The quests I have completed, apart from Miscellaneous ones are: Unbound, The Golden Claw, Repentance, Infiltration and A Daedra's Best Friend (Clavicus Vile)

I haven't even spoken to Alvor in Riverwood (followed havdar during the intro) so none of the main quest, no factions joined.

So why are the Dark Brotherhood targeting me?

You escaped execution?

We don't as of yet know what all will trigger a DB assassin coming after you.

My first character got targeted by them right away; my current one went a long time w/o being targeted, but it happened eventually. The assassins all had the same generic note signed by [redacted].

Did you do the quest in Riverwood where 2 gyus are competing about the same woman? The quest where you have to deliver a letter to Sven or that archer guy?

How ugly is your character?

A Daedra's Best Friend

You helped Clavicus Vile. Who hates Daedra? The Vigilantes of Stendarr. Nothing you can do about it right now. Perhaps you can exact some off-quest revenge when you find Stendarr's Beacon, but I think someone will be essential.

Location:

Neither of my characters ever got involved in the Riverwood love triangle, or completed Clavicus Vile's quest (yet).

If a character managed to piss off the Vigilants of Stendarr, it seems to me that the Vigilants would try to take care of business on their own, rather than contact a shady organization that may well have associations with Daedra in the first place (some believe that the Night Mother is Mephala herself).

An Orc 2h warrior. I'm sure you can imagine.

Like UnclePain, I didn't do the love letter stuff in Riverwood. I've been around for a while tho, currently lvl 17. can't imagine who I've pissed off in that time, having only done misc. quests and a couple of sides

I hear the Dark Brotherhood targets terrible orc bards. You wouldn't happen to play the flute backwards, would you?

I did do the love letter thing in Riverwood but long after I was attacked by a DB assassin. There was nothing much in my game I had done that would have caused someone to take out a contract on me. Fact is, I joined the DB not long after that assassination attempt and the one running the DB had no comment to make even thought the assassin carried the contract authorisation with my name on it. The game should explain this, expand on it a little better. I think the attempt is the game's way of way of telling the player there is a bunch of contract assassins somewhere and it ought to be investigated, without actually starting a quest at that early point.

When I first started playing, I went to an alchemy shop in one town. It was just me and the owner in the store. When she went into a back room to sit down and read, I took like 4 dartwings off of her shop counter. Later on in my session I was attacked on a road by a DB assassin, and when I killed him and read the note, it was written by the shopkeeper (remembered her name), and told the assassin not to even kill me if need be but to just beat me up. I thought it was neat that she knew I had to be one to take her stuff since I was the last person to visit her shop before the items went missing.

It's base on your disposition on NPCs I guess. Some said that if your character is a 'good' one DB assassins will try to kill you, I read it somewhere in the forums.

Those are just hired thugs, not Dark Brotherhood assassins. They will come after you when you steal things occasionally, even if you are not caught.

I think it's a just a random encounter for non-DB members


Once a Forsworn Briarheart sent those after me. I stole his heart. Literally

The wife of the bandit you killed?