Hour 52: Deadly Guest

My next assassination mission for the Dark Brotherhood was unusual. It involved travelling to a mansion in Skingrad and being locked in there with five other guests. They were all under the impression that we're there to look for treasure as part of a mysterious game. What they haven't been told is that I've actually been sent to murder them all. This quest is very content and dialogue-heavy. Since your only task is to kill all the guests, you could do that as soon as you walk in (they're just four civilians and one retired soldier). However, if you like you can spend a long time talking to them about themselves and what they think of the other guests, and even manipulate them into suspecting each other of murder as you secretly kill them one by one.

I opted for a middle-ground. I enjoyed talking to them and seeing what they had to say, but I didn't fully explore all of the possibilities and dialogue they had to offer. Since you can kill them in any order, there must be a lot of different reactions and outcomes you can stumble upon based on who's left at the end. I saved the retired solder (Neville) and the drunkard (Nels the Naughty) til last, then convinced Neville that Nels was the killer all along. He cried out:

He actually shouted the word 'Aaaaaiiiieee!' It was awesome. I let him kill Nels, then I robbed him of his life with a well-aimed spell.

Even though I didn't exhaust all the dialogue, I spent well over half and hour all-told on the quest. I reported back to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary and witnessed a conversation between two of the Dark Brotherhood members in which one of them described slaughtering an orphanage, and how he thought it was funny when the children tried to defend themselves. Talk about grim!

Afterwards, I pottered around Cheydinhal for a bit, admiring some of the scenery. I felt like getting more in-character, so I bought a book from the nearby bookstore (entitled Varieties of Daedra), rented a room the the Cheydinhal Bridge Inn, and purchased some food from the bar (a steak, a sweetroll, and some grapes) I then retired to my room to read the book, which is on the table along with my food: