Strife:The Hunt (Dark Brotherhood)

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Overview
The price is blood...
 * Quest Giver: Lucien Lachance.
 * Location(s): Suran Tradehouse, Dren Plantation, south of Ebonheart, Pelagiad.
 * Prerequisite Quest:  Divine Helplessness (or Floating Rotten instead if  Divine Helplessness was skipped).
 * Next Quest: Rug Merchant.
 * Reward: Belt of Sanguine Fleetness, promotion to Assassin rank.
 * Optional Bonus: None.

Quest start
The party leaves after Divine Helplessness or The Hunt, and on return (no time requirement) they find Doufliz being tended to by Sereyne's magic, he is awake but still slurring words slightly.

If the party skipped Divine Helplessness, Sereyne will mention that ''"Lucien found him in Ald Sotha. Desert Sun you would not believe his state." She tears up and says "Bha is gone, I'm sorry..."''

''Lucien is writing at his desk, when he gets up passes a note to the party, and says as he grabs his steel sober and crossbow: "Everything you need to know is there; we're on the hunt." He walks out the door.''

The note handed to the party by Lucien is the map from Ald Sotha but annotated. If the party did not go to Ald Sotha, this is just described as an annotated map. ''While the map itself is in some sort of code, with the drawings very obscure, Lucien has cracked it with the annotations, and the map shows how Dandras gets slaves and supply shipments for the Dark Brotherhood move through boat, so they either have a Vvardenfell coastal or foreign headquarters. The map also shows the trade route, with the destination smudged and obscured, but the trades originating from Suran’s trader. This map was most likely left behind for Movis.''

The party is given all this information and must make their way to Suran. If they enquire with Doufliz, he will slowly say:

"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."

Suran
Upon getting to the Suran Tradehouse, it is clear after speaking to Ashumanu Eraishah. That she knows absolutely nothing, whatever the party asks. Upon persuasion, she will reveal "Oh Fireblood, maybe I AM in too deep, look, I don't know what's going on, but I act as a proxy store to the Dren plantation... I don't even know where the stock GOES, or what it even IS!" If the party instead kills her, the ledger displays many trades, but ones to the Dren Plantation have the stock item list completely blank.

Dren Plantation
Upon arrival to the Dren Plantation, the only person who really knows anything is Orvas Dren, he is extremely forthcoming without even being convinced. "OH! Dandras, yeah I know about his hobbies, gross affair but whatever, it's none of my business, I just move the product, whatever's in those boxes. He pays me to use my ships, not my eyes."

If the party makes it clear they are AGAINST Dandras, he will say "Other than that, don't know nothin'" Otherwise, he will continue on: "I can give you his contact, if you want. They always wear robes, but I know they stay in the Halfway Tavern. They leave every now and then early in the morn' to go to a secret shrine they built on the island south of Ebonheart; it's where we sail the product to since we have a license to sail through Vivec, they don't so they just pick it up there." Similar information can also be found out by finding his trade ledger in a ground safe on the bottom floor of his manor (80 level lock). The ledger shows repeated large crate shipments to south of Ebonheart.

Note that Orvas is essential for the Camonna Tong quest-line, and cannot be killed, escaping the party if this is attempted.

The merchant
The contact is Hrordis of Pelagiad. She is a member of Dandras’ Dark Brotherhood and must be killed; the Belt of Sanguine Fleetness is not on her body.

If players go to the site where crates were being moved ''they find dead grass in square patches, encircling a shrine to Mehrunes Dagon in the middle. Among a few belongings (common clothes, some lockpicks, an Iron Dagger and 112G) there is Dark Brotherhood armour. There are track marks to the north into Ebonheart and track marks East leading to the waters edge.'' If the players go here during 12am-4am Hrordis will not come to the shrine at all anymore, but they can stake out the location if they arrive at a different time. Similarly they can stake out the route from Halfway Tavern to this shrine to get the same results. Alternatively, asking around in Ebonheart will point to someone that comes from Pelagiad, where rumours (after persuasion at 75 disposition) can lead players to question Hrordis.

Hrordis leaves for the shrine at 12am, getting there at 1am, staying for 2 hours, and then leaving at 3am to get back to the Halfway Tavern at 4am. There is a 50% chance she will do this when the players are staking out the route; if she does not go that day she goes the next and this schedule happens on intermittent days from there on out.

Finishing the quest
Upon return to Lucien's hut, ''Sereyne on a rug and Doufliz sitting on another rug cross legged with his only leg are playing cards on the floor. Notably, with Doufliz's left leg gone, he uses a tree branch (classed as a wooden staff) as a crutch. Lucien is cleaning his steel saber with a grin, his clothing is ashy and blooded.''

If they enquire, Lucien tells the party that: ''"Terminators, while you are being sent to kill the ‘smarter ones’, my task is to eliminate the footmen. Setting up a bait house in Sheogorad, the idiots had raided it for information; I tracked them down to a foyada, and killed them all. I know Ungolim is loyal to us, and this may have been the same band that captured our Listener, but their heads were too far from their bodies to say anything." He says with a grin. "Here:"'' He rewards the party with the Belt of Sanguine Fleetness, and promotion to Assassin. "Enjoy your new rank, trusted Assassins. Your next mission is to track an old friend of yours, do this and you'll be sending people to Sithis again in no time. As of right now, the rogue chapter may be setting up a new trade route, but we're grasping at straws, and he's our only lead. Find Bondal Nornis, see if he knows anything, and then return. What was his new profession again?"

The party can answer, if they don't know, Sereyne will chime in:

Sereyne: "He went to sell rugs! I buy from him all the time now, who knows whe-"

Doufliz interrupts Sereyne, or replies to the players: "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, and talking, and talking, about rugs. If the party interrupts he says: "Oh, sorry I just love them, as I said, Ra'Virr can help." If the party stays he finishes talking an hour later, and says: "But yeah, Ra'Virr can help."

The party now has completed this quest and has now moved onto quest Rug Merchant.