Boethiah's Shrine

Boethia's Shrine is located high in the mountains south-southeast of Cheydinhal. Head south of Vaermina's Shrine at Lake Poppad until you are parallel to the fork in the nearby river. At that point, head straight east into the Valus Mountains (you may want to consider rock climbing). The shrine is northeast of Fort Facian and northwest of Hame.

The shrine's priest Hackwen is attended by Tolvasa Sendas and Pajeen. They are unwelcoming of visitors and lament that their secret location has been found.

A few small patches of Clouded Funnel Cap mushrooms are the only alchemical resources nearby.

Prerequisites: Character Level 20

Offering: Daedra Heart (this item may be difficult to find after you've closed and completed the quest The Great Gate)

Reward: Goldbrand

Background
Boethia requires the character to prove their mettle in order to win his favor.

Walkthrough
After talking for a while, Boethia opens a portal to an Oblivion Plane, for you to compete in the "Battle of Ten Bloods". In the "Battle of Ten Bloods" you must defeat each of Boethia's (to-be) champions, each a different race. In the Oblivion Plane you will find massive gates one after another. Behind each of these gates is a level-appropriate hostile NPC. You must defeat each NPC in turn to open the next gate. Before each NPC appears Boethia will give you some information on each of them.

You can rest an hour between fights to recover health and magicka, as long as you don't get close enough to the next gate to trigger Boethia's little pre-battle introduction. The next combatant in the trial does not seem to be generated until that point.

After you have defeated them all, Boethia will open another portal, for you to return to his shrine. Upon activating the portal you have the option of either going through or to go back to loot the bodies of the slain Champions.

You will want to clear as much inventory space as you can before entering the trials. Bring along or make several potions of Feather before beginning the quest so you can boost your carrying capacity. Most opponents will have high-end gear and many healing potions and special arrows. For this reason, you also want to avoid pushing opponents into the lava. It will kill them, and count as a win, but makes it hard to get the goodies. Optimize your loot by noting the value / (divided by) the weight, for example 30 / 0.1 pounds would allow you to walk away with 300 gp of value per pound, which is higher than most gear. Since arrows and potions weigh a lot less than armor, so you are better off loading up on them. Upon returning after defeating 10 opponents in "The Battle of Ten Bloods" you will receive a gift from Boethia, the daedric artifact Goldbrand, which is arguably the best sword in the game, especially if you have also won the sword Umbra, which can trap souls in special containers useful for keeping Goldbrand charged up.

Journal Entries
After speaking to a follower:
 * I have been told by one of Boethia's followers that in order to summon the Daedra, I must give a daedra heart as an offering to the statue. [You must be level 20 to begin this quest.]

After speaking to Boethia:
 * Boethia has told me that I am to participate in the Tournament of Ten Bloods. When I am ready, I should enter the nearby portal to Oblivion, and I will be sent to one of his realms for the battle.

After defeating all of Boethia's followers in the Oblivion:
 * I have defeated all of Boethia's followers in the Tournament of Ten Bloods. I should speak once more with the Daedra Lord.

After returning to Boethia for your reward:
 * Boethia was pleased with my performance in the Tournament of Ten Bloods. He has rewarded me with the enchanted sword, Goldbrand.

Bugs

 * In some 360 versions of the game you will not be able to progress beyond the first enemy.
 * Though most gates might not open, you can manage to run through the lava and around each gate; water walking helps.
 * this also happens on the ps3 game of the year version.

This has been patched.


 * Normally installing the games latest update fixes the bugs for this quest, but if you have installed the update then resumed a saved game, the bug can sometimes persist unless the game is started over from the beginning again with the update installed.