Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC)
Created by 
PapaGamer, last updated Mon Jun 09 20:05:31 +0000 2008
A full and complete walkthrough of Bethesda's massive role-playing game set in the world of the Elder Scrolls. This walkthrough includes every quest in the main game as well as the Knights of the Nine expansion set and many of the premium mods released by Bethesda.
Introduction
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.
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!
Gameplay
*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.
Game Controls
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...
Enchanting, Spellmaking and Soul Gems
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
Main Quest Walkthrough
Tutorial
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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...
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 directly 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 manages to blow up right outside Bruma) and
the opportunity to go after Mankar Camoran.
Aren't you lucky?
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.
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!
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...
Fighters Guild
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.
