So I'm semi-roleplaying a Paladin, level 4, and I just got to the top of the sigil tower in the Oblivion gate outside of Kvatch. I've killed everything inside, and there's just one Dremora Churl (the caster who summons scamps) left. All the others in the tower I've killed just fine. However, every time I kill *this* one it says "Your killing has been observed by forces unknown" and I get a Murder.

Given that I'm playing a Paladin, and don't want a murder on my sheet, let alone having to deal with the Dark Brotherhood coming to "visit", this is very vexing. There's no one there to see it, and there's no reason I should be considered a murder for killing this guy (he attacks first!).

Now, I'm assuming a mod is causing this, so here's my mod list/load order, from OBMM:

Oblivion.esm
AWS-Core.esm
HelmetFOV.esm
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm
xulChorrolHinterland.esp
xulLushWoodlands.esp
xulCloudtopMountains.esp
xulAncientRedwoods.esp
xulTheHeath.esp
xulBeachesOfCyrodiilLostCoast.esp
xulAncientYews.esp
xulPatch_AY_AC.esp
xulStendarrValley.esp
xulArriusCreek.esp
xulRollingHills_EV_withoutWheat.esp
xulImperialIsle.esp
xulColovianHighlands_EV.esp
XulEntiusGorge.esp
ULFallenLeafEverglade.esp
xuldarkforest.esp
DLCHorseArmor.esp
DLCOrrery.esp
DLCFrostcrag.esp
DLCThievesDen.esp
DLCVileLair.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
DLCSpellTomes.esp
DLCBattlehornCastle.esp
Knights.esp
RavenWearClothing.esp
Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
Dude Wheres My Horse.esp
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp
StealthOverhaul.esp
Kobu's Character Advancement System.esp
HelmetFOV-OBSE.esp
100% Harvest Chance.esp
StockClothingArmor-forExnems.esp
Dungeon Actors Have Torches 1.6 DT.esp
Real Lava 1.3.esp
Thieves Arsenal.esp
Apachii_Goddess_Store.esp
Exterior Actors Have Torches 1.3 DT.esp
TNR ALL RACES FINAL.esp
RealisticForceMedium.esp
Living Economy.esp
RealisticMagicForceMedium.esp
Harvest [Flora].esp
Living Economy - Items.esp
MidasSpells.esp
RealisticFatigue.esp
Dark Dungeons.esp
SupremeMagicka.esp
SM_EnchantStaff.esp
SM_OOO.esp

Anyone got any ideas what's causing this? And how to fix it? I'm in a bit of a bind because my savegame is after I've already hit him a few times but before I kill him. Should I just skip killing him, grab the sigil stone, and move? I'm hoping this little problem won't crop up again...

Yeah, just grab the stone, and leave. This might have been caused by you attacking him first, or because of some disposition issue. If you grab the stone, you should end up outside the gate, and that area getting reset. Should this happen again, you might be able to get away with using console to "stopcombat" with them selected and then "kill" to get rid of them without it counting against you.

Thanks for the info vagrant, i was scratching me head over this one for a while now, only it was happening to me in the arena. Atleast i know now what it was.

Yeah, strange, I had the same thing happen to me. Not sure what caused it, because it never happened in my unmodded vanilla game. By the time I installed a mod that let me visit the planes of Oblivion again, I had so many mods running I don't know what caused it. Could be an official patch, could be a DLC, or it could be an Unofficial patch.

I have this happen all the time, that's why I got the mod that let's you stop the db from coming. It even resets the murder back to 0. Like when you 'murder' the grey prince.