So I beat the Dark Brotherhood questline today and I got my 20k from the last contract. What the flipping gosh darn fack Bethesda? You gleefully hand me 20k and I haul my butt back to Dawnstar to cash in at the Brotherhood HQ there and Nazir tells me to go talk to Delvin in Riften about spiffing up the place. I work my butt off on these quests playing on Expert with little reward besides the loot I score and I'm hoping I get some sweet reward but I expect about one thousand gold, as is the usual fee for completing quests at my level But for assassination of the Emperor I was seriously hoping for something a bit more generous. I get there and the grand total of money I spend on renovating the Dark Brotherhood HQ is NINETEEN THOUSAND SEPTIMS. 19k OUT OF THE 20k I RECIEVED. I'M LEFT WITH A MEASLY THOUSAND COINS.

You guys are jerks.

I kept the money. I killed for it, it's MINE.

its really a choice you can even lie to nazir about how much you got , but i decided a secret entrance was important

You say that like you aren't sitting on 30,000+ After that point in the game I had 75,000

Come on, they gave you the choice between upgrades now or cash now o and the degree to which you balanced the two. They didn't even force you to make it all or nothing proposition either. It's not like being awarded the right to purchase an entirely empty house - it's like being given a fully furnished house or the cash value of whatever components you don't want right away.

No rewards from earlier phases? Several different sets of brotherhood armor, new passive ability that behaves like a special armor perk, a unique and somewhat summon which provides humorous commentary in addition to being useful, Shadowmere, the emperor's clothes, and either a new follower option or his outfit if you chose to kill him. There are also a few named items, levelled random items, and gold rewarded for the completion of certain earlier phases and optional objectives - but I understand those aren't what you meant.

not really a problem.
most of the damn members die.
i would rather them all live then get 20,000

I'm sorry, did you not understand the entire point of killing the Emperor at the part of the questline? It was not for your personal gain and fame and whatever. It was for the Dark Brotherhood to become a name feared in the streets again. It was for the Dark Brotherhood to rise up from its terrible decline in recent years. It was for the Dark Brotherhood. The whole point was that the money you get from that contract would be enough to get the DB back on their feet. No one forced you to fix up the Sanctuary. It was your call.

Same. Maybe my attachment to characters is also why I made for a horrible assassin that always felt bad about killing my targets. Okay, maybe not ALL targets.

The real question is, you have the 15K writ from Delloy. Why the F are we not subtracting the upgrades from there?

^this is a bug to me. You're the new master of the guild, and should be given the writ.

It's really a shame... I liked the characters in the DB more than any other guild so far, and beth goes and has them killed... And then with my rewards I spiffy up our dungeon, and instead of truly interesting characters joining the guild, you get generic stuff like "Novice Assassin" or whatever their faces are among your ranks. You can't even send them out on missions and boss them around. Pointless.

Also... Delvin SO ripped me off. 5K for "new banners". A few cloth strips hanging from the ceiling is 5K?! Derp

[censored] on my main person I have like 200k. I am looking for reasons to give it away.

I have one million septims and it is my policy to never leave any merchant or trainer with more than 10 gold after my visits, ever.

You own me 15K Delvin, one day I will find a way to extract it, one day ...

I didn't mind spending the money to spruce up the sanctuary, but I wish I had thought it through before buying the torture chamber. That annoying whining gets on my nerves and when I kill the victims they're back the next time I return.

I know it was never addressed, but I just assumed that Astrid already spent that money by that point, probably in set-up for the final assassination

dude you torture the victims and they reveal the locations of hidden treasures

worth every septim you spend on the chamber. four victims gave me 6k septims and a few gems

This is a fantastic way to level up your combat skills. Burn'em down with destruction or shank'em with daggers, then you heal them up with Heal Other to build your resto. I love the torture chamber!

By that point i remember being desperate to get rid of money. I almost cried when they gave me that much because i have too much. I'm a multi-quadrillionairre right now, and there are some VERY rich beggars now.

You will die, but the dark brotherhood lives on forever! Hail Sithis!

Quit whining and start talking to the torture victims.

You can do that quest any time..i had like 3000 at that point...

Oh no, you were able to actually spend the reward? It wasn't just decorative? Those jerks!

Who made the choice to spend the money on upgrades? Oh. That's right. YOU DID.

Take a damned breath. Crack your knuckles. Get off these boards. And go torture the folks in your sanctuary and track down their treasures.

Good grief.

I purchased all the upgrades but have not been back since. I didn't even know there was anybody in the torture chamber let alone you can torture them and have them reveal treasure locations. Well I know what I'll be doing tonight. Insert evil laugh.

By the time I did that quest I had over 100,000 gold and had fully furnished Breezehome, Proudspire Manor and Honeyside. It's not hard to get money, lol.
However, if you kill Amaund Motierre like the Emperor asks you to, he does have several gems on him. Maybe that'll make up for it a bit.