The Brotherhood Diaries

The following is an account of my time serving the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim.


Entry One: Initiation

Passed the initiation with flying colours. I was told to choose the likely contract of the three and kill them. I slit all of their throats to be on the safe side.

Astrid seemed pleased...amused even.

I will travel to the guild's sanctuary near Falkreath tomorrow.



Entry Two: Introductions

The Sanctuary is Impressive. Multiple rooms, fully provisioned kitchen, an in-house forge...not to mention a pet giant spider *shudder*

Perhaps most intriguing was the dragon word of power I found it the corner. Did the others not realise what this was? No doubt the grey beards had no idea of this particular word ha!

The fellow guild members (or 'family' members) are about as homicidal and insane as they come. Yet...I sense they get along well and have mutual respect...despite the obvious outward hostility.

I was shocked to find out Veezara was a former Shadowscale. The last of his kind perhaps. The other non-argonians simply wouldn't understand the importance of this accolade.

I'm not ashamed to say that Babette scares the shit out of me. I have no issue with vampires but a vampire child? Some lines should never be crossed. Still, her knowledge of alchemy has come in handy at strengthening my poisons.

I have received my first three contracts from Nazir. Hardly challenging work but I will do as ordered. I noted that Narfi's name popped up in the list, a begger wretch living in Ivarsted. I had helped him find the remains of his sister Reyda in the nearby river. Who could want him dead? I will begin preparations tonight.



Entry Three: Narfi

Far too easy a kill. Wasn't even any sport in it. Simply slipped into the river upstream and swam on down. The strong flowing water masked any possible sound I would have made.




Then it was simply a matter of drawing the nightingale blade and slicing him while he slept. The pathetic wretch wasn't even armed.



As I made my escape into the nearby rapids, I got to thinking... Who could possibly be cowardly and pathetic enough to want him dead? Although I felt no remorse, I did feel a sense of pity for him. Besides, I still craved a proper armed target. I will investigate further.


Entry Four: Gift Horse

After storing away my Brotherhood apparel, I re-entered Ivarsted the next morning in my civilian attire. Ivarsted had a small population and I had narrowed down my list of suspects to two individuals.

The local farmer and his family were obviously eliminated. As were the inn keeper and his talent-less but rather fetching wife. Temba, the owner of the local saw mill and resident bitch also didn't seem likely, she was far too pre-occupied with her work. Her assistant Gwilin also seemed too much of a pussy.

That left Bassianus and Klimmek. Although shady and a swit to boot, Bassianus never seemed to stray far from the Tavern. Klimmek on the other hand...



Although he took regular deliveries to the Grey Beards, He seemed to spend much of his spare time standing and staring over at Narfi's ruined shack. A guilty conscience? But what was the motive?

I figured it had to be the sister. I had found her corpse for Narfi months earlier. It's location in the river was far too near the town to have been the work of a random predator or beast. No. Whoever ordered Narfi's death was covering their tracks.

As night fell, I was leaving town, ready to change attire and sneak into Klimmek's house when something quite unexpected transpired. One of the local guards whispered to me as I walked past him:

"Psst...I know who you are. Hail Sithis."

Such an idiot. With that he signed his own death warrant. Despite the evidence implicating Klimmek, this was more or less a confession. A stupid one at that.

As night fell, I waited for the residents to retire. The guard in question decided to stroll a little too far on his own over to the bridge and met with a little...'accident'.



It was a far more satisfying kill. I quickly dumped his corpse over the side into the river. By morning, the strong current would take it miles away, never to be found.



Interestingly, the body floated over to the exact spot where Reyda's remains had been left and hovered there for a time, before continuing its passage downstream. A sign perhaps?

If Babette scares you wait till you meet Cicero haha that kid acctually gave me chills.

Entry Five: Ennodius Papius

Tracked this fool down a short way out of Windhelm, camped out near a series of water rapids.

My brief mentioned that he was 'paranoid that someone was out to kill him'. Apparently he deemed making camp in the middle of nowhere on his own a wise safety precaution...

I didn't bother hiding. The stupid fetcher began running as soon as he saw me. In a comical turn of events, he ran straight into a group of mudcrabs which promptly bested and mortally wounded him. I don't think I've ever seen anything so pathetic.



It took all my willpower to stop laughing long enough to run him through with my blade.




The mudcrabs won't go hungry tonight.

Entry Six: Beitild

This target was slightly different to the last two. For a start she had a gold coin or two to her name. Secondly, she was located within the heart of Dawnstar which meant potential witnesses, guards and a need for timing.



A quick stroll past revealed an exceptionally obnoxious female who seemed more preoccupied with her smelting than sharing any pleasantries with her fellow miners.

The client as it turns out, was her ex-husband who just so happened to own the competing quicksilver mine in Dawnstar. His grasp of business ethics is remarkably sound...



Walking further, I eventually found her house situated next to the local museum. It was a simple, single room affair, but would nevertheless make for a perfect kill site.

Except for the fact she didn't seem to ever return home.

Instead, she remained preoccupied well into the night, smelting countless bars of iron. It was only at the strike of three in the morning that she finally retired.

I moved ahead of her and quietly let myself back in and waited poised in the corner.



The minutes dragged by like years, but eventually she entered. The toil of the day actually worked in my favour, and she quickly retired to sleep, completely oblivious to the murderous Argonian crouched in the corner.



I believe she will be sleeping for quite some time....permanently in fact.


I have now completed my first three contracts. I think it is time to return to the sanctuary and see what new work is available. Preferably something that doesn't involve peasant rabble. Sigh.

Entry Seven: The Return

After completing my initial three contracts, I made my way back to the Sanctuary. Upon arrival, I noticed a gathering of the family and...a newcomer.



Turned out to be a rather deranged Breton by the name of Cicero who was apparently the 'keeper' of the Night Mother's corpse. While I was aware of the influence of the Night Mother, Sithis and all the other forms of 'spiritual' foundation that the brotherhood rested on, Astrid had seemingly cut this sanctuary off from most of that (much to my delight).

I could sense the tension in her voice and the other members when talking to Cicero. He was obviously not welcome.

Apparently the tomb of the Night Mother had been defiled back in Cyrodil. Were things really that bad over there?

After the meeting convened, I approached Cicero to introduce myself.



It only took a moment of pleasantries to realise he was completely insane. Whether it was his insistence on referring to himself in the third person or his apparent love affair with the Night Mother, he screamed crazy. On the other hand, his jovial manner and humorous attire made him rather funny to talk to.

I got the feeling he had mastered the art of playing to fool to perfection and it had probably served him well in the past in getting contracts to drop their guard.

I will be keeping an eye on him.

In the meantime, Astrid finally has a proper contract for me. Hopefully it will offer more sport than the pauper scum I've killed thus far.

Woah! Cicero wasn't carrying his mother in the wagon? I asked a farmer to help the fool out, but if he's carrying something sinister in there..

Entry Eight: Muiri

Astrid's contract for me was nothing more than a young heartbroken Breton girl who had performed the black sacrament. Muiri was her name. However, despite expecting her to be naive and hesitant, she turned out to be anything but.



After greeting her at the Silver Blood Inn, she quickly identified her ex-lover Alain Dufont and a former friend Nilsine Shatter-Shield as the targets. Both apparently guilty of betraying her trust and abandoning her.

I tracked Dufont down to the Dwemer Ruins of Raldbthar and quickly realised I had struck a challenge. The ruins were crawling with bandits and Dufont himself was unlikely to be alone. Thus I decided to enlist some aid.

I found Jenassa killing time at the Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun. She was a freelance Dunmer Assassin I had worked with before. Her enthusiasm for killing was rivalled only by her enthusiasm for gold.



I offered her half my cut plus any Dwemer valuables she could carry our. She readily agreed.



We reached Raldbthar under the cover of nightfall. A snowstorm masked our approach and we easily butchered the bandits out the front of the main entrance.

After sweeping through the other dozen or so guards inside with ease we found ourselves crouched in a rather long upper walkway overlooking the main living quarters. Dufont stood chatting with his underlings down below.



Luckily the Dwemer had left a rather interesting present for me before disappearing from this realm. Two of their large Balistas looked down into the ground level. One of them aimed directly at Dufont's entourage.

Dwemer craftsmanship prevailed and the balista managed to kill two of the wretches on the spot, while a third died from flames spread from the nearby cooking pot.

I motioned to Jenassa to cover me as I quickly made my way down to greet a rather confused Dufont. The cocky bastard didn't even appear worried when I revealed my intent. Instead he drew his warhammer and charged. A bold strategy. And one that cost him his head.





Afterward I let Jenassa scour the area for valuables. The lucky bitch uncovered a mini-treasure trove the bandits had locked away.



I contemplated slitting her throat then and there but thought better of it. A deal after all..is a deal.

Jenassa and I parted ways and I made the short journey to nearby Windhelm.

Compared to Dufont, Nilsine was quite easy to track down. Was simply a matter of slipping into her family home and waiting until she slept.



A few drops of my most virulent poison dripped onto her lips and she silently succumbed to darkness. Her parents wouldn't find her until morning. I slipped out of the city and hitched a ride on a caravan for the long journey back to Markarth.

Muiri seemed relieved more than anything once I broke the news. She thanked me profusely and even gave me an enchanted ring as a bonus for killing Nilsine. Turned out Muiri actually worked at the local Alchemy store and new much about a range of ingredients, including a number of poisons.

I can't be sure, but I believe there may be a degree of mutual attraction between us. Would it be unprofessional to hit on an ex-client?