Aside from being able to fill the Ebony Blade with a few souls (why it works without doing any quests for them I don't know, but I'm not complaining), the only real reward is that feeling that you prevented a great deal of death and tragedy. You also miss out on things like
Ancient Shrouded Armor, Windshear, Shadowmere, and the Spectral Assassin
But the DLC's and the other guild quest lines will make up for those.