You’re deep in the weeds of Cyrodiil. You’ve joined the Dark Brotherhood because, let’s be honest, it’s the best questline in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Then, it happens. You finish a contract, return to the sanctuary, and nothing. The quest marker is pointing at a wall, or the NPC you need to talk to is staring blankly into space like they’ve seen the end of the world. You are officially part of the A Brotherhood Betrayed Oblivion stuck club. It sucks.
Bethesda games are famous for bugs, but this specific quest—"A Brotherhood Betrayed"—is a notorious offender. It isn't actually a Dark Brotherhood quest, despite the name. It’s a side quest in Chorrol involving a vampire, a "slain" wife, and a lot of messy scripts that tend to fail if you breathe on them wrong. If you've ever found yourself wandering around the Grey Mare or standing over Raynil Dralas’s body with no way to progress, you aren't alone.
The Core Problem: Why the Scripts Freeze
The quest starts when you hear rumors about Raynil Dralas. He’s a monster hunter who supposedly killed a vampire, but things aren't what they seem. The script relies heavily on specific NPC schedules. If Caelia Draconis is in the wrong spot, or if you find the hidden journal too early, the game's internal flags get confused.
Basically, the game expects a very linear progression. You talk to Erline, find the secret cache, and then confront Raynil. If you try to skip a step because you’ve played the game five times and know where the loot is, the game punishes you. It just stops. No dialogue options. No quest update. You’re just stuck in a town with a bunch of NPCs who have forgotten you exist.
The Infamous Grey Mare Glitch
Most people get stuck at the Grey Mare. You’re supposed to meet the investigators there, but sometimes the NPCs simply don’t show up. Or, they do show up, but they won't trigger the next stage of the conversation. This usually happens because of a conflict with the town’s daily routines. NPCs in Oblivion have "Radiant AI," which was revolutionary in 2006 but is basically a recipe for disaster in 2026. If a guard gets distracted by a stray dog or a thief outside, they might never make it to their "quest spot."
How to Unstick A Brotherhood Betrayed
If you are currently staring at a frozen quest log, don't delete your save yet. There are ways out.
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First, try the "Wait" command. It sounds stupidly simple. But waiting for 24 hours outside of the cell (meaning, leave the tavern or the house) can reset NPC pathing. It forces the game to recalculate where everyone should be. If that doesn't work, you might need to look at your inventory. Did you actually read the "Melenus' Journal"? The game doesn't just check if you have it; it often checks if the "OnRead" script was triggered. Open it, flip the pages, and close it.
Console Commands (The PC Savior)
For those on PC, you have the ultimate power. The console is your best friend when the A Brotherhood Betrayed Oblivion stuck bug ruins your afternoon.
- Open the console with the tilde (~) key.
- Type
GetStage MS16to see where you are. - If you're stuck at the inn, try
SetStage MS16 40orSetStage MS16 50.
Just be careful. Skipping stages can sometimes break the reward logic, meaning you might finish the quest but never get the mundane ring or the gold you were promised. It's a trade-off. Would you rather have a clean quest log or the loot? Most players choose the log.
Raynil Dralas and the Boreal Stone Cave
Sometimes the glitch happens at the very end. You track Raynil to the Boreal Stone Cave. You're supposed to kill him. You do. But then, the quest doesn't update. This often happens if you kill him too fast. If you're a high-level character and you one-shot him with a Daedric warhammer, the game might not register that the "boss fight" occurred.
The game wants him to initiate dialogue. If you sneak-attack him from the shadows before he speaks, the script for the quest completion might never fire. Honestly, the best way to handle him is to let him run his mouth first. Let him turn hostile, then bash his head in. It's safer for the code.
Why We Still Talk About This 20 Years Later
It’s wild that we are still talking about bugs in a game from two decades ago. But Oblivion has a charm that Skyrim and Starfield sometimes miss. The quests felt more like actual mysteries. "A Brotherhood Betrayed" is a perfect example of a quest that tries to be clever—a whodunit with a supernatural twist—but falls victim to its own complexity.
The community has tried to fix this. The Unofficial Oblivion Patch (UOP) is basically mandatory at this point. If you aren't running it, you're playing a version of the game that is held together by digital duct tape. The UOP fixes the quest targets and the NPC triggers that cause the A Brotherhood Betrayed Oblivion stuck issue. If you're on console (Xbox or PS3), you don't have that luxury. You have to rely on multiple save files.
The "Golden Rule" of Bethesda Quests
Always keep three rotating save slots. One for right before you start a quest, one for the middle, and one for the current moment. If the Brotherhood quest breaks, you just jump back 15 minutes. It’s frustrating, but it’s the only way to play without losing your mind.
Actionable Steps for a Clean Playthrough
To ensure you never get stuck again, follow this specific order of operations. It bypasses the most common script hang-ups.
- Don't talk to the guards first. Go straight to the Grey Mare and listen to the rumors from the citizens.
- Speak to Erline Vonus. Ensure you exhaust every single dialogue option about her husband and Raynil.
- Find the journal behind the dresser. Do NOT take the journal before the quest tells you to investigate the house. This is the #1 cause of the "stuck" status.
- Wait for the guards. If they don't appear at the inn, go to the Chorrol North Gate, wait an hour, and walk back in.
- Confront Raynil slowly. Let him finish his "I've been found out!" speech before you land the killing blow.
- Check your Journal. If the quest says "I should return to Erline," but she won't talk to you, drop the quest items (if possible) and pick them back up to jumpstart the inventory check script.
By following these steps, you sidestep the internal logic errors that plague this specific piece of Cyrodiil history. You'll get your reward, a clear journal, and the satisfaction of knowing you beat the bugs as well as the vampire hunter.