Reunification of Skyrim – A False Front

The Empire Rewards Excellence

Return to Castle Dour in Solitude and speak with General Tullius. Due to the actions at Whiterun, the Jarl has solidified his allegiance to the Imperials. For your actions, the General promotes you to the title of Quaestor. He also awards you with an impressive weapon. Ask what your orders are, and the General tells you to head to a hidden camp within the Pale. Legate Rikke has important tasks for you there as the General makes plans to reclaim the Hold capital.

• Leveled Sword

Journey to the Pale Imperial Camp, in the snow-laden hills to the west of Dawnstar. Aside from a Quartermaster and a Grindstone to help augment your weaponry, there’s an Alchemy Lab near the hospital tent, and troops to speak to.

However, the Legate’s tent is the place to visit, where Rikke is pouring over the current Civil War map. She may have her disagreements with the General, but she believes he’s the best hope for both the Empire and Skyrim. Report for duty, and she says she needs you to deliver some false orders to the Stormcloak commander in Dawnstar. Before that happens, though, forgeries must be made, so you must get your hands on some rebel orders. Rikke informs you that the Candlehearth Hall and Nightgate Inn are frequent stops for Stormcloak runners. Head to one of those places and convince the innkeeper to help you.

Interception and Deception

There are two inns that Legate Rikke mentioned: The Nightgate Inn is along the road to the west of Windhelm and is operated by Hadring. The Candlehearth Hall is inside Windhelm and has an innkeeper named Elda Early-Dawn. Journey to either of these locations and ask the innkeeper if they’ve seen any Stormcloak Couriers. After an evasive response, you can:

• (Persuade) Warn that the courier’s life is in danger.
• (Bribe) Offer some gold for the information.
• (Intimidate) Mention that you can get rough if you need to.
• Or, wait around in the inn.

If you succeed in any of the first three options, the barkeep tells you that the courier just left and that you can probably still catch him. Or, you can wait in the inn for the courier to return. The courier is halfway between both the inns on the main road. Even if you’re unsuccessful, you can still run after or wait for the courier (the only difference is the objective won’t update); either way, you must visit one of the inns before finding the courier.

The courier travels to and from each inn. He loiters at the inn for an hour, sleeps there for an hour, and then heads back to the other inn. He then repeats this route until you intercept him, either by waiting inside the inn or finding him on the road. At this point, you have a three options:

• (Pickpocket) Pickpocket the documents while the courier is unaware.
• Or, speak to the courier, demanding the documents. He refuses and you must kill him.
• Or, simply kill the courier and loot the corpse for the documents.

• Stormcloak Documents

After returning to Legate Rikke, she reads the documents, noting the Stormcloaks know more about the Imperial plans than was expected. She “corrects” the documents with false information and orders you to present them to the Stormcloak Commander in Dawnstar, throwing him off the trail.

Quest Conclusion

You’ll usually find the Commander inside Dawnstar Barracks, inside the Hold City of Dawnstar, although he sometimes walks the paths around the city. Present some important documents to him. He reads over them, noting the troop movements (which are false) and rewarding you with a little gold for a drink at the Windpeak Inn for your troubles. This quest now concludes.

• 5 gold pieces

Postquest Activities

Civil War Quests: Reunification of Skyrim is still going. Civil War Quests: The Battle for Fort Dunstad now begins.