A Night to Remember (Skyrim)

A Night to Remember is a quest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Overview

 * Prerequisite: Level 14
 * Quest Giver: Sam Guevenne
 * Reward: Sanguine Rose
 * Reputation Gain: N/A
 * Locations: Markarth, Temple of Dibella, Morvunskar, Misty Grove, Rorikstead, Whiterun, Witchmist Grove
 * Characters: Ennis, Gleda the Goat, Sam Guevenne, Sanguine, Senna, Ysolda
 * Enemies: Conjurer, Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Moira, Necromancer, Pyromancer, Storm Mage, Giant

Quick Walkthrough

 * 1) Meet Sam Guevenne and accept the drinking contest
 * 2) Help clean up the Temple of Dibella
 * 3) Ask about Sam and the Staff in Rorikstead
 * 4) Talk to Ysolda in Whiterun about the staff
 * 5) Head to Morvunskar
 * 6) Search Morvunskar for Sam and the Staff

Detailed Walkthrough
In any tavern across Skyrim it is possible to encounter an NPC named Sam Guevenne. He offers the player a chance to join a drinking contest and win a staff. After three drinks the screen will black out and the player will awaken in the Temple Of Dibella in Markarth, now trashed. The priestess tasks the player with picking up several seemingly meaningless items, including a giant's toe, two bottles of wine, and a confusing note from Sam. These items will be marked as quest items. After the temple is clean and the player apologizes to her, the priestess mentions Rorikstead. Upon arrival, an NPC called Ennis will greet the player with contempt, saying that the night before, the player had stolen his/her goat and sold it to a giant. One can forego finding the goat if a speech, intimidate or bribe challenge is passed. The player can also retrieve the goat simply by approaching it and leading it back to the hamlet. (If you have a follower, it will attack the offended Giant. You'll have to kill it, or your follower will die.) Once one of these requirements is met, the NPC will point the player to Whiterun and Ysolda.

After arriving in Whiterun, find Ysolda who will mention the price owed her for your purchase of a wedding ring. She also mentions that the wedding was called off, and the player met the spouse-to-be in Witchmist Grove. There the player finds a hagraven called Moira. She will become jealous of an Esmeralda and attack. Finding the ring can be skipped if the player passes a speech, intimidate, or bribe challenge. Ysolda then mentions the player getting married with someone in Morvunskar. Morvunskar is a ruined fort, now inhabited by hostile mages. Within the ruin is the entrance to an ominous grove occupied by Sam and several dinner guests. Sam Guevenne reveals that he is actually the Deadric prince Sanguine, whose sphere is debauchery and drunken revelry. He will award the player with a daedric artifact, the Sanguine Rose. The player is then teleported back to the tavern where Sam was first encountered. The items collected in the temple will no longer be marked as quest items.



Behind the Scenes

 * Sam's true identity is foreshadowed throughout the quest.
 * The name Sam Guevenne sounds very similar to Sanguine, with two added vowel sounds.
 * The players night involves various pranks, a pastime for the daedric lord.
 * Sam invites the player to a drinking contest, fitting for a god whose sphere is drunkenness.
 * There is a long dinner table with several seated guests near Sanguine in the grove. This, and his mention of a prank over 100 years ago could be a possible reference to the Sanguine quest in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in which the player is tasked with ruining a dinner party in Leyawiin Castle.
 * Due to the Radiant AI, the characters met throughout the quest can vary. Several portions of the quest can be skipped if the player is married to Ysolda, or if the player goes directly to Morvunskar. (Sometimes it appears the portal to Misty Grove will not open if the quest is done out of sequence.)
 * Various NPCs will come up to the player while out in the wilderness of Skyrim asking for payment for pranks they have done: e.g. a Khajiit wanted 10,000 for stealing a bandit's hat, refusing to pay or not having enough lowered the price and further refusal resulted in the NPC becoming hostile. After looting the hat appears to be a regular hat.

Bugs

 * Upon completion of the quest, if the player returns to Morvunskar, they may find Sanguine waiting near the portal to the Misty Vale. He will not have dialog, just brief responses. The portal to the Misty Vale is still active, however, and if the player enters, he/she will have no way to return since Sanguine is no longer inside to transport the player out. If the player entered the portal without defeating the mages in the area, upon returning, Sanguine will be fighting with the remaining mages, using his fists.
 * Even if the player is married to Ysolda, she will still talk to the player about the missing wedding ring and second marriage.
 * The player will not black out after a third drink, simply receive a "Completed" notification. This is caused by killing Ysolda before beginning the drinking contest, since without her, you cannot find out where Sam went. However, you will not receive a "Quest Failed" notification upon killing her, meaning the quest cannot be started. - This is not true. I am married to Ysolda and I cannot black out after the 3rd drink. So that is not the problem. No work around found yet. - Ysolda also lives in my game and I still encounter this glitch no matter how many times I re-load my autosave.
 * Sanguine will not appear in the grove with just a blank quest marker at the spot he should be at. (Not confirmed for XBox) - happened on my Xbox, only way to get out of the Grove is to reload a previous save.
 * Even if you have said that you will go to Morvunskar, once you get the ring from your "fiancee", you cannot give it to Ysolda.
 * If you speak to Ysolda about her ring before meeting with the NPC in Rorikstead you will not be able to enter dialog with him and continue his quest to retrieve the goat. Talking to him will only prompt random statements. (Xbox 360)
 * Cleaning the temple will cause picked up items to become quest items, meaning they will be stuck in your inventory. You cannot turn them in because you already completed that portion of the quest. This is a pain if you are trying to use Giant's Toe in alchemy recipes because it wont let you use them. A way to avoid this is to choose the pay option; Senna will tell you what you need to know without cleaning anything. You can come back after the quest is over to pick up those items and they will act as regular items.
 * Sometimes there will be no items where the arrows say they should be, and the player cannot clean up the temple to continue the quest. (Xbox 360)
 * When trying to retrieve the goat, the goat and giant might not be anywhere to be found (Xbox 360)
 * After meeting Ysolda and using the Persuade option to get further information on the ring you may find that going to Witchmist Grove and meeting Moira the witch will not give you any speech options and you can not interact with her. Only option it seems is load earlier save point, and return to Ysolda and purchase the ring for 2000g and continue with the quest (PS3) Patch 2.01
 * In the journal before accepting the contest, such as by walking past Sam Guevenne and having him talk to you without actually starting conversation, the Miscellaneous tab calls him "Sam Guenvere". (PC)
 * If you have Ysolda set up marry when you initiate the quest, and rush to the temple of mara rather then clean the temple. The quest conversations will be available. Then finishing the part of it in Witchmist Grove will auto complete helping clean up the temple (ps3)
 * When you persuade Ysolda you can move on and finish the quest. After you've finished the quest you can visit Moira and she won't attack you, after killing her you can loot the item "Wedding Ring" from her, a miscellaneous item which is still marked as a Quest item, you can't get rid of it. (PS3)