A Night to Remember (Skyrim)

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



Overview

 * Prerequisite: 
 * 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, the priestess mentions Rorikstead. Upon arrival, an NPC 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, and 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.

After arriving in Whiterun, Ysolda will approach the player, discontent over the loss of a wedding ring. One may travel to witchmist grove to find a hagraven called Moira there, which you have married, she will become jealous and attack. Finding the ring can be skipped if the player passes a speech, intimidate, or bribe challenge. The NPC 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 to the tavern in which Sam was first encountered. The items collected in the temple will no longer be marked as quest items.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * 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 gold 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.
 * This quest was most likely inspired by the film '"The Hangover'", which follows the events of the main characters as they recount their own drunken escapades from a forgotten night before after drinking alcohol laced with drugs.

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.
 * 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.
 * Sanguine will not appear in the grove with just a blank quest marker at the spot he should be at.
 * The portal to the Misty Grove is on a platform, and underneath it down a hallway is a room with a treasure chest and a stronghold chest. Because it's directly below the portal, you cannot access the treasure. It teleports you into the grove.
 * 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)