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‘Bad Medicine’ is a Dark Brotherhood quest inOblivion Remastered.It is, in our minds, one of the more challenging ones to do “by the book”, which is to say, stealthily in order to earn your bonus reward. Doing so is highly advised, as ‘Bad Medicine’ will net proper assassin types who follow orders to the letter a unique outfit with some genuine utility.
Read on to get the scoop on the best way to venture through Fort Sutch without being detected. While you needn’t do more than slay the opposition here, you really ought to please Ocheeva.
Once you have obtained’Enter the Eliminator', the next automatic mini-quest in theDark Brotherhood faction, do the usual song-and-dance, which is to say,speak with Ocheeva.
Our target this time isRoderick, and he’s located atFort Sutch. While the gamewillgive you a map tag for the location, we’ve found thatthe easiest way to get to Fort Sutchis tofast-travel(or travel traditionally, if you’re like us, and would prefer the more immersive approach) toAnvil.
You’ll notice that the objective marker isdue north from Anvil, or at least, close enough. This direct path is the best path. You’ll find the doorway into Fort Sutchjust southeastfrom the map marker itself.
The Poison In The Cupboard
Sneaking through Fort Sutch without being detectedis one of the tougher gigs you’ll do for the Dark Brotherhood. At least, it will be if you don’t haveInvisibilityorChameleon. you may get the latter free of charge for 60 seconds per day if you chose theShadowbirthsign.
But, since we reckon most players will have chosen something else, you can always craft it throughPotions and Spellcraft. Better still,Mraaj’Dawill sell both Invisibility andChameleonspells back at home base. You will, of course, needa high enough Illusion statto cast them.
Now, here’s the thing:you can, in fact, kill the enemies here. You simply need to do sowhilst remaining undetected. Since this is possible through a myriad of means, includingwell-timed arrowsandsneak-up blade assassinations,
On the other hand, we’ve actually found it easier to get through Fort Sutch undetected via aforementioned Invisibility orChameleonmeans. Regardless of your choice here,the pathways in Fort Sutch are generally dim enough that you have an advantage in remaining undetected.
This means you needn’t have a sky-high Stealth stat to make the magic happen, so to speak, but we’ll always recommendcranking up Stealth as much as possible; remember that you can always level it up (albeit glacially) bysneaking past and quietly hiding from regular NPCs throughout Oblivion.
Head toward theleft side of Fort Sutch, in the far back, to locateRoderick’s Quarters. Here, you’ll find thecabinet with Roderick’s medicine, where you mustplace the poisonand let time do its deed.
You cankill Roderick outrightif you don’t care about the bonus reward (and the role-playing perks of Ocheeva’s satisfaction, for that matter). That’s the thing about most Dark Brotherhood quests: if you really do not care about being a sneaky assassin, you can still progress the questline!
Return to Ocheeva for your leveled gold reward. For your bonus - and this is why we do strongly suggest following the stealth route! - you’ll get theunique The Deceiver’s Fineryoutfit, which comes withFortify Personalityand Fortify Speechcraft.
