Strife:Dark Brotherhood GM page

''Remember to check the content warning for anything players or you may not be comfortable with. Stab-otage contains suicide, while Divine Helplessness contains every other content warning. There is dialogue acknowledging the things in the content warning in other quests, but these can be not said by the GM.''

This questline is homebrew and requires heavy improvisation at points by the GM. Make available only if comfortable improvising. Players don’t see this page or resulting quest pages.

There is no reputation with the Dark Brotherhood unlike other organisations; it is not needed.

Starting the Quest-line
Post-murder of any civilian, Lucien Lachance visits the party when resting. Of course, he starts with line “You sleep rather soundly for a band of guilty murderers…” and goes on to recruit the party into killing Severa Magia, in Mission 1: Traitor.

Main Quests
To be released as I have time:
 * 1) Traitor
 * 2) Loose Ends
 * 3) Varla Stone
 * 4) Bardic Desperation
 * 5) Bardic Resolution
 * 6) Odd Request
 * 7) Stab-otage Content Warning
 * 8) Related in Death
 * 9) Demented Revenge
 * 10) More than Business
 * 11) Ritualistic Risk
 * 12) Trading Ties
 * 13) Floating Rotten
 * 14) Divine Helplessness Content Warning
 * 15) The Hunt
 * 16) Rug Merchant
 * 17) Not-So-Grand Larceny
 * 18) Purification
 * 19) Preparation
 * 20) Hunt the Dark Brotherhood

Extra Contracts
In development

Notes on characters and the Guildhall

 * There is a 50% chance to find Lucien wandering the Guildhall
 * The party can have some interaction with Movis Darys, a Dunmer male assassin that they are generally forced to but hate talking to, as he is unpleasant and creepy.

Doufliz Tadrunz's Information Shop
Information about each target costs: (100 – Average party mercantile level) in gold. From Mission 15 (The Hunt) onwards, Doufliz's shop is now free. The information he offers on each mission is as follows:
 * MISSION 2 (Loose Ends): Gives the party a set of Hlaalu guard bonemould armour, including boots, greaves, cuirass, and helmet. Says: “have fun, get creative!”
 * MISSION 3 (Varla Stone): Gives the party a shovel and tells them: “check the slave pens, it's usually the place these people keep their valuables because it’s the only locked gate in their damn dilapidated holes”.
 * MISSION 4 (Bardic Desperation): After getting this advice players can convince patrons to look the other way, or for Muriel to clear everyone out the bar. “He lives in that bar, going head on will be hard. To be honest I’d kill everyone in the bar but that’s not nuanced, is it? You could probably bribe everyone in the bar to look the other way or something like that?” Players need to get each NPC above 60 disposition, or Muriel above 90 to close the bar.
 * MISSION 5 (Bardic Resolution): “The old not-dead dead guy trick. I’ll be honest I don’t have disguises for you this time, but you could join them. I know they’re recruiting at Ebonheart. If you don’t want to, you can always steal a disguise; I also know the Shashurari Ashlanders have captured a member.”
 * MISSION 6 (Odd Request): Doesn’t take the parties money, instead says: “Why do you need advice, this is an easy mission, just go place the Mark… Right?”
 * MISSION 7 (Stab-otage): “Morag Tong agents are not only adept in killing, but in disguise and persuasion too, the agent may not be who they seem or even a Dunmer.”
 * MISSION 8 (Related in Death): Gives the party 2X Quality Rising Force Potions, and says: “The adjacent Cantons and Ministry of Truth can provide a great vantage point for an archer, and to escape you can jump off of the vantage point into the water below, escaping into the underworks…” with this knowledge players get advantage for marksman rolls and no falling damage into water during this mission only.
 * MISSION 9 (Demented Revenge): Doesn’t accept the parties gold, and says he "heard about that contract but doesn’t really want to talk about it, good luck."
 * MISSION 15 (The Hunt): “Trying to track someone down is made harder if you kill the contacts with that person, especially when dealing with merchants and traders. You can get more information by word of mouth than any ledger can tell you about.”
 * MISSION 16 (Rug Merchant): Doufliz is notably more animated here: “The bard went on to sell rugs?! I love rugs! They’re so nice and soft. Either way, if you want to find a new rug salesman, I’d suggest Ra’Virr of Balmora, he’s been trying to find cheap rugs for ages to sell, and I think if there was anyone to be abused by this it’d be Bondal unfortunately, he’s new and proabably being forced to sell for much less than established salesmen. Hey, a fun fact about rugs is…” and Doufliz keeps talking. If the party stays he finishes talking an hour later.
 * MISSION 17 (Not-So-Grand Larceny): “I’ve already told you all I know, nothing at all!”

Breaking Tenets
If the party breaks any Tenets, they must pay [(number of tenets broken)x500] gold to rejoin. This is per-person who broke the Tenet.

Backstories
The following is non-journalised backstory of Dandras, including the quests the party goes on, to give main motivations and ideas to role-play the quest-line.

As Dandras grew up he had a fascination with magic, though he does not give off that he is a mage. This turned into a fascination with necromancy, which turned into a perversion behind his personable demeanour. On a small scale in a cave he honed his necromantic skills on animals, then humans meeting Movis, who would get him bodies to practice on for free; these bodies were usually women, which is why Movis did it for free, and for Dandras it was a win-win. Either way, he wanted to expand and did so into Ald Sotha, making a deal with the worshippers and learning complex illusion spells so he could safely transport his 'subjects' with him to Ald Sotha to continue his private armies growth, alongside his magical prowess.

Once in Ald Sotha Movis stayed with Dandras more often, and both their mental states deteriorated more than already. Movis was comfortable but Dandras wanted more, and as he read historical literature he developed a fascination with the preservation of the night mother, which turned into an obsession. He offered to set up a sanctuary in Vvardenfell, which was a no brainer for the Black Hand; this is a free attempt at operating in Vvardenfell with no perceivable downside. The Black Hand sent Dark Brotherhood agents to Ald Sotha, which Dandras instead bought them out and set them up in their own bases across Vvardenfell, regularly paying them a wage as to keep them on his side and away from Ald Sotha. This is except from the assigned chapter master, Severa Magia, who stayed. Dandras continued his 'research', making a hidden room in Ald Sotha also, and expertly disguising his undead as Dark Brotherhood agents when needed using illusionary techniques.

This ended years later though when Dandras' dream came true, there was major guard heat around sanctuaries in Cyrodiil, and the place of the night mothers burial. A Black Hand agent, Lucien Lachance, needed to lay low with the night mother in Ald Sotha for a time; Dandras accepted. The unfortunate incident with Severa followed as Lucien had arrived.

While Lucien was in Ald Sotha, he observed a lack of services in Ald Sotha, so he called for Sereyne, Doufliz, and Bha to move in temporarily, providing magical items, information on contracts, and a general store to the sanctuary. Now with more people around it was harder for Dandras to keep up illusions so regularly, so he cut down in size, leading Lucien to think members were dying and strive to recruit more, seeing the party as easily fit members. Meanwhile Dandras and Movis created faked contracts using planted undead and random targets, as they were not trained in getting actual contracts, this kept alive members unsuspecting. When running low on undead members, he'd acquire more through slave trade deals as had ever less time to stalk and kidnap. For example, Movis had been to Habinbaes for trades, knowing of the Varla Stone and slaves, though they wanted to pay for neither.

Dandras ever waited the arrival of the night mother, wondering how he will avoid the divine influence. This is before he came into possession of the Void Shard amulet through the bard Bondal, with Ungolim arriving with the night mother just days later.

All was going well, even kidnapping Ungolim with undead after sending him on a dummy mission. When Lucien was away, he spent a night with the night mother, being caught in the act cleaning the morning after by Bha. Thinking on his feet, Movis, him, and the undead captured the three alive merchant members as the party was out of the sanctuary. He hastily made plans to leave Vvardenfell for Mournhold, pitting Lucien and the party against each other as he plotted his departure.

The time Dandras spent in Mournhold was a blissfully ignorant, happy, and depraved one, thinking he was out of touch from Lucien, the presumed dead party, and the Dark Brotherhood. It was short-lived however, as the party and Lucien were on his tail.