Skyrim talk:Hide and Seek (quest)

Completing the quest

A good way to complete this quest (Or most Dark Brotherhood quests) is to cast a Fury spell while sneaking. If done properly, this will not incur you a bounty. The only down side is that players not skilled in Illusion may not be powerful enough to make the spell work on the "pilgrim."

Using Speech: It is possible to persuade the "pilgrim" into following you, apparently allowing you to take him outside the city to kill him. However, I have yet to see this work, as it takes a skill level over 50 or the Persuasion perk in the Speech tree. If you know the base Speech level required to persuade him WITHOUT using perks in the Speech tree, please clue the rest of us in. — Unsigned comment by 173.225.230.210 (talk) at 05:49 on 7 July 2012

I was able to persuade the vampire (a "bard", in this case) to follow me with a speech level of 75 (and no speech perks). This didn't work when I tried earlier with a speech level of 60. I know that doesn't quite narrow it down to the exact base number, but I can confirm that 75 in Speech without the Persuasion perk does the job.174.0.116.189 06:03, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

If you have enough speech to make him follow you the quest can easily be completed without murder. Simply make him follow you to the nearest bandit/monster/wildlife and let them do your job for you. — Unsigned comment by 193.150.219.65 (talk) at 12:18 on 8 August 2012

This simple quest is extremely difficult if you don't want a bounty or a murder charge.

• He is definitely leveled, going toe to toe with my 58 level character and a follower.
• He will not follow any great distance outside of the city and would be more than a match for random bandits if leveled. Ideally leading him to the nearest giant would work but he will not follow that far.
• Casting Fury or similar without alerting the guards and turning them hostile is almost impossible.
• Getting a follower to do him in can be done but still reaps a murder count.

Any ideas how to do this completely cleanly would be much appreciated. — Unsigned comment by Sniffles (talk • contribs) at 07:41 on 19 September 2012‎

Stumble across a way to do it cleanly without the murder count:

The target should be at outdoor, where the guards are patrolling. Sneak until hidden (with hidden eye), attack him immediately with an arrow (but don't 1 hit kill him, just 1 arrow attack). If done correctly, he should turn hostile immediately (red dot) and start looking for you. No bounty should incur if hidden while sneak attack. The guards will attack him and kill him eventually.

But with one condition: You have to finish the civil quests (Stormcloaks or Imperial) first, as the guards will be friendly to you after the civil quests. Friendly here means the guards will only turn hostile if you attack them quickly 4 times in a row. The target who turn hostile to you will be the enemy of your "friendly" guards as well. Thus it works by having them kill the target with no bounty and no murder count. — Unsigned comment by 175.143.188.219 (talk) at 06:18 on 26 November 2012‎

I found this easiest to do by simply turning into a werewolf while out of sight, running up, killing him, and then running out of town before the transformation wore off. Kills as a werewolf don't add to your bounty.

Or just wait until after 1am , crouch next to the target , he will get up and go to his rented room, follow in crouched position, enter and close the door, use a decent arrow( I used at least Ebony) and sneak kill him from the other side of his room. He should be sat at the table next to the bed. Easy! No interference or bounty, then just leave , but close the bedroom door behind you. — Unsigned comment by 88.105.155.59 (talk) at 16:15 on 31 March 2020

Fury and Frenzy don't turn him hostile. There is no dialogue option for my character to say anything at all. There is no way to do this cleanly. And there's no way to abandon the quest either once you're stuck with it. It just doesn't work. Valeria (talk) 21:05, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Counts as Murder

I was sent to Riverwood to kill a vampire masquerading as a visiting advisor. I waited until he went into one of the bedrooms, then killed him with a dagger sneak attack. I was not detected, and did not receive a bounty, but my murder count stat went up. I reloaded and frenzied him, then killed him, which did not increase my murder count stat. I think this should be noted on the page - attacking him first and killing him will result +1 to your murder stat, whether or not you are detected or receive a bounty, as with any non-hostile npc. I don't know if I would call this a bug, but it does seem to be an oversight by Bethesda, as these disguised vampires are not innocent civilians, at least according to Gunmar. Username12345 (talk) 15:20, 29 September 2012 (GMT)

Added to the article. — ABCface^◥ 15:26, 29 September 2012 (GMT)

Do you think we should also note that casting a Frenzy spell on the vampire before attacking him will prevent the murder count increase?Username12345 (talk) 16:24, 29 September 2012 (GMT)

Sorry, I somehow missed that entire part of your post! My bad! Yes, if it can be verified, it should be added to the page. I knew the part about increasing murder count when you attack first was verified, as I'd had the same experience, so that should be fine as is. Either the frenzy information should be verified (by another user with the same experience) and then added, or it should be added with a {{VN}} tag. Either way works. — ABCface^◥ 18:44, 29 September 2012 (GMT)

No problem. I went ahead and added all of this information in the Notes section, along with a VN tag. I thought it fit better in the Notes section, as the murder count increase doesn't have an impact on completion of the quest itself. It's more of a side-effect of completing the quest that can be avoided if a player wishes. Username12345 (talk) 02:33, 1 October 2012 (GMT)

(←) Lured him to the lighthouse and used unrelenting force to knock him off. I got an assault but "last witness killed," so bounty removed and no murder. In another attempt, I manged to get a mammoth to kill him, but that was just lucky. — Unsigned comment by 96.232.105.48 (talk) at 17:30 on 3 February 2013

This may work if you are low enough level for Fury or Frenzy. Otherwise, there is no way to avoid a murder count for killing a murderous undead monster and no way to cancel the quest either. It just doesn't work. Valeria (talk) 21:07, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Interesting turnout

So I guess I literally took him to a 'monster' of his own kind. As soon as I started to take the 'traveling pilgrim' out of town, a Traveler approached. He ended up helping me kill the traveler till his death lol No bounty since the traveler killed him, and tried to reanimate him as well though I killed him before he could finish.

But interesting note, apparently these disguised vampires will fight other disguised vampires.

You lucked out. The Traveler that was at Rorikstead turned hostile when Nahagliiv attacked, and the guards killed the Traveler while the Advisor was inside at the Inn. The Advisor won't give me any dialogue options, has no Orders to pickpocket, and ignores Fury and Frenzy. Apparently, there is no way for me to avoid a murder count for killing a murderous, undead monster. Because it just doesn't work. Valeria (talk) 21:10, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

From the "Bugs" section:

"The quest was intended to go to a bard, merchant, or pilgrim, but instead of a merchant, a visiting advisor will be chosen. If so, there won't be any dialogue to convince him to come with you."

The visiting advisor is actually the easiest of the three, because you can warn the Jarl about him. The Jarl will demand proof, which you can get by pickpocketing the advisor's orders and handing them over to the Jarl, who will then authorize the killing of the advisor. Guards will not interfere, even if you do it in plain view, and no bounty results. 73.190.220.151 13:35, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

The Visiting Advisor in Hide and Seek doesn't have any orders to pickpocket. Only the Visiting Advisor for A Jarl's Justice has Orders that you can pickpocket. There is no way to do this cleanly once you're too high level for Fury and Frenzy. And what moron designed a magic system in which virtually every spell becomes underpowered long before you reach end game? It just doesn't work. Valeria (talk) 21:13, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Getting a bounty

Killing the vampire and not getting a bounty is kind of complicated. I can 1-shot kill them with an arrow from stealth, but if a guard sees it die they will turn hostile, but no other guards will join in and I won't get a bounty. If I'm alone I can then just run out of town, but any follower I have will stay behind and kill the guard, and I still won't get a bounty. However, if I help kill the guard, even by just blocking their attacks, I get a 1000 gold bounty and all the guards turn hostile. Can anyone verify these results, and should it be added to the article? The article considers it a bug, but I'm not convinced it is, and maybe it should be a note. --Xyzzy ^Talk 15:31, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

It comes down to detection. If a guard sees someone dying they become hostile, but if they do not detect you then you don't get a bounty, and they should shortly return to normal. If they do detect you, you should be given a bounty. The bug has an additional part that suggests the hostile guard will not give you a bounty if you are detected. Your situation is saying you are getting a bounty for killing the guard, but nothing about getting a bounty for the vampire. Really you should have a bounty of 2000 for the vampire and the guard. You are safe from a bounty for the guard as long as you don't get involved, because your follower is not doing something you instructed them to do. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 17:51, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

I did some more testing, and the guards seem to behave a little differently for this quest. With a follower, I was able to completely avoid a bounty as long as I was hidden at the time of the attack, and was not visible to another guard when my follower or I killed any guard that turned hostile due to seeing the vampire die. After parking my follower inside Breezehome before the murder, I even had a Whiterun guard attack me all the way to the city gates, and follow me outside the city to continue attacking. All the other NPCs, including other city guards, treated it as a brawl and got out of the way, while speaking dialogue you'd hear during a brawl. The only NPCs I found that would turn hostile in Whiterun were Balgruuf, Irileth, Farengar, and Brill when I dragged the hostile guard inside Dragonsreach, with Jon Battle-Born joining in as I drew them to the city gates. If I killed the hostile guard within sight of any other NPC I got a 1000g bounty, but if I led him away from town then killed him out of sight, no bounty occurred. After exiting the city gates, if I drew my weapon and immediately sheathed it, the guard immediately stopped attacking and walked away, and I still didn't get a bounty. Long story short, if you aren't seen when the vampire dies, or when any hostile guard dies, you won't get a bounty. As an aside, entering Breezehome while being attacked by the guard also ended combat with no bounty. I'll see if I can add some concise version of this to the article. --Xyzzy ^Talk 02:13, 8 July 2018 (UTC)

Avoiding a bounty is as simple as killing the guy with no guards around. There is no way to avoid a murder count for killing a murderous, undead monster. It just doesn't work. Valeria (talk) 21:17, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Welp, looks like it's not that simple after all. I reloaded and got Hide and Seek with a Travelling Pilgrim. My character has 94 Speech and had no trouble persuading the guy to follow. I killed him inside the Abandoned House so there would be no guards around only for a guard to immediately enter and try to arrest me. Sheathing my weapons didn't help. I hate Todd Howard. I hate Bethesda. Valeria (talk) 21:43, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

I was right the first time, but apparently, guards on the street can see you kill the Traveling Pilgrim even though you're inside the Abandoned House and the guards are out in the street. Because, Bethesda. But you'll still get a murder count. Valeria (talk) 21:54, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

No Way to Avoid Murder Count

PS4 SE with no Mods, ever. Fury and Frenzy don't work. The Visiting Advisor has no orders on his person to pickpocket, and he has no dialogue options at all, just "Hmmm." and "Yes?" with no option for me to say anything at all, let alone persuade him to follow me. My only option is to kill him from stealth and get a murder count. For saving people from a murderous vampire Because unless you murder and rob indiscriminately and constantly all across Tamriel and side with all the most evil people and factions, Todd Howard and Bethesda are going to make sure you're punished for that. The people who designed this game should get psych evaluations. Valeria (talk) 21:03, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

No Way Out

I have a real problem with this one. I killed the travelling bard by leading him somewhere else (speech at 100). I thought the guards couldn't see us where we were, at the entrance of the bear cave before you arrive to Ivaarstead) but I was wrong. I got my first bounty and my first murder. My problem is that I cannot pay the bounty anywhere! I tried the keep but Maven and her son adore me, since I gave Riften to the Imperials. And NONE of the guards will acknowledge that I have a bounty. What do I do? I'd appreciate any help you can give! Thanks! :) — Unsigned comment by 24.18.70.158 (talk) at 07:49 on 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Assaulting one of the guards and then sheathing your weapon might work. If you're playing on the PC you could also try opening the console, clicking on the guard, and entering the command paycrimegold 0 0. --O-a11y ^Talk 20:59, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Nightingale Subterfuge

You can use Nightingale Subterfuge to hit the vampire visitor, causing him to go frenzy. Just be careful as the power has range - with 3 dots showing the range. You can aim at the vampire's feet and make sure the 3 dots don't hit other NPC. Sneak and go hidden first, then hit the vampire with the power. Doing it right the vampire will search and attack you. Killing him this way won't get you assault count and murder count. No sneak attack count either.