Oblivion talk:Scheduled for Execution

Suggestions/Corrections

Thanks for this guide.

There is a captain in the area where you first enter the dungeon area. He has two keys, one to the cell with the prisoner and one other general key. If you're good at sneaking you can pick-pocket him.

Invisibility and/or a few chameleon enchanted items is recommended if you feel constant reloading destroys realism.

Small corrections: The magicka required to cast the invisibility spell is dependent on your Illusion skill. The spell lasts for 35 seconds. — Unsigned comment by Jetrell (talk • contribs) at 03:01 on 1 May 2006

However, it's worth noting that this spell costs a good bit less than a 35 second Invisibility spell would otherwise cost if you made it at the spell altar. See M'raaj-Dar's page for details. --TheRealLurlock 10:05, 16 August 2006 (EDT)

Thank Bethesda

I so feared that Dreth would go the way of Morrowind's Jiub and never be seen again. Thank you Bethesda for giving me the oppurtunity to kill this bastard.

P.S You really should create a character of every race just to hear the variety of Valen's insults.--OGRastamon 14:48, 20 November 2006 (EST)

Murdered him already?

Using the console on the PC version, I "broke" out of my cell and into Valen Dreth's, murdering him for talking about my wife in ways I did not appreciate (I am dark elf). Will this affect the availability of the quest? -Saint 10:36, 18 January 2007 (EST)

There are actually two different Valen Dreths ("ValenDreth" and "ValenDrethDark04") in the construction set, so I suspect that when you start this quest Valen will be magically resurrected. --Nephele 13:25, 18 January 2007 (EST)

Yeah, the "Imperial Prison" you start out in at the beginning is not the actual Imperial Prison. If you somehow magically got out, you would notice that there are no guards patrolling, there are no keys to the prison at the end of the hall, and trying to open the front door to get out doesn't work, even if it is "unlocked". So the Valen Dreth at the beginning is not the same one later, as they are both on different maps. That, and the one at the beginning is almost impossible to kill. He regnerates health.--Darkheart 10:20, 1 March 2009 (EST)

Kind of... if his health drops below 15 it gets set back to 15. Not quite regeneration, but close enough. –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 11:14, 1 May 2009 (EDT)

Strange guards

Is it worth mentioning that the areas that you go through to reach Valen Dreth contain the only non-Imperial guards in the game? Examples are an Altmer guard, a Redguard guard, a Nord guard, and Captain Gepard Montrose himself is a Breton... It could also be noted that after the quest, the guards in the section leading to Dreth act very strangely. When attacked, they will instantly attack you, and not bring up the Stop! You have violated the law! dialogue. Also, when wearing the Gray cowl of Nocturnal, they will act hostile towards you, but will not actually attack. It's strange that the Empire would post only non-Imperial guards in the sewers... --Merco 14:13, 28 August 2007 (EDT)

There are plenty of other cities draw upon their guards from different ethnicities. Bruma, Skingrad, Leyawiin, Kvatch and Anvil all have guard populations comprised of multiple races, rather than just Imperials. --Saruuk 17:38, 28 August 2007 (EDT)

Ive personaly noticed while trying to finnish this quest with the everscamps from the "whom gods annoy" quest that the guards will attack the scamps irrelevent of if they see you(i have 95% chamo + sneaking). After the scamps are killed the guards will often turn on each other, (making you loose the bonus apon their deaths)— Unsigned comment by 202.87.166.216 (talk)

Of course, they'll attack the scamps they are controlled (sort of) by you, and you don't belong there, but I don't know how this would lead to the guards to attack each other. Maybe the developers never considered the possibility of a player bringing the staff down there. Michaeldsuarez (talk· contribs· email) 23:17, 16 March 2008 (EDT)

They probably attack each other because they hit each other, triggering that annoying "You hit me, now I'm gonna kill you" mentality that the guards have (help 'em kill a random creature, then they turn on you cuz they were dumb enough to run in the path of your giant sword). Felindre 21:30, 8 December 2008 (EST)

I know this discussion is years old but I can confirm that the guards in the Imperial Sewer have a much larger tendency to fight eachother than the normal Imperial guards in the game (obviously the guards in this section are special enemies that don't arrest you or assign bounties like normal guards.) I think it has something to do with them hitting eachother and with the factions of the guards and of the Guard Captain. I have replayed Oblivion countless times, and I join the Dark Brotherhood and do all the quests most of my playthroughs. 18 out of 21 times that I have recorded, the guards have wound up fighting with the Guard Captain on this mission- The reason I started keeping track was because I saw it so frequently and thought it was so funny. I have seen them fighting many more times than the 21 playthroughs where I actually wrote it down, but I didn't want to give speculative/inaccurate data. 76.175.17.28 21:41, 5 June 2013 (GMT)

Valen's Body

Any one mark on a map where his body gets washed up at??? I can't find it anywhere! - Ranger King 09:27, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

I'd never noticed that before. The information was added anonymously a few months ago ([1]) and was never challenged. I've never seen it myself, I have to say. --Rpeh^Talk 08:43, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

I've never seen his body in the lake either. if it is actually true then I suppose it should be added to the Easter Eggs page.--Willyhead 08:47, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

Doesn't matter, instead i found a pile of stuff from when i started the game, including wrist irons! Thanks anyway though -Ranger King 09:27, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

I can't see any scripts either that would cause his body to be moved or otherwise make his corpse appear. So I've moved the entire passage from the article here. --Nephele^Talk 01:28, 20 September 2007 (EDT)

Shortly after completing this quest, head along the banks of Lake Rumare. Valen taunts you at the beginning of the game, quipping at how you will be thrown into the lake when you die. Ironically, this is precisely what happens to him, and you can find his body along the banks of the lake. His inventory contains the same items in the lake as it would if looted straight after assasination. If nothing is taken from his corpse after the assassination, he is found wearing what you begin the game wearing, aside from the wrist irons, which are absent from his inventory.

Glitch?

I really screwed up at every leg of this mission, and had to run out of the sewers followed by every guard in the whole area after one of them saw me. But as I swam across the lake to get away, I got the notification that Valen Dreth was killed and I could pick up my reward.--Vanwaer 12:09, 13 July 2008 (EDT)

I would see two likely possibilities here: a) you got him hostile towards you, and when you swam away, he ended up drowning accidentally, or b) you managed to get someone else like the guards hostile towards him, and they killed him. Those are both guesses, of course, and there's no way to be certain exactly what happened that I can think of. --Robin Hood (Talk • E-mail • Contribs) 16:53, 20 July 2008 (EDT)

What does he say when you talk to him and mention the Night Mother?

As the above says, I wonder what he says when you mention through the bars the Night Mother. I wonder simply because I don't want to create a new character just yet, nor do I want to do the Dark Brotherhood with my current one - The Zodeh Lady,( 216.108.4.71) 8:51PM, July 21

Hmm... it was a while ago but i believe he says something along the line of; "The Night Mother... The Night Mother! Guards! Guards! There's an Assassin in here! Guards!

I don't know the exact words, but that is the gist of his response.-Puddle ^{Talk•Contribs.} 23:00, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

This is exactly what he says: "The Night Mo.... No! No! Guards! Guards! Help me! Somebody help! Assassin!" SwedishBerzerker at youtube.com 04:22, 17 May 2009 (EDT)

Alternative Strategy

(moved from the article)

If you haven't acquired a bounty by the time you reach your old cell, you can simply walk up to the guard and he won't attack you, you can then talk to Valen Dreth, say nothing and he will become aggressive, once this happens just open his cell and the guard will kill him for you.

I moved this because... I don't know what it means. Why do you need to talk to the guard? Is "say nothing" a dialogue option? More details required, and is it even necessary anyway? –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 03:22, 20 August 2008 (EDT)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that passage seems to say that the gaurds in the cell area won't attack you if your bountyless. Talking to Valen, the target, and useing the Say Nothing option to him will get him pissed. Then just open the door for him and the gaurd will strike him down.

Atlest, thats what I'm getting from it - Zodeh Ladeh, 3 days after you posted, 11:31, Canadian Time

If you've got a good sneak level,invisibility/chameleon and some lockpicks or an Open spell, you can go through the door leading to his cell, talk to him and murder him. Just make sure the guard leaves. DiveRock,30 September 2008

run

could i just run past the gaurds kill him and pay off my bounty and how much will my bounty be? Lexlexx1 09:01, 14 September 2008 (EDT)

From the "Notes" section:

If you don't feel like sneaking around, and you are fast enough or have enough armor, you can just run to the cell with the guards chasing after you. Pick the lock and kill Dreth, then yield to the guards, who will be trying to attack you. Go ahead and pay off your bounty or spend the time in jail. Either way, as long as you didn't kill a guard, you get the bonus.

Bounties are explained here. --GuildKnight^Talk2me 20:44, 14 September 2008 (EDT)

thank you i was not sure Lexlexx1 11:51, 15 September 2008 (EDT)

VN Tag

"If you do get attacked by the guards and your initial Disposition is high enough, you can yield to them causing all the guards to stop attacking and go back immediately to what they were doing, completely forgetting about you. [verification needed — Needs Verification]" Re to this VN Tag. This happened to me the first time I did this quest (in fact, in the first five seconds after I entered the Sanctum), and I immediately yielded an expected an arrest, but the guards just left me alone, and I went back into sneak mode and completed the quest, without actually killing any of the guards, and thus recieved my bonus.--Darkheart 11:06, 1 March 2009 (EST)

Thanks for the confirmation, Darkheart. For future reference, if you can confirm something that has a VN tag on it, feel free to remove the VN tag after commenting (as you did above) on what you did to confirm it. Similarly, if you can absolutely disprove a VN-tagged comment, feel free to remove the comment entirely if it's untrue, or alter it accordingly. --Robin Hood (Talk • E-mail • Contribs) 16:47, 8 March 2009 (EDT)

Uh, a misunderstanding. I was the one who wrote that section in the first place. I was asking for confirmation, not reporting it. I don't think it would be right for me to remove the VN tag myself. --Darkheart 11:26, 9 March 2009 (EDT)

Oops, that was my bad. Sorry about that. In that case, we should probably re-instate the VN tag, if you haven't already. Sorry about the confusion. --Robin Hood (Talk • E-mail • Contribs) 20:38, 9 March 2009 (EDT)

OKay, now it says it only works with the guard at Dreth's cell. The guards before that accepted my yield, but it may have been I came through there before I had actually gotten the quest, and raised my Disposition by bribing all the guards as much as I could. I don't think they'll attack you if you go in before getting the quest. --Darkheart 19:03, 29 March 2009 (EDT)

It's impossible to go in before getting the quest. When you can, all you find is Baurus over the emporer's body. When you see baurus later on, The sewer is locked down, and unable to be picked. So theres no way in beforehand, until the vampire gives you the key to the sewer during the quest. Lucky the Cat Guy. 00:34, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Prison guard bug

Moved from article

• There is a time where the guard releases Valen Dreth, saying "You are free to go." Even if you have Invisibility and Chameleon at 100%, he will engage in a conversation with you as he is leaving the prison cell. By that time, the prison guard will finish him off, if you still have the chameleon, since he is engaging battle.

This does not make much sense. First the guard says Dreth is free to go, and then tries killing him? I cannot recall a particular line like "You are free to go.", just the taunting. --Timenn < talk > 09:35, 16 June 2009 (EDT)

Getting into the prison before the quest

Moved from article

• It is possible to get to the prison before starting this quest. Occasionally, one of the prison guards will be in the Bastion. You can either pickpocket them or kill them to get a key to the Imperial Prison. If you talk to Valen Dreth before starting this quest, he will talk to you about rumors.

I've tested this, and the key does not work on the door. It is in fact, listed in the notes that it does not work. So this is a useless note. Lucky the Cat Guy. 21:19, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Moved From Article

* If you open up Dreth's cell and let him escape, there is a chance that the other guards will put him down, and you will still finish the quest. If he escapes the guards, follow the map marker to find him in the wilderness.

Moved from article, because I've played this quest on multiple playthroughs, and that never happens to me. Any prisoners that you unlock the cell to will stay in their cell and still complain about being arrested, especially Vlaen Dreth. Anyone willing to confirm or deny? --Darkheart 01:23, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Just tested this and it is not even possible to push him out of his cell - his location seems to be fixed and as such, removing the note was the right thing to do. -- Krusty 14:35, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

something to think about

hi!i was just wondering what would happen if you do this quest before completeing deliver the amulant?like in the room where the emporer was killed?--GUM!!! 18:22, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

There will be a shrine in the place of the emporer's death and Baurus will be gone. --Arch-Mage Matt^Talk 18:27, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

but will the emporer and baurus come back?--GUM!!! 18:31, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

No. What makes you think that they might? ‒ Robin Hood↝Talk 18:54, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

nothing it's` just i want to do the DB but want to get the emporrs robe--GUM!!! 18:57, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Fish out of Water!

While I was advancing my way in the Imperial Sewer's to Valen Dreth, along the way there is a Slaughterfish...Out of the Water....Why? — Unsigned comment by Integra (talk • contribs) at 06:39 on 22 August 2010

It's a common bug. There's also a bug where your quest pointer can point in the wrong direction when doing the Go Fish quest. Given those two things, I suspect it's an engine bug of some kind. – Robin Hood↝talk 02:36, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Another alternative?

When I did this quest for the first time (my game stopped working now I'm working on a new game. TT_TT), I was able to walk in and just walk past the guards. I even talked to most of them. They replied that civilians shouldn't be in there. I went to the old cell and shoot the guy full of arrows. Then I walked out. Nobody ever tried to stop me. Now, I can't figure out how to recreate this. Have you ever heard of this before? Dramallama 23:01, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Valen recognizing me even though I was wearing the Gray Cowl?

Doesn't the magic makes everyone thinks you're the Gray fox and does not connect you to your true Identity? --203.218.69.14 01:35, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Most scripted events ignore the Grey Cowl. The scripting to alter your identity only affects general things, like greetings, and your infamy and bounty. --DKong27 ^{Talk Cont} 01:45, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Verification Tag

"Although, if you manage to pickpocket the guard at the Bastion (not the one sitting down, but the one that seems to wander around occasionally), change your active quest to a different one. This will allow you to enter into the holding cells where you can then reactivate your quest and continue without having stept a foot into the sewer. [verification needed — Needs confirmation]"

I'm pretty sure this doesn't work. I pickpocketed the key from the jailer who wanders around while he was asleep upstairs. No amount of changing what my active quest was (to and from this one) would get the key to open the door, nor did it work when I then loaded an earlier save and tried with the jailer who sits in the chair. I dunno what the protocal is for deleting stuff, but it seems to me like whoever posted this caught a lucky bug rather than found a way in that can be consistently recreated. — Unsigned comment by 71.197.182.126 (talk) on 18 February 2011

Agreed, that was a bad note. The key required for that door is only found on the guards in the sewer, plus the one who taunts Dreth in his cell. The taunter does eventually head into The Bastion, but only after his taunts are delivered. There's no way to get the correct key before entering the sewer. Either it was a one-off bug, or the poster got the key after he did the quest, then made an incorrect assumption. rpeh •T•C•E• 14:23, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Pop culture reference

Is it possible the mini quest "No rest for the wicked" is in reference to the song "Ain't no rest for the wicked" by Cage the Elephant?

Or beyond that, an exact phrase from the book of Isaiah? — Unsigned comment by 166.181.65.74 (talk) at 03:01 on 13 June 2011 (UTC)

No rest for the wicked is a commonly known Biblical phrase. This quest has nothing to do with the song. --Brf 12:04, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Unfortunately I have to beg to differ, during the beginning of the game he references terrible things to happen to the player while incarcerated, while also saying he will be rich and successful. While not necessarily laid out in a single piece, could he embody the spirit of doing terrible things for money? — Unsigned comment by 166.181.54.113 (talk) at 04:45 on 13 July 2011 (UTC)

I'll be blunt, that would be the most ridiculously obscure reference ever. The only way that you could possibly confirm this would be to ask the band themselves. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 04:45, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree with AKB. That reference does not prove anything. Just because in-game things may have similar names to real life things doesn't mean they are always references. It is a common phrase, like BRF said. --Manic 16:50, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

"No rest for the wicked" is a common saying used by many people. — Unsigned comment by 79.97.40.245 (talk) at 22:27 on 3 August 2011 (GMT)

Oblivion was released in 2006, whereas the Cage the Elephant song was released in 2008. There's absolutely no chance it's a reference, unless someone's got a time machine they're not telling anyone else about. 72.23.241.65 20:06, 5 September 2012 (EDT)

Chatty guard dialogue

I dont know if this belongs on the page, but the dialogue between the guard and Dreth is fascinating:

Guard: I have to admit, I'm going to miss you, Dreth. The late night beatings, your pitiful cries for help...

Dreth: Filthy curr! I told you I was going to get out of here! My time's almost up, and there's nothing you can do about it!

Guard: Yeah, well, what's it been? Seven, eight years? We've had a good long run, you and me. I always knew it would end someday.

Dreth: Eleven! Eleven years I've been in this rat-infested hole! But I'm getting out, and you'll still be stuck in here! Hahahaha!

Guard: Oh yeah? Where will you go? What will you do? You can't survive out there, Dreth, you're an animal! You belong in that cage!

Dreth: I'll remember that when I'm lying on the beaches of Summerset Isle with your wife, you Imperial pig!

Guard: Right! And you'll be rich too! Oh, and you'll become a king! And you know what I think, Dreth? I think you'll be back. Your lot always come back.

Dreth: You'll see, you Imperial dog! When I get out of here, all of Tamriel will know my name! Valen Dreth! Valen Dreth!

Guard: All right! I'm tempted to let you out right now if you'd just shut up!

It gives a good insight into the horrible personality of Valen Dreth. Kitkat1749 ^{•Talk•Contrib•E-mail} 22:08, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

It belongs on Valen Dreth's page. feel free to add it. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 22:19, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

I think this would be the better place. We do something similar here, although that's between two named NPCs so it's not exactly the same. rpeh •T•C•E• 10:10, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Whenever I've done conversations I've always posted them on the NPC's page. For example I've done this with Barthel Gernand. Now that I think about it, we have absoulotely no standard format for conversations. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 16:33, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

The issue was brought up here. A consensus was never quite reached, but the above layout seems to be the most popular. As for dialogue on quest articles, I'm not too keen on the idea but I don't see how it would hurt. --Legoless 16:49, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Confused Majorly!

Ok I've played this game numerous times and I've never had this glitch before. The part of the quest when you have to sneak past the guard with the torch how he's normally walking through the section right after you get past the redguard guard, on this character of mine he's at the top of the stairs where there is no possible way to sneak past him... and I've tried using chameleon and he still got after me. Oh and even though this has nothing to do with this quest for some reason the Owner of the Merchant Inn hasn't shown up at all which kinda annoys me A LOT. I could really use some help on this. — Unsigned comment by Araqwen (talk • contribs) at 06:24 on 11 December 2011

It's probably too late, but a few ideas that come to mind are: try saving and reloading to see if that does anything. Command, Frenzy, or Paralyze might also be things to try. A much harder solution might be to summon a creature, then attack the guard. He'll probably get drawn down from the stairs to attack your creature, and if you're careful, you might be able to sneak around the guard (with Invisibility or a whole lot of Chameleon) while they're busy. I haven't tested any of these, so good luck. Of course, if you're on a PC, you can also use the Console to simply disable the guard entirely. If you're still actually looking for an answer and you need specific console directions, let me know. – Robin Hood↝talk 20:06, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Guards murdered

I attempted to kill Valen, but a guard caught me, so I yielded and tried again. When I came back however, everyone was killed upon entering, besides Valen. It was only the sewer guards and the captain, though.

Any thoughts as to why? — Unsigned comment by 66.227.213.134 (talk)

About killing guards or guards dying

It should be noted that if any of the prison guards die for any reason, you forfeit the bonus even if the death wasn't your fault. In my case, there was a lone Maurader that killed one of the prison guards. I don't recall any marauders being there in the vanilla version, so I'm assuming he's added in by a mod, probably TIE. Keep that in mind if you have any mods that add enemies to areas they aren't usually at.