Dark Brotherhood won't start!

[Tsaw02]

Hey guys,

For some reason I can't get the Dark Brotherhood questline to start. The courier never shows up and hands me the note but I think the note is optional, I've done the quest before without ever getting the note. I've waited around Whiterun for about 2 or 3 weeks in-game and also tried sleeping for multiple 24-hour periods. The courier never shows up and I never get kidnapped to start the next quest. Anyone know of a work around?
Thanks!!

[Trigger]

you must sleep

[Trigger]

did you kill the old hag where the kids are in riften and then you must sleep to be kiddnapped by dark brotherhood

[Tsaw02]

I have mate. I would say over 20 times, each time I slept for 24 hours. Nothing happens. Yeah I completed Innocence Lost as well.

[Trigger]

go to Windhelm to trigger quest, guards will tell you about ?

[gnewna]

So you killed Grelod (hooray!), went back to Aventus Auretino and got the exciting family heirloom as payment, and no courier? Hmm. Have you tried reloading to an earlier save and re-doing it?

Had a bit of a google and so far the suggestions I've seen have been 'wait a few days' and 'fast travel to another hold' (e.g. if you're still in Windhelm, fast travel to Riften or Falkreath or somewhere).

Do you have the Unofficial Skyrim Patch (and related patches for all DLC that you have)? Apparently this was one of the bugs it should fix (though sometimes things do slip through the cracks).

[Tsaw02]

Yeah exactly! My problem is that I completed Innocence Lost quite a while ago, there's no chance I'm reloading that far back. I was near the end of the main quest when I realized, wait a sec, I never received the Dark Brotherhood's note!

I read a few of those suggestions too but so far none of them seem to work :/ I traveled to every major hold I've discovered so far on this playthrough and waited a few days in each. Nada. I don't know if this helps but I am also a werewolf so I don't get well rested, no clue if that affects anything. Thanks for the answers guys!

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

After you kill the woman Grelod, go to Windhelm and talk to the kid again. Then you have to leave Windhelm. You can't sleep there.

I usually go across the bridge near the Windhelm stables and across the second bridge to the camp site up the road near the mudcrabs past the Mill.

At the Mill before the camp site is where I usually receive the letter from the delivery guy, but I have also slept in the tent without the delivery note and the quest still activates.

Have you tried talking to the kid again? Maybe you missed the quest update.

[gnewna]

Damn. And you've got the USKP? (Though I'm not sure if installing it after the fact would necessarily help). Might be worth going back to Aventus, just on the off chance it for some reason didn't properly update that you'd spoken to him?? Though I'd assume it's completed in your journal and this probably won't do much.

Depending how badly you want to do the DB on this playthrough (i.e. whether it's worth potentially screwing up the game with setstage console commands) you could try this advice from the UESP wiki:

You may not receive the Mysterious Note after completing Innocence Lost. When encountering a courier, he will simply reply "Nope, sorry. Nothing."

PC Only This bug is fixed by version 1.3.2 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.

Sleep right after finishing the Innocence Lost quest (speaking with Aventus Aretino for the second time). This may trigger the courier's delivery or your awakening inside the shack.

Open the console and type setstage DBEntranceQuest 20. This should add the Mysterious Note to the courier, triggering its delivery and allowing you to continue the quest normally after sleeping.

Open the console and type setstage db02 10 to start the quest. Next, enter the command player.moveto 1BDE8. You will be transported inside the shack and the quest should proceed normally.

(I would be more inclined to try the first one and hope it's enough, the second one sounds riskier to me...)

[Sibunaytlas]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Damn. And you've got the USKP? (Though I'm not sure if installing it after the fact would necessarily help). Might be worth going back to Aventus, just on the off chance it for some reason didn't properly update that you'd spoken to him?? Though I'd assume it's completed in your journal and this probably won't do much.

Depending how badly you want to do the DB on this playthrough (i.e. whether it's worth potentially screwing up the game with setstage console commands) you could try this advice from the UESP wiki:

You may not receive the Mysterious Note after completing Innocence Lost. When encountering a courier, he will simply reply "Nope, sorry. Nothing."

PC Only This bug is fixed by version 1.3.2 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.

Sleep right after finishing the Innocence Lost quest (speaking with Aventus Aretino for the second time). This may trigger the courier's delivery or your awakening inside the shack.

Open the console and type setstage DBEntranceQuest 20. This should add the Mysterious Note to the courier, triggering its delivery and allowing you to continue the quest normally after sleeping.

Open the console and type setstage db02 10 to start the quest. Next, enter the command player.moveto 1BDE8. You will be transported inside the shack and the quest should proceed normally.

(I would be more inclined to try the first one and hope it's enough, the second one sounds riskier to me...)

YOU ARE MY SAVER !

[WickedRedFox00]

What you want to do is deactivate specific mods until Astrid or the quest is able to start. For example, my problem was Brotherhood of Old and other Quest line mods. Then, delete all previous loads so that disabled mods don’t bleed into the new game you have to create.
Cosmetic changes are fine, like those that change the appearance of the dark brotherhood armor.
I may be really late, but literally 0 of the other replies helped and I was sent down a deeper hole in my play through.
Hope this helped.