Lol i was a werewolf and used the forts to kill EVERYONE there, to level up the perks. As a vampire i figured out that when you go to the place with the jagged crown if you kill some of the imperial or stormcloak npc before they reach the entrance they respawn further away and try to enter again, just keep spamming that strong health sucking attack that counts as feeding on a person when it kills one, at the stairs where they go down
I knew of the first method, though I struggled with it a lot cause they'd eventually kill off the enemies at the fort but for that second one, which side were you on and who were you killing. Is it friendly fire? Assuming as much with how the first method works
Doesnt matter which side you chose, after you kill the opponents that were there a couple of your teammates run for the door kill them and they just respawn somewhere and try to run down the stairs again
Another thing that also works even with the unofficial patch is killing someone as a vampire, then bringing them back to life and killing them again. Only gives 2 kills but it is less kills needed.
Basically any reanimation works. But only dead thrall and the ritual stone leave the corpse intact for more uses. Every other reanimation can only be used once.
Ritual stone is just easier to use than dead thrall.
The Dead Thrall spell also works. Just did it a bit ago on a random new game. Used it on the psycho dark elf chick you get in Whiterun's Drunken Huntsman.
Yeah I read that someone used a pacify spell or the emperor’s voice ability on bandits and killed them, turns out they counted as allies and can fuel the blade
You can do it with even fewer if you choose to save the priest in Taste of Death. Two of the cultists (the dog seller and the lady who runs the general store) have quests you can do first to make them friendly to you.
There’s a cut portion of the Forsworn Conspiracy where you can get Uaile, Nepos’ maid, to stop conspiring with the Forsworn. During that segment, you discover that her father, Uraccen, has been thrown into Cidhna Mine on false charges of conspiracy, and that he was framed by Degaine placing incriminating evidence in his belongings at the bequest of Nepos.
Why do it? In Degaine’s own cut words;
“He's got it bad for Uraccen's daughter, yeah? Guess ole' Nepos got what he wanted.”
I always use Ralis Sedarys from the Unearthed questline in Solstheim. Not only is he a rat bastard who had it coming, but he uniquely does not count for the Ebony Blade. This is because, despite being a follower, Ralis does not like you.
She got kicked from the companions for beating a youth to death in a sparring match & I think that doesn’t jive with a lot of people. (My characters tend to just be incompatible with her personality & that detail & I don’t like fudging rp for a specific follower)
She killed a boy in a sparring match. She claims it was an accident, but also that she “lost control”, and generally tries to blame everyone but herself for what happened. Misunderstood? Narcissist? Murderer? Only you can say.
Sure, I do remember that. The voice acting imo conveys genuine remorse, though, and honestly I could totally see the companions pitting a couple of hopefuls against each other without much scrutiny about whether they were evenly matched. Not to mention that the pseudo-nordic themes of Skyrim make the idea of ‘bloodrage’ totally valid lorewise.
Strong-willed, but hotblooded warrior seeks to prove herself > pit up against a scrawny teenager/young adult > accidentally kills him, not inducted for the disgrace > spends ALL her time in a tavern, getting into fistfights and drowning her guilt and shame.
No it doesn't lmao. If you sit there for it she does the classic blaming anyone but herself for what happened. Here is her dialogue for anyone who hasn't caught it or is misremembering:
"It wasn't my fault!I told them over and over that it was an accident! They wanted me to prove my worth, so they threw me up against a young whelp of a lad, hardly old enough to grow his first chin-hairs. I guess they thought a woman wasn't strong enough to hurt him. I didn't mean for him to die! Why would I want that? I just... lost control."
"You been talking to those Companions? "Too hot-headed," they cried. Weak, pathetic cowards, the lot of them!"
To add, I think her dialogue just sounds too familiar to some people. It sure did for me.
Let’s assume you want to fully augment the Ebony Blade of Mephala, but you’re on a non-evil run of the game. You need to find 10 people to kill with it who all trust you, and for them to be…deserving. People you were going to kill anyway, even on a non-evil playthrough, or who may be otherwise justified. Let us list some names.
• Astrid, Arnbjorn, Festus Krex, Gabriella, Nazir, and Veezara. The members of the Dark Brotherhood you kill when you choose to destroy them. All of them were anticipating you joining them, so they all automatically count toward the Blade.
• Saadia. She is a liar, as is Kematu. You can kill them both and be rewarded by both, but be sure to kill Saadia with the Ebony Blade when you do. (Kematu doesn’t count.)
• Bujold the Unworthy, Elmus, Halbarn Iron-Fur, and Hilund. The Nords of Thirsk Hall, in Solstheim. Dishonorable wretches who are put to the spear if you side with the Rieklings. Start their favor quest(s) first, and turning on them with the Rieklings sets them up as names for the Blade. (May be difficult to get all four with the Rieklings about.)
• Eola, Lisbet and Banning. Cannibals whom you can do favors for individually, only to kill them all with the Blade when they gather at Namira’s Feast. Be sure to do sidequests for Lisbet and Banning before helping Eola.
• Lemkil. Abusive father to his daughters. Sell him wheat and assassinate him with the Blade in his home. (For good measure, adopt his daughters afterward.)
• Jaree-Ra and Deeja. After these Argonian siblings totally trick you into extinguishing the beacon and running that ship ashore that you had no way of knowing would result in them killing a bunch of people, you can get your payback on them both with the Blade.
• Tilisu Severin is a would-be assassin you’ll get to put a stop to anyway. Let her get away with what she’s doing in your first encounter with her in the tomb, and she’ll be your ally. Kill her with the Blade later in Severin Manor.
• Angrenor Once-Honored. One of the racist scum of Windhelm you see harassing dunmer when you first enter the city. Pay him 1 coin and then take the Blade to him at your leisure later.
• Hert. Vampire at Half-Moon Mill. Evidence that she and her husband Hern eat people. Sell her firewood and hunt her with the Blade.
• Ondolemar. A Thalmor Justiciar whom you can help with ratting out a Talos worshipper named Ogmund. Even if you disagree with this act, you can kill Ondolemar immediately after the quest, and Ogmund is never sent to the stocks anyway. (Do this before the Stormcloaks take Markarth.)
• Uthgerd the Unbroken. She killed a boy in a sparring match. She claims it was an accident, but also that she “lost control”, and generally tries to blame everyone but herself for what happened. Misunderstood? Narcissist? Murderer? Only you can say. Beat her in a fistfight to earn her respect.
That’s 22 names. One only needs 10. Valar morghulis.
(And if you want to use exploits, resurrecting a target and killing them again counts twice. And there are two respawning automatons in Kagrumez in Solstheim that also count, if you just want to kill some robots over and over again. Finally, Severio Pelagia is a nice farmer you can sell veggies to, but he’s doomed to die anyway at the Battle of Whiterun, so you could do with that information what you will.)
(Tip: You can coat the Blade in Weakness to Magic poisons to boost its health drain effect against the poisoned target.)
He claims that Saadia won't be harmed if you give her up to him, but after doing so her belongings appear in Whiterun's hall of the dead, indicating that he killed her.
That's interesting but I would consider that more of an oversight than anything. Why would Kematu bother with a paralysis spell if all he wanted to do was kill her. Heck, he probably wouldn't bother with luring her out of the city in the first place. Murder is significantly easier than kidnapping.
Or we can assume that once Saadia disappears, other citizens simply think she must have died somewhere so she gets a symbolic empty grave.
Honestly, you're probably right in that it's just a result of the game de-spawning her after the quest, but I like the idea of both parties in that quest lying to/using you to further their own ends without you really knowing who's in the right.
Edit: There is evidence to suggest that Kematu is lying as well, however. Namely, if Saadia betrayed Hammerfall to the Thalmor, why would she run to Skyrim, which is currently undergoing a civil war that's at least partially about kicking out the Thalmor? If she really did work with the Thalmor, the Stormcloaks probably won't take too kindly to her if they win. Cyrodil is both closer and a more logical choice, as the Thalmor have a more established presence. There's also no mention of her in any of the Thalmor records, not even in the Thalmor Embassy, which contains the fact that Ulfric is an unwitting agent of the Thalmor, a much more damaging secret if it got out.
Cyrodil is the better choice, I agree, but given that we don't get to experience Cyrodil at that time, Skyrim makes sense just because for that out of game reason. Maybe she couldn't get across the border to Cyrodil and this is her next best path.
As for the Stormcloak, how would they know about her? The Ali'kir don't seem interested in making themselves known to any of Skyrim's major factions and try to keep this ordeal quiet.
Considering that Kematu gets mad at you if YOU kill her, he absolutely would not kill her himself. What more than likely is going on is after that quest, Saadia’s character just disappears from the world, and the game just thinks that she died.
Such a convenient exploit that barely even counts as an exploit. This spider robot likes me. It’s not my fault Boethiah Mephala counts automatons, and it’s not my fault this dungeon coughs out a new one on the daily. 😁
I like to kill Deeja 5 times and then Jaree-Ra for the next 5 times using the ritual stone, making sure to grab their souls on the last one. Do their quest and once they turn hostile to you, the blade still considers them both friends.
I’m not sure if it’s been suggested yet, but you can kill the respawning Dwemer robot follower in Kagrumez 10 times, for a slightly more moral route to having a cool sword
I think I saved and tested doing it once like 15 years ago. Truth be told, it's likely a Trojan horse weapon by design. It sucks, 1st of all. Then you get a promise of power by slaying those who trust you, thus weakening the Dragonborn and it still ends up a crappy weapon. Like a running joke by that prince.
The way these deadra talk annoys the hell out of me anyway. I'd love for them to show their faces and talk shit to the Dragonborn directly, but they won't.
It’s got a 30-point Absorb Health enchantment with infinite charge and swings faster than any other two-handed weapon. The weak physical damage means most of the damage comes from the enchantment, and allows more of those hits to be made, thus getting more healing out of combat you engage in with it. The enchantment can be boosted further with Weakness to Magic poisons. And this setup also makes it an ideal weapon for one-handed builds to get some levels out of two-handed exp without suffering in melee combat.
It doesn’t suck if you get it immediately when it becomes available and you’re running a two handed character. Chances are your enchanting is not high enough to make your own lifesteal blade at this point in the game if your main focus has been two handed and armor
Only true if you use smithing or enchanting. If you don't grind crafting skills, fully charged Ebony Blade is one of the best weapons in game. Totally worth murdering 10 NPCs.
Enchantment alone makes you unkillable on difficulty below Legendary.
You can kill the cannibals revive them again and kill them again. The only guy whose salty about it is the helper of the shop keeper, like dude she was a cannibal and ate her husband!
Ritual Stone and Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal. i play a female character most of the time and i hate when men do dishonest things to win a womans favor. i kill Sven for Boethias calling. neither man is worthy of Camilla! those two disgusted me.
It’s 30hp per swing, very fast, and doesn’t need to be recharged. People sleep on this weapon because it starts bad, but as long as you’re hitting shit you’re not dying!
I didn't know it took 10 kills. I tried it once on a follower I picked up just for that, didn't seem to make a difference and have ignored it since. What does it do after 10 kills?
The cannibal cult in Markarth gets you four. I always do business with the meat seller, buy vigilance, and do Lisbet's quest, though I'm not 100% sure if it's necessary.
Ralis from the Unearthed quest. I spare him but I do end up punishing him with the blade later on once I get. He also doubles as my Boethiah sacrifice as you don't need to use the blade of sacrifice.
Several of the targets from the Dark Brotherhood count do you do business with them first. Or in the case of Narfi you do his quest first. I also believe the Falkreath housecarl you kill counts once you become a thane yourself.
I also do Rolff in Windhelm. You have to fist fight him first. Bonus is that I always do a dunmer character so it's payback that way as well.
Finally, though there are probably more I'm forgetting, Jorgen in the Marthal vampire quest counts if you sell lumber to him beforehand.
Edit: a bonus is Degaine in Markarth for being a gooner
The one time I used it, I did it legit. Why roleplay a Mephala champion and cop out with mods or exploits like killing Nazeem 10 times with Ritual Stone? So, my list was:
Roggi Knot-Beard
Benor
Marcurio
Jenassa
Belrand
Stenvarr
Kharjo
Cosnach
Uthgerd
Faendal
Basically, mercenaries and followers you can murder in the wilderness.
Uthgerd the Unbroken, I just revived her using Staff of Worms, when she dies I just hit her a couple of times until Mephala speaks out that unique dialogue.
And the funny thing is I slayed her behind the Jorrvaskr lol.
I normaly give a coin to a poor, procced to kill him with a bow, raise him, bring him in a secluded place and proceed to kill him and raise again and again
Sven, ten times. I bring him to the Ritual stone, kill him, resurrect him with the once per day ability since his body doesn’t turn to dust, kill him again, and repeat ten times.
Fun fact: you only really have to pick 1 person thanks to the ritual stone. I always go with the lady at the bannered mare but after you choose your victim all you gotta do is kill her, use the ritual stone to bring her back, quick save (because there’s a chance her body will turn to ashes), then kill her again. Rinse and repeat until you’re at 10. I recommend doing it somewhere secluded so you don’t get a bounty (the ritual stone is actually a perfect spot). Hope this helps.
Half of them come from dark brotherhood quests. One can be from boethiah’s quest.
Befriend sven or faendal, then kill them. Use ebony blade on madonach, and use it on brother verulus. I’m sure there’s way more, but none else comes to mind besides giving gold and then killing beggars.
There's 2 homesless people in riften, give 1 a coin or whatever, stealth kill them, revive with dead thrall or that 1 staff where they don't disintegrate when timing out, walk out of riften, keep reviving and killing. Thats what ive been doing
Heimskr -> Dead Thrall -> Heimskr -> Dead Thrall -> Heimskr…
Heimskr makes the most sense. I deprive him of seeing his god in Sovngarde and Boethiah has to listen to him yelling for eternity. Two birds, one betrayal.
I usually just use the random people you help throughout the game but does it work on any friendly NPC or does it have to be someone you've done a quest for
All were harvested from Macurio's life essence. All i had to do was pay him, grab the blessing from the ritual stone. End his life, resurrect him, than repeat 9 more times. Boom, fully upgraded Ebony blade
There were some very unfortunate friendly fire accidents when taking forts during the war
Such is the price for freedom 🥀
Dont give Todd Howard any ideas or we'll have a skyrim warbond and a re-release on the super destroyer arcade
Lol i was a werewolf and used the forts to kill EVERYONE there, to level up the perks. As a vampire i figured out that when you go to the place with the jagged crown if you kill some of the imperial or stormcloak npc before they reach the entrance they respawn further away and try to enter again, just keep spamming that strong health sucking attack that counts as feeding on a person when it kills one, at the stairs where they go down
I knew of the first method, though I struggled with it a lot cause they'd eventually kill off the enemies at the fort but for that second one, which side were you on and who were you killing. Is it friendly fire? Assuming as much with how the first method works
Pretty sure it is, and they’re a constant spawn too, you kill one and another pops through the doorway lmao. Talk about cannon fodder.
Doesnt matter which side you chose, after you kill the opponents that were there a couple of your teammates run for the door kill them and they just respawn somewhere and try to run down the stairs again
That is a very efficient solution. I had no idea that I could do that.
That actually works?
Those count? I thought the whole shpiel was that the target needs to have a favourable disposition to the player. Not just be an ally/friendly NPC.
I heard a joke once:
Your mom is so fat, she was 8 of my 10 Ebony Blade kills.
Oooo- Skyrim burns. My favorite is "you wouldn't even fill a petty soul stone"
In the words of Sheogorath: "Boy, you think that you a Black Soul, man, you just a Lesser."
"I'm a sharp dresser, I'm a sharp dresser."
Young Scrolls mentioned!
"I bet you drop common loot."
https://preview.redd.it/dk8kbz1rb6dg1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b2d93fc9ce1c81eac5717ff9f8eb62a6a68f9ef
Literally saying, you're not a human, and a rabbit is better than you
Thank you for making my day.
burn !!!
Would've been 10 but she's on a diet
Your mom is so ugly the Orcs let her into their stronghold no questions asked.
Your mom is so dumb she thinks College of Winterhold is a refrigerator brand.
Your mom is so fat a giant tried to adopt her into the herd.
Your mom was so fat she was worth two ebony blades
Your mom is so ugly she had to pledge herself to Molag Baal to get some.
https://preview.redd.it/rb6h2k2048dg1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d93cd37ecdae8e00c2d6b1f77fc0da533b7d1e0
1 then I use the ritual stone 10 times
No shot, this works?
It's an exploit that works only if you don't have the unofficial patch. Those NPC's under the ritual are technically considered "living/loyal"
Another thing that also works even with the unofficial patch is killing someone as a vampire, then bringing them back to life and killing them again. Only gives 2 kills but it is less kills needed.
You need to use the vampire skills or will dead thrall work? Would Staff of Worms also work?
Honestly not sure, I just know the vampire skills work because of my current playthrough.
Basically any reanimation works. But only dead thrall and the ritual stone leave the corpse intact for more uses. Every other reanimation can only be used once. Ritual stone is just easier to use than dead thrall.
Isn't that the one where they snuck in a bunch of balance changes and pretended they were bug fixes
Among other things, but also that yes.
I still remember the oblivion gate debacle clearly, what a time to be a Skyrim modder
The Dead Thrall spell also works. Just did it a bit ago on a random new game. Used it on the psycho dark elf chick you get in Whiterun's Drunken Huntsman.
Jenassa is one of the stronger companions so that feels like a waste
Massive waste of an excellent follower
Cant you also pacify someone and kill them and it counts?
Does this work with bandits?
I heard on this very reddit that it does. Never tried it though.
Yeah I read that someone used a pacify spell or the emperor’s voice ability on bandits and killed them, turns out they counted as allies and can fuel the blade
You can do it with even fewer if you choose to save the priest in Taste of Death. Two of the cultists (the dog seller and the lady who runs the general store) have quests you can do first to make them friendly to you.
I forgot you can side against the cult, so I read this like "how tf do you make him survive getting eaten?"
Same, I picked the chick from the pub in whiterun. the ginger one.
UTHGERD MY BELOVED
I just go with drunk guy at the Markarth inn
Use Degaine. Every single time.
There’s a cut portion of the Forsworn Conspiracy where you can get Uaile, Nepos’ maid, to stop conspiring with the Forsworn. During that segment, you discover that her father, Uraccen, has been thrown into Cidhna Mine on false charges of conspiracy, and that he was framed by Degaine placing incriminating evidence in his belongings at the bequest of Nepos.
Why do it? In Degaine’s own cut words;
“He's got it bad for Uraccen's daughter, yeah? Guess ole' Nepos got what he wanted.”
Use Degaine and feel justified for it.
Or one of the many mercenaries. I always use the windhelm one for boethia's quest
I always use Ralis Sedarys from the Unearthed questline in Solstheim. Not only is he a rat bastard who had it coming, but he uniquely does not count for the Ebony Blade. This is because, despite being a follower, Ralis does not like you.
He's the guy I take to Boethiah's shrine.
Why do so many people hate Uthgerd????
She got kicked from the companions for beating a youth to death in a sparring match & I think that doesn’t jive with a lot of people. (My characters tend to just be incompatible with her personality & that detail & I don’t like fudging rp for a specific follower)
I don't hate her, but she is a convenient way to get steel plate at level 1.
She killed a boy in a sparring match. She claims it was an accident, but also that she “lost control”, and generally tries to blame everyone but herself for what happened. Misunderstood? Narcissist? Murderer? Only you can say.
Sure, I do remember that. The voice acting imo conveys genuine remorse, though, and honestly I could totally see the companions pitting a couple of hopefuls against each other without much scrutiny about whether they were evenly matched. Not to mention that the pseudo-nordic themes of Skyrim make the idea of ‘bloodrage’ totally valid lorewise.
Strong-willed, but hotblooded warrior seeks to prove herself > pit up against a scrawny teenager/young adult > accidentally kills him, not inducted for the disgrace > spends ALL her time in a tavern, getting into fistfights and drowning her guilt and shame.
No it doesn't lmao. If you sit there for it she does the classic blaming anyone but herself for what happened. Here is her dialogue for anyone who hasn't caught it or is misremembering:
To add, I think her dialogue just sounds too familiar to some people. It sure did for me.
Bro i don't hate her, i barely know her it's been a while since my last run.
She was just, there, you know. In Whiterun, not far from the stone, if I remember correctly.
She wasn't Lydia, Vampire gal, Cicero nor my Boi Ji Zargo, so the choice went to her.
How dare!
Let’s assume you want to fully augment the Ebony Blade of Mephala, but you’re on a non-evil run of the game. You need to find 10 people to kill with it who all trust you, and for them to be…deserving. People you were going to kill anyway, even on a non-evil playthrough, or who may be otherwise justified. Let us list some names.
• Astrid, Arnbjorn, Festus Krex, Gabriella, Nazir, and Veezara. The members of the Dark Brotherhood you kill when you choose to destroy them. All of them were anticipating you joining them, so they all automatically count toward the Blade.
• Saadia. She is a liar, as is Kematu. You can kill them both and be rewarded by both, but be sure to kill Saadia with the Ebony Blade when you do. (Kematu doesn’t count.)
• Bujold the Unworthy, Elmus, Halbarn Iron-Fur, and Hilund. The Nords of Thirsk Hall, in Solstheim. Dishonorable wretches who are put to the spear if you side with the Rieklings. Start their favor quest(s) first, and turning on them with the Rieklings sets them up as names for the Blade. (May be difficult to get all four with the Rieklings about.)
• Eola, Lisbet and Banning. Cannibals whom you can do favors for individually, only to kill them all with the Blade when they gather at Namira’s Feast. Be sure to do sidequests for Lisbet and Banning before helping Eola.
• Lemkil. Abusive father to his daughters. Sell him wheat and assassinate him with the Blade in his home. (For good measure, adopt his daughters afterward.)
• Jaree-Ra and Deeja. After these Argonian siblings totally trick you into extinguishing the beacon and running that ship ashore that you had no way of knowing would result in them killing a bunch of people, you can get your payback on them both with the Blade.
• Tilisu Severin is a would-be assassin you’ll get to put a stop to anyway. Let her get away with what she’s doing in your first encounter with her in the tomb, and she’ll be your ally. Kill her with the Blade later in Severin Manor.
• Angrenor Once-Honored. One of the racist scum of Windhelm you see harassing dunmer when you first enter the city. Pay him 1 coin and then take the Blade to him at your leisure later.
• Hert. Vampire at Half-Moon Mill. Evidence that she and her husband Hern eat people. Sell her firewood and hunt her with the Blade.
• Ondolemar. A Thalmor Justiciar whom you can help with ratting out a Talos worshipper named Ogmund. Even if you disagree with this act, you can kill Ondolemar immediately after the quest, and Ogmund is never sent to the stocks anyway. (Do this before the Stormcloaks take Markarth.)
• Uthgerd the Unbroken. She killed a boy in a sparring match. She claims it was an accident, but also that she “lost control”, and generally tries to blame everyone but herself for what happened. Misunderstood? Narcissist? Murderer? Only you can say. Beat her in a fistfight to earn her respect.
That’s 22 names. One only needs 10. Valar morghulis.
(And if you want to use exploits, resurrecting a target and killing them again counts twice. And there are two respawning automatons in Kagrumez in Solstheim that also count, if you just want to kill some robots over and over again. Finally, Severio Pelagia is a nice farmer you can sell veggies to, but he’s doomed to die anyway at the Battle of Whiterun, so you could do with that information what you will.)
(Tip: You can coat the Blade in Weakness to Magic poisons to boost its health drain effect against the poisoned target.)
"Non-evil"
Not evil, just petty and willing to charge up a cursed sword with dark magic
Lawful evil?
How is Kematu a liar?
He claims that Saadia won't be harmed if you give her up to him, but after doing so her belongings appear in Whiterun's hall of the dead, indicating that he killed her.
That's interesting but I would consider that more of an oversight than anything. Why would Kematu bother with a paralysis spell if all he wanted to do was kill her. Heck, he probably wouldn't bother with luring her out of the city in the first place. Murder is significantly easier than kidnapping.
Or we can assume that once Saadia disappears, other citizens simply think she must have died somewhere so she gets a symbolic empty grave.
Honestly, you're probably right in that it's just a result of the game de-spawning her after the quest, but I like the idea of both parties in that quest lying to/using you to further their own ends without you really knowing who's in the right.
Edit: There is evidence to suggest that Kematu is lying as well, however. Namely, if Saadia betrayed Hammerfall to the Thalmor, why would she run to Skyrim, which is currently undergoing a civil war that's at least partially about kicking out the Thalmor? If she really did work with the Thalmor, the Stormcloaks probably won't take too kindly to her if they win. Cyrodil is both closer and a more logical choice, as the Thalmor have a more established presence. There's also no mention of her in any of the Thalmor records, not even in the Thalmor Embassy, which contains the fact that Ulfric is an unwitting agent of the Thalmor, a much more damaging secret if it got out.
Cyrodil is the better choice, I agree, but given that we don't get to experience Cyrodil at that time, Skyrim makes sense just because for that out of game reason. Maybe she couldn't get across the border to Cyrodil and this is her next best path.
As for the Stormcloak, how would they know about her? The Ali'kir don't seem interested in making themselves known to any of Skyrim's major factions and try to keep this ordeal quiet.
Why wouldn’t an agent of the Thalmor go to a place where the Thalmor might need agents?
Considering that Kematu gets mad at you if YOU kill her, he absolutely would not kill her himself. What more than likely is going on is after that quest, Saadia’s character just disappears from the world, and the game just thinks that she died.
Time for a new skyrim play. Need to kill lemkil
I mean, his name is an anagram for "Kill Me". He's was asking for it
I love this moraly gray list. Gonna save it for later.
Does Grelod the kind count?
No as you can never be "friends" with her
A dwarven spider ally a day keeps the Ebony Blade at bay
Such a convenient exploit that barely even counts as an exploit. This spider robot likes me. It’s not my fault
BoethiahMephala counts automatons, and it’s not my fault this dungeon coughs out a new one on the daily. 😁Mephala 👀
Thank you! I was thinking of the Ebony Mail sacrifice still. 😅
Probably because that's the easiest place to pick up atleast 1 kill
You already have to kill a follower might as well get 2 artifacts from it
Huhhhh???
I think they're talking about the Dwemer Sphere and Spider you can get as a companion in Solstiem.
i keep killing and resurrecting nazeem to fill it
well, that's rude,poor sword
The poor sword! It'd be happier killing ANYTHING else other than that wannabe Whiterun "noble."
The Blade is already maxed I just do it for the love of the game
that's even worse, first you feed it with candies till it's full then you force it to eat shit
That’s what Daedra deserve anyway
I've done that with that pos Lemkil. I mean, it's also in his name so....
Cast calm on 10 random bandits
Does this work in vanilla?
Bandit 1, bandit 2, bandit 3 etc
It's usually the same bandit.
Ritual stone. Turns them into your followers to satisfy the "kill only your followers" requirement
If we count the Ritual Stone cheese then Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, Cosnach, and Cosnach, in that order.
Jaree-Ra x10. Kill him for backstabbing you, resurrect him with the Ritual Stone, gank him again, rinse repeat.
I like to kill Deeja 5 times and then Jaree-Ra for the next 5 times using the ritual stone, making sure to grab their souls on the last one. Do their quest and once they turn hostile to you, the blade still considers them both friends.
Be vampire > make bandit my cattle/thrall > kill > find 9 more bandits
I’m not sure if it’s been suggested yet, but you can kill the respawning Dwemer robot follower in Kagrumez 10 times, for a slightly more moral route to having a cool sword
Me after killing the last robot that loved me unconditionally. (The sword is strengthened by my tears)
I think I saved and tested doing it once like 15 years ago. Truth be told, it's likely a Trojan horse weapon by design. It sucks, 1st of all. Then you get a promise of power by slaying those who trust you, thus weakening the Dragonborn and it still ends up a crappy weapon. Like a running joke by that prince.
The way these deadra talk annoys the hell out of me anyway. I'd love for them to show their faces and talk shit to the Dragonborn directly, but they won't.
It’s got a 30-point Absorb Health enchantment with infinite charge and swings faster than any other two-handed weapon. The weak physical damage means most of the damage comes from the enchantment, and allows more of those hits to be made, thus getting more healing out of combat you engage in with it. The enchantment can be boosted further with Weakness to Magic poisons. And this setup also makes it an ideal weapon for one-handed builds to get some levels out of two-handed exp without suffering in melee combat.
It doesn’t suck if you get it immediately when it becomes available and you’re running a two handed character. Chances are your enchanting is not high enough to make your own lifesteal blade at this point in the game if your main focus has been two handed and armor
I think that’s why I like Sanguine (in Skyrim’s appearance, to be clear) he fucks with you directly and has a good laugh about it
Only true if you use smithing or enchanting. If you don't grind crafting skills, fully charged Ebony Blade is one of the best weapons in game. Totally worth murdering 10 NPCs.
Enchantment alone makes you unkillable on difficulty below Legendary.
Vigilance of Stendarr spotted
You can kill the cannibals revive them again and kill them again. The only guy whose salty about it is the helper of the shop keeper, like dude she was a cannibal and ate her husband!
Ritual Stone and Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal Faendal. i play a female character most of the time and i hate when men do dishonest things to win a womans favor. i kill Sven for Boethias calling. neither man is worthy of Camilla! those two disgusted me.
Svens still in the basement of my manor. Worth it.
Did you max out on free archery lessons before doing that?
always!
so did you bang camilla?
i let her decide her own fate. she was never my type, too much makeup.
poor woman got her 2 lovers killed and left alone lmao
im sure someone will pass through riverwood and scoop her up. Skyrim is slim pickings for a good spouse!
girls with a lot of make up😍
🫡
Then you show camilla your amulet of mara and than move into the riverwood trader
That unbreakable bitch from the bannered mare in white run 10 times.
Anyone have any hard numbers on how much life it absorbs?
I have a Daedric sword that absorbs life but I can’t tell if this would be better or not based on its vague item description
Also remember that’s the damage of the blade plus an additional 30 the enemy takes
Can it be upgraded at the grindstone?
I got the Nightingale Blade and it turns out if you get it after level 45 or so it cannot be upgraded due to a bug, so I got screwed lol
The Ebony Blade specifically cannot be improved. Other Daedric Artifacts can.
It’s 30hp per swing, very fast, and doesn’t need to be recharged. People sleep on this weapon because it starts bad, but as long as you’re hitting shit you’re not dying!
I didn't know it took 10 kills. I tried it once on a follower I picked up just for that, didn't seem to make a difference and have ignored it since. What does it do after 10 kills?
Improves the enchantment.
The cannibal cult in Markarth gets you four. I always do business with the meat seller, buy vigilance, and do Lisbet's quest, though I'm not 100% sure if it's necessary.
Ralis from the Unearthed quest. I spare him but I do end up punishing him with the blade later on once I get. He also doubles as my Boethiah sacrifice as you don't need to use the blade of sacrifice.
Several of the targets from the Dark Brotherhood count do you do business with them first. Or in the case of Narfi you do his quest first. I also believe the Falkreath housecarl you kill counts once you become a thane yourself.
I also do Rolff in Windhelm. You have to fist fight him first. Bonus is that I always do a dunmer character so it's payback that way as well.
Finally, though there are probably more I'm forgetting, Jorgen in the Marthal vampire quest counts if you sell lumber to him beforehand.
Edit: a bonus is Degaine in Markarth for being a gooner
Faendal, Faendal, Faendal, Faendal.....
Ive never done any. I get the blade and it gets put on a display rack in my house
About half were my bride and the wedding party at the chapel in Riften. 😣
I realized that the people who show up to the ceremony would all be 'friends' for purposes of the Ebony Blade. Made it much easier.
Orc Strongholds. They’ve got no quests, and no-one’s gonna notice if they’re missing.
If you have Ghosts of the Tribunal, you can do all the quests for the Tribunal Temple and then kill them all, just like Mephala intended.
Death to the Old Tribunal!
Any of the following will do:
Hert (after acquiring Lakeview Manor), vampire who eats unsuspecting travellers
Hern, same
Lemkil, beats his kids
Thonar Silverblood, Skyrim mafia
Ondolemar, thalmor
Melka, man-eating hagraven
Silus Vesuvius, gimme OP dagger
Jaree-Ra, who's playing who now?
Deeja, same
Eola, cannibal)
Lisbeth, cannibal)
Banning, cannibal)
Erikur, just an all-around awful person
Mine is usually Uthgerd at the ritual stone and zombie of Uthgerd x 9!
Lydia 10 times
Beggars.
The one time I used it, I did it legit. Why roleplay a Mephala champion and cop out with mods or exploits like killing Nazeem 10 times with Ritual Stone? So, my list was:
Basically, mercenaries and followers you can murder in the wilderness.
Uthgerd the Unbroken, I just revived her using Staff of Worms, when she dies I just hit her a couple of times until Mephala speaks out that unique dialogue.
And the funny thing is I slayed her behind the Jorrvaskr lol.
the first time i came across this i fast traveled to riverwood and just started swinging
Imagine if fast travel was teleportation... That would be an incredible scene lol
That stupid pirate lizard in the wrecked ship. Raising her from the dead over and over again.
No one
I just do the boethiah quest with the ritual stone so i can sack an annoying follower over and over
One of the homeless people in riften 10 times via dead thrall
I normaly give a coin to a poor, procced to kill him with a bow, raise him, bring him in a secluded place and proceed to kill him and raise again and again
Oops! All Nazeem
I used the blacksmith from Morthal and then just reanimated him 10 times and killed him again until I had the upgrades
Sven and ritual stone kill and revive
10 owned horses
Sven, ten times. I bring him to the Ritual stone, kill him, resurrect him with the once per day ability since his body doesn’t turn to dust, kill him again, and repeat ten times.
would be nazeem 1-10
If possible...
Nah I like my friends and followers that shit is rotting in a chest in my house
Khajiit has never fulfilled the Ebony Blade kills
Spam pacify on some low level bandit you ll be good to go
And of course use the sword to maul them ( before effect disappear )
Bandit 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 and throw in chief bandit and mage and maybe a vampire
Lydia and the other Housecarls made up a good chunk of mine.
Fun fact: you only really have to pick 1 person thanks to the ritual stone. I always go with the lady at the bannered mare but after you choose your victim all you gotta do is kill her, use the ritual stone to bring her back, quick save (because there’s a chance her body will turn to ashes), then kill her again. Rinse and repeat until you’re at 10. I recommend doing it somewhere secluded so you don’t get a bounty (the ritual stone is actually a perfect spot). Hope this helps.
Do quest, then throw it in the museum where it belongs.
Narfi x 10
Faendal times 10, I usually max out commutation so once I have the reanimate spell I just keep reviving and killing him till she’s happy
I beat the crap out of Uthgerd, and just kept reviving her.
The fact that this weapon can't be improved through smithing makes it one of the most disappointing weapons in the game. 😤
No one. This sword sucks. I can make something better in five minutes with ore I took from a hobo mine and the soul of a diseased mammoth.
The Dark Brotherhood. Doesn't matter if I've already killed them, I can raise them with the Ritual Stone and kill them again. And again.
I use the ritual stone in the aetherial crown to just kill the same hireling 10 times.
Half of them come from dark brotherhood quests. One can be from boethiah’s quest.
Befriend sven or faendal, then kill them. Use ebony blade on madonach, and use it on brother verulus. I’m sure there’s way more, but none else comes to mind besides giving gold and then killing beggars.
Braith x10
The Dark Brotherhood
Just Narfi.
And dead thrall spell.
Whoever I use for Boethia's quest(Aetherium crown with ritual stone) so Ralis Sedarys or the mercenary in Windhelm
I take it with me to the cannibal daedra ring quest, and then kill the cannibals a few times over with the ritual stone, win-win.
Lydia Lydia Lydia Lydia Lydia Lydia Lydia Lydia Lydia
There's 2 homesless people in riften, give 1 a coin or whatever, stealth kill them, revive with dead thrall or that 1 staff where they don't disintegrate when timing out, walk out of riften, keep reviving and killing. Thats what ive been doing
The one off mercenaries you can hire.
None. I just give this to one of my followers and since they can't use the special power after you do the 10 kills anyway, I never bother.
The homeless in Riften and that one Orc stronghold you befriend after completing "The Cursed Tribe".
Sven ten times
Heimskr -> Dead Thrall -> Heimskr -> Dead Thrall -> Heimskr…
Heimskr makes the most sense. I deprive him of seeing his god in Sovngarde and Boethiah has to listen to him yelling for eternity. Two birds, one betrayal.
with sacrosanct powers you can turn almost anyone into a follower with Eyes of the Moon
10 steadfast Dwarven spiders from the Dwarven arena on Solstheim
I see R2-D2 in the background
I usually just use the random people you help throughout the game but does it work on any friendly NPC or does it have to be someone you've done a quest for
Lydia 10 times
Ten bandits that I made into my allies with commands
Wait we were supposed to stop at 10?
Wait what is this getting 10 kills?
All were harvested from Macurio's life essence. All i had to do was pay him, grab the blessing from the ritual stone. End his life, resurrect him, than repeat 9 more times. Boom, fully upgraded Ebony blade
The first ten npcs that look at me wrong
Do soldier allies like stormcloacks if you're a stormcloack give as much as an unique npc allie when killed with it?
So far I've killed Narfi and Gregor who I wanted out of the way for Jordis the Sword-Maiden to take over as steward for Heljarchen Hall
1st time I got it glitched into the wall after I put it on a display and literally never got to use it lol