The Torture Victims are four Nord prisoners chained up in the Dawnstar Sanctuary, the new home of the Dark Brotherhood after the guild’s main questline. There are two men and two women, and one of the women is elderly. They aren’t characters with names or stories so much as a grim piece of furniture you can buy for your hideout.
Where to find them
They only show up after the Dark Brotherhood questline is finished. A follow-up task sends you to Delvin Mallory in Riften, who sells upgrades for the Sanctuary. Buying the Torture Chamber upgrade adds the four victims to the Sanctuary, where they stay bound to the wall.
Good to know
Because the victims can’t move or fight back, many players treat them as practice dummies. You can train Destruction, Illusion, Restoration, Archery, One-Handed, Two-Handed, Pickpocket, Sneak and Conjuration (through Soul Trap) on them. There’s a catch: they can die and they don’t come back. Keep a healing spell ready, and remember that your fellow assassins sometimes take a turn on them when you aren’t around.
The best reason to visit them is the treasure. Hit or talk to a victim often enough and they will crack and reveal where they’ve hidden a stash of gold, usually between 1,000 and 2,000 coins. Each victim knows one hiding spot, which is a hollow rock or tree stump:
- Young woman: a short walk west-northwest of Merryfair Farm, in a broken birch stump below a rocky outcrop.
- Black-haired man: due west of Pelagia Farm, in a small rock past a fallen tree and a dead tree.
- Red-haired man: north-northwest of Hollyfrost Farm, across the river, in a dark grey rock near some pines. Expect leveled creatures nearby.
- Old woman: north along the shallow water behind The Apprentice Stone, in a stump on a small island. Watch out for mudcrabs.
They also resist paralysis, so that trick won’t help.
Quick facts
- Gender: Female
- Level: levels with you (x1)
- Class: Citizen
- Status: Killable
- Found in: Dawnstar Sanctuary
- Base ID: 00037A2C
Race, level, class and factions read from the Skyrim game files; story details checked against community wiki articles and written in our own words.