Oblivion:The Assassinated Man

Quick Walkthrough
# Receive Valtieri's final contract.
# Travel to Chorrol, and break into Francois Motierre's house.
# Learn of Motierre's plot to fake his death and wait for Hides-His-Heart to arrive.
# When Hides-His-Heart arrives, "kill" Motierre and flee.
# Revive Motierre in the Chapel Undercroft, and lead him to the local inn.
# Return to Valtieri to collect your reward, advance in rank, and change your Dark Brotherhood liaison.

Detailed Walkthrough
To Serve Sithis
thumb|right|''"Oh, you have been a naughty boy, Motierre, haven't you?"''
Speak with Vicente Valtieri in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary to complete the "To Serve Sithis" mini-quest and receive Vicente's final contract. It seems Francois Motierre in Chorrol borrowed a lot of money from underworld types and has missed a payment. The lenders don't even want the money. They feel insulted and want him dead, sending an enforcer to kill him. Francois has hired The Dark Brotherhood to fake his death and take the life of his mother instead, a detail Vicente tells you has already been handled by Lucien Lachance. Vicente gives you the tools you'll need to fake Motierre's death: a single-use dagger coated with a special poison called Languorwine that can make it appear that a person has died, and an antidote to revive him later.

Motierre's Plan
Travel to Chorrol and break into Motierre's house in order to speak with him. His house is located just north of the Chorrol South Gate and is protected by a Hard lock. Once inside, Francois tells you that those he is indebted to have sent the enforcer Hides-His-Heart to kill him. He wants you to use the dagger Vicente gave you to slash him once, fooling the enforcer into believing he is dead. You are to then flee Chorrol without killing the enforcer. That way Hides-His-Heart will believe Motierre is dead and return to his organization and inform them that a Dark Brotherhood assassin got to Motierre first. You are to then wait a day, locate his "body" in the Chapel Undercroft and use the antidote to revive him.

Death and Revival
thumb|right|"Oh my, Aunt Margaret! You are looking the worse for wear..."
Hides-His-Heart will arrive shortly. Play your part in the charade and slice Francois once with your poisoned blade. The poison will take effect immediately and Motierre will appear to die. Hides-His-Heart will attack you at once, but if you harm him in any way you will acquire a bounty. Instead of fighting, flee Chorrol immediately. Return in one full day, go to the Chapel Undercroft and administer the antidote (activate the "corpse" and it will be administered automatically). It seems that revival is something to which the other inhabitants of the Undercroft take offense, seeing it as a desecration. After you have revived Francois, three Motierre Zombies will attack you (one right next to you and two others). Keep Motierre alive, as this is the only Dark Brotherhood mission that can be failed. The zombies can be avoided, as they spawn once you first talk with the revived Motierre. If you back away from him as soon as you wake him up and get closer to the undercroft door, you can talk to him there and quickly leave.

Back to Safety
Kill or avoid the zombies and make your way to The Grey Mare Inn with Motierre so that he can buy passage out of Cyrodiil, then return to Vicente. If you successfully completed the quest, you will receive Cruelty's Heart, a leveled amulet that adds Willpower and Strength, advancement to Eliminator rank, and the Sanctuary Well Key.  The key allows easier access to the Sanctuary via the well outside.

If you kill Hides-His-Heart, fail to save Motierre, or kill Motierre, you fail this quest. You are allowed to proceed with the Dark Brotherhood questline, but there are negative consequences.  Vicente's disposition will markedly drop (-71, instead of +80 for successfully completing the quest); this may result in him turning aggressive, so you may want to be prepared with Charm spells. You will also not receive 1 Infamy point for this quest.  Additionally, several rewards will be delayed until the completion of the next quest, The Lonely Wanderer: he will not give you the well key, you will not gain the rank of Eliminator, and, if you are playing on Xbox 360, you will not obtain the achievement for the rank of Eliminator.

Vicente will no longer be your liaison in the Brotherhood after this quest; instead, you will receive new contracts from Ocheeva.

Notes
Also after this quest, Vicente will offer you his "dark gift" via the optional non-contract quest, Darkness Eternal.
This contract offers no potential for a bonus.
  An achievement will be unlocked if you successfully complete this quest. If you fail, the achievement will be unlocked by completing the next quest.
If Hides-His-Heart dies, you will fail the quest. 
Do not fast travel immediately after leaving the house as it is still possible for Hides-His-Heart to be killed by guards. Exit Chorrol through one of the nearby gates as quick as possible.
The Languorwine Poison only works on Motierre. Slashing anyone else will not cause them to mock die.
If Motierre is killed before this quest is started, you will automatically fail when the quest is given to you and you will get no reward.
Valtieri only offers his Dark Gift if his disposition towards you is above 30. If you failed the quest, you will have to raise his disposition then talk to him again in order to receive the option.
According to data in the Construction Set, The Assassinated Man originally featured two characters called Wallace and Homraz gra Morgrump who were ultimately cut from the game playing a part.
If Hides-His-Heart is giving you trouble, cast a Paralyze spell on him, then quickly slash Motierre with the blade and flee Chorrol.

Bugs
 
Try hitting him and yielding once you get to The Grey Mare Inn.
 
 
You can either kill him and fail the quest, or re-load a previous game.
Leaving the undercroft and waiting a full day may fix this. Once the time has passed, Motierre's standing figure will lie down and the quest may continue.
Waiting for a few minutes may sometimes cause him to lay back down, giving you the option to administer the antidote.

Journal Entries