Oblivion:Arquen

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Arquen (RefID: 00003987)
Location	Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary
Race	Altmer	Gender	Female
Level	20	Class	Assassin
RefID	00003987	BaseID	00036308
Other Information
Health	145	Magicka	187
Respons.	50	Aggress.	5
Essential	Always
Faction(s)	[see notes] Dark Brotherhood (MurdererMurderer )

Arquen, a female High Elf Assassin, is a Speaker of the Black Hand, the core of Dark Brotherhood. At the end of the Dark Brotherhood quest series, she is the longest serving member of the Black Hand.

Arquen first appears at the completion of the quest Following a Lead. Although she is not the Listener, she leads the player and other Speakers of the Dark Brotherhood during subsequent quest Honor Thy Mother. After the completion of the Dark Brotherhood quest series, she will reside in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Cheydinhal and become the main contact person of the player.

She is dressed in Black Hand Robe and Black Hand Hood, and primarily attacks with a dagger. Although she is designated as being permanently essential, her health gets a boost from 145 to 2000 during the Honor Thy Mother quest. This incredible amount of health is probably given to her so she will not be rendered 'unconscious' during Mathieu Bellamont's assault.

The eighth dead drop, the one you get in Anvil after killing Ungolim, orders you to kill her. However, due to obvious reasons, there is no quest attached to this dead drop- and killing her wouldn't be possible anyway, because she is essential.

Arquen makes a good target for training combat and destruction skills as she cannot die and will not trigger a bounty.

[edit] Related Quests

• Following a Lead: What have you been doing, puppet?
• Honor Thy Mother: Destroy the traitor and end his trail of carnage.
• Whispers of Death: Relay the prayers of the vengeful to ensure their vengeance is fulfilled.

[edit] Notes

• Arquen starts the game with the Dark Brotherhood rank of Murderer, as listed in the summary box. During the quest Honor Thy Mother, she is promoted to the rank of Assassin; at the end of the quest she is promoted to the rank of Speaker.

• One of the Dark Brotherhood Murderers will mention a rumor that Arquen feasted on Lucien Lachance's entrails

• Arquen has a missing dialogue option that is found not in-game but can be revealed by using the construction set. It has to do with Lucien Lachance and was supposed to kick in after Applewatch and the events that took place in the Night Mother's crypt:

"I...I don't even know what to say. How could we have been so wrong? Lucien tried to explain, but we wouldn't listen...

But he is certainly in a better place now. Lucien Lachance's soul now serves Sithis in the Void. It is an honor he earned, and deserves."