Tribunal:Hints

As usual, there are (or at least will be) always a large number of requests for hints and spoilers on lots of topics. This page will contain those various hints and spoilers compiled in some organized fashion. The various topics are sorted according to the date on which they were last updated or added.

Please Note: Many of these hints are based on the personal playing preferences of a wide variety of people and are included only as helpful suggestions.

Difficulty

Tribunal was designed to be a challenge for high-level players who had finished the Main Quest of Morrowind. As there is no level scaling, if you attempt Tribunal too early you will find yourself facing very difficult enemies and skill-specific quests. If you become sick of the Dark Brotherhood attacking you in your sleep, you could always just complete Dark Brotherhood Attacks (which requires you only to travel to Mournhold once) and then return to Vvardenfell. If you are determined to get into Tribunal early, you may wish to decrease the in-game difficulty in the options menu upon venturing into any combat in Mournhold, to mimic the kind of enemies you face in Morrowind.

Useful spells

Tribunal features some very long dungeons, and it can be a pain to backtrack all the way back up to the city once you have cleared them. It's therefore a good idea to cast Mark somewhere in Mournhold so you can easily Recall back once you're done, or keep scrolls, items or a spell of Almsivi Intervention (which will teleport you in front of the Temple of Almalexia) handy.

Infinite Grand soul gems

Some merchants who have stacks of greater than or equal to 5 of any one item can be manipulated to exponentially increase said stack. Quantity possible is directly related to your wealth.

Elbert Nermarc in Godsreach of Mournhold is one such merchant. He sells Grand soul gems.

To perform this exploit:

1. Have at least 30,000 gold.
2. Travel to Mournhold -> Godsreach -> Craftsmen's Hall
3. Proceed up the stairs, Elbert Nermarc is behind one of the doors.
4. Buy all 5 Grand soul gems and close the barter menu.
5. Choose to barter with him again and sell them back.
6. He will now always have 10.
7. Buy 10 Grand soul gems and close the barter window.
8. Open the barter dialog once again, sell the soul gems and close the menu.
9. He will now always have 20.

Repeat this process until you are pleased with his superfluous quantity of Grand soul gems, or are out of money.

Loads of Money

In Godsreach, the Museum of Artifacts, if you have obtained Goldbrand from Boethiah's Quest, you can sell it to Torasa Aram for 30,000 gold (it's worth more, but that's the highest they can afford). It will appear on a pillar on the top floor of the museum, on the right side of the room. If you are a good sneak, you should be able to position yourself in such a way that the High Ordinators cannot see you, and pick up the katana. If not, you could use an invisibility or chameleon spell. While you're at it, you can also try Stendarr's Hammer, but you will need a Fortify Strength effect to carry it.

Easy Money

1. Find an Ordinator anywhere in Mournhold, for example Plaza Brindisi Dorum since they have the enchanted "Her Hand" blade, and kill him. (Note: Once you have killed an Ordinator all other Ordinators issue you a death sentence, same goes if you wear their armor, which they consider to be sacred)
2. Take what you can off his body (as far as armor and weapons).
3. Go to the smith in the Great Bazaar and sell him as much as you can without going over his price limit (his limit is 10,000 a day). Once you've got your 10,000 gold sleep 24 hours, sell the rest off and repeat as many times as you want. Ordinators are one of the NPCs that respawn so there's an unlimited amount of money in this little trick.

If you are going to be doing this frequently, purchase a spell or a lot of potions of marking and recall. This way you can mark the smith and quickly travel back to him each time without having to deal with troublesome Ordinators. If you have a high speechcraft skill, you may taunt the Ordinator. After you kill him, other Ordinators will remain friendly towards you.

You can also use a high level frenzy spell and they attack you incuring no bounty. The high ordinators with unenchanted armor and weapons also have the Ebony blade which has the second highest available enchantment points of all weapons in the game (it has 80 points and the only weapon that is better is the ebony staff which has 90).

Her Hand Items

Salas Valor, a Dunmer crusader, is a former Hand of Almalexia who left her service for reasons that aren't exactly clear. He is found in Godsreach and will not stand around to talk. If your character is ready for a fight he'll give you one! Keep talking to him and he will attack you first. His sword will drain your strength so bring accommodations to help (Fortify Strength, Restore Strength exc). His armor reflects 5% of what you attack him with so beware of this. Once he is killed, you will have some of the best armor in the game, a new weapon and a future quest (Her Missing Hand) done. 

Dark Brotherhood Hide-Out

While plundering Daedric shrines and caves will give you a one-time amount of loot, attacking the hideout of the Dark Brotherhood in the Mournhold sewers will give you a large amount of quite valuable Dark Brotherhood armor (check the walkthrough for the Dark Brotherhood Attacks quest for specific instructions as to this lair's location). There are two important tricks here:

1. Use a Lightning Bolt spell, which can kill off dozens of Dark Brotherhood members in a few hits
2. Leave the area and return again until you can carry no more, since all of the Dark Brotherhood members respawn as soon as you leave the cell they are in.

While the Brotherhood can be a bit of a handful for many adventurers using other means of warfare, the Lightning Bolt spell allows low-level characters to slaughter them quickly, especially if positioned out of reach. Each of their pieces of armor is worth 100, 200, 500 or 1000 gold, and you can easily amass some 40 copies of each, even if you're unable to carry that much. Once you are high enough level you can sell the Daedric tantos that Dark Brotherhood Punishers use for 10k each to the armorer in the Great Bazaar.