Skyrim:Breaching Security

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Kill and frame the son of a high-ranking Imperial guard. Quest Giver: Astrid Prerequisite Quest: Bound Until Death Next Quest: The Cure for Madness Reward: Olava's Token, leveled gold ID: DB06

Gaius Maro at the start of his journey in Dragon Bridge

Quick Walkthrough

1. Speak with Gabriella in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.
2. Travel to Dragon Bridge.
3. (Optional) Steal Gaius Maro's travel schedule.
4. Kill Gaius Maro and plant the incriminating letter. For a bonus, kill him in a major city.

Detailed Walkthrough

Your Next Assignment

First, you will be instructed to speak to Gabriella inside the Sanctuary. She will give you your mission: you are to kill Gaius Maro, the son of Commander Maro, and plant a letter implicating him in a plot against the Emperor. Killing him in a city other than Dragon Bridge will grant you a "reading of your future", according to Gabriella, but this is optional.

Dragon Bridge

Travel to the town of Dragon Bridge first and, if you choose, steal Gaius' travel schedule. This makes things much easier, and you really have no reason not to do it - simply sneak into the building the schedule is in and nab it. Even if not in Sneak mode, a soldier will only yell "Hey, you won't get away with that!", 1 bounty is incurred and they do follow you, but if you sheath weapons without killing anyone they should let you walk out. Once outside, check what day of the week it is in-game, then read the schedule and travel to the appropriate city.

This is the schedule as it appears in game that you steal from the Penitus Oculatus Outpost:

Day	Location	Notes
Morndas	Solitude, the Emperor's Tower	-
Morndas evening	Solitude, Castle Dour	Food and sleep.
Tirdas	Windhelm, the Palace of the Kings	-
Tirdas evening	Windhelm, Barracks	Food and sleep.
Middas	Riften, Mistveil Keep	-
Turdas	Whiterun, Dragonsreach	-
Turdas evening	Whiterun, the Bannered Mare	Food and sleep.
Fredas	Markarth, Understone Keep	-
Fredas evening	Markarth, Guard Tower	Food and sleep.
Loredas	-	To be spent at your discretion.
Sundas	-	To be spent at your discretion.

The Stalking Assassin

Don't be afraid to simply wait for a day. There is no time limit on this quest, and when he has completed his schedule, he will repeat the same schedule next week. It is much easier to assassinate him on the road when he is alone, but you forfeit your bonus reward by doing so. Wherever you kill him, loot his corpse and plant the Incriminating Letter on his body, then return to the Sanctuary. Alternatively, you can reverse-pickpocket the note prior to killing him.

To easily kill Gaius in a city, wait until he stays at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun. He will go to sleep in a room alone around midnight, allowing for an easy sneak attack. Alternatively, you can speak to Gaius and provoke him into attacking you; this allows you to kill him in self-defense without a crime being registered.

Reward

You will be rewarded with leveled gold. Gaius himself carries a set of rare Penitus Oculatus light armor. If Gaius died in a city, you will also receive Olava's Token. The token will give you a miscellaneous quest to find an "assassin of old", which will lead you to a dead Dark Brotherhood member in a cave dressed with an upgraded version of every piece of Dark Brotherhood armor.

Levels	Reward
1-9	500
10-19	750
20-29	1,000
30-39	1,250
40+	1,500

Notes

• Since Dragon Bridge is part of Haafingar, the guards there will try to arrest you if you earned a bounty in Solitude during the previous quest.

Bugs

• If you choose to follow Gaius he might get lost on his way to Solitude, and simply walk or stand around by the water near Solitude (possibly anywhere in Skyrim), or even swim in it. Fast traveling or waiting should make him remember what he is doing, and he might suddenly travel at a higher speed than possible for the player until he has caught up with his schedule. ^?
• Sometimes when at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun, Gaius will never enter his room at all, instead periodically getting up and changing chairs before he leaves in the morning. ^?
• After killing Gaius Maro, you can report back to Gabriella and she'll just repeat that he's "still alive". ^?
• The quest token is required to receive a fortune reading from Olava the Feeble.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.4 of the Official Skyrim Patch.
• If you are apprehended in Dragon Bridge by a guard, and you have a bounty, Gaius may not leave the town. ^?
• Gaius and his father may be hostile to the player and citizens without reason. Being essential until they finish their initial conversation, this may cause the deaths of many residents of Dragon Bridge. ^?

Quest Stages

Breaching Security (DB06)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
5		Astrid informed me that I should speak to Gabriella about my next contract, which has something to do with the Emperor's security. (Objective is assigned): Speak with Gabriella
8		(Objective is assigned): (Optional) Steal Gaius Maro's travel schedule
10		I must kill Gaius Maro, an agent of the Emperor's security force. Once he's dead, I must plant a letter on his body that will incriminate him in a plot to kill the Emperor. If I wish to earn a bonus, I must not kill him in Dragon Bridge, or on the road, but in one of the cities he visits. (Objective is assigned): Kill Gaius Maro
20		(Objective is assigned): Plant the Incriminating Letter on Gaius Maro's body
30		(Objective is assigned): Report back to Gabriella
200		I have killed Gaius Maro, and planted the Incriminating Letter on his body. This will surely disrupt the security plan for the Emperor's visit, ruin Commander Maro emotionally, and make the Emperor believe the only plot to kill him has been foiled.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 255.

 

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• 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 any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• 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 DB06 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, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DB06.

Prev: Bound Until Death

Up: Dark Brotherhood

Next: The Cure For Madness

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