To join the Dark Brotherhood in Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered, murder an innocent character, then sleep in any bed; when you wake, a Speaker named Lucien Lachance is standing over you with an invitation. That is the whole trigger, but plenty of kills do not count, and the two quests that follow have a few steps that trip people up. Below we cover which victims qualify, what Lucien gives you, the Rufio contract at the Inn of Ill Omen, how to find and enter the Cheydinhal sanctuary, and what the official patches since launch changed around this questline.
What Counts as a Murder
The game tracks a hidden murder count, and only certain kills raise it. The victim must be a non-hostile NPC: a citizen, a merchant, a beggar, a traveler, anyone who was not already trying to kill you. Bandits, marauders, necromancers, creatures and Daedra never count, and neither does a guard you killed after resisting arrest, because they were hostile first. Essential characters cannot die at all, so pick someone else if a target keeps dropping unconscious instead of dying.
The easy version: sneak into a house at night and attack someone asleep in bed, or catch a lone traveler on the road. You do not have to escape a witness, and you do not have to avoid a bounty, but murder in front of a guard means jail, and a stint in jail before you sleep just delays things. If you would rather keep a clean record, the Rufio option below serves as both the murder and the contract.
Sleeping Triggers Lucien’s Visit
Once the murder is logged, the next time you sleep in any bed (a rented inn room, a guild hall bed, a bedroll in a cave, a house you own) the “A Knife in the Dark” quest starts as you wake. Lucien Lachance introduces himself as a Speaker of the Black Hand and hands you the Blade of Woe, a dagger you keep for the rest of the game. He tells you the Night Mother has been watching and offers a test: kill a man named Rufio at the Inn of Ill Omen. Waiting does not count; it has to be sleep.
Verified against official patch notes, Update 1.1 fixed a bug in this exact quest where Vicente Valtieri, one of the sanctuary members you meet later, lost his hair. Nothing about the trigger itself has changed since the April 2025 launch.
The Rufio Contract
The Inn of Ill Omen sits on the Green Road, the route running south from the Imperial City toward Bravil. Rufio is not in the common room: go down the stairs to the private quarters beneath the inn, where he spends most of his time asleep. A sneak attack with the Blade of Woe while he sleeps finishes him quietly, but the game does not grade you on method. The innkeeper upstairs has no love for him and will not raise the alarm.
Long-standing player knowledge holds that killing Rufio before Lucien has ever visited also works, since Rufio himself is a legitimate murder victim; Lucien then appears the next time you sleep and skips straight to the welcome. We have not seen Bethesda confirm that route in any official material, so treat it as reported rather than guaranteed. Either way, after Rufio is dead, sleep again. Lucien returns, congratulates you, and starts “Welcome to the Family” with directions to the sanctuary.
Finding the Cheydinhal Sanctuary
Travel to Cheydinhal, on the east side of Cyrodiil. The sanctuary is under the abandoned house near the town’s west gate, the one locals call haunted. Inside, go to the basement and find the black door with a red hand. It asks a question, and the answer is “Sanguine, my Brother.” Get it wrong and the door simply stays shut; try again.
Ocheeva, the sanctuary’s mistress, welcomes you and gives you the Shrouded Armor and Shrouded Hood, a light armor set with stealth-friendly enchantments. Vicente Valtieri, a vampire, hands out the first contracts, and after a few of them he can offer you his Dark Gift if you want to become a vampire without hunting for one. From here the questline runs through roughly a dozen contracts, each with an optional bonus condition that pays extra gold or a unique item when you complete the kill a specific way. The main-quest villain Mannimarco is the Mages Guild’s problem; the Brotherhood’s story is its own, and finishing it puts you in charge.
Update 1.2 lists “sanctuary door visuals improved” among its gameplay fixes; press coverage at the time tied that to the Cheydinhal door, which previously looked like an ordinary door from the wrong side. On Switch 2, the September 2026 Patch 1.1 fixed the Lucky Old Lady statue in Bravil missing its animation during “Honor Thy Mother,” one of the questline’s final missions.
Before You Commit
Two things are worth planning. First, the murder gives you a bounty only if you are seen, but it also permanently raises your Infamy, which matters for the Knights of the Nine questline included with the Remaster (that storyline requires a pilgrimage to clear Infamy before it lets you in). Second, save before the murder in case you pick the wrong victim: a shopkeeper you kill stays dead, and merchants are worth more alive if you plan to sell loot in that city. The Brotherhood is separate from the Thieves Guild, and you can be in both, plus the Mages and Fighters Guilds, at once. Our other Oblivion guides are collected on the Elder Scrolls hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does killing someone in self-defense count toward the Dark Brotherhood? No. The victim has to be non-hostile when you attack. Bandits, monsters and anyone who swung first do not raise the murder count.
Do I have to sleep in a specific bed for Lucien Lachance to appear? No. Any bed works, including inn rooms, guild halls and dungeon bedrolls. Waiting is not enough; you have to sleep.
What is the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary password? “Sanguine, my Brother.” The door in the basement of Cheydinhal’s abandoned house asks for it.
Can I join the Dark Brotherhood in the Remaster the same way as the original? Yes. The trigger, the Rufio contract and the sanctuary are unchanged; official patches have only fixed visual bugs in the questline.
Will joining the Dark Brotherhood lock me out of other factions? No. The only faction that cares is Knights of the Nine, which requires clearing your Infamy through a pilgrimage before you can start it.