Boethiah's Calling

Overview
"If in the reading, your blood boils in your veins, and your mind blazons with fire, then Boethiah calls you. It is then most wise to heed her call. Find her on the mount which overlooks Windhelm. Meet us there and be tested."

- Boethiah's Proving - by Anonymous

Objectives

 * Attain level 30
 * Find the Sacellum of Boethiah.
 * Find the cult of Boethiah (or all the cultists including the priestess can be killed)
 * Lead someone to become trapped by the shrine and slay them.
 * Speak to Boethiah's Conduit.
 * Slay the other cultists.
 * Speak to Boethiah's Conduit.
 * Slay everyone at Knifepoint Ridge stealthily.
 * Retrieve and equip the Ebony Mail.

Walkthrough
This quest begins once the player is a level 30 by reading the book "Boethiah's Proving", which can be found in various locations:
 * Septimus Signus's Outpost on the bookshelf (the location of Hermaeus Mora's quest)
 * Found on a Boethiah Cultist during a random encounter
 * Abandoned House in Markarth, under a bookshelf near the entrance (the location of Molag Bal's quest)
 * Found in Hob's Fall Cave
 * Sold by Urag gro-Shub at The College of Winterhold

After finding the shrine of Boethiah, one of Boethiah's followers will speak to the player asking to lead someone to sacrifice. At this time the Blade of Sacrifice will be given. Anyone can be taken to the Pillar of Sacrifice to be killed, except for essential characters, Dark Brotherhood Initiates or any of the dog companions. The player should then bring the chosen victim to the Pillar and tell him or her to use it. The victim will be sucked to the pillar allowing the player to perform a sacrifice. Blade of Sacrifice can be used but any other weapon will do. This might be a good situation to use Ebony Blade since the victim trusts the player.

Boethiah will use the sacrificed body as a conduit. The body will stand up after death and speak in Boethiah's voice. After listening to her and following her downstairs, the player will be forced to fight each and every one of Boethiah's followers. However, they will also fight amongst each other, so waiting for them to kill each other and finishing the rest can reduce the difficulty of the fight. After defeating them, Boethiah will use the last killed person as a conduit, saying she is bored of her current champion, who now runs his own gang at Knifepoint Ridge. She orders the player to kill them all silently. Note that although the quest description specifies Knifepoint Ridge as the location, the champion is actually found inside Knifepoint Mine (the mine accessed at Knifepoint Ridge).

In order to kill each one silently, they should be either hit at long range with a bow, or killed from behind by jumping off the walkways and landing right behind them. Invisibility and Muffle can be used to approach them while being hidden. Note that enemies will be alarmed if Invisibility is cast near them without Quiet Casting perk. In order to defeat Boethiah's champion without him noticing, the player can jump on top of the boxes behind the house he is in and fall through the hole in the roof. He is wearing the Ebony Mail, but the poison effect does not begin until he notices the player. Once he is defeated, Ebony Mail should be looted off his body and equipped. Boethiah will speak to the player one final time and the quest will end.

Trivia

 * Being detected does not fail the quest since stealth is optional and there is no difference in dialog or any special reward.
 * Boethiah's Champion, when found, will actually be aggressive to the bandits and will attack them. This suggests that Boethiah lied to the Dragonborn and to her Champion in an effort to get them to battle to the death, the victor being able to claim (or retain) the title of Champion of Boethiah. (This theory is supported by many events in which Boethiah forces her followers to fight for the death and only allowing for one to remain standing, as well as her passion for lying and meddling in the affairs of mortals.)
 * Only Non Essential followers will activate the shrine when told.
 * Dark Brotherhood Initiates (who become available as followers after the Dark Brotherhood questline) will not activate the shrine.
 * Typing "setstage da02 20" in the console will advance the quest without requiring any follower's death.
 * If a companion is resurrected after the fact by targeting them and typing "Resurrect" in the console, there's a bit of odd behavior. After slaying the companion, Boethiah will take over the body briefly to talk to the player. Once she's vacated, the companion can be resurected successfully, but talking to them will simply re-start the conversation with Boethiah. Once the quest is completed, the companion should be alive, normal, and waiting at his home (or possibly their recruitment point). This does not work with any Housecarls that were brought along with the Dragonborn.
 * An assassin holding Boethiah's Proving might attempt to kill the player. Reading this book will begin the quest. This is random encounter for players level 30 and above.
 * It is possible to skip the step where a follower must be killed, and instead kill all of Boethiah's followers, which will cause her to appear.
 * Boethiah will still demand a sacrifice before bestowing the rest of the quest to retrieve the Ebony Mail. However, doing it this way can be easier for archer and stealth characters, who can kill the cultists from the cliffs overlooking the shrine without being seen, rather than finding themselves in the middle of the general melee Boethiah declares with no real chance to hide or seek cover.
 * Once upgraded, the Ebony Mail value is 6666 exactly (upgraded to superior), and 10833 (legendary).
 * Upon completing the quest, if all of the Champion's apparel is taken, before resurrecting him (dead thrall) and exiting the mine, he will be fully equipped again. He can then be killed and looted him again. This can be repeated.
 * If the companion's armor is looted after his death but before his revival and possession, then when the possession stops, the armor can be looted again.
 * The spiral of daedric script around the Pillar of Sacrifice is mirrored, but reads from edge to center: "I am alive because that one is dead I exist because I have the will to do so," as quoted in the book "Boethia's Proving."
 * If a dog is brought to Knifepoint ridge it will immediately begin attacking the bandits. Sneaking player will be noticed, but the bandits will not attack. Killing the dog, dismissing it, or letting the Bandits kill it are several ways to resolve this.
 * If the Dragonborn is detected outside the cave where the champion is held, it does not effect the sneaking part of the quest. He can kill all enemies that have detected him, and as long as he sneaks into the cave the quest will not be disrupted.
 * Jarl Siddgeir may send the dragonborn to Knifeborn Ridge well before level 30 in his "kill the bandits" quest.

Bugs

 * Using the preistess near Azura's Shrine will cause Boethiah not to talk.
 * Sometimes after killing the follower on the pillar, Boethiah's conduit will not start the dialogue with the player, making the quest impossible to continue.
 * This can sometimes be skipped by simply killing all of Boethiah Cultists.
 * If a follower has already been sacrificed and Boethiah's conduit doesn't start the dialogue, this step may also be skipped by and simply attacking the cultists. The cultists will attack the player and his follower, who happens to be the conduit, and once they are all dead the Conduit will enter one of the dead cultists, and open the dialogue for the next half of the quest involving the Bandits at Knifepoint Ridge. (Confirmed for PS3)
 * After the initial sacrifice of the follower and revival of to the possessed body, the screen may go all red. Reloading from an earlier save, or finishing the quest line fixed this.
 * If the Knifepoint has been cleared already, it is possible to have the quest not move past the stage where it requires to kill everyone. If this happens, the quest may be moved along by putting on the Ebony Mail gotten from killing the leader, but this does not always work.
 * There should be more targets outside the mine at this point; eliminating them and then putting on the Ebony Mail triggers Boethiah's final dialog and quest completion but leaves the quest objective, "Slay everyone at Knifepoint Ridge stealthily," unfinished.
 * If the journal is opened while Boethiah is in possession of one of the companions, or one of her followers, it is possible for the visual effect to never end. Reloading an earlier saved game will fix this.
 * If the follower has been lost somewhere in the world, the player won't be able to get a new one, thus preventing him from completing this quest. This may be fixed by doing a quest that forcibly fires the current follower.
 * Sometimes, as the Dragonborn sneaks onto the walkway further in the cave, the champion will attack the bandits. This results in far less work to complete the task.
 * If an enemy is lured to kill the cult of Boethiah, the cultists of Boethiah will not retaliate, and the two fighters in the arena will become glitched and cannot be attacked or talked to. None of the cultists will attempt in any way to kill the enemy, will not retaliate when the player tries to attack them, and will not say anything. This will make the quest impossible to finish.
 * If the follower is wearing a dragon priest mask when sacrificed then the mask cannot be recovered once Boethiah is finished possessing him.
 * Some players have experienced console freezes at the end of this quest. As such, it is recommended to have all other Daedric artifacts if going for the achievement.
 * Sometimes the follower will not touch the pillar when commanded. This may be caused by attempting to sacrifice an unkillable follower. Hiring a mercenary from one of the inns or taverns around Skyrim can be a way to avoid this, as they have no quest importance and are killable.
 * If the Shrine of Boethiah is discovered before level 30, the cultists do not appear, and the quest is stuck on the objective "Discover the Shrine of Boethiah." A fix for consoles has not yet been provided.
 * After killing the follower it is possible to loot the body. If the follower is looted before Boethiah takes control of the dead body, he will be fully equipped again after Boethiah takes control.
 * The path in Knifepoint Mine may be blocked by a rock wall, which prevents the player from reaching the Champion and completing the quest. Reloading a previous save, possibly several times, will fix this bug.
 * If the assassin is killed, a quest to search the body will be received. If he is not killedthe area is left, the body will disappear and the quest will be unfinishable.
 * After killing all of the cultists, the game may screw up and raise another NPC instead of the last one killed which becomes Boethiah's Consult. This results in being unable to speak with Boethiah. Reloading an earlier save fixes this.
 * Sometimes, after slaying everyone at Knifepoint Ridge a bandit may appear at a random place in skyrim and the player will have to kill him in order to continue to the next stage of the quest. Due the fact that he moves very fast it is recommended to pursue him without fast traveling.
 * Sometimes the misc quest "investigate the boethiah cultist" won't be removed from the log even after completing the "Boethiah's Calling"