Elder Scrolls
Elder Scrolls
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Elder Scrolls

Where You Hang Your Enemy's Head is a quest available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which allows the Dragonborn to furnish the new headquarters of the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim after the destruction of the Falkreath Sanctuary by the Penitus Oculatus.

Background[]

I should see Delvin Mallory in the Ragged Flagon in Riften, and see if he can help refit the Dawnstar Sanctuary.

Objectives[]

  1. Employ Delvin Mallory's services

Walkthrough[]

On completion of the "Hail Sithis!" quest, Nazir advises the Dragonborn to contact Delvin Mallory of the Thieves Guild in Riften to arrange to make the Dawnstar Sanctuary a more fitting new home for the Dark Brotherhood. All purchases made for the Sanctuary are facilitated and paid to Mallory, located in the Ragged Flagon in the subterranean Ratway of Riften.

The quest becomes completed after all purchases have been made to Mallory to upgrade the Dawnstar Sanctuary.

Upgrades[]

Delvin can provide five upgrade services for the Dawnstar Sanctuary. All upgrades are optional and can be delayed indefinitely without penalty.

Upgrade Item Cost (Gold)
New Banners 1,000
Master Bedroom 3,000
Poisoner's Nook 5,000
Torture Chamber 5,000
Secret Entrance 5,000
Total Cost 19,000

Exploits[]

  • Casting Soul Trap repeatedly on the torture victims will increase the Dragonborn's Conjuration skill to 100 and level up at the same time (can also be done on corpses). This takes an increasing amount of spells to level up, since Soul Trap is only an Apprentice level spell. Also, there's no benefit to dual casting as the number of cast spells seems to be the trigger for leveling up, not the amount of Magicka used or "damage" inflicted. This can be done with most non-harmful spells (e.g. Courage) to level a particular skill easily.
  • Casting a Novice-level Destruction spell in one hand, such as Flames, and Healing Hands in the other on a victim in the torture chamber is a good exploit for leveling Destruction and Restoration, as there are no repercussions for hurting them and they cannot fight back, as well as them always being in the same place.
  • The Sneak skill can also be improved in the torture chamber. In the back right corner of the room when walking in, the Dragonborn should equip something that gives Muffled Movement, such as the Shrouded Boots, or cast the Muffle spell (which also levels Illusion), then sneaking towards the back corner. "Sheathing" the spell makes it harder to be detected. A rubber band on the controller and doing something else to pass the time will make this less tedious. If on PC, simply press the auto move button ('C' by default).

Journal[]

Where You Hang Your Enemy's Head... – DarkBrotherhoodSanctuaryRepair
ID Journal Entry
10

I should see Delvin Mallory in the Ragged Flagon in Riften, and see if he can help refit the Dawnstar Sanctuary.

  • Objective 10: Employ Delvin Mallory's services
200

The Dawnstar Sanctuary has been refitted and repaired to the extent of Delvin Mallory's capabilities. A new age has dawned for the Dark Brotherhood.

  • Quest complete

Recovering costs[]

The torture chamber can be used to recoup some of the expenses of the newly remade sanctuary. If pestered, each torture victim will reveal the location of a hidden cache of money somewhere in Skyrim for a total of 4 active locations at a time. Each location yields between 1,000 and 2,000 Gold. There are a few methods to do this varying from moderate to extreme.

  • Casting Soul Trap, as it does no damage, but it still seems to bother them.
  • Talking to them 4 times.
  • Punching them while unarmed
  • Repeatedly hurting and healing them. This can be repeated if they don't want to talk.

Also, none of the items respawned in the Dawnstar Sanctuary after upgrade purchase are marked as stolen, so any or all objects can be taken and resold to recover some of the costs. This includes some pieces of Shrouded Armor and several potions.

Trivia[]

  • The title for this quest is quoted from Gogron gro-Bolmog's saying in Oblivion "Home is where you hang your enemy's head."
  • The 20,000 Gold reward for completing the final Dark Brotherhood quest will cover the cost of all upgrades with 1,000 Gold left over. However, it is not required to spend any of the 20,000 on the Sanctuary at any particular time.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Where You Hang Your Enemy's Head. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

  1. Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
  2. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
  3. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.
  • If the quest is not active while purchasing the upgrades it may not count towards the quest mark.
  • If all of the upgrades have been bought and the quest does not complete itself, the Dragonborn should just go back and talk to Delvin Mallory again, asking to purchase upgrades for the new Sanctuary. He will say that there's nothing more he can do, and the quest will then complete.
  • If the Wabbajack is used on a torture victim and they are hit, they will be released from the shackles and roam freely around the Sanctuary. Talking to them after this will result in them saying the same things as when they were shackled.
  •  360    PC   If the Dragonborn gets kicked out of the Thieves Guild, Delvin Mallory may refuse to talk to them forcing them to get back in the Guild before this quest can be finished.

Appearances[]


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