Skyrim:Whispers in the Dark

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Spy on the Night Mother's keeper to see if he is planning sabotage against the Brotherhood. Quest Giver: Astrid Location(s): Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary Prerequisite Quest: Mourning Never Comes Next Quest: Kill Hern, Kill Lurbuk Reward: None ID: DB04

The Night Mother

Quick Walkthrough

1. Hide in the Night Mother's coffin and listen to Cicero.
2. Step out and confront Cicero and Astrid.
3. Take contracts from Nazir.

Detailed Walkthrough

Secret Agent

After returning from your assassination mission in Mourning Never Comes, Astrid will confess that she is a little paranoid about the Night Mother's assistant, Cicero. He has been locking himself in the room with the Night Mother's coffin and speaking to someone, and won't tell anyone who. She will direct you to hide in the coffin with the Night Mother's corpse to spy on him to see whom he talks to.

The Night Mother speaks

Listen to Your Mother

Rush upstairs into the room and pick the lock on the Night Mother's coffin, then step inside and listen. You will hear that Cicero is actually attempting to communicate with the Night Mother and that there is no sabotage, but she refuses to talk to him because he is not the Listener. The Night Mother does, however, talk to you. She will task you with traveling to Volunruud and speaking with Amaund Motierre.

Step out of the coffin and speak to both Astrid and Cicero. Explain that there is no traitor and that you are the new Listener. Astrid will be understanding at first, but her attitude quickly changes. She demands that you do not follow the Night Mother's directions because "I'm still the leader in this family", and will send you to take a contract from Nazir while she thinks about it. Upon accepting two contracts from Nazir, this quest will complete.

Notes

• Should you choose to disregard Astrid's orders and proceed to Volunruud on your own, you will be able receive the contract but not act on it until completing the additional contracts from Nazir.

Bugs

• If you close the Iron Door you open to enter the room and enter the tomb, Cicero cannot walk into the room and attempt to speak to the Night Mother, leaving you inside the tomb in mid cut-scene.
  • If you save while in the tomb and reload it, wait an hour and the quest goes on as normal.
  • Or (PC only), you can open the console, enter "prid 00080E17", then enter in "unlock". After that, close the console and wait an hour. The quest will continue as normal after that.
• When Astrid tells you to go talk to Nazir for more side contracts, Nazir may not have any quest options available. This is possibly caused by the targets from Nazir's next contract having already been killed. ^?
  • Entering setstage DB04 200 in the console fixes this. This will complete the Whispers in the Dark quest and allow you to get the next quest from Astrid. The only thing you will have missed are the two contracts Nazir gives.
  • This can also be fixed by deactivating the quest while inside of the Sanctuary, exiting to the outside, and reactivating the quest. Proceed to follow through with the quest as normal and the bug should be fixed.

Quest Stages

Whispers in the Dark (DB04)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
1
10		Astrid has heard Cicero speaking with someone, in whispered tones, in the chamber of the Night Mother. She fears they're conspiring against the Sanctuary, and wants me to eavesdrop on the conversation. I'm to sneak into the chamber, and hide in the coffin of the Night Mother. (Objective is assigned): Hide in the Night Mother's coffin
20		(Objective is assigned): Eavesdrop on Cicero
30		(Objective is assigned): Talk to Cicero
40		(Objective is assigned): Talk to Astrid
50		While eavesdropping on Cicero, I heard the voice of the Night Mother, who named me Listener. Astrid seems unsure what to believe, and needs time to process this latest development. In the meantime, I'm to see Nazir for more side contract work. (Objective is assigned): Receive a side contract from Nazir
200		While eavesdropping on Cicero, I heard the voice of the Night Mother, who named me Listener. Astrid seems unsure what to believe, and it's hard to tell what effect this will ultimately have on the Sanctuary.
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 DB04 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 DB04.

Prev: Kill Hern, Mourning Never Comes

Up: Dark Brotherhood

Next: The Silence Has Been Broken