Oblivion:A Plot Revealed

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[edit] Quick Walkthrough

Speak to Traven a few days after completing Information at a Price. He wants you to check on the Bruma Mages Guild.
Head to Bruma and go straight to the Mages Guild. The Guild hall will be in flames once you enter.
Fight your way through the ruins until you find Camilla Lollia.
Kill her. Immediately after, J'skar will appear. Talk to him about what happened.
Return to the Arcane University to report to Traven.

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] A Septic Wound

Come back two days after your last task from Traven, and he will offer another job that he now does not have time to complete. You are to travel to Bruma and speak to Jeanne Frasoric there. He hasn't heard anything from her in a few days and while he appreciates a break from her constant harassment, he is worried that this behavior isn't like her.

[edit] Something's Not Quite Right

When you arrive at the Bruma Mages Guild, it seems to have been attacked. There will be a few remaining undead about so take care of them before you look for survivors. As you work your way downstairs to the living quarters and then up again, you'll find the bodies of the guild mages... with one exception. If the undead in the Guild Hall prove to be a little too much, or you lack the weapons to deal with them, just run outside and the Bruma Guards will provide some support (and if even they can't deal with the undead, attract the undead to the Fighters Guild hall next door and watch the show).

Upstairs, you'll find one Necromancer, Camilla Lollia, apparently still looking for someone in the room. After you kill Camilla Lollia, you'll be approached by the sole survivor: J'skar who now appears in a corner of the room. He says he was invisible during the entire massacre (similar to his behavior in the Bruma Recommendation quest), frozen in terror, but claims to have seen everything including the arrival of the King of Worms, Mannimarco. J'skar reports that the King of Worms slaughtered everyone, even draining people's souls, and then had mentioned something about Echo Cave and destroying the mage's guild. J'skar also thinks the King of Worms may have seen him, even in his transparent state stating that just before leaving, Mannimarco looked him in the eye and grinned, although why he was left alive he does not know. The most likely possibility is that the King of Worms wanted J'skar alive in order to tell the Council of Mages about what had transpired.

[edit] Return Not So Triumphant

Return to Traven with bad news... again. He says he'll need a few days to decide what the next step will be. Afterwards, speak with Raminus Polus to be promoted to the rank of Wizard. He will also teach you the leveled spell Wizard's Fury.

[edit] Notes

After this quest, Volanaro is no longer available as a spell vendor. He is the only vendor in the game who sells the Summon Dremora Lord spell, so you may want to buy this spell beforehand. (Note: If you have the Spell Tomes official plug-in installed, you may still be able to find a Summon Dremora Lord tome.)

Similarly, Selena Orania is no longer available as a vendor, so if you intend to invest in every store in the game, invest in her before this quest.

The destruction of the Mages Guild building is implemented in the game by having two different versions of the building's interior. Therefore all items left in the Mages Guild before this quest will disappear; the items in the destroyed version of the guild hall will appear there whether or not you had previously looted the building.
- One item of particular value in the original building is the unique Illusion skill book, The Wolf Queen, v 3. It is an orange book found in the southeast basement, first door on the right, lying on the desk. This book will no longer be available after this quest has been started.

No matter how long you wait the guild will never get repaired and stays in its ruined state throughout the game.

[edit] Bugs

A rather severe bug can occur at the conclusion of this quest after Hannibal Traven indicates that he'll need "a few days" to digest this new information. Two game days later, his script will silently start the Bloodworm Helm (as well as the Necromancer's Amulet) quests. The former will enable the corpse of Irlav Jarol in Fort Teleman containing the Helm. If the player happens to go to Fort Teleman and find the Helm before returning to Traven to start the quest, the quest advances to the point of conclusion, the stage that adds the dialog option to return it is skipped, and the Mages Guild questline is broken. Console players will have to load a previous save, but PC players can get around this by entering the following into the command console:

addtopic C088

addtopic C089

This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

If you catch up with J'skar when he is running away from the Bruma Mages Guild, he has dialogue but doesn't make a sound. This is caused by his scripting which intercepts the "activation" of the player talking to him.
- This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

Sometimes J'skar may not appear. A simple way to get round this is to talk to him even though he is invisible. He is in the further right corner when at the door.

[edit] Journal Entries

A Plot Revealed (MG14Plot)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		Hannibal Traven wants me to check in with Jeanne Frasoric at the Bruma Mages Guild. I should go there immediately.
20		I have arrived at the Bruma Mages Guild. It appears to have been attacked; I should look for survivors.
30		I have found Selenia Orania. She is dead. I should look for other survivors.
40		I have found Volanaro, who was killed. I should look for other survivors.
50		Jeanne Frasoric is dead. I should look for other survivors.
60		J'skar is the only survivor of the slaughter at the Mages Guild Hall in Bruma. He's given me information about the King of Worms. Hannibal Traven should be told immediately; I should return to the Imperial City.
100		I've told Hannibal Traven what J'skar saw at the Bruma Mages Guild hall.

Notes

Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in random order.
If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage MG14Plot stage. Where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages. See SetStage for more information.