The Elder Scrolls IV ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______ ______ _ _________ _________ _______ _ ( ___ )( ___ \ ( \ \__ __/|\ /|\__ __/( ___ )( ( /| | ( ) || ( ) )| ( ) ( | ) ( | ) ( | ( ) || \ ( | | | | || (__/ / | | | | | | | | | | | | | || \ | | | | | || __ ( | | | | ( ( ) ) | | | | | || (\ \) | | | | || ( \ \ | | | | \ \_/ / | | | | | || | \ | | (___) || )___) )| (____/\___) (___ \ / ___) (___| (___) || ) \ | (_______)|/ \___/ (_______/\_______/ \_/ \_______/(_______)|/ )_) #################################### ##################################### ################################## ############## ########### ########### ########## ########## ######### ########### ######### ######### ######### ######### ######### ######### # ######## ######## ###### ######## ######## ######## ######## ######## ####### ####### ####### ##### ####### ###### ## ####### ####### ####### ###### ####### ###### ####### ##### ###### ##### ###### ##### ###### #### ###### #### ##### ### ##### ## #### ### ## FAQ/Walkthrough (for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) V4.00 2006-02-17 Copyright 2006, 2007 Barry Scott "PapaGamer" Will A premium version of this Walkthrough is available. It includes maps, screenshots, hyperlinked cross-references and more. See http://www.papagamer.com/content/view/28/39/ This FAQ/Walkthrough does not include a Character Guide. You can find my Character Build Guide at: http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt The Character Build Guide includes a complete rundown of all the skills, races, attributes and birthsigns in Oblivion, as well as many class templates for your amusement. **Bethesda has released the v1.1.511 patch for both PC and Xbox 360. You should download and install this patch as it fixes a number of quest-related bugs. Xbox 360 users can download the patch via Xbox Live. PC users can download the patch here: http://elderscrolls.com/downloads/updates_patches.htm The PS3 version of the game should already be at patch level 1.1.511. KNIGHTS OF THE NINE BOXED SET ------------------------------- The KoN boxed set includes all the official mods released independently by Bethesda during the course of 2006. Most of the mods were previously covered in this guide, and that coverage has not changed with the release of KoN. The official mods included in KoN are: Horse Armor (DLC1) Orrery (DLC2) Wizard's Tower (DLC3) Thieves' Den (DLC7) Mehrunes' Razor (DLC9) The Vile Lair (DLC5) Spell Tomes (DLC4) Knights of the Nine (DLC8) Knights of the Nine has its own major section in this guide. Mehrunes' Razor and Repairing the Orrery are listed under Side Quests. The other mods are covered in Expanding Your Game, under Official Mods. **SPOILER WARNING** This guide contains plot spoilers. You have been warned. ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONTACT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ To contact me about the guide, send email to: barry@papagamer.com Please include "Oblivion FAQ" in your subject line so I don't auto-discard the message. Also, please read the FAQ carefully prior to asking for help on any part of the game. If you send me additional suggestions or hints for the game and I find them useful, you will be acknowledged in the Credits. If you found this guide useful and would like to contribute a small token for my efforts, you may send money through PayPal by using the Donate link found on my Web site: http://www.papagamer.com/ Thank you, and enjoy the guide! ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ Front Matter Contact Information Table of Contents How to Use This Guide Gameplay.....................................................GP00 Controls & Icons..........................................GP01 Game Mechanics............................................GP02 Radiant AI.............................................GP02-A The Leveled System.....................................GP02-B Time, Waiting & Resting................................GP02-C Travel, Horses & Quest Markers.........................GP02-D Mini-games: Lockpicking & Persuasion...................GP02-E Enchanting, Spellmaking & Soul Gems....................GP02-F Combat....................................................GP03 Heavy Melee............................................GP03-A Light Melee............................................GP03-B Archer.................................................GP03-C Magic..................................................GP03-D Magicka Effects...........................................GP04 Frequently Asked Questions................................GP05 Main Story...................................................MS00 Tutorial..................................................MS01 Deliver the Amulet........................................MS02 Find the Heir.............................................MS03 Breaking the Siege of Kvatch..............................MS04 Weynon Priory.............................................MS05 The Path of Dawn..........................................MS06 Dagon Shrine..............................................MS07 Spies.....................................................MS08 Blood of the Daedra.......................................MS09 Blood of the Divines......................................MS10 Miscarcand................................................MS11 Bruma Gate................................................MS12 Allies for Bruma..........................................MS13 The Wayward Knight (Cheydinhal)........................MS13-A Bravil.................................................MS13-B Anvil..................................................MS13-C Chorrol................................................MS13-D The Battle for Castle Kvatch...........................MS13-E Leyawiin...............................................MS13-F Skingrad...............................................MS13-G Defense of Bruma..........................................MS14 Great Gate................................................MS15 Paradise..................................................MS16 Light the Dragonfires.....................................MS17 Imperial Dragon Armor.....................................MS18 Fighters Guild...............................................FG00 A Rat Problem.............................................FG01 The Unfortunate Shopkeeper................................FG02 The Desolate Mine.........................................FG03 Unfinished Business.......................................FG04 Drunk and Disorderly......................................FG05 Den of Thieves............................................FG06 Amelion's Debt............................................FG07 The Master's Son..........................................FG08 More Unfinished Business..................................FG09 Azani Blackheart..........................................FG10 The Wandering Scholar.....................................FG11 The Fugitives.............................................FG12 Trolls of Forsaken Mine...................................FG13 The Stone of St. Alessia..................................FG14 The Noble's Daughter......................................FG15 Mystery at Harlun's Watch.................................FG16 Information Gathering.....................................FG17 Infiltration..............................................FG18 The Hist..................................................FG19 Expelled From the Fighters Guild..........................FG20 Mages Guild..................................................MG00 Anvil Recommendation......................................MG01 Bravil Recommendation.....................................MG02 Bruma Recommendation......................................MG03 Cheydinhal Recommendation.................................MG04 Chorrol Recommendation....................................MG05 Fingers of the Mountain................................MG05-A Fingers of the Mountain, Part II.......................MG05-B Leyawiin Recommendation...................................MG06 Skingrad Recommendation...................................MG07 A Mage's Staff............................................MG08 Ulterior Motives..........................................MG09 Vahtacen's Secret.........................................MG10 Necromancer's Moon........................................MG11 Liberation or Apprehension?...............................MG12 Information at a Price....................................MG13 A Plot Revealed...........................................MG14 The Bloodworm Helm........................................MG15 The Necromancer's Amulet..................................MG16 Ambush....................................................MG17 Confront the King.........................................MG18 Mages Guild Suspension....................................MG19 Thieves Guild................................................TG00 May the Best Thief Win....................................TG01 Independent Thievery......................................TG02 Untaxing the Poor.........................................TG03 The Elven Maiden..........................................TG04 Ahdarji's Heirloom........................................TG05 Misdirection..............................................TG06 Lost Histories............................................TG07 Taking Care of Lex........................................TG08 Turning a Blind Eye.......................................TG09 Arrow of Extrication......................................TG10 Boots of Springheel Jak...................................TG11 The Ultimate Heist........................................TG12 Cast Out of the Thieves Guild.............................TG13 Dark Brotherhood.............................................DB00 A Knife in the Dark.......................................DB01 A Watery Grave............................................DB02 Accidents Happen..........................................DB03 Scheduled for Execution...................................DB04 The Renegade Shadowscale..................................DB05 The Assassinated Man......................................DB06 The Lonely Wanderer.......................................DB07 Bad Medicine..............................................DB08 Whodunit?.................................................DB09 Permanent Retirement......................................DB10 Of Secret and Shadow......................................DB11 The Purification..........................................DB12 Affairs of a Wizard.......................................DB13 Next of Kin...............................................DB14 Broken Vows...............................................DB15 Final Justice.............................................DB16 A Matter of Honor.........................................DB17 The Coldest Sleep.........................................DB18 A Kiss Before Dying.......................................DB19 Following a Lead..........................................DB20 Honor Thy Mother..........................................DB21 Whispers of Death.........................................DB22 Dark Exile................................................DB23 Knights of the Nine..........................................KN00 Pilgrimage................................................KN01 The Shrine of the Crusader................................KN02 Priory of the Nine........................................KN03 Nature's Fury.............................................KN04 The Path of the Righteous.................................KN05 Stendarr's Mercy..........................................KN06 Wisdom of the Ages........................................KN07 The Faithful Squire.......................................KN08 The Sword of the Crusader.................................KN09 The Blessing of Talos.....................................KN10 Umaril the Unfeathered....................................KN11 Epilogue..................................................KN12 Side Quests..................................................SQ00 Quest Index..................................................QL00 Alphabetical Index........................................QL01 City/Region Index.........................................QL02 Miscellaneous Adventures.....................................MA00 Home Ownership............................................MA01 Skill Training............................................MA02 Vampirism.................................................MA03 Alchemy...................................................MA04 Expanding Your Game..........................................XP00 PC Optimization...........................................XP01 PC Console Commands.......................................XP02 Mods......................................................XP03 Version History & Credits....................................VH00 Legal........................................................LG00 To quickly jump to a section, copy the section code, press CTRL-F and paste the section code in the search box. ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ Oblivion is a huge game, and very much free-form. You can spend 100 hours playing the game and never touch the main quest. You can play through the main quest a half-dozen times and never do the same side quests twice. In addition, some dungeons and quests are randomly generated. There's no way to write a typical linear walkthrough for this game. So here's how the walkthroughs are organized: * Main Story: First up is a step-by-step walkthrough of the main story quests. The main story does advance in a fairly linear manner, so each step along the journey will be laid out. Of course, you do not have to complete the main story in any sort of time limit and you can take your time and do lots of side quests during the main story. However, the Main Story walkthrough will concern itself only with the quests that are directly connected to the main story. * Guild Quests: There are four guilds in Oblivion--Fighters, Mages, Thieves and the Dark Brotherhood (assassins). Each guild has numerous quests associated with it, and each has its own section in this part of the guide. * Knights of the Nine: This mini-expansion to Oblivion includes previously released material through Bethesda's official mods store (both for PC and X360). The main KoN quest is described after the guild quests; other KoN content is scattered through the Side Quests and Expanding Your Game sections. * Side Quests: Everything that doesn't fit into the previous categories is organized here in alphabetical order by quest name. Before all the walkthroughs is a rundown of basic gameplay in Oblivion, including the controls, how the Radiant AI works, combat hints and frequently asked questions. At the end of the walkthroughs is an index of every quest in the game, with the section number where you can find the mini-walkthrough for that quest. The index is organized both alphabetically and by city/region. A complete breakdown of the character system in Oblivion, including all the skills, races, birthsigns, etc. is in a separate document, located at: http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt After the quest walkthroughs is Miscellaneous Adventures, which covers buying and furnishing houses, vampirism and training your skills (including the Master Training quests). The guide wraps up with Expanding Your Game, which covers optimizing your PC to run Oblivion well, using console commands (on the PC) for that extra edge and mods (mostly for PC, but some for X360 as well). The main point of Oblivion is to explore, have fun and immerse yourself in the world. The game simply cannot be adequately covered in words; you have to experience it for yourself. But, if you get stuck, feel like you're in over your head, or just can't figure out how to do that one little thing...then this guide is here for you. [GP00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GAMEPLAY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ *SAVE EARLY* *SAVE OFTEN* *KEEP LOTS OF SAVES* Oblivion, like any major, western-style RPG, has its share of glitches and ways things can go wrong. Frequently, the only solution is to go to an earlier save. You should make a new save at least every 15 or 30 minutes and keep at least 15 to 20 savegames. The number of savegames is limited only by your hard drive capacity and many people keep hundreds of saves. (That's probably a little over-board; but, still...) It's easy to find that a decision you made three or four hours ago, playing time, was a bad one and you will want to go back and fix it. On the other hand, you don't want to go back to a several- hour-old savegame if all you need to do is get around a glitch that just happened. *SAVE EARLY* *SAVE OFTEN* *KEEP LOTS OF SAVES* It can't be repeated too often. [GP01] <~~~~~~ CONTROLS & ICONS ~~~~~~> These are the default controls for the game: +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | ACTION | PC (keyboard/mouse)+ | XBOX 360* | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Movement | W, A, S, D | Left stick | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Camera | Move mouse | Right stick | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Activate | SPACE | A button | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Jump | E | Y button | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Run | Left SHIFT | Movement speed is | |------------------------+------------------------| controlled by the | | Always Run (toggle) | CAPS LOCK | force on the left stick| |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Ready/Sheath Weapon | F | X button | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Attack | Left mouse button | R trigger | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Power Attack | Hold left mouse button | Hold R trigger + | | | + movement key | move left stick | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Shoot Arrow | Hold left mouse button | Hold R trigger to aim, | | | to aim, release to fire| release to fire | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Block/Bow Zoom | Right mouse button | L trigger | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Cast Spell | C | R button | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Grab | Z press-and-hold | L button press-and-hold| |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Sneak | Left CTRL | Press left stick | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Journal | TAB; You can also open | B button | | | a journal tab directly | | | | F1 - Stats | | | | F2 - Inventory | | | | F3 - Spells | | | | F4 - Map/Quests | | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Hotkeys | 1 - 8 | D-pad | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Assign Hotkeys | Press-and-hold 1 - 8 | Press-and-hold D-pad | | w/Inventory Open | and click item | and select item (A) | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Game Menu | ESC | Start | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Wait | T | Back | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Switch View (1st/3rd) | R | Press right stick | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Vanity Mode | Press-and-hold R | Press-and-hold rt stick| |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Quicksave | F5 | | |------------------------+------------------------+------------------------| | Quickload | F9 | | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Xbox 360 Controls list courtesy of Styck and GOSFreak from GameFAQs. + The PC version does support gamepads; however, there are some problems with the default control setup. Find your Oblivion.ini file (typically in My Documents\My Games\Oblivion) and open this file in a *text* editor such as Notepad. (Don't use Word or WordPad or other word processing program. Stick with a simple, plain text editor.) Find these lines in the section headed [Controls]: fMouseSensitivity=0.0020 ;X = 1, Y = 2, Z = 3, XRot = 4, YRot = 5, ZRot = 6 iJoystickMoveFrontBack=2 iJoystickMoveLeftRight=1 fJoystickMoveFBMult=1.0000 fJoystickMoveLRMult=1.0000 iJoystickLookUpDown=6 iJoystickLookLeftRight=3 fJoystickLookUDMult=0.0020 fJoystickLookLRMult=0.0020 These are the default movement (left analog stick) and camera (right analog stick) controls. Specifically, the Look (i.e. camera) controls may not be set properly for your joystick. If moving the right analog stick has no effect on the camera, change these two lines: fJoystickLookUDMult=0.0020 fJoystickLookLRMult=0.0020 Increase the value of 0.0020 to something significantly larger, such as 0.5000. If the camera still does not respond or is sluggish, increase to 1.0000 and so on until the camera responds to the right joystick in a way that works for you. Additionally, you may find the camera movement does not correspond correctly to the joystick movement: i.e. the camera moves up and down as you move the stick left and right. In that case, switch these values: iJoystickLookUpDown=6 iJoystickLookLeftRight=3 so that you have: iJoystickLookUpDown=3 iJoystickLookLeftRight=6 You may also need to change some of these values completely depending on your controller and your controller's drivers. You can set the buttons within the Controls Options of the game. | Icons +------- When in first-person perspective, the center of the screen is occupied by a crosshair. When you mouse over a target, the crosshair changes depending on the target. * Face: NPC, Activate the NPC to talk to him or her * Crown: plot critical NPC, Activate the NPC to talk to him or her * Open hand: a loose item, press Activate to take the item * Closed fist: something that can be manipulated (such as a door or switch), press Activate to...well...activate the item * Pottery jar: container, press Activate to open the container * Door: a door, Activating may open the door or take you to another area depending on the door * Lock: this icon appears in the lower right corner of the screen when a door or container is locked. * Moon and stars: a bed, Activate to sleep in the bed * Book: a book or note, Activate it to read the item * Stool: a chair, bench, etc., Activate it to sit down, press Activate again while not targeting anything to stand up * Horseshoe: a horse, press Activate to mount the horse, press Activate again while not targeting anything to dismount * Bat: NPC, Activate the NPC to feed on him or her (can only be used when you are a vampire) * Eye: indicates you are in Sneak mode Sometimes icons display in red. When you see a red icon, don't touch the item or you'll be accused of a crime. Unless, of course, you're trying to commit a crime, then go ahead and touch away... [GP02] <~~~~~~ GAME MECHANICS ~~~~~~> Most of the basic gameplay elements are dealt with during the tutorial. How to pick things up, how to drop them, how to equip weapons and spells, how to Sneak, etc. But, there are a lot of things going on under the hood that the tutorial never mentions. This section covers all those extra game mechanics. | Radiant AI [GP02-A] +--------------------- Radiant AI is Bethesda's name for its NPC scripts. NPCs in Oblivion are supposed to "act like real people". At first, this really seems to be the case. After a few hours invested in a city, you'll see it's just another bunch of scripts strung together with some pseudo-random events to give the feel of actual intelligence. Here are some of the things the Radiant AI does: * NPCs keep a schedule. Their schedule is occasionally randomized, but, for the most part, these characters move around eating, working, sleeping and other activities at different times of the day on a regular schedule. * NPCs react to crimes. Enter one's house uninvited and they'll call for the gendarmes. Hit someone and they'll scream, "Assault!" Etc. * NPCs talk to one another as they pass on the street. After spending a couple hours in a city, you'll have heard every variation on conversation there is. (Since everything in Oblivion is voice acted, the number of conversations is quite limited.) Sometimes, hearing these conversations opens up a new topic for you, often leading to a quest. Here are some things the Radiant AI does not do: * Force you to keep a schedule. For the most part, if someone tells you to meet them at midnight tonight or else, you can show up at midnight three weeks later and they'll be there waiting patiently for you. There are very, very few quests in Oblivion that actually require you to act within time constraints. * React to assaults on allies. The vision/hearing of every NPC in Oblivion must be impaired. If you have two enemy mages on opposite sides of a large room, you can blow one of them to smithereens while the other wonders aloud about the rats. This does help with combat since you don't want lots of bad guys swarming you, but it is kind of ridiculous. Example: right after killing the captain of a ship, two sailors barged into the cabin. The PC was hidden in the back room. Seeing the captain dead on the floor, the sailors proceeded to engage in a random conversation. The PC steps out of the back room and fires a spell at one of the sailors. That sailor charges and is dispatched. The other sailor, still behind the partition at the front of the cabin, complains about the loud noises made by the rats. That's the Radiant AI for you! * Care much about the world around them. There are scripted instances where you can't get help from someone because of an Oblivion gate nearby, but, for the most part, while the big, bad demonic invasion is happening, most NPCs still just want you to kill (or protect, depending on the situation) the rats in their basement. So, don't get your hopes up too high over the Radiant AI. The NPCs in Oblivion pretty much act like the NPCs in every other RPG, except they don't just stand around waiting for you to show up (unless you're in the middle of a quest requiring they just stand around until you show up--in which case they'll wait for months). And, even if a quest-target NPC is moving around, the convenient objective marker on your map will always show you where he or she is. | The Leveled System [GP02-B] +----------------------------- Oblivion uses a system that matches enemy levels to your PC's level. It does this in two ways: * Changes the type or number of creatures you face. For example, at low level, the daedra you fight inside Oblivion are mostly scamps and the occasional clannfear runt. At higher levels, you'll start seeing dremora, adult clannfear, atronachs, etc. * Increases the level of the enemy. This is mostly used on boss creatures. For example, the opponents you face in the Arena are always the same, but their level, skills and equipment increase in power as you increase in power. The leveled system means you never get in over your head. Whatever challenge you face is always scaled to your level, so you can do anything at the beginning of the game. This is also a drawback, as being able to complete any quest even at level 1 is somewhat unrealistic. The leveled system also means you never overpower your opponents. There are never any "easy" fights against overwhelmed opponents. When you encounter bandits at level 1, they are clad in fur and wield rusty daggers. If you encounter them at level 20, they are clad in mithril and wield enchanted glass short swords. Treasure and store inventories are likewise leveled. At level one, you can fight for your life through a three-level ruin, dispatching dozens of undead and come away with a grand total of 32 gold, a flawed jewel and some day-old bread. Going through the same ruin at level 10 can yield a couple hundred gold, some soul gems and an enchanted weapon. The leveled system also affects quest rewards. Finish Fingers of the Mountain at level 3 and the spell you get is, to say the least, underwhelming. Finish it at level 25 and you get one of the most powerful spells in the game (assuming you have the Magicka to cast it). A sigil stone collected at level 5 is a lot less powerful than a sigil stone collected at level 15. (*NOTE*: PC users can download a mod that corrects this problem.) The leveled system does present some problems, especially in the main story. There are a few quests where you have to defeat hordes of enemies, and you are given help; or, you have to protect someone from enemies. In these cases, having a higher level PC works against you since your allies do not similarly increase in power. The last thing you want is a dozen dremora overwhelming the guards around you, then turning all their attention on you. No matter how uber you think your gear, you're not going to survive that. There are some ways to work around this system: 1) Increase your class levels slowly. If you work mostly with minor skills, and only increase your major skills (and, thus, your class level) when you've locked in +5 modifiers for your attributes, then you'll run far ahead of the NPCs of similar level. For more info on the skill/class system, see the PapaGamer Character Build Guide at: http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt 2) Play at a lower difficulty level. If a quest is just too hard, turn the difficulty down until you complete the quest. 3) Use a modded leveling system (see the Mods section near the end of the guide). This will allow you to level more reasonably without having to pay a lot of attention to the math. There are also mods that affect enemy leveling, which makes the game much more interesting. 4) Use the Quest Reward Leveling mod (see the Mods section near the end of the guide). This mod levels up quest rewards with your class level, so you'll always have a use for those special gifts. | Time, Waiting & Resting [GP02-C] +---------------------------------- Time in Oblivion passes at the rate of 30 minutes for every one real minute spent playing the game (not in Pause). So a 24-hour day takes 48 minutes of real time to play through. NPCs operate on schedules during the game day. Normal operating hours for merchants are 8am to 8pm every day. In the cities, most of the rulers hold court from 8am to 6pm every day. You can find a lot of NPCs at dinner in the local tavern or castle dining hall around 8pm to 11pm most days. Etc. If you're looking for someone and you don't have a quest marker for that person, you can assume that person will be at home, sleeping, during the night. Etc. The calendar is just like the Gregorian calendar, albeit with different names: Gregorian - Oblivion Gregorian - Oblivion --------- ------------ --------- ------------ January - Morning Star July - Sun's Height February - Sun's Dawn August - Last Seed March - First Seed September - Heartfire April - Rain's Hand October - Frost Fall May - Second Seed November - Sun's Dusk June - Mid-Year December - Evening Star Gregorian - Oblivion --------- -------- Sunday - Sundas Monday - Morndas Tuesday - Tirdas Wednesday - Middas Thursday - Turdas Friday - Fredas Saturday - Loredas The months have the same number of days as the Gregorian calendar, thus Last Seed has 31 days, Heartfire has only 30, etc. The game begins the 27th of Last Seed, Third Empire, year 433 (7/27/433--The in-game calendar displayed with the debug console counts the months from 0 to 11, so August/Last Seed is month 7, not 8). You can see the current date by turning on the debug console (tdt) and choosing page 0 (sdt 0). What does all this mean? Well, not much, unless you need to figure out an NPC's schedule. If a character does activity X on weekdays, you know that means Morndas, Tirdas, Middas, Turdas and Fredas. If it's currently Loredas, you've got to Wait two days to catch the NPC. And so on and so forth. At any time there are no enemies nearby and you are not trespassing you can use the Wait command (default PC key 'T', Xbox 360 button 'Back'). You can Wait in one hour increments up to 24 hours (one full day). Waiting any period of time, even just one hour, fully restores your Health, Magicka and Fatigue. This is a kind of cheap way to heal yourself up while spelunking--clear out enough enemies and you can just Wait one hour. You can also sleep, if you have a bed handy. The only times you have to sleep are: 1) To increase your class level. Unless you're using a mod, or have turned on instant leveling in your INI file, you must sleep in a bed to level up. 2) Certain quests require you to sleep in a bed; e.g. "Where Spirits Have Lease" or during Dark Brotherhood quests. An easy way to have access to cheap (i.e. free) beds is to join either the Fighters Guild or Mages Guild. Just asking to join gives you a key to all the guild halls, all of which have beds to sleep in. You don't even have to perform any quests. Every city except Kvatch and Imperial City have halls for both the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild. | Travel, Horses & Quest Markers [GP02-D] +----------------------------------------- There are three ways to travel in Cyrodiil: 1) On foot, either walking or running. 2) By horse. Horse travel is faster than running (unless you have a very high Speed attribute), but somewhat unreliable. You cannot fight while you're on a horse, they're difficult to steer and they sometimes wander away while you're dungeon delving. There are seven horses or types of horses available (the Speed attributes in these lists are somewhat misleading, as horses can move a lot faster than humans, so only compare the Speed of a horse against other horses, not humanoids): * Paint: Speed 23, Combat 40, Attack Damage 10, Health 300 Paint horses are available in Bruma, Leyawiin and from Prior Maborel as part of the "Find the Heir" main quest. Paint horses are the slowest, least combat- worthy horses in the game. However, they are sturdy (300 Health), cheap and you can get one free two minutes after you leave the tutorial dungeon. * Bay: Speed 26, Combat 30, Attack Damage 10, Health 250 Bay horses are sold at the stables outside Bravil and Skingrad. They are not as sturdy as Paint horses, but are faster. * Chestnut: Speed 29, Combat 20, Attack Damage 10, Health 200 Chestnuts horses are faster; but, not as hardy as the Bay. They are sold in Chorrol. * White: Speed 29, Combat 50, Attack Damage 12, Health 400 The white horses of Anvil are the sturdiest regular horses available. They're also pretty fast. * Black: Speed 33, Combat 60, Attack Damage 15, Health 325 Cheydinhal's black horses are good combat companions and the fastest regular horses in the game. * Shadowmere: Speed 33, Combat 50, Attack Damage 20, Health 500 You obtain Shadowmere during the Dark Brotherhood quests. He is as fast as the black horses of Cheydinhal and a better fighter, plus, he can never be killed! (He just falls unconscious.) * Unicorn: Speed 29, Combat 70, Attack Damage 45, Health 350 The unicorn is the target of a hunt instigated by the daedric lord Hircine. While a fearsome combatant, he's not particularly suited to be your regular mount. He doesn't like drawn weapons and will attack even you if you show steel in his presence. 3) Fast Travel: while outdoors, open your World Map, choose a location and click its icon. As long as there are no enemies nearby, you'll be asked if you want to Travel there. Choose yes, and hey! There you are. Some caveats about Fast Travel: * Except for the city markers and a few quest-related locations (Weynon Priory, Cloud Ruler Temple and a couple of others) you must have actually visited the location to Fast Travel there. Even though someone marks the location on your map, you must still get there by foot or horse first. Once you have "discovered" a place, you can Fast Travel there as much as you want. * If you own a horse, the horse Fast Travels with you (and is used to calculate time passed, see below) even if you aren't mounted on the horse. When Fast Traveling to a city, your horse is automatically stabled outside the walls. There's no fee for stabling your horse. * Time does pass when you Fast Travel, based on whether you're on foot or on horse. It's not a large amount of time. Traveling from Cheydinhal in the east to Anvil in the west takes only 11 hours on foot or 5 hours on a black horse. * If you use the console to turn on all map markers (tmm 1), you can Fast Travel to every marker. QUEST MARKERS --------------- Of course, all these travel options don't mean jack if you don't know where to go. That's where the quest or objective marker comes in. On local maps, world maps and your HUD compass, you'll see either a green or red arrow marker-- provided you have an active quest. This marker shows you the location or direction in which your current objective is located. This is why, many times in this walkthrough, you are told to go through certain steps. You could, conceivably, skip some of the interrogations and move straight to the target; however, without questioning people, you won't get the quest marker on your maps and you'll be trying to find a marble in oatmeal. A red quest marker indicates the target is *not* in the same area as you. A green quest marker indicates the target *is* in the same area as you. "Area" in this sense does not mean the small "areas" loaded by the game as you travel. You are in the same "area" if you are in the same world-space. This means a target that is in the world-at-large is in the same area as you if you are both outside cities and outside any building/dungeon--even if you are on opposite sides of the map. Multiple arrows mean there are multiple targets-- i.e. more than one enemy you must kill or more than one location you must visit. Your quest journal has three tabs: active quest, open quests and completed quests. Quest markers only show for the active quest, and there can be only one active quest at a time. To change active quests, select an open quest and click it. The open quest you selected becomes the new active quest and quest markers change to reflect the new quest. If you have no active quest, and you get a new quest, it automatically becomes active. If you have an active quest, and you get a new quest, you are asked if you want to Continue or Make This My Active Quest. Continuing adds the new quest to open quests, but does not make it active. The second option, obviously, marks the quest as active. | Mini-games [GP02-E] +--------------------- LOCKPICKING ------------- Whenever you Activate a locked door or container, the lockpicking mini-game starts. You'll see a stylized rendition of the internal workings of a lock. Through the middle runs a hollow bolt into which your pick is inserted. This bolt is held in place by from one (very easy locks) to five (very hard locks) tumblers. You may attempt to automatically open the lock using the Auto Attempt button, or you may pick the lock manually. Move the pick under a tumbler and push up (move your mouse up or press up on the control pad) to push the tumbler out of the bolt. The tumblers are spring-loaded and will pop back down either immediately or after a one- or two-second delay. While the tumbler is still seated in the up position, LEFT-CLICK or press the right trigger to set the tumbler. If you click at the wrong time, the tumbler falls back into place and breaks your pick. Depending on your Security skill, other tumblers you have already set will also fall and you'll have to set them all over again. Security controls the lockpicking mini-game in three ways: * Higher Security provides a more likely chance of success if you use the Auto Attempt button to try to pick the lock. * Higher Security keeps set tumblers in place when you break a pick by failing to properly set a tumbler. Novice: all set tumblers fall Apprentice: up to three set tumblers fall Journeyman: up to two set tumblers fall Expert: only one other set tumbler will fall Master: no other tumblers fall.) * Higher Security causes tumblers to drop back down more slowly. You can figure out when to set a tumbler into place in one of two ways: * Keep pushing it up and letting it fall and watch the pattern. On more complex locks the tumbler's pattern can be quite long. For example, an easy lock might have a tumbler with a pattern of short-long-short-short. A more complex lock might have patterns like short-long-long-short-short-short-long- short-long. Once you've got the pattern, click to set on a long segment of the pattern. * Listen to the sound of the tumbler moving up. There is an extra, very quiet click when the tumbler is going to stay seated for a second or two. That's when you can set the tumbler. Once you learn how to recognize that little extra click, you can pick locks very easily. There are two ways to get around this mini-game: 1) Work on your Alteration skill and use Open Lock spells. 2) Perform Nocturnal's quest (as soon as you reach level 10) and get the Skeleton Key. This unbreakable lockpick allows you to pick any lock just by clicking Auto-Attempt until the lock opens. PERSUASION ------------ Each NPC has a Disposition score that indicates how likely they are to give you important information or Haggle with you (if a merchant). You can increase an NPC's Disposition using a Persuasion mini-game. In some cases, getting or continuing a quest requires you to get a high Disposition score with the target. *NOTE* You can also increase Disposition by using Charm spells, the Imperial ability, "Voice of the Emperor", or the vampire ability, "Vampire's Seduction". To play the Persuasion mini-game, click the Persuade button (face icon on the left of the conversation menu) during conversation. A segmented wheel opens next to the NPC. There are four segments: Admire, Boast, Joke and Coerce. During each round of play, you must perform each action once. To perform an action, select it and LEFT-CLICK or Right Trigger. Of the four actions, the NPC will love one, like one, dislike one and hate one. You can tell the NPC's reaction by examining his or her face when you select the action. Inside each action's segment of the wheel is a wedge. After each selection, the wedges "rotate", changing their position. There are four wedges: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. They always rotate clockwise and their order will differ from round to round. The actions the NPC loves, likes, dislikes and hates will always be the same, so you only need to test them at the beginning of the mini-game. Basic gameplay involves choosing liked or loved responses when they are filled with a medium or large wedge and choosing disliked and hated actions when they have only a small wedge in them. All the while you're deciding which action to pick, the NPC's Disposition is falling. First, get a blank sheet of paper and sketch four large X's on it: \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \/ \/ \/ \/ /\ /\ /\ /\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ Start the Persuasion mini-game and quickly examine the NPC's reactions to each action. Pause the game and note these reactions in the appropriate section of your diagrams. In this example, the NPC (a city guard) loves Admire, likes Boast, dislikes Joke and hates Coerce: LV LV LV LV \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D /\ /\ /\ /\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ H H H H Next, quickly examine the current position of the wedges, pause the game and note these in your first X: LV \ 25 / \ / LK \/ D 75 /\ 50 / \ /100 \ H You can now extrapolate where each wedge will be for each selection: LV LV LV LV \ 25 / \ 75 / \100 / \ 50 / \ / \ / \ / \ / LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D LK \/ D 75 /\ 50 100 /\ 25 50 /\ 75 25 /\100 / \ / \ / \ / \ /100 \ / 50 \ / 25 \ / 75 \ H H H H The strategy is simple: First determine in which turn you get the 25% wedge in Hate and take that--in this example, it is the third turn. Then you want the 100% wedge in Love, or, if that's unavailable (because it occurs in the same turn as 25% in Hate), then take 75% in Love (second turn in this example). Then Dislike when it is lower--of the remaining turns (first and fourth), Dislike is lower in the first. So, the correct strategy for this round is: Dislike (50%), Love (75%), Hate (25%), Like (25%). You then start the next round and your opening looks like this: LV \100 / \ / LK \/ D 25 /\ 75 / \ / 50 \ H Planning ahead yields: Love (100%), Like (50%), Dislike (25%), Hate (25%). You'll get a greater increase in Disposition this round than the previous round. Continue until you've maximized the NPC's Disposition. Your Speechcraft skill can help with the Persuasion mini-game in several ways: * At Apprentice rank, you can get a free rotation of the wheel during the mini-game. * At Journeyman rank, the NPC's Disposition falls more slowly while you're making your decisions. * At Expert rank, there is less reduction in Disposition from the hated response. Once you get good at this mini-game, you won't need to sketch out your moves; you'll be able to do it in your head, which dramatically decreases the time it takes to sweet-talk NPCs. | Enchanting, Spellmaking & Soul Gems [GP02-F] +---------------------------------------------- Sooner, rather than later, you're going to be depending on enchanted weapons and/or armor for survival. You may also find that you want a specific type of spell that you can't find anywhere from a spell merchant--perhaps you want a stronger healing spell, but the only stronger ones sold are too high in level for you to use. Regardless, you're going to be interested in three things: * Enchanting your own items (armor, clothing, weapons and jewelry) * Recharging enchanted weapons * Making your own spells SPELLMAKING ------------- To make your own spells requires access to an Altar of Spellmaking. In the base game, Altars of Spellmaking are only available in Arcane University to Apprentices (and higher) of the Mages Guild. That means you have to complete the seven Recommendation quests. You can get an Altar of Spellmaking in Frostcrag Spire if you buy the Wizard's Tower official plug-in -- no guild membership necessary. Activate an Altar of Spellmaking and you'll be presented with a simple menu. At the top is a box where you enter your spell's name. On the left is a list of effects from spells currently in your spellbook. You can only create new spells using effects you already know--magnitude isn't relevant. So, if you want to create a spell that does 50 points of fire damage and you still have Flare (5 points fire damage) in your spellbook (the spell you're given in the starter dungeon), you can create your 50-point fire damage spell. When you choose an effect, you get a new window with four controls: * Range: one of Self, Touch or Target * Magnitude: strength of the spell * Area: how large of an area will be affected by the spell (if you select Self as the Range, this option disappears) * Duration: how long the spell lasts (Some of the sliders may not show depending on the effect. For example, Detect Life only shows Magnitude and Duration. Other effects may show additional controls, for example an Attribute control for picking an Attribute to Fortify or Drain.) Along the bottom of this window you will see the current number of Magicka points required to cast the spell based on your skill rank in the appropriate spell school (next to the lightning bolt icon), the cost to create the spell (next to the gold coin icon with the arrow) and the total gold you currently possess (next to the right-most coin icon). You can manipulate these sliders to get similar effects at different costs. For example, a spell causing 50 points of fire damage on Target costs 33 Magicka to cast and 99 gold to create. A spell causing 10 points of fire damage for 5 seconds (total 50 points) costs only 21 Magicka to cast and 63 gold to create. Add a 10-foot explosion to that spell, and it still only costs 32 Magicka to cast and 96 gold to create. (Magicka costs based on Destruction rank of 100.) You can combine effects, even effects from different spell schools in a single spell. The spell school under which the spell falls is determined by the first listed effect. The skill rank needed to cast the spell is determined by the spell cost. ENCHANTING ------------ In addition to finding a lot of enchanted equipment in the world, you can make your own. To do so, you need to use an Altar of Enchanting or a sigil stone (the ones you collect when you close an Oblivion gate). The only Altars of Enchanting in Cyrodiil are in Arcane University--so you'll have to complete the Mages Guild Recommendation quests to get in there. (Alternately, you can buy the Wizard's Tower official plug-in and get your own Altar of Enchanting without joining the Mages Guild.) To enchant an item with a sigil stone, simple select the sigil stone in your inventory. Each sigil stone shows two effects: one defensive/buffing effect and one offensive effect. For example, a stone may show the effects of Fire Resist and Fire Damage. When you select the stone and click it (or press the A button), you get a menu showing your available weapons and worn items that have no enchantments. Select a weapon to get the offensive effect added to that weapon. Select an item of wear to get the defensive effect added to that item. You can also name your item. No altars or soul gems are needed to enchant the item. You will still need soul gems or varla stones to recharge the item. In order to enchant an item without using a sigil stone, you must have a soul gem with a captured soul. Souls and soul gems come in five sizes: petty, lesser, common, greater and grand. The enchantment ability is determined by the size of the soul, not the size of the gem. When you Activate an Altar of Enchanting, you get a menu showing a box across the top for the name of your item. On the left you can Add Item--you can enchant any weapon or item you can wear (clothing, armor, rings or amulets). On the right you can Add Soul Gem, selecting the filled gem you want to use from your inventory. After you've selected an item, a list of effects--governed by the effects you know how to cast (i.e. have similar spells in your spell book)--shows in the left-hand box. Effects you have added to your item show in the right-hand box as you add them. ENCHANTING WEAPONS -------------------- Weapons can have multiple enchantments, but you must add all enchantments at one time. Once an enchanted weapon has been made, you cannot add enchantments to it. The size of the soul you use to enchant the weapon determines how many total charges the weapon will have: Petty: 150 charges Lesser: 300 charges Common: 800 charges Greater: 1200 charges Grand: 1600 charges When you choose an effect to add to the weapon, you get a window with three controls: Magnitude: strength of the effect Area: how large of an area will be affected by the weapon Duration: how long the effect will last (Some effects, such as Drain Skill, will show an additional control.) Below you can see (from right to left): the number of charges used per hit with the weapon, the number of uses you'll get before the weapon needs to be recharged (this is the total charges from the soul divided by the number of charges used per hit), the cost to create the weapon and the total gold you have in your pockets. As you manipulate the sliders to create the effect, the number of charges per hit will go up (or down) with corresponding dips or increases in the number of uses. To recharge any enchanted weapon: * Use a filled soul gem from your inventory, the number of charges restored from the soul is the same as the number of charges that size soul provides when enchanting (i.e. 150, 300, 800, 1200 or 1600) * Use a varla stone in your inventory. Varla stones fully recharge every enchanted weapon in your inventory. * Pay a recharger. Various merchants (most in the Mages Guild halls) will recharge your weapons. They charge one gold per charge restored. ENCHANTING ARMOR, CLOTHING AND JEWELRY ---------------------------------------- Items you wear can only have one enchantment placed on them. You select the item, the soul gem and the effect. The magnitude of the effect is determined by the size of the soul in the gem. The range is always self and the duration is always constant. Enchanted wear items do not have charges associated with them. SOUL GEMS ----------- For purposes of enchanting and recharging, soul gems are highly useful. Of course, they must first be filled with a soul. You capture souls using a Soul Trap spell. Cast Soul Trap on an enemy and kill that enemy before the Trap spell wears off. The enemy's soul will go into the smallest empty gem in your inventory that is still big enough to hold the soul. For example, you have an empty lesser and an empty greater soul gem. If you capture a petty or lesser soul, it will go into the lesser gem. If you capture a common or greater soul, it will go into the greater gem. If you capture a grand soul, it will be wasted because you don't have an empty grand soul gem available. If you capture a lesser soul, then a petty soul, the lesser will go to the lesser gem and the petty will end up in the greater gem. You can only capture the souls of creatures that are not one of the ten player races (Argonian, Breton, Dark Elf, High Elf, Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc, Redguard or Wood Elf). Using Soul Trap on a "sentient" race is a waste of the spell. The exception is the black soul gem. Black soul gems are grand soul gems that can be used to capture "human" souls. There are a few black soul gems that are found as treasure. You can also make your own black soul gems using a necromancer altar. To make a black soul gem, you need an empty grand soul gem and a Soul Trap spell (any level spell will do). Find a necromancer altar (there's one in front of Dark Fissure in eastern Cyrodiil). Wait until midnight. Look for a bright cone of light shining down around the altar. (It's easier to see this cone if you look up into the sky, rather than looking at the altar.) If there's no bright light, Wait 24 hours and try again. Sometime during the week, a bright cone of light will shine down on the altar; when you see the light, put your empty grand soul gem in the altar and cast Soul Trap on the altar. Remove your shiny new black soul gem. AZURA'S STAR -------------- Azura's Star is your reward for completing Azura's quest (one of the Daedric quests). Azura's Star is a refillable grand soul gem. Normal soul gems disappear when you use them to make or recharge an item. Azura's Star does not disappear. You can use it over and over again, as many times as you like. You cannot convert Azura's Star into a refillable black soul gem. Azura's Star is a very useful item, especially for fighters relying on enchanted weapons. If you enchant your own weapons, add a short Soul Trap effect to each weapon, this way you will always capture the soul of whatever you kill. You can then instantly recharge your weapon before attacking the next creature. If you do not enchant your own weapons, be sure to use as long a duration Soul Trap spell as you can cast on each creature you fight. Always make sure to recharge your weapon as soon as you've killed a creature, so you don't waste any souls (i.e. charges). SOULS ------- Here is a short list of soul sizes for commonly encountered creatures. These sizes are for the base creatures. Leveled creatures will have larger souls. * Petty: Deer, Dog, Goblin, Mud Crab, Rat, Sheep, Skeleton, Slaughterfish, Stunted Scamp, Wolf * Lesser: Boar, Clannfear Runt, Deranged Zombie, Ghost, Goblin Skirmisher, Horse, Imp, Timber Wolf, Troll, Zombie * Common: Ancient Ghost, Black Bear, Clannfear, Faded Wraith, Flame Atronach, Goblin Berserker, Goblin Shaman, Goblin Warlord, Headless Zombie, Minotaur, Mountain Lion, Ogre, Scamp, Skeleton Hero, Spriggan, Will-o-the-Wisp * Greater: Brown Bear, Daedroth, Dread Zombie, Frost Atronach, Land Dreugh, Nether Lich, Skeleton Champion, Spider Daedra, Storm Atronach, Wraith * Grand: Gloom Wraith, Lich, Minotaur Lord, Xivilai [GP03] <~~~~~~ COMBAT ~~~~~~> As would be the case in any adventure/RPG style game, there is plenty of combat in Oblivion. There are four basic types of combat in Oblivion: heavy melee (tank), light melee (scout), archer and magic. There are two basic rules that apply to all four types of combat... | Divide and Conquer +-------------------- The combat in Oblivion is real-time and based on simple physics: if you swing at the right time and in the right place, you hit. If you aim your arrow properly, you hit. If you don't do these things right, you miss. There are no dice rolls going on "in the background". Nobody stands around "waiting their turn". If you get surrounded by three or more enemies, you're dead. Fortunately, the developers, for the most part, spaced enemies out so you don't typically walk in on a horde that's just sat down for lunch. Most rooms have only one or two mobs in them. Larger rooms may have three or four, but widely spaced out. You need to learn to draw enemies to you one (or, at worst, two) at a time. Use arrows, ranged spells or jump up-and-down to attract the attention of the closest to you, then turn and run back a ways so your foe will foolishly charge after you, not waiting for his/her/its compatriots. Once you learn how to deal with enemies in *very small* numbers, combat becomes a lot easier. | Everyone Uses Magic +--------------------- Regardless of your play style or character type, you need magic. All characters can use buffs, regardless of class type. Melee fighters will want to enchant their own weapons, which means having spells with the right effects in your spellbook. Melee fighters will also benefit from paralyzing-type spells used against archer and mages so they can close in without taking a lot of damage. Archers and light melee fighters sometimes need a summoned creature to help with mobs. And, of course, there are the always useful Restoration spells to restore health or damage abilities. So, don't neglect your inner Breton. Learn some useful spells and keep scrolls handy. Keep welkynd stones and Magicka-restoring potions in your pockets in case you suffer a sudden loss of Magicka. Learn to use magic as part of your tactics and you'll be much more successful. | The Numbers Game +------------------ Some numbers you need to know before you go about fitting out your character: * Armor Your armor rating is the *percentage* of *physical* damage deducted from hits on you. The max is 85: 85% of physical damage is deducted from any hits on you (i.e. you only take 15% damage from physical attacks). Armor doesn't affect elemental damage--fire, frost and shock. Both Light Armor and Heavy Armor can be maxed out, though it will take longer with Light Armor (you'll need Elven or glass and Master Light Armor skill). * Weapon damage The higher your weapon skill, the more damage you do with that type of weapon. Blades tend to be more powerful than blunts, and more plentiful as well. Strength also affects melee weapon damage. Agility affects bow weapon damage. * Spells The potency of your spells is not changed by your skill level in that spell school, your Intelligence or your Willpower. When you increase in a spell skill, you have the opportunity to buy or make stronger spells. Higher ranks in a spell skill also decrease the Magicka needed to cast spells in that school. Your Intelligence directly affects your total Magicka. Your Willpower determines how fast your Magicka regenerates. * Damage Over Time If something is listed as "5 points fire damage for 5 seconds", it means you'll get a total of 25 points fire damage from the effect (5 damage each second x 5 seconds = 25 damage). Damage over time spells are cheaper to make and cheaper to cast. * Spell Effectiveness Wearing armor decreases the effectiveness of your spells. As your armor skill increases, so does the effectiveness of your spells. The highest effectiveness rate of spells while wearing armor is 95%. E.g. a spell that is listed as "20 fire damage" only does 19 damage at 95% effective, 16 damage at 80% effective, etc. All fractions are dropped (i.e. rounded down), so 80% of 5 is 4 and 95% of 5 is 4. If you want 100% effectiveness from your spells, you can't wear any armor--not even gloves or boots. | Heavy Melee [GP03-A] +---------------------- First, give up on two-handed weapons. There is little additional benefit and a couple of negatives to fighting that way. You give up speed, so you make fewer attacks; and, you give up a shield, so you can't block as effectively. In return, you get a minor increase in damage. For example, a steel long sword has a base attack rating of 12; a steel claymore or battle axe has a base attack rating of 14. The steel war hammer gives a base attack of 16. This spread (2 extra points for the claymore or battle axe, 4 points for the war hammer) carries through the different weapon types (i.e. a daedric war hammer does 4 points more damage than a daedric long sword). Once you layer on enchantments, power attacks, poisons, etc., the small difference in base attack is not worth losing your shield and not being able to swing as fast. As a tank, your focus is on absorbing damage. You want the best heavy armor you can obtain, and you want to make sure you level up your Block, Heavy Armor and Armorer skills. Focus on boosting your Strength (for damage and carrying capacity), Endurance (for health) and Agility (to avoid being staggered). FIGHTING TACTICS ------------------ Against other melee fighters: Step in and trade blows. Block when the other guy starts to swing, then smash him with power attacks when he pauses. Nothing could be simpler. Against archers: You have to run them down, which can be tricky in large areas. Having a paralyze spell or poison for an arrow of your own will stop them long enough for you to close in and smash them. Many archers make things easier by pulling a sword when you get close, much to their detriment. When charging an archer, keep your shield up to avoid being staggered by their arrows, and try weaving a bit to throw off their aim. Against mages: This is tricky. If you get hit with a burden spell, you'll likely be easy pickins'. A weapon with Silence is deadly against mages-- especially a bow. Sneak up on them and hit them with a Silence arrow and you can then bull-rush them and take them out easily. Another good tactic, since mages tend to be weaklings, is to use Sneak Attacks with a powerful weapon. You can often drop them in one hit. EQUIPMENT ----------- Heavy armor enchanted against elemental damage and with spell reflection or absorption to help against mages. You don't need Shield effects as your armor rating is going to get maxed out anyway. You'll want a silver, daedric or enchanted one-handed weapon, preferably a blade. There are better and more numerous blades than blunts available in the game. As you increase in level, you should fill out your arsenal with at least one weapon enchanted with each elemental damage type (fire, frost and shock). If you enchant your own weapons, you can add a small (1-2 second duration) Soul Trap spell to the weapon when you add the elemental damage. Get Azura's Star as soon as you can and you can instantly recharge your weapon after each fight. Rings and amulets with Feather or Fortify Strength bonuses. You're going to be carrying a lot of weight just in the equipment you use regularly, so you'll want the ability to increase your max encumbrance or decrease your current encumbrance so you can properly loot dungeons. | Light Melee [GP03-B] +---------------------- While you can, eventually, get as high an armor rating with light armor as you can with heavy armor, it is going to take a lot longer. Your fighting style is going to depend more on giving damage without taking much in return. You will rely more on Stealth for Sneak Attacks; and, when in melee, use your Speed to dance in and out of range, dishing out short, quick strikes before running away. You want to focus on your Speed, Agility and Strength attributes and your Stealth and weapon skills. You won't block as much (the idea is to avoid being hit, not blocking some of the damage) and you'll probably use spells a bit more, so you want to pick a school and level it up. A Magicka-enhancing birthsign wouldn't hurt as well as increasing your Intelligence and/or Willpower. FIGHTING TACTICS ------------------ Against other melee fighters: You want to stay out of range of the other character's weapon. This will be most difficult against some of the beast and melee creatures (clannfear, mountain lions, etc.) as they can move very fast. Leading with a paralyze, burden or Drain Strength spell can help a lot-- especially against the heavy tanks. Start with either a Sneak Attack from Stealth mode, or by firing arrows or spells until the enemy rushes you; the more damage you can do before the fighting starts, the better off you will be. Against archers and mages: The basic tactic here is the same--avoid getting into a long-range battle with these types of characters. You're not built to absorb damage the way a heavy tank is, so your best friend is a Stealth attack, preferably a melee attack to get the extra bonus damage. If you put some type of poison on your blade (Silence against mages, paralyze or Drain Marksman skill for archers), so much the better. EQUIPMENT ----------- Light armor with Shield enchantments early. Later, as you get better armor and your Light Armor skill increases, you can trade in Shield enchantments for Reflection and Absorption enhancements. Wearable items that Fortify your Speed attribute and your Sneak skill. Boosting Strength wouldn't hurt either; but, your focus should be effective Sneak Attacks rather than raw damage. A Feather effect will help with looting. A good bow and some enchanted arrows. While you won't be dependent on ranged attacks, you will lead with them--especially from Sneak mode. Of course, you'll want an array of enchanted melee weapons--preferably light, fast blades; and, Azura's Star for quick recharging between fights. | Archer [GP03-C] +----------------- Early in the game, Oblivion is much more suited for melee fighters than for ranged fighters--either archers or mages. Once you work through a few levels and increase your Marksman skill--not to mention pick up enchanted bows and arrows--archery is very effective. Make no mistake about it, being a good archer means careful race, class and birthsign selection, lots of hard work and smart battle tactics. It is also extremely satisfying, especially when you're able to start killing enemies before they even have a chance to reach you. The biggest downside to archery is you need room to maneuver. There's lots of dungeon delving in Oblivion, and the tight spaces underground are not suitable for ranged attacks. You will need to be a good melee fighter as well. FIGHTING TACTICS ------------------ Sneak attacks + poisoned arrows. That's pretty much it. You can one-shot kill common mobs with a Sneak attack even early in the game. Your biggest fear playing as an archer is getting mobbed. You want to pick your enemies off from a distance, so the more you can kill quickly, while staying hidden, the better. You'll want to work hard on your Alchemy so you can brew your own poisons. The more pain you can dish out per shot, the better. Chameleon and Summoning spells are your friends. Chameleon gives some of the benefits of invisibility; but, maintains the effect even when you attack. (Which is why 100% Chameleon breaks the game--you can attack with impunity and enemies can never see you to return the favor.) When things get tight, you whip out a daedra or undead to do the dirty in-fighting for you while you stay back and snipe. You'll want to improve your Marksman skill as quickly as possible. The quicker you can get the "scope" effect (the ability to zoom in on a target) at Journeyman level, the more effective you will be at picking off your enemies before they can close with you. Once you reach Expert Marksman, you can stagger enemies, which makes you more-or-less unstoppable. EQUIPMENT ----------- Throughout all stages of your character development, you will be especially vulnerable to spellcasters and other archers. Since you have to stand still, aim and shoot, ranged mobs have an advantage against you. Furthermore, any time you end up in a hand-to-hand scuffle, you'll be at a disadvantage. So, you want to have decent armor. While most people think of archers as light-armored fighters, a heavy armor archer is not out of the question. The more protection you can layer on yourself, the more you can stand in and take physical punishment--whether from arrows or melee weapons. You also need to have spell absorption, spell reflection or magic-resistant equipment. Don't forget to find or enchant some items with permanent Chameleon effects to improve your chances of making Sneak attacks. (But, don't layer on so much Chameleon you break the game. It's really no fun.) Since you won't be carting around as many heavy melee weapons as the hand-to-hand fighters, Feather spells and Strength-boosting effects are not as beneficial. (Though, in the long run, all adventurers benefit from higher encumbrance.) | Magic [GP03-D] +---------------- There are lots of different mage "classes" in Oblivion. However, you can boil them down to three distinct types: * Battlemage: "Battlemage" is really just a term applied to a melee fighter or archer that uses a bit more magic than is typical. A battlemage isn't really a mage so much as a magic-using fighter. Use the tactics and equipment lists for the type of fighter you'll be; but, you may want to use a race and birthsign that emphasize Magicka. * Summoner: Summoners concentrate on hanging back, out of range of attacks, calling forth a daedric or undead minion and using a few ranged offensive spells against the enemy; or, using buffing spells on the summoned creature. Within Oblivion, summoners are usually called Necromancers because many of the best summoned creatures are undead. Tactics for summoning are fairly simple: train up your Conjuration skill (which is the easiest magic skill to train) and have Restoration spells ready to heal and buff your summons. Try to stay out of the fight and let your summons do the work for you. Since your Conjuration skill will be high, you'll want a high-level Bound weapon spell available for when the action gets too close (mainly for blocking, since you're an ineffectual fighter). * Sorcerer: This is the offensive mage archetype. Sorcerers are all about raining death and destruction on their enemies using only magic. A sorcerer disdains mundane weapons, using them only when required (and frequently falling back on Bound Daedric weapons conjured up when necessary rather than carting around a sword). Both the Summoner and Sorcerer style of playing will be covered in this section. SPELL-CHAINING ---------------- Spell-chaining is the tactic of chaining weakness spells with damage spells to increase the overall damage of the spell. For example, if you first hit your target with Weakness to Shock 100; then, while the Weakness to Shock spell is still in effect, you hit with a Shock 10 spell, the Shock 10 spell actually does 20 points of damage (10 + 100% or 10 + 10). The idea behind spell- chaining is to radically increase damage at a minimal cost in Magicka. Three notes about spell-chaining: 1) You have to make your own spells. You won't find the right types of spells for chaining in the wild or in stores. So, you must reach Apprentice level in the Mages Guild or buy the Wizard's Tower official plug-in. 2) Spell-chaining uses short duration spells (thus minimizing the Magicka cost of the spells). Each spell only needs a long enough duration in order for you to hit with the next spell in the chain. Thus, you need to tailor the duration of the spells to your ability to switch and cast a spell--typically five or six seconds will be enough; less once you have become experienced. You also should use touch spells rather than ranged spells, as this allows you to avoid the duration of the spell traveling over distance and makes hitting with each spell in the chain more of a sure thing. 3) Use damage-over-time spells as they are cheaper to make and to cast. A 5 Fire Damage for 5 Seconds and a 25 Fire Damage both do the same total amount of damage (25 points); but, the 5x5 spell will use less Magicka. Example --------- Spell 1: Weakness to Magicka 100 for 5 seconds -> Start by increasing the target's vulnerability to all spells by 100%; this doubles the effect of the next spell that hits Spell 2: Weakness to Magicka 100 for 5 seconds, Weakness to Shock 100 for 5 seconds -> The next spell that hits increases the target's vulnerability to all Spells by 200% (100% doubled by the first spell = 200%) and to Shock Damage by 200% Spell 3: Shock 5 Damage for 10 seconds -> By now, the first spell has worn off; but, that's OK. The second spell is still in effect. First, the Shock damage is increased by 200%, or tripled. 5x10 becomes 15x10. This is then run through the Weakness to Magicka 200 effect, which triples it again. 15x10 becomes 45x10. You've just increased the magnitude of your spell by 800%: from 50 total damage to 450 total damage. At a total cost of Magicka, you can cast this chain pretty much constantly (not that you'll need to, dishing out 450 damage every ten seconds. Spell-chaining is not an original idea; it's been around at least since Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Just Google oblivion spell-chaining and you'll find a number of treatises on the subject. FIGHTING TACTICS ------------------ If you don't want to do spell-chaining, as described above, then your tactics are going to be similar to an archer. You want to stay back, out of range, and let loose targeted Destruction spells at your enemies. You should also work on your Conjuration so you can call for help when things get sticky. You should always carry a weapon and use it to block when attackers get too close. Have some powerful touch spells ready (touch spells do more damage per Magicka spent than ranged spells) to use when an opponent closes up. Some other things you can do: * Burden your enemies to keep them from moving (works especially well on heavy-armor tanks). * Lower your enemy's resistances and then follow up with a spell that exploits that weakness (similar to spell-chaining, but you'll need longer-lasting Weakness spells and more powerful Destruction spells). * Buff yourself into a melee monster (Shield, Fortify Strength) and use Bound weapons to whale on an unsuspecting foe. * Use Sneak Attacks (preferably with a bow) before opening with magic. You don't get any Sneak bonus when using magic, but you do when shooting an arrow. EQUIPMENT ----------- As a spellcaster, one of your biggest problems is spell reflection--i.e. enemies with lots of spell reflection. If you've built yourself into a powerhouse, you don't really want your spells coming back to bite you in the rear. Therefore, you want to load up on items, potions and spells that provide magic resistance. If you can ameliorate the damage being reflected back to you (not to mention the spells of enemy casters), so much the better. You'll also want plenty of Feather spells or potions so you can properly loot all the dungeons you clean out. And, you'll need plenty of Shielding unless you decide you can get by wearing light armor and taking the hit in spell effectiveness. If you want full power from your spells, then you'll have to replace normal armor with Shield spells. Finally, the best equipment any mage can have is an Altar of Spellmaking. You can get one of these by purchasing the Wizard's Tower official plug-in and buying the necessary equipment in-game. You could also join the Mages Guild and complete the seven Recommendation quests--this gives you access to spellmaking at Arcane University. [GP04] <~~~~~~ MAGICKA EFFECTS ~~~~~~> This is a brief rundown of the different types of effects in the game and how to deal with them. *NOTE 1* You can get rid of most harmful effects by praying at the altar (Activate the altar) in a Great Chapel in one of the major cities. In order for you to receive restoration, your Fame must be higher than your Infamy and you cannot have any outstanding bounty. *NOTE 2* Most effects are temporary unless you enchant them into an item. If you wear an enchanted item, the effects are permanent until you remove the item. * Absorb Attribute/Skill Temporarily transfers some attribute or skill points from the affected character to the affecting character. For example, if you have Absorb Magicka on your weapon, any creature you hit with that weapon will lose some Magicka and you will gain the same amount. * Burden Increase the encumbrance value of all items in your Inventory. If the total encumbrance value of all items is more than your maximum encumbrance you are over-encumbered and cannot move (though you can still use a weapon or cast a spell). Using Burden spells/poisons on characters in heavy armor might just root them in place, allowing you to pick them off from a distance. * Chameleon You will blend in with your environment, making it more difficult for enemies to see you and increasing your Sneak effectiveness. Chameleon, unlike Invisibility, is not canceled when you attack someone; thus, 100% Chameleon essentially breaks the game by making it impossible for enemies to attack you or react when you attack them. (And 100% Chameleon is not hard to get either.) * Damage Attribute/Skill Take a few points off the named attribute or skill. Damaged attributes and skills do not restore themselves. You must use a Restore spell/potion or pray at the altar in one of the Great Chapels in a city. * Detect Life You can see all animate creatures in the radius of the spell. This includes undead. (So, why is it called Detect "Life" when it can detect non-life? Who knows?) Animate creatures will be highlighted in a purple glow. The spell works through walls, allowing you to see enemies in the next room (or even down through the floor or up through the ceiling in multi-level areas). * Disease There are a number of different diseases in the game. You will typically be affected when hit by certain creatures. Use a Cure Disease spell or potion, or pray at the altar in one of the Great Chapels in a city. * Dispel You can rid yourself or the target of Magicka effects, harmful or beneficial. Useful if you've been hit with Drain, Burden, Paralyze, etc. and need to get rid of the effect fast. It can also be used to cancel your enemy's buffs. * Drain Attribute/Skill Similar to Damage Attribute/Skill, but the effects are temporary. * Feather Decrease the encumbrance value of all items in your Inventory. This will show as an increase in your maximum encumbrance value, but that's not actually what is happening. For example, if you are carrying 30 pounds of equipment, and you use a Feather 50 spell, you only get the effect of Feather 30, since there aren't 50 pounds of equipment to reduce. To avoid problems, make sure you only use a Feather effect that is less than your current encumbrance. * Fire Damage Cause an additional amount of damage of type "fire". This is elemental damage and not reduced by armor; however, it is affected by Fire Resistance, Spell Absorption and Reflection. * Fortify Attribute/Skill Increase the number of points in an attribute or skill. * Frost Damage Cause an additional amount of damage of type "frost". This is elemental damage and not reduced by armor; however, it is affected by Fire Resistance, Spell Absorption and Reflection. * Invisibility You become invisible and impossible to detect. Attacking another character cancels the invisibility. * Light Gives light in a radius around the target. * Night-Eye Essentially, this is ultraviolet vision. Lets you see in the dark, but everything is bluish-gray in color. * Open Lock Allows you to open locks. Each spell is rated for the maximum difficulty lock it will open. Using Open Lock on a "red" door is not considered a crime (unlike lockpicking). Open Lock spells increase your Alteration skill and do not affect your Security skill. * Paralyze Binds the target and knocks it to the ground where you can have your way with it. * Poison Poisons are another way of causing the various different effects listed here. You can instantly recover from a poison by using a Cure Poison spell or potion. You can also pray at the altar in one of the Great Chapels in a city. * Reflect Damage Reflect a certain amount of damage done to you back on the character doing the damage. * Resist Damage You will shrug off some of a specific type of damage. E.g. Resist Fire 10% gets rid of the first 10% of fire damage that hits you. Resist Normal Weapons 50% deducts half the damage from normal (non-silver, non-daedric, non- enchanted) weapons. * Restore Attribute/Skill Heal a damaged, drained or absorbed attribute or skill. * Shield Increase your armor rating; e.g. Shield 20 increases your armor rating by 20 points. You can also have a Fire/Frost/Shock Shield, which increases your armor rating and gives you resistance to the named elemental damage type. E.g. Shock Shield 20 increases your armor rating by 20 points and provides 20 points of Shock resistance. * Shock Damage Cause an additional amount of damage of type "shock". This is elemental damage and not reduced by armor; however, it is affected by Fire Resistance, Spell Absorption and Reflection. * Spell Absorption Nullify a percentage of a spell's effect. * Spell Reflection Reflect a percentage of a spell's effect back on the caster. * Weakness to Damage Make the target more vulnerable to a specific type of damage. For example, Weakness to Frost 50 means frost effects cause 50% more damage to the weak character. HOW TO GET 100% CHAMELEON --------------------------- *WARNING* 100% Chameleon breaks the game. If you do this, you won't have any fun--unless you like playing in god mode. You need a Chameleon spell (any level) in your spellbook (i.e. not a scroll); five grand soul gems, each with a grand soul; about 8,000 gold; five pieces of un-enchanted wearable equipment (e.g. two rings, an amulet, gloves and boots) and the ability to enchant items (Apprentice in the Mages Guild or owner of the Wizard's Tower official plug-in). Use the soul gems to enchant each piece of equipment with 20% Chameleon for a total of 100% Chameleon. Alternately, you can get 100% Chameleon (well, actually 120%) by waiting until you are high level (over 16) before getting into the main quest. Then go around closing Oblivion Gates and collecting the Sigil Stones. Save right before taking the stone; if it doesn't offer the Chameleon effect, reload and take it again. When you have four Transcendent Sigil Stones with Chameleon (30%), enchant four items and get your 120% Chameleon. Put on your equipment. You are now completely invisible all the time and can do whatever you want whenever you want. Have fun. [GP05] <~~~~~~ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ~~~~~~> Q. Where's my horse? A. Horses are, overall, far more trouble than they are worth. You can't fight while you're on a horse (unless you download a mod for the PC version of the game). Horses frequently wander off while you're spelunking. And Fast Traveling while you're on a horse sometimes causes a glitch where either your horse disappears from the game entirely or ends up in the city with you. If you're having a lot of trouble keeping track of your horse, just work on training your Speed and do without the four-legged beasts. Q. OK, but where's Shadowmere? A. Shadowmere, as a plot NPC, can't be killed and doesn't generally wander off or glitch out of the game. If Shadowmere can't be found where you left him, go back to Fort Farragut (Lucien Lachance's headquarters). Shadowmere generally returns there whenever the game loses track of him. Q. What's the best Daedric artifact to give to Martin? (Blood of the Daedra quest) A. Wabbajack, the staff you get from Sheogorath's quest. Sheogorath's quest is easy (no combat), can be done at level 2 and Wabbajack is a fun item, but not one you're actually going to want to use in any serious way. Q. How do I build the best character? A. There's lots of different answers to that quest. Hopefully I've provided most of them in my Character Build FAQ: http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt Q. I can't find the body in the well! (Cheydinhal Mages Guild Recommendation quest) A. This is a known glitch. There's no solution other than loading up an earlier savegame. Q. Can I give the Honorblade of Chorrol to the Countess and then steal it back? A. Yes. The solution comes from Karkianman: "I have a high stealth rating, and was wearing the Gray Cowl as well as some Chameleon enchantments, and found it impossible to pickpocket the sword from the countess. However, lo and behold, you can knock her unconscious, and at some point during her forced slumber you can take items off of her body, including the weightless sword. Wearing the Gray Cowl during this leaves you innocent. Do note that she has to be asleep already before you knock her out for this to work. During the day she equips the sword, and so even though she’s knocked out, it can’t be taken. I have no idea if a similar thing can be accomplished by giving the sword to Fathis Ules instead." Q. The priests in the Elder Scrolls Library (Thieves Guild Ultimate Heist quest) won't talk to me or are hostile. How do I complete the quest? A. Back up to an earlier savegame and try again. Make sure you Sneak around to open the door (you're a thief, right?) and be extra careful you don't talk to (Activate) any NPC in the area. Q. There's a chest in Pale Pass (Lifting the Vale side quest) that has a key? What does that key fit? A. There's an undocumented side quest in Pale Pass involving four chests. The first chest is right next to the fort, and the key in that chest fits the next chest and that chest has a key and so on. Unfortunately, I have not yet fully documented that side quest. If you search around on GameFAQs or other FAQ- related sources, you may find someone who has fully explained that little quest. Q. I'm trying to do the Fighters Guild quest Mystery at Harlun's Watch, but there are no villager bodies in the cave! How do I complete the quest. A. This bug is caused if you clear out Swampy Cave before you start this quest. The bug is fixed by the v1.1.511 patch. Install the patch, then back up to an earlier save from before starting that quest. Q. Where can I get the best gear? A. All loot and store merchandise in Oblivion is leveled. As you increase in level, so does the material you find in chests and the gear you buy from stores. All merchants have one "special" item that they always offer for sale (until you buy it, that is). In the long run, the best gear is enchanted stuff you make for yourself. Q. What are the best enchantments? A. Every adventurer needs Feather so you can haul your bounty out of the dungeons you explore, and Resist effects to ameliorate damage from elemental and magic attacks. Melee fighters need Strength for increasing damage. Mages can use boosts to their Magicka total and regeneration rate. Archers will want boosts to their Stealth and Agility, and a bow that does extra damage. Q. How do I get black soul gems? A. You can generally find them in necromancer dungeons. You can also make your own. Details on making black soul gems is in the Enchanting, Spellmaking & Soul Gems section above. Q. My skills or attributes have been damaged. What can I do? A. If your Infamy is lower than your Fame and you have no Bounty, you can pray at an altar in any Temple in the large cities. This will fully restore all your damaged attributes. If your Infamy is larger than your Fame, then you'll need to use Restore spells or potions; or, purchase the Vile Lair and activate the Altar of Sithis. It works just like Temple altars, but for "evil" characters. If your Infamy is low, but you have a Bounty, find the nearest guard and pay off your bounty, then pray at a Temple. Q. I'm doing the quest, Where Spirits Have Lease. I've tracked Velwyn Benirus in Imperial City, but he refuses to talk to me about the house? A. This is a known glitch and the only solution is to back up to an earlier save. Q. Can I save attribute bonuses between levels? A. No, unless you delay leveling up. As long as you don't level up, your attribute bonuses accumulate and you'll be able to get them all the next time you sleep, as you'll level up two or more times. Once you do level up, all your attribute bonuses are reset. Q. Do I get to be emperor when I finish the main quest? A. No. You become the Champion of Cyrodiil and get to wear the emperor's armor, but you're not large and in charge. Q. I'm trying to close an Oblivion gate, but Activating the Sigil Stone has no effect! What can I do? A. Back up to an earlier save? This glitch has hit many people, but I've seen no solution. Q. What are runestones, doomstones, Ayleid wells and wayshrines? A. These artifacts of an earlier age are scattered around Cyrodiil. Each one gives you some type of boost when you Activate (use) it. They are never marked on your map in game. Maps are available on GameFAQs.com. Wayshrines are essential in the Knights of the Nine quest. Q. How can I get more money at the merchants? What's the maximum amount of money that any merchant has? A. In the base game, the most any normal merchant has is 1200 gold. I.e. you make any sale over 1200 gold. The Wizard's Tower official plug-in adds a merchant with 2000 gold. Fences have up to 1500 gold, but are only available to Thieves Guild members, or owners of the Thieves Den official plug-in. You can add more barter gold to any merchant by increasing your Mercantile skill. At Expert Mercantile, you can give (invest) 500 gold to any merchant. At Master Mercantile, all merchants have 500 more barter gold. Thus, with Wizard's Tower + investing in the 2000 gold merchant + Master Mercantile, the most you can get for any item is 3000 gold. Or, if you're on the PC, you can install a mod that gives all merchants more money. Q. I exploited the item cloning/bound weapon/whatever glitch and now my game keeps crashing. What do I do. A. Back up to an earlier save and don't use exploits. Most exploits in these games are very risky and can lead to unintended consequences. Q. I'm trying to get out of Dagon Shrine, but the exit door is locked and says it needs a key! A. Wrong door. When you're escaping from the cave, it's easy to think the highly visible door just across from you is the exit. It's not. As you come out of the secret exit from the Living Quarters, the cave exit is to your right, at the end of a twisting tunnel. It's easily recognizable during the day because sunlight will be streaming through it. Q. How do I get rid of spells I don't use any more? A. The only way to take spells out of your spellbook is to use a console command: player.removespell hhhhhhhh where hhhhhhhh is the hex code for the spell. Details are in the PC Console Commands section of this guide. If you're playing on X360 or PS3...Sorry, you're out of luck. Q. I've finished all the quests. Is there anything else I can do? A. There are at least a couple dozen dungeons that aren't connected to any quest. You can explore those. PC users can download fan-made mods that add additional quests. Otherwise, you have to wait until the expansion set, Shivering Isles, is released in Spring 2007. [MS00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MAIN STORY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ [MS01] <~~~~~~ TUTORIAL ~~~~~~> This starter dungeon is your tutorial for the game. It covers most of the basics. You start by choosing your race. Later you'll choose your birthsign and class. You'll be given the opportunity to change all of these at the end of the tutorial. | Imperial Prison +----------------- Wander around your cell, playing with the chains and listening to the Dark Elf across the way taunt you. Soon, Uriel Septim himself, accompanied by some of his Blades, will show up and give you a way out. Follow them down into the escape tunnel. You'll soon reach a place where the Emperor is attacked and Renault is killed--stay out of this fight, as you don't have a weapon or armor and you can't change the outcome anyway. Loot Renault's corpse for her sword and a torch and search the assassin bodies for miscellaneous stuff (mostly potions). From this point, you can't follow the Emperor's party, but a convenient hole in the wall to the southeast soon opens and a couple of rats run through. Kill the rats, jump through the hole and watch out for more rats. Thoroughly search this large cavern. A skeleton near the entrance has a bow and some arrows, so you can start working on your Marksman skill. There are a number of corpses--one has several lockpicks and another has a key to the exit door. The exit is to the southeast; the lock can be picked if you haven't found the key. (The body with the key is near the door.) | Imperial Substructure +----------------------- There's a zombie at the bottom of the slope leading out of the first room. This will be the strongest foe you've faced thus far. Other than that bit of excitement, you're mostly just fighting rats and collecting loot. Near the exit is a goblin early-warning system consisting of skulls hanging from the ceiling. | Natural Caverns +----------------- Soon after entering the caverns, you'll get your first lesson in sneaking. You can just sneak past the goblin; but, might as well sneak up to him and give him the business end of your weapon. Around the next corner is a tripwire. You can jump the tripwire and then fight the goblin beyond it; or, try to run through the tripwire and speed past the goblin, who will then take the brunt of the swinging maces. Don't try this unless you have a Speed rating of 40 or higher. Not far past the swinging mace trap, you'll come upon a pile of logs at the top of a slope. Activate the logs to take out the two goblins at the bottom of the slope. Advance slowly down the slope to a very large cavern. There will be three or four goblins in here, one of which is a witch with a lightning staff. Use a bow or ranged spell to draw the weaker goblins to you, then bull-rush the witch. The tunnel exit from this room eventually leads into the Imperial Subteranne. | Imperial Subteranne +--------------------- You come out on a high ledge looking over Uriel Septim and his bodyguards. Jump down into the room and Septim invites you to join the party. During the conversation you'll select a birthsign. Don't worry too much about your selection; you'll get to change it later. Follow the emperor and guards, helping with the assassins as they attack. You'll eventually reach... | The Sanctum +------------- Soon after entering the Sanctum, Baurus and the other guard go to scout ahead, leaving you to guard the Emperor in a side room. Uriel Septim initiates another conversation with you, this time charging you to take his Amulet of Kings to Jauffre, who will know where to find the last remaining son of the Emperor. As soon as you have the amulet, a Mythic Dawn assassin jumps through a secret door and kills Septim. [MS02] <~~~~~~ DELIVER THE AMULET ~~~~~~> | Sewers +-------- Baurus and the other guard return in time to help you deal with the assassin. You can then talk to Baurus about Jauffre. Jauffre is the Grandmaster of the Blades--the Emperor's personal guard--and he bides his time at Weynon Priory outside Chorrol. Baurus also initiates your first chance to choose a class. Don't spend too much time on it now; you can change it later (along with your race and birthsign). He'll then point you through the door the assassin came through, saying it leads to the sewers and freedom. Follow the hall to the sewer entrance, then advance through the sewers. Soon after entering, you'll come to a large room divided by water. There are two exits. The left--north--exit leads to some loot guarded by goblins. The right- -southeast--exit eventually leads to the long tunnel out of the sewers. About halfway down the tunnel you'll come to a gate. When you Activate the gate, you'll get a menu allowing you to change your race, birthsign, class or exit the sewers. *SAVE YOUR GAME* You may even want to use the console command SaveGame to create a specially- named save. Never delete this savegame. Whenever you want to start the game over with a "new" character, just load this savegame and change your race, birthsign and class, then exit the sewers. You never have to go through the starter dungeon again. (Well, unless you go through the Dark Brotherhood quests, but that's different.) When you're happy with your choice of character, exit the sewers. You find yourself looking out over a river toward some ruins. Behind you rises the Imperial Prison and, beyond that, Imperial City itself. | Imperial City +--------------- You can, if you like, immediately Fast Travel to Weynon Priory; however, you will probably want to stop in Imperial City and sell off any useless items you collected in the starter dungeon. The main story beckons, but so does the entire land of Cyrodiil. To quest, or not to quest, that is the question. There are several reasons for starting the main story right away and leaving everything else until later: 1) Several times during the main story you will be required either to protect an NPC or fight a pitched battle against hordes of daedra with the help of other NPCs. If you wait until you are higher level, the daedra you fight will also be higher level. Alas, the NPCs around you will not. Once you get into the late teens in level, the daedra you fight will have your allies for lunch and come looking for you as dessert. Fighting a mob of mid-level daedra isn't healthy. Not at all. You could wait until your power rivals the Nine (around 35th or 40th level), at which point the daedra you face simply can't keep up and you'll mow them down with ease. That doesn't necessarily help in the "protect the NPC" quests, though. At low levels, the daedra that spew forth from Oblivion are also low-level and your allies can pitch in and actually do more than contribute to some demon's indigestion. In this case, the leveled system works as intended and keeps the tasks challenging, but not impossible. 2) If you do a little bit of the main story, up to taking Martin back to Weynon Priory, you'll start the part of the game where random Oblivion gates pop up around Cyrodiil. If you get up to that point in the main story, then go side questing for a while, your way will eventually be impeded by all the daedra roaming the countryside. Better to get to the end of the main story and clear all that up. 3) When you finish the main story, you are proclaimed the Champion of Cyrodiil and everyone loves you. Literally. You get a big Disposition increase with all the NPCs, which makes all the side quests (many of which require a high Disposition score with an NPC somewhere along the way) much easier. No mucking about with the Disposition mini-game, or Charm spells or any thing like that. Just chat with the people and they'll do whatever you want or tell you anything you want to know. Makes the side quests a breeze. 4) A lot of the rewards for side quests are special enchanted items that are keyed to your level--the higher your level, the more powerful the item. If you collect all this junk at low levels, that's exactly what they will be...junk. (PC users can download a mod that fixes this problem. See the Mods section at the end of this guide.) Better to do all these side quests later and get the uber leet gear instead of the fancy baubles. Of course, you can ignore the voice of reason and go off side questing, in which case, just skip on down to the section you want to see. For those of you with a bit more wisdom, Fast Travel to... | Weynon Priory +--------------- Weynon Priory is located southeast of Chorrol. You can Fast Travel there from the beginning of the game. Jauffre is typically found upstairs in the main priory house, usually sitting at his desk. Talk to him for a history of the kings, the Dragonfires and Oblivion. He'll also point you to Septim's lone surviving heir, Martin, who serves as a priest of Akatosh in Kvatch. Jauffre will take the amulet and charge you with finding Martin and bringing him to Weynon Priory. After, ask Jauffre about assistance. He'll open his chest and you can loot it for better armor, weapons and other things. Downstairs, talk to Prior Maborel, who will offer the loan of his horse. Accept, with thanks. You now have some decent equipment and a horse, the world is yours! Or you can get on with your mission to Kvatch. Now that you have a horse, you might want to go overland to Kvatch rather than Fast Travel. You'll discover a lot of locations that will be important for later quests. [MS03] <~~~~~~ FIND THE HEIR ~~~~~~> | Outskirts of Kvatch +--------------------- When you reach the outskirts of Kvatch, you find the city in flames. To the south is a refugee camp, where you get the full story of daedra spewing forth from an Oblivion gate. Questions about Martin lead you to Savlian Matius, captain of the Kvatch guard, who is holding the line against the demons at the entrance to Kvatch. Wind your way up the hill and find Matius and a few troops fighting daedra. (The specific type of daedra depend on your class level.) Pitch in, if you wish. When the fighting is over, talk to Matius, who tells you Martin is holed up inside the chapel in the city. Your only hope is to find out how to close the Oblivion gate, so the soldiers can retake the city. [MS04] <~~~~~~ BREAKING THE SIEGE OF KVATCH ~~~~~~> | Oblivion: Kvatch Gate +----------------------- Welcome to your primary task in the main story of Oblivion. You will soon grow to hate Oblivion gates. Ah well, no better time than the present. Step up to the glowing portal and Activate it and go to hell. Literally. Fire resistance is a good thing. Fire spells--not so good. Almost everything you encounter in Oblivion is resistant to fire, but weak against shock damage. Load up on shocking spells, or shock-enchanted weapons. (Funny--you would think the weakness would be to frost. Anyway...) If you start encountering Flame Atronachs, you can use frost against them. (Similarly, use fire against Frost Atronachs. Against Storm Atronachs, use anything other than shock.) As you enter Oblivion, you'll find a Kvatch guard under attack by daedra. If the guard survives--his name is Ilend Vonius--talk to him and either send him back to Matius, or ask him to come along and watch your back. Ahead of you (north) is a bridge blocked by a gate. To the east is a dead end. Your path lies to the west. First note about Oblivion: these areas are all very linear. If you get lost, just look at your map. There's usually only one way you can go. Wind your way around the west side of this island, until you reach the northwest section. Then you head back south--and a little east--eventually reaching the large round tower in the center of the north sector of the island. This is a Sigil Keep. You'll get to know these well. This particular keep is called Blood Feast. Lovely, isn't it? All Oblivion towers follow the same basic layout: * The tower is hollow in its center, with a Sigillum Sanguis at the top. To reach the Sanguis, you have to climb through one to three side areas. * Most Sigil Keeps have two side areas: Rending Halls and Corridors of Dark Salvation. These areas are relatively small and feature a few daedra and traps. * In between the side areas, you'll climb some ramps around the central hollow core of the tower. First up in Blood Feast, as in most Sigil Keeps, is the Rending Halls. Enter and climb the ramp, which takes a 90-degree turn. At the top, kill the daedra and use the Blood Fountain for some health regeneration. Re-enter the tower core through one of the two doors to the south. Climb a ramp around the tower core to reach an entrance to the Corridors of Dark Salvation. Wind your way up the ramp to a large room and dispose of the daedra. The only unlocked exit from this room (besides the hall you just came through) is to the west. This leads to a bridge over to a smaller tower. In the small tower (Reapers Sprawl), climb the ramp and kill the Sigil Keeper. Take a key from his body. Inside a cage is another Kvatch guard--still alive! Talk to him to learn what you must do: enter the Sigillum Sanguis at the top of the tower and remove the sigil stone. That will close the gate. Go back to Blood Feast. You can now leave this room through either the north or southwest door. The southwest door eventually leads back to the tower core, but on a dead-end balcony. There is some loot here (in bloody hunks of meat called "The Punished"). The north door leads to a ramp that curves to the east. At the top of the ramp, you'll see another ramp going down to the east and a door to the south. The door goes to your objective. The ramp going down eventually leads to another small tower, with some minor loot. Leave through the south door at the top of the ramp, re-entering the core of Blood Feast. Wind your way up the ramps to what looks like a dead end. Find the round platform surrounded by spikes. It's a teleporter (only a few of the Sigil Keeps have these). Step on it, Activate one of the spikes and you'll reach the level where you can enter the Sigillum Sanguis. All the Sanguis you enter are round rooms with three levels--you always enter at the bottom of the room and the sigil stone is always at the top. Of course. Fight your way up the stairs, and then up a ramp. When you reach the sigil stone at the top, simply Activate it. Things blow up. Lots of flashing. You're back in front of Kvatch with only a burned out relic to remind you of the lovely Oblivion gate. Find and talk to Matius. He wants you to come with them as they fight through to the survivors in the chapel. | Kvatch +-------- *NOTE*: The only way to get Martin out of the chapel is to let Matius and his men go in, going with them, and kill all the daedra inside the gates. If you try to go it alone, the daedra keep respawning and you can't get the survivors (including Martin) out of the church. Charge into Kvatch with Matius and his men and kill daedra (about four or five). Once you get a message that all the daedra are dead, enter the Temple of Akatosh. Matius will get a report from one of his guards inside the temple, and the survivors will head out to the refugee camp--Martin among them. You have a couple of choices: * Buttonhole Martin now and convince him to go with you to Weynon Priory. You then leave Matius and company to their own devices (which is to stand around and do nothing). * Let Martin go on down to the refugee camp. You can find him there later, perfectly safe, and have your heart-to-heart with him then. This frees you up to do the "Battle for Castle Kvatch" sub-quest. Regardless of what you decide to do, you must talk to Matius to officially end Breaking the Siege of Kvatch. Matius will ask for your help re-taking the Castle of Kvatch and finding the count. This is an optional sub-quest that relates to the optional "Allies for Bruma" quest that comes later on. This quest is covered under "Allies for Bruma", so if you want to do it now, skip down a few sections and get the low-down on your tasks. *NOTE* It is possible to do everything in Kvatch before ever visiting Jauffre at Weynon Priory. But, if you do that, you won't be able to recognize Brother Martin (he'll be labeled as a generic priest) and you won't be able to talk to him about being the heir to the throne. If you do break the siege before talking to Jauffre, you'll have to go talk to him, return to the refugee camp, and there you will find Martin wandering about. [MS05] <~~~~~~ WEYNON PRIORY ~~~~~~> When you're ready to get on with the main quest, talk to Martin and then Fast Travel to Weynon Priory. (You do not want to walk all that way when leading someone. They never run and it will take a long, long time.) You arrive in the middle of an attack. The Priory's shepherd runs up, with a Mythic Dawn assassin on his heels, and fills you in. Maborel is dead. (Yay! His horse is, ipso facto, yours now!) Jauffre is holed up in the chapel. Kill the assassins outside (with Martin's help, Brother Piner will join in as well), then enter the chapel and kill the assassins inside. You must keep Martin and Jauffre alive, else it's reload time. Once the assassins are dead, Jauffre thinks of the Amulet of Kings. Follow him to his loft room so you can be there to witness the look of shock on his face when he finds the Amulet is gone. Yeah. Never saw that coming. Jauffre decides the safest place for Martin is the headquarters of the Blades: Cloud Ruler Temple. The temple will be marked for you on your map and you can even Fast Travel there. (Hooray!) When you arrive, Martin is introduced as the Emperor, gives a little speech and heads off to settle in. Jauffre offers you membership in the Blades. Go ahead and accept--especially if you are a heavy armor fighter. There's a full set of kit (helm, gauntlets, cuirass, greaves, boots, shield and katana) for every Blade. This equipment is the equivalent of steel armor, so it's pretty good if you're still low level. <~~~~~~ RANDOM OBLIVION GATES ~~~~~~> This isn't really a quest. You get no journal entry, and there are no rewards (beyond any normal loot you may collect). You don't even have to worry about this at all; however... Once you go to Weynon Priory, the main story advances to the point where Oblivion gates begin popping up in random spots around Cyrodiil. The further you are in the main story, the higher the chance a gate will open in whatever region you are in. These gates not only open in random places, they point to random Oblivion worlds. All Oblivion worlds are roughly the same, but there's no way to predict the exact layout you'll get when going through a gate. Enter at your own risk. You can: * Ignore them. When you finish the main story, they will close automatically. You'll still have whatever daedra came out of them to deal with, but that's just a nuisance. (Especially since the first daedra to come out will be commensurate with your level at the time the gate opened--not your level when you come back through to sweep the area clean.) * Close them. They don't stay closed. But if you want the extra experience and/or loot and/or alchemical ingredients found only in Oblivion, then you can go in and close them (temporarily). [MS06] <~~~~~~ THE PATH OF DAWN ~~~~~~> Once you've settled in, talk to Jauffre. He wants you to track down the Mythic Dawn and find the Amulet. He points you to an old friend, Baurus (the guy who failed to properly guard Uriel Septim), who is hanging out at Luther Broad's Boarding House in Imperial City. Luther Broad's is in the Elven Gardens district. You can Fast Travel there, or walk/run/ride. Your choice. During normal hours, Baurus is sitting at the bar in Luther's place, having a pint (or two or three). Check out the guy sitting over in the corner, name of Astav Wirich. This will be your target. Have a seat next to Baurus (target the stool and Activate it) and have a little chat. Baurus has been intelligence-gathering and now he's being followed. He wants you to help him pin his shadow. Baurus will get up and leave, heading down to Luther's basement. Wirich will get up and follow him. You do the same. Once down in the basement, Wirich transforms himself into a Mythic Dawn assassin. Help Baurus dispose of him. Frisk the body to find a book: Mankar Camoran's Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes, Book 1. (This is a skill book, and will increase your Conjuration skill by 1 when you read it.). Talk to Baurus about the book. He suggests taking it to Tar-Meena, at the Arcane University. Go to college. If you're a member in good standing of the Mages Guild (i.e. you've completed enough of their tasks to have access to the University), you'll find Tar-Meena in the library. If not, she'll be hanging around in the lobby, just in case a visitor with a strange book happens to drop in and need help. Show her the book and she'll tell you this is the first of four Commentaries. She supposes having all four commentaries will reveal the location of the Mythic Dawn's headquarters. She just happens to have Book 2 (skill, Destruction +1) and suggests the bookstore First Edition in Imperial City for the other two. Go to the Market District of Imperial City. First Edition is located on the main SW to NE street near the gate to Green Emperor Way. Talk to Phintias, the merchant about the Books. Yes, he just so happens to have Book 3, but another customer, Gwinas, has already reserved the book and Phintias is holding it for Gwinas. Gwinas is the key to both Book 3 and Book 4. He's coming to buy Book 3 and he has a note setting up a meeting at which he'll receive Book 4. You have several options: 1) (Preferred): Wait in First Edition (you won't have to wait long), for Gwinas to show up. As soon as Gwinas has bought the book, corner him and reveal to him the Mythic Dawn is the group that killed the Emperor. Gwinas will re-think his idea of joining the cult, give you Book 3 (skill, Illusion +1) and the note about the meeting. 2) Get Phintias' Disposition north of 70 and he'll sell you Book 3 without waiting for Gwinas to come get it. You'll still have to get the note from Gwinas, which you can do by confronting him as in option #1. Since Gwinas will give you Book 3 free, but Phintias won't, option #1 is better. 3) Follow Gwinas back to his hotel, and either pick-pocket Book 3 and the note from him, or kill him and take them from his corpse. *HINT* Visit Edgar's Discount Spells in the Market District and pick up a Convalescence spell. (Convalescence allows you to heal a target.) Very useful for keeping NPCs alive during the tasks ahead. Once you have Book 3 and the note, return to Baurus. He'll tell you he knows exactly where this meeting is to take place. Follow him to the Elven Gardens district and a sewer entrance. Baurus leads you on a winding path through the sewers, impeded by the occasional rat, mud crab or goblin. Finally, he'll stop and tell you the meeting is to take place just beyond a door. He suggests you go up some stairs to the left and spy on the proceedings from above. You can either acquiesce or demand to be the one who has the meeting and Baurus can be the cover. Either way works. The meeting is with Raven Camoran, Mankar's son. Not long into the meeting, a couple of assassins find whoever is handling backup duty on the upper floor and your cover is blown. It's a 3-on-2 fight, unless you let Baurus get killed, then you're in trouble. Once all the assassins are dead, loot Raven's corpse for Book 4 (skill, Mysticism +1) and a key to another exit from the sewers. Talk to Baurus (if he's still alive). He's going to Cloud Ruler Temple to take up his duties under Martin. You need to get out of the sewers. Use the key you took from Raven to go out the way he came in and loot their hideout. If you keep heading north, you'll reach the Talos Plaza sewers, which is a slightly shorter way out; but, hasn't been cleared of enemies (and you're on your own now). You can also go back the way you came in--if you can remember which turns to take. Once out of the sewers, return to Tar-Meena at Arcane University. She'll say she has to study the books in order to find the hidden message. It takes her three days to figure out the hidden message, which is "Green Emperor Way Where Tower Touches Midday Sun". (Read the first letter of each paragraph of each book.) You don't have to wait for Tar-Meena. Go to Green Emperor Way (middle section of Imperial City, where the palace is located). The palace is surrounded by a cemetery and you're looking for the tomb of Prince Camarril. His tomb is located in the southwest portion of the district. It's not marked on your map; look for a large, domed tomb and target the door to find out if it's his. Once you've found the tomb, Wait until the 11:00am hour and then sit and wait for the light show to begin. When you see a glowing map appear on the door of the tomb, step up close enough to get the message you've found the headquarters of the Mythic Dawn. Mission accomplished. [MS07] <~~~~~~ DAGON SHRINE ~~~~~~> Your next step is obvious: invade HQ and get the Amulet of Kings back. You can return to Cloud Ruler Temple if you wish, but Jauffre and Martin aren't going to tell you any different. The Lake Arrius Caverns now marked for you on your map are northwest of Cheydinhal, so Fast Travel to the city and then hoof it north. The caverns are on the north shore of Lake Arrius. When you enter, you'll meet a non-hostile Mythic Dawn member. He'll give you a pass code and you give him the reply. He then instructs you to proceed through the door and see Harrow. Now, before you actually go any further, you need to know some things. If you play this undercover, you'll be stripped of all your non-quest items such as armor, weapons, potions--*everything*. Or, you can try to bull your way through, which means fights with a *lot* of Mythic Dawn assassins. Here's the rundown for each method: 1) You're going to play it "safe", so you decide to continue the deception. This is a good choice for a very low level character. Before continuing, Fast Travel back to Cheydinhal and stow your gear. You can join the Fighter or Mages Guilds just by asking and get a free place to stash your wares--but on the floor, not in a chest (the chests reset every few days). You can't drop gold, so use it to buy potions and other good stuff, because you don't want to just give it to Harrow. Alternately, you can drop everything on the floor of the entrance room of the caverns, but it will be hard to pick it back up when you come flying through later with a dozen assassins on your tail. Fast Travel back to the caverns and go through the door to your meeting with Harrow. Harrow will lead you to the main shrine and you'll hear Mankar Camoran himself give a little speech before disappearing into his own little "Paradise". He takes the Amulet of Kings with him (you didn't think it was going to be that easy did you?), but leaves behind the Mysterium Xarxes, which could prove useful. Harrow will lead you down and tell Remora Camoran (Mankar's daughter) that you've come to be initiated. She'll invite you up to the dais and offer to let you kill the Argonian tied to the altar. Regardless of what you do with the Argonian, you're going to end up in a fight. The wisest course of action is to agree to kill the prisoner, take the silver dagger laying next to the book, then Activate the prisoner to free him. Grab the book from the altar. Now everyone in the room has gone hostile. It's time to run, crying like a baby. You can't get out the way you came in. Your exit is up the stairs you came down, but turning to the right rather than the left. At the top is a door that leads to the Living Quarters. Head through the door and skip down to the Living Quarters section below. 2) If you're a little bit higher level, have decent kit and don't want to risk losing it, you can probably fight your way through to the shrine. Kill the guard in the entrance cavern and get a key from his body. This key will open the door into the next cave--just a tunnel, with possibly one cultist. The door at the end of the tunnel leads to the Shrine Antechamber. Read these directions carefully--you do not want to stop long enough to fight anyone, as that just brings hordes of cultists down on your head. And you can't handle hordes, no matter how high level you are. As you enter the Antechamber, you are in a large room. Your path is to the south. Book it to a tunnel and take the first left. You're going to have cultists nipping at your heals. Equip a healing spell and cast it as you need it. The key you got from the entrance guard should unlock the door here leading to the shrine. If you reach the end of the tunnel, where it turns right (east), you went too far. Good luck trying to turn around and go back. As you enter the shrine, a gate drops behind you, shutting off pursuit. You're on a high ledge looking over the altar. No one will notice your presence as you listen to Mankar Camoran's speech and watch him disappear with the Amulet of Kings. Once he's gone, you're in excellent position to snipe at the cultists below with arrows or spells. They will eventually respond, running up the stairs, but you should be able to get them one or two at a time, which is Magickageable. Once they are all dead, you can descend to the lower level, free the prisoner, and get the Mysterium Xarxes from the altar. You can't go back the way you came, so go up the stairs, taking a right instead of a left, and take the door at the top into the Living Quarters. 3) You can exploit a little bit of bad programming by the developers. Strip all your gear and drop it on the cave floor. Then agree to Harrow's request to be inducted into the order. Before following him through the door into the temple, go back and pick up your kit and re-equip yourself. Nobody will notice, and, since they are still peaceful toward you, you can depopulate the place with near impunity before going into the shrine. (Exploit submitted by smjellish.) | Living Quarters +----------------- Whether you're fully suited up or wearing only a red robe and carrying a dagger, there's only one way through here: running for your life. The Living Quarters are full of cultists, many of whom will use hit-and-run tactics. Stopping to fight just means getting beaten by as many as a dozen Mythic Dawn assassins at once. You can't survive that. So, running it is. Get a healing spell ready, sheathe your weapon (if you have one) and start pumping. From your entry point, run down the tunnel and take a right at the end. Take the next left and run until you can take a right turn. This leads into a room with two or more cultists. The exit is to the southwest--as you enter the room, take a hard left and hug the wall to find your way into the escape tunnel. This tunnel will turn south (left) and deposit you in a large room with at least two assassins. Take the stairs to the west (to your right as you come into the room) and run around the upper level to the exit in the southeast corner of the room. This tunnel turns south, then east and dumps you in another large room. You may find up to a dozen cultists in here having "worship services". Lucky you. The exit is in the middle of the south wall, so take a right as you come into the room and run through the middle of the mob to make your escape. This is a short tunnel that slopes up. At the top, turn left to find a door that leads back into the entrance cavern. Run down this tunnel to a small room. The exit tunnel is to your left (east). At the start of the tunnel is a turn-lever on the wall. Activate it to open the secret door just ahead and run through into the main entrance to the caverns. The exit to the outside world is straight ahead. As soon as you are outside, attempt to Fast Travel. If you were quick enough, you got out before any cultists and you'll be able to Fast Travel. If you get the "You cannot travel while enemies are near" message, then start running again in the direction of Cheydinhal. Speed is your only concern now. Once you are safe and have re-equipped yourself (if you decided on the undercover method), you can think about going back to the Caverns and methodically cleaning them out. There's a lot of loot in there. Or you can just count yourself lucky and Fast Travel to Cloud Ruler Temple. Martin wants that book you stole. [MS08] <~~~~~~ SPIES ~~~~~~> By now, if Baurus survived your earlier dustup with the Mythic Dawn, you'll find him wandering around Cloud Ruler Temple. Talk to him for boosts in your Blade, Block and Heavy Armor skills. Find Martin (he's usually in the main hall) and give him Mysterium Xarxes. He gets pumped over getting into a little dark magic, then sends you to Jauffre, who's got some "concerns". Jauffre, indeed, is concerned. It appears strangers have been loitering about the Temple; but, despite having a huge building full of fighters, Jauffre can't spare anyone but you to check into it. Funny. Anyway, Jauffre refers you to Captain Steffan of the Blades or Captain Burd of the Bruma constabulary. Your quickest route through the task ahead is to track down Steffan. He's usually patrolling, during the day, follow your quest marker to find him. He reports some strangers hanging out around a runestone just south of the Temple. Walk down the slope to the runestone (it's kind of hard to miss, since it's big and has glowing runes on it). Take up position near the stone and Wait until dark (around 7 or 8 p.m.). You'll soon be attacked by two Mythic Dawn assassins, who shouldn't be too much trouble to take out. Search their bodies for some keys, including one labeled "Jearl's House Key". Jearl, eh? Go down to Bruma and find Jearl's house, it's in the southwest corner of town, behind the Chapel of Talos. Enter and find the trapdoor down into the basement, one of the keys you looted will open it. In the basement you will find a note outlining the Mythic Dawn's plan to open a Great Gate at Bruma in order to get to Martin. Return to Jauffre with the information, and then talk to Martin about his progress with the book. *PROGRESS NOTE* ----------------- At this point in the game, you get two divergent, parallel paths. One involves collecting items for Martin to use in opening a portal to Paradise. The other involves getting Bruma ready for the opening of the Great Gate. The quests for Martin are Blood of the Daedra, Blood of the Divines and Miscarcand. The quests from Jauffre are Bruma Gate and Allies for Bruma (which includes a couple of sub-quests). You can do these in whatever order you wish. Eventually, the main story will merge in the quest Defense of Bruma. [MS09] <~~~~~~ BLOOD OF THE DAEDRA ~~~~~~> The first item on Martin's shopping list is an artifact of a daedra lord. These are, actually, fairly easy to come by. There are fifteen, total, and obtaining each one involves it's own set of tasks. These are detailed in the Side Quests section under Daedric Quests. Read through about the Daedric Quests and decide which artifact you are willing to give up, then go complete that task. The game suggests Azura, but many players like to keep her re-useable soul gem, Azura's Star. The best bet is Wabbajack. This staff from Sheogorath is: 1) easy to obtain, since the quest requires no combat, just pranks; and, 2) useless except as a novelty item. Once you have a daedric artifact, return to Martin.* He now wants the blood of a god. * A bug prevents Spell Breaker, the Peryite artifact, from being recognized by Martin. This is fixed with patch 1.1; however, why you would want to give up Spell Breaker is a mystery. [MS10] <~~~~~~ BLOOD OF THE DIVINES ~~~~~~> Martin refers you to Jauffre, who knows the location of Tiber Septim's armor. (The first emperor, Tiber eventually became the god Talos.) Speak to Jauffre. First, Jauffre wants you to go help close an Oblivion gate that's opened outside Bruma. This is the Bruma Gate quest. You can choose to do it now, or wait until later. Ask Jauffre about the armor of Tiber Septim. Jauffre directs you to Sancre Tor, which used to be a holy site for the Blades. He'll give you a key and directions, then it's up to you. Sancre Tor is west-southwest of Cloud Ruler Temple, almost due north of Chorrol. You'll need to prep for ghosts and wraiths in this dungeon. That means a magic or silver weapon or lots of spells. Suit up and hike on over. As you enter Sancre Tor, you'll find an enchanted weapon--if you don't already have one. Follow the hall to the first large room, and watch out for the dart traps surrounding the loot chests. Continue northwest and then northeast until you come to a large room. Be careful entering the room, this if the first of four boss fights you'll have in this dungeon. You may recall from Jauffre's conversation that the four greatest Blades of Tiber Septim's era lost their lives in Sancre Tor. Well, their skeletons are still prowling the corridors, and you have to kill them to release their spirits. They are each using enchanted Ancient Blades equipment. Oh. Goody. Pepper the skeletons from range first to soften them up. They move fast, so you won't get many shots in. Try to keep the fights in the large rooms where you find them, rather than retreating up hallways. You don't want to get into confined places with these guys. First up is Rielus. After he's defeated, his ghost appears and gives you the whole story. You'll need to release his "brothers" as well, so they can break the final evil enchantment on Sancre Tor. Loot his skeletal corpse for the Amulet of the Ansei. Head southeast out of this room and follow the corridor to a door that leads to the Entry Hall. There will be a couple of ghosts here. Down in the pit is a huge door that leads to the Tomb of the Reman Emperors. That's the ultimate goal, but it is inaccessible until you kill (re-kill?) the four undead Blades. Go down into the pit, near the door to the Tomb. Jump into the water to your right and find the door that's underneath the upper level of this room. This leads to the Catacombs. You'll make your way through several tunnels and two larger rooms before reaching the room with Alain, an undead Blade. Alain drops Northwind, a one-handed katana with frost damage. Behind Alain, to the northeast, is a door leading to the Hall of Judgment. In the hall, go through the first room, exiting to the northwest to find your way to Casnar, your next target. He is using Mishaxhi's Cleaver, a two-handed sword with Disintegrate Armor enchantment. (Hopefully, you remembered to bring repair hammers with you.) From Casnar's room, find the tunnel leading northeast (the exit is along the east wall of the room) and follow this back to the Entry Hall. In the Entry Hall, take the east exit to get to the Prison. When you enter the first large room, you'll fight the skeleton of Warden Kastav. He's not as tough as the Blades, but he's no patsy. There will probably be a ghost or two joining in the fight. Loot his corpse for his key, which opens the door at the top of the ramp. At the second four-way intersection, take a right and then take your third left. The next left leads to Valdemar's room. Defeat him and take his enchanted shield. That should be all four undead Blades. Return to the Entry Hall and head for the Tomb. The spirits of the four Blades should be here, and they'll take up positions to bring down the magical barriers protecting the armor of Tiber Septim. Once the barriers are down, pick up the armor and head back to Cloud Ruler Temple. (Yes, that really is it. There's no more fighting unless you left some ghosts behind you.) [MS11] <~~~~~~ MISCARCAND ~~~~~~> Upon your return, Martin reveals the third item necessary for a portal to Paradise: a great welkynd stone. If you've been exploring any Ayleid ruins prior to this point, you may have pockets full of the normal welkynd stones (they fully restore your Magicka when used). But Martin doesn't want just any old welkynd stone, so he directs you to the ancient Ayleid capital of Miscarcand. This ruin is between Skingrad and Kvatch, not far north of the main road. It is filled with mostly skeletons, zombies and goblins. The goblins are engaged in running fights with the undead. You'll frequently be able to stand by and watch them kill each other before you finish off the survivors. From the entrance, take a left and head down the long hall to a four-way intersection. The gate in front of you cannot be opened from this side. To your right, stairs go down to the large room you just passed, which is mainly a looting opportunity. To the left is a hall that leads to a raised corridor over a large room. Snipe the goblins and undead from your raised position. Eventually, you will have to jump down. After looting the room, take the exit in the northwest corner and go up the stairs. Find the button on the first landing and push it. This opens a gate leading south from the raised corridor. Go up more stairs and step on the pressure plate at the top to open the gate at the four-way intersection. Head south and enter the second level, Sel Vanua. In the first room is a varla stone under a cover. The button to lift the cover is on the east wall. (Varla stones fully recharge all enchanted weapons in your inventory.) Take the south exit from this room to reach another large room with a raised corridor crossing it. Again, you can snipe from the raised position. Eventually, you'll have to jump down. The gate leading out of this area is to the north. The button that opens that gate is in a side passage on the south side of the room. Once the gate is open, enter the third level, Morimath. Make your way through a series of halls to a large room with a platform in the middle. In the center of the platform is the great welkynd stone, ripe for the picking. Before you pick it, get ready for battle. If you have fire spells or weapons, now is the time to get them ready. Wait for one hour to fully restore your health and Magicka. Ready? Pick up the stone. Some stairs rise from the lower floor up to the platform. (All the easier for the zombies to get you.) Behind you, a door opens letting out a lich, the King of Miscarcand. Jump down to the lower floor and deal with the zombies as quickly as you can. Then you can concentrate on the lich. It's resistant to frost and magic, and weak to fire. It's primarily a spellcaster, so try to close with it and smash it good. After the lich is dead, loot its remains for a key. Go back up the platform and go north into the alcove from which the lich came. Step on the pressure plate, kill the zombies and exit to the west. The key you got from the lich will open the gate and you've got a shortcut straight back to the top level of the ruin. Another pressure plate opens the secret door leading to the main exit from Miscarcand. Return to Martin with your booty. He's still working on the final item needed for the portal. Now it's time to deal with the Oblivion gate in front of Bruma. [MS12] <~~~~~~ BRUMA GATE ~~~~~~> Assuming you've already talked to Jauffre about the Bruma gate, head down to the city and report to Captain Burd. He wants you to show the city guard how to close a gate. Agree and you'll take Burd and two of his men with you into Oblivion. The Bruma Oblivion world is semi-circular and filled with daedra. (You're supposed to be here with allies, so there are more than the usual number of demons.) You'll work your way around a semi-circular island to the north side, then head south to the Sigil Keep, this one called The Fury Spike. There are no side towers or anything here. This is a straight run up the tower to the Sigillum Sanguis. The Rending Halls is a two-level affair. When you reach the top of the first ramp, clear the room, use the Blood Fountain, then exit to the east. Climb the curving ramp. When the hall makes a sharp left, look for a lever on the wall to spring the blade trap ahead. Climb the final ramps and return to the Fury Spike core. The Corridors of Dark Salvation are next, and it's a simple loop-back climb up a couple of ramps. Then it's on to the Sanguis and the sigil stone. Activate it and get thrown (along with Burd and whoever else survived) back to Bruma. Burd now thinks he and his soldiers can handle any new gates that pop up around Bruma. Return to Jauffre at Cloud Ruler Temple. [MS13] <~~~~~~ ALLIES FOR BRUMA ~~~~~~> *NOTE* These quests are completely optional. However, if you want a chance of making it to the end of the main story, and you're not 50th level, then you probably want to enlist some help. Jauffre wants you to travel to the other cities in Cyrodiil and ask for aid for Bruma. (He suggests seeing the Elder Council in Imperial City, but you can skip them. They're not going to help.) You must travel to each of the other seven cities--or fewer if you feel you don't need as much help--close an Oblivion gate (except for Kvatch, which has a different requirement) and then ask the ruler of the city for Aid for Bruma. Cheydinhal and Bravil are your best stops. Each sends a high-level Captain; Cheydinhal also sends a soldier. Anvil and Chorrol each send two soldiers. Kvatch, Leyawiin and Skingrad send only one soldier each. At a minimum, you should get aid from Cheydinhal, Bravil, Anvil and Chorrol. If you want to make the next quest (Defense of Bruma) ridiculously easy, get aid from all seven cities. In each city, you can go speak to the count or countess first, which will mark the Oblivion gate for you. Or you can just go close the gate and speak to the ruler after. Speaking to the ruler before offers no special advantage other than the map marker. Most of these rulers hold court from 8am until 6pm. You can find the castle for each city on your world map and Fast Travel there though you've never set foot in their doors. You should also note some of these worlds use one of the seven random Oblivion worlds you can enter through the random gates that pop up here and there in the wilderness. For example, Bravil uses the #1 random world, Chorrol uses #2. You'll always get the same world when you go through those city gates, but you won't always get the same Sigil Keep since the random worlds link to random Keep interiors. | The Wayward Knight (Cheydinhal) [MS13-A] +------------------------------------------ The gate near Cheydinhal is west of the city. If you speak to the count of Cheydinhal first, or speak to one of the soldiers guarding the gate, you'll get a new quest: The Wayward Knight. It seems the count's son fancies himself a great knight, and has a group of friends who play at being knights with him. These impetuous youths charged into Oblivion when the gate opened, and the count wants you to bring his son out of there. Make sure you have a spell to restore health on a target (along with your normal Oblivion kit) before entering the gate. You'll come out at the top of a large mountain. You'll be required to jump your way down here and there, and it will be impossible to get back up. You're in this one for the long haul. Once you've reached the bottom of the mountain, you'll find Farwil, the count's son, and one other knight on the east side of the mountain, near the bridge that crosses to the Sigil Keep. Talk to Farwil and they'll agree to follow you and help you close the gate. Advance across the bridge and into the tower. This is just like any other Sigil Keep, but you have to concern yourself with keeping Farwil (at least) alive. If he does die, you can take his signet ring from the body as proof of his heroism. After the gate is closed, if Farwil survived, he makes you an honorary Knight of the Thorn and gives you an amulet with a Speechcraft enhancement. His father then will offer you the choice of a magic sword or staff. If Farwil didn't make it, the count will still give you some gold for your effort. Either way, he'll offer up the services of his captain of the guard and a soldier for the defense of Bruma. | Bravil [MS13-B] +----------------- The Bravil gate is located northwest of the city. Inside you arrive facing a bridge leading to the Sigil Keep, but a gate blocks your way. To open the gate, you must throw a switch at the top of one of the two small towers southeast (Spindle Shrine) and southwest (Blood Well) of the Sigil Keep. There are three ways to get to one of those towers. 1) Go around the long way. Begin by going west, then north, then east across a long bridge with a sunken tower in the middle, then south to the Spindle Shrine. Fight your way up the tower (it's like a mini-keep) and throw the switch at the top to open the gate across the main bridge. 2) If you have some decent Acrobatics skill, you can turn southwest from your entry point and pick your way across a series of small islands that curve to the east and then north, leading you to the Spindle Shrine. Throw the switch at the top to open the gate across the main bridge. 3) Start by going west from the gate until you come to the bridge going north. Look around for a cave entrance, then work your way through the caves to the basement of the Blood Well (southwest) tower. Work your way to the top to find the switch that opens the main gate. Once the Sigil Keep is accessible, you're all set. Note this Keep is randomly determined when you open the door. Some of the random Keeps have one side area, some two and some three. There's no telling what you're going to get. When you've got the sigil stone and have closed the Oblivion gate, see Count Terentius for your high-level soldier. | Anvil [MS13-C] +---------------- You'll find the Anvil gate northwest of the city. This Oblivion world is easy, from a pathing perspective. The Sigil Keep is on top of a mountain, you come in at the bottom. Just follow the path as it goes through several switchbacks up the face of the mountain and you're there. After the Oblivion gate is closed, visit Countess Umbranox for your promise of aid, which is two standard soldiers. | Chorrol [MS13-D] +------------------ This Oblivion gate is south of the city, in the woods just beyond the stables. You enter Oblivion on the north side of the area, facing the Sigil Keep surrounded by six towers. You enter the Sigil Keep through a connecting bridge from the east (Earthquake) or west (Hurricane) tower. To get to one of those two keeps, you have to open the gates that block your way. Pick any one of the four "corner" towers: Tsunami, Eruption, Tornado or Landslide. Ride the "corpse masher" elevator to the middle of the tower, then climb the ramp to the top and throw the switch. This opens the gate next to that tower. (You can, from the top of any of these towers, cross over to the Sigil Keep; however, you can't go anywhere inside the Keep except to one of the other four corner towers.) Go back down, exit the tower and head through the now open gate. Enter one of the two side towers and ride the elevator to the middle of the tower. There's a door right at the top of the elevator to a bridge over to the Sigil Keep. Inside the Keep you'll find the doors to the Rending Halls and you're on your way. Countess Valga spends a lot of time in the chapel, in addition to standard court hours, so you should be able to find her most any time of the day. She'll send two soldiers to the aid of Bruma. | The Battle for Castle Kvatch [MS13-E] +--------------------------------------- You may have already done this after Breaking the Siege of Kvatch. If so, you'll find Savlian Matius where you left him, in the castle of Kvatch. Speak to him about Aid for Bruma and he promises to send what he can (which is one soldier). If you haven't done this quest yet, Matius and his guards will still be in the Temple of Akatosh in Kvatch. Speak to Matius and agree to help him retake the castle. He takes off with some men through the north door of the church. Follow him outside and help cut through the daedra between the church and the castle. When you reach the castle gates, you find them locked. Matius instructs you to go through the North Guard House, under the wall, to the inside of the gates and unlock them. Berich Inian, a guard still in the church, has the key. Return to the church and talk to Inian. He tells you he'll take you through the passage. You'll also find some Imperial legionnaires. Speak to them and they agree to help out. Follow Inian down into the chapel's crypt. Take it easy through here, there are a lot of daedra. With Inian and the legionnaires, the demons shouldn't be much trouble. You'll exit the crypt and wind your way through more daedra until you reach the North Guard House. If Inian dies along the way, make sure you frisk him for the key. Once you reach the Guard House, all you have to do is drop down into the tunnel, run to the far end (no enemies) and climb up to find yourself on the inside of the castle gate. Turn the wheel to open the gate and let Matius and his men through. There's a pitched battle in the courtyard and then more fighting in the main hall of the castle. Matius now instructs you to go find the count. You'll be aided by any surviving legionnaires, so you probably won't have to fight through the castle alone. When you reach the count's quarters, you'll find his body. Get his signet ring off the body and return it to Matius. Matius, at this point, suddenly decides to retire and gives you his armor. He then spends the remainder of the game standing in the castle in his civvies. You can also ask him for Aid for Bruma and get one Kvatch soldier for your trouble. | Leyawiin [MS13-F] +------------------- The Oblivion gate is east-northeast of Leyawiin. From the entry point, go west and find a cave door. The caves, like many Oblivion things, are random. Just keep plugging along and you'll eventually reach the main island. When you finally make it out, there are Spindle Shrines to the east and west. Pick either one and climb to the top. Here you can get to a bridge that leads to one of the Blood Well towers. Throw the switch at the top of the Blood Well tower to open gates leading to the Sigil Keep. Go down to the bottom of the Blood Well, exit onto the bridge and fight your way to the Keep. Once the gate is closed, you can find Count Caro in Castle Leyawiin during normal court hours. | Skingrad [MS13-G] +------------------- The Skingrad gate is just east of Castle Skingrad, at the top of a small hill. Inside, you find yourself facing three towers. The two towers to your left and right are the Anguish Keep and the Sorrow Keep. Each is a full keep, with two side areas and a shrine at the top. Fight your way to the top of either keep and throw the switch. This will extend a bridge across to the top of the other side keep. Cross the bridge and throw a switch in the second tower. The bridge between the towers retracts, but bridges extend from each side keep to the main Sigil Keep. You'll have to fight your way down one level in the second keep in order to take the bridge over to the Sigil Keep. Entering the Sigil Keep, you're already about halfway up the tower and only have to fight your way through one side area in order to reach the Sigillum Sanguis. You know what to do by now. The peculiarity in Skingrad occurs after you've closed the gate and want to get aid from Count Hassildor. You can only talk to the count by going through an intermediary. If you are in the middle of the Mages Guild quest, "Ulterior Motives", then Hassildor will refuse to speak to you until you fully complete that quest (which means reporting in to Raminus Polus). Otherwise, if you have not done "Ulterior Motives", then you must speak to the steward, Mercator Hosidus about Aid for Bruma. If you have done "Ulterior Motives", you must speak to Hal-Liurz. [MS14] <~~~~~~ DEFENSE OF BRUMA ~~~~~~> You can open this quest any time after finishing the three "relic hunts" for Martin and the Bruma Gate quest. Talk to Martin and he'll reveal the final item he needs for a portal to Paradise: a great sigil stone. You can only get these by entering a great gate. So Martin proposes to let the enemy open a great gate next to Bruma and then send you in to get the great sigil stone before the enemy gets its siege machine out and destroys Bruma. It's goofy plans like this that make him the Emperor, see? You've no choice but to agree. Martin asks that you personally see Countess Carvain in Bruma and fill her in on the plan. So head off to Bruma and the Countess, who agrees with the plan. (Must be the royal blood that causes this idiocy.) She'll head off to the chapel of Talos. Follow her down to the chapel and witness the meeting between Martin and Carvain. After they've chatted, talk to Carvain again. At this point you have, essentially, two choices: "Let's go" or "I'm not ready yet". (If you haven't completed all the Allies for Bruma quests, you will also have a "Recruit more soldiers" response, which is the same thing as "I'm not ready".) Save your game! Martin and Carvain will stand in the chapel until the cows come home waiting for you to get ready. So...get ready. The mission ahead is a timed run through an Oblivion world. You'll not be able to Wait at any point, so you'll need a full set of healing potions, Magicka-restoring potions, etc. Make sure your enchanted weapons are recharged and all your armor and weapons are fully repaired. Feel like you need more support? Go finish more Allies for Bruma quests. When you're ready, give Carvain the go ahead and follow Martin and company out the East Gate of Bruma. Your little army heads towards an Oblivion gate that has just opened, Martin gives a speech, then the battle is on. Your primary job is to keep Martin alive until the great gate opens. If you recruited all the available soldiers in Allies for Bruma, this is really easy. There are more than enough guards to control the daedra popping through the lesser gates. After a few minutes, you'll get the message the great gate has opened. The timer has started! Get moving through the gate... [MS15] <~~~~~~ GREAT GATE ~~~~~~> This Oblivion world is different in two ways: There's a giant siege engine moving toward the gate and you have about 15 minutes to get to the top of the Sigil Keep and get the great sigil stone. That's 15 minutes real time, but don't dawdle. Try not to spend too much time fighting. Use a potion, spell or equipment to Fortify your Speed and try just racing past most enemies. Keep a healing spell equipped and boost your health as you run. There are two towers in front of you, head to the west (left) one. Climb to the top and exit onto a north-bound bridge that leads to another tower. Go down that tower and exit onto a large bridge. There's a jump here across broken pieces of the bridge, but if you miss the jump, you fall down in front of a cave entrance that might actually be an easier path. If you decided to take the eastern route north, the jump across the broken bridge is much more difficult and drops you into lava. Plus, there's no convenient cave to take you under the fire-spitting guard towers. Your choice. Regardless, your goal is one of the two towers flanking the Sigil Keep. If you use the cave at the base of the western bridge, it takes you directing into the western guard tower. At the tops of these two towers are switches that open the gates leading to the Sigil Keep. This Keep has only one side area, the Vaults of End Times. However, you do need a Sigil Key from one of two Sigil Keepers. There's a Keeper on the ground floor, and another near the door to the Sigillum Sanguis. Kill either one, enter the Sanguis and run for the great sigil stone. Provided you got there in time, everything, including the large siege engine, blows up and Bruma is saved! Your reward is a standard sigil stone lying in front of the burned-out hulk of the siege engine (which somehow Magickages to blow up right outside Bruma) and the opportunity to go after Mankar Camoran. Aren't you lucky? [MS16] <~~~~~~ PARADISE ~~~~~~> After the battle for Bruma, return to Cloud Ruler Temple. Tend to your equipment and talk to Martin. He's ready to open a portal to Camoran's Paradise. The question is, are you ready? Once you enter Paradise, you can't get out until Camoran is dead. He's a high-level mage, so kit yourself out appropriately. Some Dispel scrolls or potions would be useful. Plenty of damage resistance, magic resistance, spell absorption...you know the drill. Once you're ready to live off what you can carry, tell Martin to open the portal. Enter the portal to find yourself in Paradise. Literally. Camoran's little slice of reality is a pleasant garden environment with blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Oh, and the occasional daedra ready to tear your head off...Nothing's perfect. Head off down the white brick path, listening to Camoran lecture you. Along the way, in addition to the occasional daedra, you'll find Ascended Immortals. These dead Mythic Dawn cultists are waiting in Paradise for Dagon's victory over Tamriel. You can talk to these cultists and learn some of the history of this place. You also learn the only way to Camoran is through the Forbidden Grotto. And you can only get in there if you have the Bands of the Chosen. As you follow the path, you'll eventually encounter a dremora named Kathutet. He wants to talk (so watch your trigger finger). He'll give you Bands of the Chosen if you serve him or beat him in a fight. Choose to serve him and he'll send you on an errand to free one of his subordinates, Anaxes, who has been imprisoned by the Ascended Immortals. Beating Kathutet is the easier and quicker course of action. But, if you decide to serve him, Anaxes' lair is to the northwest. Enter and find the boulder wedged in place by logs. Stand to the side and Activate the logs to push them out of the way. Return to where you met Kathutet. Cross the bridge going east and enter the Flooded Grotto. At the end of the grotto, if you freed Anaxes, you'll meet Kathutet again and he gives you the Bands of the Chosen. If you killed Kathutet, you already have the Bands. Equip them and open the door to the Forbidden Grotto. The Forbidden Grotto turns out to be a torture chamber. As you leave the first large room, you'll be intercepted by an Ascended Immortal named Eldamil. He wants to help, and, you want his help. Really, you do. Agree to Eldamil's plan. He directs you into one of the cages. While in the cage, Eldamil's boss, Orthe, comes to check on things. Eldamil's ruse works, and he lets you out on the east side of the chasm. You can now head south, through another torture chamber and through the door into the next section of the Grotto. If you chose to turn down Eldamil, then you have to head north from Eldamil's room and fight Orthe and two of his buddies. This is not good for your health. But, if you insist on trying, you'll have to kill them all and get Orthe's key from a loot sack in the corner of their room. This key opens the portcullis leading east and eventually to the exit. In the second part of the Grotto you'll meet Eldamil again. (Even if you turned him down or killed him.) He removes your Bands of the Chosen and offers again to help you out. You really should accept his offer. Work your way through the Grotto until you encounter a xivilai named Medrike. He has the key to the exit. Take it from him. Outside, follow the path until you run into Mankar's children, Raven and Remora. They lead you inside Mankar's palace, where Mankar begins making a speech. Don't bother listening. Walk up to him and smack him. Mankar has a lot of spell absorption and damage reflection, so attacking him from range, especially with spells, is not a good option. Ignore the children; if you kill them, they just respawn. Mankar is your only concern. You want to keep him off balance, preferably with power attacks that stagger or stun him. You might also be able to paralyze him with poison put on your weapon. If you brought Eldamil along, he can help distract the two kids and let you focus on Mankar. If you're an Orc or Redguard, use your greater power and just bash Mankar as hard as you can. As soon as Mankar is dead, Paradise collapses and you find yourself back in Cloud Ruler Temple, the Amulet of Kings in hand. It's time to close the Oblivion gates once and for all. [MS17] <~~~~~~ LIGHT THE DRAGONFIRES ~~~~~~> After your return from Paradise, Martin says it's time to go to Imperial City and the Temple of the One. Fast Travel down to the Palace district of Imperial City and enter the Elder Council Chambers. Once Martin's joined you, he and Ocato begin discussing Martin's claim to the throne and re-lighting the Dragonfires. Unfortunately, you're interrupted by a couple of dremora. Oblivion gates have sprung up in Imperial City and daedra are rampaging in the streets. Your final mission is at hand: protect Martin. Follow the group outside and help deal with the daedra; make sure Martin stays healthy. Once this initial wave of daedra are dead, you're joined by a small group of Imperial Legion soldiers. This is your army. Martin says he must get to the Temple of the One, so join the soldiers as they run toward the Temple District. When you reach the Temple district, you find it overrun by daedra. Don't spend too much time on them--as you kill them, more jump out of the two gates in this district. Just run to your right around the temple, making sure Martin is keeping up with you. You'll soon run into Mehrunes Dagon himself. You can't kill this monster, but you can hurt him. Your only task is to get Martin inside the Temple and the door is just past Dagon. Run up and power attack one of Dagon's legs. He'll lift the foot as he staggers back, so take that time to run to the door and Activate it. Martin will follow you inside. At this point, there's nothing you can do but watch. Enjoy the show! [MS18] <~~~~~~ IMPERIAL DRAGON ARMOR ~~~~~~> This isn't really a quest, more of an epilogue. After all the shouting is done, Chancellor Ocato has a chat with you. He names you Champion of Cyrodiil and says he's ordered up a suit of Imperial Dragon Armor--normally only worn by the emperor--for you. Two weeks later, you'll be able to go to the Imperial Legion armory in the Imperial City Prison district and pick up a suit of either Light or Heavy Imperial Dragon Armor. (The type of armor is determined by which of your two armor skills is higher rank.) The armor not only looks nice, it's got some decent enchantments on it as well. That's it! You've finished the main story of Oblivion. But the game is far from over... [FG00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FIGHTERS GUILD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ The Fighters Guild specializes in solving problems--any problem. Whether it's rats in the basement, thieves in the store or goblins overrunning a settlement, the Guild gets called in to take care of the situation. The Fighters Guild isn't for everyone. Several times you will be fighting in close quarters with multiple enemies. Tanking is highly suggested. The problems presented in this series of quests are to be met with sword or axe and do not lend themselves to sneaking around or blowing things up from range. Joining the Guild is easy, talk to Vilena Donton at the Chorrol Guild, Azzan at the Anvil Guild or Burz gro-Khash at the Cheydinhal Guild. You must not have any outstanding bounty and your Infamy score must be less than 100. If your Infamy score is 100 or higher, get your Fame score to 100 or higher and you'll be able to join. Vilena Donton is the guild master, but doesn't directly issue any orders. You get about half of your contracts from Azzan and gro-Khash; the remainder of your jobs come from Donton's assistant, Modryn Oreyn. Your first three contracts come from Azzan and gro-Khash. [FG01] <~~~~~~ A RAT PROBLEM ~~~~~~> Azzan, in Anvil, sends you to see Arvena Thelas, who is having a problem with the rats in her basement. Not that kind of problem. It seems Ms. Thelas actually *likes* the rats, but someone or something is killing them. Get down there and identify the culprit. When you enter the basement, you'll find a mountain lion chewing on the corpse of a rat. Yeah, a mountain lion. Kill it (not necessarily an easy task) and report back to Thelas. She worries more might follow this one, and recommends you seek out a hunter, Pinarus Inventius. Together, you should be able to track down and kill any remaining mountain lions in the vicinity of Anvil. Use your quest marker to track down Inventius; he roams around a lot and may even be out hunting. When you find him, he agrees to lead you to a suspected lair just northwest of the city. You'll find four lions have set up camp among some rocks. Make sure you stick close to Inventius. Lions are fast and strong. Let one of them stagger you and the rest will close in and then you're cat chow. One possibility is to get up on the rocks from the "back" side and snipe the lions where they can't reach you. When the lions are dead, return to Thelas. She's still upset. There's *another* mountain lion in the basement! Get down there and kill it and return to Thelas. She suspects her neighbor, Quill-Weave, of luring the lions into Thelas' basement. Find a good hiding spot in the back yard of Thelas' house and go into Sneak mode. Wait until dark (around 8pm) and you'll see Quill- Weave sneak into the yard and leave a piece of meat near the hole in the basement wall. Step out and confront her. She admits to trying to lure the rats out of the basement (she finds them disgusting, which means she's perfectly normal). She never intended lions to get in. She promises to leave Thelas alone and offers you free Acrobatics training, as long as you don't rat her out to Thelas. * Rat her out to Thelas. Thelas is quite pleased with the outcome and boosts your Speechcraft skill by one point, plus your pay for fulfilling the contract. * Keep Quill-Weave's secret. Thelas thinks you're holding out on her, but pays you for fulfilling the contract. Track down Quill-Weave and get a one-point boost in your Acrobatics skill. Return to Azzan at the guild hall for another assignment. [FG02] <~~~~~~ THE UNFORTUNATE SHOPKEEPER ~~~~~~> Once you've dealt with the lions, Azzan sends you to see Norbert Lelles, of Lelles's Quality Merchandise. Lelles's store is located on the waterfront, outside the Dock Gate of Anvil. Thieves have been breaking into his store and he wants you to play security guard. Stand behind the counter and Wait until midnight. Three thieves will sneak into the store. If you're a basic tank, you should be able to handle these guys. Stay behind the counter and try to take them one-at-a-time as they come around to get you. If you're more a ranged/stealth fighter, now's the time to pull out a shield and block a lot--or use a Shield spell. This is just the first of several fights you're going to have in cramped quarters with multiple opponents. This is the Fighters Guild, after all. When you've disposed of the thieves, find Lelles in the Flowing Bowl for your payment. Return to Azzan. He's got nothing more for you. If you've already done "The Desolate Mine", he kicks you on to Vilena Donton in Chorrol, otherwise he suggests you go visit gro-Khash in Cheydinhal. [FG03] <~~~~~~ THE DESOLATE MINE ~~~~~~> Burz gro-Khash wants you to play delivery boy. He gives you a bow, war hammer and long sword and tells you to deliver them to Fighters Guild members at Desolate Mine, just a short jaunt to the northwest. You'll find a couple of goblins outside the mine entrance. Inside, in the first room, are the three fighters. Speak to Rienna, who explains the situation (goblin hunting) and takes the bow. Give the war hammer to Brag gro- Bharg and the sword to Elidor. As soon as all three have a weapon, they take off after goblins. Desolate Mine is fairly small, but has a number of twists. Your main objective is to stay near the other three and keep them alive. The more that survive this trip, the higher your payment. Once your journal informs you all the goblins are dead, return to gro-Khash and he'll pay you. If you haven't completed Azzan's quests yet, you're told to see him, otherwise you're sent to Chorrol to speak to Guild Master Donton. [FG04] <~~~~~~ UNFINISHED BUSINESS ~~~~~~> Vilena Donton doesn't have time to waste on peons such as yourself. She tells you to talk to Modryn Oreyn about any duties to be performed. Oreyn, indeed, has something he wants you to look in to. Another new recruit, Maglir, has defaulted on a contract in Skingrad. You're to find him and figure out what's gone wrong. Travel to Skingrad and ask around town about Maglir. You'll be directed to the West Weald Inn, where you'll find the little squirt drowning his sorrows. Maglir complains about not getting paid enough for the job, which is to recover the journal of Brenus Astis from Fallen Rock Cave. Maglir's not going to go back in there, so you're going to have to go in after the journal. Fallen Rock Cave is just a bit northwest of Skingrad. Undead roam it's depths, including spirits--make sure you have a silver, daedric or enchanted weapon. Fallen Rock Cave is fairly small; take the first right and follow it around to a large room. Exit through the northwest tunnel and continue straight, entering a flooded area, and, eventually, a flooded room with a body and the journal. Make sure you collect all the ectoplasm dropped by the spirits and save it. You'll want it for the next task. You can return and talk to Maglir if you like, but it's not required. Report back to Oreyn. You can give Maglir the credit for collecting the journal, which will help you later on, or claim credit for yourself. Either way, you get paid and another assignment. [FG05] <~~~~~~ DRUNK AND DISORDERLY ~~~~~~> Three Fighters Guild members are drinking on the job down in Leyawiin. You're sent to deal with them; you'll find them at the Five Claws Lodge. Turns out they're not actually drunk on the job, since they have no job. The Blackwood Company is taking all the work. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find some work for these guys. Talk to any townie and they'll point you to Margarte. You should now get a quest marker pointing to her, which makes it a lot easier to track her down. When you find her, she'll reveal she's in the market for various alchemical ingredients, especially ogre's teeth and minotaur horns. She doesn't trust the Blackwood Company to collect these ingredients, but she's not ready to hire the Fighters Guild either. She wants you to prove the Guild's worth by bringing her five samples of ectoplasm. If you got lucky in Fallen Rock Cave, you've got the five samples in your pockets right now. If not, you can try scouring the nearby countryside for caves or ruins, which may contain ghosts or wraiths. Or, try an alchemy dealer at the local Mages Guild, to see if they have any in stock. Once you have the five samples of ectoplasm, Margarte will agree to hire your three gadabouts to hunt ogres and minotaurs for her. (Good work if you can get it?) She'll also buy ogre's teeth and minotaur horns from you in lots of five (100 gold for teeth, 50 gold for horns). This really isn't much, considering the base price of those ingredients; an alchemist will pay you (assuming a measly 40% buy rate) 150 gold for 5 ogre's teeth and 110 gold for five minotaur horns. Report the good news to the three Guild members at Five Claws, then return to Oreyn. Oreyn is troubled by news of the Blackwood Company's success, and has nothing further for you. He suggests you go see Azzan or gro-Khash for more contracts. [FG06] <~~~~~~ DEN OF THIEVES ~~~~~~> *NOTE* There's a side quest, "Newheim's Flagon", that's tied up with this quest. You complete the side quest as you complete the Fighters Guild quest. Azzan in Anvil has a job for you, and a partner--Maglir, the whiny little wood elf you covered for in Skingrad. Reports of a gang of thieves have been filtering into the Guild, and Azzan wants the two of you to look into it. Ask around town and you'll be pointed to Newheim the Portly. Seek him out (he typically wanders the docks) and he'll fill in the details. In addition to other things, the thieves stole Newheim's family tankard, and they're hiding out in Hrota Cave, which is close to Anvil, just north of the city. Take Maglir and head out there. Your job is to clean out the caves; don't worry about your buddy, for plot reasons he can't die just yet. The flagon is sitting on a barrel in the only large room inside the cave. Return the flagon to Newheim and report back to Azzan. You don't have to travel with Maglir any more. If you haven't finished "Amelion's Debt" for gro- Khash, you're sent packing for Cheydinhal, otherwise you're told to report to Oreyn in Chorrol. [FG07] <~~~~~~ AMELION'S DEBT ~~~~~~> If you've got a bit of cash on you and are feeling generous (or lazy), this will be a very short mission. Otherwise, you're in for some serious undead carnage. Burz gro-Khash sends you to Water's Edge, a farmstead down near Leyawiin. You're to recover some family artifacts for Biene Amelion. When you arrive at Water's Edge, Biene explains she needs to pay off her father's gambling debts. She hopes to sell her grandfather's enchanted armor and weapon for the money. Here's where you get to decide how energetic you are. If you have 1,000 gold to spare, you can simply give her the money to pay off her debt and then be on your way. Otherwise, you have to clean out Amelion's Tomb, which is located further south and on the other side of the Niben River. Fight your way through a lot of undead and two small levels. You'll find Brusef's cuirass and sword on a sarcophagus in the second level. You can also find other pieces of his armor scattered about. (If you pay off Biene's debt, you can still raid the tomb and keep the armor for yourself.) Once Biene has the gold or the armor and sword, return to gro-Khash for payment. He then sends you to Anvil if you haven't finished "Den of Thieves" or to Chorrol for more duties from Oreyn. [FG08] <~~~~~~ THE MASTER'S SON ~~~~~~> Modryn Oreyn has a couple of problems, and thinks you can solve them both in one go. First, Guild member Galtus Previa has vanished while spelunking in Nonwyll Cavern. Second, Vilena Donton's younger son, Viranus, is green around the gills and needs seasoning. (Seems Ms. Donton is coddling the youngster after older brother, Vitellus, died in an earlier Guild mission.) Anyway, you're to take young Donton with you to Nonwyll Cavern and keep him alive. Run down Viranus using your quest marker and tell him to come along and not to tell Mommy about it. Nonwyll Cavern is north of Chorrol and full of trolls; not to mention the occasional ogre and a minotaur boss. Don't worry about Viranus, he's a plot NPC and can't be killed, so let him charge in and take the hits for you. At the "bottom" of the cavern, you'll find Previa's body. When you get the journal update, head out and report back to Oreyn. He's perturbed, and comments that it's strange Previa wasn't chewed up. [FG09] <~~~~~~ MORE UNFINISHED BUSINESS ~~~~~~> Maglir is at it again. Or, more accurately, not at it. Oreyn sends you to Bravil to find out why the little snot hasn't fulfilled a contract with a mage there. You'll find Maglir at the Lonely Suitor Lodge, and he's wearing a different uniform. Seems he decided to join the Blackwood Company. If, during "Unfinished Business", you gave credit to Maglir for recovering the journal, then Maglir will have pity on you and give you the name of the mage he is supposed to be working for, Aryarie of the Bravil Mages Guild. If you took credit yourself earlier, Maglir has nothing more to say. If that's the case, you either have to hunt Aryarie down yourself (she may or may not be in the Mages Guild) or return to Oreyn in Chorrol to get the name (which includes the convenient quest marker). Aryarie wants 10 portions of imp gall, which, predictably, can be obtained from imps. She points you to Robber's Glen Cave, a short distance north of the city. Indeed, there are at least a dozen imps in this complex, along with a handful of other critters. Return with the imp gall to Aryarie, who gives you an enchanted ring as a bonus. [FG10] <~~~~~~ AZANI BLACKHEART ~~~~~~> Back in Chorrol, Oreyn has a "side" job for you and asks that you meet him at his house after dark. Oreyn lives in the south-western most corner of Chorrol, in a small hut. Follow him to his house (if it's already dark), or Wait until after 8pm and then meet him there. Oreyn goes into a long rant over duplicity on the part of the Blackwood Company. It seems they've been a thorn in his side since before they started stealing contracts in Leyawiin or wimpy wood elves from the ranks of the Guild. Specifically, he suspects them of interfering in a job to retrieve a valuable artifact from Azani Blackheart. Oreyn wants to expose the Blackwood Company, and he wants you to come along for the ride. He wants you to meet him at the Leyawiin Guild and then go to an Ayleid ruin, Arpenia, with him. Fast Travel down to Leyawiin and meet up with Oreyn. You can then trudge down to Arpenia together. Arpenia is mostly empty (a few low-level critters and some traps are all that remain). Not far into the ruin, in a large room, Oreyn decides he's seen enough and tells you the Blackwood Company must have struck a deal with Blackheart. He now wants to find Blackheart; he thinks he might be up the road in another Ayleid ruin, Atatar. Blackheart is, indeed, in Atatar. Along with a dozen or more of his friends and a bunch of other creatures. There are four levels in Atatar, and, of course, Blackheart is in the last level. The route is circuitous, but, there's always only one way you can go. Fortunately for you, Oreyn is a plot NPC and can't be killed, just knocked unconscious (which might happen a lot depending on your level). You'll need his help against Blackheart. Once Azani is down, loot his body and give his ring to Oreyn. He thanks you, tells you to go see Azzan or gro-Khash and takes off, leaving you to get out of Atatar on your own. [FG11] <~~~~~~ THE WANDERING SCHOLAR ~~~~~~> Azzan wants you to accompany a scholar, Elante, to a supposed daedric shrine in Brittlerock Cave. You can complete this quest even if Elante dies, but you don't get paid if that happens. Brittlerock Cave is northeast of Anvil and quite a trek. If you've previously done work around Fort Sutch ("Assault on Fort Sutch" side quest or "Bad Medicine" Dark Brotherhood quest), that's the nearest Fast Travel point. You'll find a couple of creatures outside the mine and the scholar just inside the door. (Makes you wonder how she got in there, doesn't it?) Elante wants to take the lead, and this is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is she wanders through every side passage in the cavern before finding the shrine. The blessing is you have a trick to keep her alive. You may have noticed, when NPCs lead you, they will stop if you get too far behind. Actually, they stop if you get too far away in any direction. So, what you do is run past Elante and keep running until you run into your first group of daedra. As you blow past Elante, she will stop and wait patiently for you to "catch up". This allows you to deal with the demons while Elante is safe further up the tunnel. You can clean out the caverns one room at a time, returning to "follow" Elante as you go, or you can clear the entire complex (it's not large) all at once and then meekly trail after Elante down to the shrine. Elante decides to stay and study the shrine a bit longer. You can go back the way you came, or take the door behind the altar. It leads to another section of the cave, with more daedra, and another exit back into the world above. Azzan thanks you for dedication and sends you to see gro-Khash, unless you've already completed "The Fugitives", in which case you're told to report to Oreyn. [FG12] <~~~~~~ THE FUGITIVES ~~~~~~> This is a simple quest. gro-Khash reports a group of four prisoners escaped the Bravil jail and have decided to stick around and prey on the citizens of that fair city. He sends you to deal with the problem. (Just in case you were wondering, "deal with" is a euphemism for kill. There's no other way to finish this quest.) Go to Bravil and ask around. You need to get an NPCs Disposition over 60 in order to get the location of the fugitives: Bloodmayne Cave. The cave is northwest of Bravil and the ex-cons are somewhat spread out. You shouldn't have to face more than two at once. When they're dead, return to gro-Khash for your pay and marching orders from Oreyn. (Or referral to Azzan if you haven't completed "The Wandering Scholar".) [FG13] <~~~~~~ TROLLS OF FORSAKEN MINE ~~~~~~> Oreyn sent a group of Guild members to Forsaken Mine to clear out the trolls. It's been days and he hasn't heard from them. You're to investigate. Fast Travel to Leyawiin and head southwest. Forsaken Mine is just about as far south as you can go in Cyrodiil. Use the entrance marked for you on your map. (There's another entrance to the mine, but it leads directly into some trolls that are better approached from behind.) The first level of the mine is basically empty except for corpses--mostly Fighters Guild, but one or two will be Blackwood Company fighters. You won't encounter your first troll until you hit the door to the second level of the mine. From here, there are about 10 trolls that you must kill. Make sure you get every one. Along the way you'll find Viranus Donton's body--you just know Mommy's going to be happy about this. His journal suggests the trolls weren't the problem. Something's fishy in Leyawiin, and it's not the Niben River. When you get the journal entry that you've killed all the trolls (a high-powered Detect Life spell is good for finding any that are eluding you), return to Oreyn. He's not happy, but is ready to face the axe himself. He sends you to Anvil or Cheydinhal to get away from the wrath of Donton. [FG14] <~~~~~~ THE STONE OF ST. ALESSIA ~~~~~~> In Anvil, Azzan tells you of the theft of a religious relic from the temple in Bruma. He sends you there to recover the Stone of St. Alessia. In Bruma, you need to track down Cirroc, who is normally in the Chapel of Talos. He says four or five men were seen heading east out of town about the time the stone was discovered missing. Your quest marker updates to a point along the east road out of Bruma. Follow it to find the lone remaining bandit, a Khajiit. He confesses to the crime, but says he and his buddies were ambushed by ogres and he's the only surviving member. The ogres now have the stone and are holed up in an Ayleid ruin, Sedor, a little further east and a bit south. The path through Sedor is simple, but you will have to deal with ogres (by combat or stealth). Return the stone to Cirroc and then report back to Azzan. Azzan doesn't have any more work for you. Literally, this is your last quest for the leader of the Anvil guild. If you have finished gro-Khash's quests, Azzan tells you Oreyn is looking for you. [FG15] <~~~~~~ THE NOBLE'S DAUGHTER ~~~~~~> This is the first of two quests gro-Khash has for you, and they're the last he will give you. It's a simple kidnapping. gro-Khash refers you to Lord Rugdumph; his estate is a fair walk north-northeast of Cheydinhal. Azura's Shrine or the Lake Arrius Caverns (Dagon Shrine from the main story) are the closest quest-related Fast Travel points. Lord Rugdumph doesn't have great command of English (or Imperial or whatever it is that they speak in Cyrodiil), but you get the gist. His daughter was kidnapped by ogres, who then headed east. Follow your quest marker almost due east of the estate to find the young lady and her three ogreish "protectors". This can be a bit tricky, as the ogres sometimes clump up around the orc and make it difficult to pick them off (and you definitely don't want to use an explosive spell on them when they're near the target of your quest). Approach in Stealth mode and wait until the ogres are spread out. Then use bow or spell to attract one to you and kill it. Rinse-and-repeat for the other two. Talk to the orc woman and she'll agree to follow you back to her home. Lead her there, get more entertainment from Rugdumph's language lessons and his special sword. Then return to gro-Khash, who has another assignment for you. [FG16] <~~~~~~ MYSTERY AT HARLUN'S WATCH ~~~~~~> People are disappearing from Harlun's Watch and gro-Khash wants you to find out why. Harlun's Watch is just south of Cheydinhal; your contact is Drarana Thelis. She tells of strange lights near Swampy Cave. Some villagers sent to investigate have not returned. Swampy Cave is a short distance to the southeast. If you haven't encountered will-o-the-wisps before, you're about to. You need a couple of things to fight wisps: a silver, daedric or enchanted weapon (or spells); and a Detect Life spell (or enchanted equipment). Wisps like to go invisible and you don't want them sneaking up on you and draining your health. There are three to four wisps clustered outside the entrance to Swampy Cave. Try to deal with them at a distance; up close they have a Drain Health ability that basically ignores your armor. Spell Absorption or Reflection wouldn't hurt. When the wisps are dead, your journal suggests that explains the strange lights, but not the missing townsfolk. Enter Swampy Cave and start killing trolls. There are a lot of trolls spread over two levels. You'll have to kill them all to complete this quest. Your Detect Life spell will now come in handy for finding all the trolls. In the southernmost part of the first level of the caves, you'll find the bodies of the missing villagers*. Your journal should update at this point. * There's a bug in the game caused by clearing out Swampy Cave before you get this quest. If you've already been through here, the dead villager won't spawn and the quest won't advance. You can fix this by downloading the v1.1 patch. Once the trolls are all dead (your journal should update again), return to Thelis in Harlun's Watch with the bad news. Then see gro-Khash for your payment and word that Oreyn wants to see you. (Unless you haven't finished "The Stone of St. Alessia", then gro-Khash tells you to talk to Azzan.) [FG17] <~~~~~~ INFORMATION GATHERING ~~~~~~> You'll find Modryn Oreyn in his house, as, basically, he has nothing better to do these days than sit and chew his nails over his dismissal from the Guild. He thinks the Blackwood Company is a bunch bad guys (no kidding!) and he's determined to bring them down. But, even though he has lots of time on his hands, he wants you to do the bringing down. Nice of him to think of you, isn't it? For starters, he wants you to capture one of the Blackwood leaders, Ajum Kagin, from his headquarters in Glademist Cave. The cave is east of the city, not far, and it's very small. Kagin has six to seven Blackwood Company fighters holed up in there with him. Now is actually a good time to work on your Sneak skill. This little cave is rather overflowing with bad guys (other than Kagin, they don't want to talk) and you'll want to work as hard as you can to separate them. That means bow attacks while in Sneak mode, to try to force a single foe out of his cozy cavern he's sharing with his buddies and into the tunnels where you can dispatch him. Kagin is in the far room of the cavern, behind a wood door. Don't go in until you've killed everyone else. Confront him and he'll meekly surrender and follow you to Oreyn's house. Oreyn orders you to conduct the interrogation. You have two choices: 1) Use the Persuasion mini-game and/or Charm spells to raise Kagin's Disposition. You'll need it over 90 to get all the information he has to offer. 2) Use your fists to beat on Kagin until he talks. Either method works, just don't kill Kagin. He'll eventually give you the number of Blackwood Company recruits (100) and the name of the leader (Ri'Zakar). Once he's spilled Ri'Zakar's name, he kills himself rather than reveal the recipe for the Company's secret sauce. Oreyn is satisfied, but wants more. He wants you to join the Blackwood Company and find out what they're up to. [FG18] <~~~~~~ INFILTRATION ~~~~~~> Joining the Company is easy. Fast Travel to Leyawiin and find the Company's main HQ right across the street from the Fighters Guild. Talk to Jeetum-Zee and he'll take you right in. Must be a lot of defectors from the Guild. Zee takes you down to the Training Room and briefs you and three other recruits on a goblin hunting mission. During the conversations, you discover the source of the Company's wild successes: sap from the Hist tree. This tree normally only grows in the swamps of Black Marsh, the Argonian homeland, and the narcotic produced from its sap is illegal in Cyrodiil. Rather than smuggle the sap in, the Company has figured out how to keep a Hist tree alive in this very building, so they've got plenty of sap for everyone. You have no choice but to drink some Hist along with the other three recruits. You automatically Fast Travel to Water's Edge (you may remember this hamlet from a previous task). There are several goblins roaming around, and your brother Blackwoods lay into them immediately. The goblins are strangely passive and very weak. After the goblins outside are dead, you're ordered to check the houses. Sure enough, you'll find four more passive, weak goblins inside the various houses. Kill them and you'll pass out. You wake up in Oreyn's house in Chorrol. You were found in the streets of Leyawiin by Guild members and brought to him. Explain the Hist tree. He says he'll look into it and sends you to Water's Edge to check on its inhabitants. There you find a truly tragic scene. Seven dead sheep, and four dead people, including the lovely Biene Amelion. Standing over the carnage is Biene's father, Marcel, recently released after Biene paid his debt. He wonders who could have done this. You know, but you can't confess. All you can do is return to Oreyn. [FG19] <~~~~~~ THE HIST ~~~~~~> If, after the scene with the elder Amelion, you're not ready to lay some smack down on the Blackwood Company, there's something wrong with you. Fortunately, Oreyn knows just how you're feeling. He tells you to get to Leyawiin and take out the Hist tree. If some Company fighters go down with it...well, that's just collateral damage. Fast Travel to Leyawiin, enter the Blackwood Company HQ and express your displeasure to the three to four fighters on the ground floor. (Don't try any sweet-talking, they attack on sight. So should you.) When you're finished pounding on them, find the body named Ja'Fazir and get the key to Jeetum-Zee's room. Go upstairs to Jeetum-Zee's room and explain what the pointy thing on the end of your sword is for. From his corpse you get the key to Ri'Zakar's room on the third floor. You haven't met Ri'Zakar yet; he's going to wish you never did. Take the key to the basement from him. Find the basement door on the first floor and enter. There's a huge tree growing in the center of the room with complex machinery on either side of it. There are also two Argonian mages. Make them regret ever leaving Black Marsh. Once they're dead, find two loose pipes laying on the floor and pick them up. With the pipes in your inventory, Activate each large machine to destroy them. The Hist tree goes up in flames and you can start breathing again. On your way out, Maglir shows up. It's OK. You get to kill him now. Return to Oreyn, who sends you on to Vilena Donton to explain everything. While initially ticked you and Oreyn have been working behind her back, she ultimately decides the real problem is herself. She's getting too old and too shell-shocked to lead a guild of fighters. So, she hands the reins over to you and recommends you appoint Oreyn your second-in-command. Oreyn initially complains about missing out on retirement, but then decides you need someone to look after you. Once each calendar month, you can give Oreyn new orders from a list of three: 1) Focus on getting new recruits. 2) Focus on drumming up business. 3) Focus on both equally. On the first of each month, you get a stipend placed in the guild master's chest in your office in the Chorrol guild hall. It will contain a mixture of gold and magic items. If you instruct Oreyn to concentrate on recruitment, you'll get more items. If the focus is on contracts, you get more gold. Balancing the two will balance your monthly reward. Take your boots off and relax a bit. You get to collect loot without doing any of the work. It's good to be the boss. [FG20] <~~~~~~ EXPELLED FROM THE FIGHTERS GUILD ~~~~~~> Like the other guilds, you are not permitted to steal from, attack or kill other members of the guild. (Non-members are fair game.) The Fighters Guild operates on a three-strikes and you're out policy. The first two times you commit a crime against a guild member, you can earn your way back in. The third time, you're out for good. The first time you are expelled, you must bring 20 bear pelts back to Vilena Donton in Chorrol to be re-instated. The second time you are expelled, you must bring Donton 20 minotaur horns. Neither are particularly easy tasks, especially since bears and minotaurs are leveled creatures that only appear when you're at the right level. The best policy is to avoid committing crimes against fellow guild members. If you suspect you might get a little out of control, stockpile bear pelts and minotaur horns as you find them. If you commit a third offense against a guild member, you're out for good. [MG00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MAGES GUILD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ The Mages Guild quests should be considered a necessity for any character, at least to the point where you get access to Arcane University (after completing the Recommendations). Once you are an Apprentice, you can enchant items and make your own spells, both highly useful activities. Note also that completing the Mages Guild quests does not require you to be a mage, nor even particularly proficient with magic. Most of the quests are "solved" by combat, which any character can be adept at. Joining the Mages Guild is simple: make sure you have no outstanding bounty, then speak to the leader in one of the seven local guild halls. They are: * Anvil: Carahil * Bravil: Kud-Ei * Bruma: Jeanne Frasoric * Cheydinhal: Falcar * Chorrol: Teekeeus * Leyawiin: Dagail * Skingrad: Adrienne Berene Once you've joined, you are considered an Associate and you receive a key that opens the various locked doors in the guild halls and you can pick up equipment freely in the guild storerooms. Before you can advance in rank and access the Arcane University in Imperial City, you must get a recommendation from each local guild leader. Ask each guild leader about a recommendation. They'll say they can't possibly give you a recommendation unless you do something for them first. Uh huh. You've been down this road before. Agree to undertake the tasks they ask of you and you'll get their recommendations. [MG01] <~~~~~~ ANVIL RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> This quest, while it initially sounds exciting, is quite yawn-worthy. Talk to Carahil at the Anvil Guild. She wants you to bait a trap for a rogue mage that's been murdering merchants traveling the Gold Coast. You are sent to the Brina Cross Inn, just north of Anvil. Be sure to follow through all Carahil's conversation options to get some Frost Shell scrolls. Go to the Inn and speak to Arielle Jurard. She tells you to take a room. Do so, and Jurard will come up to your room soon after you enter and explain the plan. You are to rest, then travel east along the road. You'll be followed by Jurard and another battlemage. When the rogue mage hits you, they'll move in and take him out. You only need to rest in the bed 1 hour (you can rest overnight if you wish), then head out to the road and walk east. You'll soon be waylaid by Caminalda, who may have spoken to you at the Inn. She's the rogue and she is easily dispatched. In fact, you don't even really need to do anything except step back and let the other two battlemages take over. After, loot Caminalda's body for the key to her room at the Inn, which contains a bit of loot. Then return to Carahil for her recommendation. Don't you love it when a plan comes together? [MG02] <~~~~~~ BRAVIL RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> No combat required for this task, just lots of running around and a fair bit of gold from your pocket (or a bit of theft). Kud-Ei, head of the Bravil Guild, wants you to speak to Varon Vamori about a staff he stole from one of Kud-Ei's "girls". To help matters, Kud-Ei gives you a Beguile scroll (Charm, 30 points for 30 seconds). Head to Vamori's house, which will be marked for you on your local map. Talk to Vamori. You need to get his Disposition to 65 to find out the fate of the staff. You can do this with the Persuasion mini-game and/or bribes or use the Beguile scroll. Once you've persuaded him, Vamori reveals he stole the staff in a fit of anger and sold it to one Soris Arenim, who lives in Imperial City. Lovely. Go back to Kud-Ei and get another supply of Beguile scrolls. Travel to the Talos Plaza District and find Arenim's house (marked on your map). You must get Arenim's Disposition up to 70 to get any information about the staff. He offers to sell it to you for 200 gold. You can pay the price and finish this business; or, if you're opposed to being out-of-pocket on this mission... Speak to Arenim's wife, Erissare. Get her Dispostion to 65 (again, with Persuasion or spell), and she'll tell you where Arenim keeps the staff and where he keeps the key to the chest containing the staff. (If you don't want to use up a scroll, the key is upstairs in Soris' desk; the chest with the staff is in the cellar.) Return the staff to Kud-Ei, who is suitably grateful. She teaches you a mild Charm spell (Captivate) and promises her recommendation to the Guild. [MG03] <~~~~~~ BRUMA RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> This may just be the easiest and shortest quest in the entire game. Talk to Jeanne Frasoric, guild leader, to learn one of her mages, J'skar, has gone missing. Now, if you have a Detect Life spell, cast it and walk around (including down in the basement living quarters) and you should find an invisible humanoid. Cast a Dispel to reveal J'skar and return to Jeanne for your recommendation. If you don't have Detect Life, you may still be able to find J'skar by wandering around and pointing your crosshair target at random places. If it suddenly changes to a crown (plot NPC) icon over thin air, you've found your Dispel target. Finally, if you don't have a Dispel handy, talk to guild member Volanaro. He reveals the whole disappearance is a prank. Raise his Disposition to 70 and he'll make a deal: you steal Jeanne's copy of the Manual of Spellcraft and he'll "find" J'skar. Getting the book is easy, especially since Volanaro will teach you an Unlock spell. Jeanne's room is the only room on the upper floor of the guild. Break in, unlock her desk (with spell or lockpick) and grab her book. Return to Volanaro, and he'll agree to meet you at 10pm in the living quarters. Wait ahead to the appropriate time, meet Volanaro in the basement and he'll Dispel J'skar's invisibility. [MG04] <~~~~~~ CHEYDINHAL RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> Falcar, leader of the Cheydinhal guild, has dropped a ring down the well behind the guild. He makes some mention of sending someone else after it and not getting it back. He now wants you to go get the ring. He sends you to Deetsan for a key to the well. Deetsan won't give you the key until she's had a talk with you, and she won't talk while Falcar is around. Wait ahead until Falcar goes back to his quarters, then talk to Deetsan. She is concerned over Falcar's "prank tasks" given to new Associates, and warns you to be careful. Then she hands over the key and teaches you a combination water-breathing and feather (reduced encumbrance) spell. Deetsan's warning is well-taken. The ring is a Ring of Burden and increases your encumbrance by 150 points. Deetsan's spell only reduces encumbrance by 5 points. Bit of a discrepancy there. Once you enter the well, you can easily find Vidkun's body and take the ring off him. As soon as you do, you get 150 pounds added to your encumbrance--you don't have to equip the ring to suffer the effects. You have two options: 1) Divest yourself of at least 150 pounds of gear. Even if this is your first recommendation quest, you have access to the bedroom and chests upstairs, so put all your gear into a chest. You can then safely carry out the ring. 2) Once you have the ring, wait until you get the quest update saying you should return the ring to Falcar. As soon as you have that quest update, drop the ring. The quest has continued and you don't need to actually hand over the ring. *NOTE* Some people have experienced a glitch where the quest does not update and the ring disappears so this quest becomes impossible to complete. The safest way to do the quest is to get rid of your gear and actually bring the ring to Deetsan. Return to the guild. Deetsan rashly confronted Falcar over the disappearance of the previous Associate and he had a fit and has taken off for parts unknown. So how do you get your recommendation? Deetsan tells you to search Falcar's quarters for the letter of recommendation. You won't find a letter, but you will find two black soul gems. Take them to Deetsan, who is dismayed with your find, and promises to send your recommendation herself. [MG05] <~~~~~~ CHORROL RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> The Chorrol recommendation only comes with your completion of the Fingers of the Mountain quest. There's a part 2 of that quest, depending on how you handle the first part. | Fingers of the Mountain [MG05-A] +---------------------------------- Teekeeus, head of the Chorrol guild, has bad relations with former colleague Earana. She is loitering about town, and Teekeeus wants you to find out why so she can be sent on her way. Follow your objective marker to Earana. She isn't interested in Teekeeus, she wants a book, Fingers of the Mountain, that can be found at a ruin called Cloud Top. She promises a vague reward if you bring her the book. Relay this to Teekeeus and he lets you know he would like the book as well. Retrieve it for him and the recommendation is yours. Journey (by foot or horse) to Cloud Top, which has been marked for you and is north-northwest of Chorrol. There are no specific enemies to fight, though you will encounter the normal range of wild animals on your path. The book is conveniently located on a charred corpse lying at the base of a broken column. You now have two choices: 1) Take the book to Teekeeus. He accepts, with thanks, and the recommendation is yours. 2) Take the book to Earana. She says she must study it for a day. Return to her the following day and she'll give you instructions on how to obtain a powerful spell. See "Learning the Spell" below for the full instructions. | Fingers of the Mountain, Part II [MG05-B] +------------------------------------------- You can, actually, do both--get the recommendation from Teekeeus and the spell from Earana. After finishing part 1 of this quest, go to the other participant and reveal what you've done. This opens Part II: you are asked to steal the book back. Teekeeus keeps the book in a locked chest in his quarters. Earana keeps the book in her room at the Grey Mare Inn. Once you've stolen the book, return it to the other party. You'll get the recommendation (from Teekeeus) or the spell instructions (from Earana) and still have the other "reward" from the previous "owner" of the book. It's all good. | Learning the Spell +-------------------- The true reward for this quest is Finger of the Mountain, a very powerful spell. Two things to note about this spell: 1) Its power is keyed to your level. If you learn the spell at level 2, you get a low-level spell. Learn the spell at a higher level, and the power is much higher. (See list below.) PC users can learn the low-level spell and have it automatically leveled up using a mod. 2) At higher levels, the spell is only useful to dedicated mages, since it costs a lot of Magicka. If you don't rely much on spells, don't bother learning this one. To learn Finger of the Mountain, you must visit Cloud Top and cast a Shock spell on the central, broken column and have a welkynd stone in your inventory. Welkynd stones are all over the place in Ayleid ruins. If you don't have one, you can get some from a small ruin just northeast of the Chorrol north gate. It's called Hrotanda Vale, and it is a two-level, bandit-infested ruin. The first large room you come to has two floor traps in the center. If you draw the bandits over them, you may finish off two or three with the traps. Careful jumping around the corners will get you past the traps into a room full of welkynd stones. (You can finish off the rest of the ruin, or not. All you really need is one stone.) Make sure you have a spell or scroll that does shock damage (any magnitude) and a welkynd stone. Return to Cloud Top, restore yourself to full health and cast your Shock spell on the central column. You'll get hit by lightning in return and learn Finger of the Mountain. The shock damage done to you and the power of the spell is keyed to your level: +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Finger of the Mountain (Destruction magic) | | Min PC level | Dmg to PC | Shock Dmg | Area | Magicka* | Skill level | |--------------+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+-------------| | 1 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 11 | Novice | |--------------+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+-------------| | 5 | 40 | 20 | 5 | 54 | Journeyman | |--------------+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+-------------| | 10 | 60 | 40 | 5 | 131 | Expert | |--------------+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+-------------| | 15 | 120 | 90 | 5 | 371 | Master | |--------------+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+-------------| | 20 | 210 | 140 | 5 | 653 | Master | |--------------+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+-------------| | 25 | 210 | 200 | 10 | 1547 | Master | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Actual Magicka cost will be adjusted based on your skill level in Destruction. [MG06] <~~~~~~ LEYAWIIN RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> The head of the Leyawiin Mages Guild, Dagail, is somewhat incoherent. Speak to her, and, among her ramblings, she'll point you to Agata. Speak to Agata to learn about the stone Dagail used to have that allows her to focus her visions. Find Kalthar and ask him about the Seer's Stone. He'll give you an earful and then some. Return to Agata and discuss Kalthar with her. She'll tell to you go back to Dagail. Speak to Dagail again and listen intently to her riddles. Or not. Your journal will now point you to Fort Blueblood. Refer to your map, where you'll find Fort Blueblood now showing southeast of Leyawiin. Hoof it over there and fight your way through a bunch of marauders in a two level dungeon. After killing the marauder warlord, make sure you loot his body for the Fort Blueblood key. This gives you access to the crypt where Dagail's father lies. His coffin is protected by leveled creatures. Once they are down and you've retrieved his amulet, you'll be confronted by Kalthar. He wants the amulet, which, of course, you're not going to let him have. Kalthar's a conjurer, so ignore his buddy if he summons one and concentrate on taking him out. Return to Dagail in Leyawiin for the recommendation. [MG07] <~~~~~~ SKINGRAD RECOMMENDATION ~~~~~~> Adrienne Berene wants some notes from Erthor, a mage Adrienne ran out of the guild. She has no idea where Erthor is, and wants you to track him down. Talk to Sulinus Vassinus, who should be wandering around the guild. Vassinus says Erthor moved into Bleak Flats Cave and hasn't been seen in a long time. (Yay! Caves!) Vassinus has no idea where Bleak Flats Cave is. Find Druja, another mage wandering around the guild. Druja can pinpoint Bleak Flats Cave on your map and mentions it was Berene that recommended the cave to Erthor. Talk to Berene again; she'll order you point-blank to go to the cave and bring Erthor back. To aid you, you are taught a new spell, Fireball. (Yay! Fire!) Bleak Flats Cave now appears on your map, north-northwest of Skingrad. You can't Fast Travel there, so walk on over. Inside are quite a number of deranged zombies. (Yay! Zombies! In a cave! With fire!) Fight your way through them, making sure you wipe them all out, until you find Erthor. Erthor will be pleased with the rescue and ask that you lead him out of the cave. Letting Erthor follow you is not required. You can simply tell him to return to the Skingrad guild hall on his own. There's a shortcut out of Erthor's "room" to the northwest. Pull the lever to move the rock. After returning to the Mages Guild, talk to Berene to get your recommendation. [MG08] <~~~~~~ A MAGES STAFF ~~~~~~> After completing the seven recommendation quests, talk to any guild leader about your recommendation. You'll be sent to Raminus Polus at Arcane University just outside Imperial City. Travel there and enter the lobby of the University during normal hours to meet Polus. You'll be promoted to Apprentice and given a new task: create a mages staff. First, you have to collect the proper wood for your staff. Polus sends you to a grove near Wellspring Cave, which is east of Imperial City. To reach the grove, you must go through the cave. In the first area of the cave you'll find the body of one of the grove's guardians. (You knew this wasn't going to be simple, right?) Make sure you Activate the body twice--once to update your journal, again to get the key to the grove from her body. There are also some necromancers in the cave. Necromancers like to summon things; try to ignore the summoned creatures and take out the summoner (which also dispels the summons). Near the end of the cave is the body of the second grove guardian. Outside, in the grove, are three necromancers. There's no way to take them on one-by-one, you'll have to put up with all three hitting you at once. If you're having trouble with them, make sure you use items and potions with damage resistance (especially against fire and shock). Remember to take out the summoner and don't waste time on the summons. When the necromancers are dead, get your wood from the chest in the center of the grove. You can jump down from the grove into Lake Rumare and swim across to Arcane University. Polus is appalled at the necromancer attack on the grove. He sends you along to Delmar in the Chironasium, who will make a staff of your choosing. You can pick from three schools, and then choose one of three powers from that school: * Destruction: Fire, Frost or Shock damage * Illusion: Charm, Paralyze or Silence * Mysticism: Dispel, Telekinesis or Soul Trap Wait until the next day and collect your staff from the cupboard in the back of the room. Return to Polus and ask about Advancement; you are now a Journeyman in the Guild. Then ask about Tasks for a new mission. [MG09] <~~~~~~ ULTERIOR MOTIVES ~~~~~~> Polus sends you on a simple step-n-fetch mission. Count Hassildor in Skingrad borrowed a book, and the Guild wants it back. Travel to Castle Skingrad. You can't see the count, and everyone refers you to Mercator Hosidus, castle steward. Mercator is brusque and won't bother the count until the following day. Return the next day. Hosidus sets up a meeting between you and the count on the road west of town after 2am that night. Wait until the appropriate time, then head out the west gate and down the road, just past the first farm on the left. Make sure you're kitted out for battle first (yeah, you're not getting off easy). Hosidus and a couple of necromancers are waiting for you. This can't end well. Endeavor to make sure Hosidus and friends feel worse about the meeting than you. During the ruckus, Count Hassildor will show up and take a personal interest in "retiring" Hosidus--and his pals. Then he chews you out for being a gullible fool. Well. Yeah. But it's not like the game gives you any other choice. You find out you were sent to spy on Hassildor, but he turned the situation around and used you as bait to draw out Hosidus and his allies. Travel back to Arcane University and do some chewing out of your own on Polus. He apologizes, fully explains the count's condition (he's a vampire, if you haven't figured that out yourself) and promotes you to Evoker. You get a leveled amulet with a Spell Absorption enchantment and a new task. [MG10] <~~~~~~ VAHTACEN'S SECRET ~~~~~~> Polus sends you to help Irlav Jarol, who hangs out in the Arch-Mages Council Chamber (use the portal in the Lobby). Jarol is supervising an archaeological study of an Ayleid ruin and they've hit a snag. He sends you to investigate. Vahtacen is located south-southeast of Cheydinhal. The upper level of this ruin is unoccupied except for a couple of Mages Guild workers: Skaleel and Denel. Skaleel is disgruntled and doesn't want to help. She sends you down to Denel, who explains the problem. They've got a wall blocking their way further into the ruin and they can't figure out how to open it. You can do this the hard way by entering the large room and looking at the inscriptions on the walls. Then return to Denel and ask about translating the runes. He sends you to Skaleel for a book, then helps you translate the writing. Or, you can just go ahead and open the wall. You need four spells (scrolls or staffs will work): fire damage, frost damage, damage Magicka and fortify Magicka. If you don't have these spells, you can find scrolls in the chest behind Denel. Walk up to the large column in the center of the room and cast your spells in this order: fire, frost, damage Magicka (must be damage, not drain or absorb) and fortify Magicka (must be useable on a target, not on self). The walls will open, revealing a staircase leading down. It's up to you to go down and explore Vahtacen's depths. Speaking to Denel or Skaleel will only confirm this for you. You'll fight your way through a lot of ghosts (or wraiths, depending on your level) until you reach a large room with a platform in the middle. There's no immediate way up onto the platform. Use the stairs on the south side of the room to get up to the switch that raises steps to the central platform. On top of the platform is a cover that is raised with a nearby switch. Don't push the switch until you're ready for battle. Open the cover and take the relic underneath. When you do, three zombies are released into the room. They're pretty stupid and won't use the stairs to come get you, so you can stand on the edge of the platform and snipe them. Or you can jump down and try to take them all on at once. Once they're dead, you can take a shortcut back to the upper levels of the ruin by using the northern-most exit from this room. Show the relic to Skaleel, who will be delighted, then return to Jarol at Arcane University for your reward. [MG11] <~~~~~~ NECROMANCER'S MOON ~~~~~~> Polus now gives you another promotion and a new task: talk to archivist Tar- Meena about necromancy. Use the "Black Soul Gems" topic to get Tar-Meena to talk. She tells you to read a book called "Necromancer's Moon". It's lying on a table there in the library. Talk to Tar-Meena again, who points out a reference to "Shade of the Revenant". Return to Polus, who refers you to Bothiel, the resident astronomer. Bothiel recalls Falcar (he of the Ring of Burden "prank") once asking about the Shade of the Revenant. He dropped a note when he left and she kept it. The note mentions four sites: The Dark Fissure, Fort Istirius, Fort Linchal and Wendelbek. Polus decides to send you to Dark Fissure, which is a place he recognizes. This cave is near Cheydinhal, and you never actually need to go inside. You can finish this quest in two ways: 1) When you find the cave, you'll see an altar out front. Wait until nightfall and watch as a necromancer comes out and turns normal soul gems into black soul gems. You'll get a new journal entry and can return to Polus with what you've seen. 2) If you arrive during the day and don't want to wait, enter Dark Fissure. In the very first room, you'll be able to kill a necromancer and get a recipe for black soul gems from his body. Return to Polus with this information. In neither instance is it necessary to clear out the caves, though you can do so if you wish. Polus promotes you to Magician and sends you to Arch-Mage Traven. [MG12] <~~~~~~ LIBERATION OR APPREHENSION? ~~~~~~> You'll find Traven either in the Council chambers or in his room (use the portal in the Council chambers). His first task for you is to bring in an informant who has been working with the necromancers. Traven fears a team of battlemages may mistake the informant for a real necromancer and kill him. You are sent to Nenyond Twyll, southeast of Imperial City. Travel down there and enter the ruins. You'll meet one of the battlemages, who reports the necromancers wiped out the rest of the team. Despite that, he thinks he and you are enough to take out this nest of vipers. Let him rush down the stairs and be killed by the trap at the bottom. Better him than you, right? Jump around the corners of the trap and fight your way south to the entrance to the second level of the ruins. This is basically just one big room, mostly filled with water. There are several necromancers in this room, so advance slowly and try to pick them off one-by-one. There's one, who, if given a chance, will talk and reveal the fate of the informant; but, you're going to find that out soon anyway. Along the north wall is a secret door, opened with a switch that's in an alcove to the left. Beyond is the informant, now a zombie (Worm Thrall, in technical terms). Kill him and your journal updates. Also to the left of the secret room entrance is a shortcut back to the exit from the ruins. Return to Traven to complete the quest, then talk to Polus, who increases your rank to Warlock. [MG13] <~~~~~~ INFORMATION AT A PRICE ~~~~~~> Having dealt with Count Hassildor in Skingrad once, you're sent back to him. He has important information for the Guild, and has requested that you personally come to collect. When you arrive, and have gone through Hal-Liurz to see the Count, he lets you know there's a little task--or two--he wants you to perform before he divulges his knowledge. First on the list are a group of uncultured vampires who have taken over Bloodcrust cave just outside the castle. Hassildor wants them wiped out as they are little better than beasts. Second are the vampire hunters who have come to town to kill these vampires. Hassildor doesn't want them poking too much into his own nocturnal activities. There are at least three ways to handle this little task: 1) Find the vampire hunters (they have rooms at the Two Sisters Lodge and also eat lunch there). Tell the leader, Eridor, where the vampires are, then follow them to watch the fun. Bring some popcorn. When it's all done, either mop up the rest of the vampires or congratulate the surviving hunters, who will pack up and leave town now that all the vamps are dead. 2) Go wipe out the vampires yourself. Make sure you take at least one sample of "Vampire Dust" from one of these vampires. (Dust from other vamps won't work.) Go find the hunters at the Two Sisters Lodge and speak to their leader, Eridor, and tell him the vampires are all dead. Show him the dust sample as proof. The hunters will take off for other parts. 3) Kill the vampires and the vampire hunters. The latter is risky as it is murder and the count has told you he can't protect you. Though he, personally, doesn't care if you kill them, he can't intervene if you're caught. Overall, the first option is by far the easiest. You may even get lucky and the hunters will prevail and you won't have to lift a finger. Regardless, return to Hassildor and get his information and then take that to Traven. [MG14] <~~~~~~ A PLOT REVEALED ~~~~~~> Traven is upset by the information you bring him, and says he and the council need some time to sort things out. You can't get another quest from him until a couple of days have passed. Either go quest somewhere else for a while or Wait two days and try him again. The news of the King of Worms' return has blown up the council. While they try to sort things out, Traven sends you to Bruma. Jeanne hasn't reported in several days and Traven is worried. And rightly so. The Bruma Mages Guild is on fire and filled with the dead bodies of its members and lots of leveled undead. You'll have to kill off the creatures on the main floor, then go down the right-hand set of stairs to the living quarters. This is where things get hairy. There are from four to six creatures in this confined area and they will all hit you at once--one as soon as you come through the door. Your only chance is to immediately scuttle into the room to your right and try to take them out as they come through the door. If you can keep them bottled up in the doorway, only one or two can hit you at a time. When you leave the living quarters, you can go up the stairs to Jeanne's room, where you'll find the necromancer in charge of this expedition. She's not talkative, so take her out fast. When you do, J'skar appears out of nowhere. He used his invisibility to hide and escaped destruction. He has a terrifying eye-witness account of the attack, and then heads for Arcane University for safety. Follow him and report in to Traven. Go see Polus for another advancement, to Wizard, and the spell Wizard's Fury, which is keyed to your level and provides fire, shock and frost damage in one handy explosion. [MG15] <~~~~~~ THE BLOODWORM HELM ~~~~~~> You'll need to go play with your new spell for a couple of days, because Traven and his cronies need time to digest the new information. When you return, he gives dismaying news. The other two council members, Irlav Jarol and Caranya, have stolen some powerful artifacts and taken off with them. *NOTE* You can do these two quests in any order. Jarol has stolen the Bloodworm Helm and gone to Fort Teleman. Teleman is northeast of Leyawiin, so Fast Travel there and head out to the Fort. You'll have to fight your way through two levels of necromancers and daedra (even if you finished the main story, there will still be daedra in here). At the bottom of the second level is Jarol's body. Retrieve the Bloodworm Helm from Jarol's corpse and return it to Traven; or, use it to help retrieve the Necromancer's Amulet. [MG16] <~~~~~~ THE NECROMANCER'S AMULET ~~~~~~> Caranya has made off to Fort Ontus, which is in-between Chorrol and Kvatch in the Colovian highlands. The mages in here are initially peaceful, so there's no fighting as you work your way down to the second level and a meeting with Caranya. Of course, you won't get out without a fight, so note the positions of all these future enemies. After Caranya reveals herself to be a traitor to the cause, kill her and take the amulet. There are two ways back out, both of which cover about the same distance. Either way, you're going to have to wade through several necromancers and their summons. [MG17] <~~~~~~ AMBUSH ~~~~~~> After returning both the Bloodworm Helm and Necromancer's Amulet to Traven, talk to Polus again for promotion to Master Wizard. You're now Polus' equal in rank. Traven now wants you to help take the battle to the enemy. A group of battlemages has been sent to the Ayleid ruin of Silorn to intercept a unique black soul gem. Before leaving, buy a Paralyze or Burden spell or scroll, if you don't have one. Travel to Silorn, southeast of Skingrad, and meet up with the leader of the team, Thalfin. A direct assault didn't work because the entrance to Silorn is blocked with an enchantment. The team lost one member in the assault, so they've decided to set up an ambush. Talk to her about abilities and positioning, then do the same with the others. You want to station Thalfin and Iver closer to the action and Merete further away. Join Thalfin and Iver behind a column on the road leading out from the ruin and wait. When Thalfin suddenly casts a spell and runs out, do the same. Your target is your old nemesis, Falcar. He's going to make a break for the ruin and you want to stop him. Use your paralyzing or burdening spell, power or weapon enchantment to stop him in his tracks, then finish him off. You can then turn and help your team get rid of Falcar's supporting staff. Take the Colossal Black Soul Gem from Falcar's body. If you just can't get to Falcar fast enough, then you'll have to follow him into Silorn. Silorn is three levels full of necromancers and undead. Have fun. When you reach Falcar, kill him and take the special gem. Return to Traven. Your final task in the Mages Guild awaits. [MG18] <~~~~~~ CONFRONT THE KING ~~~~~~> Time to put an end to the King of Worms. Traven kills himself, putting his soul in the Colossal Black Soul Gem you just took from Falcar. Take the gem and journey to Echo Cavern, which is west of Cloud Ruler Temple. At the door, you'll be confronted by Bolor Savel, who gleefully informs you he has the only key for the door. Introduce him to the folly of guarding a door from you, take his key and enter the cave. The top two levels of the cave are standard necromancer-infested lairs. You've seen a lot of these by now. When you reach the bottom, you've found Mannimarco, King of Worms. Fortunately for you, Mannimarco is a bit overconfident. Seems he intends to turn you into a Worm Thrall; but, the special black soul gem prevents that from working. Don't give Mannimarco time to finish his conversation, cast his Enthrall spell and then realize it doesn't work. Walk up to him during his speech and hit him...hit him hard. Keep him off-balance and staggered and the fight should be easy. If you let him get off a few spells, you could be in trouble. Once he's dead, loot the place, then return to Arcane University. Congratulations! You are the new Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild. Primarily what this means is free alchemy ingredients. There's an enchanted chest in your room. Put an ingredient in there and, 24 hours later, you'll find lots of that particular ingredient. (The chest gets cleared out after a week, so come back for your stuff before then.) You can also pick any Apprentice on the grounds and take him or her along with you on adventures. There are still necromancers lying around (refer to Falcar's note from the "Necromancer's Moon" quest for their locations); however, there are no more formal quests for the mages guild. [MG19] <~~~~~~ MAGES GUILD SUSPENSION ~~~~~~> The Mages Guild frowns on members who commit crimes against other members. You get two opportunities to earn your way back into the guild. After the third crime, you are banned for good. Earning your way back into the guild depends on the type of crime. You must bring two types of alchemical ingredients to Raminus Polus, who will re- instate you into the guild. Theft: 20 nightshade, 20 mandrake root Assault: 20 dragon's tongue, 20 redwort flowers Murder: 20 vampire dust, 20 daedra hearts These prices apply regardless of whether it is your first or second offense. [TG00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIEVES GUILD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ The Thieves Guild provides a welcome respite from the typical step-n-fetch quests that predominate the main story and the Fighters and Mages Guild quest lines. There are no dungeon crawls and almost no combat until you get near the end of the story. Prior to that, you'll be required to "obtain" or "retrieve" various items, *without* killing anyone! Can you believe it? These quests require a bit more thought, better preparation and some serious Sneak and Security skills. If you can't pick locks or Sneak effectively, you'll need to buff up on those skills prior to joining the Guild. * Sneak can be easily leveled by breaking into an occupied house, during the night, Sneaking up beside the sleeping owner, and Sneak-running into the wall. (PC users can press 'Q' to turn on auto-movement.) Get your Sneak skill past 50 so you don't have to go barefoot all the time. You can supplement Sneaking with Invisibility spells, but you still need a decent Sneak so you aren't heard and to allow you to pickpocket various targets. * Security is difficult to level up; however, there are various workarounds. First, you can wait until level 10, perform Nocturnal's quest, and get the Skeleton Key, which is an unbreakable lockpick with a +40 Security boost enchantment. No lock can stand against you. Second, you can level up your Alteration skill (keep casting Feather on yourself, over and over) and buy some high-powered Open Lock spells. In short, the bull-rush tactics of your average fighter or blast-them-to- Oblivion mage strategy aren't going to work for you in the Thieves Guild. You've got to be a lot more sneaky. When you're ready to join, go to Imperial City. There's two ways of getting an invitation: 1) Steal something and go to jail. When you are released, wait around until you are approached by Myvryna Arano and given a message. The message says to go at midnight to the Garden of Dareloth in the Waterfront district. 2) Read one of the Gray Fox wanted posters scattered about the city. This gives you a couple of new topics. Approach a beggar and Persuade or Charm him or her to a Disposition past 70. Then ask about the Gray Fox. Say you want to work with him. You'll be told to go at midnight to the Garden of Dareloth in the Waterfront district. Once you have those instructions, head to the Waterfront district. You can Fast Travel there or go out through the door in the Temple district. Head south, past the docks and through the large wall to the dockworker slums. There's one house, on the eastern edge of the slums, with a walled garden behind it. That's the Garden of Dareloth. [TG01] <~~~~~~ MAY THE BEST THIEF WIN ~~~~~~> Wait until midnight and Armond Christophe will appear. The two of you will be joined by a wood elf, Methredhel and an Argonian, Amusei. When everyone's there, talk to Christophe and ask about joining the Guild. Christophe says there's never been this many new recruits at once, so he proposes a test. The first one to return with the diary of Amantius Allectus wins approval to join the Guild. Now, technically, there's no way to lose. If you don't win this first test, you'll get another; still, better to get it over with quick. Fast Travel to the Temple district. (Yes, you can run over there, but you're probably not fast enough.) As soon as the Temple district loads, hang a right and run along the wall until you reach the southeastern corner. Go left and pick the lock on the second door to your left. This is Allectus's house. (If you want to do this the "right" way, you would first need to find a beggar--Puny Ancus--sleeping near the Garden and ask him the location of Allectus's house.) Regardless, Methredhel will be there before you, Sneaking across the room. Don't bother Sneaking. Run to the desk against the wall to your right and open it to get the diary. Go back to the Garden, Wait until the next midnight hour and give the diary to Christophe. If, for some reason, the wood elf gets the diary first, you can still get it back. You're not allowed to kill your fellow contestants (or Allectus for that matter), but there's no prohibition against stealing from them. Wait until after sunrise, say about 7 or 8am. Methredhel lives right next to Dareloth's house. Pick the lock on her door, then on the chest next to her bed (she sleeps from sunrise until 10am). Get the diary, Wait until midnight, and give the diary to Christophe. Say that, for some reason, you don't get the diary at all and Methredhel wins the contest. Hope is not lost. Christophe figures the Thieves Guild could still use another member, so he proposes another test between you and Amusei; you're to bring back Rohssan's sword. For plot reasons, Amusei is not capable of winning either of these contests, so you don't need to worry about him getting the sword first. Fast Travel to the Market District and find "A Fighting Chance" next to the Merchant's Inn. They're both along the street leading to the Arena in the southeastern section of the Market district. Pick the lock on the door and go upstairs to Rohssan's quarters. You'll have to kill her dog, then pick the lock on Rohssan's Chest to get Rohssan's Antique Cutlass. Return the sword to Christophe at the next midnight hour. [TG02] <~~~~~~ INDEPENDENT THIEVERY ~~~~~~> Congratulations! You are now a Pickpocket in the Guild. There are a series of ten "special jobs" you will have to perform to advance to the rank of guild master (Gray Fox). However, in order to get each job, you have to fence a certain amount of stolen goods. As you advance, the required total amount of fenced property increases, and you get access to more fences. For starters, your only fence is Ongar the World-Weary in Bruma. He lives behind the chapel and he isn't called "World-Weary" for nothing. He spends a lot of time sleeping. He'll only fence items for you while in his house, so if you find him on the street or in a tavern, you're just going to have to Wait until he goes home. He has a limited amount of gold, but you probably aren't going to be selling him any high-priced items anyway. You can, without too much work, fence over 1,000 gold worth of items to Ongar on your first try. That way you can zip right through the ten quests without stopping to clean out houses and fence the loot. There's a house in Imperial City's Temple district owned by Trenus Duronis. His house is west of the temple, and opens into the central circle. Duronis is a skooma (drug) addict. He's rarely home at night and has no servants. His house is easy pickings. You can grab over 40 bottles of premium wine, lots of silver, plus jewelry and 15 bottles of skooma (base price 75 gold each). Make sure you loot all the miscellaneous sacks lying around, some of the jewelry are in those sacks. Ignore the basement, there's nothing down there. Haggle Ongar up to paying you 45 or 50 percent of base price and you can get 1,500 fenced value in one shot. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Rank | Target | Quest | Contact | Fence | |-------------+--------+-------------------------+----------+---------------| |Pickpocket | 50 | Untaxing the Poor | Armand | Ongar, Bruma | |Footpad | 100 | The Elven Maiden | | | |Bandit | 200 | Ahdarji's Heirloom | S'Krivva | Dar Jee, | |Prowler | 300 | Misdirection | | Leyawiin | |Cat Burglar | 400 | Lost Histories | | Luciana Galena| | | 500 | Taking Care of Lex | | Bravil | |Shadowfoot | 600 | Turning a Blind Eye | Gray Fox | Orrin, Anvil | | | 700 | Arrow of Extrication | | | |Master Thief | 800 | Boots of Springheel Jak | | Fathis Ules, | | | 1,000 | The Ultimate Heist | | Imperial City | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ [TG03] <~~~~~~ UNTAXING THE POOR ~~~~~~> Once you have over 50 gold worth of fenced goods, talk to Christopher (always at midnight in the Garden) about Special Jobs. He goes on a rant about how futile it is to tax the poor people, but that's just what Imperial Watch captain Hieronymus Lex has done. Christophe wants you to get the tax money back from Lex, as well as the records so the Thieves Guild knows how to redistribute the funds. Find a beggar--Puny, who sleeps near the Garden will do--to learn Lex's quarters are at the top of the South Watchtower. The South Watchtower is between the Temple district and the Arboretum, near Allectus's house. The best time to break in is during mid-morning. Yeah, broad daylight. You see, the Radiant AI is a bit stupid. During the night, there are too many watchmen entering the barracks for the number of beds available. Since there aren't enough beds, some of the watchmen just stand around all night and it's devilishly hard to Sneak past them. An Invisibility spell might work, but better just to wait until daylight. Around 9am, there's no one in the tower except the night shift watchmen, and they're all sleeping. As a bonus, Lex will also be out and about on his rounds. You can enter the tower's bottom level publicly, then you have to Sneak your way up (find the ladder on the wall and Activate it) through two levels of barracks until you reach Lex's quarters. Pick the lock on his desk and collect the tax records and gold, then return to Christophe at the next witching hour. [TG04] <~~~~~~ THE ELVEN MAIDEN ~~~~~~> If you've fenced at least 100 gold worth of goods, Christophe offers you another special job. You're to steal the bust of the late Countess Indarys of Cheydinhal. Fast Travel over there and use your quest markers to track down a beggar. You'll probably have to bribe them to tell you the bust is sitting next to the Countess' coffin in the undercroft of the chapel. Oh yeah, and there's a guard patrolling day and night and the place is haunted as well. Joy. Sneak down into the undercroft of the chapel and watch the guard. He (or she) patrols between the two wings of the crypt, from east to west. The bust is in the west wing, so wait until the guard is heading east, then zip in and grab the bust. Hide behind a column while the guard comes and peeks in, then scurry back out when his (or her) back is turned. You won't encounter any ghosts unless you try to Activate the coffin, so don't do that. Return to the Waterfront of Imperial City and you'll find the place crawling with cops, under the direction of Captain Lex, all asking questions about Christophe and the bust of Countess Indarys. Looks like you've been set up, but by whom? Hang around the Waterfront for a while, and Methredhel eventually finds you. The whole operation was designed to ferret out an informant in the Guild. The weasel is revealed as Myvryna Arano, and Methredhel suggest you frame her for the crime. Her hut is near where Lex is standing, and with all the guards running about, Sneaking in can be difficult. You can use an Invisibility spell to get you in, or just go into Sneak mode while standing next to Arano's door and wait until the eye icon dims down and then quickly pick the lock and get inside. Activate the cupboard next to the bed; the bust will automatically be placed inside. Now the hard part, convincing Hieronymus Lex his stooge is the real thief. You'll have to get his Disposition up to 70 (Persuade, Charm or Bribe) and then follow him into Arano's shack, where he confronts her with the evidence. You might say she's been busted. The police clear out, life returns to normal and Christophe shows up at the appointed time and place once again. He'll pay you for your work, promote you and let you know he's got nothing more for a talented crook like yourself. He suggests S'Krivva in Bravil. You also get access to a new fence, Dar Jee, in Leyawiin. Dar Jee lives in Leyawiin's "skid row"--a group of tumble-down shanties amidst the more stately manors. His shack is diagonally across from the one you can buy, and right next to Weebam-Na ("Mazoga the Orc", "Nocturnal"). [TG05] <~~~~~~ AHDARJI'S HEIRLOOM ~~~~~~> As you enter Bravil's North Gate, the place ahead and to your right is the home of your next Doyen in the Thieves Guild, S'Krivva. She holds court during normal hours (roughly 8am to 6pm) and will only deal with you during those hours. If you catch her on the street or break into her house any other time, she just tells you off. At least you don't have to wait until midnight every day to see her. Provided you've fenced at least 200 gold in stolen property, S'Krivva hands out one of those Special Jobs you've come to love. The widow of a dearly departed Thieves Guild fence has lost a prized possession. While you're talking to S'Krivva, buy some lockpicks if you don't have any (perhaps because you're using spells or the Skeleton Key to open locks). Ahdarji lives in Leyawiin, so head down there and question the beggars for directions to her house. Ahdarji is incensed because a freelance (i.e. non-Guild) thief took her ring and names the culprit, Amusei. (Yep. Your erstwhile competition from the entry test.) She wants you to kill him, but is willing to let it go at suffering. In any case, she wants the ring back. Question the beggars again, or talk to any city guard. Amusei was caught trying to blackmail Countess Alessia. Head for the castle and the entrance to the dungeons. The guard is not pre-disposed to let you in to see any prisoners. You can bribe him (20 gold) or try to Sneak past him and pick the lock leading to the cells. Your choice. Inside, talk to Amusei, who doesn't want to be left to rot. Give him a lockpick to open him up. The ring was actually the Countess' ring and Amusei found he couldn't fence it after he stole it, so he tried to sell it back to the Countess and got thrown in jail for his trouble. Countess Alessia has her ring. Now, you can try just going through the front door. However, the doors into the private quarters of Castle Leyawiin are guarded 24/7, so you would need 100% invisibility to get through. There is another way, one that provides some additional "color" to the story. Find a beggar and discuss the matter. You get the name of the Countess' maid, Hildari Mothril. You also get the convenient quest marker showing you Ms. Mothril's current location. Track her down and butter her up (Disposition of 80) and she'll spill all the beans. The Countess is away from the 15th through the 17th of the month. She goes to sleep around 11pm and always takes the ring off when she goes to sleep. There's also a secret passage linking the royal to the castle's cellar. Enter the main room of the castle and take the door to the southwest to reach the cellar. Along the far wall, look for an open barrel that just barely shows the tip of a lever extending above the rim. Activate the lever to open a secret door and make your way through a torture chamber (the Countess has...interesting...amusements) and to the royal quarters. The ring is in a jewelry box next to the royal bed. You can pick the lock or pickpocket a key off either the sleeping Count or Countess. To let them know what you think of their little funhouse, steal their gold as well. (Remember, no killing.) Go back out the way you came in and return the ring to Ahdarji and then see S'Krivva for payment. [TG06] <~~~~~~ MISDIRECTION ~~~~~~> Hieronymus Lex is up to his old tricks again. Provided you've fenced at least 300 gold worth of loot, S'Krivva sends you back to the Waterfront district of Imperial City to help get Lex out of the Guild's collective hair. The obsessed captain of the Watch has pulled guards from their regular patrols and is turning the Waterfront inside-out. You're to meet Methredhel, who is director of operations for the current job. Again, the beggars point you to Methredhel's location, which is Dynari Amnis's house in Talos Plaza. Methredhel outlines an audacious plan: have four thieves pull off high-profile robberies all at once. The resultant hue and cry from the city's elite will force Lex to pull back his troops to their regular patrols. Your job is stealing Hrormir's Staff from the Arch-Mage's quarters. (Note: you still get this quest even if you are the Arch-Mage. It's just, you won't have to actually "steal" the staff, since it belongs to you.) Wait until just after 1am, enter the Arch-Mage's Lobby of Arcane University and use the portal to get to the Council Chambers. Use the other portal in this room to get to the Arch-Mage's chambers. Assuming Traven is still Arch-Mage (and not you), he should be asleep. The staff is lying out in the open on a table. Pick up the staff, then Activate the nightstand next to the bed to automatically insert a note from the Gray Fox. Return to Methredhel with the staff. She congratulates you, lets you know everything is going well, and asks you to go keep an eye on Lex, to see if anything breaks. Head for the Waterfront and find Lex where you found him earlier in "The Elven Maiden". Stand nearby and wait. Soon a dremora approaches and hands Lex a note, then departs. Lex reads the note, drops it, then hurries away, ordering his men to follow him. Go pick up the note, which is lying on the ground. It's from Raminus Polus of the Mages Guild. It says, in part, "We demand that you return all guards to their posts immediately. If you do not do this, we will be forced to bring the matter to the attention of your superior." Lex won't be bothering the good people of the Waterfront for a while. Go back to Methredhel; there's one last task for you. The Gray Fox isn't really interested in having the Mages Guild permanently mad at him, so you're to return the staff--but not to the place where you grabbed it, security will be too high. Rather, you're to return the staff to the home of a former University researcher, Ontus Vanin. Vanin lives in the Talos Plaza district, in the southwest section. His house is built into the outer wall. (If you've done "Unfriendly Competition", his house is opposite Agarmir's house.) Ontus spends weekday afternoons out eating and shopping. He sleeps from 2am to 10am. Pick your time to Sneak into his house, head upstairs and Activate the chest against the wall. The staff is automatically placed in the chest and you can return to S'Krivva in Bravil for your payment and a promotion. You also get access to a new fence, Luciana Galena, right here in Bravil. She's open for business at the Lonely Suitor Lodge in the afternoons and evenings. [TG07] <~~~~~~ LOST HISTORIES ~~~~~~> Once you've fenced at least 400 gold in illicit items, S'Krivva has a new assignment for you. She sends you to Skingrad to find out what happened to a thief named Theranis. He was supposed to steal a book called "The Lost Histories of Tamriel" and he hasn't been heard from in days. Go to Skingrad and track down one of the beggars. With a high enough Disposition (or a bribe), you'll find Theranis boasted about his theft in front of a captain of the guard and is now cooling his heels in prison. You can't bribe your way into this dungeon, so you have three options: 1) Get a job delivering food to the prisoners. To get this job you need to find the count's butler, Shum gro-Yarug. He spends his mornings in town and afternoons in the castle. To make finding him easier, you can ask around town about "Work in the castle" and someone will refer you to gro-Yarug. You should then get a quest marker showing his location. Once you have the job, report to the dungeons and the jailor will let you in. 2) Get arrested. Any small crime will do, but make sure you have either a powerful Open Lock spell or several lockpicks so you can break out of your cell. 3) Break into the jail. This is probably the hardest, as Sneaking past the jailor will be very difficult, not to mention you have to pick the locks leading into the cell area. Once you're inside, you'll find only one prisoner behind bars, and he's not Theranis. Bump Larthjar's Disposition high enough (telling him you're here to rescue him is a good way to do this) and he'll relate Theranis was taken by the "Pale Lady". Theranis' Argonian roommate was also taken and put up a fight, leaving blood marks all over the place. Using this information, follow the bloodstains on the floor to the wall at the end of the cell area. Activate the "strange candle" on the wall to open a secret door. Follow the tunnel to a door and pass through into a another tunnel. At the end of this tunnel, turn the handle to the left to open another secret door. You're now in the wine cellar. Follow the bloodstains down the hall and then to your right where they end in front of three large wine casks. To to the right-most cask and Activate the "strange candle" on the column to the left of the cask. The center cask opens up to reveal a hidden passage. Down the passage is the Pale Lady, a vampire (in case you hadn't guessed). After you kill her, you'll find Theranis' body on the floor and your old friend Amusei in the cell (he was Theranis' Argonian cellmate). Amusei knows where Theranis stashed the book, but he wants out of Castle Skingrad first. Get him out of his cell and tell him to follow, he'll automatically go into Sneak mode, but you can't. You see, if you Sneak, Amusei can't see you so he won't follow you. Whatever. Head back into the wine cellar and go up the ramp, but don't turn left toward the secret door. Instead, turn right and go through the door into the dining hall. Go through the kitchen and toward the main dining room (keep an eye out of guards or other castle occupants). Just before the main dining room, turn right and go through a door into the County Hall. Go straight until you come out on the balcony overlooking the main hall. Head left and through an opening, then turn right. The door straight ahead of you leads out into the castle courtyard. Slip through when there are no guards patrolling and head down the main road to Skingrad. Once you are far enough away from the castle, Amusei will stop you and tell you the location of the "Lost Histories". The book is "under a bush near a well behind Nerastarel's house". Continue down the castle path to Skingrad's East Gate. After entering Skingrad, head down the street and make the first right-hand turn. Follow the stone path around the houses until you see a well. Beyond the well a bush and rock crowd close together. The book is lying right out in the open between the bush and the rock. Return to S'Krivva with your prize. [TG08] <~~~~~~ TAKING CARE OF LEX ~~~~~~> The Gray Fox has had it with Hieronymus Lex; but, since this is the Thieves Guild, not the Dark Brotherhood, rather than order a hit on Lex, the Fox wants him re-assigned--to Anvil, the other end of the world. Countess Umbranox is looking for a new Captain of the Guard. The Imperial Watch commander has sent her a list of candidates, but no specific recommendation. However, the Countess hasn't even seen this list of candidates. Her steward, Dairihill, has hidden the list in hopes of getting her cousin the job. (You find out this tidbit later.) Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is: 1) Steal the letter from Dairihill. 2) Forge it with a strong recommendation for Captain Lex. 3) Get the Imperial Watch commander's seal on it. 4) Deliver it to Countess Umbranox. Simple, right? Actually, more so than you might imagine. Report to Anvil and find one of the beggars. You'll be directed to find the smith. Wait until morning (when Dairihill is in the main hall) or the middle of the night (when Dairihill is asleep). Enter Anvil Castle and hang a right (northwest) to find the smithy. Orrin is a Thieves Guild fence (soon to be your fence) and knows of a secret passage. You can wake him if necessary and he'll show you to the door--the secret door. Go up the stairs, through a wood door and up some more stairs. At the top, Activate the moveable column on the left to open a secret door into the private quarters. Dairihill's office is immediately to your left. Pick the lock on her door and on her desk to get the list of candidates. Return the way you came and go back to Anvil and talk with one of the beggars. You need a forger, and the beggars point you to someone known only as "The Stranger". He lives in an abandoned house to the west of the Mages Guild hall. Enter the house and talk to the Stranger. He needs 24 hours and 500 gold to complete the forgery. Give him both and you'll have the new high recommendation for Lex in your hands. Now all you need is the Imperial seal to make it authentic. (If you have previously done the Dark Brotherhood quest "Early Retirement", you will have received a key to the Imperial Watch office. Get that key now.) Enter the Imperial Prison compound (northeast of the city) in the middle of the night (between 2am and 4am). Go to the second door to the left of the main entrance, enter Sneak mode and wait until the guards near the gate aren't watching (your eye icon is dim). Pick the lock on the door (or use your key). On the desk is the seal; Activate it to seal the forged letter, then Sneak out. Return to Anvil and present the letter to Countess Umbranox during normal hours (8am to 6pm). She decides Lex would be a perfect fit for Anvil, and asks you to personally deliver his new orders. It's back to Imperial City for you; follow your quest marker to catch up with Lex and hand him his exile papers. He suspects the Gray Fox is behind all this, but off to Anvil he goes. And off to Bravil you go for your payment, promotion and access to Orrin as a new fence. [TG09] <~~~~~~ TURNING A BLIND EYE ~~~~~~> Now begin your tasks for the Gray Fox himself. These are more traditional dungeon crawls, and you'll actually be allowed to kill people (or things) somewhat indiscriminately. All these quests are received the same way: you make sure you have fenced enough loot, then you sit around twiddling your thumbs until you get a message from Fox. To get this first task, you will need to have at least 600 gold worth of fenced items. The best place to wait (for any of these messages) is the Waterfront district in Imperial City. Your first messenger is Methredhel, who sounds kind of breathless that the Gray Fox would want to speak to you. You're to meet Fox at Helvius Cecia's house in Bruma. *A note about the messengers* They won't deliver their message except in a major city, and not in the same city (or same district in the case of Imperial City) where the meeting is to take place. They start out in Imperial City, so you can either: 1) stay in the same city where you last met Fox; or, 2) Fast Travel back to the Waterfront and sit tight. In either case, Waiting for a few hours generally guarantees you'll be interrupted by the messenger. Cecia lives in the south of Bruma, behind the chapel. The Gray Fox is waiting for you downstairs. He wants you to retrieve an item known as Savilla's Stone. It is kept in a monastery known as The Temple of the Ancestor Moths. You're allowed to kill the Stone's guardians, but not spill any innocent blood. The closest quest-related point to the Temple is Azura's Shrine. You can also Fast Travel to Lake Arrius Caverns or Lord Rugdumph's Estate if you've been there before. From any of those locations, the Temple is further north. If you have to Fast Travel to Cheydinhal, go due north from the city to eventually reach the Temple. First go to the Monk's Quarters and talk to Holger. Get his Disposition to 80 or higher and he'll tell you all about the blind monks that live in the catacombs and even take you up and unlock the door for you. (Alternately, you can find the crypt entrance yourself, next to the chapel, and pick the lock.) There are three levels of catacombs. The top two levels are just occupied by blind priests and you can easily Sneak past them. (You can also kill them, but it's not necessary and they might attack you in large groups if you start making a lot of noise.) The final level has undead, and you'll have to kill those. When you reach the final room, there's a blind monk guarding the Stone and you'll most likely have to kill him. There's also a dark welkynd stone that will zap you with frost damage as you approach Savilla's Stone. Kill the monk from a distance, then run in, grab the Stone and run out. There's an emergency exit to the east that lets you skip all the tedious catacomb Sneaking. Return to Cecia's house in Bruma and give the Stone to the Gray Fox. [TG10] <~~~~~~ ARROW OF EXTRICATION ~~~~~~> Your next message comes from old pal Amusei. Yeah, seems the goof-up joined the Guild and immediately moved to the top of the class, running errands for the Fox his-own-self. Kind of makes you wonder why you work so hard, doesn't it? Of course, he won't show up until you've fenced a total of 700 gold in purloined property. The meeting place is in Chorrol, at the home of Malintus Ancrus. He lives in the far southwestern corner of Chorrol, between Valdus Odiil ("The Killing Field") and Reynauld Jemane ("Separated at Birth") and across the street from Modryn Oreyn (Fighters Guild). The Gray Fox wants you to steal the Arrow of Extrication from Bravil court wizard Fathis Aren. The wizard and the guardians he strews in your path are fair game. *IMPORTANT* Aren is a member in good standing of the Mages Guild; if you are also a member of the Mages Guild, you'll get booted if you kill him. Go to Bravil and hunt down the beggars. For a bribe, they'll reveal Aren has a tower outside of town, keeps all his precious stuff in it and is the only one who can open the door to the tower. However, there's also rumored to be a secret passage from his room in the castle to the tower, so that should be your route of attack. *ALTERNATE ROUTE* There is a back way into the Wizard's Grotto that does not involve sneaking your way past the guards in the castle. If you have a pitiful Sneak skill, what are you doing in the Thieves Guild? No, you might be able to get in the back way. Swim out into Niben Bay. About where the 'a' in 'Bay' shows on your world map, swim down to the bottom and hunt for a wood trapdoor. There is a partially buried wooden chest and some broken pottery nearby. It will be very difficult to find (a mod that improves the underwater view would help). This takes you directly into the cave with the giant slaughterfish (see below) and you can swim up and continue through the Wizard's Grotto. The direct route goes through a door in Castle Bravil's main hall. The door is in the center of the balcony and is always protected by two guards. Good luck Sneaking through there--an Invisibility spell would help tremendously. Inside the private quarters, hang a left and Aren's room is the first door on your left. You can loot his room, but the important thing is the secret door on the back wall. There's a "moveable column" on the wall--Activate it and the door opens. Enter the Wizard's Grotto. At the end of the first hall is the first of many leveled daedra you will meet. Sneak past or, better, kill it and open the gate straight ahead of you. Hug the left wall as you go down into a flooded section, eventually leading to a section where the floor drops away and you can swim down. Swim down slowly, hugging the left (north) wall and looking for an entrance to a flooded tunnel. If you encounter a giant slaughterfish in a cave, you've gone too far down. (This is the cave you enter through the trapdoor in Niben Bay.) Swim back up, hugging the right wall and try to find that tunnel entrance. Check your map, if you find yourself swimming along a northbound tunnel that quickly turns east, you're in the right place. Come out of the flooded tunnel going north; turn right (east) at the T-intersection. Through the locked gate, turn south (right), then take the next left (east) and another left (north) and wend your way to a locked wooden door. This leads to the Wizard's Lair. There's only one way to go through here, blocked by daedra and conjurers. At the end you'll enter Aren's Tower, which is a ruined fort on the surface. There are more daedra out here. Fathis Aren is in a little open-air lab on the third level. Climb the stairs and circle around to his lab. Now, if you're a Mages Guild member in good standing, you can walk right by him, open his chest, remove his Tower Key and a key-shaped arrowhead, chat with him, then walk out. If you're not a Mages Guild member in good standing... Well, you're either going to have to kill him or use an Invisibility spell (or have very, very high Sneak skill). Aren stands right in front of his chest, facing it, and it is almost impossible to steal its contents using just Sneak. Of course, Aren is expendable--there's no Blood Price attached to killing him, so go ahead if that seems the simplest solution. Regardless, you now have the key to walk right out of the tower with the arrowhead the Gray Fox wants. Return to Chorrol and deliver the arrowhead. As part of your reward, you are promoted to Master Thief and you can now fence items with Fathis Ules. [TG11] <~~~~~~ BOOTS OF SPRINGHEEL JAK ~~~~~~> Once again, Amusei brings you news of a meeting requested by the Gray Fox. You must have pawned off at least 800 gold in pilfered goods to get the message. The meeting is to take place at Ganredhel's house in Cheydinhal. Fast Travel to Cheydinhal's East Gate and head straight south. Ganredhel's is the fourth house on your left (just past the Abandoned Home that is a front for the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary). The Gray Fox wants the boots of a legendary thief known as Springheel Jak. He was supposedly buried 300 years ago with his boots on, so you need to find his crypt and acquire said footwear. Your only lead is a descendant: Jakben, Earl of Imbel. Fast Travel to Imperial City and track down a beggar; bribe him or her for information about Jakben and you'll get the location of his house-- Talos Plaza district--and the information he only goes out at night. Gee...wonder where you've heard that before... Head over to Talos Plaza and enter the house--it opens out into the central plaza. It's preferable to go during the day. In order to get anywhere with this quest, you have to talk to the earl himself. You might need to Wait around bit by bit in order for Jakben to show; when he does, he'll be terrified of you and give you the key to the family crypt, which is beneath the cellar of his house. You may have noticed the earl's red eyes. Jakben is actually Springheel Jak, he's a vampire, he's wearing the boots you need. The only way to get them is to take them from his body, so might as well skip the crypt and just attack the earl as soon as you see him. If you like, you can still go down into the crypt, where you'll find about a half-dozen vampires and a decent loot haul. Return the boots to the Gray Fox. Your adventures are almost at an end... [TG12] <~~~~~~ THE ULTIMATE HEIST ~~~~~~> ...once you've fenced stolen goods totaling at least 1,000 gold, that is. Sit around and wait for Amusei once more. He brings a message the Gray Fox wants to see you at the house of Othrelo in the Elven Gardens district of Imperial City. If you Fast Travel to the district, go left from your entrance point, around the corner and Othrelo's is the first door on your right (northeast corner of the district). The Gray Fox now reveals his ultimate plan: he wants you to break into the Imperial Palace's Elder Scrolls library and steal one of the scrolls. Gee, won't that be simple. Not. This is easily the most complex and longest individual quest in the game. (The side quest "The Collector" might be longer, but it's more like a bunch of individual tasks grouped under one heading.) The Fox has a plan, and it's so complicated, he writes it down for you so you won't forget it. Here's what you need before you start: * Plenty of potions, poisons, empty soul gems and repair hammers. You'll be out of circulation for a long time and there are a lot of enemies between you and the final goal. * Lots of lockpicks or the Skeleton Key or a Open Very Hard Locks spell. There will be numerous locks, most Hard or Very Hard, that have to be picked. * The Boots of Springheel Jak, the Arrow of Extrication and the Palace Sewers Key. The Gray Fox will give these to you, don't drop them anywhere. * Detect Life spell or enchanted item will make it easier to Sneak around the palace, since you can "see" through the walls. Here are the steps: "1) Activate the Old Way using the Glass of Time. It is located inside the Imperial Palace. I do not know what it looks like or exactly where to find it." The Glass of Time is located in the basement of the Imperial Palace. Enter by the main doors into the publicly accessible Elder Council Chambers. Immediately go left, around the circular hall and down a ramp to the the basement. Enter Sneak mode and wait until the eye dims, indicating no one is watching, then pick the lock and Sneak into the basement. There's a patrolling guard here. He patrols around the outer circumference of the room. Sneak through the center to the opposite side of the basement, where you'll find a giant hourglass. That's the Glass of Time. Activate it, your journal updates and you can Sneak out. Now come the hard parts. "2) Find the entrance to the Old Way. It is rumored to be somewhere in the sewers under the Imperial City." The entrance to the sewers is in the Arboretum. Near the door to the Arena (northeast section of the Arboretum) is a sewer grate to the Southeast Tunnel. Drop down into the sewers. Go down the stairs and through the one tunnel available. Pick the lock on the gate to enter the next room. Turn the wheel on the south wall to open a door to the northeast. Go through the tunnel and enter a room with a water trench. Go right (east), through a small tunnel, then jump up to the left (north) to find a door into the Arena sewers (Beneath the Bloodworks). From here on out you'll be facing a variety of undead. These sewers are vampire lairs. Watch your step. Go down the stairs and through the east gate. Go up the stairs in the next room and through the tunnel. The next room you enter has a wheel on the north wall. Turn it, then go through the gate to the west. As you go over a bridge, drop down and head north through the newly opened door. You'll enter a water trench room. Cross the trench and go into the room to the north. Turn the wheel on the west wall, then return to the trench and go through the newly opened tunnel to the west. Your next route is through a tunnel to the left (south) as you enter the next trench room. There's an undead concealed in that tunnel, so climb the stairs to your right (north) and reconnoiter before heading into the tunnel. That tunnel takes you to a gate opened with the key given you by the Gray Fox. Inside is a manhole cover to the Palace Sewers. From here, the entrance to the old way is pretty straightforward, but still blocked by the occasional undead. Go northwest until you come to a large cistern. Go northeast to another cistern, then southeast to a trench room. The entrance to the Old Way is across the trench and to your right. "3) Inside the Old Way is an entrance to the heart of the Imperial Palace. Savilla's Stone was only able to scry the two most important obstacles. For one of them you will need to use the Boots of Springheel Jak." Inside the Old Way, take the quickest route, which is straight down the hall to the first left, then straight to the entrance to the second section of the Old Way. Watch out for the pressure plate midway down the hall; it releases a swinging mace trap. You come out on the second level of a two-level room full of undead. Once they are all out of the way, find the hole in the wall in the western, lower section of the room. Follow this "cave" west and then south and find another hole in the wall. Drop down into the room beyond and destroy the spirits in the room. Find a hole in the east wall that leads to a downward sloping tunnel and a wood door to the Lost Catacombs. The Catacombs go on forever, but there's only one way to go and lots of undead filling the path. There are some ways to avoid some of the fighting. First, remain in Sneak mode. Second, when you approach a large room with stone and wood columns arranged in a square in the center, you'll find a lot of undead. You'll also find a tunnel in the south wall before you reach the center of the room. You should be able to Sneak your way into that tunnel. Follow it around until you reach a T-intersection, then turn right (south). You'll soon enter another very large room with several undead. There are two exits from this room on the north wall. The shorter route is the east (right- hand) exit. At the end of the tunnel, go to the north wall of the room and take the tunnel east. You'll enter a large room with a couple of undead. Get rid of them, then find the broken stairs on the north side of the room. Equip the Boots of Springheel Jak and jump up the stairs. There are two pushbuttons on this upper level, one to the north and one to the south. Activate both of them to open the gate to the east, which leads to the Hall of Epochs. "4) To enter the Imperial City you must use the Arrow of Extrication to unlock the final door." Straight ahead are some undead foes and an extremely large room. Keep going, up the stairs to some statues and you'll get a journal entry that this must be the secret entrance to the Palace that is opened with the Arrow of Extrication. Staying on the upper level, go right (south) and find the gate on the south wall. Pick the lock and step through onto a balcony. To your left is a pushbutton, Activate it, then go back west and down the steps into the room below. There's a new opening in the southeast corner of the room. This leads to a door to a second Hall of Epochs. As you go through the door, there will be an undead immediately in front of you, so be prepared. Turn left into a large room and exit at the northeast corner. At the end of the hall, turn left, then left again and go down some stairs. In this room, behind an altar, is a pushbutton. Activate it, then retrace your steps to the very large room with the statues. Be careful, your Activation of that button released some more undead into this room, so all is not clear. As you re-enter the large room, you'll notice several walls have dropped. Straight ahead of you now is a bridge with a pressure plate in the center. Stand on the pressure plate and the statue across the room will rotate, revealing a key-shaped hole. This is where the Arrow of Extrication must go. Practice with normal arrows first--the aiming spot is approximately where the statue's hands grip the sword hilt--you'll hear the impact if you hit the right spot, and hear nothing if you miss. *SAVE YOUR GAME* Without moving your crosshair, open your inventory, equip the Arrow of Extrication, close your inventory and let the arrow fly. If you miss, reload and try again. If you succeed, the statue rises, revealing a door into the Palace. Also revealed are a couple of Ayleid Guardians, but they won't mess with you unless you attack them. *SAVE YOUR GAME AGAIN* "5) Inside the Imperial Palace you must find the Imperial Library. On the bottom floor is some sort of viewing room." The secret door deposits you into the fireplace of the Imperial Guard's quarters. Make sure you're in Sneak mode before you enter. Getting through here is ticklish. This is where you need the Detect Life spell or enchanted item. If you're lucky, the guards (if any) in this part of the room will be sleeping. If you're not lucky, you walked into the middle of a shift change and you're probably dead meat, in which case it's reload time and you'll have to wait a while before trying again. Sneak over to the large doors that lead to the dining area. Wait until Detect Life detects no life beyond the doors, then Sneak out into the corridor and go left. This will take you to the Library level. Go halfway around the corridor to the Library entrance. In the Library, go right until you reach a gate. There's a priest on this side of the gate, but--as are all the priests--he's blind. So Sneak up behind him and pull the lever on the floor to your right. Go back around the hall to the now open door into the main library. "6) I have arranged to have a particular scroll made available in the Chamber. The blind monks that care for the scrolls are expecting Celia Camoran, but you will take her place. Just find the chair assigned to visitors to the library. You must not speak, or they will know it is not her. Just let them bring you the scroll." Sit in the Reading Chair and a priest will call you Lady Camoran and bring you a scroll. Remember not to Activate (talk to) any priest. Take the scroll and Sneak up the circular staircase. Pick the lock on the door on this upper level to get back out into the Palace corridors. "7) Once you have the scroll, retrace your steps and deliver it to me. Of course the chances of something going wrong with this plan are very high. When that happens, you'll just have to get creative." Now, to escape. Instead of going down, go up. Go left from the library to the priests' quarters, then all the way around to the Imperial Battlemage's quarters. Go halfway around the hall to the door to the battlemage's actual rooms, find her fireplace, make sure you have the Boots of Springheel Jack equipped, and drop down through the fireplace flue. It's a long way down, but the Boots protect you. (They are destroyed in the process.) You land near where you entered the Old Way. Just retrace your steps through the sewers and return to the Gray Fox. (Ignore your quest marker, it will try to lead you out through a different--i.e. full of enemies--way. Just go back the same way you came.) But! The Gray Fox is not finished with you yet. He gives you a ring and asks you to deliver it to Countess Umbranox in Anvil. Do as he says and watch the cutscenes. After it's all over, you have the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal and you're the new Gray Fox, guild master of the Thieves Guild. | The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal +---------------------------- This amazing hood (and it is a hood, not a light or heavy helmet) Fortifies your Sneak by 25 points, reduces encumbrance by 200 points and has a constant Detect Life effect. Wait! There's more! It also changes your identity. When wearing the Cowl, you *are* the Gray Fox. Any bounty accrued while wearing the Cowl disappears when you take the Cowl off. Moreover, the enchantment is such that even when people see you put on or take off the Cowl, they don't notice the change. No one will ever know you are the Gray Fox (or the Gray Fox is you). Think of the scenarios: you invade a home while wearing the Cowl, steal them blind, then remove the Cowl as you exit. The guards will come running...and politely ask you how you're doing. You can even assault or kill people in broad daylight with the Cowl equipped, then remove it immediately and have everyone wonder where the criminal is. There are some downsides. If you run into any guards while wearing the Cowl, they will confront you and the only option is "Resist arrest". You can always remove the Cowl and yield--Block + Activate; however, during the brief moment between removing the Cowl and yielding, townspeople will see the guard attacking an "innocent" and they will attack the guards. (On the other hand, this is great for causing incredible mayhem in a town.) You can't pay off your bounty as the Gray Fox, and, even if you did, it's renewed at 500 gold the next time you re-equip it after removing it. The constant Detect Life effect is useful for clearing out dungeons; however, it makes it difficult to tell friend from foe, so only use it when you know you're surrounded only by enemies. Some NPCs will ignore the cowl, including your maid in the Skingrad house (if you've purchased the house and hired the maid). Many quest givers will treat you and the Gray Fox equally. Finally, in Dareloth's Garden in the Waterfront District, you can now enter Dareloth's house through the basement. This is the new Thieves Guild headquarters, and you have private quarters on the top floor. Fathis Ules and Christophe hang out here, so you have constant access to a fence and a doyen. You'll also see other Thieves Guild familiars (Methredhel, Amusei) now and again. You'll find mementos of your exploits (Savilla's Stone, the tax records, The Lost Histories, etc.) lying around the place. However, beyond that, there's no benefit to being the guild master. Unlike the Fighters Guild or Dark Brotherhood, where you receive regular payments; or the Mages Guild where you can recruit a henchman to fight with you, the only benefit to being the Gray Fox is...well, being the Gray Fox. You'll have to make your own wealth. [TG13] <~~~~~~ CAST OUT OF THE THIEVES GUILD ~~~~~~> The Thieves Guild has some pretty strict rules regarding behavior. (Apparently, there *is* honor among thieves.) You are not to steal from, assault or kill another guild member. Additionally, you cannot kill anyone while committing a theft for the guild (unless your doyen or the Gray Fox specifically gives you permission in advance.) Unlike the other guilds, getting back into the Thieves Guild is a simple matter of money. There is a fine attached to each action, and paying the fine to Armand or S'Krivva gets you back into the guild. Crime Fine ------- -------- Theft 200 Assault 500 Murder* 1,000 * You get charged 1,000 gold Blood Price for each unnecessary murder during a job. The exceptions are killing one of the two targets of "May the Best Thief Win", their Blood Price is 500 gold. Your doyen or the Gray Fox will let you know if any job targets can be killed before you go out on the job. The Thieves Guild is pretty lenient and always lets you back in, as long as you pay the fines. [DB00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DARK BROTHERHOOD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ *NOTE* The Dark Brotherhood should not be undertaken by anyone with a weak stomach or a disinclination to slaughter people for money. How a game with these types of tasks got through with (initially, anyway) a 'T' rating is a mystery. The Dark Brotherhood is a major reason the game was re-rated to 'M'. *QUESTS* The following journal quests run during the Dark Brotherhood story; they are "placeholder" quests that merely tell you to go get your next contract. They are not individually broken down in this walkthrough: * Welcome to the Family * Blood of the Damned * No Rest For the Wicked * To Serve Sithis * My Brother's Keeper * Enter the Eliminator * The Night Mother's Child * The Assassin's Gambit * The Dead Drop Like the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood quests are geared toward Stealth characters. Unlike the Thieves Guild, you don't need Stealth to complete the missions. After all, each task basically involves killing someone and you don't have to be a sneak-thief to do that. However, each contract carries with it bonus perks based on meeting specific parameters. Meeting these parameters and receiving the bonus does require Stealth. For example, in one quest you must infiltrate the Imperial prison and kill a prisoner. To get the bonus, you must do so without killing any guards. In another quest, to get the bonus, you must make the assassination appear to be an accident *and* not kill the target's servant. You will also need some lockpicking skill to complete some of these tasks, whether you do it stealthily or not. If you have trouble with the lockpicking mini-game, you may wish to hold off on joining the Brotherhood until you've received Nocturnal's Skeleton Key, which you can do at level 10. The Dark Brotherhood is more than a gang of hit men (women/cats/lizards). They are a religious cult that worships Sithis, the Dark Lord of Death. They delight in killing and bloodshed, but more than just being savage, they delight in performing complicated murders that require cunning and stealth. There are some...interesting conversations you can have with your colleagues, and they are not for the faint-of-heart. Also, you should be aware you cannot join the Brotherhood with the goal of wiping them all out. Such is not possible; though the Brotherhood is nearly destroyed in the course of these quests, it is your destiny to rebuild it. You can't rise to the top only to kill the few remaining survivors. So if that's your goal, forget about it and find something else to do. Joining the Dark Brotherhood is simple: murder someone. But, you can't just murder *anyone*, you have to murder an innocent. (Well, maybe innocent is not the right word; you have to perform what the game deems an unnecessary killing.) There are several possibilities: 1) Fight through the Arena, perform "Origin of the Gray Prince" and then challenge the Gray Prince to a fight, which ends with him begging you to kill him. This is more like assisted suicide and you won't get in trouble with the law, but the game regards it as murder anyway. This is the safest murder you can commit, since it's not really murder and the character only exists to die anyway. On the flip side, you have to fight through 21 successively more difficult battles to reach the Gray Prince. 2) Kill a beggar. Make sure no guards are around when you commit the crime. Beggars generally sleep outdoors on bedrolls. The beggars play a big role in the Thieves Guild quests; if you intend to play through the Thieves Guild, murder one in the Imperial City--there are five total in the city, so they'll be some left over that can help you with the Thieves Guild quests. 3) Kill a non-essential innkeeper or shopkeeper. There are a dozen or more shopkeepers in Imperial City and several inns, so you could probably off one of them in their sleep without messing up your game too much. You always run a risk of killing someone who sells something that may be important to you later; but you can minimize this. Just make sure the merchant you kill doesn't provide any other services, such as training or armor repair. 4) Kill a solitary Imperial Legionnaire or Forester you encounter on the road. Trying to kill a guard in town is tough as you will be attacked by the other guards and the citizenry, but one of the wandering troopers in the country can probably be dispatched without too much trouble. This will get you in trouble with the law, so you'll have to pay a fine or serve some jail time. When you commit a "proper" murder, you'll get a message saying, "Your killing has been observed by forces unknown..." The next time you sleep (and you have to sleep, not just Wait), your rest will be interrupted by one Lucien Lachance. He introduces you to the Dark Brotherhood and asks if you would like to join their family. You still have an out--maybe you didn't intend to kill an innocent and you don't really want to join the Brotherhood. You can turn Lachance down and he won't bother you again. You can also (try to) kill Lachance, in which case he definitely won't bother you again. If you choose to join, Lachance first sends you on an initiation run... [DB01] <~~~~~~ A KNIFE IN THE DARK ~~~~~~> In order to complete your "application" and fully join the Brotherhood, Lachance points you to a target: Rufio. Rufio spends most of his time asleep at the Inn of Ill Omen, which is located on the Green Road about halfway between Bravil and Lake Rumare. Speak to the innkeeper and he'll reveal Rufio's room is in the cellar. The trap door downstairs is just to the left of the main entrance to the inn. Rufio's room is the last door on the left, and he sleeps all the time, except for the middle of the night. You can kill him with a single blow. You can also choose to wake him. If you use the "Oh, but you have Rufio" response, you'll get a hint of why there is a price on his head. Regardless, if you do wake him, you better be between him and the door. He moves very fast for a tired, old man and will hotfoot it for the exit as soon as he finishes speaking. However, even when awake, he's still a one-hit kill. Find a bed (you can even use Rufio's) and Sleep, and Lachance will visit you again. He welcomes you into the family and, if you follow all his conversation options, gives you some detail on the operations of the Brotherhood. The leadership of the Brotherhood is composed of a Listener and four Speakers- -together known as the Black Hand. The Listener receives assignments from the Night Mother and gives those assignments to the Speakers who pass them on to a local Sanctuary, where a family member is tasked to carry out the mission. You also learn the Five Tenets (See "A Dark Exile" below). Lachance is sending you to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. Fast Travel to Cheydinhal's East Gate and go south. The third house on the left, almost directly behind the chapel, is an Abandoned House. Even though the door is boarded over, enter and go down into the basement. Follow the basement to a black door with strange runes carved into it. When you Activate the door, you are asked for a pass phrase, which is "Sanguine, my brother". Enter the Sanctuary and find Ocheeva, a female Argonian. She welcomes you to the Sanctuary, gives you an outfit (Shrouded Armor and Hood that, when worn together, Fortify your Sneak, Illusion, Marksman, Blade and Acrobatics by 10 points each) and sends you to Vincente Valtieri for assignments. [DB02] <~~~~~~ A WATERY GRAVE ~~~~~~> Yes, Valtieri is a vampire, and proud of it. In fact, later on, he'll offer to give you "The Dark Gift"--i.e. turn you into a vampire. But only if you want to. Right now, Valtieri is just your boss. He explains the contract system--some contracts have bonus rewards if you meet certain conditions. He also will tell you to talk to your colleagues in the Sanctuary about each contract; they may have valuable information. Your first contract is to kill Captain Gaston Tussaud aboard his ship, the Marie Elena, which is docked at Imperial City's Waterfront district. There are no bonuses for this mission, just the standard pay. The Marie Elena berths at the eastern end of the Waterfront dock. There are three ways of reaching the captain: 1) The direct approach. Simply walk onto the ship. You'll be warned away by the first mate, but when you don't listen, she and the other crew attack. This could get sticky, except for the fact that, since they attacked you, all the guards around the waterfront will be hostile to them. Lead them on a chase into a group of Legion Watch and...well, watch the fun. Once all the sailors are down, you can pick the lock on the Captain's cabin, enter and kill him, then return to Vincente. 2) Stowaway. This is the method suggested by Valtieri when he gives you the job. Walk past the ship, to the east end of the dock and twiddle your thumbs for a moment. You'll get a message the nearby crate looks like it has enough room for you to fit. Choose to climb in the crate and you'll jump straight to the Marie Elena's cargo hold. Climb up to the middle deck and hide until a couple of sailors finish their argument and go to bed. Then Sneak past and climb up to the captain's cabin. You can kill the captain quickly, but two sailors will hear the noise and rush in to investigate, so kill them as well. (You can hide in the aft part of the cabin when the sailors rush in, and then Sneak attack at least once to give yourself an edge.) When the two are dead, get the captain's key from the chest next to his bed, open the door in the aft section of the cabin and jump off the balcony into the water and swim out of range of the enemies on the ship. Then Fast Travel back to Cheydinhal to report to Vincente. 3) If your Acrobatics skill is high enough, you can jump from the east end of the dock to the balcony outside the captain's cabin. Then it's just a matter of picking the lock, killing the captain and running back outside and jumping into the water to get away. You don't even have to kill the two sailors who come to investigate, because you don't need the captain's key to get out. Report back to Vincente. [DB03] <~~~~~~ ACCIDENTS HAPPEN ~~~~~~> Valtieri assigns you the task of killing Baenlin, of Bruma. To earn a bonus, you must make the killing appear accidental and make sure you don't kill anyone else, especially Baenlin's servant, Gromm. Valtieri suggests a way to make it happen: use a hidden crawlspace on the second floor to drop a prized minotaur head on top of old Baenlin. Baenlin always sits below the head from 8pm to 11pm. Baenlin lives just north of Bruma's East Gate (next to the house you can buy). You have a choice to make. The easiest time to infiltrate the house is during the middle of the night; however, you can't Wait while trespassing, so you would be stuck twiddling your thumbs for around 30 real minutes (15 game hours) until 8pm when you can drop the head. One way to make use of this time is to Sneak-run into the wall in the hidden crawlspace. You'll gain 25 or more ranks in your Sneak skill during the time you're waiting. The other option is to Wait until 8pm to infiltrate the house. You may still be able to successfully Sneak past Gromm and Baenlin, but you're going to need a fairly high Sneak skill to accomplish this. Choose your time, go around the back of the house and pick the lock to the basement. Go into Sneak mode and pick the lock on the door to the main floor. The crawlspace is up on the second floor--make a U-turn at the top of the stairs and go through Gromm's bedroom to the far corner, where you'll find the secret panel. At the appointed hour, Activate the fastenings on the end wall of the crawlspace and hear the satisfying thump of death. Resist the urge to peek out the hole, Gromm will see you and soon be in the crawlspace with you. Enraged Nord + big axe + cramped quarters = reload time. Sneak out of the crawlspace and down the stairs. Gromm will be standing, weapon out, over the old man's body. Sneak along the far wall to the basement door and go out the way you came in. For "accidentally" killing Baenlin without killing Gromm, you get Sufferthorn, a dagger with Damage Health and Damage Strength enchantments. [DB04] <~~~~~~ SCHEDULED FOR EXECUTION ~~~~~~> Valtieri next reveals there is an Imperial prisoner, Valen Dreth, who needs to be put out of his misery. It seems another prisoner recently escaped using secret tunnels under the prison (that would be you) and you are now to use those tunnels to get back into the prison and kill Dreth. If you can do so without killing any guards, you'll get a bonus. Your path back through the underground system will not be identical to the path you took when fleeing in the wake of the emperor. However, much will be familiar, especially your cell and the sneering dark elf across the hall. The route through the sewers, the Sanctum, the Subteranne and the prison is pretty straightforward. The challenge here is not in figuring out which way to go, but avoiding the guards with torches that patrol regular routes. The trick is to stay in Sneak mode as far into the shadows as possible and watch the route of each guard. Choose your moment to Sneak through--usually by scurrying along in the wake of the guard. The biggest problem occurs in the Sanctum. Getting out is difficult as there's a guard right next to the stairs and the stairs are well lit. You can use an Invisibility spell to get through here, or wait until the guard turns and stares as the back wall for a few minutes. When you reach your old cell, hide in it while a guard chats with Dreth, then step across the hall and say goodbye to your old friend. The easiest thing to do is a spell or arrow through the bars of Dreth's cell; he's wasted away and a single shot should be the end of him. If you Sneak down the hallway to the left of Dreth's cell, you should be able to procure a prison key from the guardroom at the end of the hall. Then go back up the other way and enter the main prison room. You can exit Sneak mode now, this is a public area, and walk right out, then Fast Travel back to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. Assuming you killed no one but Dreth, your payment includes the Scales of Pitiless Justice. This miscellaneous item Fortifies your Strength, Intelligence and Agility while Draining your Personality. It works any time it is in your inventory; just drop it to lose the effect. [DB05] <~~~~~~ THE RENEGADE SHADOWSCALE ~~~~~~> This is not an official Dark Brotherhood quest, rather it's a favor for the male Argonian, Teinaava. He tells you a tale of a Shadowscale (Argonian royal assassin), Scar-Tail, who decided to forsake his duties and flee to Bogwater Swamp. Teinaava asks you to go kill him and bring back his heart as proof of his death. Anything for a friend, right? Bogwater is southeast of Leyawiin, almost as far south as you can go in Cyrodiil. Tidewater Cave (Nocturnal's quest), Darkfathom Cave ("Whom God's Annoy" side quest) and Fort Blueblood ("Leyawiin Recommendation" Mages Guild quest) are the closest quest-related landmarks for Fast Traveling. If you've not visited them yet, Fast Travel to Leyawiin and hoof it. You'll find Scar-Tail by a small campfire, weakened by a previous fight with a Shadowscale agent. You can: 1) kill him and take his heart; or, 2) talk to him and he asks that you allow him to live and take the heart of the dead Shadowscale as proof and Scar-Tail's treasure for yourself. If you decide on option #2, you'll find the treasure in a hollow rock near the campfire and the dead agent a short way from the campfire. Regardless of which heart you bring back to Teinaava, you get the Boots of Bloody Bounding, with Fortify Acrobatics and Blade enchantments. [DB06] <~~~~~~ THE ASSASSINATED MAN ~~~~~~> This one's a little different. You are *not* supposed to kill someone this time, rather you are to make it look like you killed someone without actually performing the deed. Francois Motierre wants to welsh on his debts, and has asked for the Dark Brotherhood's assistance. Since *someone* is supposed to die to satisfy the Dark Lord Sithis, Motierre handed over his own mother. These are the kinds of people you get to deal with. Motierre's being pursued by an enforcer for the people to whom he owes money. You're supposed to hit him with a dagger laced with Langourwine in view of the enforcer and then run away. The Langourwine will cause Motierre to fall into a coma that feigns death; the enforcer will report Motierre has been killed by the Brotherhood; and, then you revive the skinflint using an antidote. (Vincente provides all this for you.) If either Motierre or the enforcer die, you don't get your payment for this mission, though you can continue to advance in the Brotherhood. Fast Travel to Chorrol and find Motierre's house, which is in Chorrol's upscale district around the great oak (straight ahead from either the North or South Gate). Enter and Motierre will fill you in on all the details. Soon after his conversation ends, you'll hear the enforcer, Hides-His-Heart, picking the lock on the door. You don't want to waste any time. Equip the Langourwine dagger and stand next to Motierre. As soon as the Argonian enforcer is inside, strike Motierre and beat it. If you hang around and listen to Motierre and Hides chat, you won't learn anything and you'll probably have to kill the lizard (which fails the mission). You have to get outside the city in order to shake the pursuit. As soon as your journal lets you know you were successful, Wait 24 hours, then go to the Chapel of Stendarr and go down to the undercroft. Motierre's "body" is lying in the southern wing of the undercroft. Activate him to revive him with the Langourwine antidote. Motierre chooses, at this time, to let you know his ancestors won't be pleased with his cheating of death, screams, "Aunt Margaret" and the zombie attacks. Auntie isn't the only ticked-off relative in the crypt. There are two more zombies out in the main part of the undercroft. You still have to keep Motierre alive, so take out Aunt Margaret as quickly as you can, then rush the other two. Once all three are dead, lead Motierre to the Gray Mare inn and then return to Valtieri for your payment. If all went as planned, your reward includes an amulet, Cruelty's Heart (Fortify Strength and Willpower), promotion and a key to the "back door" of the Sanctuary. There's a well behind the abandoned house that leads directly into the Sanctuary (the ladder going up is in a corner of the main room, behind a broken section of wall). No more trudging through the basement to get in an out of the place. Finally, Vincente offers to give you the "Dark Gift"--i.e. make you a vampire. And he turns you over to Ocheeva for future assignments as he has nothing left for one of your rank. [DB07] <~~~~~~ THE LONELY WANDERER ~~~~~~> Ocheeva's first assignment is to kill an elf named Faelian in Imperial City. There must be no witnesses. There are a number of ways in which you can track down Faelian, but, by far the quickest and easiest is to Fast Travel to the Talos Plaza district in Imperial City. Find the Tiber Septim Hotel, which opens out onto the main plaza on the southwest side of the district. Charm innkeeper Augusta Calidia to a Disposition of 50 or higher and she'll give tell you Faelian and his girlfriend live in the hotel. Find the girlfriend, Atraena, who is almost always in the hotel. Get her Disposition over 50 and she'll give you the name of the place where Faelian goes to do drugs during the day: Lorkmir's house in the Elven Gardens District. Lorkmir's is in the western section of the Elven Gardens, along the central street. *NOTE* You could go straight to Lorkmir's house without going through the girlfriend, but then you get no quest marker to help you find the house. Your call. Break in and find Faelian there or Wait for him (he comes in from around noon until late afternoon). Kill him in Lorkmir's house and head back to Cheydinhal. Your bonus for a completely successful mission is Shadowhunt, a steel bow with several enchantments: on hit you will Turn Undead, Damage Health, Damage Magicka and imbue the target with Weakness to Poison. [DB08] <~~~~~~ BAD MEDICINE ~~~~~~> You're to kill a mercenary warlord named Roderick, who makes his camp in Fort Sutch. Once again, you're to make the death appear accidental. Roderick is very sick and takes a powerful medicine daily. You're to replace his medicine with poison supplied by Ocheeva. Doing so without detection earns you a bonus. If you are detected, you can kill Roderick (and all his mercenaries) the old- fashioned way, but then you don't get the bonus. It turns out the bonus isn't especially good, so don't worry over this one too much. It really isn't that hard to Sneak in and replace the medicine, but it does take a while. Fort Sutch is midway between Anvil and Kvatch, north of the main road between those two cities. Brina Cross Inn ("Anvil Recommendation" Mages Guild quest) and Malacath's shrine are the closest quest-related points. You may have even done "Assault on Fort Sutch" during the main story and can Fast Travel directly there. Ocheeva suggests finding a back way into the fort through tunnels leading to a nearby ruined tower. But that's the long and arduous way. Go straight in the front door and immediately turn right, picking the lock on the gate. Sneak through the tunnel until you come out on the upper level of a two-level room. Creep up close to the edge and listen in on the conversation below. When it ends, the two mercs head up to your level. Sneak back into the tunnel, and then follow them when they pass you. They'll lead you through a northeast passage to a room divided by columns. The orc starts patrolling through the columns. Your objective is a cupboard on the northwest wall. Sneak around the columns, avoiding the orc merc's patrol routes. Open the medicine cabinet, remove Roderick's medicine and put in the poison you brought with you. Sneak back out the same way you came in, and Fast Travel back to Cheydinhal. Ocheeva pays you and, if you didn't alert anyone, gives you The Deceiver's Finery, clothing that Fortifies your Personality and Speechcraft. [DB09] <~~~~~~ WHODUNIT? ~~~~~~> Your new threads are largely intended to help you with this contract. You're going to play "Clue" and you get to be the culprit--in every room with every conceivable weapon. You and five others will be locked into a house for a "treasure hunt". You are supposed to kill the other five people. To earn the bonus, you must kill them without any of them ever figuring out you are the killer. Fast Travel to Skingrad's East Gate and go down the street a short way to Summitmist Manor. You'll be met by Fafnir, presumably the man who prayed for the hits, and he gives you the key to the manor and a few instructions. As you enter the manor, you're met by an old woman, Matilde Petit. Tell her you're an assassin sent to kill her and she'll think you're joking; her Disposition will also rise to maximum. Matilde will also summarize the other targets: Dovesi Dran, Nels the Naughty, Neville and Primo Antonius. There are two ways to play this: 1) Just start killing. The guests are initially spread out, none present a significant challenge and the bonus reward may not be particularly appealing to you. The important thing is for everyone to die. (When you think about it, since they all end up dead, the concept of keeping them ignorant of your identity seems nonsensical. But maybe the client has a perverse sense of humor.) 2) Use the Persuasion mini-game or Charm spells to raise their Dispositions. You can then lure a couple of them away, and set the rest on each other. For example, tell Dran that Antonius has fallen for her and wants to meet her in his room. Follow her up the stairs and kill her. Offer to team up with Matilde and suggest you search the basement, when you go downstairs, kill her. Neville likes to take naps in his room, wait for him to go upstairs and go to sleep, then kill him. The remaining two (Nels and Antonius) despise each other; you can easily persuade either one to attack and kill the other, then finish off the survivor. When you're done, return to the Sanctuary and report to Ocheeva. If you accomplished your mission within the parameters, you'll receive the Nightmother's Blessing--a "spell ability" (like a birthsign) that permanently increases your Blade, Acrobatics, Sneak, Security and Marksman skills by 2 points each. [DB10] <~~~~~~ PERMANENT RETIREMENT ~~~~~~> Captain of the Imperial Watch Adamus Phillida has been a thorn in the side of the Brotherhood for a long time. Phillida has finally retired to Leyawiin and you are sent there to kill him. (The Brotherhood waiting until after his retirement is another nonsensical plan. Wouldn't it have been more useful to kill him when he still posed a threat? Whatever.) You are given a special arrow, the Rose of Sithis that will kill Phillida in one shot. (The Rose only works on Phillida, don't bother saving it to use on someone else.) The Rose won't pierce armor, so you have to use it when Phillida is not wearing his metal suit. To earn the bonus, you must get Phillida's ring finger and put it in the desk of the current commander of the Imperial Watch. Travel to Leyawiin and find the pond just west of the castle guard tower. The pond is surrounded by houses, has a dock at the northeast corner and a set of stairs to the south. Go to the dock and Wait until mid-afternoon (about 2pm). Phillida will soon come to the south end of the pool, where he strips, leaves his bodyguard and takes a little swim. *SAVE YOUR GAME* Draw a bead on Phillida with the Rose of Sithis and shoot him. If you miss, reload your game and try again. When he's dead, swim out to his body and Activate it. Take his keys and his ring finger, then swim to the south shore (the bodyguard will have gone running around the pond to the dock, so you don't want to go back there), and high-tail it out of town. *ALTERNATE METHOD* If you're a fairly high-level character and don't want to run the risk of mixing it up with the city guards, then you can kill Phillida elsewhere; but, you won't be able to use the Rose. Go to the Coast Guard station outside Leyawiin's Northeast Gate. Wait until morning, around 9am, and Phillida will come with his bodyguard and enter the station. You can enter behind them and kill them both. You'll have to do it the conventional way and it will be a tough fight. Get Phillida's keys and finger. Fast Travel to the Imperial Prison district northeast of Imperial City. From the main entrance, go to the second door on the left, which leads to the commander's office. Wait until the middle of the night, go into Sneak mode, and enter (you have the key) when the Watch isn't...watching. You also have a key to the desk, so put the finger in there and Sneak back out. Assuming you weren't detected, you can Fast Travel from right outside the door and return to Ocheeva for your pay and bonus, which is 500 gold. [DB11] <~~~~~~ OF SECRET AND SHADOW ~~~~~~> Ocheeva has important news! Lachance wants to see you. Like, right now. His headquarters are in Fort Farragut, just east of Cheydinhal. He mentions something about getting past his guardians to prove your worth, yada yada. Walk out to Fort Farragut and go around to the northwest side of the fallen tower and look for a hollow tree. Inside is a trapdoor that leads directly to Lachance's quarters, skipping a short, but tedious, skeleton-and-trap-filled dungeon crawl. [DB12] <~~~~~~ THE PURIFICATION ~~~~~~> Lachance informs you there is a traitor working out of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. You are above suspicion because the problems began before you joined the family. Since the Black Hand can't figure out exactly who, among your brethren in the Sanctuary, is guilty, you are ordered to exterminate them all in a rite known as "Purification". To help you out, Lachance gives you a poisoned apple and a scroll that will summon the ghost of Rufio (your first official victim). In a barrel in the corner of Lachance's quarters (behind a lock) are ten more poisoned apples. There are, of course, numerous ways to handle eliminating your fellow assassins. Regardless of how you go about the killings, you'll want to try to separate them so they don't gang up on you. One way of working it is to remove all the food in the main hall and the Living Quarters and putting some poisoned apples on the food tables and in the food cupboards. You may have to Wait up to a week before all your victims partake. You can let the ghost of Rufio out among a small (three to four) group. They'll concentrate on the ghost, leaving you free to backstab them. The training room or Living Quarters work well for this tactic--for one because the Dark Guardian won't be around to pitch in, and also because you tend to get concentrations of targets in these two places. Valtieri and Ocheeva, with separate rooms, can be killed in their sleep. You can also attack other Brotherhood members while they are asleep in the Living Quarters, but their sleeping habits are irregular. Once the Sanctuary has been cleansed, return to Lachance. He reveals that each member of the Black Hand has their own personal assassin, called a Silencer. Congratulations! You're now Lachance's Silencer. From now on, you'll be receiving assignments and payment at "dead drop" locations around Cyrodiil. Your first dead drop is at Hero Hill, south-southeast of Fort Farragut. Oh, and since you're going to be running all over Cyrodiil at Lachance's request, he gives you Shadowmere, the fastest, strongest horse in the game. Enjoy! [DB13] <~~~~~~ AFFAIRS OF A WIZARD ~~~~~~> Find the hollowed-out rock at Hero Hill and read the orders. You're to kill a necromancer named Celedaen before he completes his transformation into a lich. Celedaen hangs out in Leafrot Cave, which is south-southeast of your current location, near the Panther River. The closest quest-related point is Redwater Slough ("Vampire Cure"). Leafrot Cave is a small, two-level affair full of undead. In the first room is Celedaen's journal. Reading this will update your quest journal with the objective of removing Celedaen's magical hourglass in order to kill him. Celedaen is on the second level of the caves, and it is difficult to Sneak up on him. If you can Magickage it, pickpocket the hourglass to kill him instantly. Otherwise, you're in for quite a fight as Celedaen is much more powerful than you and can conjure a number of different creatures. Hit him as hard as you can, ignoring his summons, in order to kill him. You are then instructed to go to Chorrol. Your payment for this task and orders for your next task are in a sack near the great oak in northern Chorrol. Fast Travel to Chorrol's North Gate and go straight south to the tree. [DB14] <~~~~~~ NEXT OF KIN ~~~~~~> You are ordered to kill the entire Draconis clan: mother Perennia, sons Matthias and Andreas and daughters Sibylla and Caelia. Start with mom; she resides at Applewatch Farm, just west of Bruma. During the day you'll typically find her outside tending to her garden. She will think you're a courier come to buy and deliver gifts to her four children. She'll give you a list of what to buy them, and their locations, so you can deliver the gifts. Oh, you'll be delivering something all right. Kill mother Draconis (and, possibly, also her dog), then look at your list. 1) Andreas: He runs the Drunken Dragon Inn, northwest of Leyawiin. If you tell him what you did to his mother, he'll attack you. This causes the Imperial Legion guard who is almost always at the Inn to attack and kill Andreas for you. Neat. 2) Caelia: She's a guard in Leyawiin, on the night watch. You can track her down during the night while she's making her rounds; or, you can kill her in her room at the Three Sisters Inn. (Note: as a Leyawiin guard, Caelia is off- limits if you currently have "The Elven Maiden" Thieves Guild quest open. Finish that quest first before killing Caelia.) 3) Matthias: He lives in the Talos Plaza district of Imperial City, in the southwestern section (across from Ontus Vanin and next to Agarmir). Break in during the middle of the night and kill him in his sleep. 4) Sibylla: She has gone wild, living with animals in Muck Valley Cavern. This small series of caves is located halfway between Imperial City and Cheydinhal, south of the Blue Road. Vaermina's shrine (Daedric quest) is nearby. Kill her and the animals that protect her. When the Draconis line has been erased from the annals of history, Fast Travel to Castle Skingrad and Activate the well in the courtyard. You'll receive your pay and your next assignment. [DB15] <~~~~~~ BROKEN VOWS ~~~~~~> The father of the bride is upset. His daughter's erstwhile groom decided to break off the engagement when he saw the size (or lack thereof) of the young lady's dowry. Papa wants J'Ghasta dead. That should make daddy's little girl happy. J'Ghasta lives in Bruma, three doors south of the East Gate. Pick the lock, go downstairs and look for a trapdoor somewhat hidden behind the staircase. J'Ghasta is an expert in unarmed combat. Ha ha. Good one! Teach him the advantage of shiny, pointy things. Your payment and next assignment are in an old box under Old Bridge. Old Bridge is directly south of Imperial City's Waterfront. [DB16] <~~~~~~ FINAL JUSTICE ~~~~~~> Shaleez, an Argonian hunter, is your next target. She lives in Flooded Mine just north of Bravil. As the name implies, there will be some swimming here. The best time to attack is in the middle of the night, when Shaleez is asleep. Swim through the tunnels, following your quest marker to the lizard. After she's dead, you can collect your payment and new mission at Fort Redman, which is halfway between Bravil and Leyawiin, on the east side of the Niben River. There's a single bandit roaming the surface area of the Fort. In a coffin near the door are your blood money and two pieces of paper. [DB17] <~~~~~~ A MATTER OF HONOR ~~~~~~> One piece of paper names your subject: Alval Uvani, a traveling merchant. The other piece of paper lays out Uvani's schedule. Now here's where lady luck might just shine on you. Depending on how far into the game you are, Uvani might already be dead. Yes, in fact, the further along you are, the higher the probability Uvani traveled into something he couldn't handle. If you're lucky, as soon as you get the journal entry opening "A Matter of Honor", you'll get another journal entry that proclaims you have killed Uvani. Pat yourself on the back for excellent work and go on to your next job. (There's no way to tell why or how this happens. Uvani actually does travel from city to city--unlike some games where he would just spawn in the appropriate place at the appropriate time. So if you've done the main story, or a substantial part of the main story, Uvani might have run into some daedra near one of the random Oblivion gates between cities. Or it could have been wild animals. Or, maybe a glitch in the AI caused him to have it out with some Imperial Legion guards. Regardless, count your blessings and move on.) Otherwise, take a look at Uvani's schedule. As he travels around Cyrodiil, Alval Uvani can be found at the following locations, on the following days: Morndas/Tirdas -- Bravil -- The Lonely Suitor Lodge Middas/Turdas -- Skingrad -- The West Weald Inn Fredas/Loredas -- Bruma -- Olav's Tap and Tack Sundas -- Leyawiin -- Alval Uvani's House (rented property) Keep in mind that there may be some variation based on the time it takes for him to get to the different cities. Your best bet for a clean kill is Uvani's rented house in Leyawiin--it's the southeastern most house in Leyawiin. Every other location is fairly public and things can get messy. The downside is, if Uvani starts running behind, he may not even stop in Leyawiin, or his stop is so brief he never goes into his house. Regardless, Fast Travel to Leyawiin, Wait until Sundas (you have to Wait before entering the house), break in and wait until Uvani shows his face. If you have trouble killing him--he's a master of Destruction magic--your orders provide a workaround: Uvani is allergic to the honey in mead. You can get several bottles of mead from the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, distribute it in his house, remove all the other consumables, then wait for him to come home, drink the stuff, and be paralyzed. Your payment and orders are in a hollow stump in the Market District of Imperial City. Find the garden behind Edgar's Discount Spells and the hollow stump is there. [DB18] <~~~~~~ THE COLDEST SLEEP ~~~~~~> Your next hit: Havilstein Hoar-Blood. He has a camp east of Bruma. There's nothing special about this mission. Hoar-Blood is a tough Nord axe-wielder and he has a pet wolf. Go in gun's blazing or try a Sneak-attack at night when the Nord is sleeping. The next dead drop is in the Ayleid ruin of Nornal. Fast Travel to Muck Valley Cavern (from the Draconis assassinations) and go south. You don't have to go all the way into the ruins, just go down the first set of stairs and take the first right. There's a locked gate and chest underwater, so have a Water Breathing spell handy. [DB19] <~~~~~~ A KISS BEFORE DYING ~~~~~~> You are to kill a Bosmer named Ungolim. He spends his evenings--from midnight to 2am--praying to a statue known as "The Lucky Lady", in Bravil. You're told not to worry about guards, they've been bribed to look the other way. Head to Bravil and find the statue in the northern part of town. Find a hiding place and Wait until midnight. When Ungolim shows up, Sneak attack him (preferably from range) and then finish him off. Next thing you know, Lachance shows up and begins chewing you out. Seems you just eradicated the Listener and all your other hits since the Draconis family have likewise been members of the Black Hand--Speakers and their Silencers. Lachance is here to kill you, but then realizes you have no idea what he's babbling about. He deduces someone is switching your orders. The rest of the Black Hand suspects him, and there's a price on his head. The two of you need to find out who's doing this, and fast. Lachance tells you to go to the next dead drop and wait to see who comes and drops off the money and orders. [DB20] <~~~~~~ FOLLOWING A LEAD ~~~~~~> Fast Travel to Anvil's North Gate, hang a left and find the barrel behind the pond. Select a hiding place nearby and wait for a Wood Elf to show up. Make sure you are not in Sneak mode, then confront the little punk. He claims a man in a robe put him up to this, and the man lives under the lighthouse here in Anvil. (Ignore the new orders the Wood Elf has placed for you, they don't lead to anything. The punk Bosmer keeps your 500 gold--unless you kill him for it.) Go to the lighthouse, outside Anvil's Dock Gate. Find the caretaker and question him about his tenant. When he asks, "Who wants to know", tell him the truth. He'll wet himself trying to give you the key faster. Use the key to enter the basement of the lighthouse, the door is outside, on the north face of the tower. In the back room of the cellar is a grisly sight: a shrine featuring the rotted head of a long-deceased woman. Nearby, on a little table, is a diary detailing the traitor's mental instability. (It also provides the back story on "The Ghost Ship of Anvil".) Too bad there's no name attached. Take the diary (and the head, for a little extra amusement) and Fast Travel to the recently departed Draconis family farm, Applewatch. Lachance is waiting for you there. Unfortunately, the remainder of the Black Hand is waiting for Lachance. He's dead when you arrive, and you can speak to the other members. Arquen takes the lead. You are not suspected of anything; they believe Lachance was the traitor and everything is now green. Here's where you use the head. Drop it on the ground and talk to Bellamont. He sure is jumpy isn't he? Oh well, you can't do anything about him now. Arquen says they are going to see the Night Mother, who will choose a new Listener so they can begin rebuilding the Black Hand and the Brotherhood. Wait until midnight (but not past 3am) and talk to Arquen again. Say you're ready and you'll all Fast Travel to Bravil and the statue of the Lucky Lady. [DB21] <~~~~~~ HONOR THY MOTHER ~~~~~~> There's a cutscene and the statue opens to reveal a trapdoor. Follow the Black Hand inside. The Night Mother (a ghost) tells Arquen they're all idiots and then Bellamont attacks. The other two Black Hand members (i.e. not you and not Arquen) get it quick and then Bellamont is on you. Take him out. (Note that neither the Night Mother nor Arquen are predisposed to give you a lot of help.) Afterwards the Night Mother once again rants about the idiocy infecting the Brotherhood, tells Arquen off (again) and promotes you to Listener and puts Arquen in charge of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. She also tells you to take what you want from the crypt. Loot the place thoroughly (you'll never come back here again). Talk to the Night Mother again to be transported to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary. Congratulations! You're the leader of a guild of assassins. [DB22] <~~~~~~ WHISPERS OF DEATH ~~~~~~> Once each week you can go to the Lucky Lady statue in Bravil and Activate it. The Night Mother will speak to you, giving you the name of someone who needs the services of the Brotherhood. These people are all outside of Cyrodiil, so don't even try to do anything about them. Go see Arquen in Cheydinhal and give her the name. She'll give you a portion of the weekly take. Gradually, new assassins will start wandering around the Sanctuary. You can ask any of them to travel with you as a henchman. Otherwise, there's not much to being Listener. You listen a lot. That's about it... [DB23] <~~~~~~ DARK EXILE ~~~~~~> When you first join the Dark Brotherhood, Lucien Lachance will fill you in on the Five Tenets: Tenet 1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis. Tenet 2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis. Tenet 3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis. Tenet 4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis. Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis. You may wander what this "Wrath of Sithis" is. It is a spirit that will attack you if you break one of the Tenets. The first two times this happens, defeating the spirit means you're back in the guild. The third time, defeating the spirit just means you get to avoid reloading your game. You're out of the Brotherhood forever. The first three tenets are impossible to break. The game never gives you a chance to do any of those things. Well, you can fail to carry out an assignment, but you're never visited by the Wrath, it just remains an open quest in your journal. So, basically, you'll only run into a problem if you steal from or kill another member of the Brotherhood. [KN00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KNIGHTS OF THE NINE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ *NOTE* Before installing Knights of the Nine, you must install the v1.1.511 patch. If you install KoN first, the patch will fail. Install the Knights mod and make sure it's active. Unlike the other official mods, Knights of the Nine does not automatically start when you next load up your game. This mod is intended for good characters--especially paladin types (i.e. melee fighters with healing magic and a hatred for undead). When you finish the quest, you'll be the leader of a new guild: Knights of the Nine. The Crusader's Relics you collect are a suit of armor and both a blunt and blade weapon. The armor matches your level when you receive it; however, unlike other quest rewards, there's a method in the game to keep it up-to-date with your increasing power. The armor will either be light or heavy depending on which skill is higher. There's no difference in appearance between the light and heavy armor. RELICS OF THE CRUSADER ------------------------ Helm of the Crusader: - Fortify Restoration - Fortify Personality - Serene Beauty (Calm on touch) Cuirass of the Crusader: - Fortify Restoration - Resist Normal Weapons - Fortify Health Boots of the Crusader: - Fortify Restoration - Woodland Grace (normal woodland animals will not be hostile; e.g. lions and wolves and bears, oh my!) Gauntlets of the Crusader: - Fortify Restoration - Resist Disease - Merciful Touch (Restore Health on touch) Greaves of the Crusader: - Fortify Restoration - Fortify Destruction - Blessing of the Eight (Shield on touch) Shield of the Crusader: - Reflect Spell Mace of the Crusader: - Fire Damage - Turn Undead - Fortify Blunt Sword of the Crusader: - Fire Damage - Damage Magicka - Fortify Blade You'll be fighting lots of spirits during this quest, so you'll want silver, daedric or enchanted weapons or plenty of Destruction spells--at least, until you acquire the Mace of the Crusader about a third of the way into the story. In order to wear and use the Crusader's Relics, you must have an Infamy score of zero (0). If you gain one point of Infamy, you'll receive a warning. If your Infamy increases to two (2) or higher, you can't equip the Relics until you have once again walked the Pilgrim's Way (first quest for KoN). To kick off this quest, you must talk to a Prophet, who is declaiming across the street from the Temple of Dibella in Anvil. You may hear Rumors of an attack on the Temple from just about anyone in all Cyrodiil; however, you do not need to hear these Rumors before talking to the Prophet. [KN01] <~~~~~~ PILGRIMAGE ~~~~~~> Talk to the Prophet and follow the natural lines of conversation until he asks if you are a worthy champion to defeat Umaril the Unfeathered. Use any "No" answer and the Prophet will tell you that you must follow the Pilgrim's Way and visit a wayshrine of each of the Nine Divines. He gives you a map showing the locations of one wayshrine for each of the Nine. WAYSHRINES ------------ In Cyrodiil, there are at least three wayshrines for each of the Nine. These wayshrines are part of the base game and you may have already encountered some during your travels. Normally, when you pray at (Activate) a wayshrine, you receive a small buff for five minutes or so (assuming your Infamy is zero). You can perform this quest even if your Infamy is greater than zero; however, you won't receive the blessings as you pray. When you complete the Pilgrim's Way, your Infamy is reset to zero. Now, you do not specifically have to go to the wayshrines marked on the map the Prophet gives you. There are at least three wayshrines in Cyrodiil for each of the Nine. Unfortunately, wayshrines are never marked on your primary map--even with this mod installed; so, you have to find them on your own. Here is the quickest route (from Anvil) to a wayshrine for each of the Nine: * Go around to the east side of Anvil and head straight east, passing Fort Strand to the north, to find a Wayshrine of Akatosh. * Walk straight north until you cross the Kvatch-Anvil road, then turn north- northwest until you find a Wayshrine of Arkay in a small hollow among the hills. * Go back to the Kvatch-Anvil road and travel east until you reach Gottshaw Inn. A Wayshrine of Zenithar is on the hill behind the Inn (to the east). * Go around the south side of Kvatch and catch the road to Skingrad. Follow the road east toward Skingrad. You'll cross over a stone bridge; on the far side turn left (north) and you'll see a Wayshrine of Talos up the slope. * Go east-northeast a short distance to a Wayshrine of Mara. * From the Wayshrine of Mara, go due north into the Imperial Reserve to find a Wayshrine of Kynareth. The Wayshrine is located directly on top of the "E" in "IMPERIAL" on your map. * Go due east and you'll soon run in to a Wayshrine of Julianos. On your map, it sits directly on top of the "A" in "IMPERIAL". * Head due northeast, going through Weatherleah ("Legacy Lost") and Hackdirt ("Shadow Over Hackdirt") to find a Wayshrine of Dibella. * Fast Travel to the sewer entrance where you started the game (just outside Imperial City Prison). Go south along the shore until you see a wayshrine across the lake. Swim over and pray at the Wayshrine of Stendarr. *NOTE* You can encounter a couple of other knights walking the Way if the last shrine you visit is one marked on the map given you by the Prophet. While not important to the quest, if you want to meet these knights, go to a different Wayshrine of Stendarr as your last stop. Fast Travel to Bravil and head down the road toward Leyawiin. About halfway along that road is the Wayshrine to Stendarr marked on your map. As soon as you pray at the last wayshrine, you'll have a vision and speak to Pelinal Whitestrake. He marks the location of his lost shrine on your map. It just so happens to be in the middle of Lake Rumare, not far south of the Wayshrine of Stendarr. How convenient! You also receive the Greater Power, Pilgrim's Grace. This power fortifies your Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, Luck, Personality, Speed, Strength and Willpower by 10 for 300 seconds. Sweet! [KN02] <~~~~~~ THE SHRINE OF THE CRUSADER ~~~~~~> The Shrine of the Crusader is located inside the Ayleid ruin of Vanua. The entrance to Vanua is under water, just north of the Ring Road bridge over the Upper Niben River. Water Breathing is a plus; but, not required. Suit up for undead hunting in an Ayleid ruin and swim out to the spot marked on your map. Dive down and find the entrance to Vanua (it's easier to do this on a bright, sunny day). Once inside, you'll have to swim about 10 meters to a stairway that takes you out of the water--if you don't have Water Breathing, be sure you have enough breath before entering the ruin. At the top of the stairs is your first encounter with a (leveled, obviously) undead. Many more will follow. Continue straight until you reach a T- intersection. The right (east) branch is eventually blocked, so go left (west). When you reach a large room and dispose of the guardians, go through the tunnel to the north into the Shrine of the Crusader. Yeah...it's not that simple. This area is a lot like the secret passages under the Imperial prison--lots of ruins mixed with crawling through tunnels; and, undead all over the place. Go straight and drop down into a ruin; turn left (west) and then right (north) until your way is blocked. A hole in the wall to your left (west) leads through a small cavern and then into the shrine. You can now see the target; but, you can't reach it yet. Loot the skeleton on the raised bit of floor to get Sir Amiel's key, ring and diary. This opens the next quest, "Priory of the Nine", and lets you continue on your way. First, unlock the gate to the south and deal with the undead guardian of that path. That's your shortcut back out once you've retrieved the Helm of the Crusader. Go through the gate to the west and kill the undead. In the next room, find the hole in the west wall and jump into another tunnel. Fight your way north and then drop down into the ruin again. Take the south hall for a little treasure, then take the door to the north. This leads to the Lost Catacombs. Follow the catacombs--make sure you take opportunities to loot--until you reach a door leading back into the Shrine. There are actually two doors; either will serve. Back in the Shrine, fight your way to the altar where the Helm is located. Watch out for the undead near the altar--it might be down in a little doorway on the north side of the area. Collect the Helm, jump over the fence and go through the south gate you opened earlier. This takes you to a tunnel leading back into Vanua. In Vanua, you'll pass through a room with at least three undead--including one boss-level mob. In the same room is an Ayleid Reliquary with your reward for this dungeon. Leave Vanua and embark on the next stage of your quest. [KN03] <~~~~~~ PRIORY OF THE NINE ~~~~~~> Your next stop is the old Priory of the Knights of the Nine. This is located in the middle of nowhere, halfway between Skingrad and Bravil. Lucky you, it's marked on your map; but there's precious little close by that you can Fast Travel to. The closest may be Silorn (Mages Guild quest, "Ambush"); or, you can Fast Travel to Skingrad and hoof it. Regardless of how you go, stock up on healing potions or a good healing spell and Magicka potions before you go. When you reach the Priory, all appears peaceful. Enter the Priory and find the Knights of the Nine seal on the floor. Activate it and Sir Amiel's ring opens the door to the basement. (You did remember to loot Amiel's ring in the Shrine, right?) Go down into the basement, which is a training room, then take the door into the Undercroft. There's the Cuirass of the Crusader! That was easy. Yeah, right. Eight of the original Knights of the Nine surround you and you have to beat them all in personal combat (i.e. one-on-one). You can use any style of combat you wish, just so long as you beat each one. They are all swordsmen, and good ones; but, they are leveled to match you so you should be able to handle them. Use the brief respite in between each fight to heal up and restore your Magicka. Summon help if you need it. When you have bested all eight knights, claim the Cuirass as your own. When you get the quest update telling you to talk to the knights about the other Relics, go around the circle and speak to the knights. The four important conversations are with Sir Casimir (Gauntlets of the Crusader), Sir Ralvas (Mace of the Crusader), Sir Henrik (Shield of the Crusader) and Sir Juncan (Boots of the Crusader). You can quest after these items in any order with one restriction: you must retrieve the Boots before you can get the Mace. All clear? On with the show then... [KN04] <~~~~~~ NATURE'S FURY ~~~~~~> To get the Boots of the Crusader you must travel to a Shrine of Kynareth west of Imperial City. Make this your active quest and the shrine's location will be marked on your map; it's southwest of Wawnet Inn and north of Clavicus Vile's shrine. When you find it, talk to Avita Vesnia to get the details of your test. She instructs you to go to the Grove of Trials and face whatever test Kynareth has for you. Go ahead and sheath whatever weapon you may be carrying. Not only do you not need it, you best not use it. Travel west a short distance to a ring of white- barked trees. Enter them and wait a bit until a wild animal enters and attacks you. You can block the attacks; but, don't return the favor. Take your lumps and, pretty soon, Kynareth deems you worthy, shows you a secret door; and, you enter Kynareth's Grotto and get the Boots. Simple. [KN05] <~~~~~~ THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS ~~~~~~> The Mace of the Crusader is protected by Zenithar in his chapel in Leyawiin. Make sure you have the Boots of the Crusader before you attempt to get the Mace. Travel to Leyawiin; go to the chapel and downstairs into the Undercroft. There will be at least four spirits down here. Dispatch them; then, Activate the Tomb of Saint Kaladas at the far end of the Croft. You'll find yourself in space, on a floating piece of a fort. In the distance is the Mace. If you have the Boots of the Crusader equipped, you just walk across the misty path that appears. If you don't have the Boots equipped-- well, go get them and put them on! As soon as you grab the Mace, you re-appear in the Undercroft. Go ahead and equip the Mace (or your favorite weapon) and gird your loins. As you leave the Undercroft and enter the chapel, you'll be attacked by Aurorans--Umaril's daedra servants. You'll have help killing them, try to be careful you don't harm the eager knight that greeted you when you first entered the Temple. He soon declares himself a new Knight of the Nine and runs off to join your service. [KN06] <~~~~~~ STENDARR'S MERCY ~~~~~~> This is a pretty simple quest. Go to the Chapel of Stendarr in Chorrol and talk to the priest, Areldur. He'll tell you the sad tale of Sir Casimir and his descendents. He'll also inform you Kellen, the current scion of the Casimir family, is in the temple trying to be rid of the family curse. Go downstairs to the Chapel Hall and find Kellen. He's typically sitting in a small bedroom off to the side. Kellen tells you more about his curse and says he thinks Areldur knows the cure but is holding out on him. Return to Areldur and confront him about Kellen. He reveals the only way to cure Kellen is to take the curse yourself. Once you show mercy to Kellen, you can lift the Gauntlets. Pray at the altar of Stendarr and you'll be asked if you want to take Kellen's curse on yourself. Answer yes and you'll receive a one-use Lay Hands lesser power. Go downstairs and Lay Hands on Kellen. He'll be cured and you'll suffer the Curse of the Consumed, which is a permanent Damage Fatigue effect. (It is by no means crippling and you'll hardly notice it.) In the main chapel, find the gauntlets laying on the floor behind the altar; Activate them to pick them up. On with the show! [KN07] <~~~~~~ WISDOM OF THE AGES ~~~~~~> Make "Wisdom of the Ages" your active quest and find Fort Bulwark in eastern Cyrodiil. It is northeast of Leyawiin and not particularly near anything. The closest quest point is Fort Teleman (Mages Guild, "Bloodworm Helm"). Fast Travel to Teleman and go south, or go to Leyawiin and head northeast. Approach Fort Bulwark warily. There are conjurers also seeking the Shield and two are outside the main doors--one at ground level and one at the top of the tower. If you can draw the ground-level conjurer outside the fort and dispatch him, you can sneak into the fort without the upper-level mage knowing about it. Or, run upstairs and take care of him too. Inside, watch your step as there are plenty of conjurers and daedra to impede your progress. The quickest route to your target is to follow the corridor around a left turn, then take the first left-hand branch and then the next right through a double wood door. You'll be in a large room on a raised catwalk. Note the gate to your right and raised drawbridge to your left. Go past these two obstacles and through another set of double wood doors. Follow the tunnel to a makeshift bedroom with two conjurers. When they are down, turn the handle on the north side of the room and pick up the Conjurer's Note from the desk to the right of the handle. Backtrack a short way down the tunnel and take the left-branch. You'll come to a balcony overlooking a room with two raised drawbridges. Turn the handle and watch the drawbridges lower and a gate rise. That's the gate you passed a short while ago. Backtrack to it and go through, across the drawbridges and to a corridor with four rows of three pressure plates. If you follow the clue on the Conjurer's Note, you need to step on the plates in this order: left - middle - right - left. There's no penalty if you mess up, other than you have to go back and start the sequence over. Go through the door into the second area of Fort Bulwark. You're in a corridor with prison cells to either side. Go past the first pair and then enter an open cell to your left. There's a door on the north side of the cell that leads to a torture room and a conjurer or two. Dispose of them, then go to the cell on the other side of the corridor and open it to free Sir Thedret. He'll give you a clue to reach the shield and then leave for the Priory of the Nine. At the end of the prison corridor is another room full of mages. Get rid of them and loot their stuff. There's another note that details what they have in mind for Sir Thedret. Continue west, keeping an eye out for conjurers. You will soon reach a long room running north-south with raised drawbridges. The handle for the first drawbridge is right next to the bridge. Turn it, watch the drawbridge lower and marvel at the number of darts being flung out by the traps in the ceiling. If you've got plenty of health, you can just make a run for it. Otherwise, watch the pattern of the darts and try to slip through in between cycles. At the end of the first bridge, you'll make a left and find another handle that lowers the second bridge. This handle is in a safe spot out of range of the darts, so take a breather here and heal up if necessary. Then, dodge your way across the second bridge and continue. Advance carefully into the next room. There are at least two conjurers in this room and one of them is the boss of this dungeon. Get rid of the mages, then study the room. You'll see four Stone Guardians on pedestals around a seal of Julianos. At the base of each Guardian is a handle. Turn each handle until each Guardian is turned to face the seal of Julianos. You may have to turn each handle multiple times until the Guardian rotates all the way around. Once all four Guardians are facing the seal, a door in the south wall opens and you can advance to the third area of the fort. Fortunately, there are no more enemies or traps, so you can move ahead swiftly. Area three is small--just a short tunnel and a big room. The room has a raised platform with a chest and eight Stone Guardians around the edges of the room. Each Guardian is turned away, facing the wall, and has a chest at its base. The large chest in the center of the room is randomly filled with one of eight items: * Rodgar's Book * Rodgar's Gem * Rodgar's Goblet * Rodgar's Hammer * Rodgar's Helm * Rodgar's Skull * Rodgar's Stone * Rodgar's Sword You have to take the item that appears in the large chest and place it in the correct small chest at the base of one of the Guardians. When you place the correct item in a Guardian's chest, the chest glows and the Guardian turns to face the room. If you place the incorrect item in a Guardian's chest, nothing happens. The item will randomly show up again in the large chest. If you want to solve this yourself...why are you using a walkthrough? Anyway, each time you take an item out of the chest, scan the room. One of the Guardians will randomly display a floating image of the item it wants. Start facing the door, the Guardians to the left, beginning with the one closest to the door, take: sword, goblet, helm, stone. Facing the door, the Guardians to the right, beginning with the one closest to the door, take: book, hammer, skull, gem. Lights flash, a door opens at the top of the stairs and you can go into the next room and retrieve the Shield of the Crusader as well as other goodies. Once you pick up the Shield, doors to either side of the altar open and you can take a shortcut back to the top level of the fort. You'll come out on the drawbridge you couldn't lower earlier. Leave Fort Bulwark and Fast Travel back to the Priory of the Nine. [KN08] <~~~~~~ THE FAITHFUL SQUIRE ~~~~~~> Upon your entry to the main Priory building, you'll be accosted by Lathon, squire to Sir Roderic. (You may have met Roderic and Lathon on your Pilgrimage if you used the wayshrines on the Prophet's map.) Lathon tells you of the death of Sir Roderic at the hands (or ephemeral representations thereof) of Sir Berich's ghost. Lathon presents you with the Greaves of the Crusader and tells you the Sword of the Crusader is still in the misty appendages of Sir Berich in Underpall Cave. Further, Lathon asks if you'll allow him to join the newly formed Knights of the Nine. If you say yes, Lathon not only becomes one of your Knights, he also accompanies you on the upcoming quest for the Sword. If you're a stealthy fighter, this won't be a good thing and Lathon will just keep getting in your way. The upcoming mission is no more difficult than the invasion of the Shrine of the Crusader, so tell Lathon to be patient a bit longer. Explore the Priory a bit more. You'll see many of the people you have previously met on this adventure. They have come to join your Order. (Yes, it's your Order. Several of the warriors address you as Commander.) The place is nice and livable now and has become a place of residence for you. And there's a very nifty contraption in the Undercroft. Go down to where the eight ghostly Knights still await the completion of Sir Pelinal's crusade. Speak to Sir Amiel about Berich for a little more history of the original Knights of the Nine. Behind Amiel is the armor stand where you first found the Cuirass. Activate the stand and place all your current Relics on it; then, target the bit of stand showing between the greaves and take all the Relics back. You'll find them completely repaired and recharged and, if you've increased enough in level, leveled up. Seriously Sweet. Leave the Priory and Fast Travel to Bruma. Refit yourself (healing potions, arrows, etc.) and look for the quest marker pointing to Underpall Cave. It's north of the Orange Road between Bruma and Chorrol. Leave Bruma by the East Gate and travel the Orange Road toward Chorrol. When you get to a point east or southeast of the cave, cut cross-country. [KN09] <~~~~~~ THE SWORD OF THE CRUSADER ~~~~~~> When you reach the cave, go ahead and charge in. There's nothing in the cave portion of this dungeon. Deep in the cave is a sunken fort; it is inside the fort where you will encounter all the enemies (primarily undead, though a few creatures show up as well). Once inside the fort, advance to the first main room, kill the undead creeping around, and make a U-turn down another south-running hallway. The other two exits from this large room--to the east and west--lead back out into Underpall Cave. There's a little loot on those paths if you're intent on scavenging as much as possible. Advance carefully down the south-running hall. There's one door that blocks your way; on the other side is a rock-fall trap. Only take a step through the door, then jump back to avoid the rocks. At the end of the hall is the door to the Underpall Reflecting Room and your big boss fight with the remains of Sir Berich. Go through the entrance tunnel slowly. There are two ways to proceed; both are about equivalent. You may or may not encounter any enemies, depending on your level. The left (east) path has Sir Roderic's body. When you enter the main chamber, you're in for a fight with a wraith. You'll need a silver, daedric or enchanted weapon (such as the Mace of the Crusader), or spells. This can be a difficult fight; however, there's plenty of room for maneuvering and you can even run away into the tunnels for a bit to heal up. Just try not to fall into the water, as there's only one place where you can climb back out. When the wraith has spewed forth its final essence, pick up the Sword of the Crusader. *DO NOT EQUIP THE SWORD!* It's cursed and, if you equip it, you will be cursed as well. Leave Underpall the same way you came in and Fast Travel to Cheydinhal. Rest and refit before entering the Temple of Arkay. Upon entering the Temple, you'll be attacked by Aurorans. You have two choices: 1) Kill all the Aurorans (with the help of the other people inside the Temple) and then pray at the altar to consecrate the Sword. 2) Run straight to the altar and pray to consecrate the Sword. You can then use the Sword to kill the Aurorans. Either way, the Aurorans end up dead, the Sword is now useable and you'll find you've also lost the Curse of the Consumed you took from Kellen, descendant of Sir Casimir. All-in-all, a good day's work. Return to the Priory of the Nine. It's time to put an end to this business. [KN10] <~~~~~~ THE BLESSING OF TALOS ~~~~~~> As soon as you arrive at the Prior, you're met by Sir Thedret. The Prophet has come sticking his nose into your business again and is preaching to your knights in the chapel. Well, you'll just have to see about this. Enter the chapel and listen to the Prophet's sermon. He then approaches you and tells you to get on with killing Umaril and all. As an aid, you get one thing Pelinal did not: the Blessing of Talos. This Power will enable you to follow Umaril into the spirit realm and destroy him once and for all. After the Prophet's speech, go around the chapel and induct all the people who want to become Knights of the Nine. They'll run off, suit up and head out for Umaril's headquarters, Garlas Malatar. Before following them, head down into the Undercroft and chat with the spirit of Sir Berich, now restored to his brothers. Repair, recharge and (possibly) upgrade your Relics while you're down there. Ready to kick some butt? [KN11] <~~~~~~ UMARIL THE UNFEATHERED ~~~~~~> Garlas Malatar is located on the coast, northwest of Anvil. Fast Travel to Anvil and head out to the coast and then go north. You'll find some, if not all, of your knights on the beach facing the bridge that leads over to the main entrance. If all eight knights are not there, wait for a few minutes and the rest will show up. Once they are all gathered, give one of them the command to charge and they will. They'll bowl over the two Aurorans stationed outside the main door, then charge inside. Try to keep up. There are two more Aurorans in the first large room, then your way is blocked by some gates. The button to open the gates is on top of one of the altars in the room. Before opening the gates, take the opportunity to walk around and use Merciful Touch (healing Lesser Power granted by the Gauntlets) on your knights. Push the button, charge up the stairs and continue your rampage through the ruins. Your path leads to the northeast section of the ruins and through a door into Garlas Malatar, Ceysel. When you enter Ceysel, you'll be stopped by a couple of gates. The button to push is right there--on the wall between the gates. Again, take the opportunity to go around the use Merciful Touch on your companions. Open the gates and charge into the next room. Ignore the Aurorans and run around the right (east) side of the large raised platform in the center. Go around the back and head west up a flight of stairs and around to the top of the platform. Ignore any Aurorans that get in your way. When you reach the glowing orb, Activate it to destroy it. The orb explodes and time stops... Now, you can take some time and loot the area. Your knights and the Aurorans are gone; but, you can still collect welkynd stones and anything else you can find lying around. You should also use this time to heal up and make sure you're ready for battle. When you're ready to move on, go back up to the orb platform and go north into Garlas Malatar, Carac Abaran. Run through the halls, disposing of a couple Aurorans on the way until you reach the main chamber, where Umaril is waiting for you. The door is blocked behind you, so this is a fight to the finish. Umaril is big and packs a big punch; but, he's predictable. He will occasionally shoot lightning at you, which is easy to dodge. Then he'll run up close and make a big thrusting attack. This attack is easy to avoid since he spends a lot of time winding up. He is also easily distracted by other enemies, so summon help if he's giving you fits. Generally, if you just stay out of the way of his lightning blasts and sword thrusts, you can take him down pretty easily with potshots from range or by getting in a few, quick strikes right after he's made a sword attack. The higher your level, the tougher Umaril will be; but, he should be manageable by anyone. When he's dead, you'll get a quest entry reminding you to cast The Blessing of Talos to follow Umaril into the spirit realm. Don't rush off! Heal yourself first and restore your Magicka as well. Loot the place. There are some Ayleid casks around, not to mention Umaril's body and his sword. Once you've picked the place clean, cast The Blessing of Talos. You'll find yourself fighting in the clouds over Imperial City. Umaril is quite a ways off, so take the opportunity to stick a couple of arrows into him. (If they're poisoned first, so much the better.) Repeat your earlier tactics. Umaril is no tougher now than he was earlier. When he dies, you fall into mist... And come to in the Undercroft of the Priory of the Nine. Sir Amiel chats with you right before the old knights pass into glory. When you leave the Undercroft, Sir Thedret greets you and tells you what happened in Garlas Malatar after you destroyed the orb. He then goes out and speaks to your assembled knights. They all cheer. And then... [KN12] <~~~~~~ EPILOGUE ~~~~~~> Life goes on. You are now the Commander of the Knights of the Nine. There will always be eight other knights available to you in the Priory. Any that were killed in the attack on Garlas Malatar are replaced by generic, no-name NPCs. You can, at any time, ask one of the knights to accompany you as a henchman- type person. There's also the armor stand in the Undercroft, waiting to repair, recharge and upgrade your threads. You have your own bedroom in the Priory (to the left at the top of the right-hand set of stairs). Right outside your room is a bookshelf with a number of books about Pelinal and the original Knights. You can read these sometime when you want more history of the original Crusader and the Order. The altar in the Chapel functions just as the altars in the Temples in the big cities, curing diseases, poisons, damaged attributes and the like. And, oh yes, there's the little matter of praying at the crypts of the eight original knights. (Sir Berich, you may remember, is not buried in the Undercroft.) Praying at a knight's crypt grants you a permanent boost to one ability score. This remains in effect until such time as you pray at another knight's crypt--i.e. only one of these blessings can be in effect at one time. The amount of boost you get to your ability score depends on your level when you pray. The knights and the blessings they bestow are: Sir Gregory (Dibella): Fortify Personality Sir Juncan (Kynareth): Fortify Speed Sir Casimir (Mara): Fortify Endurance Sir Torolf (Arkay): Fortify Willpower Sir Henrik (Julianos): Fortify Intelligence Sir Caius (Stendarr): Fortify Personality Sir Ralvas (Zenithar): Fortify Luck Sir Amiel (Akatosh): Fortify Strength Remember, the cost of having all this goodness is you must keep your Infamy at zero (0) or one (1). Anything higher and you have to walk the Pilgrim's Way again to reduce your Infamy and be able to be the Crusader. [SQ00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIDE QUESTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ These quests are arranged alphabetically by their title as given in the quest log. See the Quest Index following for a regional breakdown of the quests. The quests in this section are all those not tied specifically to the main quest or any of the four main guilds. [SQ38] <~~~~~~ ATTACK ON FORT SUTCH ~~~~~~> This is a simple Oblivion-gate closing operation. It's unique among the side quests because there's a limited time-frame for completing the quest. The gate opens after you've completed the "Dagon Shrine" quest in the main story; and, of course, it closes automatically if you finish the main story. During that time period, travel to Fort Sutch north-northeast of Anvil. Near the ruined fort, Imperial Legion soldiers are fighting daedra spewing forth from an Oblivion gate. Help them wipe out the daedra, then the Legion captain will ask you to close the gate. The gate leads to a random Oblivion world, which you've seen before if you've been on a gate-closing spree. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ01] <~~~~~~ THE ARENA ~~~~~~> Imperial City, like any good Roman knock-off, has gladiatorial blood sports. You can earn some quick cash by joining in the "fun", or, make some less-easy cash betting on the action. The Arena district is located on the east side of the city, between the Market district and the Arboretum. The only thing in the district is the Arena itself, which, amazingly, looks a lot like the Roman coliseum. The Arena is open for business, whether betting or fighting, from 9am to 9pm every day. *BONUS* To the south of the Arena are a pair sparring (Redguard and Argonian). They spar most of the day, every day. Stand and watch them for a few minutes and you will receive a +5 bonus to your Hand-to-Hand skill. | Betting +--------- Hundolin, the gatekeeper at the entrance to the Arena, is also the local bookie. Make a bet on either the Yellow or Blue team for 25, 50 or 100 gold. *THERE IS NO WAY TO GUARANTEE A WIN* The two fighters are randomly equipped, and the fight may be fair--or not. You can slightly influence the outcome with your Luck attribute. Once past 50, the higher your Luck, the higher "your" fighters health. That's it. You take your chances and hope you win. You can, of course, artificially boost your Luck before placing a bet in order to move things in your favor, but that still won't help if your guy gets stuck with light armor, no shield and a dagger and the other guy gets heavy armor and a claymore. | Fighting +---------- Here's where things get interesting. You can make quite a lot of cash working your way up the ladder--assuming you don't blow it all on healing potions. Enter the main gate of the Arena, where Hundolin hangs out, and hang a left, down the stairs into the Bloodworks. Find Owyn and ask him about joining. There's a uniform required of each combatant, but you can pick Light or Heavy raiment. *NOTE* You have to wear the raiment to participate in a match. This raiment is a full suit of armor, so you can't wear your own cuirass, greaves, boots or gauntlets. You can wear your own helmet and use any shield and weapon you like. You can also use spells, etc. Anything goes on the floor of the Arena. *BONUS* While you can't wear your own armor in the Arena, you can wear the Arena raiment anywhere. It's enchanted armor (+2 Personality, +5 Athletics), with base armor ratings of 10 for the light and 15 for the heavy. This is pretty decent armor for the beginning of the game, so you might want to stop by the Arena and join as soon as you exit the sewers. You don't have to start fighting right away. (Remember, because it's enchanted, you can't repair it unless you've reached Journeyman rank in Armorer.) Fighting is a case of just working your way up the ladder. While your opponents are leveled in keeping with your level, the Arena is a lot easier once you have some enchanted weapons and a decent selection of spells. To begin a match, suit up in your Arena raiment and talk to Owyn. He'll give you a brief hint of what you're facing, and send you on your way up the ramp. Note that you're fighting for the Blue team and you can't place a bet on yourself. ARENA BATTLES Fight # | Opponent(s) | Reward --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 1 | Fighter | 50 gold 2 | Fighter | 50 gold 3 | Archer | 100 gold, promotion to Brawler --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 4 | Fighter | 100 gold 5 | Twins: fighter, archer | 100 gold 6 | Fighter | 150 gold, promotion to Bloodletter --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 7 | Fighter | 150 gold 8 | Fighter | 150 gold 9 | Fighter | 200 gold, promotion to Myrmidon --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 10 | Fighter (frost dmg dagger) | 200 gold 11 | Fighter | 200 gold 12 | Fighter | 250 gold, promotion to Warrior --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 13 | Fighter | 250 gold 14 | Mage | 250 gold 15 | Fighter | 300 gold, promotion to Gladiator --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 16 | 3 unarmed prisoners | 300 gold 17 | Fighter | 300 gold 18 | Fighter | 350 gold, promotion to Hero --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 19 | Fighter (former Blade) | 350 gold 20 | Mage (magic resistant) | 350 gold 21 | 3: Yellow team champion, | 500 gold, promotion to Champion | mage and archer | --------+----------------------------+--------------------------------------- 22 | The Gray Prince | 1,000 gold, promotion to Grand | | Champion, continued fights with | | monsters, and...an Adoring Fan Tactics for each fight will vary depending on the type of weapon being used against you: * One-handed weapon fighters: they are usually too fast for you to stay out of range and fight with arrows or spells; step in with your own weapon, block their attacks, then hit them with a power attack * Two-handed weapon fighters: these guys are good at staggering you, but they swing their weapons slowly; and they usually move slowly as well; you can either stay away from them and hit them from range, or keep just out of range of their weapon, then, just after they swing and miss, swiftly step in and pop them a few times with a one-handed weapon. * Mages: there are only two you face one-on-one and the best tactic is to rush them and stagger them with power attacks * Archers: like mages, it's best to charge them and stagger them with power attacks. Use the columns in the center of the arena to "dodge" their arrows. * Twins: the wood elves are nasty and how you choose your poison is up to you. Generally, the claymore fighter does a lot more damage to you and is harder to take down. Try rushing the archer first. She'll keep backing away, which keeps the fight moving, which should keep the fighter from pounding your back with her big sword. Once the archer is dead, you can devote your time to properly dealing with her sister. * Three prisoners: while they are unarmed and unarmored, they have decent Hand-to-Hand attacks and there are three of them. You want to separate them and pick them off one-by-one. Explosive spells (such as Fireball) are a good way of slowing one or two down. You can also weave in between the columns, which should break them up. By no means let them surround you or you're dead meat. They move fast, so trying to stay out of range and hitting them with arrows or spells is a bad idea. * Yellow team champion and allies: it's another 3-on-1 fight, but actually it's 3-on-2. Owyn has pity on you and gives you the aid of a wild boar, Porkchop. One way of dealing with this fight is concentrating on the champion and hoping Porkchop occupies her allies enough so they don't pester you. Or, you can try to quickly take out her allies--they're both ranged fighters and subject to staggering. In this scenario, you hope the allies run around enough the champion can't catch up with you and beat on your backside. * The Gray Prince: a very tough fighter. The bonus is you get to wear your own armor. (The Orc has a special Raiment of Valor, so you'll want some enchanted armor--and weapons--of your own.) He's a one-handed fighter so the same basic tactics apply: block his attacks, then power attack in return. Optionally, you can complete "The Origin of the Gray Prince", in which case gro-Malog will rush out into the Arena, and then beg you to kill him. If you do this, the killing counts as the murder of an innocent, and you'll be visited by the Dark Brotherhood the next time you sleep. Once you've defeated The Gray Prince, you are Grand Champion of the Arena. Battle Matron Ysabel Andronicus will continue to arrange fights for you; this time against wild beasts and monsters, depending on your level. The reward is, likewise, dependent on your level. You can ask for one fight each week. Finally, when you exit the Arena after killing The Gray Prince, you are met by an Adoring Fan. This youngster will follow you around, pestering you endlessly. You can turn around and kill him, thus earning some skill experience, and he'll respawn in front of the Arena, where you can go pick him up in order to kill him again. (Make sure you do this killing out in the wilderness, so you don't get arrested for it.) Other than that, Adoring Fan is mostly just useless. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ39] <~~~~~~ BEAR SEASON ~~~~~~> Shardrock farm is a small homestead north of the road between Skingrad and Kvatch, north-northeast of Miscarcand (from the main story). Shepherd Thorley Aethelred is having troubles with bears. They've been killing his sheep, and he asks you to do something about it. Specifically, he wants you to kill six of the bears, and hopes that will scare off the remainder. There are at least eight bears (possibly more) spread out around Shardrock. A Detect Life spell is useful here for finding the bears. These are very tough animals, and occasionally get close enough to each other that it's impossible to separate them. For ranged characters, there are a lot of rocks about that you can jump up to, but the bears can't--useful for sniping these beasts. Take the fangs from the corpses. Once you have six, head back to the farm; Aethelred will award you a skill book that boosts one of your combat skills. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ02] <~~~~~~ A BROTHERHOOD BETRAYED ~~~~~~> Rumors are flying about Bruma that a vampire hunter named Raynil Dralas has killed a vampire in their very midst. Visit the vampire's home, his name is Bradon Lirrian and he lives on the west side of the chapel. Inside you'll find city guard Carius Runellius. Raise his Disposition score to 70 and he'll give you the full story. Bradon's body is on the bed nearby. Also present is Bradon's distraught wife, Erline. She says her husband was no vampire and wants you to ferret out the truth. Your journal suggest talking to a merchant about the location of Dralas, and, in fact, this is just what you should do. Several of the merchants can point you to Olav's Tap and Tack, next to the East Gate. Go see Olav. With a Disposition of at least 70, Olav will give you a key to search Dralas' room. You can also just break-and-enter. Inside, you find a diary partially hidden behind the dresser. Reading it will give you the full scoop on what's happening. Return to the Lirrian house and show the journal to Runellius. He'll order a city-wide search for Dralas and ask you to meet him in one hour at Olav's. When you meet him, he reports Dralas has made for Boreal Stone Cave. Runellius wants you to go catch him, as he thinks Dralas might scare off if he sees city guards shadowing him. Runellius gives you a time limit of one day, and you must reach Boreal within that time, else Dralas gets away clean. The cave isn't far west of the city, and Dralas waits for you almost right inside the door. This can only come to violence. Retire Dralas from his vampire hunting job and get three keys from his body. Use the keys to open the chest nearby and get an ordinary amulet. Return to Erline Lirrian with the amulet and she "unlocks" it and gives it back, now a shiny Phylactery of Litheness, which has a Fortify Speed enchantment keyed to your level. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ29] <~~~~~~ A BRUSH WITH DEATH ~~~~~~> The rumor mill in Cheydinhal points you to a missing husband. (Wives in Cyrodiil keep losing their husbands. Is something wrong with them or the men?) Tivela Lythandas's husband, the famous painter Rythe Lythandas, vanished from his locked studio. You're asked to play Holmes and solve this little mystery. The Lythandas live in the southwest corner of Cheydinhal, near the house you can buy for yourself. Tivela more fully explains the situation and gives you a key to the studio. Inside, take a look at Rythe's current painting, then Activate it. You skidoo right into the painting! In front of you is the great painter himself, who 'fesses up about his secret: a magic paintbrush. Some thief came in, stole the brush, then got trapped in the painting. The thief then painted some trolls to protect him, but the trolls killed him. You have to fight your way through the trolls and get the paintbrush off the thief's corpse so you and Rythe can get out. Set off north. You have to work your way north, then west, then south to find the thief, killing six painted trolls along the way. Rythe gives you six bottles of turpentine that act as poison for your weapon. The Turpentine is leveled and does anywhere from +20 to +250 damage to painted trolls (depending on your level). Loot each troll for Painted Troll Fat, useful for alchemical products and available nowhere else. Once you reach the thief, take the Brush of Truepaint from his body and go straight north. From this direction, you can jump up the rocks and drop down right back where you started. Give the Brush to Rythe. He paints a door and you can both leave. Back in the real world of computer-generated graphics, Rythe asks you to keep the Brush a secret and gives you the Apron of Adroitness, which Fortifies Intelligence and Agility. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ03] <~~~~~~ CANVAS THE CASTLE ~~~~~~> Visit the castle in Chorrol between the hours of 8am and 6pm and talk to Countess Valga. She is busy hunting a stolen painting. Offer to help and she'll give you the names of five people: * Chanel, the court mage, suspect * Orgnolf, porter, suspect * Bittneld, guard captain, witness * Orok gro-Ghoth, steward, witness * Laythe Wavrick, herald, witness Speak to all five. Chanel, Orgnolf and gro-Ghoth can usually be found in the private area of the castle (for which you are given a key). Wavrick typically hangs out in the audience chamber with the Countess. Bittneld can be a problem. He makes regular patrols around town. Perhaps you'll get lucky and find him in the castle, otherwise you're going to have to run him down. Once you've heard all five stories, it becomes apparent Chanel is hiding something. You know she spends time in the West Tower, so go there and find the trap door in the floor. Use the trap door and carefully search to find a partially completed painting. Activate it to add it to your quest entries. Now head for the dining room, which is just off the attendance hall, and look around on the rug. You should spot some paint stains in the shape of footprints. Activate them to update your journal. Return to the private area and Chanel's bedroom. Open her lectern to find paint supplies. Talk to Chanel and Accuse her. You must max out her Disposition score in order for her to confess to the crime and give you the painting. You now have two choices: 1) Report in full to the Countess, who rewards you and banishes Chanel. 2) Refuse to accuse either suspect to the Countess, who gives you a little money anyway. Return the painting to Chanel, who will paint you a picture of your own that you can display in your house (if you buy a house). <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ27] <~~~~~~ CAUGHT IN THE HUNT ~~~~~~> Chase the rumor mill in Bravil to learn about Ursanne Loche's missing husband. Find Ms. Loche and question her. Her husband, Aleron, is a gambler heavily in debt to a loan shark named Kurdan gro-Dragol. Aleron was supposed to meet gro- Dragol at the Lonely Suitor Lodge yesterday, and he hasn't come back. Go to the Lonely Suitor and seek out Messr. gro-Dragol. Once you get his Disposition to 60, he does, indeed, know where Aleron is; but, before he'll tell you, you must do him a favor. Go to Fort Grief out on an island in the bay, and retrieve gro-Dragol's father's axe. That's the only way you or Ursanne will see Aleron alive again. When you're ready, gro-Dragol even provides transportation. Go down to the little public dock on the river flowing through the middle of Bravil and there's a boat waiting. Activate it to be transported to Fort Grief. The gate leading into the fort must be opened with a wheel located on the ground to the right. Inside, the gate slams shut, you find Aleron and you get all the details on gro-Dragol's little trap. You and Aleron are the prey in a little game of hunt-the-human(oid). There are three hunters inside the fort, and you will have to kill them all to get the key to the inner gatehouse, allowing you both to escape. Inside you go. There's nothing inside but the three hunters and a few low- level critters, such as rats. Just to your left as you enter is the gatehouse. You need a key to get in there. Down the hall is a little room with a rock column in the center. The Imperial hunter waits here. If you're the Stealthy type, you can use the center column for cover while you snipe at the hunter from range, but you'll probably still have to fall back on sword & shield because of the close quarters. Loot his body for the First Key. Follow the path to a stone bridge. If you have good Speed, run across the bridge. Two spiked barrels will swing down to knock you off, but you can avoid them if you're fast enough. If you're not fast enough, swim through the channel to the northeast and make the first left-hand turn that you can and then another left. Assuming you made it across the bridge, turn left at the next intersection, jump over the hole in the floor and take the first right. The two paths are now together again. There's an arrow trap on the far wall, so don't dally. Around the corner, watch for the tripwire on the floor, it sets off some poison gas vents. The Nord hunter waits just ahead. The room forms a sort-of squared figure-eight. Again, Stealthy types can use the center columns for cover. You can also try to lead him back through the traps that you just came through. Loot the Nord for the Second Key. Beyond the Nord, to the southwest, is the door to The Hunter's Abyss. You need both Hunter's Keys to open this door. Down the hall, take the first left, skipping over the tripwire. Follow the tunnels, watching out for another tripwire along the way. You'll eventually reach a set of stairs leading down into a large room with a pool. The Orc hunter waits here. Stealthy fighters should try to peg an arrow into the Orc from the top of the stairs, then leap onto the little platforms along the side of the steps. With a high enough Sneak skill, you can crouch there and pepper the Orc with arrows without being detected. Otherwise, keep the fight down in the pool room--you don't want to get into confined quarters with this guy. After he's dead, loot the Fort Grief Key from his body and exit the pool room to the southwest. Take the first right and follow the tunnel to a door that brings you out over the stone bridge you crossed not long ago. Drop down and run back up to the gatehouse. Uh oh. The key doesn't work. Raise your hand if you didn't see that coming. Exit the Hunter's Run and watch gro-Dragol kill Aleron. Poor guy. You now have to kill gro-Dragol to get the real gatehouse key. Stealthy fighters will want to Sneak up the stairs next to the main door and snipe gro-Dragol from up there. Regular fighters will appreciate the wide-open area in which to engage the Orc. Take his real key, open the gatehouse just inside Hunter's Run, and turn the handle to open the main gate. Take the boat back to Bravil, find Ursanne and explain what happened. She's devastated, but gives you a Speechcraft skill- training book as a reward for trying to help. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ30] <~~~~~~ THE COLLECTOR ~~~~~~> This is a wide-ranging quest dealing with the recovery of ten Ayleid statues from ten ruined Ayleid sites. To get this quest started, you must retrieve one of the ten statues listed below. Now, if you want to do this quest the "right" way, you would sell the statue to any merchant for about 125 gold; then, you wait until you are contacted by Jollring, a servant in the household of Umbacano. But, if you want to make a few hundred extra gold and not go through the waiting period, go straight to Umbacano. Umbacano lives in the Talos Plaza district of Imperial City. His house opens onto the northeast quarter of the central plaza. When entering his house, speak to Jollring and you'll be escorted upstairs to Umbacano. Umbacano wants to collect the complete set of ten Ayleid statues; but, he doesn't know which sites have statues. You're on your own there (fortunately, you have this guide, while Umbacano does not). Umbacano promises 500 gold for each statue, plus a bonus of 5,000 gold when you have returned all the statues to him. After you've brought back a second statue, Umbacano gives you five sites that his research reveals have statues. That's all you get in the game to help you out. After bringing back one more statue (total of three), Umbacano will offer you another job. This kicks off "Nothing You Can Possess". The ten Ayleid ruins containing statues are: 1) Culotte ----------- Culotte is located on the east bank of the Upper Niben River about halfway between Niben Bay and Lake Rumare. If you find the 'T' in "The Yellow Road", it sits just on the northeast corner of that 'T'. This is a simple, single- level undead lair. In fact, it looks very simple going in, because there's nothing in there. Run down the stairs and all the way to the end of the first hall. There's a pressure plate in this room, stand on it, then go back up one flight of steps and take a right. This will lead you down and around to a raised bridge over two large rooms full of coffins. At the end of the bridge, you'll go down some steps and into the southeast coffin area. At the far end is the room with the statue. Of course, nothing could be that simple. Stepping into the statue room spawns six undead in the dungeon. Two are in each coffin area and two more wait in the main hall on the way to the exit. A trap may have taken out the bridge between the two coffin rooms, if so, jump through the gap to the northwest room and find the exit on the north wall. 2) Fanacas ----------- This one-level vampire lair is north-northeast of Cheydinhal. (It's one of the map markers you can get by standing on Dive Rock.) Find Lake Arrius north of Cheydinhal and go due east from the eastern-most tip of the lake. There are about a half-dozen different ways to go through this dungeon, but if you're just looking for the quickest way to the statue... Go straight from the entrance to the big, flooded room. Immediately dive into the water to your right (south) and find the submerged tunnel. At the top of the tunnel, turn right (west) and circle back around toward your starting point. You'll find a pressure plate that opens the door in front of you and another door beyond, leading north. Go through this door and follow the bridge around, going east, then north into another room. Take the southeast exit onto another bridge and follow it to another, smaller flooded room. Jump in the water and find the tunnel leading northeast. At the end of the tunnel is the statue. You can return the way you came, or you can circle to the south and west, where you'll eventually run into the boss vampire, with appropriate loot. 3) Mackamentain ---------------- North of Silverfish River is a little unnamed lake. Mackamentain sits on the north shore of that lake. It's a three-level necromancer hangout, so be prepared for the usual mixture of conjurers and undead. The first large room has four varla stones. The buttons to raise the covers are in alcoves on the northwest and southeast sides of the room. Down the hall to the next room, be wary of the trap in the center else you will find yourself becoming a fixture on the ceiling. The second level is called Tombs of the Undead and you want to avoid those tombs. From your entry point, go straight and hang a left at the top of the stairs. This takes you over the undead wandering among their coffins and eventually to the door to the Necromancer's Asylum. This is just one big room with the boss necromancer and two or three undead. The statue is in the middle of the room. Leave the Asylum to the northwest for a shortcut back to the varla stone room and the dungeon exit. 4) Moranda ----------- If you draw a straight line between Castle Chorrol and Castle Bruma, Moranda is about halfway along that line. There's a section of the Orange Road between the two cities that curves south; Moranda sits at the top-center of that "cup". Bring spells, potions or equipment with poison resistance. This three-level dungeon is a mythical creature lair. If you have good lock picking ability, you only need to go through a small portion of the dungeon. At the bottom of the stairs is a four-way intersection. Take the southeast path by picking the lock on the gate. Go straight through the next room and along the hall to a door to Moranda Abaspania. This level has no creatures, but it is full of poison gas. In the first room, take the left-hand exit and the statue is in the center of the next room. (You can pick up a varla stone in the room southeast of the statue room, the button to open the cage is in the alcove on the southwest wall.) Return the way you came and you're done. Now, if you want to thoroughly loot this dungeon (there's a nice boss-level chest to be had and two varla stones), or, if you can't pick the lock to take the shortcut... From the entrance, continue straight until you reach the second four-way intersection. Go southeast, straight through the next room to a door that leads to Moranda Arastel. This level is basically one huge, multi-level room. From your entrance point, go into the large room and up the stairs in front of you. Turn right along this "bridge" in the center of the room, then right again at the end of the bridge. The room to the southeast has a varla stone; a pressure plate in front of the column opens the cage. At the northeast end of the main room, take either hall and go around to a small room with a big treasure in the Ayleid Reliquary. The treasure includes the key that will get you back out. Back in the main room, go along the bridge and down the stairs opposite the ones you came up. The hall leading northwest goes back to the first level of Moranda. Back in Moranda, follow the hall to the first room, then exit to the southwest. This hall leads to a door going into Moranda Abaspania. Again, no creatures, just lots of poison gas. From the first room, take the right-hand exit to find the statue. From the statue room, take the northeast exit and turn right to reach another varla stone. The button that opens the cage is in the alcove on the southwest wall. Take the southwest exit from this room and straight through the next room to return to the first level. Follow the hall, straight through the room, and the key you got from the boss chest will open the gate leading to the dungeon exit. 5) Ninendava ------------- Northwest of Moranda is the single-level vampire and undead lair, Ninendava. Reaching it can be difficult, as there's no direct route up the mountains from Moranda. Your best bet is to start in Bruma and work your way west along the Jerall Mountains. There's an unmarked road that runs along the southern face of this mountain range, and Ninendava lies at the end of that road. From Bruma's North Gate, go around the west side of the town and find the road heading west. When it forks, take the right/northwest fork. You should run right past Applewatch (Dark Brotherhood quests) and Boreal Stone Cave ("A Brotherhood Betrayed"). When you pass over a wood bridge, the path splits again, this time take the left/west fork to run right into Ninendava. If you have decent lock picking ability, this couldn't be easier. From the entrance, go straight until you come to a T-intersection. From the T, go left (west) and up the stairs. Pick the lock on the gate, and collect the statue. You might have to kill two creatures along the way. If your lock picking is on the level of a slug, there is a key, but you have to fight your way through every denizen of this dungeon. At the T, go right (east) and down the stairs. You eventually reach a large room. The key is on a table in a small alcove at the extreme west end of that room. 6) Vilverin ------------ This may well be the first ruin you visit and the way you kick off this quest. After all, it's the first thing you see when you exit the tutorial sewers at the beginning of the game. It sits on a little island in Lake Rumare, just across from that infamous sewer grate. There are two bandits outside and several more on the first level of this four level dungeon. At the very bottom of the first flight of stairs inside Vilverin is a large room containing up to four bandits. Caution is advised and careful use of arrows or spells to separate the bandits is the best policy. To the south of the large room is the bandits' sleeping quarters, which contains a decent amount of loot. To the north, drop down (or take the stairs to the northwest) to the lower level of the large room and head east. In the next room you'll find the door to Vilverin Canosel. From here on out, you'll be facing undead rather than bandits. The first room in Canosel is divided by four columns and there's a cask in the center. Go west from this room into a large square room with an exit to the north. Avoid that exit; instead, enter the niche on the west wall and find the pressure plate behind the coffin. It opens a path to the south. Advance cautiously to a very large room with a pool in the center and at least three undead. The door to Vilverin Wendesel is to the west. The first large room in Wendesel has a pit trap in the center. Use arrows or spells to lure the undead in the room over the pit trap, then skirt the edge of it and continue. At the intersection, turn south. This next room has six doors (three on a side). Behind five doors are undead, behind the sixth door is the key to the gate to the west. Two columns with six push buttons are at the east end of the room; Activating the buttons opens the doors. You can: 1) open all the doors, killing the undead, collecting a little loot and the key; 2) open the door just to get the key, it's the top right button; 3) pick the lock on the gate and ignore the buttons. The next room has a varla stone in a cage. The push button to open the cage is up on the balcony on the south side of the room. From that balcony, you go through to Vilverin Sel Sancremathi, the final level of the dungeon. Down the first hall, straight ahead through a swinging blades trap, is the statue. Dodge the blades, grab the statue, then continue straight (west) through more swinging blades. At the top of the stairs is Jalbert, a leveled necromancer. Kill him, then loot his room. On the table is a key to a gate that is a shortcut out of the dungeon. (The key is actually lying on the table, not in a container, so you may need a torch or Night Eye to see it. You can also just pick the lock on the gate.) When you're done, take the north exit, through the aforementioned locked gate, and back to the first level of Vilverin. When you drop down, you're near the exit and you're done. 7) Welke --------- Find the Panther River east-southeast of Bravil. It curves north, then south, then east, then branches north and south. From the branch point, follow the south branch, traveling on the east bank of the river, and you'll stumble across this three-level undead crypt. The fastest way through requires picking an easy lock--take a right at the end of the entrance hall, pick the lock on the gate, and follow the only path to Welke Ceyede. Follow the main path until you reach a T-intersection, then turn right (northwest). You'll have to swim through a submerged tunnel, and you'll come out into a room with at least three leveled undead, so be prepared. In the southwest corner of this room is the door to Welke Edesel. Edesel is a small room with several coffins and one boss-level undead. You can fight it or Sneak away with the statue, which is on a coffin in the center of the room. Get out the same way you came in. 8) Wendelbek ------------- Southeast of Bravil, the Panther River winds its way through the Nibenay Valley. Two northbound tributaries form a bowl along the eastern half of the Panther, Wendelbek lies in this bowl. If you mark the 'V' in "Nibenay Valley" and draw a line due east, you'll find this ruin just past the first tributary. (If you've already been to Welke, just go northeast from there, across the Panther and you'll find Wendelbek.) Wendelbek is a four-level necromancer headquarters, as announced by the black altar out front. The statue is on level three, so you don't have to go through the whole dungeon to get it. The quickest route to the statue is to go straight from the main entrance, along a balcony. When the balcony curves east, continue straight rather than take the left (south) branch. Keep following it until you reach a left-hand turn, then on to the door to Wendelbek Aldmerisel. Aldmerisel is basically one large room with a platform in the center. For a varla stone, snipe the necromancers on the central platform, jump down into the pit, find the push button and climb the stairs to reach the stone on the table on the platform. To reach the next level of the dungeon, climb the stairs in the northeast corner of the room to a push button. This opens a gate in the east wall of the main room and you can get to Wendelbek Sel Aran Mathmedi. To reach the statue, turn left from the entrance, follow the hall all the way around, avoiding any turns, until you are on a raised walkway overlooking the lowest level of the main room. Take a left at the T-intersection and the statue will be right around the corner. Now, you can take the statue and run, or continue to the final level and collect a boss chest and two more varla stones. From the statue, jump down to the lower floor and go down the steps to the south. In the next room is a door to Wendelbek Silaseli. Take out the two necromancers in front of you, then on to the first large room. There are two varla stones at the top of the stairs, and they aren't covered. Follow the east hall to the headquarters of the necromancer adept and collect the loot. From the adept's room, exit to the west for a shortcut back to level one of the dungeon. 9) Wendir ---------- This two-level undead dungeon lies south of Chorrol. If you've done "Shadow Over Hackdirt", travel to Hackdirt and go northwest. Otherwise, travel due south from Chorrol's South Gate until you reach Fort Carmala, and then turn due west. Bring lots of lockpicks, the Skeleton Key or Open Very Hard Lock spells. At the end of the first hall, turn right and pick the lock on the gate. Follow this upper hallway all the way around until you reach the door to Wendir Nagasel. In the first room of Nagasel, be wary of the pit trap. As you go down the next hall, at the bottom of a stairway is a pressure plate. Stepping on this opens a door to a couple of undead back down the hall. You soon reach a balcony overlooking a large, three-tier room. You're on the top tier. If you're very good with a bow or spells, you may be able to snipe the undead boss in the center, second tier of the room. Continue along the balcony until it takes you down to the second tier. Turn left at the bottom of the stairs and then right and push the button to go through the gate and face off against the boss. (If you killed him from the balcony, so much the better.) The statue is around to your left. Return to the balcony and, halfway down, is a shortcut door to the beginning of the dungeon. Assuming you can't pick locks, then, from the dungeon entrance, you'll have to drop down into the large room. Fight your way south into the next area, then east to find the door to Nagasel. In Nagasel, you'll enter a room with a pit trap in the center. Exit to the northeast, which places you on the lowest tier of the boss room. The stairs up to the boss are in the northeast corner of the room. Down here, the room is full of poison gas. After killing the boss and getting the statue, you can use the same shortcut up on the balcony. 10) Wenyandawik ---------------- Wenyandawik is northwest of Bravil, kind of all by itself--there's nothing else nearby. The best way to find it is to find the 'R' in "The Green Road" and go straight south. The first level of this undead home is one large, two-tier room. Kill the undead in the room, then use the exit to the north to reach Wenyandawik Edesel. In Edesel, turn left, kill a couple of rats and collect two varla stones. Then go west along the hall. Twice as you advance, secret passages will open either to your side or in front of you, revealing undead. Tread carefully. When the hall turns left (south), a secret door will have opened in front of you. Go through the secret passage and up the stairs to the boss lair. The statue is in the southern part of the room, once the boss is dead. You can't go back the way you came. Leave this room to the south, drop down into the hallway and there's a door back into the first level of the dungeon. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ28] <~~~~~~ CORRUPTION AND CONSCIENCE ~~~~~~> *NOTE* This quest removes Captain Ulrich Leland from service in Cheydinhal. Captain Leland is one of your better fighters in the Defense of Bruma quest in the main story. You don't want to complete this quest before finishing Defense of Bruma. The rumor mill in Cheydinhal is full of complaints about heavy fines imposed by the new captain of the guard, Ulrich Leland. Following up on the rumor points you to Uevana Nedaren who lives near the chapel. Find her and talk to her. She's not hesitant to open up about the problems. Nedaren gives you two names: Aldos Othran, who lost his house for being drunk & disorderly; and, Garrus Darelliun, second-in-command of the guard. Darelliun is usually in the castle audience chamber during the day. Seek him out, raise his Disposition to 60 and he'll agree to help you by bringing Leland up on charges. But first, he needs a witness. Othran seems to be the perfect fit. Find Othran and talk to him. Unfortunately, your pep talk puts the wrong kind of pep in him. He races to his house and confronts the guard outside the door. The guard ends up killing him. Report this development to Nedaren. She gets really ticked off and suggests you ask Leland over to her place for a little "chat". Go see Darelliun. He doesn't like the sound of Nedaren's scheme and suggests another avenue of attack: pilfer evidence from Leland's quarters. (Rules of evidence seem not to have developed in Cyrodiil at this point in history.) You can follow either plan, the only difference being the amount of gold given you as a reward at the end of the quest. 1) Nedaren's plan: Follow your quest marker to Leland, raise his Disposition to 60 and invite him over for tea. Leland and Nedaren scream at each other for a moment, then Nedaren paralyzes him and calls her pet rats down for dinner. Yech. Report this back to Darelliun. He's not happy about it, Nedaren will have to do some time, but you're off the hook and get some glittery coins for your trouble. 2) Darelliun's plan: During the day, when Leland is on patrol, Sneak into the castle barracks and open the left hand door on the back wall (Darelliun gives you the key). The evidence you want is a letter lying on a book on top of the desk. Take this back to Darelliun and he takes off to arrest his superior. Everybody lives, the only person in gaol is Leland and you get extra glittery coins for helping out. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ04] <~~~~~~ DAEDRIC QUESTS ~~~~~~> Each daedric quest involves finding a shrine, bringing an offering, talking to the spirit of the daedra lord and then running errands for him or her. Complete the errand and you get a daedric artifact. Each quest has certain prerequisites, usually a minimum level, and various offerings. Most shrines have to be found by exploring. A few are pointed out to you by various persons. One, Azura's, is blatantly marked for you at a certain point in the main story. You can "discover" information about the shrines in the main game in one of several ways: * Martin will give you a book listing some of the shrines when he gives you the "Blood of the Daedra" quest in the main story. This is when Azura's shrine is marked for you. * You can also find a copy of the same book, "Modern Heretics", in the library of Arcane University, if you've advanced the Mages Guild quests enough to have access to the library. * You may overhear people talking about daedra worship, which will give you a new topic (Daedra) with some townsfolk. Using that topic will generally get you a pointer to a specific shrine. The quests are listed here by their level requirement. | Azura [DQ01] +-------------- Requirements: At least level 2 Offering: Glow dust Reward: Azura's Star, a re-useable grand soul gem Azura's shrine is located north-northeast of the Lake Arrius Caverns you visit in the Dagon Shrine quest part of the main story. It is usually the first shrine mentioned in the game. The offering, glow dust, is a by-product of the will-o-wisp, which can be difficult to find. The easiest way to get glow dust is to go to the Bruma Mages Guild and ask to join (if not already a member). Go to the basement and pick some glow dust up from a table in the alchemy room. You may also be able to find some in one of the alchemy shops in Imperial City. During the hours of dawn (roughly 5 - 7am) or dusk (roughly 5 - 7pm), Activate the statue of Azura with some glow dust in your pocket. In times past, Azura sent five followers to kill a vampire lord. They succeeded, but at the price of becoming vampires themselves. They sealed themselves in the cave of the vampire lord. Azura wants you to grant them "eternal peace". Joy. Azura marks a "Gutted Mine" on your map to the southeast. Stock up and head out. The cavern is small, and contains only the five vampiric followers of Azura. Advance very slowly and try to take them on one at a time. The first three tend to be close together (they are marked on your map), so separating them can be difficult. One option, submitted by reader jbucking, is to enter during daylight, get the attention of the vampires, then run outside. They'll follow you and you'll have more room to maneuver as well as receive additional help from the sun, which does extra damage to the vampires. Fire works well on vamps, so use that if you have it. You will almost certainly get infected with porphyric hemophilia (the vampire disease). Don't worry about it until you've finished the task. The last two vampires are located in a secret chamber opened with a pull cord in the first large room you come to. After all five are dead, return to Azura and she'll reward you with a re- useable grand soul gem, Azura's Star. If you're heavily dependant on enchanted weapons, this may be a very useful item. On the other hand, you can get enchanted weapons recharged at any Mages Guild hall, and regular soul gems are found quite frequently. Once you're done, use a Cure Disease potion or visit a temple in a city to cure your porphyric hemophilia. Or, get ready to run from sunlight for the rest of the game. For more about Vampirism, see the section under Miscellaneous Adventures. | Sheogorath [DQ02] +------------------- Requirements: At least level 2 Offering: Lesser soul gem, lettuce, yarn Reward: Wabbajack, a staff with...well, Wabbajack power This is a weird one, but, then, Sheogorath is apparently the daedric lord of practical jokes. You'll find his shrine halfway between Bravil and Leyawiin, west of the main road between the two cities. It's off the beaten track, but you can find it by lining yourself up with the 'B' in "Bravil" on your world map and going straight south. You should be able to scavenge the offering from houses and guild halls in Bravil. Activate the statue with the offering in inventory and Sheogorath complains about the boring population of Border Watch, a small Khajiit settlement to the south. He wants you to go there and stir things up a bit. Go to Border Watch and ask about the K'Sharra Prophecy. You'll be referred to Ri'Bassa, town shaman. Find him and get his Disposition to 60 and he'll tell you the first two portents of the apocalypse: plague of rats and the death of all the livestock. He won't tell you the third portent, but you don't need to worry about that one anyway. Go to the only inn in town, at the top of the hill, to the left of the stairs. Talk to the innkeeper about cheese and she'll tell you all about her prized collection. You're interested in the rare Olroy cheese. Wait until the middle of the night, break into the blue-lined display case and steal the Olroy cheese. (If your lockpicking skills are weak, you can pickpocket the key from the sleeping innkeeper.) Go outside and dump it in the cooking pot nearby. Wait until morning and the town will be infested by rats. Watch as Ri'Bassa runs up the steps and puts down rat poison. Once he's placed the poison, go pick it up. Enter the sheep pen down the street from the inn and put the rat poison in the food trough. Wait an hour and the sheep will all be dead. Sheogorath then speaks and tells you to go to the center of town and watch the third portent. Go halfway down the stairs and watch the anti-climactic show. Return to the shrine and you are rewarded with Wabbajack--a staff that, when used on a creature (i.e. not a human, orc or elf) will transform that creature into another, random creature. You might turn a goblin into a spider daedra, or a spriggan into a sheep. You just never know... | Namira [DQ03] +--------------- Requirements: At least level 5 Personality of 20 or lower Offering: None Reward: Ring of Namira, Reflect Damage and Reflect Spell enchantments Namira's shrine is east-southeast of Bruma. Go due east from Bruma's East Gate until you reach The Plundered Mine, guarded by a couple of goblins. From the mine, turn south and bear east and you should find the shrine easily. Namira requires no offering, but you must be a person others find to be...less than pleasing to the eye. You have to get your Personality to 20 or lower. The easiest way to do this is to tank up on Cheap Wine--each bottle drains your Personality by 10 points, so if your Personality is 53, you would need to drink 4 bottles of Cheap Wine. Cheap Wine can be found in many houses, including those you have purchased if you've purchased the furnishings that add a wine rack. You can also buy Cheap Wine in many inns and taverns. Get enough bottles to do the trick, go to the shrine, then drink up. Talk to Namira to get the quest. Namira has some followers called "Forgotten". They live in the darkness of the Ayleid ruin, Anga. Some priests of Arkay are trying to give them some light. Namira teaches you a spell to shroud the priests in darkness. She asks only that you cast the spell on each priest and let the Forgotten do the rest. Nothing could be simpler. Anga is almost due south of the shrine and is a single, fairly small level. The priests are not hostile. Cast your new spell, Namira's Shroud, at each one (they are marked on your map) and watch some Forgotten run in and bash the priests to death. When all the priests are dead, find the secret room in the southern-most point of the ruin. There's a pushbutton to open it in the long hall that runs along the southeastern side of the dungeon. There are two undead in the room and two chests. The chest along the west wall contains boss-level treasure. Be careful you don't kill a priest or a Forgotten. That cancels your reward, which is a nice ring with leveled Reflect Damage and Reflect Spell enchantments. | Vaermina [DQ04] +----------------- Requirements: At least level 5 Offering: Black soul gem Reward: Skull of Corruption Vaermina's shrine is southwest of Cheydinhal. Find Lake Poppad on your map; the shrine sits on the eastern shore. To get this task, you must present Vaermina with a black soul gem. That, in itself, could drive you nuts. Black soul gems aren't just sold in stores like normal soul gems. So your only options are to find one or make one. For both operations, Dark Fissure is the place to start. It's east (and just a little north) from the shrine, on the eastern bank of the Reed River. This is a necromancer lair and necromancers are the source of soul gems. You can loot the caves, and hope you find a black soul gem in its depths. If not, you can make one at the altar outside the entrance to Dark Fissure. To make a black soul gem, you need an empty grand soul gem and a Soul Trap spell (any level spell will do). You can purchase grand soul gems from the Mystic Emporium in Imperial City, if your level is high enough. Edgar's Discount Spells, across the street, will sell you a Soul Trap spell. Return to Dark Fissure and Wait until midnight. Look for a bright cone of light shining down around the altar. (It's easier to see this cone if you look up into the sky, rather than looking at the altar.) If there's no bright light, Wait 24 hours and try again. Sometime during the week, a bright cone of light will shine down on the altar. When it does, put your empty grand soul gem in the altar and cast Soul Trap on the altar. Remove your shiny new black soul gem. Once you have the required offering, present it to Vaermina for her quest. The Wizard Arkved has stolen the Orb of Vaermina and she wants it back. Arkved's Tower is south-southwest of the shrine and leads to a seven-level mini- dungeon. Each level is very short and filled with leveled daedra. The first two levels are a straight shot through some rather unusual rooms. (In one, the table and chairs are on the ceiling.) Next is Arkved's Void, which are Oblivion bridges connecting hunks of rock in a black void. There's one side path to a little bit of treasure, but otherwise, only one way to go. In Arkved's Lost Halls, take the left (southwest) exit from the main room to reach Arkved's Hall of Changes. This is a little bit of a maze; just take the southeast exit from each room and you'll reach the end quickly. Next is Arkved's Rending Halls, which is a linear path to Arkved's bedroom. Arkved is unconscious on the bed. You can kill him, or not, he's stuck in his dream state for the entire game. Take the Orb from the nearby table; there's also an Illusion skill book ("Palla, volume 1") and a back door that dumps you outside in the ruined fort (you can't come in this way, so don't try). Return to Vaermina for your reward: the Skull of Corruption. Using this on any NPC or creature creates a hostile copy of the NPC. It's a bit more useful than Wabbajack, but no less fun. | Sanguine [DQ05] +----------------- Requirements: At least level 8 Offering: Cyrodiilic Brandy Reward: Sanguine Rose, staff that summons a random daedra This shrine is in the middle of nowhere north of Skingrad. If you helped the Jemane boys return to Weatherleah in "Legacy Lost", Fast Travel there and go southwest (a little more south than west). Else, leave Skingrad by the West Gate and follow the road to the Cursed Mine, then go straight north. You may also get this marked on your map by talking to the owner of All Things Alchemical in Skingrad and using the "Daedra" topic. Sanguine is a party animal, and before he'll talk to you, he wants some Cyrodiilic Brandy. The easiest way to obtain this fine spirit is to buy some from The Main Ingredient in Imperial City. Offer it to Sanguine and receive your task: you're to liven up the life of Countess Alessia Caro in Leyawiin. This is an...interesting quest, and not one without a little trouble (even though there's no combat involved). Sanguine gives you a spell and tells you to cast it in the midst of a dinner party to be hosted by the Countess. Travel to Castle Leyawiin, enter and wait until 6pm. You'll see the Countess and some friends head into the dining room, which is to the right as you enter the audience chamber. Talk to the guard outside the door. If your clothing is of high enough value, he'll let you in no questions asked. How to know if your clothing is of high enough value? Hard to say, really fine clothing or higher-level armor will fill the bill. If your clothing doesn't pass muster, you can still get in by raising the guard's Disposition to 70 or above. Inside, cast the spell, Stark Reality, on Countess Caro (casting it at someone else or into thin air won't work). Everyone loses their clothes. Including you. In fact, you've lost everything--clothes, weapons, items...even gold. You're in your undies and the guards aren't happy. You have two choices: 1) Serve time. You have no gold to pay the fine, so you'll have to do a week or so jail time. When you get out, you can Fast Travel to Sanguine. 2) Resist Arrest. Of course, you're in no condition to fight guards, so this basically entails running for it. Hightail it out of the castle and head for the West Gate of Leyawiin. Outside are the stables, where you can steal a horse and ride like the wind up the Green Road toward Bravil. Once you find a spot free of guards (and monsters!) you can Fast Travel to Sanguine. You'll still have the bounty (increased for stealing a horse), but you'll get your gold back so you can pay the fine rather than serve jail time. Sanguine rewards you with Sanguine Rose, a staff that summons a random, leveled daedra whenever you use it. | Malacath [DQ06] +----------------- Requirements: At least level 10 Offering: Troll fat Reward: Volendrung, battle axe with Paralyze and Drain Health To find this shrine, head due north from Anvil's North Gate until you run into Lord Drad's estate. Then turn northwest to the shrine. For an offering, you'll need troll fat. Trolls show up in mythic creature dungeons at relatively low levels (about level 5). You can find them at any time in Tidewater Cave (south-southeast of Leyawiin, part of Nocturnal's quest) and in Forsaken Mine (just south of Leyawiin, part of the Fighters Guild quest "Trolls of Forsaken Mine"). When given the appropriate offering, Malacath demands you release some ogres that are enslaved by Lord Drad. Easy enough. You passed Drad's estate on the way in, head back there now. You can talk to Drad (and his wife) or not. The ogres are in Bleak Mine, just a little way to the east. To get it marked on your map, either tell Lord Drad you agree with his methods, or talk to his wife and get her Disposition north of 70. Bleak mine is a single level with a bunch of guards and ogres in pens to the north and south. You can... 1) Go in swinging: kill the guards and get keys to the pens from their bodies. 2) Sneak in with appropriate lockpicking devices and release the ogres, who will then kill the guards. Option 2 may be preferable--you can even lend the ogres a hand after releasing them (just make sure you don't kill an ogre, though if the guards kill an ogre, Malacath doesn't care). The guards in this mine are a bit smarter than your average NPC and will gang up on you if you're not careful. Since they're close to your level, with appropriate equipment, you could get in serious trouble trying option 1. Return to Lord Drad's estate to find both he and his wife engaging in hard labor under the supervision of the newly freed ogres. Then back to the shrine for your reward: Volendrung, a two-handed axe with Paralyze and Drain Health enchantments. | Meridia [DQ07] +---------------- Requirements: At least level 10 Offering: Mort flesh, bonemeal or ectoplasm Reward: Ring of Khajiiti, Chameleon 35% and Fortify Speed +10 To get a task from Meridia, you must provide the remains of an undead creature. That means mort flesh (zombies), bonemeal (skeletons & liches) or ectoplasm (ghosts & wraiths). Meridia is west of Skingrad (if you go west from the city to the Cursed Mine, you can then go almost due west to the Shrine) and not far from Miscarcand, which has a number of undead in the first couple of rooms. (Assuming you aren't already carrying the stuff from all your encounters with the walking dead.) Meridia sends you to Howling Cave, east of Castle Skingrad, and orders you to kill all the Necromancers you'll find there. This is tougher than it sounds. In the cave, go straight to the T-intersection, turn right and immediately left to wend your way to a secret door. That door leads to the Lower Galleries, which is where all the trouble starts. (Hint: Go into Sneak mode before going through the door.) There are five necromancers in here, two almost right in front of you. They're aided and abetted by a half-dozen or so undead. And they *will* gang up on you. The three necromancers who are currently out of sight will come running. All the necromancers will start summoning. Depending on your level, some of the undead (skeleton champions, liches) may start summoning. Things can get real nasty, real quick. So, here's what you do. As you enter the Lower Galleries, go straight across the first room and bear left through a wide tunnel. Turn left at the end of the wide tunnel and twist around to a small room. If you have high Sneak levels or an Invisibility spell, you may be able to do this without anyone noticing. Otherwise, just run for it. You should be able to clear the small room (one necromancer and maybe one undead), then turn and defend the narrow opening into the room. You may even avoid drawing attention from the far (southern) rooms, where the other two necromancers and more undead are lurking. You should be able to handle the initial wave, then take your time clearing out the remainder of the dungeon in the more traditional way. Once the five necromancers are dead (you don't have to finish off the undead, just the necromancers, but you'll probably want to kill everything just to be safe), return to Meridia for the Ring of Khajiiti, with 35% Chameleon and +10 Speed enchantments. | Nocturnal [DQ08] +------------------ Requirements: At least level 10 Offering: None Reward: Skeleton Key, an unbreakable lockpick with Fortify Security 40 Nocturnal's shrine is located just off the road that leads north from Leyawiin along the east bank of the Lower Niben river. Just leave Leyawiin's Northeast Gate and follow the road. Keep an eye out on your right (east) side as you head north. The shrine is about halfway to the mouth of Niben Bay. You can get this marked on your map by talking to one of the mages in the Leyawiin Mages Guild (assuming you have Daedra as an available topic). Nocturnal will only respond to you at night. Her Eye has been stolen and she wants you to return it. No offering is required. As for leads on the thieves, you're given only a vague pointer to nearby Leyawiin. Head into town and talk to any guard. Use the Eye of Nocturnal topic to learn two Argonians, Weebam-Na and Bejeen, have been boasting about scoring a valuable jewel. Find Weebam-Na's house using your new objective marker, enter, and talk to both lizards. They're reticent, and your journal suggests you eavesdrop. Go into the entry hall and enter Sneak mode. Stand still near the door and you will eventually hear the two Argonians discuss whether or not the jewel is safe from the trolls in Tidewater Cave. Trolls. Goody. Fire damage works well on trolls, so load up before heading out. Tidewater Cave sits on the edge of Topal Bay and is just about the most southern point in all of Cyrodiil. Walk down there and prep for the two trolls you meet outside the cave. Once they're down, enter the cave. Your main encounters here will be with bears, but there are two or three trolls in here as well. If you just want the Eye, take the first left, left again at the end of the tunnel and then left again through an underwater passage to find the Eye. Return to Nocturnal's Shrine and the grateful daedra gives you the Skeleton Key. This handy device Fortifies your Security skill by 40 points and is an unbreakable lockpick. Upon obtaining this device, no lock (that does not specifically require a key) can stand against you. Simply hit Auto Attempt until the lock opens. | Peryite [DQ09] +---------------- Requirements: At least level 10 Offering: None Reward: Spell Breaker, shield with 30% Spell Reflection If you look east of Bravil on your world map, you'll see the Silverfish River. About halfway along its length, on the south bank, is Peryite's shrine. Peryite isn't picky about hired help. He just wants someone to rescue his followers, who foolishly tried to summon him. Now their souls are trapped in Oblivion and he wants you to retrieve them. When you're ready for an extended trip into Oblivion, with lots of fights against daedra, Activate the statue again and ask to be sent to hell. (Hand basket not included.) You're on a circular area, looking over a sea of lava. There are paths off this "island" to the northeast, east and west. Take the northeast path first. There are a *lot* of daedra (keyed to your level) roaming this area. They usually work in pairs, too. (You'll also find some cave entrances. Ignore them as they don't significantly help you, and just lead to even more fights in cramped quarters.) Your first captive soul will not be far along this track--you can tell where the souls are located by the giant bonfires that give off a lot of light and smoke. To free the soul, simply Activate it. Return to your starting point--do not take the west path from this first soul. From your starting island, now head east and find some rocks that lead across the lava. Jump across, defeat the daedra and free the second soul. Jump back across the rocks and head south. The path will eventually curve west and you'll find the third soul. Go back to your starting point. From here you should now take the west path. The track will quickly turn southwest and eventually lead to a tower. The fourth soul is in front of this tower. Head due north from the tower to reach the fifth soul. Now head back to your starting point where you'll find a portal back to normality. Peryite rewards you with a shield with 30% spell reflection. Not bad, considering all the work you had to put into getting it. | Mephala [DQ10] +---------------- Requirements: At least level 15 Offering: Nightshade, between midnight and dawn (about 6am) Reward: Ebony Blade, Silence and Absorb Health enchantments Mephala's shrine is northeast of Imperial City, but cannot be approached directly from the south. Take The Silver Road leading to Bruma from Imperial City until you reach the intersection with The Orange Road to Chorrol. Turn and head due southeast and you should find the shrine. (You'll pass Anga on the way, if you've previously found that ruin, Fast Travel there and head southeast.) You'll need one sample of nightshade, which can be found several places. The easiest way to obtain it is to check with alchemists. There are two in Imperial City: The Main Ingredient and The Gilded Carafe. If you purchased the Frostcrag Spire official mod, you can pick some from the garden in your tower. Activate the statue between the hours of midnight and 6am with nightshade in your inventory. Mephala wants you to start a war in a peaceful village known as Bleaker's Way. This settlement is west-northwest of the shrine. It is home to two families: the Dalvilu family of Dunmer and the Ulfgar family of Nords. You are to kill the leader of each family and leave evidence implicating the other leader. Travel to Bleaker's Way by going north into the mountains and then turning west. If it's still the middle of the night, you can do this right away. Break into Nivan Dalvilu's house (northern side of the village) and kill him while he sleeps. On a table near the door is a Dalvilu Ceremonial Dagger. Take it with you when you leave. Next, visit Hrol Ulfgar in his house on the west side of Bleaker's Way. As you ascend to the loft where he sleeps, pick up the Ulfgar Family Ring from the table next to the stairs leading to the third floor. Kill Ulfgar, then "open" his corpse and place the Dalvilu dagger in it. Return to Nivan's house and put the Ulfgar ring in his corpse. If you arrive in Bleaker's Way during the day, you can walk into the houses of the leaders and take the dagger and ring. Then chat with the two families (they don't have a lot to say, and what they do say sounds too good to be true) or Wait until the middle of the night. Then perform the assassinations. Wait until morning and watch the chaos in the streets. (You may need to speak to one of the villagers to instigate the fighting.) You can lend a hand if you like, just don't kill everyone. Return to Mephala for the Ebony Blade, a long sword with Silence and Absorb Health enchantments. | Hircine [DQ11] +---------------- Requirements: At least level 17 Offering: Wolf or bear pelt Reward: Savior's Hide, light armor cuirass with Resist Magicka This is a simple quest, but not an easy one. Hircine's shrine is located midway between Imperial City and Bravil, on the west side of the Upper Niben. It's almost directly south of Arcane University, so if you take your bearings on that (using your map) and strike out due south, you should stumble across it. Bring a bear or wolf pelt as an offering and Hircine reveals he wants you to perform the ultimate hunt: kill a unicorn and bring its horn to him. There's only one unicorn in the game, and it's conveniently located south and a little east of the shrine in Harcane Grove. The unicorn is guarded by three minotaurs. Approach slowly, preferably stealthily, and use a bow or spells to prod one of the beasts to charge you. Repeat for the other two. This prevents not only the minotaurs from ganging up on you, but it also keeps the unicorn from joining in the fray. It doesn't like drawn weapons. In fact, while it may be tempting to ride the unicorn around, it is a most unreliable mount. It goes into a frenzy whenever weapons are drawn in its vicinity and will attack anything--including you, even if you are ostensibly its owner. The unicorn is good for just one thing: dying to provide its horn for this quest. Kill it, take the horn back to Hircine and receive a Light cuirass with a resist magic enchantment, Savior's Hide. | Molag Bal [DQ12] +------------------ Requirements: At least level 17 Offering: Lion pelt Reward: Mace of Molag, Drain Strength 5 points, Drain Magicka 5 points Bal's shrine is in the middle of the Great Forest, west of Imperial City. Make a triangle between Chorrol, Skingrad and the Wawnet Inn on the west shore of Lake Rumare; the shrine is dead center in that triangle. If you don't have a lion's pelt to give as an offering, go straight west from Wawnet Inn and you'll find Breakneck Cave. This three-level dungeon is full of wild animals and a few mythic creatures, mountain lions should be among them. You can then head due southwest to get to the shrine. Molag Bal wants you to corrupt a good man. He refers you to Brindle Home--a small settlement to the southwest of the shrine. There you are to goad a man named Melus Petilius into killing you with a Cursed Mace that Bal supplies. Go to Brindle Home and charm a townsperson to a Disposition of 60 and they'll tell you all about Petilius. You'll also get his house, set a little outside the main "town", marked on your map. You can't do anything with Petilius when he's at home. Wait outside his door until he leaves to visit his wife's grave. Drop the Cursed Mace on the ground near his feat, remove all your armor and punch him in the face. He'll pick up the mace and start beating on you. When you die, you'll automatically be transported back to Molag Bal's shrine and you'll receive the Mace of Molag Bal, which drains Strength and Magicka 5 points per hit. For a little extra fun, return to Brindle Home and talk to Petilius. | Boethia [DQ13] +---------------- Requirements: At least level 20 Offering: Daedra heart Reward: Goldbrand, long sword with +22 fire damage You'll need a daedra heart for this quest; you get these hearts from dremora and xivilai. If the main story is still open, pop into an Oblivion gate and emerge a moment or two later with the necessary item. If you've closed all the Oblivion gates and used all the hearts you collected...well, you've got a bit more work ahead of you. You won't find daedra in many places around Cyrodiil once the gates are gone. The Wizard's Grotto that leads from Castle Bravil to Fathis Aren's tower has plenty. Arkved's Tower (from Vaermina's quest) is also full of daedra. You could also try Summoning a dremora (if your Conjuration skill is up to snuff and you can find a merchant that sells the spell) and pickpocketing it (killing it just causes it to vanish). With the heart in hand, talk to Borba of Borba's Goods & Stores in Cheydinhal and try the "Daedra" topic (if you have it). She'll mark Boethia's shrine on your map; that's the easiest way to find it. The shrine is in the middle of the Valus mountains, with no easy landmarks to guide you to it. If you have visited Drakelowe for "Vampire Cure", you can Fast Travel there; else, find Drakelowe by traveling along the east bank of the Reed River south of Cheydinhal. Once in Drakelowe, strike due east and try to stick to that direction as you go up into the mountains. You should be able to find the shrine that way. Offer a daedra heart to Boethia and he offers you a way to prove yourself in a Tournament of Ten Bloods. He opens a portal to an Oblivion Plane that consists of a circle divided by gates into ten sections--one section for each sentient (i.e. player) race. You are...well, whatever you are...and you have to face off against one each of the other nine races. The battles are all one-on-one, there are no interlopers and there are plenty of hiding places for Sneak attacks or perches for sniping. Just make sure you bring plenty of sustenance (repair hammers, potions, soul gems or varla stones, etc.). Nine fights against nine NPCs kitted out similarly to you is no picnic. Your reward for defeating the nine is Goldbrand, a long sword with 22 points of fire damage. | Clavicus Vile [DQ14] +---------------------- Requirements: At least level 20 Offering: 500 gold Reward: Masque of Clavicus Vile, helmet, Fortify Personaltiy 20; or Umbra, ebony long sword, Soul Trap 120 seconds Vile's shrine is southwest of Imperial City. If you exit the city to the west and take the road south, keep your eye to your right (west) as the road begins to turn east. You should see a wayshrine (if you reach the Ayleid ruin Vindasel, you've gone too far). From that wayshrine, go almost due west to find the shrine of Clavicus Vile. Clavicus wants an offering of 500 gold, which should be peanuts to a 20th or higher level character. He instructs you to find the sword of a hero named Umbra and return it to him. In exchange he'll give you a fabulous masque. Your journal instructs you to begin your search at Pell's Gate. Along the way, Vile's pet puppy, who now resides in your backpack, will offer some sage words of wisdom. Actually, you only need to go to Pell's Gate if you want all the background story for the quest. (Find Irroke the Wide and ask about Umbra.) The person now calling herself Umbra resides in Vindasel, an Ayleid ruin located right on the Red Ring Road not far from the shrine. There's a conjurer and his pet outside, inside is a straight shot to Umbra, with only low-level wild animals and a couple of traps in your way. (The first room has a pit trap near the door; the second main room is a poison gas trap--hug the wall as you go around the room.) Umbra can be tough, depending on how you're equipped. You enter her room up on a balcony, this is an excellent opportunity to Sneak attack with a bow or ranged spell. She'll come charging up the stairs; have another arrow or spell ready to meet her. This will shave off a good bit of her health. Don't try leading her back through the ruins to the traps, she regenerates health, so that will do you little good. *NOTE* You can go down and talk to Umbra, but this doesn't help unless you decide to leave her alone. If you want her sword (for yourself or Clavicus), don't start the fight face-to-face. That's just stupid. Now that you have the sword, Vile's hound suggests you keep it. It is, indeed, a wonderful tool--especially in combination with Azura's Star. However, it has no damage enhancement, just the soul trap ability. You would need to strike an enemy with it, then switch to another weapon (or spell) to finish the enemy off. So, you have a choice: keep the sword, or return it to Clavicus Vile, where you get an ugly full-head helmet that increases your Personality by 20 points. Oh joy. If you decide to keep the sword and don't want the quest sitting in your open quest list, return to Vile's shrine and refuse to give him the sword. He'll mutter some threats, but they're hollow. Nothing bad will happen to you. | Hermaeus Mora [DQ15] +---------------------- Requirements: At least level 20 Finished all other daedric quests Started "Blood of the Daedra" quest in the main story Offering: None Reward: Oghma Infinium, special skill book Mora's shrine is high in the Jerall mountains. If you've been to Sancre Tor (main story), you can Fast Travel there and find a gully leading north- northeast straight to the shrine. If not, start from Bruma's North Gate, go around the west side of the town and find the road heading west. When it forks, take the right/northwest fork. You should run right past Applewatch (Dark Brotherhood quests) and Boreal Stone Cave ("A Brotherhood Betrayed"). When you pass over a wood bridge, the path splits again; take the left/north fork to reach the shrine. Once you've completed all the other Daedric Lord quests and gotten at least as far as the "Blood of the Daedra" quest in the main story, you may receive an invitation to visit Mora. You do not have to wait for that invitation, you can head straight to the shrine. Activate the shrine to get Mora's quest. He wants you to collect one soul from each of the ten sentient races (i.e. the player races). He gives you a special Soul Trap spell and soul gem. You can only collect one of each soul and you can only collect one soul at a time (i.e. you can only cast the spell on one NPC at a time). Cast the spell on an NPC (it's a ranged spell) and then kill that NPC before time (120 seconds) runs out. The soul will be stored in Mora's special soul gem. *NOTE* If you do cast the spell on two NPCs at the same time, the quest will get "stuck" and you won't be able to trap any more souls. Avoid casting on another NPC until the first one is dead! (Even if it's a race you already captured.) PC users can download a fix for this bug from: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2863 You have several options: 1) Go on a killing spree through a city. Imperial City is a good choice, as you'll find plenty of representatives of every race within its walls. The downside is the difficulty (breaking into all those houses) and the risk (getting caught). 2) Kill the daedric shrine worshippers. They're all alone in the wilderness (and Mora doesn't care, even if you kill his own worshippers) and you can definitely find all ten races. Some caveats: don't kill the worshippers at the shrine of Molag Bal, one of them is the Master level Conjuration trainer. Even though the killings take place in the wilderness, you still end up with a bounty and the psychopathic--that is, psychic--guards will chase you the next time you enter a city. 3) Run down some bandits and marauders. There are numerous bandit camps spread around Cyrodiil. In addition, you can find bandits in the first level of Vilverin (Ayleid ruin outside the starting sewer exit); the Cursed Mine just west of Skingrad and Dzonot Cave, on the southwestern shore of Lake Rumare. Marauders can be run down in Fort Cedrian (on the Yellow Road where it crosses the Carbolo River) and Fort Strand (just east of Anvil). You might not encounter all ten races (Argonians are especially hard to find), but there's no bounty and you might find some other things as well (Fort Strand plays in "When the Vow Breaks" and Vilverin is a location for "The Collector"). When you have all ten souls trapped, return to Mora's shrine and Activate the statue. He gives you the Oghma Infinium, a special skill book. When you read it, you are asked if you want to read the... * "Path of Steel": Strength +10, Speed +10, Blade +10, Blunt +10, Heavy Armor +10 * "Path of Shadow": Speed +10, Agility +10, Sneak +10, Security +10, Light Armor +10 * "Path of Spirit": Intelligence +10, Destruction +10, Conjuration +10, Restoration +10 *NOTE* The "Path of Spirit" is also supposed to set your Willpower +10, but it's bugged, so you just get the INT and skill boosts. PC users can download a mod to fix this from: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=4878 [SQ05] <~~~~~~ THE FORLORN WATCHMAN ~~~~~~> The rumor mill in Bravil is rife with the story of a ghost who wanders the coast of Niben Bay. You're referred to Gilgondorin, proprietor of Silverhome- on-the-Water. He tells you the ghost appears every evening at 8 at Bawnwatch camp and marks the camp on your map. It is on a point of land southeast of Bravil. Travel there and wait until nightfall and watch the ghost appear. You can't elicit any information from him, so follow him as he begins his solitary journey down the shores of Niben Bay. On the cliffs above Fort Irony, the ghost stops, turns and speaks to you. He identifies himself as one Grantham Blakeley and requests that you free him from the "mouth of the Panther". Your journal refers you back to Gilgondorin for more info on the "mouth of the Panther"; however, it's nothing more than the point where the Panther River empties into the Niben, which just happens to be directly east of where you are now, across the river. Swim across and look for the ruined hulk of a ship among the rocks. You can enter the upper deck the ship through a hole in the side. Inside you'll meet your fair share of restless spirits. These aren't quite as amiable as Grantham. On this upper deck you'll find a couple of spirits and a hatch up to the captain's cabin (good loot) and a hatch to the middle deck. You can also find a logbook that reveals the fate of the ship. Fight your way through the middle deck to the cargo hold, where you'll dispatch the ghost of the lead mutineer. From his remains, pick up a small key. This opens a door further back in the hold and inside is the skeleton of Blakeley. The key will also unshackle the skeleton, which releases Blakeley's spirit to pursue more pleasant fields of travel. As parting advice, he says the room contains a map to his "gratitude". Look on the floor behind the post that was holding the skeleton. Pick up the map you find there, which will pinpoint a burial place further up the Panther River. Go upriver, following your objective marker to the loot, which is lodged between rocks underwater. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ06] <~~~~~~ THE GHOST SHIP OF ANVIL ~~~~~~> This is a "simple" step-n-fetch quest. Find the "Serpent's Wake", a ship docked at Anvil. It's the western-most of the two ships in port. On deck a distraught Varulae has a sad tale...The ship is hers and she sent it to pick up a crystal ball that belonged to her mother. When the ship returned, she found the sailors all murdered and roaming the decks as vengeful spirits. Work your way through three levels of wraiths, with nasty spells and even nastier swords and retrieve the crystal ball. Return it to Varulae for your reward, including an enchanted cutlass. The murders of the sailors will remain unsolved unless you play through the Dark Brotherhood quests. In "Following a Lead", you find a diary that implicates a Brotherhood traitor who lived beneath the Anvil lighthouse. In his diary he writes: "I did it, mother! I killed them all! I killed them and I cursed them to wander their ship in undeath for all eternity! They came to talk to the old man in the lighthouse. When they saw me, they could have kept walking. But no. They laughed! They laughed at me, mother! They called me names! They said I was strange, that I was a human rat, living here in the cellar of the lighthouse. They did not know who they were dealing with! So I snuck on board, later that night, and I slit their throats. Every last one of them. So there the Serpent's Wake sits. The ghost ship of Anvil they'll call it now! Ha ha ha ha ha!" <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ07] <~~~~~~ GO FISH ~~~~~~> This relatively simple quest is picked up outside Imperial City. Heading west, out of town, past the stables, you'll run into a little hamlet called Weye. Here you will meet an old man named Aelwin Merowald. He asks for some help. Seems he has a deal with an alchemist to sell scales from Lake Rumare slaughterfish. The scales from these particular fish apparently have some rare alchemical properties. Unfortunately for Aelwin, a slaughterfish recently got the better of his leg and he can't go after them any more. He wants you to procure 12 sets of scales so he can make one last sale and finally retire. Your quest marker now points to a location in Lake Rumare just north of Weye. You'll need water breathing potions/spells/equipment (or be an Argonian). Fishing in Oblivion does not involve a rod and reel. Walk down into the lake toward your quest marker. Find the first fish, kill it and take its scales. Killing these fish may not be easy, depending on your level. They can be quite tough and you can't use targeted spells under water. After a moment, your quest marker will update and point you to the next fish. Each fish only spawns once you've killed the previous fish, so you can't just walk around and run into them, you have to follow the quest marker. Once you have 12 scales, return to Aelwin and hand them over. He'll give you a ring with Fortify Athletics and Water Breathing enchantments. If you're of an evil disposition, you can raise Aelwin's Disposition to 70 and he'll tell you where he keeps all the money he's earned thus far from selling scales. You'll need the key he keeps on him to open the chest, so either pick his pocket or kill him; then, steal his retirement money. You stinker. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ40] <~~~~~~ GOBLIN TROUBLE ~~~~~~> Find the spot where the Yellow Road, running southeast from Imperial City, crosses the Carbolo River. Fort Cedrian is on the east side of the bridge; on the west side is Crestbridge Camp. In the camp, speak to Barthel Gernand to get the story. A small family (Gernand, his daughter and his son-in-law) were trying to start a farm at Cropsford. Unfortunately, goblins interrupted them. Goblin war parties have overrun Cropsford. Now, before you run off to Cropsford (northwest of the camp), talk to Mirisa, a guide helping the Gernand family. She gives you the full scoop. A tribe of goblins living from Timberscar Hollow (Rock Biter goblins) stole the tribal totem from the goblins in Cracked Wood Cave (Bloody Hand goblins). Cropsford is right in the middle of these two caves, and the war parties traveling back-and-forth wreak havoc on their way. Mirisa gives you two options for ending the trouble... 1) Kill the shaman in the Cracked Wood Cave. Without their leader, those goblins won't venture forth to retrieve their totem. You'll probably have to kill every other goblin in the cave as well, but them's the breaks. 2) Get the totem (a staff with a shrunken head on the end) from Timberscar Hollow; once the Rock Biters no longer have the totem, the Bloody Hand will leave them alone. You can pull this off without combat if your Sneak skill is high enough. There's also a bonus if you retrieve the staff... Once either mission is complete, return to Crestbridge and speak to Mirisa (if you stole back the totem) and speak to Gernand. The family thanks you and heads off to Cropsford to begin re-settling the farm. What? No reward? Well...no. Here's where retrieving the staff comes in handy. Take it back and drop it back in Timberscar Hollow, or another goblin tribe's headquarters. The Bloody Hand will once more take off in pursuit of their tribal totem. And the Cropsford settlers...well, that's what they get for leaving you high and dry, right? <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ35] <~~~~~~ THE GRAVEFINDER'S REPOSE ~~~~~~> You get this quest by talking to Malene, proprietor of the Roxey Inn on the north shore of Lake Rumare. She wants you to kill a necromancer named Raelynn, who operates out of Moss Rock Cavern. The cave is just up the hill, north of the Inn. It's a single level necromancer + undead hangout. When Raelynn is dead, return to Malene for a reward. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ08] <~~~~~~ IMPERIAL CORRUPTION ~~~~~~> There are two residents of Imperial City, Ruslan and Luronk gro-Glurzog, who will complain of being shaken down by a corrupt Imperial guard captain. They were rousted at Jensine's "Good as New" Merchandise in the Market district. Visit Jensine and boost her Disposition over 70. She'll then tell you the name of the corrupt soldier: Audens Avidius. Your journal suggests you report Avidius to the authorities. If you talk to a soldier, he'll refer you to Captain Hieronymus Lex. (If Lex has been taken out of the picture because you've been playing through the Thieves Guild quests, you'll get sent to Servatius Quintilius.) Use your quest marker to track the captain down. Either one will be dis-interested in your report and push you along to Itius Hayn. Hayn wants to believe you, but he needs two witnesses. Your best bets are Ruslan and gro-Glurzog. You need a Disposition score of 70 with them to convince them to talk. (Jensine is a tougher nut to crack.) You can use your quest markers to find the two and send them along to Hayn. Wait for a day. Your journal should update that Avidius has been arrested and the quest moves to completed status. But wait... Ten days later (or when you hit 5th level, whichever comes later), Avidius escapes and comes looking for you. He'll find you, wherever you are, and attack. Unfortunately, he attacks with a dagger and wearing nothing but his prison clothes. Idiot. Once he's dead, the quest is truly complete. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ09] <~~~~~~ THE KILLING FIELD ~~~~~~> Visit the Grey Mare in Chorrol to meet Valus Odiil. His sons are on their way to clean out some "vermin" from the family farm and Valus wants you to go help them. Leave town by the south gate and go toward Weynon Priory to find the Odiil boys standing on the road. Talk to Rallus, the older son, his brother wants nothing to do with you. Follow them down the road to their farm and stand with them in the vegetable garden. Kill off three waves of goblins, trying your best to keep the boys alive. Afterward, speak to Rallus and they will return to Chorrol. Help yourself to vegetables from the garden to use in potions. (It's not a crime to take the veggies.) Return to the Grey Mare and talk to Valus and get Chillrend, an enchanted sword--but only if both boys survived the goblin raid. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ10] <~~~~~~ KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE STALLION ~~~~~~> After completing "Mazoga the Orc", Count Caro offers you and Mazoga positions as Knights of the White Stallion--if you first kill Black Brugo, leader of the Black Bow Bandits. (If Mazoga did not survive her earlier encounter at Fisherman's Rock, you can't perform this quest.) Talk to Mazoga. She jumps at the chance and she also happens to know where Brugo has his headquarters and what kind of schedule he keeps. Make your way to Telepe, an Ayleid ruin northwest of Leyawiin. Make sure you arrive during the day. There are two guards, one an annoying archer that fires from the top of the ruin. You can stand back and trade shots/spells with him, or, go around to the back of the ruin where a combination of a small ledge and some boulders on the ground allow you to jump up there with him. Step inside and go down the stairs. The room to the right has two more Black Bow bandits. Kill them and collect their bows (Count Caro will pay a bounty for them). Now skulk in the corner and Wait until after midnight. Brugo shows up and wonders what happened to his guards. Educate him. He'll have two cronies with him, but concentrate on him before turning to deal with the regulars. Take his key, open the gate at the back of the ruin by pushing the button in the room to the left. Unlock Brugo's treasure chest and take his portion of the bandit's loot. Return to Count Caro and sell off the bows you collected (you should have four or five). Caro makes both you and Mazoga Knights of the White Stallion and gives you keys to the White Stallion Lodge, which is north of the city on the west bank of the river. Tell Mazoga, who happily hurries off to settle in. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ11] <~~~~~~ LEGACY LOST ~~~~~~> This is a continuation of Separated at Birth. You must complete that quest before you can begin this quest. Talk to Guilbert Jemane in Chorrol after he has been reunited with his brother Reynald. He mentions he wants to find his family's old farm and see if it's still occupied by ogres. It is. Prepare yourself before venturing forth. Guilbert doesn't exactly know where the farm is; so, ask NPCs until one of them mentions Sabine Laul. Sabine hangs out at the Fighters Guild. Find her and she'll mark the location of the Jemane family farm, Weatherleah, on your map. Go to the farm and clear out three ogres wandering the yard outside the house, then return to Guilbert and escort the brothers to their farm. Talk to Guilbert again to close out the quest. You can help the Jemane boys one more time, in the quest Sins of the Father. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ12] <~~~~~~ LIFTING THE VALE ~~~~~~> If your Fame score is at least 10, speak to Countess Narina Carvain in Castle Bruma. She collects Akaviri artifacts and has partially tracked down one called the Draconian Madstone. The artifact is supposedly at Pale Pass, an Akaviri headquarters during the wars against Reman during the First Era. The Countess will, in fact, relate nearly all the ancient history to you if you're willing to listen. The upshot is, Carvain has an Akaviri courier's journal along with directions to Dragonclaw Rock. From the Rock, you can follow the directions west to a giant statue and then north to the entrance to Serpent's Trail. This is, basically, a tunnel inhabited by several ogres. Along the way you'll find the courier's skeleton. Take the orders from the body and proceed. You exit Serpent's Trail into Pale Pass. The path is constantly blocked by ogres, so you're either in for a dozen or more rough fights or you need to sneak a lot. You'll finally reach the Fortress of Pale Pass, which is guarded by two more ogres. These you'll have to dispatch so they don't follow you into the ruins. Inside you'll be in the "Mouth of the Serpent". Your goal is the "Venom of the Serpent" and here's the quickest route to your objective. Go down the stairs and watch out for the swinging log trap at the bottom. Just past the trap, turn left and follow the hallway around until it crosses over where you just were. You have to make a running jump across the gap to reach a door to the "Scales of the Serpent". In Scales, follow the hall straight until you are forced to turn left; then, continue straight to a raised bridge. Use the nearby lever to lower the bridge and go across to the "Fangs of the Serpent". You are facing a group of columns, some of which have arrow traps. To safely go around the columns, hug the right-side wall until you reach another raised bridge. TRAPPED COLUMNS Fangs of the Serpent ___ A ___ A,B = Doors to "Eyes of the Serpent" | | C = Door to "Scales of the Serpent" | O OX| O = Column B | X = Area covered by arrow trap | OXXXXXOX| D = Drawbridge | X D |XO O | C X X | | O O | |_________| Turn the wheel to lower the bridge, go across and turn left to reach Venom. Inside is the spirit of the Akaviri commander, Mishaxhi. Talk to him. If you have the orders you picked up earlier, you can give them to him and he'll depart, taking his undead warriors with him. The way is now open to the Draconian Madstone. You can also attempt to kill Mishaxhi, but that's going to be a difficult task. Either way, once you have the Madstone, take the door just to the right of the Madstone and you'll come back out in Scales, right above the bridge you lowered earlier. Go back out the way you came in. Once you're outdoors, you can Fast Travel back to Bruma and give the Madstone to Countess Carvain. She rewards you with the Ring of the Vipereye, which has Fortify Agility and Resist Magicka enchantments. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ13] <~~~~~~ MAZOGA THE ORC ~~~~~~> You can find Mazoga hanging around Castle Leyawiin, making a nuisance of herself. If you try to talk to her, she'll refuse since you aren't the count. Talk to the count instead about "Service to Leyawiin". He asks you to find out what Mazoga wants and deal with it. When you talk to Mazoga again, you can now represent the count and Mazoga launches into her tale; or, at least, part of it. She wants to see a hunter named Weebam-Na. Mssr. Na has a house that is not far from the castle's entrance. You'll need to get his Disposition over 50 in order for him to agree to go see Mazoga with you. Mazoga wants Weebam-Na to guide her to a camp at Fisherman's Rock, a ways up the Niben River. Weebam-Na refuses since Mazoga won't say why she needs to get to Fisherman's Rock. She then appeals to you, telling you a bit more of the story. Leave by the Northeast Gate and trek upriver along the east bank until you reach the camp at Fisherman's Rock, which is occupied by bandits. Mazoga will jump ahead and carry on a conversation with the bandit leader. As soon as the two of them start in with the fighting, join in, keeping the minions off Mazoga's back. Return to Castle Leyawiin and report in to the Count. He is pleased by the adventure and offers both you and Mazoka positions as Knights of the White Stallion...If you first complete the quest by the same name. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ41] <~~~~~~ NO STONE UNTURNED ~~~~~~> Lithnilian has lost his notes and doesn't know where to find them. Well, actually, he does know where they are, he just can't get them. Lithnilian was researching welkynd stones found in a cave--not an Ayleid ruin--when he was attacked and ran, leaving his journal behind. He wants you to go get it for him. You'll find this absent-minded professor at the Imperial Bridge Inn, on the north bank of the Silverfish River (east of Bravil), just east of the Yellow Road. The journal is in a creature lair known as Bramblepoint Cave. This cave is west-northwest of the Imperial Bridge Inn. It's a three-level dungeon full of both wild animals and mythic creatures. From your starting point, go north from the first room to reach Inner Bramblepoint Cave. In this second level, go south from the second room and find a door in the "pit" of the room beyond. This leads to Deep Bramblepoint Cave. Go south from the entrance and continue south to reach the "boss" room. On the far (south) wall, you'll see the welkynd stone cluster the elf was studying. His notes are to the left (southwest corner) of the stones, inside a chest. When you return the notes to Lithnilian, he gives you a few potions as a reward. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ36] <~~~~~~ NOTHING YOU CAN POSSESS ~~~~~~> This sequel to "The Collector" begins after Umbacano has three statues. He offers you "another task", to collect a carving from an ancient Ayleid site he knows only as the High Fane. He shows you a sketch, which may or may not mean anything to you. The High Fane is now known as Malada. If you previously visited Malada or have read the book, "The Cleansing of the Fane", your character will immediately recognize Umbacano's sketch and you'll know where to go. If not, you'll find out quite quickly. As you leave Umbacano's estate, you'll meet Claude Maric. If you already know about Malada, you can ignore him. Otherwise, charm his Disposition to 60 and Maric will tell you all about High Fane and Malada. Malada is just about as far east as you can go in Cyrodiil. Find the Silverfish River on your world map, and then Lake Canulus to the southeast. Due north of the 'k' in "Lake" is Malada. Approaching from the west, you'll find a couple of "hunters" and a small campsite. These two don't have anything to say, but, on a hill south of Malada's entrance is a Khajiit, S'razirr. Question him and he'll offer you a deal: he'll help you out in whatever goes down later if you'll give him half your pay. (If your Speechcraft skill is 51 or higher, you can bargain him down to 25 percent.) These three are Maric's hired guns and you'll have to fight them when you leave Malada with the carving. (Under no circumstances does Maric try to fight you.) You have a few options: 1) Do nothing about the mercs. When you leave Malada, hand the carving to Maric. You lose out on the reward. 2) Do nothing about the mercs. When you leave Malada, refuse (twice) to hand over the carving, and you'll have to kill the three mercs. (Maric doesn't fight.) 3) Kill all three mercs before entering Malada. (You'll find a note outlining the plan on the female warrior, Rigmor.) Maric will not show his face when you leave Malada. 4) Make the deal with S'razirr. When you leave Malada, refuse (twice) to hand over the carving. S'razirr will join you in fighting Rigmor and Brucetus Festinius. If the cat survives, you'll find him later at the Tiber Septim hotel and can pay him off. (Note that, if you make the deal with S'razirr and then attack the other two before entering Malada, S'razirr will join them and you'll have to kill him as well.) Getting the carving from Malada is relatively simple. On the first level are mainly wild animals and a couple undead. When you reach the carving on the second level, removing it causes the wall in front of you to crumble and reveals three fairly high-level undead. If you Sneak run real fast back the way you came, you don't even have to fight them. Return the carving to Umbacano, who rewards you based on your level (to a maximum of 2,500 gold). He also mentions yet "another task", which starts "Secrets of the Ayleids". <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ14] <~~~~~~ ORDER OF THE VIRTUOUS BLOOD ~~~~~~> While wandering around the Temple district of Imperial City, you'll be met by one Ralsa Norvalo. She asks that you meet her husband, Gilen, at the house of an elf named Seridur. Seridur lives in the Temple district. Enter his house and Seridur takes you down to the basement and introduces you to the Order of the Virtuous blood. They're vampire hunters. Oh, goody. They've identified a vampire, one Roland Jenseric. Jenseric's house is across the garden from Seridur; break-and-enter to search the place. On the table near the door is a book, and there is a note on top of the book. Pick up the note to learn the location of a cabin hideaway used by Jenseric. This cabin is east-northeast of Imperial City, along the road to Cheydinhal. When you enter, Jenseric wants to talk. He, of course, claims Seridur is the vampire and gives a little different story. Who's telling the truth? Well, Roland is, but you can kill him anyway and return to Seridur for a reward. Or, you can believe Roland. He suggests asking about Seridur at First Edition Books in the Market district. Do so. Phintias, proprietor of First Edition, reports that Seridur likes to visit Memorial Cave to the southeast. When you enter the cave, your journal updates that you've found a vampire lair. Uh huh. Remember, fire is your friend when fighting vampires and make sure you visit a chapel after you finish to rid yourself of porphyric hemophilia. You've got a bunch of animals, some undead and several vampires-- including Seridur--to dispatch. Return to Roland at his cabin and inform him of the good news. Meet him back in Imperial City at Seridur's house. The Order of the Virtuous Blood is going to carry on the good work of hunting vampires. From now on, they'll pay you 250 gold for any vampire dust you bring them, starting with what you picked up at Memorial Cave. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ15] <~~~~~~ ORIGIN OF THE GRAY PRINCE ~~~~~~> The Gray Prince is Agronak gro-Malog, Grand Champion of the Arena, and he spends his time down in the Bloodworks, working out. Talk to him and he professes he's the half-son of a Lord Lovidicus. He gives you a key, given him by his mother, and asks that you find out what it unlocks in Crowhaven, the place of his birth. Crowhaven is at the extreme west end of Cyrodiil, northwest of Anvil. It's essentially a one-level dungeon (a second level has a trifling amount of loot and some undead encounters). You'll find it filled with wild animals, mostly wolves, until you come to a locked door. gro-Malog's key opens the door and you've found the quarters of Lovidicus himself. Lovidicus will attack you on sight, and you'll have to kill him. Find his journal to learn the truth; then, return it to gro-Malog. He gives you an initial reward, which is training that boosts your Blade, Block and Athletics skills by 3 pints. Then, he reads the journal and he's distraught at what he learns. If you play through the Arena, gro-Malog will beg you to challenge him; then, surrender to your sword during the match. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ16] <~~~~~~ PARANOIA ~~~~~~> Not long after you've entered Skingrad the first time, you'll be approached by a nervous elf named Glarthir. He wants you to meet him behind the Chapel of Julianos at midnight. You can go any day--Glarthir dutifully shows up at midnight every night until you meet him. When you do meet him, he tells you there are people out to get him and he wants you to spy on them. If you turn Glarthir down, he goes crazy, runs back to his house, gets a battleaxe and goes on a killing spree. His targets are the three people he wants you to spy on: Bernadette Peneles, Toutius Sextius and Davide Surilie (whose wine you've seen all over Cyrodiil). You can do a few things here: wait until he attacks his first victim, then step in and kill him (if you kill him before he attacks it is considered murder); run along behind him and watch until the city guard finally catches up to him and kills him; or, help him out (you'll have to pretty much depopulate Skingrad if you go this route). The other option is to humor Glarthir. He'll ask you to spy on Bernadette Peneles, then report back at midnight the next night. You don't have to actually do anything, just Wait until midnight and report in. The same is true of Toutius Sextius and Davide Surilie. If you tell Glarthir none of the targets is interested in him, which they aren't, he believes you're in on the plot and tries to kill you...with his fists, and not wearing any armor. Well, that won't end pleasantly--for him, anyway. You can loot his corpse and get the key to his house, which you can then loot for whatever you can find. If you lie and report even one target as a spy, Glarthir offers a reward of 1,000 gold if you kill any conspirators. You can make the hit and collect the reward; you can turn the note over to the constabulary, who will chase after Glarthir and give him the pointed end of justice; or, you can show the note to Davide Surilie, who, along with his brothers, will deal with the matter personally. So, basically, anything you do ends with Glarthir dead. Simply Waiting one day at a time and reporting the truth is, thus, the quickest way to end this quest. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ42] <~~~~~~ THE POTATO SNATCHER ~~~~~~> Faregyl is an Inn along the Green Road between Imperial City and Bravil. It's just northwest of the Inn of Ill Omen, part of the Dark Brotherhood's initiation quest (and east of Nenyond Twyll, from the Mages Guild quests). Inside is S'jirra, a baker of famous potato bread. She's lost six jumbo potatoes and thinks the thief took off to the west. Indeed. Follow your quest marker to an ogre with an addiction to spuds and take the potatoes (undigested) off his body. Return them to S'jirra, who rewards you with her potato bread (an alchemy ingredient with Damage Agility, Damage Strength, Detect Life and Restore Health effects). <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ34] <~~~~~~ RAID ON GREYLAND ~~~~~~> Outside the West Gate of Leyawiin stands a guard, Lerexus Callidus. Talk to him to open this quest. Basically, he's trying to shut down a skooma (drug) gang that operates out of the little homestead of Greyland. He can't get close to the house without the gang going into hiding, but figures you might be able to walk right in and "deal with" (i.e. kill) them. You can. Greyland is just south along the main road. Enter the house and kill gang leader Kylius Lonavo and his buddy. Take Lonavo's ring to Callidus for your reward. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ17] <~~~~~~ REPAIRING THE ORRERY ~~~~~~> This quest is added as soon as you load a game after having installed the official mod Orrery DLC2; or, installing the Knights of the Nine mini- expansion pack. (See the Mods section for information on obtaining the mod.) After installing the mod, the next time you load a game (or leave the tutorial sewers), you get a note from Bothiel, resident astronomer at Arcane University. It seems she is attempting to repair the Imperial Orrery, an astronomical device, but parts she was having delivered were stolen. Evidence points to Camp Ales as a possible base for the bandits who stole the parts. Camp Ales is due north of Kvatch. Travel there and kill the lone bandit inhabiting the place. From his body, get an undelivered message and the first Dwarven part. The message points you to four other camps: Dagny's Camp, Brotch Camp, Bodean Camp and Varus Camp. These camps are arranged in a rectangular pattern around Ales. Travel to each one and kill the bandit or bandits you find there. From one of the bodies in each camp, retrieve a Dwarven part for the Orrery. At the last camp you visit, you'll face the bandit leader and two minions, so prep for a major battle before entering the camp. After all five Dwarven parts are in your pockets, Fast Travel to Arcane University. If you have not completed the Mages Guild Recommendations quests, Bothiel will be waiting for you, during normal hours, in the Arch Mages Lobby. (The only place open to the general public.) If you are a member of the Mages Guild with access to Arcane University, you may find Bothiel elsewhere. Just use your objective marker to track her down. After delivering the parts, Wait until the next day and visit Bothiel again. She'll give you a key to the Orrery, which is accessible from a door in the Arch Mages Lobby. Go up to the Orrery and Activate it. Once activated, the Orrery will permanently grant you a greater power depending on the phase of the moon. Just Activate the Orrery any time you want to gain a power. These powers are just like racial powers: use them once per 24 hours; each has a duration of 60 seconds. To figure out which power you will get, look up the number of days that have passed since you started the game (available on the Accomplishments tab of your Stats menu). If the number of days passed is greater than 23, divide by 24 and look at the remainder (modulus). * Days 0, 1 & 2 - Masser's Might: Strength +20, Speed -20 * Days 3, 4 & 5 - Masser's Grace: Agility +20, Endurance -20 * Days 6, 7 & 8 - Secunda's Will: Willpower +20, Intelligence -20 * Days 9, 10 & 11 - Secunda's Opportunity: Luck +20, Personality -20 * Days 12, 13 & 14 - Masser's Alacrity: Speed +20, Strength -20 * Days 15, 16 & 17 - Secunda's Magnetism: Personality +20, Luck -20 * Days 18, 19 & 20 - Secunda's Brilliance: Intelligence +20, Willpower -20 * Days 21, 22 & 23 - Masser's Courage: Endurance +20, Agility -20 Example 1: 83 days have passed since you started the game. 83/24 = 3 remainder 11. The power granted on day 11 is Secunda's Opportunity. Example 2: 120 days have passed since you started the game. 120/24 = 5 remainder 0. The power granted on day 0 is Masser's Might. You can only have one power at a time. Each time you use the Orrery, whatever Orrery-granted power you currently have will be replaced by the new Orrery power. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ43] <~~~~~~ REVENGE SERVED COLD ~~~~~~> This is a goblin-genocide quest given by a bereaved husband. Corrick Northwode lives on a small farm called Harm's Folly. This single-dwelling farmstead is north of the Blue Road, halfway between Imperial City and Cheydinhal. It's right on top of the 'n' in "Heartlands" on your world map. During the day, you'll find Northwode kneeling in front of his wife's grave to the side of the house. Speak to him and he'll ask you to wipe out the goblins that killed his wife; and, he wants you to bring back her jade amulet so he has something to remember her by. The goblins are holed up in the Exhausted Mine, just a little to the southwest. This is the three-level, very linear dungeon filled with goblins. The jade amulet is on the body of the "Netherboss" (after you kill him, of course) in the last room of the third level. There's no shortcut back out, so you'll have to retrace your steps. Return to Northwode, who gives you a handful of gems as a reward. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ37] <~~~~~~ SECRETS OF THE AYLEIDS ~~~~~~> Once you've obtained the carving in "Nothing You Can Possess", Umbacano asks you to do something else for him. He wants the crown of the last Ayleid king; but, you can't just go dungeon-crawling for this one. The crown is owned by another collector, Herminia Cinnia. Umbacano gives you 1,000 gold to get the crown and tells you to keep whatever you don't spend on the crown. First, don't take this quest until you've finished "The Collector". Umbacano ends up dead, so he won't be able to pay you for any more statues, or the 5,000 gold bonus for all ten if you finish this quest before finishing the first quest. Second, Cinnia is not going to sell you the crown. Whether or not you even bother to talk to her depends on how much work you want to do. | Option #1 +----------- Steal the crown from Cinnia. She lives in the Elven Gardens district, near the southeast corner. Her door faces the east wall of the district. Cinnia wanders the town most days, but you're still better off breaking in during the middle of the night, when she's asleep. You'll have to pick the lock on her front door, the lock on her bedroom door and the lock on the Ayleid cask in the corner. Take the crown to Umbacano, who now asks that you accompany him through Nenalata, the city of the last Ayleid king. He'll meet you there in three days. | Option #2 +----------- Use your quest marker to track down Herminia Cinnia, who wanders around town most of the time. Talk to her about the crown and she'll tell you Umbacano isn't just a collector, but a man obsessed with returning the Ayleid civilization to power. She suspects the Crown of Nenalata that she has will make Umbacano too dangerous. She suggests an alternative--take Umbacano a fake crown. She gives you the key to another ruin, Lindai, and tells you to get that crown. Lindai is due east of Castle Chorrol, in the Great Forest. There is a rather large number of undead spread over two levels. You are confronted immediately with two sets of swinging blade traps, and it's only going to get worse. Watch your step. The second large room has a pit trap in the center, and the third has three-- yes, three--ceiling crusher traps laid out in a row. If you walk to the far (northwest) edge of the middle crusher trap and step onto it, you'll be pushed into the cavity in the ceiling, but there are no spikes, so you won't be hurt. What you will see is a pushbutton. Activate it to open the side rooms below and collect a boss chest for your trouble. Beyond the crusher traps is the door to the Inner Tombs. Nothing remarkable here except a boss undead guarding the cask containing the crown of Lindai. Exit the boss' room to the southeast for a shortcut back to the beginning of the dungeon. Careful going through the door, there will be an undead right on top of you as you come out of the Tombs. Return the crown to Umbacano, who seems doubtful, but accepts it as the real deal. He asks you to meet him at Nenalata in three days. | Nenalata +---------- You don't have to wait a full three days. Umbacano shows up at Nenalata on the morning of the third day, counting the day you turned over the crown. E.g. if you gave him the crown in the evening of Saturday (Loredas), he'll be at Nenalata by Monday morning (Morndas). Claude Maric shows up the day before, saying Umbacano wants the both of you to escort him through the ruins. Nenalata is full of undead, often in pairs. If you are high level, you'll get summoning undead (skeleton champions and liches), which means the possibility of four-on-one battles. You may appreciate having Maric and Umbacano help you. On the other hand, if Umbacano dies, the mission is over. While he does have healing magic, you might want to tell him to Wait Here and clean out the dungeon on your own--especially if you rely on Stealth and ranged kills. Nenalata is very linear and there are no traps. Just lots and lots of leveled undead. When you reach the third level, Sel Aran Arpena, you'll find a slot that fits the carving you obtained in "Nothing You Can Possess". Umbacano places the carving, incants and a door to the throne room opens. (If you're using a Detect Life spell, you may be alarmed at the life forms showing around the throne room. Get ready...) Umbacano sits on the throne, puts on the crown and incants. If you gave him the Lindai crown, the dark welkynd stones around the room kill him. If you gave him the Nenalata crown, he transforms into the King of Nenalata, a lich. If you gave him the correct crown, step up close while he's transforming and whack him hard and fast. He should go down easily. Now, regardless of which crown he used, wait for the doors to the side rooms (one each north, east and south) to open, then run to the north side room as fast as you can. Run up the stairs in the north wall. You have two choices: run like crazy--at the top of the stairs is a shortcut back to the beginning of Nenalata and sweet safety. Or, turn and use the stairwell to channel the undead to you one at a time. If you stay down in the throne room, you and Maric (if he survived) will be mobbed by six undead. (If you're high level, they'll all be summoners and it will be twelve undead. Think about that before you decide to stand and fight in the throne room.) The quest ended when Umbacano died. Your reward was whatever you Magickaged to pull out of the dungeon. If you kill all the undead in the throne room, you can loot Umbacano's corpse for a lot of very nice items. You'll also get the keys to his manor, which means you can Sneak in and steal back all the statues you previously collected for him, as well as whatever other filthy lucre you can find. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ44] <~~~~~~ SEEKING YOUR ROOTS ~~~~~~> You kick this quest off the first time you find a nirnroot plant. Nirnroot is a rare alchemical ingredient, and, unlike other flora in Cyrodiil, it does not grow back after you pick it. (Also, there's a 100% chance of success harvesting it, which is also different from other plants.) Your journal suggests you see an alchemist about the plant. Any alchemist you talk to is going to kick you over to Sinderion in Skingrad, so just go to him first. Sinderion lives and works in the basement of the West Weald Inn. You'll find the Inn near the West Gate of Skingrad. Sinderion is excited about the plant and tells you all about a rare Elixir of Exploration he can make using the plants. He needs 10 for the first level of the Elixir. There are four Elixirs in all: * Weak (requires 10 nirnroots): Fortify Health 20, Night Eye, 300 sec duration * Moderate (requires 20 nirnroots): Fortify Health & Fatigue 20, Night Eye, 300 sec duration * Strong (requires 30 nirnroots): Fortify Health & Fatigue 20, Night Eye, Fortify Blade, Blunt, Destruction, Restoration, Sneak & Security 5, 300 sec duration * Grand (requires 40 nirnroots): Fortify Health & Fatigue 20, Night Eye, Fortify Blade, Blunt, Destruction, Restoration, Sneak & Security 10, 300 sec duration Each level of the potion requires the full number of nirnroot plants, so, to get the Grand potion, you'll have to collect a total of 100 nirnroots (10 + 20 + 30 + 40). And, they aren't that easy to find. Sinderion points you to Shadeleaf Copse, just north of Skingrad. You can, indeed, find three nirnroot plants around the pond in the copse. As for the rest... Nirnroot is most commonly found near water, and is usually growing among rocks. However, there's a lot of water in Cyrodiil--and most of the shore is lined with rocks. You can also find nirnroot in some flooded dungeons and even in some houses. Here's a partial list (if you find others, feel free to contribute their locations): * Just beyond your sewer exit at the start of the game * In the Mages Guild well that's part of the Cheydinhal Recommendation quest * Near the entrance to Wellspring Cave, east of Imperial City, on the opposite shore of Lake Rumare * In the Border Watch Inn (you visit Border Watch for Sheogorath's quest) * On the southwestern shore of Lake Rumare, just south of Fort Virtue * In Anvil, near the statue next to the main gate * Dairihill's bedroom; Dairihill is the steward in Castle Anvil, you'll invade her office during the Thieves Guild quest "Taking Care of Lex", her bedroom is behind her office * Next to the entrance to Redwater Slough, on the Panther River's easternmost north branch * Near the entrance to Tidewater Cave, at the southern end of Cyrodiil (beyond Leyawiin) * In the moat in the Arboretum of Imperial City * Arch-Mage's quarters in Arcane University * At the eastern end of the Old Bridge along the southern shore of Lake Rumare * Near Culotte, an Ayleid ruin on the east shore of the Upper Niben * On the top floor of Silverhome-on-the-Water in Bravil * On the second floor of the Bravil Fighters Guild * In the Wizard's Grotto that is part of the Thieves Guild quest "Arrow of Extrication" * In Baenlin's bedroom in his house in Bruma (part of the Dark Brotherhood "Accidents Happen" quest) * At the mouth of the Panther River, near the wrecked ship * Inside Fort Cedrian along the Carbolo River * In Cheydinhal, on the island in the river that cuts through town * In the Gilded Carafe, Imperial City, Market District * In the captain's cabin of the Marie Elena, the northernmost ship docked at Imperial City's Waterfront, part of the Dark Brotherhood quest "A Watery Grave" * Near the entrance to Welke, an Ayleid Ruin on the Panther River's southernmost branch, two more are across the Panther from Welke * Near the entrance to Fort Irony, on the west shore of Niben Bay south of Bravil * On the shore of Imperial City's Waterfront, just beyond the north section of the docks, near the ship Marie Elena * In the Smuggler's Cave under Castle Anvil * In the Hunter's Run, the dungeon under Fort Grief, part of "Caught in the Hunt" * In Lord Rugdumph's Estate, part of the Fighters Guild quest "The Noble's Daughter" * Along the coast near the Anvil lighthouse. * Along the western side of the small island just off the coast west of Anvil. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ18] <~~~~~~ SEPARATED AT BIRTH ~~~~~~> Talk to NPCs around Chorrol and find out they've seen the local drunk, Reynald Jemane, in Cheydinhal--sober no less. When confronted in Cheydinhal, he claims he doesn't know his buddies from Chorrol. Track down Reynald, who will give you 50 gold to go to Cheydinhal and find out who's impersonating him. Travel to Cheydinhal and ask around about Reynald Jemane. The people in this town don't know a Reynald, but they do know a Guilbert Jemane. Find him and you'll learn some history of these two brothers. Guilbert will go to Chorrol; return there after a couple of days, once the brothers have had a chance at a reunion. Track down Guilbert in Chorrol and talk to him to finish this quest, and start the next in the series...Legacy Lost. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ19] <~~~~~~ SHADOW OVER HACKDIRT ~~~~~~> Whilst wandering about Chorrol, you may meet an Argonian named Dar-Ma. Be polite to her and you get instant 20-point Disposition increases with both Dar-Ma and her mother, who runs Northern Goods and Trade. At least three days later, provided you've left Chorrol for another city and then returned, you'll be able to talk to Seed-Neeus, the mother, and find out Dar-Ma is missing. (If you failed to talk to Dar-Ma earlier, or were impolite to her, then you'll have to pick up the rumors of Dar-Ma going missing and then confront her mother with this information.) Seed-Neeus explains Dar-Ma went to make a delivery to Hackdirt, a little village to the south. She's overdue for her return. Head out the south gate of Chorrol and make your way to Hackdirt. This nasty little town is filled with even nastier people. You can poke around town, talking to people identified by Seed-Neeus. You can find Dar-Ma's horse, Blossom. You can even find Dar-Ma's diary in a room in the Moslin Inn. But, in the end, none of this leads anywhere, except the conclusion something is badly wrong in Hackdirt. The lone help you get is from Jiv Hiriel. Find him and speak to him. He says to come meet him at his house between 6pm and midnight. Show up on schedule and he'll fill you in on the whole story. There are still things left unsaid. Who are the Deep Ones? What are the Brethren changing into? -- As many people have pointed out, this quest is a take-off of a novella by H. P. Lovecraft, "Shadow Over Innsmouth". In Innsmouth, the people worship a fish god, Dagon, and are turning into fish people. You can read more about "Shadow Over Innsmouth" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Over_Innsmouth -- In any case, Hiriel gives you a key to the Hackdirt caverns and tells you to wait until the middle of the night and use the trapdoor in Moslin's Inn. Excellent advice. Wait until 2 or 3 in the morning, then enter the Inn and find the trapdoor. Drop down into the caverns and, right around the corner, is the cell with Dar- Ma. Release her using your trapdoor key and head back to the surface. Find Blossom behind the Dry Goods store and Dar-Ma will mount up. You can then lead her back to Chorrol. Once you've reunited mother and daughter, Seed-Neeus gives you a +5 increase to your Mercantile skill. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ20] <~~~~~~ SINS OF THE FATHER ~~~~~~> This is, essentially, the third and final part of the Jemane brothers' quests (begun in Separated at Birth and continued in Legacy Lost). The quest begins a few days after you've dropped the Jemane boys at Weatherleah. The next time you're in Chorrol and out and about at night, you'll be approached by one Fathis Ules, a Thieves Guild fence. Seems the Jemane's father wasn't a noble and honorable man, but a thief who decided to keep his last score rather than fence it to Fathis. Fathis knows the item was stored at Weatherleah and suspects the ogres took it back to their home cave after sacking the place. They did. Fathis points out Redguard Valley Cave on your map; it is due south of Chorrol. Travel to the cave and take care of the goblins guarding the door. Inside, the cave is infested with ogres. You have to find the ogre chieftain and kill him to retrieve the Honorblade of Chorrol. You get a journal entry that suggests you might want to see someone in the castle about this. You can sell it to Fathis Ules, for a rather large amount of gold. You can keep it for yourself (though this leaves the quest as incomplete). Preferably, you will head for Castle Chorrol and see the steward, Laythe Wavrick. He identifies the sword, takes it from you, and gives you the Escutheon of Chorrol shield (Fortify Endurance and Reflect Damage) in return. If you handed the sword over to Wavrick, head out to Weatherleah and visit the Jemane boys. Talking to Guilbert nets you an additional reward as well as his thanks. GLITCH WARNING: If you complete this quest in any way other than selling the sword to Fathis Ules; then, Fathis won't talk to you--even if you join the Thieves Guild and want to fence items with him. You can get around this by wearing the Gray Cowl to talk to him; or, PC users can download a fan-made fix for this problem: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2106 <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ21] <~~~~~~ THE SIREN'S DECEPTION ~~~~~~> Rumors in Anvil mention a gang of women preying on married men. When you pursue the topic, you are pointed to Maelona. You may also run into Maelona before hearing the rumors. Either way, talk to Maelona about her husband, Gogan's, involvement with these women. Seems they took a family heirloom and Maelona wants you to get it back. She points you to The Flowing Bowl as the base of operations for the gang. The Flowing Bowl is a tavern in the docks area outside the southwest gate in Anvil. Enter and wait a bit. You'll be approached by either Faustina Cartia or Signy Home-Wrecker. If you're male, you'll be tempted with delights beyond your wildest dreams. If you're female, you'll be offered a position with the gang. Either way, you're invited to the Gweden farmhouse at 11:00 that evening. Travel to the farmhouse, southeast of Anvil and now marked on your map, and enter during the 11pm hour. You'll talk to Faustina. Regardless of your gender and the original reason for the invitation, the talk ends in violence. You'll have to fight Faustina, Signy and a third member of the gang, Tsarinna. This part is difficult because you're confined to the small farmhouse and have three foes to deal with. Anything you can do to immobilize one or two while you work on the others is a good thing. When all three are dead, Maelona and her "husband" Gogan enter the farmhouse, in their normal work clothes: uniforms of the Anvil city guard. They've been working undercover trying to stop the gang and decided to use you as bait. Nice, ain't it? Loot the bodies for a key to the basement and go check it out. It's filled with the swag collected by the gang in earlier conquests, so help yourself. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ45] <~~~~~~ THE SUNKEN ONE ~~~~~~> Just northeast of Kvatch you'll find an abandoned homestead named Shetcombe Farm. When you enter the house, you get a journal entry saying you should search for clues to the whereabouts of the occupant. On the table, inside a bowl, is a page torn from a journal. This identifies the owner as Slythe Seringi, and he has gone to Sandstone Cavern to make a sacrifice to "The Sunken One". You'll find Sandstone Cavern northeast of the farm; it's a two-level creature dungeon. From the first room, take the south exit and continue until you reach a room divided by a chasm. After killing the beasties upstairs, drop down into the chasm and look for a treasure chest along the west wall. On top of the chest is a second page from Seringi's journal. Pick up the page in order to advance the quest. Go south through the chasm to enter Sandstone Big Caverns. Go straight through the first room (down into and then back out of the pit) to enter another chasm where you find Seringi's body. Activating his corpse not only lets you find the last page of his journal, it also triggers the Sunken One--a storm atronach--who spawns in right behind you. When you retrace your steps, going through the first chasm with the treasure chest takes you to an alternate route out of the dungeon. Your reward is whatever you collected in Sandstone Cavern. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ32] <~~~~~~ TEARS OF THE SAVIOR ~~~~~~> Talk to S'drassa, the hooded Khajiit at the Leyawiin Mages Guild. He collects crystals. He's looking for a specific crystal known as Garridan's Tear. He wants you to track some down for him. He suggests you visit Julienne Fanis at Arcane University for a lead. Fanis will be found in the Arch-Mage's Lobby, the publicly accessible part of the university. Fanis can give you the full legend; or, you can shortcut directly to the useful information which is to read a book called "Knightfall". First Edition in the Market district should have a copy. Buy the book from Phintias and Frostfire Glade will be marked on your map. You need two things before you start out: refined frost salts and some type of protection from frost damage. You can buy the refined frost salts from Fanis over at Arcane University. S'drassa will give you five potions of frost immunity. You are now ready to go to Frostfire Glade. The glade is southeast of Bruma, almost halfway to Cheydinhal. You first go through a cave with a few daedra; then, enter the glade. In the center of this area is the hero, Garridan, frozen in battle with a frost atronach. There's also a non-frozen frost atronach waiting for you. In a circle around the ice sculpture is the area where you need frost resistance; else you'll take serious damage. There are five tears, which are elongated blue crystals that can be difficult to find lying on the ground. Here's a map showing the crystals' locations: http://www.papagamer.com/files/frostfire_glade.png Note that one crystal is actually up on top of the rocks supporting the ice sculpture and, just below that, another is hidden on the ground among some rocks. One tip: try to draw the frost atronach out of the center area and kill it outside the frost circle. If you kill it inside, it may fall on one of the crystals, and then good luck finding it. Return all five crystals to S'drassa for your reward. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ22] <~~~~~~ THROUGH A NIGHTMARE, DARKLY ~~~~~~> While not part of the Mages Guild quests, you can get this task once you've finished the Bravil Recommendation for the Mages Guild. After completing that quest for Kud-Ei, speak to her again. She'll ask that you help her friend, Henantier. You can also get this quest by speaking to various NPCs around Bravil until one of the rumors concerns the missing Henantier. Speak to Kud-Ei about Henantier and she'll explain he is trapped, but she knows where he is. Agree to follow her to Henantier's house, where you find the unfortunate fellow trapped in his own dreams. Kud-Ei gives you Henantier's Dream Amulet. Equip it; then, rest in the bed next to Henantier. You find yourself next to Henantier in a dream-version of his house. There are four portals: Tests of Patience and Perception upstairs, Tests of Courage and Resolve downstairs. You have no equipment and cannot cast spells. You must use what you find in each portal to retrieve an element of Henantier's personality and restore him to himself. *NOTE* At any time during these tests, if you are low on health, you can use the Wait function to wait an hour and fully restore your health and Magicka. | Patience +---------- At the beginning you can retrieve a mysterious scroll from the chest. This is a map across three arrow traps ahead. Make your way safely across the traps, either following the map the game gives you, or these more easily decipherable maps: *HINT* Use third person view and walk (don't run) to make sure you walk across the correct squares. This is the test of Patience, after all. In these maps, 'S' marks the safe squares. TRAP 1 TRAP 2 TRAP 3 S X X X X X X X S X S X X X X X X X | | | S X X X X X S--S--S X S X X X S--S--S--S | | | | | S--S X X X S--S X X X S--S--S--S--S X X S | | | X S X X X S X X X X X X X X S--S | | X S--S--S X X X X X X S X | | X X X S X X X X S--S--S--S--S X | X X S X X X X X | X X S X X X X X Once past the third trap you can pick up the Element of Patience, which returns you to Henantier's dream room. | Perception +------------ Pick up a torch from the chest at the beginning of this stage and carefully pick your way around pressure plates. The first pressure plate sets off a falling rock trap. Beyond are swinging blades. You can't stop them, but you can dodge them easily enough. Past those are poisonous gas traps--stay away from them--then avoid the pressure plate that sets off another falling rock trap. Next is a broad avenue with blades overhead. You can try running through, or carefully walk in between each set and wait for them to rise again. Beyond is a hill of blocks with several pressure plates. Avoid them or suffer frost damage (Nords may choose to just run through...) Now you can get the Element of Perception and return to the main room. | Courage +--------- The first door you come to downstairs leads to the Test of Courage. Inside the chest is a Weak Potion of the Sea (water breathing for 30 seconds). Drink the potion and dive in. Navigate carefully--you'll have to occasionally turn the camera to twist your way through the tunnels. Halfway through is another chest with another potion--just in time to ingest to make it the rest of the way through. When you surface, the Element of Courage is there for the taking. | Resolve +--------- You get to fight two minotaurs. Yay! Suit up with items from the chest at the beginning of the test and take on the minotaurs in whatever fashion suits you. You may be able to just dispose of them using the Staff of Lightning, regardless of your class. Once the minotaurs are dead, stairs rise from the ground leading up to the Element of Resolve. After collecting all four elements, speak to dream-Henantier about Dreamworld and you will both wake up in the real world. Henantier gives you several scrolls as a reward. You don't keep anything you picked up in the dream world. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ23] <~~~~~~ TWO SIDES OF THE COIN ~~~~~~> Follow rumors in Bruma pointing to a spat over money between Arnora and Jorundr. Find Arnora, she's usually at her house behind the chapel, and get her Disposition above 60. She then tells you she started the "spat" rumor to lure an adventurer in for a little scheme. If you're up for a bit of skullduggery, agree to help her out and she'll lay out the whole tale. She and Jorundr were petty thieves who finally decided to strike the big time by stealing money from an Imperial tax convoy. During the fracas, Jorundr killed a soldier. They escaped and hid; but, while Arnora was out collecting supplies, the Bruma guard showed up and arrested Jorundr. Unfortunately for Arnora, Jorundr had moved the stash while she was gone and she can't get him to tell her where it is. She promises half the loot if you will go speak to Jorundr and find out where the cache is hidden. Go to Castle Bruma, and hang a right through the guard's room and down the stairs to the prison. Ask the guard to speak to a prisoner and he takes you in to the main cell room. Find Jorundr (he's the only prisoner in the place) and talk to him. He refuses to speak to you. He doesn't trust anyone who's "on the outside", so to speak. Simple enough, all you have to do is get yourself arrested. You can do anything; the guard who let you in is helpfully standing at your shoulder shouting orders. Punch him, or pick the lock on a cell door or rifle through a chest. Whatever suits your fancy. Choose to go to jail and you'll be thrown in the cell with Jorundr. Talk to him again. Now he gives you his side of the story. (The other side of the coin, get it?) Arnora was the one who killed the soldier and Jorundr believes she set him up by turning him into the Bruma constabulary. But, he was bright enough to move the loot and that is frustrating her. He knows he's done for, so he promises to tell you the location of the loot if you'll do one eeny, teeny, tiny thing for him...kill Arnora and bring back the family amulet she always wears. Return to Arnora's house. You have two choices: * Whack her. This counts as a murder and you may be arrested for the crime. Don't bother with the amulet she's wearing, get the key from her corpse and find the chest next to her bed. That contains the "true" amulet. Return to Jorundr. * Tell her of Jorundr's request. She suggests a trick: she'll give you the amulet and you tell Jorundr she's dead. She'll give you a key and direct you to the chest next to her bed where you can get the amulet. Return to Jorundr. Jorundr accepts the evidence of the amulet, whether Arnora is actually dead or not, and gives you the directions to the cache. It will now be marked for you on your map, just outside the North Gate. Head for the marker. If you killed Arnora, the loot is yours. If you fooled Jorundr, you'll run into corrupt guard Tyrellius Logellus (you encountered him while in prison, but couldn't talk to him). He overheard your conversation with Jorundr, went and killed Arnora and then waited by the cache for you to show up so he can tie up all the loose ends. Demonstrate to him the error of his ways; then, collect the loot. To officially close the quest, go to Arnora's house to confirm her death. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ49] <~~~~~~ UNEARTHING MEHRUNES' RAZOR ~~~~~~> *NOTE* Before installing the Mehrunes' Razor mod, you must install the v1.1.511 patch. If you install the mod first, the patch will fail and the mod won't run without the patch. To get this quest, you have to download the official plug-in, DLC9 ($2.99 for PC, also available on Xbox360 in the Marketplace for 250 points); or, install the Knights of the Nine mini-expansion pack. After installing the plug-in, the next time you load a game or exit the tutorial sewers, you will get a message informing you of rumors of a fabled weapon, Mehrunes' Razor, that may be located beneath the ruined fort of Sundercliff Watch. Before setting off in search of Mehrunes' Razor, divest yourself of all non- essential equipment. You'll be underground for quite a while, and you don't want to leave loot behind because you're over-encumbered. (Investment in a Feather spell or potions or equipment is recommended.) You should also be high enough level to handle four or five enemies at once. There are some pitched battles ahead of you. Sundercliff Watch is in the far east of Cyrodiil. The nearest quest-related point is Peryite's Shrine (due west of the fort). Inside the front door is a large room with two guards, one standing still and one patrolling. Take them out, then approach the wooden door to the south. To the right of the door is an abandoned knapsack. Loot this for a diary that gives you the password to get through the door, "Chimer". Beyond the door are two more guards. To the south you'll come out on a raised platform with another guard patrolling below. Your path then turns east through a tunnel, which leads to the upper level of a circular room. There are three to four guards below you, one of which is a veteran (much tougher than the soldiers you've faced thus far). Once you've cleared the lower level, exit to the north to reach Sundercliff Village. This underground town has quite a few NPCs wandering about. Immediately to your left as you exit the tunnel you'll find four to five soldiers sitting around a campfire. Wait until a couple have gone off on patrol before attacking the ones that remain. If you get lucky, the patrol won't come running back to help. If you're unlucky... Well, hope you have some decent weaponry or spells or it's reload time. These soldiers are the main problem on the upper level of this large cavern. Stay on the upper levels, exploring the buildings. Most buildings have one or two occupants and a fair bit of treasure. In the northwest corner is the jail; inside, locked in a cell, is a Morag Tong (Morrowind assassin). Kill him for his full suit of Morag Tong armor (especially good for Stealth-based characters). From the top level of the cavern, exit to the east into Sundercliff Forge. At the T-intersection, go left (north) and follow the tunnel around until you see a large tunnel to your left (east). Follow this tunnel to the door to Sundercliff Mines. The Mines is basically one large room with two levels--you enter at the bottom. There are a lot of soldiers and laborers in the Mines, and it is almost impossible to avoid a 4-on-1 or 5-on-1 battle near the entrance. Fortunately, the laborers aren't that tough and do little damage (unless you're attempting this as a low-level character). Once you've cleared your way into the Mines, it gets easier. Find the tunnel entrance to the southeast and follow the path to the upper level of the main cavern--you can pick off the laborers and soldiers here one-by-one. Once you reach the upper level of the main cavern, you'll have to pick your way through two or three patrolling soldiers. Again, if you're careful and watch the patrol patterns, you can take them one at a time. To the northeast is the tunnel that leads back to Sundercliff Forge; this time, you're below where you came in from the Village. Follow the only path, fighting your way through four apprentices, to reach the Forgemaster. Watch out for his enchanted axe! Once he's dead, loot his tent, making sure you pick up the enchanted bezoar. Return to Sundercliff Village through the shortcut on the north side of the Forgemaster's cave. Clean out the lower portion of the Village. Find one of two exits to the west (the upper-level exit is better) to enter Sundercliff Commune. If you come in on the lower level of the Commune, you'll face a couple of veterans. On the top level are mostly laborers and a couple of soldiers. Along the bottom chasm of the Commune is the Veteran's Lodge, which contains two or three veterans and a boss-level chest. On the north top tier of the Commune is Drothan's cabin, mentioned in the diary you picked up earlier. Enter his cabin and find his journal on a small table. It mentions the Ayleid city where Mehrunes' Razor is hidden, and tells how Drothan has shielded the entrance. You need two enchanted bezoars to get through the shield. You got one from the Forgemaster. The other is right next door in the Commander's quarters. Now that you have the two enchanted bezoars in hand, go west through the lower chasm of the Commune. At the Ayleid door, Activate the pedestal to either side to place a bezoar and dispel the shield. Follow Drothan through the door to the Ayleid ruin. This first section is a long series of halls with no enemies and no traps. Just run through to the door into Varsa Baalim. Varsa Baalim is a large cavern with an Ayleid ruin inside. Advance carefully (and, preferably, in Sneak mode) to witness a battle below you. The combatants are some Drothmeri soldiers and vampires. Wait until the dust has settled to go down and take out the survivors. Along the south wall are two entrances to Cava Arpenia. This side area has two vampires and a little loot. Further exploration will reveal, to the west, some more vampires as well as a door to Cava Beldameld. Enter this small room, dispose of the vampire, and exit at the far side to return to Varsa Baalim, this time in the southwest corner in a previously inaccessible area. Leave Cava Beldameld in Sneak mode. As you re-enter Varsa Baalim, there's a battle in front of you. Let the soldiers and vampires settle their differences before mopping up. Go to your left (northwest) to reach the large, northern section of Varsa Baalim. There are more vampires down here, and, in the northern corner of the area, a door to Cava Marspanga. Enter here and go slowly down the stairs. At the bottom, three Drothmeri soldiers and three vampires are mixing it up. Once you've helped them all to the great beyond, re-enter Varsa Baalim. You're now on the extreme northern edge of the large cavern. Go right (west) to find a small encampment with a single vampire and some loot chests. Once you've satisfied your avarice, go back east past the door to Cava Marspanga. To your left you should see a collapsed walkway forming a ramp leading up. Climb up to find some more vampires, including the vampire patriarch. They should be weakened by a fight with soldiers that occurred while you were looting. Take them out and keep climbing and following the causeway until you see a giant welkynd stone marking the entrance to The Nefarivigum. Down the stairs you go, through the door, and down a lot more stairs. All the enemies on the stairwell are dead. At the bottom is Drothan himself, studying a statue. He's a powerful mage, so adjust your battle tactics accordingly. Leading with a Sneak attack is always helpful. After Drothan is dead, Activate the statue of Msirae Faythung. (If you're using Detect Life, you may notice the statue is glowing. But it's not really alive...yet.) The statue contains a beating heart. Remove the heart and then open your inventory and consume (use) the beating heart. The statue comes alive and you've got an angry dremora to defeat. There's not a lot of room to maneuver for ranged fighters, so you might want to revert to quick jabs with a one-handed weapon and then dance out of the way while he swings. Or you can just tank him if you have the appropriate armor and weapons. When Faythung is dead, a gate to the south opens and Mehrunes' Razor is yours. After you take the Razor, a secret passage leading to some Forgotten Tunnels opens. There's nothing in the Tunnels except a rock fall and some rats. At the end is a small pool; dive in to find a door that leads into Lake Canalus, west of Fort Sundercliff. Congratulations! You now have a lot of loot, including a dagger that is capable of one-hit killing any enemy in the game. (Only a small chance, though.) <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ31] <~~~~~~ AN UNEXPECTED VOYAGE ~~~~~~> At the west end of the dock of Imperial City's Waterfront district is a floating tavern known as The Bloated Float. Spend a night there, and, when you wake up, you find the boat has put to sea and everything seems strangely quiet. When you step outside your room, you meet Lynch. If you claim just to be a passenger and then claim to be a member of his gang, he'll fill you in on a little of what's happening. Regardless, you have to send him to Davy Jones' locker. Take his key and instructions and go down the hall to the storage room. Release the inn's bouncer, Graman gro-Marad; he says he can get the ship back to port, but he's not going up on deck until you give the all clear. Head up to the main deck, where you'll find Minx. Again, you can lie your way through the conversation and pick up some tidbits of information, or just run her through. Get the top deck key from Minx and proceed up. Outside, surrounded by nothing but water, you can chat with Wrath. Again, you eventually have to kill him, lying to him just gives you a more complete picture of what's going on. From his body you can get the captain's cabin key. Return to the main deck and tell gro-Marad he can go topside and start sailing the ship back to port. Enter the captain's cabin behind the bar to find the leader of the pack, Selene. You have two options: 1) Kill her. That might be tough depending on how you're kitted out. She's five levels above you and has a sword that drains your Fatigue, and these are tight quarters, not allowing for a lot of movement or ranged fighting. 2) Get her to surrender. You can do so by answering her, in order: * I took the key from Wrath. * I'm here to join the gang. * ...three months ago? * To find the Golden Galleon. * You mean in Bravil? * I've killed all of them. She stands down and hands over her sword. Talk to Ormil, the owner and captain of The Bloated Float and he'll ask that you escort Selene to a cabin downstairs. Go downstairs, Selene will follow, and Activate the door next to your own cabin on the lower deck. Selene will be locked up. Return to Ormil for the whole story, then back down to your cabin to Sleep a bit so the ship can return to port. After you awake, see Ormil again for your reward. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ24] <~~~~~~ UNFRIENDLY COMPETITION ~~~~~~> Wal-Mart has moved into the Imperial City Market District and the Mom & Pop stores aren't happy about it. You can get this quest started from several different shopkeepers if you ask about Thoronir; however, your first step is always to talk to Jensine of "Just Like New" Goods and she can also give you the quest. Make her shop your first stop when entering the Market District. Jensine wants you to find out how Thoronir is undercutting everyone else. Visit Thoronir's shop, The Copious Coinpurse, and ask about his Inventory. He'll get all sly on you and you'll get an entry in your journal that says you should follow him. Wait outside his shop until the 8:00pm hour. Thoronir will exit and you should follow him. He goes various places (The Merchant's Inn, the Arboretum), but wherever he ends up, he hangs around until the 11:00pm hour. So when he stops moving, use Wait to jump ahead to that time. Follow him back to the Market District and a little garden behind his shop. He has a meeting with a man named Agarmir. Walk toward them until they start talking. (You don't have to Sneak.) Listen to their conversation, and then follow Agarmir per your journal's instruction. He goes to his house in the Talos Plaza district. Your journal instructs you to wait until Agarmir leaves his house. Agarmir only leaves in the afternoon (around 4pm) on weekdays and in the mornings (around 8am) on weekends. Wait until the appropriate time and you should see Agarmir leave his house. After he leaves, wait until no guards are present; then, pick the lock on his house door (Average lock) and his basement door (Average lock). In the basement, take the Macabre Manifest and leave Agarmir's house. Return to the Copious Coinpurse and show the Manifest to Thoronir. After, go to the Imperial Green Way and find the marked tomb on your map (it's on the south side of the area). Enter and trip Agarmir's little trap. He and a buddy will try to put you to rest. Agarmir is using an enchanted sword, which might be a nice weapon for you once you've slipped it from his cold, dead fingers. Grab the shovel from the rear of the tomb and any loot you can find. Return to Thoronir and then to Jensine to complete the quest. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ46] <~~~~~~ VAMPIRE CURE ~~~~~~> *NOTE* An easier way to cure vampirism is to purchase the Vile Lair official plug-in. Inside the Lair is a pool with a Font of Renewal. Collect Purgeblood Salts from the nearby rock outcropping and Activate the Font with Salts in your pockets. Your vampirism will be cured. You can do this quest whether you want to cure yourself of vampirism or not, but there is no real reward except the cure. You must be a vampire (any stage, but more than just infected with porphyric hemophilia) to start this quest. Find Raminus Polus in the Arch-Mage's Lobby of Arcane University during normal daytime hours. Ask about a cure for vampirism and he'll refer you to Count Hassildor in Skingrad. Fast Travel to Castle Skingrad and speak to either Mercatus Hosidus (if you haven't completed "Ulterior Motives" in the Mages Guild quests) or Hal-Liurz (if you have) about a vampire cure and they'll fetch the count. The count tells you all he knows; he has himself been searching for a cure for his wife. (He likes being a vampire, she doesn't, yada, yada.) He refers you to a witch of Glenmoril who lives in Drakelowe, along the Carbolo/Reed Rivers in eastern Cyrodiil. Fast Travel to Cheydinhal and head south; you'll find Melisande inside the one house. She agrees to help you with a cure, but first, she needs a favor: five empty grand soul gems. The easiest way to get the soul gems is to buy them. Most Mages Guild halls have a merchant who has various sizes of soul gems. In addition, the Mystic Emporium in Imperial City will usually have one or two of that size. Bring five to Melisande to discover that little scavenger hunt was just the beginning. The ingredients she wants for the vampire cure will have you hopping all over the country... | Vampire Ashes +--------------- For this one, at least, Melisande has a specific target in mind. She wants the ashes of Hindaril, who resides in Redwater Slough near the east end of Panther River. (It's actually on the eastern of two tributaries that feed into the Panther from the north.) At the first T-intersection, turn left (north) to reach Hindaril directly; however, you'll have to pick a lock to get to him. If you have little in the way of lock-picking skill, go right (south) at the T-intersection to find a key. This won't be easy as you'll have to swim through a flooded tunnel and come up into a room with several undead surrounding you. The chest with the key is in a corner of the room. If you happened to clear this dungeon earlier, never fear. Hindaril's ashes are marked as a quest item, so you couldn't have dropped or sold them anywhere and you can just hand them over to Melisande. | Blood of an Argonian +---------------------- Again, this is fairly simple. All you need is an Argonian, any Argonian. You have a number of choices available to you: 1) Pick an Argonian in any city--Bravil and Leyawiin have several each--this is by far the simplest option if you have the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal (Thieves Guild) 2) Raid a bandit or marauder hangout, searching for Argonians 3) If you've finished the Daedric Shrine quests (or most of them), find an Argonian worshipper at the shrines of Azura, Boethia, Hircine, Peryite and Sheogorath 4) You'll find an Argonian (Skaleel) on the first level of Vahtecen, but she's off-limits if you're a member of the Mages Guild. You don't need to kill the Argonian, just hit him once with the special dagger given you by Melisande. Of course, that will make the Argonian and nearby friends hostile, so choose your mark wisely. | Nightshade & Garlic +--------------------- You can pick these up at alchemist shops; there's one in every Mages Guild hall. You can also try The Main Ingredient and the Gilded Carafe in Imperial City's Market district. That should be all you need to get the five nightshade plants and six garlic cloves. | Bloodgrass +------------ This plant typically grows only in Oblivion. If there are Oblivion gates still open, you can pop through and pick up two samples pretty quickly. If not, you can try the Daedric quests of Boethia and Peryite, both of which send you to a special Oblivion plane, where you might be able to find some bloodgrass. If the gates are all closed and you've previously finished the Boethia and Peryite quests, you may still find some bloodgrass growing around the wreckage of closed gates. Or, you may get real lucky and some alchemist has some in stock. If you've purchased the Wizard's Tower official plug-in, then head straight to Frostcrag Spire--you can get two samples of bloodgrass in the conservatory next to your quarters. | The Cure +---------- Once you have all the ingredients, hand them over to Melisande. You then have to Wait 24 hours to get the cure. Return to Castle Skingrad and talk to Hosidus or Hal-Liurz again and you'll be escorted to a secret room where the Countess lies in a coma. Lo and behold, Melisande is there before you. She revives Rona Hassildor long enough for her to drink the cure and then she dies. If you try to talk to the count, he'll brush you off with a request you wait a day to allow him to set his wife's affairs in order. Wait 24 hours and ask the steward for the count. He'll come down and officially conclude the quest with a small reward. And, oh yeah, you still have one dose of the cure to use on yourself. If you later get vampirism again, you have to repeat the ingredient gathering for Melisande in order to get another dose. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ47] <~~~~~~ A VENERABLE VINTAGE ~~~~~~> Nerussa is a lover of fine wines; in fact, she collects them. She is the proprietress of the Wawnet Inn, at the west end of the bridge coming off the west side of Imperial City Isle. There's one particular type of wine, Shadowbanish Wine, that is eluding her. She would give anything (well, not anything, but a nice reward) for six bottles of this special win. Shadowbanish Wine was made especially for Imperial Legion soldiers, and it can only be found in their old forts. There are eight forts with Shadowbanish Wine; in each fort, you'll find two bottles in a chest. The wine provides 240 seconds of Night Eye (as well as draining your Agility and Intelligence for 120 seconds). You'll need to stop in at least three forts to complete the quest. * Fort Aurus: southern point of the mouth of the Carbolo River. This single- level dungeon is inhabited by conjurers and their Summons. At the first T- intersection, take a right and then a left to find the "boss" conjurer and the chest with the wine (on the west wall of the room). * Fort Carmala: * Fort Dirich: * Fort Grief: island in the middle of Niben Bay. This is the location of "Caught in the Hunt". The wine chest is on the top level of the outer ruin-- you only go into the dungeon during the associated quest. * Fort Irony: along the west coast of the Upper Niben, south of Bravil. This is a goblin hangout. From the first T-intersection, go left and the wine chest is in the next room, on the southwest side of the central pillar. * Fort Magia: * Fort Scinia: * Fort Vlastarus: * Frostcrag Spire: If you buy the Wizard's Tower official mod and the Vault furnishings, there's a wine rack in your cellar; it includes one bottle of Shadowbanish Wine. Nerussa will pay you 1,000 gold for the first six bottles, and 100 gold for any additional bottles you bring her. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ48] <~~~~~~ WHEN THE VOW BREAKS ~~~~~~> Just outside Anvil's North Gate is the farm of Maeva the Buxom, Whitmond farm. Speak to Maeva to get an earful about her good-for-nothing husband, Bjalfi (the Contemptible). Soon after their marriage, Bjalfi took Rockshatter--a family heirloom given them by Maeva's father--and joined a group of marauders operating out of Fort Strand. The fort is close--just east of the city. At the first T-intersection, turn left and follow the path until you find a door to the Fort Strand Great Dome. In the first room, jump off the bridge and take the path southeast. You'll quickly come to a "room" (more of a widening of the corridor) where Bjalfi is hanging out with his new squeeze--the marauder warlord. If you run past them, keeping in a southeast direction, you can lead them right through a swinging mace trap. Take Rockshatter from Bjalfi's body (or from the floor where it was flung when you blasted him). Return to Maeva who rewards you with her dowry and decides to jump right back into the dating game. Taking the death of her husband kind of hard, isn't she? <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ25] <~~~~~~ WHERE SPIRITS HAVE LEASE ~~~~~~> The rumor mill in Anvil will eventually give you a name, Velwyn Benirus. Inquire after him and learn he hangs out at the Count's Arms. (You can also just go to the Count's Arms and find Benirus.) He offers to sell you his family's mansion for a mere 5,000 gold. How could you possibly pass up such a deal? As soon as you complete the transaction, Benirus high-tails it out of town. The mansion is located in the northeastern section of town. Paying a visit reveals you just bought a wonderful restoration project. Try to sleep in the upstairs bed and get even more bad news: an attack by three ghosts. Once they are gone, head downstairs and find a vase that fell and broke during the ruckus. Underneath is a skeletal hand and a piece of paper. The paper reveals Benirus' grandfather, Lorgren, had a nasty habit of conducting necromancy experiments on the citizens of Anvil. The current guild leader, Carahil, entombed Lorgren in a sealed room in the basement (you may have marked the door and seal in an earlier inspection of the premises). Return to the Count's Arms and inquire after Velwyn. You are told he departed for Imperial City. Head there yourself and ask after Velwyn Benirus and you should eventually find someone who knows a Benirus is staying at the King and Queen Tavern in the Elven Gardens district. Go there and confront Belirus. He feels sorry for giving you a cursed mansion and agrees to return to Anvil and help you sort it out. Go back to Anvil and the Count's Arms. Talk to Velwyn and then follow him to the mansion. Once you enter the mansion, you take the lead. You'll have to fight your way through a number of ghosts, both on the upper floors and in the basement. Alternatively, you can race past the ghosts to the portal and then defend Velwyn while he opens it. Once the portal is open, the ghosts disappear. Enter the crypt and find the altar with Lorgren Benirus' skeleton. Activate the altar and listen to Lorgren's contrite speech. Then Activate the skeleton with the skeletal hand you picked up earlier in your inventory. Oh. Look at that. It was a ruse. How surprising. Once Lorgren reforms, race to him and smack him with your best weapon as quickly as possible. Once the lich is dead, loot the tomb, then leave, re-sealing the portal behind you. You'll find the mansion is now fully restored and is probably the nicest house you can buy in Cyrodiil. Definitely worth 5,000 gold and a little ghosthunting. <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ26] <~~~~~~ WHOM GODS ANNOY ~~~~~~> The rumor mill in Leyawiin buzzes with the strange noises and awful smells coming from Rosentia Gallenus' house. Enter her house and find the fair lady surrounded by scamps she cannot rid herself of. Seems she picked up a cursed staff. Gallenus sends you to consult her friend, Alves Uvenim at the Mages Guild. Uvenim reveals the staff can only be handed off to a willing recipient and can only be disposed of at a shrine to Sheogorath in Darkfathom Cave, southeast of Leyawiin. Return to Gallenus, who is only too happy to give up the staff and the scamps to you. Trudge (the staff Drains your Speed by 20 points) down to the cave and fight your way through a dozen or so daedra. Once you reach the shrine, you can drop the staff anywhere near the altar and the scamps will stay put. Return to Gallenus for your reward. Alternately, you can keep the staff for a while. You can kill the summoned scamps with impunity and they always come back. This is a very useful way of leveling attack-related skills (Blade, Blunt, Destruction, etc.). <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [SQ33] <~~~~~~ ZERO VISIBILITY ~~~~~~> You want a Detect Life spell or enchanted item for this quest. You can get this quest from Malene, the innkeeper of the Roxey Inn on the north shore of Lake Rumare; or, by stumbling across the little town of Aleswell, which is along the Red Ring Road west of the Roxey Inn. The town appears empty; use a Detect Life spell to see there are several inhabitants. You can talk to these invisible people; they all just tell you to see Diram Serethi. Walk around, pointing your crosshair at the glowing purple forms (from your Detect Life spell) until one is identified as Serethi. He runs the little inn, and may be in there, though he wanders sometimes. Serethi says the problem is a wizard named Ancotar who is holed up in a ruined tower called Caractus. Ancotar likes to conduct strange experiments and accidentally rendered the whole town invisible. The villagers have not been able to get through to Ancotar, and ask for your help. Caractus is down the slope south of the village. There are several invisible wild animals wandering outside the tower, so you will want Detect Life active as you approach. Wander around the tower with Detect Life until you find the humanoid form that is Ancotar. Talk to him and he will provide a scroll with the counterspell for invisibility. He also gives you a ring and warns that you should wear the ring before casting the spell. Listen to him. Return to Aleswell, put on the ring and cast the scroll. The invisibility curse is removed and Diram will give you a reward. (If you try casting the spell without wearing the ring, your Luck is damaged by 50 points.) <~~~~~~ finis ~~~~~~> [QL00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUEST INDEX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ To find the mini-walkthrough for a quest, find the quest title in one of the two lists below, copy the section code and use your browser's Search function to search for that section code. [QL01] <~~~~~~ ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL QUESTS ------> Accidents Happen (Dark Brotherhood)....................................DB03 Affairs of a Wizard (Dark Brotherhood).................................DB13 Ahdarji's Heirloom (Thieves Guild).....................................TG05 Allies for Bruma (Main Story)..........................................MS13 Ambush (Mages Guild)...................................................MG17 Amelion's Debt (Fighters Guild)........................................FG07 Anvil Recommendation (Mages Guild).....................................MG01 Arena, The.............................................................SQ01 Arrow of Extrication (Thieves Guild)...................................TG10 Assassinated Man, The (Dark Brotherhood)...............................DB06 Attack on Fort Sutch...................................................SQ38 Azani Blackheart (Fighters Guild)......................................FG10 Azura (Daedric Quest)..................................................DQ01 Bad Medicine (Dark Brotherhood)........................................DB08 Battle for Castle Kvatch, The........................................MS13-E Bear Season............................................................SQ39 Blood of the Daedra (Main Story).......................................MS09 Blood of the Divines (Main Story)......................................MS10 Bloodworm Helm, The (Mages Guild)......................................MG15 Boethia (Daedric Quest)................................................DQ13 Boots of Springheel Jak (Thieves Guild)................................TG11 Bravil Recommendation (Mages Guild)....................................MG02 Breaking the Siege of Kvatch (Main Story)..............................MS04 Broken Vows (Dark Brotherhood).........................................DB15 Brotherhood Betrayed, A................................................SQ02 Bruma Gate (Main Story)................................................MS12 Bruma Recommendation (Mages Guild).....................................MG03 Brush with Death, A....................................................SQ29 Canvas the Castle......................................................SQ03 Cast Out of the Thieves Guild..........................................TG13 Caught in the Hunt.....................................................SQ27 Cheydinhal Recommendation (Mages Guild)................................MG04 Clavicus Vile (Daedric Quest)..........................................DQ14 Coldest Sleep, The (Dark Brotherhood)..................................DB18 Collector, The.........................................................SQ30 Confront the King (Mages Guild)........................................MG18 Corruption and Conscience..............................................SQ28 Dagon Shrine (Main Story)..............................................MS07 Daedric Quests.........................................................SQ04 Dark Brotherhood, The..................................................DB00 Dark Exile, A (Dark Brotherhood).......................................DB23 Defense of Bruma (Main Story)..........................................MS14 Deliver the Amulet (Main Story)........................................MQ02 Den of Thieves (Fighters Guild)........................................FG06 Desolate Mine, The (Fighters Guild)....................................FG03 Drunk and Disorderly (Fighters Guild)..................................FG05 Elven Maiden, The (Thieves Guild)......................................TG04 Expelled from the Fighters Guild.......................................FG20 Final Justice (Dark Brotherhood).......................................DB16 Find the Heir (Main Story).............................................MS03 Finding the Thieves Guild (Thieves Guild)..............................TG00 Fingers of the Mountain (Mages Guild)................................MG05-A Fingers of the Mountain, Part II (Mages Guild).......................MG05-B Following a Lead (Dark Brotherhood)....................................DB20 Forlorn Watchman, The..................................................SQ05 Fugitives, The (Fighters Guild)........................................FG12 Ghost Ship of Anvil, The...............................................SQ06 Go Fish................................................................SQ07 Goblin Trouble.........................................................SQ40 Gravefinder's Repose, The..............................................SQ35 Great Gate (Main Story)................................................MS15 Hermaeus Mora (Daedric Quest)..........................................DQ15 Hircine (Daedric Quest)................................................DQ11 Hist, The (Fighters Guild).............................................FG19 Honor Thy Mother (Dark Brotherhood)....................................DB21 Imperial Corruption....................................................SQ08 Imperial Dragon Armor (Main Story).....................................MS18 Independent Thievery (Thieves Guild)...................................TG02 Infiltration (Fighters Guild)..........................................FG18 Information at a Price (Mages Guild)...................................MG13 Information Gathering (Fighters Guild).................................FG17 Killing Field, The.....................................................SQ09 Kiss Before Dying, A (Dark Brotherhood)................................DB19 Knife in the Dark, A (Dark Brotherhood)................................DB01 Knights of the White Stallion..........................................SQ10 Legacy Lost............................................................SQ11 Leyawiin Recommendation (Mages Guild)..................................MG06 Liberation or Apprehension? (Mages Guild)..............................MG12 Lifting the Vale.......................................................SQ12 Light the Dragonfires (Main Story).....................................MS17 Lonely Wanderer, The (Dark Brotherhood)................................DB07 Lost Histories (Thieves Guild).........................................TG07 Mage's Staff, A (Mages Guild)..........................................MG08 Malacath (Daedric Quest)...............................................DQ06 Master's Son, The (Fighters Guild).....................................FG08 Matter of Honor, A (Dark Brotherhood)..................................DB17 May the Best Thief Win (Thieves Guild).................................TG01 Mazoga the Orc.........................................................SQ13 Mephala (Daedric Quest)................................................DQ10 Meridia (Daedric Quest)................................................DQ07 Miscarcand (Main Story)................................................MS11 Misdirection (Thieves Guild)...........................................TG06 Molag Bal (Daedric Quest)..............................................DQ12 More Unfinished Business (Fighters Guild)..............................FG09 Mystery at Harlun's Watch (Fighters Guild).............................FG16 Namira (Daedric Quest).................................................DQ03 Necromancer's Amulet, The (Mages Guild)................................MG16 Necromancer's Moon (Mages Guild).......................................MG11 Newheim's Flagon.......................................................FG06 Next of Kin (Dark Brotherhood).........................................DB14 No Stone Unturned......................................................SQ41 Noble's Daughter, The (Fighters Guild).................................FG15 Nocturnal (Daedric Quest)..............................................DQ08 Nothing You Can Possess................................................SQ36 Of Secret and Shadow (Dark Brotherhood)................................DB11 Order of the Virtuous Blood............................................SQ14 Origin of the Gray Prince..............................................SQ15 Paradise (Main Story)..................................................MS16 Paranoia...............................................................SQ16 Path of Dawn, The (Main Story).........................................MS06 Permanent Retirement (Dark Brotherhood)................................DB10 Peryite (Daedric Quest)................................................DQ09 Plot Revealed, A (Mages Guild).........................................MG14 Potato Snatcher, The...................................................SQ42 Purification, The (Dark Brotherhood)...................................DB12 Raid on Greyland.......................................................SQ34 Rat Problem, A (Fighters Guild)........................................FG01 Renegade Shadowscale, The (Dark Brotherhood)...........................DB05 Repairing the Orrery (Official Mod)....................................SQ17 Revenge Served Cold....................................................SQ43 Sanguine (Daedric Quest)...............................................DQ05 Scheduled for Execution (Dark Brotherhood).............................DB04 Secrets of the Ayleids.................................................SQ37 Seeking Your Roots.....................................................SQ44 Separated at Birth.....................................................SQ18 Shadow Over Hackdirt, A................................................SQ19 Sheogorath (Daedric Quest).............................................DQ02 Sins of the Father.....................................................SQ20 Siren's Deception, The.................................................SQ21 Skingrad Recommendation (Mages Guild)..................................MG07 Spies (Main Story).....................................................MS08 Stone of St. Alessia, The (Fighters Guild).............................FG14 Sunken One, The........................................................SQ45 Taking Care of Lex (Thieves Guild).....................................TG08 Tears of the Savior....................................................SQ32 Through a Nightmare, Darkly............................................SQ22 Trolls of Forsaken Mine (Fighters Guild)...............................FG13 Turning a Blind Eye (Thieves Guild)....................................TG09 Tutorial (Main Story)..................................................MS01 Two Sides of the Coin..................................................SQ23 Ulterior Motives (Mages Guild).........................................MG09 Ultimate Heist, The (Thieves Guild)....................................TG12 Unearthing Mehrunes' Razor..............................................SQ49 Unexpected Voyage, An..................................................SQ31 Unfinished Business (Fighters Guild)...................................FG04 Unfortunate Shopkeeper, The (Fighters Guild)...........................FG02 Unfriendly Competition.................................................SQ24 Untaxing the Poor (Thieves Guild)......................................TG03 Vaermina (Daedric Quest)...............................................DQ04 Vahtacen's Secret (Mages Guild)........................................MG10 Vampire Cure...........................................................SQ46 Venerable Vintage, A...................................................SQ47 Wandering Scholar, The (Fighters Guild)................................FG11 Watery Grave, A (Dark Brotherhood).....................................DB02 Wayward Knight, The (Main Story).....................................MS13-A Weynon Priory (Main Story).............................................MS05 When the Vow Breaks....................................................SQ48 Where Spirits Have Lease...............................................SQ25 Whispers of Death (Dark Brotherhood)...................................DB22 Whodunit? (Dark Brotherhood)...........................................DB09 Whom Gods Annoy........................................................SQ26 Zero Visibility........................................................SQ33 [QL02] <~~~~~~ QUESTS LISTED BY CITY/REGION ~~~~~~> Quests in this section are listed by the closest major city. If you want to know everything you can do in a city and the surrounding area, just look through this list and then find the mini-walkthroughs for each quest. Only side quests (i.e. not any main story, guild or daedric quests) are listed here. | Anvil +------- Ghost Ship of Anvil, The...............................................SQ06 Siren's Deception, The.................................................SQ21 When the Vow Breaks....................................................SQ48 Where Spirits Have Lease...............................................SQ25 | Bravil +-------- Caught in the Hunt.....................................................SQ27 Forlorn Watchman, The..................................................SQ05 Through a Nightmare, Darkly............................................SQ22 | Bruma +------- Brotherhood Betrayed, A................................................SQ02 Lifting the Vale.......................................................SQ12 Two Sides of the Coin..................................................SQ23 | Cheydinhal +------------ Brush with Death, A....................................................SQ29 Corruption and Conscience..............................................SQ28 | Chorrol +--------- Canvas the Castle......................................................SQ03 Killing Field, The.....................................................SQ09 Legacy Lost............................................................SQ11 Separated at Birth.....................................................SQ18 Shadow Over Hackdirt, A................................................SQ19 Sins of the Father.....................................................SQ20 | Imperial City +--------------- Arena, The.............................................................SQ01 Collector, The.........................................................SQ30 Imperial Corruption....................................................SQ08 Nothing You Can Possess................................................SQ36 Order of the Virtuous Blood............................................SQ14 Origin of the Gray Prince..............................................SQ15 Repairing the Orrery (Official Mod)....................................SQ17 Secrets of the Ayleids.................................................SQ37 Unexpected Voyage, An..................................................SQ31 Unfriendly Competition.................................................SQ24 | Kvatch +-------- Sunken One, The........................................................SQ45 | Leyawiin +---------- Knights of the White Stallion..........................................SQ10 Mazoga the Orc.........................................................SQ13 Raid on Greyland.......................................................SQ34 Tears of the Savior....................................................SQ32 Whom Gods Annoy........................................................SQ26 | Skingrad +---------- Paranoia...............................................................SQ16 Seeking Your Roots.....................................................SQ44 Vampire Cure...........................................................SQ46 | Wilderness +------------ These quests take place out in the wilds of Cyrodiil, away from the cities. Attack on Fort Sutch...................................................SQ38 Bear Season............................................................SQ39 Go Fish................................................................SQ07 Goblin Trouble.........................................................SQ40 Gravefinder's Repose, The..............................................SQ35 No Stone Unturned......................................................SQ41 Potato Snatcher, The...................................................SQ42 Revenge Served Cold....................................................SQ43 Unearthing Mehrunes' Razor..............................................SQ49 Venerable Vintage, A...................................................SQ47 Zero Visibility........................................................SQ33 [MA00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MISCELLANEOUS ADVENTURES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ [MA01] <~~~~~~ HOME OWNERSHIP ~~~~~~> One of the big downsides to looting dungeons is becoming overburdened with stuff you simply don't want to part with. Whether it's books, extra clothing, the hundred-or-so keys you collect or that cool-looking sword you want to show off...you can't keep it with you. But you can't store it in any public or semi-public (like a guild hall) place because the containers in those places are periodically reset. You can always just drop items on the ground. The ground is never reset (except in a few instances), so your items stay there. But there are numerous problems with that: wandering NPCs might pick up some of your stuff, it can be hard to locate small items lying on the ground, and it just looks trashy. The solution: a home of your own. There are a variety of options for ownership of a home in Cyrodiil. You can buy a house in each main city, except Kvatch. The basic method of purchasing a home is: talk to the city's ruler (or designate), get said person's Disposition high enough (typically 60 or 70), ask about buying a home, buy the home, purchase furnishings at a shop, move in. You can store whatever you want in your home. Containers in your house (or houses) are never reset. Thieves do not break in and steal. There are bookshelves for your books. And the largest house available also has display cases where you can show off all your trophies. The houses are here ranked according to their desirability factor--a highly subjective number that encompasses three things: value, attractiveness and location. The prices of the homes are fixed. The price of furnishings will vary, depending on your ability to haggle with the furniture merchant. The figures listed are the base price charged by the merchant prior to any haggling. Furnishings are purchased in sets; for example a dining area, a bedroom area, etc. What you actually purchase is a "receipt" telling you what you're getting. (These receipts are filed under the Books category in the merchant's inventory.) As soon as you purchase the receipt, the items appear in your home. Three houses--Anvil, Skingrad and Chorrol--have names, listed in parentheses after the city. The remaining are simply referred to as "My [city name] House". | ANVIL (Benirus Manor) +----------------------- Price: 5,000 Furnishings: n/a (already furnished) Total cost: 5,000 Desirability factor: 10/10 Extras: Lich tomb in the basement, 2nd floor balcony The only way to really occupy this house is to complete the side quest "Where Spirits Have Lease". Once you've destroyed the lich entombed in the basement, the house is all yours--and a nice place it is, too. While not quite up to the luxury of Cheydinhal, Chorrol or Skingrad, it's still a step up from the other cities. And it's cheap. Real cheap. The total cost of Benirus Manor is less than the hovel in Imperial City, and it's a lot nicer. Not to mention it's conveniently located near Anvil's North Gate and right across the street from the Fighters Guild hall (you'll frequent this hall if you play through the Fighters Guild quests). If you want a house as quickly as possible, pinch your pennies, get a magic weapon, and take out the spirits living in this house rather than buy one of the shanties elsewhere. | SKINGRAD (Rosethorn Hall) +--------------------------- Price: 25,000 Furnishings: (Colovian Traders) * Balcony Area (2 stools, 2 rugs, chair, chest, table, candles), 2797 * Balcony Upgrade (2 large shelves, candles, pottery), 2447 * Bedroom Area (2 cupboards, bed upgrade, shelves, chest, dresser, rug, stool), 2797 * Den Area (2 dressers, desk, chair, rug, candle sconces, pottery), 2797 * Dining Area (3 chairs, shelves, chandelier, rug, silver place settings, candle holder, pottery), 2797 * Display Case Upgrade (3 large & 4 small display cases, candles), 1748 * Kitchen Area (2 cupboards, table, barrel, set of scales, pottery), 2797 * Lower Wall Hangings (10 paintings, 5 tapestries), 2797 * Servants Quarters (2 stools, privacy screen, bed, cupboard, table, chest, candles, pottery), 2797 * Sitting Area (2 stools, 2 rugs, bench, shelves, table, pottery), 2797 * Storage Area (4 crates, 4 barrels, 3 chests, 2 wine racks, shelves, candle holders), 2797 * Study Area (2 bookshelves, executive desk, chair, chest, mini-tapestries), 2797 * Upper Hall Area (2 chests, 2 chairs, shelves, table, rug, candles, pottery), 2797 * Upper Sitting Area (2 stools, 2 chairs, table, chandelier, pottery), 2797 * Upper Wall Hangings (6 tapestries, 5 paintings), 2797 Total cost: 65,556 Desirability factor: 10/10 Extras: Maid, hidden treasure, 2nd floor balcony A house worth every penny you have to spend on it, and then some. This is the peak of ostentatious wealth, and your ultimate "prize" for plundering all those dungeons. To obtain the house, you must have a Fame of 15 (or higher), and speak to Count Hassildor's butler, Shum gro-Yarug. gro-Yarug spends his mornings in town, and hangs around the castle the rest of the day. Get his Disposition to 70 and he'll tell you the count is getting ready to evict Rosethorn Hall's current tenant and his "junk" and the place is yours for a mere 25,000 gold. You can buy furnishings from Gunder at Colovian Traders. After you've purchased the Servants Quarters, talk to Gunder's assistant, Eyja. She asks if you need a maid. She'll charge you 150 gold a month, and sleeps in the basement. At any time, you can ask her for "Drink" and get a bottle of Rosethorn Mead (Fortify Strength & Endurance, Drain Intelligence & Willpower); or, ask her for "Food" and get her own Shepherd's Pie, which acts as an alchemical ingredient. Finally, in your bedroom (third floor), you can find an old scroll on top of the section of the room covering the stairs. You'll need to get up on the bookcase next to the ledge to get the scroll--it's easiest to reach by jumping from the nearest display case. The scroll contains a riddle leading to a hidden treasure. The treasure is in an hourglass in the basement--find the column with garlic cloves hanging from it and look in the eastern support where the crossbeam forms a triangle. (The hourglass will not appear until you've seen the old scroll.) Inside are a number of gems and the Ring of the Gray, which contains Fortify Sneak, Marksman, Security and Acrobatics, Resist Poison and Detect Life enchantments. | BRUMA +------- Price: 10,000 Furnishings: (Novaroma) * Bedroom Area (2 candle sconces, cupboard, dresser, chest, rug, candle holder, pottery, flowers), 1906 * Dining Area (3 chairs, rug, shelves, pottery, utensils, flowers), 1906 * Kitchen Area (cupboard, wine rack, chest, fireplace rack, candle holder, rug, bottles, pottery), 1906 * Lower Storage (3 barrels, chest, shelves, table, bench, chair, rug, pottery), 1906 * Lower Wall Hangings (3 paintings, 3 tapestries, 4 candle sconces), 1906 * Study Area (2 bookshelves, desk, chair, candelabra, candles), 1906 * Upper Sitting Area (2 tables, bench, chair, rug, candle holder, flowers), 1906 * Upper Storage (2 chests, shelves, table, candelabra, pottery), 1906 * Upper Wall Hangings (5 paintings, tapestry, 2 candle holders), 1906 Total cost: 27,154 Desirability factor: 9/10 Extras: None The Bruma house is the first step up from the basic shacks in Imperial City, Bravil and Leyawiin. The total cost is only 36% higher than the Leyawiin house, yet it is a huge improvement. It's still not spacious--the rooms are somewhat cramped--but there are several different rooms, it's attractive and clean and it is extremely convenient. It's located right next to Bruma's East Gate, and you'll spend a lot of time in Bruma and its environs as part of the main story. Plus, your house is near the merchants, rather than grouped with all the other houses. What more can you ask? Well, room, for one. The Bruma house is "cozy"; there's more room in the Chorrol, Cheydinhal, Anvil and Skingrad houses; but, only the Anvil house is any cheaper, the rest are quite a bit more expensive. If you're looking for the perfect "tweener" house to tide you over from your starter shack to your future mansion, the Bruma house is it. | FROSTCRAG SPIRE +----------------- Price: Free* Furnishings: (Aurelinwae, Mystic Emporium, Market District, Imperial City) * Alchemy Lab, 2455 * Magetallow candles, 2 boxes, each 3275 * Bedroom Area, 1637 * Library Area, 1637 * Vault Area (includes guardian imps), 1637 Total cost: 13,916 Desirability factor: 8/10 Extras: Altar of Enchanting, Altar of Spellmaking, alchemical table & garden, portals to all Mages Guilds * Your character receives the deed to Frostcrag Spire for nothing. You, the player, must pay Bethesda Softworks $1.89 (US) in real money for the official mod. You receive this tower, free-of-charge, when you purchase and install the Wizard's Tower (DLC3) official mod. Even though the tower is free, furnishing it is not. In addition to the furnishings, you must buy certain equipment to get everything functional. (Namely, magetallow candles at a total of about 6,500 gold to get the enchanting and spellmaking altars working.) The tower is remote and difficult to reach without using Fast Travel. When you do use FT, you are deposited quite a distance away and have to climb up to the tower, and then up three flights of stairs before you can enter. Also, the official description promises breathtaking views, but the weather is always lousy, so good luck getting a glimpse of Imperial City from the top of your tower. (Note: turning off precipitation in the .ini file as detailed in PC Optimization may help you get a good view of Imperial City.) What pushes this up into the top four homes is the conservatory, containing a large variety of alchemical ingredients (including some normally only found in Oblivion), and the enchanting and spellmaking altars. With this tower, you don't need to join the Mages Guild to make your own spells, enchant equipment and experiment with Alchemy. | DUNBARROW COVE +---------------- Price: Free* Furnishings/Crew: (Dahlia Rackham, Clarabella) * Upgraded quarters (500 gold): slightly improves the appearance of the captain's--that is your--quarters. * A fence (1,000 gold): Khafiz and his pet warthog, Bacon, settle in to Dunbarrow. Khafiz is an Expert trainer in Mercantile and a fence with 1,500 gold (the same as Fathis Ules of the Thieves Guild). * A fletcher (1,000 gold): Melliwin moves in and hangs out along the back wall of the cavern. She is an Expert trainer in Marksman and sells some basic supplies and Stealth-related spells. * A security expert (1,000 gold): Tahm Blackwell sells a few supplies, some Stealth-related spells and provides Expert training in Security. He has a little campsite to your right as you enter the main cavern. * A spymaster (1,000 gold): Kovan Kren is a dark elf who likes to spend his time practicing with his sword over to your left as you enter the main cavern. He sells Stealth-related supplies and spells and provides Sneak training up to Expert level. * A supplier (1,000 gold): Jak Silver takes up residence in the Black Flag mid-deck. He has a number of interesting items for sale and also provides Expert-level Speechcraft training. * Miscellaneous pirates (no cost): Talk to one of these guys and send them out to plunder. They'll return in a week and give you a share of the booty. Total cost: 5,500 Desirability factor: 8/10 Extras: Fence, trainers, plunder! * Your character receives the quest to Dunbarrow Cove for nothing. You, the player, must pay Bethesda Softworks $1.89 (US) in real money for the official mod. Once you buy the Thieves Den official mod, you'll get a message telling you to investigate Dunbarrow Cove. You'll find Dunbarrow by entering a smuggler's cave at water level on the south side of the island occupied by Castle Anvil. Go straight through the cave to enter the Cove. Inside is the wreckage of a pirate ship and the undead crew. There are six skeletons in the main cavern, plus the undead Cap'n Dugal in his cabin. Defeat them all; then, go see Dahlia Rackham on the Clarabella. The Clarabella is the eastern ship docked at Anvil. (If you ventured into the ship previously, it was occupied by un-named pirates and minimal loot.) Rackham sells the services of a crew, as well as improvements to the underground wreck. Once you've fully "furnished" the Cove, you have your own pirate gang to do your bidding. There are Expert-level trainers for Mercantile, Speechcraft, Marksman, Security and Sneak skills. There's a fence (1,500 gold limit) and several different types of merchants. You can also order your crew to go out an plunder. Return a week later and get your share of the loot, which is very large. A definite must-have for Stealthy characters, and not a bad hangout for other types of characters as well. | CHORROL (Arborwatch) +---------------------- Price: 20,000 Furnishings: (Northern Goods and Trade) * Bedroom Area (3 chairs, bed upgrade, shelves, dresser, cupboard, chest, chandelier, desk, rug), 3146 * Dining Area (4 chairs, rug, chandelier, wine rack, silver place settings and utensils), 3146 * Dining Upgrade (3 tables, 2 sets of shelves, pottery), 3146 * Kitchen Area (cupboard, barrel, table, stool, candle holder, pottery), 3146 * Lower Wall Hangings (7 paintings, 5 tapestries, 2 wall lanterns), 3146 * Middle Wall Hangings (3 paintings, 3 tapestries, wall lantern), 2622 * Servants Quarters (bed, cupboard, table, rug, chandelier, pottery), 3146 * Sitting Area (3 tables, 2 benches, 2 chairs, small table, cupboard, large rug, pottery), 3146 * Study Area (2 bookcases, 2 small bookcases, chair, desk, rug, desk accessories, candles), 3146 * Suite Area (4 chairs, 2 tables, large bed, large rug, rug, dresser, cupboard, chandelier, pottery), 3496 * Upper Wall Hangings (4 tapestries, 3 paintings), 2622 Total cost: 53,908 Desirability factor: 6/10 Extras: none This "other mansion" is a little cheaper and a little easier to obtain than Rosethorn Hall--you need a Fame of 12 (or higher) and a Disposition of 70 with the Countess of Chorrol, who has regular hours (8am to 6pm) in the castle. Considering what an extra 12,000 gold can get you in Skingrad, it's hard to justify this purchase. You get no servant (though there are Servants Quarters) and the house isn't quite as opulent as Rosethorn Hall. (Plus, no hidden loot.) If you play through the Fighters Guild, you could buy this as your "guild master residence", since it's only a couple doors down from the Fighters Guild hall and your office. | DEEPSCORN HOLLOW +------------------ Price: Free* Furnishings: (Rowley Eardwulf, Wawnet Inn) * Bedroom Area, 3060 * Cattle Cell, 3060 * Dark Minion, 3060 * Dining Area, 3060 * Garden, 3060 * Storage Area, 3060 * Study Are, 3060 * Ichor of Sithis, 5066 Total cost: 26,486 Desirability factor: 5/10 (10/10 for vampires) Extras: Altar of Sithis, murdering minion, free food (for vampires), Vampire bath * Your character receives the deed to Deepscorn Hollow for nothing. You, the player, must pay Bethesda Softworks $1.89 (US) in real money for the official mod. Like Frostcrag Spire, you don't have to do anything to obtain this little country cottage other than purchase and install the official mod. When you reload your game after installation, a journal entry informs you of Deepscorn Hollow and marks it on your map. It is south-southeast of Leyawiin, not far from Tidewater Cave (Nocturnal's Quest) and Bogwater Swamp ("The Renegade Shadowscale"). Deepscorn Hollow is a little island just off the coast. There's a bridge over to it if you don't want to get your feet wet. Find the partially submerged towers on the south side of the island and swim down to a large, hollow log that protrudes from the base of one of the towers. Swim into the log to find the door to the lair; you have the key to open it (the key is added by the mod). Inside, just as you come up from the water, you'll find a diary. Click it to update your journal and read about the former owner of this place. Yes, you are now the proud owner of a vampire lair. If you are not a vampire, you may still find a use for this wretched hive of villainy--there's an easy cure for vampirism. Explore the ruins a bit--there are no monsters...well, other than, perhaps, you--until you find the trap door that leads outside. You can now use that trap door as well as the submerged door to get back into the lair. Now, if you don't really need a vampire lair, you can avoid purchasing any of the equipment from Rowley Eardwulf. If you ever need a cure for vampirism, return to Deepscorn Hollow, go to the Cloister area and find the pool on the south side of the Cloister. In one corner of the room is a Purgeblood Salts rock formation. Activate a formation to collect some Purgeblood Salts, enter the pool and Activate the Font of Renewal in the center. Tada! You're cured of vampirism. (That's a lot easier than the Vampire Cure quest, isn't it?) If you are a vampire, or just ornery enough to use the lair anyway, follow the suggestion of your new journal entry and travel to Wawnet Inn outside Imperial City. Find Rowley Eardwulf sitting on the stairs and purchase the necessary furnishings from him. They're expensive, so be sure to raid your bank account prior to visiting. In addition to the furnishings, you'll need a bottle of Ichor of Sithis in order to activate the Altar of Sithis in your new home. (Eardwulf is also a Journeyman Sneak skill trainer.) Return to Deepscorn Hollow to find that your furnishings have been put in place. Wandering around the lair is your new minion (if you purchased the minion). Unlike Dark Brotherhood murderers, this one won't go along with you as a companion; but, he will go out and kill in your name and return the loot to you in a Victim's Loot Chest in his room next to the garden. You'll also find a prison cell with a sleeping prisoner. The prisoner sleeps 24/7 and can't be wakened--a feeding trough for vampires. Finally, you'll find the Altar of Sithis. Activate it with the Ichor in your inventory and the altar is now working. Only those whose Infamy is higher than Fame can use the Altar. When you Activate it, you receive the following buffs: Fortify Sneak 10, Fortify Health 20, Fortify Agility 5. The buffs last for 1,000 seconds (or a little over 16-1/2 minutes). | IMPERIAL CITY +--------------- Price: 2,000 Furnishings: (Three Brothers Trade Goods, Sergius Verus) * Dining Area (shelves, rug, pottery, candles), 732 * Kitchen Area (cupboard, rug, basket, pottery), 732 * Sitting Area (2 chairs, table), 732 * Storage Area (2 dressers, chest, candles), 732 * Wall Hangings (3 tapestries, 1 painting), 732 Total cost: 5,660 Desirability factor: 5/10 Extras: none There's no getting around it--this is a shanty in the slums of the Waterfront district. Despite that, it is not a bad purchase. The furniture looks more rustic than decrepit; and, while it's a single, small room, it's pretty clean and quite cozy. For a cheap place to store your goods, you can't go wrong with this one. Plus, it gives you a place near Imperial City for conducting operations--especially those involving the Thieves Guild. On the downside, you're not in Imperial City itself, and the Fast Travel point is a good walk away. If you play through the Thieves Guild, you'll get a room in the nearby guild hall that's larger and nicer than this clapboard shack. If you've got 5,000 gold to invest, the Anvil manor is a better purchase, but you may not want to fight the undead to get it (plus, it's Anvil, the other end of the world). This small home might just be what you need to hold you over until you can buy one of the really nice homes. | CHEYDINHAL +------------ Price: 15,000 Furnishings: (Borba's Goods and Stores) * Bedroom Area (bed upgrade, dresser, chest, table, rug, candles, pottery), 2788 * Dining Area (2 chairs, shelves, rug, basket, pottery, utensils), 2788 * Dressing Area (cupboard, dresser, shelves, chair, rug, candles, pottery), 2788 * Kitchen Area (2 cupboards, table, rug, pottery, utensils), 2788 * Lower Wall Hangings (5 paintings, 2 tapestries), 2788 * Sitting Area (2 chairs, 2 tables, bench, rug, barrel, pottery), 2788 * Storage Area (3 barrels, 2 crates, 2 chests, candles), 2788 * Study Area (desk, stool, bookshelf, rug, basket, desk accessories), 2788 * Upper Hall Area (2 candle sconces, 2 sets of shelves, 2 candle holders, bench, pottery), 2788 * Upper Wall Hangings (3 tapestries, 3 paintings), 2788 Total cost: 42,880 Desirability factor: 5/10 Extras: none The Cheydinhal house is an attractive, Tudor-style house in the southwest quarter of the city. It's a step up from the Bruma house, and quite a step it is: 58% hike in the total cost. Is it worth it? Probably not. If you have the Bruma house, you can easily use it until you can afford Rosethorn Hall in Skingrad. The Cheydinhal house is larger, but it is terribly inconvenient. It's a fair walk from any of the city's three Fast Travel points; plus, it's Cheydinhal. Unless you're doing the Fighters Guild or Dark Brotherhood quests, you'll spend little time here. | BRAVIL +-------- Price: 4,000 Furnishings: (The Fair Deal) * Dining Area (2 chairs, rug, pottery), 1127 * Kitchen Area (cupboard, table, chair, pottery), 1127 * Racks Assortment (2 wine racks, 3 weapon racks), 1127 * Reading Area (2 bookshelves, rug, chair, candelabra), 1127 * Storage Area (2 dressers, chest, chair, rug, candelabra), 1127 * Wall Hangings (4 paintings, 1 tapestry), 1127 Total cost: 10,762 Desirability factor: 2/10 Extras: none | LEYAWIIN +---------- Price: 7,000 Furnishings: (Best Goods and Guarantees) * Bedroom Area (dresser, privacy screen, rug, shelves, candles), 1844 * Dining Area (3 chairs, rug, candle, pottery), 1844 * Kitchen Area (cupboard, large table, baskets), 1844 * Reading Area (3 bookshelves, 2 candles, chair, table, rug, large privacy screen), 1844 * Storage Area (3 barrels, chest, basket, rug, broom), 1844 * Study Area (desk, chair, bookshelf, candelabra), 1844 * Wall Hangings (5 paintings, 2 tapestries), 1844 Total cost: 19,908 Desirability factor: 1/10 Extras: none Both the Bravil and Leyawiin "houses" are little more than hovels, only slightly larger than the shanty in Imperial City, but a lot dirtier and more dilapidated. The Bravil house gets a slightly higher rating due to the fact it is about half the cost of the one in Leyawiin. Neither is conveniently located to a Fast Travel point, nor is either in any way attractive or even "homey". Unless you're collecting houses, give these two a miss. [MA02] <~~~~~~ SKILL TRAINING ~~~~~~> Oblivion is all about the skills, so training up your skills is of primary importance throughout the game. There are five ways to increase your skill ranks: 1) Use the skill. This is the most common way of skill training. 2) Read a skill book. There are five skill books for each skill (except Speechcraft, which has only four). Opening one of these books increases the associated skill by one rank. A particular title will only increase your skill one time, so finding multiple copies does you no good. In addition to finding these books at various places in the game world, you may also be able to buy them at one of the book merchants. 3) Pay a trainer. For each skill there are Apprentice, Journeyman and Master trainers. Apprentice trainers can train your skill to rank 40. Journeyman trainers can train your skill to rank 70. Master trainers can train your skill to rank 100. You can only train five skill ranks per class level (five ranks in one skill, or one rank in five skills or any combination thereof). Apprentice and Journeyman trainers are available to everyone*; and, you do not have to be a certain rank to use Journeyman trainers (i.e. they'll train you even if your skill rank is 5). Master trainers are only available once you've reached rank 70, gotten a recommendation from a Journeyman trainer (requires high Disposition with the trainer) and fulfilled certain requirements. *Trainers may be members of a guild and may not let non-guild members train with them; these will be noted in the skill guides below. 4) Rewards. Certain quests or actions give you increases in a skill as part of the reward. In the original release of Oblivion, certain skill rank quest awards are bugged so that you receive the additional ranks, but not the additional skill experience, so your skill becomes stuck until your experience catches up to your rank. This bug is supposed to be fixed in patch 1.1. 5) Magic. Spells and enchantments can temporarily or permanently increase your skill ranks. Depending on the type of effect, you may or may not receive any additional Mastery Level perks when increasing a skill with magic. Here's the full list of skills along with how to train them through use, the related skill books (and their locations if known), the trainers and the Master Trainer "quest", and how you can get that skill increased as a reward. For a more complete description of each skill (as well as races and birthsigns) along with how to control your leveling, see the PapaGamer Character Build Guide at: http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt | Acrobatics +------------ * Skill use: this skill is primarily trained through jumping; however, you get a bonus to your skill experience if you are hurt at the end of the jump. (Seems counter-intuitive, but there you go.) So...go fall off a mountain. Actually, you need to find a steep hillside or mountainside, ready some healing potions or spells and jump down in stages. You'll sustain damage and your Acrobatics ranks will fly. * Books: -> "Thief" -> "A Dance in Fire, v1" -> "A Dance in Fire, v2" -> "The Black Arrow, v1" -> "Mystery of Talara, v1" * Trainers: -> Quill-Weave (Apprentice), lives in Anvil along the north wall -> Ida Vlinorman (Apprentice), Imperial City, Elven Gardens district -> Tsrava (Journeyman), Leyawiin, J'Bari's house -> Ganredhel (Journeyman), Cheydinhal, house is behind the chapel -> Torbern (Master), Aerin's Camp, north-northeast of Cheydinhal Master "quest": none really. The Journeymen will tell you to see Aerin at his camp in the northeastern section of Cyrodiil. When you get there, you find no Aerin, but a Torbern will train your Acrobatics. No questions asked. * Rewards: -> +1 from Quill-Weave if you protect her secret in the Fighters Guild quest, "A Rat Problem" | Alchemy +--------- * Skill use: making potions trains this skill the fastest. You can also earn experience just eating ingredients, but only 10% of what you earn by making a potion. Potions are also a good source of income (and selling them helps your Mercantile skill). The time-consuming factor is obtaining ingredients. You can buy out alchemy merchants, but that costs a lot of gold. So whether you're scavenging for ingredients or scavenging for the gold to buy ingredients, it still takes a while to train up this skill. * Books: -> "A Game at Dinner" -> "Mannimarco, King of Worms" -> "Song of the Alchemists" -> "De Rerum Dirennis" -> "Calcinator Treatise" * Trainers: -> Felen Relas (Apprentice), Anvil Mages Guild -> S'drassa (Apprentice), Leyawiin Mages Guild -> Ardaline (Journeyman), Bravil Mages Guild -> Brotch Calus (Journeyman), Bruma, next to the chapel -> Sinderion (Master), Skingrad, West Weald inn basement Master "quest": Sinderion wants two bottles of wine--Tamika 399 and Surilie Brothers 399. You can find these wines at various places throughout the game, including the wine cellar in Castle Skingrad, the vault of Frostcrag Spire (if you buy the Wizard's Tower official mod and the vault furnishings); and, the captain's cabin of the Marie Elena (northern-most ship docked at Imperial City's Waterfront and target of Dark Brotherhood quest, "A Watery Grave"). * Rewards: | Alteration +------------ * Skill use: Alteration, like Illusion, has a lot of self-targeted spells: Feather, Water Breathing, etc. Pick one and cast it on yourself over and over. Since each cast has an effect, you earn experience for every cast. You can increase your skill by many ranks just walking from one town to another. * Books: -> "Daughter of the Niben" -> "The Dragon Break" -> "Sithis" -> "Reality & Other Falsehoods" -> "The Lunar Lorkhan" * Trainers: -> Dovyn Aren (Apprentice), Imperial City Elven Gardens district -> Deetsan (Apprentice), Cheydinhal Mages Guild -> Athragar (Journeyman), Chorrol Mages Guild -> Abhuki (Journeyman), owner of the Faregyl Inn, on the Green Road south of Imperial City (site of "The Potato Snatcher" side quest) -> Tooth-in-the-Sea (Master), near Flooded Mine on Niben Bay coast Master "quest": Tooth-in-the-Sea wants a demonstration of your Alteration prowess. You must stay underwater with him for three hours game time (six minutes real time). Argonians--natural water breathers--are exempted from this test. Afterwards, he'll train you. * Rewards: | Armorer +--------- * Skill use: Armorer is actually rather difficult to train. In order to train this skill you need two things: damaged armor or weapons and plenty of money to buy repair hammers. You can get damaged armor and weapons in the same way you train other combat skills: Summon a low level creature, turn it hostile with three strikes and then let it beat on you. Getting money for repair hammers...well, that comes with dungeon delving. Though not as difficult to train as Mercantile or Speechcraft, this is not one you want to depend on when you need to level up or boost an attribute. * Books: -> "The Armorer's Challenge" -> "Last Scabbard of Akrash" -> "Light Armor Repair" -> "Cherim's Heart of Anequina" -> "Heavy Armor Repair" * Trainers: -> Eitar (Apprentice), Margarte's house in Leyawiin -> Tadrose Helas (Apprentice), Bravil Fighters Guild -> Rohssan (Journeyman), owner of "A Fighting Chance" in Imperial City's Market district -> Rasheda (Journeyman), owner of "Fire and Steel" in Chorrol -> Gin-Wulm (Master), wanders Elven Garden district in Imperial City Master "quest": Gin-Wulm wants you to prove your knowledge of armor lore by answering a question about a famous smith named Hazzadir. To answer, you need to have read "The Armorer's Challenge", which can be purchased at First Edition Books in the Market district (and may be found elsewhere). * Rewards: | Athletics +----------- * Skill use: training this skill seems easy enough--just run everywhere and swim every time you see water. But, breaking down the numbers shows it takes 70 hours of swimming to go from rank 5 to rank 100, assuming it's not a specialty or major skill. (Or 97 hours running.) That's a lot of running and swimming. The upshot, Athletics trains pretty slowly. It will train faster if you have it as a major skill, and faster still if your class specializes in Combat. * Books: -> "The Ransom of Zarek" -> "A Dance in Fire, v3" -> "The Red Kitchen Reader" -> "Beggar" -> "The Argonian Account, Book 1" * Trainers: -> Uuras (Apprentice), shepherd who lives in Skingrad and spends his days near the grape fields west of the city -> Mahei (Apprentice), lives in Leyawiin -> Hauls-Ropes-Faster (Journeyman), wanders the docks of Anvil at night -> Honditar (Journeyman), lives just outside Chorrol -> Rusia Bradus (Master), lives in Anvil, Silgor's House, next to the Abandoned House Master "quest": You must have discovered 30 locations (see the stats tab of your journal). If you've been playing the game for a while, this should not be a problem. * Rewards: | Blade +------- * Skill use: obviously you train this skill by using your weapon. Every hit, regardless of the amount of damage, adds to your skill experience. The easiest way to train this skill is to use Summons as training dummies. Just summon a low-level creature and beat on it. Rinse and repeat as needed. Make sure you do this out in the middle of nowhere so civilians or guards don't join in the fun. And summon something that's not too far below you in level, you don't want to kill it in one stroke. * Books: -> "Words and Philosophy" -> "2920, Morning Star (v1)" -> "Fire and Darkness" -> "Song Of Hrormir" -> "Battle of Sancre Tor" * Trainers: -> Naspia Cosma (Apprentice), steward at Castle Cheydinhal -> Right-Wind (Apprentice), Bruma Fighters Guild -> Sherina (Journeyman), Leyawiin Fighters Guild -> Rhano (Journeyman), Anvil Fighters Guild -> Alix Lencolia (Master), is staying at the Faregyl Inn on the Green Road south of Imperial City (site of "The Potato Snatcher" side quest) Master "quest": You need either a Fame or Infamy score of at least 20. Unless you've been working hard on skill training without actually doing any quests, this should be a no-brainer. * Rewards: -> For a few minutes, watch two Blades practicing outside Cloud Ruler Temple and get +2 Blade | Block +------- * Skill use: each block of an enemy's attack gives you some skill experience, regardless of how much damage was done. Summon a very low-level, non-magic- using creature (skeletons are good), punch it three times or use a very low- damage spell three times and it will turn and attack you. Raise your shield, and let it hit you until its time runs out. Then summon another and do it again. Do this in the wilderness or there will be unwanted consequences. You can also train this skill in the wild; if the enemies you face are not too strong, just sit and Block their attacks. Since they have no expiration date, you can keep this up a lot longer. * Books: -> "Death Blow of Abernanit" -> "The Mirror" -> "A Dance in Fire, v2" -> "Warrior" -> "The Warp in the West" * Trainers: -> Huurwen (Apprentice), Anvil Fighters Guild -> Fadus Calidius (Apprentice), Skingrad Fighters Guild -> Lum gro-Baroth (Journeyman), Chorrol Fighters Guild -> Ambroise Canne (Journeyman), lives in Skingrad -> Andragil (Master), lives above Dro'Shanji in Bravil Master "quest": You have to endure a 45-second beating from Andragil. * Rewards: -> For a few minutes, watch two Blades practicing outside Cloud Ruler Temple and get +2 Block | Blunt +------- * Skill use: see Blade * Books: -> "The Legendary Sancre Tor" -> "The Importance of Where" -> "Night Falls on Sentinel" -> "King" -> "Mace Etiquette" * Trainers: -> Vigdis (Apprentice), Anvil Fighters Guild -> Bugak gro-Bol (Apprentice), owner of "Southern Books" in Leyawiin -> Azzan (Journeyman), Anvil Fighters Guild -> Christophe Marane (Journeyman), owner of the "Brina Cross Inn" north of Anvil -> Irene Metrick (Master), Imperial City, Elven Gardens District Master "quest": You must have killed more than 50 "people"--i.e. the player races. This stat is shown on the stats tab of your journal. You will have a hard time reaching a rank of 70 in Blunt in any kind of normal manner without killing at least that many NPCs. * Rewards: | Conjuration +------------- * Skill use: this is the fastest skill to train with use (6 skill experience points per cast). Skill experience is gained simply by casting a spell, so all you need is a low-level Summons spell and you cast it over and over. You don't need to wait for each summons to expire, as soon as you cast the spell again, the previous summons is replaced. You will also use Summon spells frequently to train other skills. * Books: -> "The Doors of Oblivion" -> "Liminal Bridges" -> "2920: Hearth Fire [sic] (v9)" -> "2920: Frostfall [sic] (v10)" -> "The Warrior's Charge" -> "Commentaris on the Mysterium Xarxes, Book 1" * Trainers: -> Fathis Aren (Apprentice), court mage in Bravil -> Sulinus Vassinus (Apprentice), Skingrad Mages Guild -> Alberric Litte (Journeyman), Chorrol Mages Guild -> Arentus Falvius (Journeyman), Great Chapel of Talos in Bruma -> Olyn Seran (Master), Molag Bal's shrine Master "quest": You have to summon a faded wraith in front of Seran before he'll train you. The Summon Faded Wraith spell requires a Conjuration skill of 75; so, even though you can be referred to Seran at rank 70, you can't get training from him until you're rank 75 (unless you're lucky enough to find a scroll of the spell). * Rewards: | Destruction +------------- * Skill use: essentially, you can only train this skill in the wild against enemies, since you only gain experience if it hits a target. You can use Summons for target practice, in much the same way you use them for combat skills. For an alternate training method, you must join the Mages Guild (or buy the Wizard's Tower official mod) and use the Spellmaking Altar to make a very low-damage self-targeted spell. Cast it on yourself until your health gets low; then, heal yourself to raise Restoration. * Books: -> "The Horrors of Castle Xyr" -> "Response to Bero's Speech" -> "A Hypothetical Treachery" -> "The Art of War Magic" -> "Mystery of Talara, v3" -> "Commentaris on the Mysterium Xarxes, Book 2" * Trainers: -> Chanel (Apprentice), Castle Chorrol's resident mage If you get Chanel expelled from Chorrol in "Canvas the Castle", she's out of the game for good. -> J'skar (Apprentice), Bruma Mages Guild You must complete the "Bruma Recommendation" Mages Guild quest before you can talk to J'skar -> Delphine Jend (Journeyman), Bravil Mages Guild -> Marc Gulitte (Journeyman), Anvil Mages Guild -> Bralsa Andaren (Master), hangs around a shrine to Kynareth (west of Weatherleah, north-northwest of the Shrine of Sanguine) Master "quest": Bring Andaren 20 bear pelts. You may be able to buy some from "trader" merchants (such as Colovian Traders in Skingrad, Jensine's in Imperial City, or Northern Goods in Chorrol). You should also be able to find bears in Tidewater Cave south of Leyawiin (Nocturnal's quest) and wandering in the wilderness beginning at level 7. * Rewards: | Hand To Hand +-------------- * Skill use: see Blade * Books: -> "Immortal Blood" -> "The Wolf Queen, v2" -> "Ahzirr Traajijazeri" -> "Way of the Exposed Palm" -> "Master Zoaraym's Tale" * Trainers: -> Nahsi (Apprentice), Bravil Fighters Guild -> Rufrius Vinicus (Apprentice), Anvil Fighters Guild -> Ra'qanar (Journeyman), Castle Cheydinhal servant -> Davela Hlaren (Journeyman), owner of the "Imperial Bridge Inn" on the Silverfish River (site of "No Stone Unturned" side quest) -> Helvius Cecia (Master), lives in the south section of Bruma Master "quest": You have to reduce his health by about half in 30 seconds of hitting him with your fists. * Rewards: -> Watch two sparrers outside the Arena (Imperial City) for a few minutes for a +5 to HTH skill | Heavy Armor +------------- * Skill use: each hit taken on a part of the body equipped with heavy armor counts toward your skill level ups. Equip yourself totally in heavy armor, summon a very low-level, non-magic using creature (skeletons are good), punch it three times or use a very low-damage spell three times and it will turn and attack you. Prep a healing spell and let it hit you until its time runs out. Then summon another and do it again. Do this in the wilderness or there will be unwanted consequences. * Books: -> "Hallgerd's Tale" -> "2920, MidYear (v6)" -> "Chimarvamidium" -> "How Orsinium Passed to Orcs" -> "History of the Fighters Guild" * Trainers: -> Bumph gra-Gash (Apprentice), Bruma Fighters Guild -> Brodras (Apprentice), Leyawiin Fighters Guild -> Valus Odiil (Journeyman), lives in the southwest corner of Chorrol, but spends a lot of time at The Gray Mare -> Varnado (Journeyman), co-owner of The Best Defense in Imperial City -> Pranal (Master), lives in the Roxey Inn north-northeast of Imperial City on the Red Ring Road Master "quest": Pranal wants you to present a gift to Roxey Inn proprietress Malene--four silver glasses and a silver pitcher. Note-- that's "glasses" not "cups" or "mugs". You may be able to buy these from the typical "trader" merchants in each city. You can also steal these things from just about any castle as well as some of the more affluent houses in the Talos Plaza and Temple disricts of Imperial City. One good mark: Trenus Duronis of the Temple district. His house is west of the temple, and opens into the central circle. Duronis is a skooma (drug) addict. He's rarely home at night and has no servants. His house is easy pickins'. * Rewards: | Illusion +---------- * Skill use: every spell cast gives you experience. Illusion, like Alteration, has lots of self-targeted spells, such as Light or Chameleon. You just walk along, casting one over and over. * Books: -> "The Wolf Queen, v3" -> "The Argonian Account, Book 3" -> "Incident at Necrom" -> "Palla, volume 1" (Can only be found in Arkved's Death Quarters in Arkved's Tower, part of Vaermina's quest) -> "Mystery of Talara, v4" -> "Commentaris on the Mysterium Xarxes, Book 3" * Trainers: -> Hill the Tall (Apprentice), priest at Chapel of Arkay in Cheydinhal -> Jantus Brolus (Apprentice), Bruma, Istrius Brolas' house -> Carahil (Journeyman), Anvil Mages Guild -> Martina Floria (Master), Chironasium, Arcane University You have to finish the Recommendation Quests to get access to Arcane University's Chironasium and Master trainer Floria Master "quest": Bring Floria ten welkynd stones. You can find welkynd stones in Ayleid ruins. The closest ruin--Vilverin--will provide far more than the ten stones needed. * Rewards: *NOTE* Kud-Ei of the Bravil Mages Guild is supposed to be a Journeyman Illusion trainer--she has the conversation and the scripts. Unfortunately, the developers forgot to set her trainer ability, so you'll have to rely on Carahil for Journeyman Illusion training. | Light Armor +------------- * Skill use: see Heavy Armor, but fully equip light rather than heavy armor * Books: -> "The Rear Guard" -> "Ice and Chitin" -> "Lord Jornibret's Last Dance" -> "The Refugees" -> "Rislav the Righteous" * Trainers: -> Dul gro-Shug (Apprentice), Imperial City, Elven Gardens district -> Olfand (Apprentice), Nord Winds, Bruma -> Luciana Galena (Journeyman), south quarter of Bravil over the house you can buy (she's also a Thieves Guild fence) -> Ahdarji (Journeyman), lives in Leyawiin, subject of "Ahdarji's Heirloom" Thieves Guild quest -> J'Bari (Master), house in Leyawiin Master "quest": Bring J'Bari an Elven cuirass. Your best bets for finding such a thing are to raid a bandit camp and get one off them (if you're high enough level for bandits to be wearing Elven armor). Besides the numerous small camps scattered around Cyrodiil, you can also find bandits in numbers in Cursed Mine just west of Skingrad, Dzonot Cave on the south- western shore of Lake Rumare and the first level of Vilverin (Ayleid ruin across from you as you leave the sewers at the beginning of the game). * Rewards: | Marksman +---------- * Skill use: see Blade * Books: -> "The Gold Ribbon of Merit" -> "A Dance in Fire, v5" -> "Vernaccus and Bourlor" -> "Father of the Niben" -> "The Black Arrow, v2" * Trainers: -> Shameer (Apprentice), house in Skingrad -> Edla Dark-Heart (Apprentice), Regner's house, south Bruma -> Reman Broder (Journeyman), house in Skingrad -> Pinarus Inventius (Journeyman), hunter based in Anvil, frequently wanders the wilderness (part of Fighters Guild quest "A Rat Problem") -> Melliwin (Expert), part of the Thieves Den official mod -> Alawen (Master), Troll Candle Camp, east-southeast of Anvil (Gweden Farm from "The Siren's Deception" is closest quest-related point, west- southwest of the camp) Alawen hunts frequently, so you may need to Wait until nighttime for her to return to her camp. Master "quest": Alawen wants an Elven bow. Your best bets for finding such a thing are to raid a bandit camp and get one off them (if you're high enough level for bandits to be using Elven weapons). Besides the numerous small camps scattered around Cyrodiil, you can also find bandits in numbers in Cursed Mine just west of Skingrad, Dzonot Cave on the south- western shore of Lake Rumare and the first level of Vilverin (Ayleid ruin across from you as you leave the sewers at the beginning of the game). * Rewards: | Mercantile +------------ * Skill use: you get a bump in Mercantile experience points for each item sold. So, how do you train this skill? Buy a stack of 100 arrows and sell them back--one at a time. Yeah, you would rather clean the bathrooms in Grand Central Station with your tongue. But, there it is. * Books: -> "The Buying Game" -> "The Wolf Queen, v4" -> "2920, Sun's Height (v7)" -> "A Dance in Fire, v6" -> "A Dance in Fire, v7" * Trainers: -> Foroch (Apprentice), Gottshaw Inn, southwest of Kvatch -> Mach-Na (Apprentice), owner of Mach-Na's Books, Cheydinhal -> Margarte (Journeyman), Eitar's house, Leyawiin (part of Fighters Guild quest "Drunk & Disorderly"), Margarte wanders a lot -> Seed-Neeus (Journeyman), owner of Northern Goods & Trade, Chorrol -> Khafiz (Expert), part of the Thieves Den official mod -> Palonirya (Master), owner of Divine Elegance, Imperial City, Market district Master "quest": If you have at least 10,000 gold in your pockets, Palonirya will train you (that's not how much the training costs, just how much you must be carrying when you meet her). * Rewards: -> +5 from Seed-Neeus for completing "Shadow Over Hackdirt" | Mysticism +----------- * Skill use: the Detect Life spell is a good, cheap self-targeted spell that will allow you to train this skill while you're walking around. Just keep casting it over and over; you don't have to wait for each cast to expire before casting again. * Books: -> "The Firsthold Revolt" -> "2920, Sun's Dawn (v2)" -> "The Black Arts on Trial" -> "Before the Ages of Man" -> "Souls, Black and White" -> "Commentaris on the Mysterium Xarxes, Book 4" * Trainers: -> Druja (Apprentice), Skingrad Mages Guild -> Angalmo (Apprentice), Chorrol Mages Guild -> Boderi Farano (Journeyman), Mystic Archives, Arcane University You must complete the Recommendation Quests to have access to the Mystic Archives and this trainer -> Ita Rienus (Journeyman), Bravil Mages Guild -> Dagail (Master), Leyawiin Mages Guild Master "quest": If you've closed at least three Oblivion gates, Dagail will train you. * Rewards: | Restoration +------------- * Skill use: You can train this skill using a cheap Fortify self-target spell, e.g. Fortify Magicka, and casting it on yourself over-and-over. But...this skill trains *very* slowly. You get 1/10 of the skill experience per cast as you do with Conjuration, 1/8 of Alteration, 1/5 of Mysticism and Illusion, and 1/2 of Destruction. Since it takes so long to train this skill normally, you'll need to rely on trainers, and probably don't want to rely on this skill for class leveling. * Books: -> "Withershins" -> "Notes on Racial Phylogeny" -> "The Exodus" -> "2920, Rain's Hand (v4)" -> "Mystery of Talara, v2" * Trainers: -> Cirroc (Apprentice), Great Chapel of Talos, Bruma -> Marie Palielle (Apprentice), Great Chapel of Julianos, Skingrad -> Marz (Journeyman), Great Chapel of Mara, Bravil -> Ohtesse (Journeyman), Great Chapel of Arkay, Cheydinhal -> Oleta (Master), Chapel of Akatosh, Kvatch (but she moves to the refugee camp south of the city after you secure the chapel as part of the main story) Master "quest": You must complete "Breaking the Siege of Kvatch" and "The Battle for Castle Kvatch" before Oleta will consent to train you. * Rewards: | Security +---------- * Skill use: there's no getting around it, the only way to train Security is picking locks. This is easier said than done. First, most locks that need picking will also get you into trouble with the law. Second, not everyone finds lockpicking to be easy. Fortunately for you, the developers foresaw the difficulties with lockpicking and provided both Open Lock spells (Alteration) and the Skeleton Key. So training Security isn't really worth a lot, unless you're trying to boost Agility. (PS: Once you have the Skeleton Key, you can go crazy picking locks using Auto Attempt and get ranks in Security that way.) * Books: -> "The Locked Room" -> "The Wolf Queen, v1" -> "Proper Lock Design" -> "Advances in Lock Picking" -> "Surfeit of Thieves" * Trainers: -> Malintus Ancrus (Apprentice), house in southwestern Chorrol -> Samuel Bantien (Apprentice), Imperial City, Talos Plaza district -> Dro'Shanji (Journeyman), house in the north quarter of Bravil -> Mandil (Journeyman), Othrelos's house, Imperial City, Elven Gardens -> Tahm Blackwell (Expert), part of the Thieves Den official mod -> J'baana (Master), Imperial Prison, he wanders the fenced prison yard in the back section of the district, you can speak to him through the gates or steal a key from a jailor Master "quest": You must pick up a message from S'Krivva (north quarter of Bravil) and bring it to J'baana. * Rewards: | Sneak +------- * Skill use: you can train Sneak by successfully Sneaking around *any* NPC; they don't have to be hostile. Break into someone's house, Sneak up to their bedroom and Sneak-run into the wall while they sleep. Sneak behind an innkeeper and Sneak-run into the wall. You can even train up Sneak while in a dungeon or on a mission where you have a convenient cubbyhole near some NPCs. For example, in the Dark Brotherhood contract, "Accidents Happen", you can Sneak-run in the crawlspace for days (game time) and rank up to 100 without even breaking a sweat. * Books: -> "The Wolf Queen, v6" -> "2920, Last Seed (v8)" -> "Sacred Witness" -> "Legend of Krately House" -> "Purloined Shadows" * Trainers: -> City-Swimmer (Apprentice), north quarter of Bravil -> Glistel (Apprentice), Malintus Ancrus's house, southwestern Chorrol -> Othrelos (Journeyman), Imperial City, Elven Gardens district -> Mirabelle Monet (Journeyman), owner of the Fo'c's'le, Anvil docks -> Rowley Eardwulf (Journeyman), new merchant added by "Vile Lair" official plug-in, located in Wawnet Inn west of Imperial City -> Kovan Kren (Expert), part of the Thieves Den official mod -> Marana Rian (Master), house in the Temple district of Imperial City, but wanders the city a lot Master "quest": Pickpocket the coin in Rian's pocket and you're in. * Rewards: | Speechcraft +------------- * Skill use: if there's one skill that can be said to be the most difficult and tedious skill to train, it is Speechcraft. The *only* way to train Speechcraft is by playing the Persuasion mini-game, which some players may liken to having a root canal without anesthetic. You gain 2.4 skill experience points each time you complete the mini-game (regardless of how much you raised or lowered Disposition). Considering the hundreds of points needed to rank up a skill...that's a lot of Persuasion. You'll definitely want to seek out trainers and skill books if Speechcraft is important to you. * Books: -> "Biography of the Wolf Queen" -> "The Wolf Queen, v5" -> "2920, Second Seed (v5)" -> "The Wolf Queen, v7" * Trainers: -> Alga (Apprentice), Honmund's house, Bruma -> Uravasa Othelas (Apprentice), Great Chapel of Mara, Bravil -> Gruland Garrana (Journeyman), Great Chapel of Arkay, Cheydinhal -> Varon Vamori (Journeyman), Bravil (has a part in the Bravil Recommendation Mages Guild quest) -> Jak Silver (Expert), part of the Thieves Den official mod -> Tandilwe (Master), Temple of the One, Imperial City Master "quest": You must speak to every beggar in Cyrodiil (there are 19). Beggars killed prior to starting the quest will not be counted. Any beggars you have spoken to prior to starting the quest will be counted--you do not have to talk to them again. There are five beggars in Imperial City; two in each of the other seven major cities. * Rewards: -> Get "Biography of the Wolf Queen" from Ursanne Loche when you finish "Caught in the Hunt" -> +1 from Arvena Thelas if you turn Quill-Weave in at the end of the Fighters Guild quest, "A Rat Problem" [MA03] <~~~~~~ VAMPIRISM ~~~~~~> Yes, indeed, you can become a vampire in Oblivion. There are advantages and disadvantages to becoming a vampire. To become a vampire, you must first get the disease "porphyric hemophilia". Three days after getting the disease, when you sleep, you turn into a vampire. You normally get the disease during fights with vampires. You can also willingly receive the disease during the Dark Brotherhood quests, just talk to Vincente Valtieri (before you get special orders from Lucien Lachance). You can stop the change to vampire by curing your porphyric hemophilia. Any normal method of curing disease works: potion, spell or Activating an altar in one of the Great Chapels in a city. You can greatly reduce the chance of getting porphyric hemophilia by engaging vampires at range. They can't infect you unless they use melee attacks against you. Once you are a vampire, there are four stages of vampirism: 25% vampire, 50% vampire, 75% vampire and 100% vampire. You begin at 25% (stage 1) vampire. Every few days, if you don't drink any "human" (human in this case includes Elves, Argonians and Khajiit) blood, you move to the next stage of vampirism if you rest (Wait) or sleep. Drinking human blood moves you back to stage 1 (25%) vampirism. You drink blood by finding a sleeping NPC and Activating the NPC. You'll be asked if you want to feed. Feeding on an NPC doesn't wake and doesn't harm the character. You can feed on beggars, your maid in Skingrad (if you're rich), fellow Guild members or even the Countess of Anvil (if you can break into the castle). Don't feed where any awake characters can see you, or they will raise an alarm. The benefits and penalties of the four stages of vampirism: | Stage 1 (25%) +--------------- Hunter's Sight (Lesser Power): Night Eye on self for 30 seconds Detect Life 100ft on self for 30 seconds Weakness to Fire 20 Fortify Acrobatics 5 Fortify Athletics 5 Fortify Destruction 5 Fortify Hand To Hand 5 Fortify Illusion 5 Fortify Mysticism 5 Fortify Sneak 5 Fortify Speed 5 Fortify Strength 5 Fortify Willpower 5 Resist Disease 100 Resist Normal Weapons 5 Resist Paralysis 100 | Stage 2 (50%) +--------------- Vampire's Seduction (Greater Power): Charm 50 points for 20 seconds on touch Hunter's Sight (Lesser Power): Night Eye on self for 30 seconds Detect Life 100ft on self for 30 seconds Sun Damage 1 (1 point of damage every second spent outside during the day) Weakness to Fire 30 Fortify Acrobatics 10 Fortify Athletics 10 Fortify Destruction 10 Fortify Hand To Hand 10 Fortify Illusion 10 Fortify Mysticism 10 Fortify Sneak 10 Fortify Speed 10 Fortify Strength 10 Fortify Willpower 10 Resist Disease 100 Resist Normal Weapons 10 Resist Paralysis 100 | Stage 3 (75%) +--------------- Reign of Terror (Greater Power): Silence in 20ft for 60 seconds on touch Demoralize up to level 6 for 60 seconds on touch Vampire's Seduction (Greater Power): Charm 50 points for 20 seconds on touch Hunter's Sight (Lesser Power): Night Eye on self for 30 seconds Detect Life 100ft on self for 30 seconds Sun Damage 4 (4 points of damage every second spent outside during the day) Weakness to Fire 40 Fortify Acrobatics 15 Fortify Athletics 15 Fortify Destruction 15 Fortify Hand To Hand 15 Fortify Illusion 15 Fortify Mysticism 15 Fortify Sneak 15 Fortify Speed 15 Fortify Strength 15 Fortify Willpower 15 Resist Disease 100 Resist Normal Weapons 15 Resist Paralysis 100 | Stage 4 (100%) +---------------- Embrace of Shadows (Greater Power): Night Eye on self for 90 seconds Invisibility on self for 90 seconds Reign of Terror (Greater Power): Silence in 20ft for 60 seconds on touch Demoralize up to level 6 for 60 seconds on touch Vampire's Seduction (Greater Power): Charm 50 points for 20 seconds on touch Hunter's Sight (Lesser Power): Night Eye on self for 30 seconds Detect Life 100ft on self for 30 seconds Sun Damage 8 (8 points of damage every second spent outside during the day) Weakness to Fire 50 Fortify Acrobatics 20 Fortify Athletics 20 Fortify Destruction 20 Fortify Hand To Hand 20 Fortify Illusion 20 Fortify Mysticism 20 Fortify Sneak 20 Fortify Speed 20 Fortify Strength 20 Fortify Willpower 20 Resist Disease 100 Resist Normal Weapons 20 Resist Paralysis 100 During each stage of vampirism your appearance changes. At stage 4 vampirism, your condition has become so noticeable most NPCs won't talk to you. You can't shop, get quests or anything else. You can use the Vampire's Seduction power to increase the target's Disposition so you can talk to the person. You can also use standard Charm spells, scrolls or the Imperial race's Voice of the Emperor power. Beginning with Stage 2 vampirism, you can't Fast Travel during the day. You can Fast Travel at night, but you'll need to make short hops. On foot, Fast Traveling from Cheydinhal to Anvil takes 11 hours; if you have a fast horse, you can cut that to 5 hours. So, on horseback, you can Fast Travel clear across Cyrodiil in one night; on foot you'll only be able to travel about halfway across the country. By Stage 4 vampirism, being outside during the day will require that you run along with a healing spell ready, casting almost constantly. You will not want to stop and fight in this condition, so traveling through the wilderness during the day can be quite dangerous. Keep an eye on the clock (shown on the map/quest screens of your journal and on the Wait menu) and don't go outside during the day. If you've been spelunking, stay in the dungeon until nightfall (which the game defines as 8pm), and then you can Fast Travel to the nearest city. Wait in an Inn until daylight, then sprint for the stores to sell off your loot. If you decide you don't want to be a vampire any longer, you must complete the Vampire Cure side quest. See the full description in the Side Quests section of this guide. *OR* You can purchase the Vile Lair official plug-in and use the Purgeblood Salts and Font of Renewal in the Lair to cure your vampirism. [MA04] <~~~~~~ ALCHEMY ~~~~~~> Alchemy can play a big part in Oblivion. There are certainly more than enough basic potions and poisons laying around that you do not need to make your own. Still, you can create far more interesting effects by brewing your own concoctions, and Alchemy is a very controllable skill, which is useful for leveling up and increasing Intelligence. There are over 100 alchemical ingredients in the game. Each has four effects that are used in mixtures. If your mixture has beneficial effects, it becomes a potion and is used on yourself. If your mixture has harmful effects, it becomes a poison and is used on weapons. (To use a poison, select and activate it in your Inventory and you will be asked if you want to apply it to your equipped weapon--or arrow if you have a bow equipped. The poison only has effect on the next hit with that weapon or arrow.) If your mixture has both beneficial and harmful effects, you get a potion to use on yourself. To mix ingredients, you need a mortar and pestle. You can obtain one in the starter dungeon, so that's no problem. At the beginning of the game, you need at least two ingredients with the same effect. (When you reach Master Alchemist, you can make potions and poisons from just one ingredient.) Each ingredient has four effects. The number of effects you can see, and use, is based on your Alchemy skill: * Novice - one effect * Apprentice - two effects * Journeyman - three effects * Expert - four effects | Making a Potion/Poison +------------------------ Select and activate your mortar and pestle in your Inventory. The Alchemy menu opens. At the top is a place to name your potion (an automatic name will be created based on the first effect of the mixture, or you can create your own name). Below are two panes: a list of ingredients and a list of effects. Click the Add Ingredient button to get a list of ingredients in your inventory. As you mouse-over/select each ingredient, a pop-up will show the effects created by that ingredient. Select an ingredient; then, add another with the same effect. The effect does not need to be in the same "position" for each ingredient. For example, you can create a Chameleon potion using Blood Grass (first effect) and Daedra Silk (third effect). Mixing an Alkanet Flower and Bonemeal will give you a Damage Fatigue poison even though it is the fourth effect for Alkanet Flowers and the first effect for Bonemeal. You can mix up to four ingredients. They can all have the same matching effect or not. For example, mix Beef and Blackberries for Restore Fatigue. Then add Ectoplasm for a Dispel effect (matches Dispel effect in Beef); add Void Salts for stronger Dispel and Restore Magicka (matches Restore Magicka effect in Blackberries). Call it Mage's Energizer or something like that. The strength and duration of the effects in your mixture are determined by a number of things: * Your alchemy equipment. In addition to the basic mortar and pestle, you can also have an alembic (reduces negative effects in potions, but not poisons); a retort (increases beneficial effects in potions); and a calcinator (increases all effects in both potions and poisons). Each piece of equipment in your Inventory can also be leveled--there are Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert and Master versions of all equipment. Note that for the alembic, retort and calcinator, you only need to have one in your Inventory to gain its bonus to your alchemy mixtures. * The position of the effect in each ingredient. The Damage Fatigue from Alkanet Flowers (fourth position) will be stronger than from Bonemeal (first position). *NOTE* You can consume (eat) ingredients directly and receive a small amount of experience toward your Alchemy skill. Eating ingredients always gives the first listed effect for that ingredient. | Reading the Alchemy Tables +---------------------------- Below are listed all the common (and a few uncommon) alchemical ingredients in the game in two tables. Ingredients that are used specifically to fulfill quests (such as Jumbo Potatoes, Unicorn Horn and the Ashes of Hindaril) are not listed. You can't both use the ingredients and fulfill the related quest unless you cheat in extra copies of the ingredient. In the INGREDIENTS TABLE, all the ingredients are listed with their effects. After the name of the ingredient (in parenthesis) is the method in which it is most commonly obtained: * Clutter - typically found in chests, crates, barrels and lying around * Harvest - typically must be harvested from its plant, either in the wild or in someone's garden * Creature - found as loot in a creature after killing it * Special - the ingredient can only be obtained in a certain way or in a specific place Almost all ingredients in the game can be found as clutter, though only the listed Clutter and Harvest items are likely to be found. Finding Creature ingredients as clutter is rarer and happens mostly in Mages Guild halls and necromancer/conjurer dungeons. Alchemy merchants will, at various times, carry pretty much every ingredient in the game with the exception of the Special items. The listed Effects for each ingredient are in order. So if you are a Novice alchemist, you can only utilize the first listed effect. You must be an Apprentice alchemist to utilize the second effect; a Journeyman to use the third effect and an Expert to make use of the fourth listed effect. After the list of effects are comments on the ingredient. Comments will tell you the chance of successfully harvesting the plant; the creatures that produce the ingredient when killed; whether or not the plant is native to Oblivion (and, thus, hard to find in Cyrodiil); how to collect Special ingredients and other pertinent information. Following the ingredients table, you'll find the EFFECTS TABLE. This lists all potion-produced effects in the game followed by the ingredients that cause that effect. The ingredients are grouped according to which position the effect is in their list. So, you can use the EFFECTS TABLE to see that, if you're a Journeyman alchemist who wants to make a Chameleon potion, you have to use Blood Grass, Daedra Silk and Radishes. If you are an Apprentice alchemist and want a Fire Shield potion...well, you're out of luck. INGREDIENTS TABLE Alkanet Flower (Harvest) -------------------------- Effects: Restore Intelligence, Resist Poison, Light, Damage Fatigue Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Aloe Vera Leaves (Harvest) ---------------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Restore Health, Damage Magicka, Invisibility Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Apple (Clutter) ----------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Luck, Fortify Willpower, Damage Health Arrowroot (Harvest) --------------------- Effects: Restore Agility, Damage Luck, Fortify Strength, Burden Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Beef (Clutter) ---------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Shield, Fortify Agility, Dispel Bergamot Seeds (Harvest) -------------------------- Effects: Resist Disease, Dispel, Damage Magicka, Silence Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Blackberry (Harvest) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Resist Shock, Fortify Endurance, Restore Magicka Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Blood Grass (Harvest) ----------------------- Effects: Chameleon, Resist Paralysis, Burden, Fortify Health Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Harvested in Oblivion. Boar Meat (Creature) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Health, Damage Speed, Fortify Health, Burden Comments: boar Bog Beacon Asco Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------- Effects: Restore Magicka, Shield, Damage Personality, Damage Endurance Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Bonemeal (Creature) --------------------- Effects: Damage Fatigue, Resist Fire, Fortify Luck, Night-Eye Comments: skeleton, lich Bread Loaf (Clutter) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Detect Life, Damage Agility, Damage Strength Cairn Bolete Cap (Harvest) ---------------------------- Effects: Restore Health, Damage Intelligence, Resist Paralysis, Shock Dmg Comments: 33% chance to harvest. Carrot (Harvest) ------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Night-Eye, Fortify Intelligence, Damage Endurance Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Cheese Wedge (Clutter) ------------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Resist Fire, Fire Shield, Damage Agility Cheese Wheel (Clutter) ------------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Resist Paralysis, Damage Luck, Fortify Willpower Cinnabar Polypore Red Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------------- Effects: Restore Agility, Shield, Damage Personality, Damage Endurance Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Cinnabar Polypore Yellow Cap (Harvest) ---------------------------------------- Effects: Restore Endurance, Fortify Endurance, Damage Personality, Reflect Spell Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Clannfear Claws (Creature) ---------------------------- Effects: Cure Disease, Resist Disease, Paralyze, Damage Health Comments: clannfear Clouded Funnel Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------ Effects: Restore Intelligence, Fortify Intelligence, Damage Endurance, Damage Magicka Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Columbine Root Pulp (Harvest) ------------------------------- Effects: Restore Personality, Resist Frost, Fortify Magicka, Chameleon Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Corn (Harvest) ---------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Restore Intelligence, Damage Agility, Shock Shield Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Crab Meat (Creature) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Endurance, Resist Shock, Damage Fatigue, Fire Shield Comments: mud crab Daedra Heart (Creature) ------------------------- Effects: Restore Health, Shock Shield, Damage Magicka, Silence Comments: dremora, xivilai Daedra Silk (Creature) ------------------------ Effects: Burden, Night-Eye, Chameleon, Damage Endurance Comments: spider daedra Daedra Venin (Creature) ------------------------- Effects: Paralyze, Restore Fatigue, Damage Health, Reflect Damage Comments: spider daedra Daedroth Teeth (Creature) --------------------------- Effects: Night-Eye, Frost Shield, Burden, Light Comments: daedroth Dragon's Tongue (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Resist Fire, Damage Health, Restore Health, Fire Shield Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Dreugh Wax (Creature) ----------------------- Effects: Damage Fatigue, Resist Poison, Water Breathing, Damage Health Comments: land dreugh Dryad Saddel Polypore Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------------- Effects: Restore Luck, Resist Frost, Damage Speed, Frost Damage Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Ectoplasm (Creature) ---------------------- Effects: Shock Damage, Dispel, Fortify Magicka, Damage Health Comments: ghost, wraith Elf Cup Cap (Harvest) ----------------------- Effects: Damage Willpower, Cure Disease, Fortify Strength, Damage INT Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Emetic Russula Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------ Effects: Restore Agility, Shield, Damage Personality, Damage Endurance Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Fennel Seeds (Harvest) ------------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Intelligence, Damage Magicka, Paralyze Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Fire Salts (Creature) ----------------------- Effects: Fire Damage, Resist Frost, Restore Magicka, Fire Shield Comments: flame atronach Flax Seeds (Harvest) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Magicka, Feather, Shield, Damage Health Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Flour (Clutter) ----------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Personality, Fortify Fatigue, Reflect Dmg Fly Amanita Cap (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Restore Agility, Burden, Restore Health, Shock Damage Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Foxglove Nectar (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Resist Poison, Resist Paralysis, Restore Luck, Resist Disease Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Frost Salts (Creature) ------------------------ Effects: Frost Damage, Resist Fire, Silence, Frost Shield Comments: frost atronach Garlic (Harvest) ------------------ Effects: Resist Disease, Damage Agility, Frost Shield, Fortify Strength Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Ginkgo Leaf (Clutter) ----------------------- Effects: Restore Speed, Fortify Magicka, Damage Luck, Shock Damage Ginseng (Harvest) ------------------- Effects: Damage Luck, Cure Poison, Burden, Fortify Magicka Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Glow Dust (Creature) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Speed, Light, Reflect Spell, Damage Health Comments: will-o-wisp Grapes (Harvest) ------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Water Walking, Dispel, Damage Health Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Green Stain Cup Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Speed, Reflect Damage, Damage Health Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Green Stain Shelf Cap (Harvest) --------------------------------- Effects: Restore Luck, Fortify Luck, Damage Fatigue, Restore Health Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Ham (Clutter) --------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Restore Health, Damage Magicka, Damage Luck Harrada (Harvest) ------------------- Effects: Damage Health, Damage Magicka, Silence, Paralyze Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Harvested in Oblivion. Imp Gall (Creature) --------------------- Effects: Fortify Personality, Cure Paralysis, Damage Health, Fire Damage Comments: imp Ironwood Nut (Special) ------------------------ Effects: Restore Intelligence, Resist Fire, Damage Fatigue, Fortify Health Comments: You can get these in two places: the Elder Scrolls Library during the Thieves Guild quest "The Ultimate Heist" or the skooma house, Greyland, just outside Leyawiin's West Gate. Lady's Mantle Leaves (Harvest) -------------------------------- Effects: Restore Health, Damage Endurance, Night-Eye, Feather Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Lady's Smock Leaves (Harvest) ------------------------------- Effects: Restore Intelligence, Resist Fire, Damage Fatigue, Fortify Health Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Lavender Sprig (Harvest) -------------------------- Effects: Restore Personality, Fortify Willpower, Restore Health, Damage Luck Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Leek (Harvest) ---------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Fortify Agility, Damage Personality, Damage Strength Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Lettuce (Harvest) ------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Restore Luck, Fire Shield, Damage Personality Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Mandrake Root (Harvest) ------------------------- Effects: Cure Disease, Resist Poison, Damage Agility, Fortify Willpower Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Milk Thistle Seeds (Harvest) ------------------------------ Effects: Light, Frost Damage, Cure Paralysis, Paralyze Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Minotaur Horn (Creaure) ------------------------- Effects: Restore Willpower, Burden, Fortify Endurance, Resist Paralysis Comments: minotaur Monkshood Root Pulp (Harvest) ------------------------------- Effects: Restore Strength, Damage Intelligence, Fortify Endurance, Burden Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Morning Glory Root Pulp (Harvest) ----------------------------------- Effects: Burden, Damage Willpower, Frost Shield, Damage Magicka Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Mort Flesh (Creature) ----------------------- Effects: Damage Fatigue, Damage Luck, Fortify Health, Silence Comments: zombie Motherwort Sprig (Harvest) ---------------------------- Effects: Resist Poison, Damage Fatigue, Silence, Invisibility Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Mutton (Clutter) ------------------ Effects: Fortify Health, Damage Fatigue, Dispel, Damage Magicka Nightshade (Harvest) ---------------------- Effects: Damage Health, Burden, Damage Luck, Forify Magicka Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Ogre's Teeth (Creature) ------------------------- Effects: Damage Intelligence, Resist Paralysis, Shock Damage, Fortify Strength Comments: ogre Onion (Clutter) ----------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Water Breathing, Detect Life, Damage Health Orange (Clutter) ------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Detect Life, Burden, Shield Painted Troll Fat (Special) ----------------------------- Effects: Fortify Magicka, Restore Health, Fortify Health, Restore Magicka Comments: You can only get this ingredient from the six painted trolls in the "Brush With Death" side quest. Pear (Clutter) ---------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Speed, Fortify Speed, Damage Health Peony Seeds (Harvest) ----------------------- Effects: Restore Strength, Damage Health, Damage Speed, Restore Fatigue Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Potato (Harvest) ------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Shield, Burden, Frost Shield Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Primrose Leaves (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Restore Willpower, Restore Personality, Fortify Luck, Damage Strength Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Pumpkin (Harvest) ------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Agility, Damage Personality, Detect Life Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Radish (Harvest) ------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Endurance, Chameleon, Burden Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Rat Meat (Creature) --------------------- Effects: Damage Fatigue, Detect Life, Damage Magicka, Silence Comments: rat Redwort Flower (Harvest) -------------------------- Effects: Resist Frost, Cure Poison, Damage Health, Invisibility Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Rice (Harvest) ---------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Silence, Shock Shield, Damage Agility Comments: 80% chance to harvest. S'jirra's Famous Potato Bread (Special) ----------------------------------------- Effects: Detect Life, Restore Health, Damage Agility, Damage Strength Comments: You can only get this ingredient by completing the "Potato Snatcher" side quest. You receive some potato bread as a reward and can buy more at regular intervals. Sacred Lotus Seeds (Harvest) ------------------------------ Effects: Resist Frost, Damage Health, Feather, Dispel Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Scales (Creature) ------------------- Effects: Damage Willpower, Water Breathing, Damage Health, Water Walking Comments: slaughterfish Scamp Skin (Creature) ----------------------- Effects: Damage Magicka, Resist Shock, Reflect Damage, Damage Health Comments: scamp Shepherd's Pie (Special) -------------------------- Effects: Cure Disease, Shield, Fortify Agility, Dispel Comments: Shepherd's Pie is made for you by Eyja, your maid in Skingrad. You have to buy Rosethorn Hall, the Servant's Quarters and hire Eyja first. Then talk to her about "Food". Somnalius Frond (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Restore Speed, Damage Endurance, Fortify Health, Feather Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Spiddal Stick (Harvest) ------------------------- Effects: Damage Health, Damage Magicka, Fire Damage, Restore Fatigue Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Harvested in Oblivion. St. Jahn's Wort Nectar (Harvest) ---------------------------------- Effects: Resist Shock, Damage Health, Cure Poison, Chameleon Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Steel-Blue Entoloma Cap (Harvest) ----------------------------------- Effects: Restore Magicka, Fire Damage, Resist Frost, Burden Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Stinkhorn Cap (Harvest) ------------------------- Effects: Damage Health, Restore Magicka, Water Walking, Invisibility Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Strawberry (Harvest) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Cure Poison, Damage Health, Reflect Damage Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Summer Bolete Cap (Harvest) ----------------------------- Effects: Restore Agility, Shield, Damage Personality, Damage Endurance Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Sweetcake (Clutter) --------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Feather, Restore Health, Burden Sweetroll (Clutter) --------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Resist Disease, Damage Personality, Fortify Health Taproot (Creature) -------------------- Effects: Restore Luck, Damage Endurance, Resist Poison, Shock Shield Comments: spriggan Tiger Lily Nectar (Harvest) ----------------------------- Effects: Restore Endurance, Damage Strength, Water Walking, Damage Willpower Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Tinder Polypore Cap (Harvest) ------------------------------- Effects: Restore Willpower, Resist Disease, Invisibility, Damage Magicka Comments: 50% chance to harvest. Tobacco (Harvest) ------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Resist Paralysis, Damage Magicka, Dispel Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Tomato (Harvest) ------------------ Effects: Restore Fatigue, Detect Life, Burden, Shield Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Troll Fat (Creature) ---------------------- Effects: Damage Agility, Fortify Personality, Damage Willpower, Damage Health Comments: troll Vampire Dust (Creature) ------------------------- Effects: Silence, Resist Disease, Frost Damage, Invisibility Comments: vampire Venison (Creature) -------------------- Effects: Restore Health, Feather, Damage Health, Chameleon Comments: deer Viper's Bugloss Leaves (Harvest) ---------------------------------- Effects: Resist Paralysis, Night-Eye, Burden, Cure Paralysis Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Void Salts (Creature) ----------------------- Effects: Restore Magicka, Damage Health, Fortify Magicka, Dispel Comments: storm atronach Water Hyacinth Nectar (Harvest) --------------------------------- Effects: Damage Luck, Damage Fatigue, Restore Magicka, Fortify Magicka Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Watermelon (Harvest) ---------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Light, Burden, Damage Health Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Wheat Grain (Harvest) ----------------------- Effects: Restore Fatigue, Damage Magicka, Fortify Health, Damage Personality Comments: 80% chance to harvest. White Seed Pod (Harvest) -------------------------- Effects: Restore Strength, Water Breathing, Silence, Light Comments: 80% chance to harvest. Harvested from Goldenrod. Wisp Stalk Caps (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Damage Health, Damage Willpower, Damage Intelligence, Fortify Speed Comments: 33% chance to harvest. Wormwood Leaves (Harvest) --------------------------- Effects: Fortify Fatigue, Invisibility, Damage Health, Damage Magicka Comments: 80% chance to harvest. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- EFFECTS TABLE Burden -------- First: Daedra Silk, Morning Glory Root Pulp Second: Fly Amanita Cap, Minotaur Horn, Nightshade Third: Blood Grass, Daedroth Teeth, Ginseng, Orange, Potato, Tomato, Viper's Bugloss Leaves, Watermelon Fourth: Arrowroot, Boar Meat, Monkshood Root Pulp, Radish, Steel-Blue Entoloma Cap, Sweetcake Chameleon ----------- First: Blood Grass Second: _none_ Third: Daedra Silk, Radish Fourth: Columbine Root Pulp, St. Jahn's Wort Nectar, Venison Cure Disease -------------- First: Clannfear Claws, Mandrake Root, Shepherd's Pie Second: Elf Cup Cap Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Cure Paralysis ---------------- First: _none_ Second: Imp Gall Third: Milk Thistle Seeds Fourth: Viper's Bugloss Leaves Cure Poison ------------- First: _none_ Second: Ginseng, Redwort Flower, Strawberry Third: St. Jahn's Wort Nectar Fourth: _none_ Damage Agility ---------------- First: Troll Fat Second: Garlic, Pumpkin Third: Bread Loaf, Corn, Mandrake Root, S'jirra's Famous Potato Bread Fourth: Cheese Wedge, Rice Damage Endurance ------------------ First: _none_ Second: Lady's Mantle Leaves, Radish, Somnalius Frond, Taproot Third: Clouded Funnel Cap Fourth: Bog Beacon Asco Cap, Carrot, Cinnabar Polypore Red Cap, Daedra Silk, Emetic Russula Cap, Summer Bolete Cap Damage Fatigue ---------------- First: Bonemeal, Dreugh Wax, Mort Flesh, Rat Meat Second: Motherwort Sprig, Mutton, Water Hyacinth Nectar Third: Crab Meat, Green Stain Shelf Cap, Ironwood Nut, Lady's Smock Leaves Fourth: Alkanet Flower Damage Health --------------- First: Harrada, Nightshade, Spiddal Stick, Stinkhorn Cap, Wisp Stalk Caps Second: Dragon's Tongue, Peony Seeds, Sacred Lotus Seeds, St. Jahn's Wort Nectar, Void Salts Third: Daedra Venin, Imp Gall, Redwort Flower, Scales, Strawberry, Venison, Wormwood Leaves Fourth: Apple, Clannfear Claws, Dreugh Wax, Ectoplasm, Flax Seeds, Glow Dust, Grapes, Green Stain Cup Cap, Onion, Pear, Scamp Skin, Troll Fat, Watermelon Damage Intelligence --------------------- First: Ogre's Teeth Second: Cairn Bolete Cap, Fennel Seeds, Monkshood Root Pulp Third: Wisp Stalk Caps Fourth: Elf Cup Cap Damage Luck ------------- First: Ginseng, Water Hyacinth Nectar Second: Apple, Arrowroot, Mort Flesh Third: Cheese Wheel, Ginkgo Leaf, Nightshade Fourth: Ham, Lavender Sprig Damage Magicka ---------------- First: Scamp Skin Second: Harrada, Spiddal Stick, Wheat Grain Third: Aloe Vera Leaves, Bergamot Seeds, Daedra Heart, Fennel Seeds, Ham, Rat Meat, Tobacco Fourth: Clouded Funnel Cap, Morning Glory Root Pulp, Mutton, Tinder Polypore Cap, Wormwood Leaves Damage Personality -------------------- First: _none_ Second: Flour Third: Bog Beacon Asco Cap, Cinnabar Polypore Red Cap, Cinnabar Polypore Yellow Cap, Emetic Russula Cap, Leek, Pumpkin, Summer Bolete Cap, Sweetroll Fourth: Lettuce, Wheat Grain Damage Speed -------------- First: _none_ Second: Boar Meat, Green Stain Cup Cap, Pear Third: Dryad Saddel Polypore Cap, Peony Seeds Fourth: _none_ Damage Strength ----------------- First: _none_ Second: Tiger Lily Nectar Third: _none_ Fourth: Bread Loaf, Leek, Primrose Leaves, S'jirra's Famous Potato Bread Damage Willpower ------------------ First: Elf Cup Cap, Scales Second: Morning Glory Root Pulp, Wisp Stalk Caps Third: Troll Fat Fourth: Tiger Lily Nectar Detect Life ------------- First: S'jirra's Famous Potato Bread Second: Bread Loaf, Orange, Rat Meat, Tomato Third: Onion Fourth: Pumpkin Dispel -------- First: _none_ Second: Bergamot Seeds, Ectoplasm Third: Grapes, Mutton Fourth: Beef, Sacred Lotus Seeds, Shepherd's Pie, Tobacco, Void Salts Feather --------- First: _none_ Second: Flax Seeds, Sweetcake, Venison Third: Sacred Lotus Seeds Fourth: Lady's Mantle Leaves, Somnalius Frond Fire Damage ------------- First: Fire Salts Second: Steel-Blue Entoloma Cap Third: Spiddal Stick Fourth: Imp Gall Fire Shield ------------- First: _none_ Second: _none_ Third: Cheese Wedge, Lettuce Fourth: Crab Meat, Dragon's Tongue, Fire Salts Fortify Agility ----------------- First: _none_ Second: Leek Third: Beef, Shepherd's Pie Fourth: _none_ Fortify Endurance ------------------- First: _none_ Second: Cinnabar Polypore Yellow Cap Third: Blackberry, Minotaur Horn, Monkshood Root Pulp Fourth: _none_ Fortify Fatigue ----------------- First: Wormwood Leaves Second: _none_ Third: Flour Fourth: _none_ Fortify Health ---------------- First: Mutton Second: _none_ Third: Boar Meat, Mort Flesh, Painted Troll Fat, Somnalius Frond, Wheat Grain Fourth: Blood Grass, Ironwood Nut, Lady's Smock Leaves, Sweetroll Fortify Intelligence ---------------------- First: _none_ Second: Clouded Funnel Cap Third: Carrot Fourth: _none_ Fortify Luck -------------- First: _none_ Second: Green Stain Shelf Cap Third: Bonemeal, Primrose Leaves Fourth: _none_ Fortify Magicka ----------------- First: Painted Troll Fat Second: Ginkgo Leaf Third: Columbine Root Pulp, Ectoplasm, Void Salts Fourth: Ginseng, Nightshade, Water Hyacinth Nectar Fortify Personality --------------------- First: Imp Gall Second: Troll Fat Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Fortify Speed --------------- First: _none_ Second: _none_ Third: Pear Fourth: Wisp Stalk Caps Fortify Strength ------------------ First: _none_ Second: _none_ Third: Arrowroot, Elf Cup Cap Fourth: Garlic, Ogre's Teeth Fortify Willpower ------------------- First: _none_ Second: Lavender Sprig Third: Apple Fourth: Cheese Wheel, Mandrake Root Frost Damage -------------- First: Frost Salts Second: Milk Thistle Seeds Third: Vampire Dust Fourth: Dryad Saddel Polypore Cap Frost Shield -------------- First: _none_ Second: Daedroth Teeth Third: Garlic, Morning Glory Root Pulp Fourth: Frost Salts, Potato Invisibility -------------- First: _none_ Second: Wormwood Leaves Third: Tinder Polypore Cap Fourth: Aloe Vera Leaves, Motherwort Sprig, Redwort Flower, Stinkhorn Cap, Vampire Dust Light ------- First: Milk Thistle Seeds Second: Glow Dust, Watermelon Third: Alkanet Flower Fourth: Daedroth Teeth, White Seed Pod Night-Eye ----------- First: Daedroth Teeth Second: Carrot, Daedra Silk, Viper's Bugloss Leaves Third: Lady's Mantle Leaves Fourth: Bonemeal Paralyze ---------- First: Daedra Venin Second: _none_ Third: Clannfear Claws Fourth: Fennel Seeds, Harrada, Milk Thistle Seeds Reflect Damage ---------------- First: _none_ Second: _none_ Third: Green Stain Cup Cap, Scamp Skin Fourth: Daedra Venin, Flour, Strawberry Reflect Spell --------------- First: _none_ Second: _none_ Third: Glow Dust Fourth: Cinnabar Polypore Yellow Cap Resist Disease ---------------- First: Bergamot Seeds, Garlic Second: Clannfear Claws, Sweetroll, Tinder Polypore Cap, Vampire Dust Third: _none_ Fourth: Foxglove Nectar Resist Fire ------------- First: Dragon's Tongue Second: Bonemeal, Cheese Wedge, Frost Salts, Ironwood Nut, Lady's Smock Leaves Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Resist Frost -------------- First: Redwort Flower, Sacred Lotus Seeds Second: Columbine Root Pulp, Dryad Saddel Polypore Cap, Fire Salts Third: Steel-Blue Entoloma Cap Fourth: _none_ Resist Paralysis ------------------ First: Viper's Bugloss Leaves Second: Blood Grass, Cheese Wheel, Foxglove Nectar, Ogre's Teeth, Tobacco Third: Cairn Bolete Cap Fourth: Minotaur Horn Resist Poison --------------- First: Foxglove Nectar, Motherwort Sprig Second: Alkanet Flower, Dreugh Wax, Mandrake Root Third: Taproot Fourth: _none_ Resist Shock -------------- First: St. Jahn's Wort Nectar Second: Blackberry, Crab Meat, Scamp Skin Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Agility ----------------- First: Arrowroot, Cinnabar Polypore Red Cap, Emetic Russula Cap, Fly Amanita Cap, Summer Bolete Cap Second: _none_ Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Endurance ------------------- First: Cinnabar Polypore Yellow Cap, Crab Meat, Tiger Lily Nectar Second: _none_ Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Fatigue ----------------- First: Aloe Vera Leaves, Apple, Beef, Blackberry, Bread Loaf, Carrot, Cheese Wedge, Cheese Wheel, Corn, Fennel Seeds, Flour, Grapes, Green Stain Cup Cap, Ham, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Orange, Pear, Potato, Pumpkin, Radish, Rice, Strawberry, Sweetcake, Sweetroll, Tobacco, Tomato, Watermelon, Wheat Grain Second: Daedra Venin Third: _none_ Fourth: Peony Seeds, Spiddal Stick Restore Health ---------------- First: Boar Meat, Cairn Bolete Cap, Daedra Heart, Lady's Mantle Leaves, Venison Second: Aloe Vera Leaves, Ham, Painted Troll Fat, S'jirra's Famous Potato Bread Third: Dragon's Tongue, Fly Amanita Cap, Lavender Sprig, Sweetcake Fourth: Green Stain Shelf Cap Restore Intelligence ---------------------- First: Alkanet Flower, Clouded Funnel Cap, Ironwood Nut, Lady's Smock Leaves Second: Corn Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Luck -------------- First: Dryad Saddel Polypore Cap, Green Stain Shelf Cap, Taproot Second: Lettuce Third: Foxglove Nectar Fourth: _none_ Restore Magicka ----------------- First: Bog Beacon Asco Cap, Flax Seeds, Steel-Blue Entoloma Cap, Void Salts Second: Stinkhorn Cap Third: Fire Salts, Water Hyacinth Nectar Fourth: Blackberry, Painted Troll Fat Restore Personality --------------------- First: Columbine Root Pulp, Lavender Sprig Second: Primrose Leaves Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Speed --------------- First: Ginkgo Leaf, Glow Dust, Somnalius Frond Second: _none_ Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Strength ------------------ First: Monkshood Root Pulp, Peony Seeds, White Seed Pod Second: _none_ Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Restore Willpower ------------------- First: Minotaur Horn, Primrose Leaves, Tinder Polypore Cap Second: _none_ Third: _none_ Fourth: _none_ Shield -------- First: _none_ Second: Beef, Bog Beacon Asco Cap, Cinnabar Polypore Red Cap, Emetic Russula Cap, Potato, Shepherd's Pie, Summer Bolete Cap Third: Flax Seeds Fourth: Orange, Tomato Shock Damage -------------- First: Ectoplasm Second: _none_ Third: Ogre's Teeth Fourth: Cairn Bolete Cap, Fly Amanita Cap, Ginkgo Leaf Shock Shield -------------- First: _none_ Second: Daedra Heart Third: Rice Fourth: Corn, Taproot Silence --------- First: Vampire Dust Second: Rice Third: Frost Salts, Harrada, Motherwort Sprig, White Seed Pod Fourth: Bergamot Seeds, Daedra Heart, Mort Flesh, Rat Meat Water Breathing ----------------- First: _none_ Second: Onion, Scales, White Seed Pod Third: Dreugh Wax Fourth: _none_ Water Walking --------------- First: _none_ Second: Grapes Third: Stinkhorn Cap, Tiger Lily Nectar Fourth: Scales [XP00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EXPANDING YOUR GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ [XP01] <~~~~~~ PC OPTIMIZATION ~~~~~~> Tom’s Hardware refers to Oblivion as their "ultimate torture tester". It is, perhaps, the most graphically demanding game on the market today. Even state- of-the-art PCs with high-end graphics cards will struggle to get 60 frames- per-second (fps) with maximum quality and resolution. Older systems will hobble along on 30fps or less at low resolutions with low quality settings. This section of the guide is intended to help you get the most out of Oblivion on your PC. You want a balance of good framerates and decent quality graphics. To that end, you may want to consider investing in a new video card if your card is severely out-of-date. Some cards that will run Oblivion, but very poorly: nVidia Geforce 5xxx series ATI Radeon 9xxx series, 9500 or higher Don't worry if you're still using an AGP graphics interface. There are still a number of good, inexpensive AGP cards available. Check out this article from Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/10/agp-platform-analysis/ Another option would be to cave in and purchase an Xbox 360; though, doing so costs you the ability to mod your game--and mods can make Oblivion an even better game than it already is. In any case, if you are not running a high-end gaming rig; but, want the best performance possible from Oblivion, read on... *DISCLAIMER* Anything you do to your PC you do at your own risk! If anything in this section makes you scratch your head and want to call the nearest eight-year- old for an explanation, STOP and don't go any further. Resign yourself to living with a less than optimal PC or go slap down a few hundred for an X360 or a couple thou' for a pre-built gaming system from Dell or Sony. If you follow any of the suggestions in this section, you implicitly agree to indemnify the author from all claims arising from damage caused by following these suggestions. *THIS IS SERIOUS!* Personal note: While trying to tweak my system, I accidentally disabled my video card altogether and couldn't see anything, not even the system BIOS. I had to dig up an old PCI video card just to get into the BIOS and reset everything. Don't mess around with anything in this section unless you know what you are doing! Or, more importantly, how to recover when you muck it up. *ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATA* Before attempting any of the tweaks listed, make sure you've backed up your important files, just in case something goes horribly wrong. To measure the framerate in Oblivion, open the console in-game by pressing the backtick (`) key--on US English keyboards, backtick is directly left of the numeral 1 key. Type: tdt press ENTER and exit the console by pressing backtick. You'll get a debug console in the upper right corner of the screen, including framerate (FPS). You can also download and use Fraps: http://www.fraps.com/ When tweaking, make one change at a time and test it in the game using the Debug console or Fraps. Information in this section is compiled from a variety of sources, some for games other than Oblivion. | System Setup +------------- Update your PC! This includes (but is not limited to): * Your operating system (i.e. Windows) * Your motherboard (or mainboard) drivers * Your video card drivers * Your sound card drivers UPDATE WINDOWS ---------------- http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ To update anything else in your system, you will need to know what you have inside the box. If you are using a manufactured system--Dell, Sony, HP, Alienware, etc.--visit the manufacturer's Web site and enter the serial number of your PC (usually found on a sticker on the back of the case). You'll get a list of the pre-installed components, and you can download a lot of the necessary drivers (see below). If you are using a custom-built PC, you should either know what parts you used, or you need to ask the person who built the PC. Specifically, you need the *chipset* used on the motherboard (also called a mainboard), the video card manufacturer and model number and the sound card (if there is one) manufacturer and model number. *IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE FINDING THIS INFORMATION* Try this program: http://www.gtopala.com/index.html SIW is a self-contained program--i.e. it requires no installation, you just download and run it--that will give you every detail you could ever want about your PC. UPDATE YOUR MOTHERBOARD DRIVERS --------------------------------- You need to know what chipset is used on your motherboard. The chipset are the components that support your CPU by handling input/output, internal communications, hard drive connections, etc. There are four main chipsets in use: * Intel: http://downloadfinder.intel.com/ * nVidia: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp * Via: http://www.viaarena.com/ * SiS: http://www.sis.com/download/ Download and install the most recent drivers for your chipset. If you are using an integrated sound card, also download and install the most recent drivers for your sound from the chipset site. UPDATE YOUR VIDEO CARD DRIVERS -------------------------------- * ATI: http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html Use the most recent Catalyst drivers (v7.1 as of 2007-02-15). There are alternate (unsupported) drivers for ATI cards: -> Omega Drivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net/ -> DHZer0point Drivers: http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/zeropoint.htm These alternate drivers are "pre-tweaked" for optimum performance and quality. They may offer some performance improvement in Oblivion; they may also produce graphics corruption or crashes. Your best bet is to stick with the official drivers and tweak the settings yourself. * nVidia: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html Use the most recent beta drivers (v93.81 for WinXP as of 2007-02-15; or, V100.64 for Win Vista as of 2007-02-15). There are alternate (unsupported) drivers for nVidia cards: -> DHZer0point Drivers: http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/zeropoint.htm These alternate drivers are "pre-tweaked" for optimum performance and quality. They may offer some performance improvement in Oblivion; they may also produce graphics corruption or crashes. Your best bet is to stick with the official drivers and tweak the settings yourself. *NOTE* Development of DHZeroPoint alternate drivers was halted on 18 January 2007. Before installing new video card drivers, first download Driver Cleaner Pro: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/Driver-Cleaner- Professional.shtml and install it. Uninstall your existing drivers. Reboot Windows in Safe Mode (press F8 during system boot for the boot menu and choose plain Safe Mode). In Safe Mode, run Driver Cleaner Pro according to the program's instructions to completely remove all traces of your old drivers. Reboot normally and install the new drivers. *NOTE* DC Pro is no longer supported or developed. It has been replaced with Driver Cleaner.NET http://www.drivercleaner.net/index.php which costs $9.99 (US) with no free download options. UPDATE SOUND CARD DRIVERS --------------------------- If you have a separate (non-integrated) sound card, download and install the latest drivers from the sound card manufacturer's Web site. FINAL STEPS ------------- * Make sure, in your System BIOS (refer to your system or motherboard manual to find out how to enter your BIOS), your AGP or PCI-Express port is enabled. If you are using an AGP port, check to see at what speed (i.e. 1x, 2x, 4x or 8x) the port is set. * Run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (Start>Run>dxdiag). On the Display tab, make sure DirectDraw Acceleration and Direct3D Acceleration (and AGP Texture Acceleration if applicable) are all Enabled. If not, start over and try installing drivers again. * Defragment your Windows drive. Just do it. (Also defragment the Oblivion drive if you installed it to a different drive.) * If you have the space (and the ability), create a separate logical hard drive (partition) of about 4-5GB in size. Make sure the new drive is empty; then, set Windows to use that drive for your global page file. (Even better if you create the new partition on a different physical drive.) If none of this step made sense to you, ignore it. * If you have two or more large hard drives and are running Windows 2000 Pro, XP Pro or 2000/2003 Server(+), consider creating a striped volume and loading your page file and Oblivion onto the striped volume. To create a striped volume, refer to these instructions: http://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=149 Again, don't perform this step if you don't even understand what's being suggested. + Windows Vista seems to support disk striping; but, it is not clear which versions support it. | Clean Boot Windows +-------------------- Before running Oblivion, always clean boot Windows per the instructions in this Microsoft Knowledgebase article: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310353 Be sure to disable firewall/anti-virus/anti-spam services as part of the clean boot. Also disable any multimedia services (such as iPod or Nero)--anything other than required system services. | Before Tweaking +----------------- Start with a clean slate. Delete the Oblivion.ini file found in My Documents\My Games\Oblivion and launch Oblivion. The game will reset all your settings and create a new Oblivion.ini file. If you want to make any non- graphics related changes (see Miscellaneous Tweaks below) in the INI file, make them now. Create a backup copy of this file as a "start over" version. If something goes badly wrong, delete the Oblivion.ini file and replace it with your backed up copy. | Safe Tweaks +------------- Ready to get started? Good. Here are video settings you can change in-game, or by using the Options choice from the launch menu. * Resolution The higher the resolution, the more pixels are needed to draw each frame. There is an obvious correlation between this setting and your framerate. But, not so fast! In some cases, you can actually get a better framerate by *increasing* the resolution. Compare: http://www.papagamer.com/files/oblivion_848x480.jpg with http://www.papagamer.com/files/oblivion_1440x900.jpg The framerate has actually gone up by 33% (from 20fps to 27fps) and the increased resolution solves the severe case of aliasing shown in the smaller picture, thus reducing the need for anti-aliasing. What appears to be happening is, at the lower resolution, Windows does more of the graphics processing on the CPU rather than offloading it to the GPU. The moral of the story: play around with different resolutions until you find the one that offers you the highest framerate. * Vertical Sync (V.Sync) This controls the rendering of individual frames, forcing them to match up to the refresh rate of your monitor. Turning this off will cause occasional "tearing" of the scene--a horizontal line will run down across the screen as the frames get out of sync with the monitor. Turning it off may give you a performance boost. You can only turn V.Sync on/off from the Options choice of the launch menu. * Fullscreen/Windowed mode From the Options choice of the launch menu, you can choose to play Oblivion either fullscreen (default) or in a window. Playing in a window may give you better performance. * Anti-Aliasing (AA) AA smoothes "the jaggies": jagged diagonal lines caused by too-few pixels to adequately display the line--especially lines that are . AA is very hard on your video card and leaving it off will generally give you a big performance boost. At resolutions of 1024x768 and higher, the pixels on screen are usually small enough that AA provides little real visual advantage unless you have a really big monitor and/or really good eyesight. Try different sampling rates (starting with 2 samples or 2x) and seeing what the difference is in both framerate and visual quality. At very low resolutions such as 640x480, you may want to live with the framerate hit just to keep the picture as smooth as possible. * Bloom/HDR These are both dynamic lighting techniques designed to make scenes on screen appear more realistic. Specifically, they create hot spots or glare from certain areas whenever there is a bright light source, such as the sun. Bloom is the older, less realistic technology, but works on any card that runs Oblivion. HDR (High Dynamic Range) works only with newer video cards with "Pixel Shader 3" support. nVidia cards cannot use both HDR and AA at the same time. Both Bloom and HDR will decrease your framerate, so turn these off if you need a boost. * Texture Size: controls the size (and, thus, resolution) of textures loaded into your video RAM. Textures are the 2-dimensional images that are wrapped around 3-dimensional objects to make them look like a real object. (A 3D object without a texture is just a wireframe. You can see the wireframe using a Console Command, see below.) Large textures should only be used if you have 256MB or more of video RAM; everyone else can use Medium textures. If, after trying everything else, you're still trying to get a few more frames, you can set the texture size to small. *NOTE* There are new textures available for PC users with lower-end graphic cards. These textures look considerably better than the default small or medium textures from Oblivion. You can download the texture packs here: http://devnull.devakm.googlepages.com/128mbcards * Shadows: shadows are self-explanatory; however there are a bunch of set- tings that control shadows in the game. Shadows have a significant impact on framerate. If you are having a lot of trouble, turning shadows off completely will help without taking too much realism from the scenes. -> Int. Shadows: this slider controls the number of objects that will cast shadows in indoor areas. Move the slider all the way to the left to turn off interior shadows. Move it all the way to the right to have up to 10 objects cast a shadow. -> Ext. Shadows: works the same as Int. Shadows, but for exterior areas. -> Self Shadows: causes actors to cast shadows on themselves. Besides being a performance hog, these shadows rarely look good and it is recommended that all players turn these off. -> Shadows on Grass: if grass is visible, actors will cast shadows on it. Casting shadows on a moving surface (grass blows in the wind) is significantly harder on your hardware than other shadows. This should be set to off by all but those with top-notch hardware. -> Tree Canopy Shadows: causes trees to cast dappled shadows on the ground. Creates a very realistic effect, but has a big impact on framerate, especially in heavily forested areas. -> Shadow Filtering: if set to High or Low, creates diffuse, soft-edged shadows. If set to Off, the shadows will have hard, well-defined edges. If you are using shadows, the High setting will be much more realistic at the cost of frames-per-second. * Specular Distance: specular effects create the shininess of reflective surfaces, such as metal (armor, weapons), glass, etc. This slider controls the distance at which specular effects are visible. Turning it down (effectively turning specular effects off) can provide a performance boost on older cards. * Water: There are three settings that control the look of water surfaces in the game. Individually, they have little impact on framerate, but, combined, may give you a small boost if you're really trying to squeeze a few more frames from the game. -> Water detail: on High causes reflected objects on the water's surface to show in greater detail. It will hardly be noticeable unless the water is near detailed objects (such as buildings). Normal detail will provide a performance boost while not looking that much different in most out-door areas. -> Water Reflections: when set to off, the water does not reflect at all, providing a performance boost at the cost of realism. Non-reflective water appears as a solid block of color that doesn't look much like water at all. -> Water Ripples: not the general wind-caused rippling of the water, but ripples caused by objects impacting the surface of the water. If you play in third-person view, turning this on lets you see your own wake as you move through the water, at the cost of a small performance hit. * Grass Distance: controls the distance at which grass begins to be visible. Setting this all the way to the left effectively turns grass off. Some players may actually prefer not to have the grass showing. Regardless, displaying grass has a noticeable negative effect on your framerate. There are other ways of tweaking the grass display; see Experimental Tweaks and Console Commands below. * View Distance: this slider controls the distance at which the world becomes visible. By default, the slider is set all the way right and you can see to the horizon. This obviously has an impact on framerate as the game has to render all those distant objects. If you move this slider left, the following three options (Distant Land, Distant Buildings and Distant Trees) automatically turn off. Moving this slider left causes the stereotypical "fog" to roll in, cutting off your view of all distant objects. * Distant Land: turning this off has the same effect as moving the View Distance slider to about 50% and turns Distant Buildings and Distant Trees off as well. * Distant Buildings & Distant Trees: you can turn these options off to cut display of distant objects (buildings and tree respectively), thus gaining some framerate without turning on the fog--i.e. you can still see to the horizon, there just won't be much to see. * Tree Fade, Actor Fade, Item Fade, Object Fade: controls the distance at which trees, actors (NPCs and creatures), items (weapons, armor, bottles, food, etc.) and objects (buildings, barrels, crates, etc.) become visible. Moving these sliders left can pick up some frames at the cost of seeing objects "pop" into existence. The Actor Fade slider should be left at default (about 25% from the left side) or a little higher else you won't see enemies until they are almost on top of you. * Window Reflections: simply makes glass in windows appear more real. Turning it off might give you a small performance boost, especially in towns, without hurting the overall graphic experience. * Blood decals: controls the amount of blood in the game. Off does not get rid of blood entirely; you will still see blood spurt after a good hit on an opponent; however, the blood that sprays out will not stick anywhere. Low blood decals means blood splatters show on the ground. High blood will show on actors and items as well. Turning blood decals off can give you a framerate boost during combat. You can further tweak the gore settings in the INI file as shown in Experimental Tweaks below. | Graphics Card Tweaks +---------------------- These are general tweaks you can make to your graphics card drivers that will benefit any game, not just Oblivion. The best way to make these tweaks is to download a free utility program designed for this purpose: * ATI: ATI Tray Tools (ATT) http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/ * nVidia: NVTweak http://nvtweak.laptopvideo2go.com/ * Render-ahead: this setting controls how many frames are rendered by the card in advance of the current frame. Reducing this to 0 (zero) can give you a large performance boost (at the potential cost of some stability). In NVTweak, the option is under "Additional Direct3D Setting" and is called "Max Frames to Render Ahead". In ATT, the option is under "3D" and is called "Flip Queue Size". If setting this option to zero causes instability, increase it in steps of 1 (i.e. 1, 2, 3), but don't go beyond 3, which is the default rate. * Geometry instancing (ATI cards only?): using ATT, go to Tweaks>Standard Tweaks and check the "Geometry instancing" box. This allows the video drivers to upload a single instance of a repeated object and then clone it rather than upload every single instance. May help some, especially in heavily forested areas where many of the trees are copies rather than unique models. * Temporal Anti-aliasing (ATI cards only?): you have to use the Catalyst Control Center for this change. Open CCC, select Anti-Aliasing under 3D, and set it to 2x or 4x. Check the Temporal Anti-aliasing box. This option allows the Catalyst drivers to "cheat" a little bit and makes lower AA settings look better. So you could, for example, run at 2x and the graphics will look as good as normal 4x. * Catalyst AI (ATI cards only): turn this to High to enable the Catalyst drivers to better optimize the frames on the fly. * Fast Writes (AGP cards only): you have to enable this in your BIOS and in your graphics driver. For ATI cards, the setting is in the SmartGART tab of the Catalyst Control Center. THIS IS A HIGHLY UNSTABLE SETTING It can negatively affect your PC, so be very careful. If it does work for you, it may produce a few glitches; however, it is also likely to produce 10-15fps higher framerate. | Experimental Tweaks +--------------------- These enhancements involve editing your Oblivion.ini file. See "Before Tweaking", above, before making any changes. Make sure you edit the INI file in a *text* editor, such as Notepad, EditPad, UltraEdit, etc. Do not use a word processor such as WordPad, Word, OpenOffice.org, etc. Such programs may put unsupported characters into the file, even if you save it as Plain Text. These are "experimental" tweaks because performance or quality increases are not guaranteed. And even if you do get a performance or quality increase, the tweak may introduce instability. Use at your own risk. When you're ready, open My Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Oblivion.ini in a text editor and search for the following items... * Grass: these settings help further tweak the display of grass. -> iMinGrassSize=80 Increase this number to "thin out" the clumps of grass. There's very little visual difference, but it might give you a few extra FPS. The normal values for tweaking range from 120 to 150. -> fGrassEndDistance=3000.0000 -> fGrassStartFadeDistance=2000.0000 EndDistance is the distance at which grass ceases being visible. FadeDistance is the distance at which the grass starts fading out. If you increase iMinGrassSize, you can extend these to the point where you never see grass "pop" in at all. Values on the order of 8000.0000/ 7000.0000 will work well. This will decrease your framerate. -> bDrawShaderGrass=1 Setting this to 0 (zero) turns off rendering of grass. A bit more "final" than moving the in-game Grass Distance slider down to zero. -> iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure=2 Setting this to 1 (one) might give you a few extra frames per second with no visible change in graphic quality. * uGridsToLoad=5 The Oblivion game world is composed of square cells. This setting controls the number of cells that are loaded in full for each "area". The setting is a grid arrangement centered around the PC. The default, therefore, loads a total of 25 cells: X X X X X X X X X X X X P X X X X X X X X X X X X (P is the player character) These are the cells for which all cell data is loaded. Cells beyond this grid are not loaded in full, so you get low-resolution textures on the landscape; and, objects, items and creatures present in that cell are not loaded at all. Every time you advance to the edge of the current area, a "new" area loads and you get the Loading Area message (and, perhaps, pause) as new info is loaded. With the default setting, this happens every time you move two cells (see arrangement above). This also affects the size of local maps. The larger the uGridsToLoad setting, the larger the local maps. Interior areas are largely unaffected by this setting, as interior areas are never 25 cells large. Exterior areas are where you'll see the biggest changes. The number must always be an odd number so the PC can be properly "centered" in each area. Increasing this number will: -> Reduce the number of "Loading Area" messages and pauses, unless you set it too high for your RAM, in which case you'll actually see more "Loading Area" messages. -> Increase the size of local maps, thus increasing the area you can view at one time on your map--assuming you've explored the area or used the console so the "fog of war" isn't covering the map. -> Increase the distance at which you can see fully detailed terrain. -> Decrease your framerate as your video card is forced to render all that extra detail in distant terrain and your CPU is forced to deal with any AI scripts on creatures in those cells. If you have the RAM to support it (1GB or more), a setting of 7 or 9 can reduce the number of "Loading Area" pauses without significantly cutting into your framerate. If all you're interested in is the extra detail in distant landscapes, better to use the LOD Landscape mod as detailed in the Mods section below. Note that, if you increase this setting, you should also increase the iPreloadSizeLimit as detailed next... * iPreloadSizeLimit=26214400 Sets the RAM used by Oblivion to cache future objects. Size is in bytes, default is 25MB (divide the number by 1048576). You may get a performance increase if you raise this number. Determine how many MB of RAM you want to commit to Oblivion, multiply that by 1048576 and enter the result. Giving too much RAM to Oblivion may cause crashes. Try 50MB (52428800) if you have 1GB of RAM or 100MB (104857600) if you have more than 1GB. If you increase the uGridsToLoad setting, increase this as well so Oblivion has plenty of RAM to load all the cells at once. * bDoCanopyShadowPass=1 Set this to 0 (zero) to remove all tree shadows. Can give a decent FPS boost outdoors at the cost of realism. * bUseRefractionShader=1 Setting this to 0 (zero) may help users of older cards when around Oblivion gates. * iSize W=640 iSize H=480 Set the width and height of the Oblivion screen (either fullscreen or windowed). Use these settings for custom resolutions not in Oblivion's default list. * iShadowMapResolution=1024 Lower this number to 128, 256 or 512 to decrease shadow resolution. At low numbers, shadows will appear extremely blocky. You're better off running without shadows than with low-res shadows. * iActorShadowIntMax=10 iActorShadowExtMax=10 This is the maximum number of shadows that can be cast indoors (Int) and outdoors (Ext). Increase these numbers to let more objects cast shadows, with the corresponding framerate hit. * bAllow30Shaders=0 Change this to 1 (one) if you have a newer video card that supports Pixel Shader 3.0 (check your card documentation). You'll get nicer quality graphics, and probably a slightly lower framerate. * bUseWaterDepth=1 Set to 0 (zero) to turn off the ability to see into water (water surface becomes opaque). May provide a slight performance boost in outdoor areas. * bUseWaterReflectionsMisc=0 bUseWaterReflectionsStatics=0 bUseWaterReflectionsTrees=0 bUseWaterReflectionsActors=0 If you are using reflective water with high detail, setting these to 1 (one) will increase the number of objects that reflect in detail. Can be a performance hit, but lends greater quality, especially around water sources in towns. * bUseHardDriveCache=0 Setting to 1 (one) forces Oblivion to cache textures in your hard drive's cache (onboard RAM) for faster access. Probably won't work unless your system is very old/badly optimized. Use of the hard drive cache should be controlled by Windows and your motherboard drivers. If this gives you a performance increase, you may want to investigate why your hard drive cache is not being used normally. * bEnableBoundingVolumeOcclusion=0 Setting this to 1 (one) may increase framerates in crowded interior areas, as, supposedly, Oblivion stops processing NPCs hidden behind walls. * bDSoundHWAcceleration=1 Setting to 0 (zero) may provide a performance increase when using some integrated audio chipsets. * bMusicEnabled=1 Set to 0 (zero) to turn off in-game music. Removes sense of immersion (and the music is very high quality!); however, may provide a performance increase as the game will no longer need to load, change and play music. * bForceFullLOD=0 Setting to 1 (one) increases level of detail within the uGridsToLoad range.May cause a performance decrease, but increases graphic quality. If you increase uGridsToLoad, you probably want to leave this at 0 (zero) to minimize the framerate hit of the extra cells being loaded. * iThreads=3 iOpenMPLevel=10 Increasing these values may give a performance increase, but only on multi- core or multi-CPU systems. * bDoSpecularPass=1 bDoDiffusePass=1 bDoAmbientPass=1 Set these to 0 (zero) if you want to play the game, but you have a very old video card. Removes all specular effects, dynamic lighting and ambient lighting, producing a very cartoonish look. Compare this: http://www.papagamer.com/images/stories/oblivion/specular_on.jpg with this: http://www.papagamer.com/images/stories/oblivion/specular_off.jpg Changing these settings can also produce graphic anomalies and crashes. Use these only if you can't get out of single-digit framerates even with all the other optimizations. If you do change these, you need to use this mod: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2019 to fix crashes caused by not performing the specular pass. | Miscellaneous Tweaks +---------------------- These tweaks to the INI file won't improve your framerates, but may improve your overall enjoyment of the game. * SMainMenuMovie= SMainMenuMovieIntro= SIntroSequence= Blank these three entries to get rid of, respectively, the animated back- ground in the main game menu; the logo animation that occurs right after the main menu has loaded and the opening series of company logos that show when you launch the game. Getting rid of MainMenuMovie may help if you are experiencing mouse lag in the main menu. * bHealthBarShowing=1 If set to 1 (one), shows a standard health bar over a creature rather than the curved bar over the crosshair. * fGlobalTimeMultiplier=1.0000 Changes the rate at which time passes in the game. Decrease the number to slow down time; increase it to speed up time. * bAllowConsole=1 If set to 1 (one), allows use of the Command Console in game. * bAllowScreenShot=1 If set to 1 (one), allows you to take screenshots using the Print Screen key. Screenshots are saved to your Oblivion installation folder in bitmap (.bmp) format. Due to a glitch in the game, you cannot take screenshots when using Anti-aliasing. If you wish to take screenshots with AA, use FRAPS: http://www.fraps.com/ * SScreenShotBaseName=ScreenShot iScreenShotIndex=0 Determines the base name of screenshot files and the starting index number.Using these defaults, screenshots would be named ScreenShot0.bmp, ScreenShot1.bmp, ScreenShot2.bmp, etc. * fDefaultFOV=75.0000 Sets the default Field of View for the game, in degrees. The default is 75.A normal range of values is 60 - 90. You can also change this with the Command Console, to experiment, then set this to your favorite view so Oblivion will always run at that camera angle. * bInstantLevelUp=0 Change this to 1 (one) to level up as soon as you gain 10 ranks in your major skills. Removes the need to rest in a bed. * bPrecipitation=1 Setting to 0 (zero), turns off all precipitation (rain, snow). * iDebugText=12 Changes the information displayed when using the debug console command. Option 12 shows just FPS. Option 0 shows a lot of information, including the day of the week, the date (both in normal units, such as Monday, 10/12/433) and two clocks: one game time and one playing time. While the debug information is showing, you can press Scroll Lock to change the information until you find the display that most suits your taste. You can also set the debug page displayed using the SDT console command. * Gore settings: -> fDecalLifetime=10.0000 Determines the length blood splatters last on objects. Default is 10 seconds. Increase to have blood stick around longer. -> iMaxDecalsPerFrame=10 Determines the number of blood splatters you can get. Increase for more blood. * fDifficulty=0.0000 Gives greater control over your difficulty level than the slider in the game. Range is -1.0000 to 1.0000. Thus, 0.0000 is 50% difficulty (default). Set to -0.5000 for 25% difficulty, for example, or 0.5000 for 75%. [XP02] <~~~~~~ PC CONSOLE COMMANDS ~~~~~~> To use the in-game console, enable the console by setting bAllowConsole equal to 1 (one) in the Oblivion.ini file. In the game, press the backtick (`) key (just left of the number one key on US English keyboards) to open the console. Type a command and press ENTER. Press backtick again to close the console. This is an abbreviated list of the most useful console commands. A fuller list is available at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/code/924363.html In the following list, brackets [] surround arguments you have to replace when using the command. Do not type the brackets when using the command. For example: modpcs [skill] [#] should be typed as: modpcs Athletics 100 when used in the console. Some of these commands require that you enter a hex code for an item or spell. You can find a full list of these codes at: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionCheats.List Alpha characters in hex codes are case-insensitive; i.e. you can use A or a. Command | Description --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- FOV [#] | Changes the default field of view to angle [#] --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- modpcs [skill] [#] | Adds [#] to PC's [skill] --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- modpca [attribute] [#] | Adds [#] to PC's [attribute] --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- movetoqt | Instantly transports you to your current quest | target --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- player.additem [hex] [#] | Adds [#] of item [hex] to your inventory. E.g., | gold is hex 0000000F, so to give yourself | 5,000 gold, type player.additem 0000000F 5000 --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- player.addspell [hex] | Adds spell [hex] to your list of known spells. --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- player.payfine | Pays your bounty so guards leave you alone --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- SetPCFame [#] | Sets your Fame to [#] --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- SetPCInfamy [#] | Sets your Infamy to [#] --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- player.removespell [hex] | Removes spell [hex] from your list of spells. | This is the only way to get rid of older, less- | powerful spells. For instructions on getting the | hex codes of custom-made spells, see below. --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- RefreshINI | Refreshes INI settings without quitting | or restarting. Useful during tweaking. --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- SaveGame [filename] | Saves game with given [filename], use if you | don't like the default filenames --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- SDT [#] | Set's the debug console display to the specified | page number. Some useful pages: 0, 2 and 12 --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- SetINI [setting] [value] | Sets an INI [setting] to [value], example: | SetINI fGlobalTimeMultiplier 1.5000 --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- showbirthsignmenu | Brings up the birthsign menu, allowing you to | change your sign* --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- showclassmenu | Brings up the class menu, allowing you to change | your class* --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- showracemenu | Brings up the race menu, allowing you to change | your name, gender and race* * Using the class, race and birthsign menus after you've been playing for a while may reset all your attributes and skill levels and/or cause your skills to stop increasing. If you're really unhappy with your character, best to start over. --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TAI | Toggles AI, use this to cause all NPCs and | monsters to stand still (for screenshots or easy | kills) --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TDT | Toggles debug console --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TFOW | Toggles the fog of war that obscures the map --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TG | Toggles grass, use this if you normally have | grass visible, but are lagging badly in some | outdoor combat --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TGM | Toggles "god mode" --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TM | Toggles menus (turn them off for clean screen- | shots) --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TMM [0/1] | Toggles the map markers, 0=all off, 1=all on | Turning all map markers on puts all the markers | on the world map and lets you Fast Travel to | them, just as if you had discovered them; turning | them off turns off even those markers you | discovered yourself prior to using the console --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- TWF | Toggles wireframe mode, letting you see the | underlying 3D models of the game world --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- unlock | After opening the console, click a locked chest | or door and enter this command to unlock it --------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- *NOTE* Some spells you wish to rid yourself of may be spells you've made yourself. To get the hex codes of these spells, open your main Oblivion program folder. There you will find a text (.txt) file named "LevelUpData_1". Open that file in Notepad or some other text editor and find your character information from your last level up. There will be listed all your spells, including custom spells, with their hex codes. [XP03] <~~~~~~ MODS ~~~~~~> | Official Mods +--------------- Bethesda Softworks is hard-at-work releasing new, official content for Oblivion. To date, 2007-02-15, they have released eight mods. These mods are not free, but are available to Xbox360 owners as well as PC users. You can buy these mods individually, or you can purchase all eight in a single, retail package called "Knights of the Nine" (after the largest of the mods). The KoN package is available for PC only ($19.99); Xbox 360 players can still purchase all the mods separately through Xbox Live Marketplace. * Horse Armor DLC1: $1.99 (PC), 200 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This mod adds two types of barding (horse armor) to the game: Elven (gold color) and steel. Both types are available at Chestnut Handy Stables (outside the west gate to Imperial City) from Snak gra-Bura. Comments: Even though it's only two bucks, it's not worth the download. Horses are an affectation, not a necessity, and the armor doesn't do a whole lot of good since you still can't fight from your horse. Does look pretty, but that's about it. For vanity players only. * Orrery DLC2: $1.89 (PC), 150 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds a simple step-n-fetch quest, Repairing the Orrery, to the game (details in the Side Quests section of this guide). After finishing the quest, you have access to the Imperial Orrery, which will grant you a Greater Power depending on the phase of the moon. Comments: It's OK. The quest is very simplistic and the Powers granted by the Orrery are not hugely useful. (They all Fortify one attribute by 20 and Drain another by 20 for a total of 60 seconds.) Overall, not a huge addition, and probably not worth the money. * Wizard's Tower DLC3: $1.89 (PC), 150 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds Frostcrag Spire to the game, and gives you a deed to the place. Frostcrag is a wizard's tower with a garden full of alchemical ingredients, including many from Oblivion, an enchanting altar, a spellmaking altar, the ability to summon an atronach (storm, fire or frost) servant and an alchemical table that boosts your Alchemy skill by 15 when you stand near it. In order to get the tower functioning, you have to buy the materials from a newly added merchant in Imperial City. This merchant also buys/sells alchemical ingredients and potions and recharges enchanted items. Comments: Definitely worth the money for the plant conservatory alone. Characters who want to enchant and craft spells without joining the Mages Guild will also find a lot to like. It's quite expensive (around 14,000 gold) to get the place up-and-running, but it is a nice house, so, in that respect, it's cheaper than buying and furnishing a house elsewhere. Also includes a ton of books and a vault guarded by imps. Plus, there's no fighting to get it. * Thieves Den DLC7: $1.89 (PC), 150 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds Dunbarrow Cove; and, a little quest along with it. Dunbarrow Cove is a hidden cavern underneath Castle Anvil, and it contains the wreck of the infamous pirate ship, Black Flag. It also contains the animate skeletons of the Black Flag's crew. Full details of this mod are under the Home Ownership section of Miscellaneous Adventures. Comments: Basically, this is another house mod. After a simple quest and the expenditure of some money, you have another place to hang out. The hook this time is for players who like to go around randomly robbing people; but, don't want to join the Thieves Guild (why not?). You can set yourself up in this little cave and you actually have it better than if you were the Gray Fox--high quality fence, lots of Expert training in Stealth skills and access to Stealth-type spells (Fortify Stealth skills, Open Locks, Chameleon, etc.). Overall, Frostcrag Spire might be a better investment of your money, but, hey, it's only two bucks. *NOTE* All of the following mods require the v1.1.511 patch. You must install the patch before installing any of these mods. If you install one of these mods first, the patch will fail. * Mehrunes' Razor DLC9: $2.99 (PC), 250 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds the "Unearthing Mehrunes' Razor" side quest to the game (see the Side Quests section for full details). This quest is activated as soon as you load a game or leave the starter sewers after installing the plug-in. Comments: This is the first official plug-in that is a real quest, as deep as any other side quest in the game. You get a large and interesting dungeon to explore, a plot to overthrow the empire and a cool new weapon that can one-hit kill any enemy in the game. You also get a mod that will tax your system to its limits. There are lots of pitched battles between numerous NPCs. You'll find yourself fighting four or five NPCs at a time. If your PC starts to lag noticeably when fighting two or three enemies, or has difficulty with lots of dynamic light sources (i.e. torches and campfires), you may want to think twice about buying this plug-in. You will have serious problems in some areas--all of them involving fights. Low framerates during a fight is a good way to end up dead. * The Vile Lair DLC5: $1.89 (PC), 150 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds a house for evil characters. Actually, to be more explicit, the vile lair is a vampire hangout. When you load up a game after installing the mod, you get a journal entry about a key and a note letting you know you have inherited a place known as Deepscorn Hollow. The place is marked on your map; it is south-southeast of Leyawiin, not far from Tidewater Cave (Nocturnal's Quest) and Bogwater Swamp ("The Renegade Shadowscale"). Travel there, find the submerged entrance and read the diary just inside the door. Then go buy your "furnishings" from Rowley Eardwulf at the Wawnet Inn. Return and revel in your wretched hive of villainy. Full details are under Home Ownership. Comments: Truly evil players may get a kick out of ordering someone to go kill in their name; and, the Altar of Sithis might be useful. Non-evil characters can use the Purgeblood Salts and Font of Renewal as an easy way to cure vampirism, and you don't have to buy any furnishings to do that. Still, this is a vampire's home and only vampires will get full use of it. * Spell Tomes DLC4: $0.99 (PC), 80 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds spell tomes to the game. Spell tomes are books that teach you a spell. Formerly, to learn spells you had to pay a spell merchant; though, a few were given as quest rewards. Now, if you find a spell tome, you can read it and add the spell it teaches to your spellbook. Tomes are only available as random, leveled treasure. Some of the spell tomes teach spells and spell effects not previously available in Oblivion. Comments: Meh. The best spells are still the ones you make yourself. However, if you're a pure (or close to pure) mage and want the new spell effects, then this might be a useful mod. Of course, you can't guarantee you'll find any of the new spells without cheating. * Knights of the Nine DLC8: $9.99 (PC), 800 Marketplace points (Xbox 360) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds a large quest and new faction (guild) to the game. A full walkthrough of this quest is available in its own section prior to the Side Quests section of this guide. Comments: Pricey, but well worth the money, especially if you play paladin-type characters. The Web site for PC downloads of the official mods is: http://obliviondownloads.com/ PC users: After purchasing, downloading and installing the mods, look in your Oblivion\Data folder (by default, this is in C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\). You'll see DLC[Name].bsa and DLC[Name].esp files (where [Name] is the name of the mod, e.g. DLCOrrery.bsa) and a DLCList.txt file. Backup these files somewhere else (and/or burn them to CD). If you need to re-install Oblivion, or install it on another PC, you can re-install these mods just by copying these .bsa, .esp and .txt files to your Oblivion\Data folder--without having to activate the installer. You can also get all the currently released official mods by purchasing the Knights of the Nine boxed set for PC ($19.99). | Fan Mods (PC Only) +------------------- The modding community for the PC version of Oblivion is very active. The following sites contain most of the mods made for this game: http://www.tessource.net/ http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.List http://www.oblivionsource.com/?page=modforge&op=viewcategories_list Some recommended mods in no particular order... * BTMod http://btmod.beider.org/ Many improvements to the game's user interface, especially menus. * Oblivion Mod Manager http://timeslip.chorrol.com/obmm_download.html Helps Manage all the many mods you will be adding to Oblivion. * Fathis Fix http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2106 Fixes some bugs with the Thieves Guild fence, Fathis Ules. * Shum gro-Yarug Fix http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2189 Some players are unable to purchase the house in Skingrad because gro-Yarug ends up dead, or otherwise missing. This mod fixes that problem and re-inserts him into the game. * Face/Eyes combo http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2083 Merges "More Natural Faces" (higher resolution face textures), with various eye mods (more eye color selections) with a couple of other appearance-related mods. Very nice for those who want just the right look for their PC. * Landscape LOD Replacement http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2182 Replaces the compressed textures normally used for distant landscape with uncompressed textures. Provides a big increase in graphic quality with almost no performance hit. Compare this: http://cavesites.com/sewer_exit_old.jpg with this: http://cavesites.com/sewer_exit.jpg If you use this mod, do not change the uGridsToLoad value in the INI (leave it at 5). * World Texture Packs http://devnull.devakm.googlepages.com/totoworld A rather large number of replacement texture packs for players with all ranges of video cards. These texture packs can really improve the look and feel; but, they will compromise your framerate. * Harvest [Flora] http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2037 Removes or changes the 3D art for plants after you harvest them. Now you will know which plants you have picked and which still wait to be plucked. * Deadlier Traps http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1991 Changes most traps in the game to instant-kills. No longer can you be crushed against a ceiling full of spikes only to emerge with a few scratches. Also makes those traps better when used against enemies. * Quest Award Leveling http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2119 Normally, the rewards--especially equipment, spells and the like--you receive from quests are scaled to your level. This means if you complete a certain quest early, you get stuck with a low-power version of the reward that becomes useless later in the game. This mod causes all these special leveled rewards to increase in level as you increase in level, allowing you to enjoy the full benefit of the reward without having to know in advance when you should complete the quest in order to get the best reward. * Kobu's Character Advancement System http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1888 Changes the way your skills, attributes and class levels increase. Removes the need to do lots of number crunching to be sure you get your +5 modifiers each class level. Also contains other gameplay-improvement mods, including a health modifier, skill advancement modifiers and a change to your character's total encumbrance. * More Merchant Money (Balanced) http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2387 Got a 12,000 gold item you don't want, but no merchant has the money to pay you what it's worth? This mod takes care of that without just giving each merchant a fortune. * Fasthorse http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2171 Gradually increases the speed of your horse as you ride (up to +8 Speed). * Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul http://jorgeoscuro.googlepages.com/ Completely changes the nature of the game by changing how the leveled system works. Provides a greater sense of power when you finally reach the point where common bandits are no longer a problem rather than still a match for you. Also presents uncertainty, since you may now wander into a situation in which you are the weaker participant. For experienced players only. * Colored Enemy Health http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=3774 Causes the little health semi-circle over your targeting reticle to change to yellow and then red as the enemy's health decreases. You can also put a normal health bar over the enemy through an INI tweak, but this looks a little nicer. * Buy Lockpicks http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2074 Gives Thoronir, owner of the Copious Coinpurse, lockpicks so you can buy some without joining the Thieves Guild. Doesn't actually make lockpicks any more useful. * Khajiit Night Eye Toggle http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1797 Changes the Khajiit Night Eye unlimited-use special power to an on/off toggle. * Ring of the Vipereye Fix http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2400 Changes the quest reward, Ring of the Vipereye (from "Lifting the Vale") to a non-quest item so you can sell it, stow it away, or whatever. * Oblivion INI Tweaker http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1937 Not really a mod, just a small program that lets you make many of the INI changes listed in this guide via a series of checkboxes. Highly recommended if you don't want to mess around with the INI file directly. Also see this thread on GameFAQs for even more recommended mods: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=924363&topic=28703919 [VH00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VERSION HISTORY AND CREDITS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ V4.00 2007-02-17 - Added all content from Knights of the Nine mini-expansion - Re-wrote the section on Combat - Updated the Mods section with KoN content, fixed Web addresses - Added Magicka Effects and a FAQ to Gameplay - Added Alchemy to Miscellaneous Adventures - Lots of spell-checking and small changes throughout v3.00 2006-06-12 - All in-game journal quests complete - Added "Skill Training" in Miscellaneous Adventures - Added "Vampirism" in Miscellaneous Adventures - Added "Enchanting, Spellmaking & Soul Gems" to Gameplay - Fixed some typos throughout v2.00 2006-05-26 - Added Fighters Guild, Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests - Added "Home Ownership" in Miscellaneous Adventures section - Added Thieves Den DLC7 official mod - Added six side quests - Added "Travel, Horses and Quest Markers" and "Mini-games" to Gameplay - 131 of 161 quests completed v1.00 2006-05-01 - First published version Many thanks to the following persons who have helped fine-tune this guide (in no particular order): Smjellish, Jeff (Liens_Consort), Karkianman, mleach26, jbucking, zclifford, phild23, Don Mattingly [LG00] ~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEGAL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~ Written & Copyright 2006, 2007 by Barry Scott Will Trademarks and other marks are reserved to their original owners. This guide is not endorsed or authorized by 2KGames or Bethesda Softworks. This guide is for informational purposes only and no explicit or implicit warranty is made with regards to the suitability of this information. The reader agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the author, Barry Scott Will, from any consequences of using this information. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/