The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion/Mages Guild

Branches of the Mages Guild can be found in Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin and Skingrad. The guild headquarters is the Arcane University in the Imperial City. However this is not accessible until you have joined the guild.

Joining
To join the guild and get quests you must get a recommendation from the head of each of the guild branches. You cannot join if you have a bounty on your head.

Tenets
The tenets are much like the other guild's rules. Don't steal from guild members. Don't attack/kill them. If you break one of the tenets you will be expelled from the guild. Unlike other guilds, the penalty for getting back into the Mage's Guild is based on which tenet you break not how many times you've broken it.

Readmission
If you are expelled from the mages guild you have to bring alchemical ingredients to Raminus Polis.


 * Theft
 * 20 nightshade
 * 20 mandrake root
 * Assault
 * 20 dragon's tongue
 * 20 redwort flowers
 * Murder
 * 20 vampire dust
 * 20 daedra hearts

Recommendations
Regardless of which town you start to gather the your recommendations in, You will be recognized as an Associate of the Guild and are on your way to becoming a full fledge member.

Anvil
Carahil in the Anvill guild will tell you about some murders and kidnappings on the Gold Coast Road. You are asked to act as a lure to draw out the culprit.

Go to the Brina Cross Inn north of Anvil and speak to Arielle. Pose as a merchant and spend a night at the inn. In the morning travel on the Gold Coast Road towards Kvatch, with a mages guild escort surreptitiously following you. Along the way, a familiar face from the inn will attack and your escort will intervene. When Caminalda is dead, you can return to Carahil to get your recommendation.


 * Note: you can get a key from the Caminalda's corpse which will unlock her room at the inn.  If an Imperial patrol sees your escort attack Caminalda he may intervene and kill them.  This does not affect completion of the quest.

Bravil
Kud-ei in Bravil informs you that Ardaline is having some problems with Varon Vamari. She even says that Varon stole her staff (some kind of terrible travesty for mages.) She asks you to try and get the staff back from Varon and gives you a Charm spell to help with that. Use the charm spell on Varon and he'll spill his guts all over you (apparently he stole something precious from someone because he cared about them.) Now he regrets it and wishes he could get it back, but he sold it to someone in the Imperial City.

Find Soris Arenim in the Imperial City Telos District. Head into his shop and talk to him. He doesn't want to give it up because he paid so much for it. Talk to his wife and get her trust maxed out and she'll tell you that he has it in a chest in the basement and that the key is upstairs in his desk. Head upstairs while they are talking and grab the key then leave the house and come back in the middle of the night. Break into the house and go straight to the basement. Unlock the dresser with the key and grab the staff. Head back to Bravil and give it to Kud-ei for your recommendation.

Bruma
Talk to Jeanne Frasoric in the Mages Guild on getting their recommendation. you are asked to find J'skar, a Kajiit, that has mysteriously disappeared. Talk to Volanaro along with the other mages to to gather information. Volanaro tells you he can make J'skar show up if you will help him "prank". If you agree he gives you Minor Latch Crack, a spell, to use to pick the locks of the Bruma guild master. Go up to Jeanne Frasoric's room without being spotted. Over at her desk open the lock on the drawer amd remover the Manual of Spellcraft. Bring it to Volanaro and he will ask you to meet him in the living quarters at 10 PM tonight.

You can leave now and return at 10pm any night. Once in the living quarters at 10pm ask of J'skar again... Talk to J'skar. He tells you that they pranked Jeanne. You still managed to make J'skar appear so Jeanne will give you her recommendation once you talk to her about it.

Cheydinhal
When you enter the Cheydinhal Mages Guild find Falcar. When you find Falcar he tells you that another associate lost his ring which is the Ring Of Burden and Falcar thinks the associate threw it down the well behind the Mages Guild. Falcar then tells you to go and see Deetsan for the key to the well.

Deetsan will only talk to you only if Falcar is not around so wait for him to go away then speak to Deetsan. Deetsan will then give you the key and a scroll of water breathing then Deetsan tells you to go in the well and find out what has happened to the associate.

Now before you go into the well i should warn you that you'll be underwater and the ring weighs 150 units so there are two ways of going about this. If you have 25 alteration, use the spell Deetsan gave you to get it and breathe. Otherwise put your items in the counter at the Mage guild and pick them up later. Now go into the well and you will find the associate floating in the water grab the ring then get out of the well and return the ring to Deetsan.

Deetsan then tells you that Falcar has Disappeared then Deetsan tells you to go into Falcars room and see if Falcar has left you a recommendation. You won't find a recommendation but you will find 2 black soul gems (implying that he was doing some necromancy and soul capturing.) Take these back to Deetsan and Deetsan will tell you that she will write a recommendation for you and that Falcar would be fired. Feel free to discard the ring anywhere you want.

Chorrol
In Chorrol the Mage's guild leader, Teekeeus, has some problems with an ex-member Earana. He wants you to be his inside man and find out what she wants. Talk to her and she'll recognize you're a new recruit to the mages guild and assume you're trustworthy. She'll tell you that she wants a book called "Fingers of the Mountain." She'll give you a vague idea of where it is, but not enough to find it.

Once this discussion occurs you should run right back to Teekeus and tell him about it. He'll tell you exactly where the book is and make it clear that you mustn't give it to Earana. Head to Cloud Top, the location of the book, north of Chorrol. When you arrive you'll find a single pillar and the book clutched by a charred body (not a good omen.) Take the book and head back to Chorrol


 * NOTE: There are a couple ways to complete this quest depending on where your loyalties lie, but if you want to learn the spell Finger of the Mountain then earana has to have it at least for a moment.

Allying with Teekeus
If you're a good little Mage Guild lackey (or you just want your recommendation) then you will give the book to Teekeus. He'll immediately write the recommendation and the Mage's Guild part is done. If you still want the spell then you can steal the book back from Teekeus and give it to Earana and she'll give you instructions to get the spell.

Allying with Earana
If you are tempted by Earana's offer of a reward then you can give her the book instead of Teekeus. She'll give you the spell. If you still want your recommendation you'll have to steal the book back from her room at the inn and give it to Teekeus.

Getting the Spell
Now it's possible to miss getting this spell, but if you do decide you want it Earana will make you jump through a few hoops. First she'll make you wait a full day. Then she'll give you a note with instructions on what to do. 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 and eventually you'll have to visit one I suggest you just wait until you happen upon one later and then come back to Cloud Top.


 * NOTE: Finger of the Mountain is a leveled spell meaning the level you're at when you get it determines how strong it will be forever. There are some user made add-ons for the PC version that remedy this, but for Xbox players I suggest waiting and getting the spell at level 25 when it's the most powerful.

Leyawiin
When you arrive at the Leyawiin guild hall talk to Dagail. She seems to be completely out of her mind muttering something about voices, vision, and an amulet. Talk to Agata for more information and she tells you that Dagail needs here seer's stone to suppress spontaneous visions of the future. Ask around to see what you can find and everyone will refer you to Kalthar. Talk to Kalthar and he'll go on a rant about how neither Dagail nor her father deserved to be leader because they were crazy, he'll then tell you to leave it be in hopes that she gets fired. Tell Agata about this and she'll notice that Kalthar knew about Dagail's father (and he shouldn't have) she'll then refer you back to Dagail. Talk to Dagail and she will tell you "what was once my fathers must be mine." I found this a bit cryptic and useless but the quest log said that we have to go to the fort where her father was stationed and loot his corpse. So off we go the fort is south east of Leyawiin and not very far.

In the fort you'll find it crawling with Marauders. It seems that they've taken this fort as their own and will defend it to the death. Make your way through the rooms as usual try to fight as few people as possible at once, ideally one on one. In one of the later rooms you'll find a Marauder Captain with a key to the next room kill him and take it. In the next room you'll face two creatures. For me at level 7 they were a troll and an imp, but they are leveled so they could be anything. Kill both of them and head up to his corpse. Now before you loot it wait for an hour and save so you're full healed. Once you pick up his amulet and head for the door Kalthar will confront you confessing he stole the amulet and that he was trying to extort Dagail. Once this is said he'll rush you and you'll have to kill him. Head out of the dungeon and give Dagail her amulet. She'll collect her thoughts, give you a recommendation, and then give you a grave warning about your future.

Skingrad
Adrieene Berene in Skingrad asks that you find Erthor one of the mages from her group (it appears that mages get lost quite often.) Ask around and you'll find out that she sent him away to Bleak Flats Cave after he summoned some scamps that went crazy. Talk to Adrieene again to jog her memory and she'll give you a fireball spell and send you on your way (not exactly a good omen.)

Bleak Flats Cave is North West of Skingrad so head on over there and enter the gave. Inside it's pretty dark so get out a torch. You'll soon encounter a deranged zombie (missing it's head and right arm) so it seems that something has gone wrong (presumably Erthor's failed another summoning.) Fight through the zombies and be careful not to face 3 at once as they are pretty tough.

Once you reach the end of the dungeon you'll find Erthor is scared, but safe. Walk down the tunnel and open the secret passage and leave. Fast travel back to Skingrad and go to the guild hall. Give Erthor a minute to talk to Adrieene (you don't actually see this) and then talk to her for your recommendation.

Raminus Polus Quests
After you have all the recommendations, travel to the Arcane University and speak to Raminus Polus to become an Apprentice mage. You've completed all those annoying recommendation quests and are finally recognized as member of the guild.

A Mage's Staff
You aren't a proper mage without a staff! To be sent in search of one, ask Raminus Polus for your first quest as a member of the mages guild.

Raminus will tell you to visit Wellspring cave and find Elette or Zahrasha. Your first problem is that just inside the cave Zahrasha is lying dead Search her body and get the Wellspring Key. Setting the pattern for your mages guild quests, several necromancers await you in the cave. Go through the cave and use the Wellspring key to exit from the other side. A few more necromancers are lurking outside. Kill them.

When all the necromancers are dead, get the wood for your staff from the Stone Chest at the center of the island. Retun to Raminus, who will direct you to Delmar in the Chironasium to continue your staff creation.

You will be able to chose your staff's effects through this dialogue After 24 hours your finished staff will be in the cupboard at the back of the room. Upon receiving your staff and talking to Raminus you are promoted to Journeyman of the Mage's Guild.
 * Note: The Staff you select will have stats in comparison to your current level. If you are not in a hurry to complete the Mage's Guild story line, by all means, wait a little while.

Ulterior Motives
Raminus wants you to head to over to Castle Skingrad for the first part of this quest to retrieve a book that belongs to the Arcane University. You may need to speak with Mercator Hosidus first to seek an audience with Count Janus, however, he will tell you that the count is having any guests at the moment. Mercator says to come back in a day while he tried to convince the Count grant an audience. If you so please, wait the day where you stand. Mercator will tell you once the day has passed that the Count of Skingrad will meet with you, but...only after 2AM outside the West Gate of Skingrad.
 * NOTE: This part glitches on Xbox 360 and it would take a quite few tries for Mercator to tell me this part. I'd recommend saving before you wait and restart to clear your cache if you run into the same problem.

Once you are at the quest marker at around 2AM you'll see Mercator approaching with two black robed figures. Mercator is in cahoots with Necromancers and tries to kill you, be prepared for a tough fight. If you have summoning scrolls or spells, now would be a good time to use them...this fight can quickly break into a five-on-one assault. You will be aided a few moments into this fight, but a powerful individual. He seems to only get in your way, but if you can manage to draw one of the enemies away while he fights the others, it makes it a much easier fight.

Once you're through with all of them, the stranger walks up and speaks with you, revealing that it is none other than Count Janus. He informs you that you weren't sent there for a book, but a reconnaissance mission because word got around of some necromancers in Skingrad.

Once you are done talking with him go back to the Arcane University and speak with Raminus to inform him what transpired in Skingrad. Raminus rewards you with the Spelldrinker Amulet, and promote you to Evoker.
 * Note: The amulet is comparable to your current level, like the staves.

Vahtacen's Secret
Raminus now wants you to talk to Irlav Jarol to gather some info. Irlav is usually hanging out on the 2nd floor of the Arch Mage's tower. He wants you to travel on over to Vahtacen and check up on things for him since he's been so busy, and help the research team. Vahtacen is south of Cheydinhal. Before departing prepare yourself with 4 spells or scrolls. You will require a fire spell on target, ice spell on target, Fortify Magicka spell on target, and Damage Magicka spell on target. You will really only need to find the ice spell, there is one of each of the other 3 in scroll form, in Vatacen. (If you'd like to figure the puzzle out in your head, get the spells).

You're going to need to speak with Skaleel when you arrive at Vahtacen. After hearing her worries seek out Denel a little ways away. He is trying to decipher the Ayleid writing in the room, but needs the book Skaleel has. fetch the book from Skaleel and bring it to Denel. The room next to Denel has a giant pillar, and four crystals nearby, each with Ayleid writing near it. familiarize yourself with each writing after you get Denel to translate them. AV Molag Anyammis - Fire AV Mafre Nagaia - Frost Nagicka Sila - Fortify Magicka Magicka Loria - Damage Magicka

Open the chest near Denel for the scrolls spoken of earlier. SAVE. First go to AV Molag Anyammis and cast the fire spell upon the pillar, it will move... AV Mafre Nagaia next and cast your frost attack. Third, Magicka Moria, cast Damage Magicka on Target. The moment of truth, go to Nagicka Sila, and cast Fortify Magicka on target pillar, puzzle solved. Talk to Delen, he tells you go on in and find a valuable for Irlav.

Upon entering you'll have to fight your way through a few undead most likely. Once you're done with and have entered the room take caution not to step on the tile in the middle of the room with the holes. Walk around it and continue on, the path is pretty straight through and through... Once in the larger room with the suspended cages, watch where you walk while going towards the back on the 2nd floor and you'll find a button that activates the stairs to drop in the middle of the room. Climb the stairs and grab the Ancient Elven Helm.

Head out of the ruins and back to Denel. After seeing your artifact he will tell you to bring it to Skaleel for inspection. She sends you back to Irlav with it, who thanks you and sends you back to Raminus. Raminus presents you with a Conjurer Robe and promotes you to Conjurer.

Necromancer's Moon
Tar-Meena out in the Mystic Archives has been getting bowled over requests from the Council and Raminus wants you to have her find of greater importance. Black Soul Gems. Found in Cheydinhal with Falcar. She wants you to find a book for her.. you'll find it on table next to a bookshelf, just inside the door. Bring it to Tar-Meena and after a short discussion go speak with Raminus. Now talk to Bothiel about the Shade of the Revenant. She'll be around the Arcane University, and will make some head-way on about the Black Soul Gems and bring up the note she discovered left by Falcar. Speak with Raminus again, he'll want you steak out the Dark Fissure which is just south east of Vahtacen. Prepare your self for battle and head out. SAVE.

The enemy you're after is called Worm Anchorite. It should drop a Handwritten Note. They can appear outside between 12AM and 2AM on Freedas, or you can delve into the cave and irradicate'em. If you don't receive the note reload from your saved file.

Return back to Raminus with the note to complete the quest. Raminus has no more quests for us, but promotes you to Magician and informs you that Arch Mage Travel wants a word with you. Arch Mage Traven is usually up on the second or third floors.

Liberation or Apprehension?
Traven tells you that he's got someone working on the inside of this Necromancer cult, but is afraid they are in danger and wants you to rescue him to safely. He dispatches a group of Battlemages and tells you where to meet up with them.

Go south-west of the Imperial City to find Nenyond Twyll. As you walk toward the ruins you are approached by one of the Battlemage. He says the traitor told the Necromancers they were incoming and also that the necromancers killed the others and retreated deeper in.

In a humorous moment, Fithragaer runs straight in with no regard for traps and gets himself killed. Kill the necromancer near the stairs and head north-east. Two more Necromancer's will approach in the large room, kill them and head south-east and enter the door deeper into the ruins.

Kill any necromancer and continue onto the area with the red crystals. Dive in the water to swim under the detection of the red crystals. Kill or sneak passed the undead, and necromancers on the bridge and advance north. Defeat the necromancer blocking the button on the wall and push it.

A secret area reveals itself and Mucianus Alias comes wandering out, as a zombie! Flee the ruins for the Arcane University and tell Arch-Mage Traven. Speak with Raminus about advancement to get promoted to Warlock.

Information at a Price
Traven has informed you that the Count of Skingrad has information he wants to share with you. Go to Castle Skingrad and inside find Hal-Liurz, she will go get the Count. Count Janus wants you to fulfill a duty for him before he reveals his information. Vampires begun to gather in the Bloodcrust Cavern just outside of town, and in turn has drawn the attention of some Vampire Hunters. Being a vampire, the Count wishes you to remove both parties from the region.

Find the Vampire Hunters. The lesser hunters were told not to converse with anyone, so locate the head hunter. Find Eridor, the head Hunter, outside the chapel or at the Two Sisters Lodge. Tell of the vampires in Bloodcrust Cave and they will head out there and attempt to kill them all.

You won't know the outcome of the fight if you let the hunters go into the caves unless you go in, or wait for the end of the day. If the hunters do kill the vampires, they will depart from the city when the finish. If not, you have to go finish off the vampires yourself. When all are gone go back to the Castle, talk to Hal-Liurz and she'll get the Count again. Janus tells you of a powerful necromancer named Mannimarco returning to Cyrodiil in the north-lands somewhere and some of the mages guild have defected.

Back at the Arcane University seek out Arch-Mage Traven of the new info. He shifts his focus to the Mages Council for discussion on the topic and thanks you for the info.

A Plot Revealed
Hannibal Traven asks you to go to Bruma and speak to Jeanne Frasoric at the Mages Guild as he hasn't heard from her recently.

When you step inside the guild building, you'll find that it has been attacked and left to burn. Your job now is to look for survivors. Head downstairs initially, fending off the undead as you go. If you find the undead tricky to deal with, lure them outside to get some help from the guards and local citizenry. Eventually you will work your way to a necromancer who has remained behind. Kill her to reveal the sole survivor of the Bruma Guild massacre and hear what he has to say about the King of Worms.

Once you've got J'Skar's information, head back to Hannibal Traven to give him the bad news. After three days to think about things he will ask you to get the Bloodworm Helm and the Necromancer's Amulet, quests 4.4.1 and 4.4.2 below. You can get the items in either order. Speak with Raminus to advance your rank to Wizard.

The Bloodworm Helm
Go to Fort Teleman and fight your way through the first level which is full of Necromancers. Enter the Order of the Black Rose area. Here there are both Necromancers and Daedra fighting each other. If you can keep out of the way they will make your job easier by killing each other, allowing you to cut a swathe through the winners (probably the Daedra). Its all too late for Irlav Jarol who took the helm. Pry it from his cold dead fingers and exit Fort Teleman.

Either return to Traven or get the Necromancer's Amulet if you don't have it yet.

The Necromancer's Amulet
Travel to Fort Ontus. Once inside the fort, any of the mages you speak to will tell you to see Caranya. Find Caranya in the fort understreets (use the lever to open the gate to the room she's in) and talk to her.

Alas Caranya is a traitor and planning to give the amulet to the King of Worms. So kill her and take the amulet. She uses a lot of heal spells so you might like to try a magica draining effect on her to shorten the fight. The amulet is a decent item, but you don't get to keep it if you want to finish the guild quests.

All the mages you passed on the way in are necromancers. So once you have the amulet fight your way out and either take it to Traven, or go and get the Bloodworm Helm as preferred. Once both objects are delivered to Hannibal Traven you will get promoted to Master-Wizard.

Ambush
Your penultimate task for the guild is to acquire a black soul gem needed to defeat the King of Worms. After getting the quest, travel to the Ruins of Silorn to lead some battle mages in an attack. Unfortunately the enemy have barricaded themselves behind a sealed door, so you'll have to wait for them to emerge. Direct your troops to their ambush positions and shortly afterwards the necromancers will emerge, led by Falcar. The battle mages can take care of them quite easily.
 * NOTE: The Battlemages are very sensitive to stray blows and will turn on you quite easily, so be careful how you swing! Yield is your friend.

If Falcar, makes it back inside Silorn you will have to trek through the ruins to find him. The dungeon is large and has plenty of Necromancers. Detour through Silorn Sedorseli to hit the switch which opens the gates keeping you from Falcar in the Silorn Buroseli area

Once Falcar is dead, get the gem, take the shortcut out, and retun to Traven.

Confront the King
Once Arch-Mage Traven concludes the Black Soul Gem was meant for him he devises a plan to knock out Mannimarco for good. Go to Mannimarco with the Black Soul Gem and kill him. Traven says you are the new Arch-Mage and then suicides to be put into the Colossal Black Soul Gem. Grab the Filled Colossal Black Soul Gem and head to Bruma.

You can talk to the necromancer on guard of the door, he will tell you he is gauding the cave with his life and begin to attack, so don't bother talking to him. Kill him off and take the key he held to gain access to the cave. Kill or sneak by the Necromancer and undead the first large room and then head head north. In the next room will have to succeed two more Necromancers and an undead in the room after that. Head south through the tunnels which leads you to a door leading down to the Echo Passages. Continue to kill or sneak by any more enemies you encounter on your way through.

Save and enter the Echo Necromancer's Charmer, killing the necromancer guarding the the path to Mannimarco. Cross the bridge and talk to Mannimarco. His spell doesn't hurt you if you remembered to grab the Colossal Black Soul Gem with Traven inside. Kill him off and loot the area. Head back to the Arcane University and let the Mage's know who is the new boss.

Alchemy Acquisitions
After receiving recognition from Raminus as the new Arch-Mage he tells you that Julienne Fanis has collected Alchemical ingredients for Arch-Mage Traven when he was around and that she may do the same for you. Follow the quest marker to Julienne, she shouldn't be far.

Julienne informs you on how to use the enchanted chest in the Arch-Mages room. Place an ingredient in it, wait 24 hours and retrieve the ingredients out of the chest. Placing any other items or Niroot will result in a lost item.