Pieces of the Past

Silus Vesuius, devotee of The Mythic Dawn cult, asks the player to retrieve the separated pieces of a dagger named Mehrunes' Razor that once belonged to his family.

Background
"Silus Vesuius, the owner of a museum dedicated to the Mythic Dawn cult, wants to hire me for a job. He'll give me the details inside his house in Dawnstar."

- The Dragonborn

Quick walkthrough

 * 1) Achieve level 20 and receive a courier invitation from Silus Vesuius. Alternatively, walk around Dawnstar and townsfolk will mention the museum and the quest will activate.
 * 2) Speak to Silus in Dawnstar, agree to collect artifacts.
 * 3) Retrieve the scattered pieces of Mehrunes' Razor
 * 4) Retrieve the hilt from Jorgen’s house in Morthal
 * 5) Retrieve the pommel from Drascua at Dead Crone Rock
 * 6) Retrieve the blade shards from Cracked Tusk Keep
 * 7) At the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon kill Silus to obtain Mehrunes’ Razor.

Initiating the Quest
To start the quest, the Dragonborn must be at least level 20 and get an invitation to Silus' Mythic Dawn Museum in Dawnstar. To get the invitation, simply collect other daedric artifacts and eventually a Courier will approach. Another way to begin this quest is to walk around Dawnstar until overhearing someone mentioning the museum, which will also start the quest. One can also begin the quest by hearing a rumor about the museum from a barkeep.

Mythic Dawn
After receiving the invitation, speak to Silus inside his house in Dawnstar. He will tell about his ancestors who were members of The Mythic Dawn, the cult from, responsible for the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim VII and the resulting Oblivion Crisis. Silus wants the Dragonborn to find the three pieces of Mehrunes' Razor. He will say the parts of the razor are with an Orc named Ghunzul, a Hagraven named Drascua, and the last with Jorgen, who lives in Morthal.



Jorgen: Hilt of Mehrunes' Razor
Jorgen is one of the keepers of a part of Mehrunes' Razor. Travel to Morthal; he will (usually) be near his house across the bridge. The hilt is in a locked chest in Jorgen's house. Either pick the lock to open it, pickpocket the key off of him, or kill him and take the key from his body. Another option is to speak to him and either pay him off, persuade him, intimidate him or brawl him for it...



Drascua: Pommel Stone of Mehrunes' Razor
Drascua is held up in a keep south-west of Markarth called Dead Crone Rock. She will be surrounded and guarded by Forsworn. Kill her for the Pommel. Don't miss the Word Wall where you can learn part of the Dismay Shout. On the sacrificial altar here there is the quest item Stone of Barenziah. This area is not as easy as it sounds so have plenty of health potions.



Ghunzul: Shards of Mehrunes' Razor
There are 3 methods to get the last piece found in Cracked Tusk Keep, a small Orc stronghold west of Falkreath: Once the gate is opened, move forward and enter the vaults. Continue down the narrow path until reaching the room with the shards on a pedestal. Activate the two levers on either side of the door, and head towards the shards. Be careful of the numerous tripwires and the arrows that barrage from the ceiling when the shards are lifted from the pressure plate on the pedestal.
 * 1) Go inside the front door and kill Ghunzul in his room (be wary of a few other orcs). Loot his body to find the vault key, or grab the other one on his dresser. Exit his room and go down the stairs to the right of the entrance, where the box can be unlocked, revealing a button to open the gate.
 * 2) Outside, there is a novice locked door to the right of the main entrance. Using this method will allow the Dragonborn to skip the orcs up above in the main room, however they will need to pick an expert lock in order to access the button and open the gate.
 * 3) There is a hatch on the roof of the Keep that grants access directly to Ghunzul's room.

If the Dragonborn has the Telekinesis spell, they can retrieve the shards of the dagger from its pedestal by using the spell and standing in the doorway, avoiding all harm. But doing so, may miss the chest that is in the right side of the room with the shards.

Museum theft exploit
In the museum cases contain four Mythic Dawn books and a full Mythic Dawn uniform. The case locks are adept so it should be easy with the right lockpicking skills. There are several ways to get the items:
 * 1) During the quest, say "This sounds like a terrible idea..." when Silus asks about help to go to the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon. He will go alone and leave the museum unattended, just unlock the cases without interference when he is gone.
 * 2) Kill Silus. The Museum will have no owner and everything can be taken from the cases and from the other items in the house.
 * 3) Give Silus the razor during the quest and murder him after the quest.
 * 4) Even with Silus present in the museum a character with a high enough sneaking skill can crouch near the display cases and be hidden, unlock and open the cases without being noticed. Doing this allow stealing the items without killing Silus or getting him to leave the museum. For the case with the Mythic Dawn books, Silus is usually facing away from the case making it easy to crouch behind him. For the case with the Mythic Dawn uniform, crouch at the left hand side of the case (near the door to the museum).
 * 5) Having the Lockpicking Perk "Quick Hands" will allow the Dragonborn to pick the locks without Silus noticing. However, stealing the items inside will result in a bounty; so a high Sneak skill is reccomended.
 * 6) Alternatively, the player can use the cast Iron pot found next to the fire place to cover Silus' head.

The Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon
Go to the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon with Silus to repair the Razor. There will almost always be one or two frost dragons there, due to the very close word wall/burial ground. Silus will next try to perform the task of speaking with Dagon. Receiving no answer from Dagon, Silus will ask the Dragonborn to try. Dagon will respond, and he will then explain that in order for him to repair the Razor, Silus must be killed. There are two choices:


 * 1) Kill Silus: Mehrunes will repair the dagger and give it to the player.
 * 2) Spare Silus: Receive 500, but do not receive the dagger.

Regardless of choice, two Dremora appear; kill them and loot them for the Key to Mehrune's Shrine (this is also a good time to get some easy Daedra hearts). Should Silus survive, he will return to his home/museum with the fragments and place them into a sealed display case that cannot be further interacted with.

If choosing to kill Silus, exit the conversation and attack him. With high enough sneak it can be easy to take him out instantly.

Note that it can be difficult to avoid killing Silus. He will hear the conversation with Dagon, become upset at Dagon's request, and can immediately attack if ending the conversation normally.

Also note that the shrine is at the top of a steep mountain. During the battle with the Dremora, if they are near the cliff edge when killed, they can fall down the side of the mountain, making it difficult to find their corpses to get the hearts. To avoid this, try to draw them away from the edge of the cliff.

The two Dremora also hold the key to the inside of the shrine. There are two more Dremora in there and 3 chests and some random ingredients as well as many ingots of varying metals.

Trivia

 * The pieces of the dagger can be obtained before visiting Silus and the hilt can be looted. Obtaining one of these pieces will not initiate the quest. You will still need to talk to Silus.
 * You may start the quest at level 19 if you ask about rumors at the Bee and Barb in Riften.
 * It is possible to kill Alduin with the dagger in one hit if the ability activates.
 * Dual casting Expel Daedra only momentarily banishes the Dremora at the shrine.
 * The Dremora respawn in the shrine every week, and killing them can be a good way of obtaining Daedra hearts.
 * The player can break into every case in the museum and steal the items except for the ancient and burnt page. If you open this display case, and hit the page with a weapon or spell, the burnt page will turn into a bucket.
 * If you visit Dawnstar on the Dark Brotherhood Quest Contract: Kill Beitild and have already received the courier invitation, your quest journal will say that you have failed to Visit the museum in Dawnstar if your killing of Beitild is witnessed and you accumulate a bounty. The only way to begin the quest is to overhear a conversation about Silus or if you directly talk to Silus.
 * If you have a bounty in The Pale, Silus will attack you on sight.
 * If you cleared Dead Crone Rock and killed all the inhabitants including Drascua before doing this quest, Dead Crone Rock will be repopulated with opponents except for Drascua. Drascua will still be dead with her body still in the place where you killed her. Just search her corpse to the get the razor piece. Note that if you killed Drascua on top of the tower and her body fell off, you will have to search around the base of the tower for it during the quest.
 * At low enough of a level, the Dremora may use Iron Weapons, rather than Daedric ones.
 * All the parts of the dagger combined have a weight of 10, but the dagger it self only weighs 3.

Bugs

 * When you bring the pieces back to Silus and he leaves the museum, rarely, he will fly across the lake of the town and directly to the shrine instead of walking to it.
 * Sometimes, if you kill Drascua, you may be assigned to kill her as part of the companions. Because she is dead and you cant kill her, you cant complete the quest and therefore cannot go any further with the companions. 
 * Killing Silus before the quest begins fails the quest, and the player is not able to construct the dagger.It also means the player will need to reload an earlier save to obtain the Trophy/Achievement for all Daedric artifacts.
 * If Silus begins attacking the player once you arrive at the shrine, running away until he is no longer following, then fast travelling to the shrine should make him friendly again.
 * If you have a high enough bounty in the Pale, whenever you approach Silus at the shrine he will attack you, no matter if you fast travel back and forth or not. This will not allow you to finish the quest. To fix this, the player must rid their bounty in the Pale. If you are a member of the Thieves Guild or have the perk, you can pay off your bounty, else wise, serving time in jail may solve the problem. Return to Silus and he will not attack.
 * The dialogue can sometimes skip and the player doesn't get the option to let Silus live. To fix this, the player can approach the altar from the direction Silus approaches it.
 * The location can be discovered, cleared, and the "boss" killed before starting the quest, thus leaving it impossible to complete.
 * Sometimes when you approach the throne, you will be unable to interact with Silus. (If this occurs, load last save, speak to someone, a shopkeeper, blacksmith, etc. Silus will now speak with you. Tested PS3)
 * After Mehrunes Dagon tells the Dragonborn to kill Silus, there is a chance that Silus will immediately become aggressive and not give the player the choice to spare his life.
 * Upon defeating Drascua, her remains (type of remains depends upon means of death) may not be visible on the ground. The loot option is still available, although the invisible remains must be located.
 * Sometimes when the Courier approaches with the Museum Pamphlet, he's only wearing a cowl and boots.
 * Sometimes, when the Dragonborn meets Silus at the shrine, he gets stuck on the stairs. Using a non-harmful shout should fix it.
 * Sometimes, the letter required to start the quest may never be delivered, rendering this quest broken.
 * Solution: The quest can be started by hearing a rumor about the museum instead of waiting for the courier.
 * While talking to Mehrunes Dagon, after he tells you to kill Silus, if you do not answer and instead simply exit the conversation (B button on Xbox), you will hear Dagon say "kill him" or something to that effect. However, Silus will not say anything and if you kill him you fail the quest.

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