Wikia

Boethiah's Calling

Quest Giver	Boethiah's Cultist or read Boethiah's Proving
Location	Sacellum of Boethiah
Prerequisite	Level 30
Reward	Ebony Mail
Type	Daedric Quest

Overview

"If in the reading, your blood boils in your veins, and your mind blazons with fire, then Boethiah calls you. It is then most wise to heed her call. Find her on the mount which overlooks Windhelm. Meet us there and be tested."

―Boethiah's Proving - by Anonymous

Objectives

Find the shrine of Boethiah.
Find the cult of Boethiah.
Lead someone to become trapped by the shrine and slay them.
Speak to Boethiah's Conduit.
Slay the other cultists.
Speak to Boethiah's Conduit.
Slay everyone at Knifepoint Ridge stealthily.
Retrieve and equip the Ebony Mail.

Walkthrough

This quest begins once the player is at least level 30. Once there, the book Boethiah's Proving will spawn in various locations:

Septimus Signus's Outpost on the bookshelf (the location of Discerning the Transmundane)
Found on a Boethiah Cultist during a random encounter
Abandoned House in Markarth, under a bookshelf in the second room.
Found in Hob's Fall Cave
Sold by Urag gro-Shub at The College of Winterhold.

After finding the book, one should read it and the quest will activate. The player will then need to find the Shrine of Boethiah.

After finding the Shrine, one of Boethiah's followers (usually the priestess) will speak to the player asking to lead someone to sacrifice. At this time, the Blade of Sacrifice will be given to the player. Any follower can be taken to the Pillar of Sacrifice to be killed except for essential characters, or any of the dog companions. The player should then bring the chosen victim to the Pillar and tell him or her to use it. The victim will become stuck to the pillar allowing the player to perform a sacrifice. Blade of Sacrifice can be used, but any other weapon or means of attack will do.

Boethiah will use the sacrificed body as a conduit. The body will stand up after death and speak in Boethiah's voice. After listening to her and following her downstairs (along with the rest of the cultists), the player will be forced to fight each and every one of Boethiah's followers. However, they will also fight amongst each other, so waiting for them to kill each other and finishing the rest can reduce the difficulty of the fight; otherwise, Boethiah's cultists are fairly difficult. After defeating them, Boethiah will use the last killed person as a conduit, saying she is bored of her current champion, who now runs his own gang at Knifepoint Ridge. She orders the player to kill them all silently, without giving the current champion time to defend himself (however, it does not matter whether the player silently kills everyone or not).

Here are some tips to help with killing the gang silently:

It is useful to kill at long range with a bow
The player can go traditional, and kill from behind by jumping off the walkways and landing right behind them
Invisibility and Muffle can be used to approach the gang members while being hidden. Note that enemies will be alarmed if Invisibility is cast near them without Quiet Casting perk
In order to defeat Boethiah's champion without him noticing, the player can jump on top of the boxes behind the house he is in and fall through the hole in the roof

The champion is wearing Ebony Mail, a unique armor that excretes poison, but the poison effect does not begin until he notices the player. Once he is defeated, Ebony Mail can be looted off his body and equipped. Boethiah will speak to the player (as an undefined voice, the player will not need to return to her Shrine) one final time and the quest will end.

Trivia

Killing all of Boethiah's followers will cause Boethia to speak with the Dragonborn: the last follower to be killed around the shrine will be her conduit. However, the Dragonborn will still have to lead someone to the shrine and kill them for the quest to progress.
Being detected does not fail the quest since stealth is optional and there is no difference in dialog or any special reward.
Boethiah's Champion, when found, will actually be aggressive to the bandits and will attack them. This suggests that Boethiah lied to the Dragonborn and to her Champion in an effort to get them to battle to the death, the victor being able to claim (or retain) the title of Champion of Boethiah. (This theory is supported by many events in which Boethiah forces her followers to fight for the death and only allowing for one to remain standing, as well as her penchant for lying and meddling in the affairs of mortals.)
Boethiah's Champion will immediately restore himself to full health after the Dragonborn either dies or becomes hidden, this is not caused by a spell or potion. (He can do this ad infinitum.)
Typing "setstage da02 20" in the console will advance the quest without requiring any follower's death.
If a companion is resurrected after the fact by targeting them and typing "Resurrect" in the console, there's a bit of odd behavior. After slaying the companion, Boethiah will take over the body briefly to talk to the player. Once she's vacated, the companion can be resurrected successfully, but talking to them will simply re-start the conversation with Boethiah. Once the quest is completed, the companion should be alive, normal, and waiting at his home (or possibly their recruitment point). This does not work with any Housecarls that were brought along with the Dragonborn.
An assassin holding Boethiah's Proving might attempt to kill the player. Reading this book will begin the quest. This is random encounter for players level 30 and above.
It is possible to skip the step where a follower must be killed, and instead kill all of Boethiah's followers, which will cause her to appear.
- Boethiah will still demand a sacrifice before bestowing the rest of the quest to retrieve the Ebony Mail. However, doing it this way can be easier for archer and stealth characters, who can kill the cultists from the cliffs overlooking the shrine without being seen, rather than finding themselves in the middle of the general melee Boethiah declares with no real chance to hide or seek cover.
Once upgraded, the Ebony Mail value is 6666 exactly (upgraded to superior), and 10833 (legendary).
- Upon completing the quest, if all of the Champion's apparel is taken, before resurrecting him (dead thrall) and exiting the mine, he will be fully equipped again. He can then be killed and looted him again. This can be repeated.
- Works with the ritual stone power as well but is more time consuming if you want multiple copies of the armor.
If the companion's armor is looted after his death but before his revival and possession, then when the possession stops, the armor can be looted again.
The spiral of Daedric script around the Pillar of Sacrifice is mirrored, but reads from edge to center: "I am alive because that one is dead I exist because I have the will to do so," as quoted in the book "Boethia's Proving."
If a dog is brought to Knifepoint ridge it will immediately begin attacking the bandits. Sneaking player will be noticed, but the bandits will not attack. Killing the dog, dismissing it, or letting the Bandits kill it are several ways to resolve this.
If the Dragonborn is detected outside the cave where the champion is held, it does not affect the sneaking part of the quest. He can kill all enemies that have detected him, and as long as he sneaks into the cave the quest will not be disrupted.
Jarl Siddgeir may send the Dragonborn to Knifepoint Ridge well before level 30 in his "kill the bandits" quest.

Bugs

Click to show
Sometimes the follower will not be able to be sacrificed making this quest impossible. The cause of this issue may be that the default controls have been modified. In this case, set the "Use" command to the default key (i.e., to the 'A' button on the Xbox version). This may correct the issue. Using the priestess near Azura's Shrine will cause Boethiah not to talk. Sometimes after killing the follower on the pillar, Boethiah's conduit will not start the dialogue with the player, making the quest impossible to continue. This can sometimes be skipped by simply killing all of Boethiah Cultists. If a follower has already been sacrificed and Boethiah's conduit doesn't start the dialogue, this step may also be skipped by and simply attacking the cultists. The cultists will attack the player and his follower, who happens to be the conduit, and once they are all dead the Conduit will enter one of the dead cultists, and open the dialogue for the next half of the quest involving the Bandits at Knifepoint Ridge. (Confirmed for PS3)After the initial sacrifice of the follower and revival of to the possessed body, the screen may go all red. Reloading from an earlier save, or finishing the quest line fixed this. If the Knifepoint has been cleared already, it is possible to have the quest not move past the stage where it requires to kill everyone. If this happens, the quest may be moved along by putting on the Ebony Mail gotten from killing the leader, but this does not always work. PS3 There should be more targets outside the mine at this point; eliminating them and then putting on the Ebony Mail triggers Boethiah's final dialog and quest completion but leaves the quest objective, "Slay everyone at Knifepoint Ridge stealthily," unfinished. If the journal is opened or you are attacked while Boethiah is in possession of one of the companions, or one of her followers, it is possible for the visual effect to never end. The visual effect goes away after finishing the quest. Reloading an earlier saved game will also fix this. (Note: Night Eye removes colour making it easier to see.) If you kill a follower on the pillar and then fast travel away before they rise as boenthiah, the follower will fast travel with you, be completely naked and will then do boethiah's normal dialogue, then die. If you fast travel to a city or a place with inhabitants you will sometimes get a 1000 bounty in that hold, if it was a follower that would give a bounty when you assaulted them If the follower has been lost somewhere in the world, the player won't be able to get a new one, thus preventing him from completing this quest. This may be fixed by doing a quest that forcibly fires the current follower. PC 360 PS3 Sometimes, as the Dragonborn sneaks onto the walkway further in the cave, the champion will attack the bandits. This results in far less work to complete the task. This can be completed easier by killing the bandit by the alchemy station then using throw voice through the iron barred door without lockpicking it. The champion ill come out and attack the bandits while they attack him. (Note - he cannot die unless it is by the dragonborns or the dragonborns followers hands, so you will need to finish him with a spell or bow&arrow) If an enemy is lured to kill the cult of Boethiah, the cultists of Boethiah will not retaliate, and the two fighters in the arena will become glitched and cannot be attacked or talked to. None of the cultists will attempt in any way to kill the enemy, will not retaliate when the player tries to attack them, and will not say anything. This will make the quest impossible to finish. If the follower is wearing a dragon priest mask when sacrificed then the mask cannot be recovered once Boethiah is finished possessing him. Some players have experienced console freezes at the end of this quest. As such, it is recommended to have all other Daedric artifacts if going for the achievement. Sometimes the follower will not touch the pillar when commanded. This may be caused by attempting to sacrifice an invincible follower. Hiring a mercenary from one of the inns or taverns around Skyrim can be a way to avoid this, as they have no quest importance and are killable. If the Shrine of Boethiah is discovered before level 30, the cultists do not appear, and the quest is stuck on the objective "Discover the Shrine of Boethiah". The Player is still able to sacrifice a follower and speak to Boethiah, but can't kill the cultist since they did not appear. A fix for consoles has not yet been provided. After killing the follower it is possible to loot the body. If the follower is looted before Boethiah takes control of the dead body, he will be fully equipped again after Boethiah takes control. The path in Knifepoint Mine may be blocked by a rock wall, which prevents the player from reaching the Champion and completing the quest. Reloading a previous save, possibly several times, will fix this bug. If the assassin is killed, a quest to search the body will be received. If he is not killed the area is left, the body will disappear and the quest will be unable to be finished. After killing all of the cultists, the game may screw up and raise another NPC instead of the last one killed which becomes Boethiah's Consult. This results in being unable to speak with Boethiah. Reloading an earlier save fixes this. Sometimes, after slaying everyone at Knifepoint Ridge a bandit may appear at a random place in Skyrim and the player will have to kill him in order to continue to the next stage of the quest. Due the fact that he moves very fast it is recommended to pursue him without fast traveling. Sometimes the misc quest "investigate the boethiah cultist" won't be removed from the log even after completing the "Boethiah's Calling" If you decide to sacrifice either Faendal or Sven from Riverwood, or Cosnach from Markarth, using the blade of sacrifice, you may sometimes get a 1000 bounty on whiterun. This may be a glitch as it is not experienced with any other followers. However, if this happens and if you are already a Thane of whiterun then just tell the Whiterun guards that you are the thane and you are forgiven and the bounty is removed. Sometimes, you won't be able to get the follower to activate the Pillar of Sacrifice if you've manually mapped the "Activate" button to something other than the default assignment. This can be fixed by simply changing the button back to it's default assignment. In the Companions Quest trouble in Skyrim, if the place you need to raid is Knifepoint Ridge after Boethias calling you cannot progress futher into the Compaions quest line(Confirmed xbox360)