Oblivion:The Assassinated Man

Help Francois Motierre fake his death to escape his cowardly mistakes. Quest Giver: Vicente Valtieri at the Cheydinhal Sanctuary Location(s): Cheydinhal, Chorrol Prerequisite Quest: Scheduled for Execution Next Quest: The Lonely Wanderer Reward: Cruelty's Heart, Sanctuary Well Key, advancement to Eliminator Fame/Infamy: Infamy +1 ID: Dark05Assassinated

The Assassinated Man

Quick Walkthrough

1. Receive Valtieri's final contract.
2. Travel to Chorrol, and break into Francois Motierre's house.
3. Learn of Motierre's plot to fake his death and wait for Hides-His-Heart to arrive.
4. When Hides-His-Hearts arrives, "kill" Motierre and flee.
5. Revive Motierre in the Chapel Undercroft, and lead him to the local inn.
6. Return to Valtieri to collect your reward, advance in rank, and change your Dark Brotherhood liaison.

Detailed Walkthrough

To Serve Sithis

"Oh, you have been a naughty boy, Motierre, haven't you?"

Speak with Vicente Valtieri in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary to complete the "To Serve Sithis" mini-quest and receive Vicente's final contract. It seems Francois Motierre in Chorrol borrowed a lot of money from underworld types and has missed a payment. The lenders don't even want the money. They feel insulted and want him dead, sending an enforcer to kill him. Francois has hired The Dark Brotherhood to fake his death and take the life of his mother instead, a detail Vicente tells you has already been handled by Lucien Lachance. Vicente gives you the tools you'll need to fake Motierre's death: a single-use dagger coated with a special poison called Languorwine that can cause fake death and an antidote to revive him later.

Motierre's Plan

Travel to Chorrol and break into Motierre's house in order to speak with him. His house is located just north of the Chorrol South Gate and is protected by a "Hard" lock. Once inside, Francois tells you that those he is indebted to have sent the enforcer Hides-His-Heart to kill him. He wants you to use the dagger Vicente gave you to slash him once, fooling the enforcer into believing he is dead. You are to then flee Chorrol without killing the enforcer. That way Hides-His-Heart will believe Motierre is dead and return to his organization and inform them that a Dark Brotherhood assassin got to Motierre first. You are to then wait a day, locate his "body" in the Chapel Undercroft and use the antidote to revive him.

Death and Revival

"Oh my, Aunt Margaret! You are looking the worse for wear..."

Hides-His-Heart will arrive shortly: play your part in the charade and slice Francois once with your poisoned blade. The poison will take effect immediately and Motierre will appear to die. Hides-His-Heart will attack you at once, but if you harm him in any way you will acquire a bounty. Instead of fighting, flee Chorrol immediately. Return in one full day, go to the Chapel Undercroft and administer the antidote (activate the "corpse" and it will be administered automatically). It seems that revival is something to which the other inhabitants of the Undercroft take offense, seeing it as a desecration. After you have revived Francois, three Motierre Zombies will attack you (one right next to you and two others). Keep Motierre alive, as this is the only Dark Brotherhood mission that can be failed. The zombies can be avoided, as they spawn once you first talk with the revived Motierre. If you back away from him as soon as you wake him up and get closer to the undercroft door, you can talk to him there and quickly leave.

Back to Safety

Kill or avoid the zombies and make your way to The Grey Mare Inn with Motierre so that he can buy passage out of Cyrodiil, then return to Vicente. If you successfully completed the quest, you will receive Cruelty's Heart, a leveled amulet that adds Willpower and Strength, advancement to Eliminator rank, and the Sanctuary Well Key. The key allows easier access to the Sanctuary via the well outside.

If you kill Hides-His-Heart, fail to save Motierre, or kill Motierre, you fail this quest. You are allowed to proceed with the Dark Brotherhood questline, but there are negative consequences. Vicente's disposition will markedly drop (-71, instead of +80 for successfully completing the quest); this may result in him turning aggressive, so you may want to be prepared with Charm spells. You will also not receive 1 Infamy point for this quest. Additionally, several rewards will be delayed until the completion of the next quest, The Lonely Wanderer: he will not give you the well key, you will not gain the rank of Eliminator, and, if you are playing on Xbox 360, you will not obtain the achievement for the rank of Eliminator.

Vicente will no longer be your liaison in the Brotherhood. After this quest Vicente will offer the non-contract quest Darkness Eternal, where you are offered his "Dark Gift" of vampirism. Ocheeva is your new contract-giver.

Notes

• Do not fast travel immediately after leaving the house as it is possible for Hides-His-Heart to be killed by guards. Simply exit Chorrol through one of the nearby gates.
• The Languorwine Poison only works on Motierre. Slashing anyone else will not cause them to mock die.
• If Motierre is killed before this quest is started, you will automatically fail when the quest is given to you and you will get no reward.
• Valtieri only offers his Dark Gift if his disposition towards you is above 30. If you failed the quest, you will have to raise his disposition then talk to him again in order to receive the option.
• An achievement will be unlocked if you successfully complete this quest. If you fail, the achievement will be unlocked by completing the next quest.

Bugs

• If Motierre refuses to follow you after being revived, try hitting him and yielding once you get to The Grey Mare Inn.
• If you leave Chorrol while Motierre is following you he may not follow you once you re-enter Chorrol.
• Sometimes for an unknown reason, after entering the undercroft to administer the antidote, Motierre will be standing there awake. You will not be able to talk to him or administer the antidote. You can either kill him and fail the quest, or re-load a previous game.
  • If experiencing this issue, leave the undercroft and wait a full day (24 hours), as specified by the quest. Once the time has passed, Motierre's standing figure will lie down and the quest may continue.

Journal Entries

To Serve Sithis (Dark04ExecutionFIN)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I must accept a contract from Vicente Valtieri.
100		I have accepted a contract from Vicente Valtieri.
The Assassinated Man (Dark05Assassinated)
10		I must go to Chorrol, break into Francois Motierre's house, and then speak with him. Motierre requested we meet this way, so he is expecting me.
20		I must wait in Francois Motierre's house for the enforcer Hides-His-Heart to arrive. After this "confrontation," I am to slice Motierre once with the specially poisoned Languorwine Blade to stage his death. I must do this before Hides-His-Heart attacks Motierre!
30		Motierre has been slashed with the Languorwine Blade and appears to have died from the wound, as expected. I must now flee from Chorrol, and leave Hides-His-Heart alive.
40		I have fled Chorrol, and Hides-His-Heart has not been killed. I must now wait a day, so Motierre can be discovered and placed in the Chorrol Chapel Undercroft. There, I must find Motierre and administer the antidote that will revive him.
45		I have administered the Languorwine antidote, and Francois Motierre has awakened from his poison-induced sleep. I should now speak with him and make sure he's well enough to travel to the Grey Mare.
50		Motierre has been revived, but his ancestors have risen from the dead, angry at the desecration of their tomb! I must keep Motierre alive and escort him out of the Undercroft and to the Grey Mare, where he can arrange passage out of Cyrodiil.
60		Motierre has escaped. I must now return to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary and speak with Vicente Valtieri to receive my reward.
70		Hides-His-Heart has been killed. I must now return to the Sanctuary and report my failure to Vicente Valtieri.
80		Francois Motierre has been killed. I must now return to the Sanctuary and report my failure to Vicente Valtieri.
100		I have spoken with Vicente Valtieri and received my reward.
110		I have reported back to Vicente Valtieri. Because of my failure, I have received no reward.

Notes

• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in random order.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage Dark05Assassinated stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages. See SetStage for more information.

Prev: Scheduled for Execution

Up: Dark Brotherhood

Next: The Lonely Wanderer