there by the name of Severa; she must die. Do this and keep those questions in your head, when we meet part of your reward will be answers. Now, I bid you farewell. I do hope we'll meet again soon." Instead of covering the Imperial, this time the smoke forms over the party member's face. They feel a calm wash over them, and then after 10 seconds a great, great panic, as they realise they might be in danger. They jolt up like waking up from a bad dream, and nothing in the room has changed, just like it was all just a nightmare.''

Killing Severa and the next step
This mysterious Imperial recruits the party into killing Severa who is in a campfire site 200 feet north of Suran. This is mission 1.

Severa Magia will have NO loot as her sanguine items are rewards for other quests. After fighting Severa, when in a city, the party gets another encounter. As they are walking, one party member bumps into a brown cloaked man. If they turn around to accost him he disappears round a corner and is not seen again. The man snuck a note into the pocket of a party member, this note says "Ald Sotha is open to you; the answer is 'Blood, my brother'."

Getting into Ald Sotha
The party can then go to Ald Sotha; entering on the lower level, strangely, the fanatics around Ald Sotha do not attack. The party can walk through the eery atmosphere to get to a place where the fanatics are absent, a corridor with a large black door. Note that there is a crack in the ceiling exposing some light through from the outside. Upon approach, the door asks in a loud but breathy voice: "What is the waker of the rising sun?". If it is daytime, the crack in the ceiling darkens as outside has mysteriously turned to night. The correct answer to the question of "Blood, my brother", to which is the only reply the door will say "welcome home" and open periodically to let the party in before closing.

Ald Sotha ends up being the guildhall, and Dandras Vules is the guild master there, with the Mournhold chapter abandoned and to be used later in the quest-line. Ald Sotha is locked before killing Severa Magia. The party now report to Dandras Vules.

Finishing the quest
As the party walk in they are immediately greeted by the Imperial, who is talking to a Xivilai Daedra. He addresses the party: "Severa lies dead, and you have found your way to the sanctuary; we are the Dark Brotherhood, and I am Lucien Lachance, Speaker of the Black Hand. As promised, here are both parts of your reward, ask away" he hands the party 1,000G and the party may ask him any questions they like; he will answer from what he knows. After this, he continues: ''"Introductions are in order, this is Bha, he can provide you with general tools and I'm sure he'll accept any goods you're looking to sell, he loves a bargain" Bha smiles a wide grin and nods. Lucien leads the party out of the corridor, where they see a large amount of agents briskly walking around with papers and weapons, some assumedly preparing to leave to do contracts with no-one acknowledging the party to a large degree. Lucien continues while pointing at an asleep Alfiq on a rug, inside a small cloth tent: "That thing over there is Sereyne; I'm not being mean, she just surprises me is all, always has. She is currently drunk and asleep but can still shoot a ball of fire without waking up I'm sure." The party is led to the right room, where another Xivilai sits on a desk instead, reading a copy of the Black Horse Courier'', its cover reading of the latest quest the party had been on that affected their surroundings but not mentioning the party. ''Lucien points at him, continuing: "He is Doufliz, and will sell you information. Even if no-one else knows anything, he will know." As Lucien is saying this, a Dunmer walks over to the group. Lucien continues: "This is Movis, right hand man to the leader here, Dandras. You will serve the Dread Father by reporting to Dandras, I have other business to attend. Welcome, to the family." With that, Lucien leaves.''

The party may see him around the sanctuary eating and sleeping, and can ask him things, like advice. For now though, ''the blankly staring Movis silently leads the party to a desk across from Doufliz where another very tired looking Dunmer sits. Movis speaks: "Dandras, they're here." Dandras speaks "Oh... It's you. How was Severa?" The party can reply before he goes on: "Severa was the old sanctuary master here; she did not perform well and abruptly left. We do not know why but we cannot let knowledge of what happens here get out, so she had to die. While the information is dead with her, rumours in Suran are telling of a more organised murde-" Movis interrupts, saying: "Didn't do too well eh?!" Dandras looks at him and says: "They did fine, just circumstance I think. Other contracts shouldn't be this... messy; it's not like they'll be killing anymore of our own. But we need you to go back into Suran to convince the guard that this is not an organisation behind this. Do this by any means necessary and if you fail you will need to pay towards forgeries to get this sorted; you will not be trusted with these forgeries. Are we clear?" The party replies, and after any questions or dialogue they provoke from your improvisational skills, Dandras says, smiling: " I almost forgot. Apprentices, welcome to the idolisers of the chaos and doom, Sithis and their beautiful bride, the Dark Brotherhood. Obey the Five Tenets" (Movis points at a plaque on the wall displaying the tenets) "and we will get along just fine.''

The party now has completed this quest and has now moved onto quest Loose Ends.

Warm welcome
When talking to Dark Brotherhood members the party has previously met, their greetings are standard, replying to any questions they might have to the best of their current ability to. While introduced from afar or very briefly, Bha, Sereyne, and Doufliz have not been introduced properly. If the party approaches them now, they are introduced for the first time as follows:

Bha and Doufliz
''Bha is now talking to Doufliz, and introduces himself first: "Lemme introduce myself proper! I'm Bha, I enjoy a good bargain. Bargains are better than slaughtering useless mortals. Usually." Doufliz laughs and Bha smiles "I'm just jokin' about! Let me know if you want more of those, bargains too!" Bha looks at Doufliz who had put down his newspaper prior to talking to Bha; he now has his feet up on the desk: "and I'm Doufliz, pleasure. I don't really do the killin' just get info for the killin', ha. Let me know if you need any."'' The party can now ask them questions, barter, and generally talk to both NPCs.

Sereyne
The party can approach Sereyne and coax her into waking up from her deep, drunken slumber. She is snoring, loudly. On doing so, whatever they do, ''she awakes and jumps back into her tent startled, knocking it over and the cloth covering her fully. The party hears "ah fuck" and purple magic emanates from the cloth which fixes itself back into a standing position. She lies back down and half closes her eyes, almost wincing: "Ow, my head. Just tell me what you're doing here before I turn your heart into a tomato."'' The party can now ask her questions and generally talk to her. If they ask after her shop, she says: ''Okay, I can summon it, but I need a moment. Or two. I'll do it once the world stops spinning." She takes a moment and summons an item from her shop, going on to say: "Now I'm going to sleep again. Buy it or leave me alone I don't care, just leave the money on the rug where it was or I'll make you 3 feet smaller."''