The Complete Guide and Walkthrough of the Daedric Quest in Skyrim, A Daedra's Best Friend.
The Daedric Princes from the Elder Scrolls series love giving you quests, which are a bit dark and dark in nature. The Daedra's Best Friend quest is one example of this when Clavicus Vile tries to get you to kill his dog.
However, this quest is similar to most other Daedric quests in that you can get your hands on some powerful equipment if you make the right choices, which the Daedra want you to make. Here's how to do it.
Homeless dog
The main goal of this quest is to unite the stray dog Barbas with his master. You must be at least level 10 to start this quest.
Once you're there, head to Falkreath. You will find a guard who asks if you have seen the seemingly stray dog outside the city. He will tell you to talk to Lod, the blacksmith, who will give you the task to catch this dog. You will also be given some raw meat to bait the dog.
Travel south from here to begin your search. Eventually you find the dog that everyone is talking about, and it turns out that he also has something to say. He will say, “You are exactly what I was looking for,” and introduce himself as Barbas before asking you for help in resolving a quarrel he had with his master. You can coax the name of his master out of him, and you will find out that this is the Daedric prince of desires, Clavicus Vile.
You will need to travel to where the shrine of Clavicus Vile - Shame of Hemar is located.
Shame on Hemar
Accompany Barbas with Hemar's Shame or, if you like, you can tell him that you have other things to do and meet him there later. If you decide to meet him there another time, he will go himself, and you will save yourself a little extra work.
If you choose to accompany Barbas, you will have to add some elbow grease. The journey is long and Barbas is easily distracted.
On this journey, you will discover that Shame of Hemar is located very far from Falkreath. Along the way, you'll have to deal with any enemies you come across, including at least two separate bandit camps. Fortunately, Barbas cannot be killed, so you don't have to worry about protecting him.
Once you arrive at Haemar's Shame, you'll head inside with Barbas and find the entire dungeon filled with leveled vampires who worship Clavicus Vile. Nothing out of the ordinary here, just work your way through the cave of Hemar and opponents, and then into the area directly Haemar's Shame, where there is a Frostbite Spider and some other enemies, before you find the shrine of Clavicus Vile.
If you need, you can find a magic sorcerer and an alchemy laboratory along the way.
Temple of Clavicus Vile
Once you get to the room where the Temple of Clavicus Vile is located, you'll have to fight a boss: a leveled vampire that Barbas will fight with when you arrive. Send it, then go to the statue and talk to T.
Clavicus Vile will start talking to you, saying that he is ready to make a deal with you. He will then go on to express his contempt for Barbas, stating that he knows a way in which both of you can achieve what you want. He will instruct you to retrieve his Ax of Sorrow from Rimerk's Burrow.
It's worth noting that there is a chain behind the statue that you can pull quickly to get back into the room so you don't have to walk long when you return.
Sad ax
You will need to travel to Rimerka's Burrow, which is located in the far northwest corner of the entire map. Barbas will accompany you as instructed by Clavicus Vile, but you can tell him to stop following you if you like.
Once you arrive at Rimerka's Burrow, you will find a leveled atronach inside. Go to the next room where you will find the magician Sebastian Lort. He uses some pretty decent Conjuration spells to attack, but they're not that hard to defeat.
After this fight, take the Ax of Sorrow and return to the altar of Clavicus Vile in Hemar's Shame.
The choice to make
Always a clever deceiver, Clavicus Vile will try to convince you that you need to kill Barbas if you want to keep the Ax of Sorrow.
Barbas, as expected, will protest. If you kill Barbas at this moment, the ax will remain with you, and he will reunite with Clavicus Vile.
If you decide you don't want to kill the dog, you can talk to Barbas and Clavicus Vile. They will present you with another opportunity: return the ax to the statue and receive its real Daedric Artifact, the Mask of Clavicus Vile. If you choose this option, you won't be left with an ax, but you can get the Oblivion Walker achievement and walk away knowing you didn't kill the dog. If you choose this option, Barbas will still reunite with Clavicus Vile.
Either way, you will complete this quest. Return to Lod in Falkreath for the little gold he promised you.
Sad Ax vs. Clavicus Vile Mask
Here are statistics and other information on two subjects:
The Ax of Sorrow is not a true Daedric artifact. This ax is the slowest melee weapon in the game, but has a damage rating of 22 and deals 20 stamina damage. It can be upgraded with Ebony Ingot, but it does not gain any of the blacksmithing benefits.
The mask of Clavicus Vile is a true Daedric artifact. It will earn you respect from everyone you meet. It gives a 20-point rally to increase barter and 10 points to increase confidence. It also results in prices getting 20% better and magic replenishing 5% faster.
