Hail Sithis!

Hail Sithis!
Quest Giver	Night Mother
Location	Dawnstar Sanctuary The Bannered Mare The Katariah
Prerequisite	Death Incarnate
Next Quest	The Dark Brotherhood Forever Where You Hang Your Enemy's Head
Faction	Dark Brotherhood
Reward	20,000 , Cicero as a follower (if spared)
Quest ID	DB11

After a failed assassination attempt on Emperor Titus Mede II and the near destruction of the Dark Brotherhood, it's time to finish the Brotherhood's greatest contract in centuries. This is the final contract-based quest in the Dark Brotherhood questline, but not the final quest.

Walkthrough

Preparations

First, talk to Nazir and tell him the Night Mother has spoken, and that the contract is still on. He will direct the Dragonborn to Amaund Motierre, who is currently hiding out in the back room of The Bannered Mare in Whiterun.

Amaund will reveal that the Emperor is on The Katariah, which is a ship about to leave Skyrim. He also mentions that Commander Maro will be at the East Empire Company Warehouse docks, should the Dragonborn wish to pay him a visit.

(Optional) Kill Commander Maro

Maro can be found on the docks near an unnamed docked ship. It's possible to walk onto the archway over the water and shoot him from afar. A more direct way is to go down to the docks and kill him, then flee from the guards towards the Katariah, though this will earn a bounty if witnessed, and there are very few hiding places on the docks for sneak attacks. Talking to Maro with a clean bounty will cause him to attack, and the guards may help kill him. If the Stormcloak quest line is finished, there will be Stormcloak Guards on the docks that will help kill Maro.

Kill the Emperor!

Swim to the Katariah, which is anchored in the water under Solitude. Swim around the hull to the anchor chain, and activate it to get inside.

On board the ship, there will be several low level Sailors and more dangerous Penitus Oculatus agents. The winding, narrow passages inside the ship offer ample cover for a stealthy approach, but none of the ship's occupants are especially powerful. Alerting one will not necessarily alert the rest of the ship, only those enemies who happen to be close by.

Go south to a dining room and climb the stairs to the main deck. A locked door (expert) to the aft cabins is at the top of these stairs. The key to this door is held by Captain Avidius, who can be found in a forward cabin, and who drops the Katariah Master Key, which opens all of the locked doors on the ship. The key can also be obtained by killing the lieutenant who is in the room directly below the Emperor. Use the key or pick the lock to enter the aft cabin area. Upon entering, there is a room to the right with two Penitus Oculatus agents, with smoke rising from the floor. Continue up the stairs to find a master-level locked door to the Emperor's Quarters.

Once inside, the Emperor will start talking. He accepts his death, stating that this is destiny. He will ask a favor however: kill whomever assigned the contract. He gets up from his chair and turns his back to stare out a window, allowing an easy kill.

Before leaving, the door to the left should not be overlooked. It leads to the Emperor's sleeping quarters with jewelry, gems, and armor to be taken.

Report to Amaund Motierre

After the Emperor has been killed, there is a conveniently placed door to his right that leads back to the anchor. Escape the ship, and go back to the Bannered Mare to talk to Amaund. He reveals the payment is in a dead drop in Volunruud. Travel there to retrieve the 20,000 payment from an urn in the same chamber where Amaund was first met.

(Optional) Kill Amaund Motierre

Once Amaund gives the location of the reward, he can be killed. This can also be done after returning from Volunruud, or at any later date. This will yield no particular reward, except a handful of valuable gems (that can be pickpocketed from his inventory without killing him).

Report to Nazir

After returning to Nazir at the Dawnstar Sanctuary, he asks how much Amaund left as a reward. The Dragonborn can lie about the reward, but it doesn't change anything. Either way, Nazir will suggest speaking to Delvin Mallory in Riften about repairing the Dawnstar Sanctuary with the gold they were rewarded. In return, Nazir says that once the repairs are complete, he will start recruiting new members to the Dark Brotherhood. This completes the quest and begins the next, Where You Hang Your Enemy's Head. The gold is kept as the Dragonborn's reward and can be spent however wished, upgrading the Sanctuary is optional.

Journal

Journal Entry
The Night Mother has spoken to me once again. The true Emperor must be assassinated - the contract with Amaund Motierre must be completed. Objective: Talk to Nazir
Objective: Talk to Amaund Motierre
Objective: Board the Katariah
Objective: Kill the Emperor!
Objective: (Optional) Kill Commander Maro
Objective: Report to Amaund Motierre
Objective: Retrieve the payment
Objective: (Optional) Kill Amaund Motierre
Objective: Report to Nazir
The Emperor has been assassinated. The Dark Brotherhood will, once more, be feared and respected the world over. Quest complete

Trivia

• After this quest, guards in any hold may mention the Emperor's death.
• Windshear, a unique Scimitar, can be obtained from the bowsprit of the ship.
• The Brothers of Darkness is on the Emperor's Desk.
• In the cabin next to the room with the workbench, a sailor can be found crouched next to a bed. Inside the cabin, a Penitus Oculatus and another sailor will both be found dead. This implies that the first sailor killed them, or it may simply be a sick-bay.
• The emperor will attack the Dragonborn if they turn into a werewolf even after he gives permission to kill him. He will also attack if he catches the Dragonborn pickpocketing him, or if the Drain Vitality shout is used on him but he is not killed.
• If the Dragonborn is at stage four of vampirism, the Emperor will refuse to speak to them. Having The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard installed prevents this.
•  The skill book King which increase the two-handed skill is on the deck on a throne near the steering wheel

Bugs

•  PC   After finishing the Civil War questline for the Stormcloaks, killing the Emperor may cause Solitude guards to be hostile permanently and not give the option of paying off a bounty. To avoid this, use the console and enter SetObectiveCompleted DB11 20 1 to complete the objective of killing the emperor (without killing him), and SetStage DB11 50 to proceed to the next stage of the quest.
  • Using the command killall will kill him without making the guards hostile.
• There is a chance that after assassinating the Emperor, it will be impossible to fast travel or wait. The message: "You cannot fast travel / wait while guards are pursuing you" will appear, even if the Dragonborn is in another hold outside Solitude. Using the wait command, if allowed, removes this. If waiting is disabled, jump off the boat and swim to shore. Afterwards, look toward the boat, and when the red dots indicating enemies disappear, fast travel should be possible.
• Amaund may fall through the floor if killed while he is sitting in his chair, making his inventory inaccessible.
•  PC   It is possible to only receive 100 from the urn, which there appears to be no fix for. Save before opening the urn. PC users can use console commands to obtain the missing gold. Open console command and type in player.additem f 19900 to get the remaining 19,900 Gold.
•  360   The Katariah may not render, and all the occupants will spawn where they are meant to and fall into the water below. It's possible to find the anchor entrance and enter, at which point the other characters will also start entering from outside, and can be dispatched easily. This may be fixed by entering through the anchor port, or reloading a previous save from before discovering the location.
•  PS3   After receiving the Hail Sithis mission, entering the river where the Katariah resides may crash the system.
• After completing the Civil War for the Stormcloaks, with the Emperor dead, the Stormcloak guards may still say talk about the Emperor as if he's alive.
•  360   It is possible that some sailors and Penitus Oculatus soldiers will spawn already dead. This is more likely to happen on beds.

Achievements

File:File:Hail Sithis! (Achievement).png	Hail Sithis! Complete "Hail Sithis!"
Points	30
Trophy