Oblivion:Breaking the Siege of Kvatch

Quick Walkthrough[edit]

Talk to Savlian Matius.
Enter Oblivion. Head for the Blood Feast (the Sigil Keep) and make your way up.
Take the walkway to the Reapers Sprawl to find the prisoner. Kill his keeper to get the Sigil Keep Key.
Walk back to the Blood Feast, get to the top, and activate the Sigil Stone. The gate will close and you'll find yourself back in Kvatch.
Help Savlian clear out the Daedra in the plaza in front of the chapel so the survivors inside can be rescued.
Talk to Martin and tell him to follow you to Weynon Priory.

Detailed Walkthrough[edit]

On Oblivion[edit]

As noted in Find the Heir, Martin will not escape with you unless everyone else in the Chapel of Akatosh can leave safely, but the guard will not let anyone out until Savlian Matius gives the order. Savlian is too busy killing the Daedra outside the Oblivion Gate to aid in your quest, so your only choice is to offer to help him close it. Tell him you want to help, get ready for battle, and activate the gate. You do not need to have delivered the amulet before doing this quest. However, other Oblivion Gates won't open until you do so.

After entering the gate, you will find yourself on an island in the Deadlands, Mehrunes Dagon's Plane of Oblivion. Ahead of you can be seen two Daedra (the exact type depends on your level) running at you on a bridge over a lake of lava. Two towers and a larger tower between them can be seen in the distance. To the left, Ilend Vonius is fighting some of the monsters. At higher levels, there is a fair chance that the Daedra will kill Ilend if you are not fast enough to save him. If he isn't dead already, help him kill the Daedra. After they're dead, Ilend will tell you he was sent in with a few other soldiers to try and close the Oblivion Gate. One survivor from the assault was taken as a prisoner to the large tower.

At this point, you can ask Ilend for help or you can try to close the Oblivion Gate by yourself. He will attack with his sword and shield and heal himself relatively quickly. At your command, Ilend can follow you or wait behind, which is useful for tactical raids. However, make sure Ilend doesn't fall into the lava, especially if you knock a creature into it. If you want more companions, you can attack Savlian and his men, and they will follow you into Oblivion, fighting you and hostile creatures. If you yield, however, they will leave.

Climbing the Tower[edit]

After entering the gate, you will find yourself in the Kvatch Oblivion World. Your destination is the largest visible tower, which can be recognized by the yellow light visible at the top. The direct route - across the bridge immediately in front of the Oblivion Gate - is blocked by two large war gates. If you have high acrobatics you can simply jump around the gates. If not, you will instead have to head west and head up the western side of the island that makes up this world. Along the way, watch out for landslides (Ilend is particularly prone to getting swept away by the landslides into the lava) and the usual assortment of Daedra and Dremora.

Once you reach the Blood Feast, (the Sigil Keep), venture inside. Inside you will find a few Daedra so take them out. Your goal is to reach the top of the tower, taking out any enemies you find on the way. For the first section of climbing, enter the Rending Halls, which lead you to the first balcony inside the Blood Feast. From there you can enter the Corridors of Dark Salvation, but two of the doors out of this room are locked and require a key. So take the third door, which leads you outside and across a narrow bridge to one of the smaller towers, Reapers Sprawl.

Menien Goneld inside his cage

At the top of Reapers Sprawl you will find Menien Goneld locked in a cage and guarded by a Dremora Sigil Keeper, who will initiate a conversation with you. He will say, "You should not be here, mortal. Your blood is forfeit, your flesh is mine!" At that point he will attack you. Kill the Sigil Keeper to get his key. Menien will provide you with a bit more information about where you are going, but will insist that you continue on and do not try to rescue him. However, this is a moot point, as you cannot rescue Menien.

Back in the main tower, you can now open the locked doors. If you're in a rush to get the job done, take the northern door from the Corridors of Dark Salvation, watch out for traps, and exit at the first door you come to. You'll find yourself on an even higher-level balcony in the Blood Feast. The Runed Portal on this balcony is a teleporter that takes you up to the top balcony.

From the top balcony you gain access to the final room, the Sigillum Sanguis, which is the room that contains the Sigil Stone. Climb up the stairs, killing any enemies you find, and at the very top you will see a glowing ball balancing on the red stream of lava you saw earlier. This is the sigil stone that holds open the gate to Oblivion. Taking it will transport you to the outside of the Oblivion Gate you entered from, along with Ilend Vonius if he went with you, and will destroy the Oblivion Gate in the process.

Detours in Oblivion[edit]

The previous section described the most direct route through the Kvatch Oblivion World. However, exploring a bit more thoroughly can yield some additional treasure.

At the southwest corner of the island is a smaller tower called the Blood Well. At the top of that tower you will find the switch that opens the main war gate (and you will also find a blood fountain). Oddly enough, the switch does not open the war gate immediately adjacent to the Blood Well, but only the war gates back near the Oblivion Gate, for example if you need to resupply or if you need to take back some of the loot you have gathered so far.

At the north side of the island is the entrance to the Sump of Misery, which is a cave with a good amount of loot. The cave itself contains four fleshy pods. It also leads to the Desolate Well, which is the otherwise inaccessible tower at the north end of the island. The top of the Desolate Well will reward you with two of the Punished (loot containers), and a blood fountain.

Inside the main tower, the Corridors of Dark Salvation provide access to a couple more small bonus areas. The southern locked door leads to a small balcony containing two of the Punished. Following the passage from the northern locked door all the way to the end leads to another narrow bridge that crosses to the final tower, Meat Harbor. At the bottom of that tower you will find two more of the Punished. There are plenty of Oblivion plants found in this area. You can harvest at least 121 Bloodgrass, 35 Harrada, and 37 Spiddal Sticks.

Back in Kvatch[edit]

The ruins that await when you enter the city of Kvatch

Now that you're back at Kvatch, with a destroyed Oblivion Gate behind you, return to Savlian and report your success. He'll say that he knew you could do it, and suggest that now would be a good time to mount a counter-attack on the remaining Daedra. When you're ready, follow him and the other soldiers into the city and help him fight off the monsters near the chapel. If you told Ilend to leave, he will join his fellow guardsmen in the counterattack. Once the Daedra are all dead, he'll walk to the chapel to make sure the civilians inside are alright. At this point, you can either escort Martin to Weynon Priory or help Savlian reclaim Kvatch in an optional quest.

Notes[edit]

An achievement will be unlocked upon closing the Oblivion Gate.

Journal Entries[edit]

Breaking the Siege of Kvatch (MS48)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0		(Set when Hirtel speaks to player)
5		(Set when player first speaks to Savlian Matius)
8		Savlian Matius asked me to help close the Oblivion Gate outside the ruins of Kvatch. He sent some of his men into it, but they never came back. I should let him know when I'm ready to help.
10		I have agreed to help Savlian Matius of the Kvatch Town Guard and his men as they attempt to reach some survivors trapped in the Chapel of Akatosh inside the city. He is willing to lead his guardsmen back into the city to attempt a rescue, but the enemy have opened an Oblivion Gate across the entry to the city. then I need to go into the Oblivion Gate and figure out how to close it.
20		Ilend Vonius, one of the Kvatch Guardsmen who entered the Oblivion Gate to try to close it, told me that at least one other survivor of the assault on the Gate has been taken to the large tower within Oblivion. I should search for him there. (This will appear in your journal if you have not* told Savlian Matius you will try to close the Oblivion Gate)* or At least one survivor of the assault on the Oblivion Gate has been taken to the large tower within Oblivion. I need to search for him there. (This will appear in your journal if you told Savlian Matius you will try to close the Oblivion Gate)
25		(Player asked Ilend to come along)
30		I found the prisoner in Oblivion. He told me I need to reach the top of the largest tower and look for the Sigil Stone. But I will need the Sigil Keeper's key to gain entry into the Sigil Keep.
40		I have the key to the Sigil Keep. then Now I must reach the Sigil Stone and remove it from the Sigil Keep to close the Oblivion Gate that it anchors.
50		I have closed the Gate by taking the Sigil Stone that anchors it within Oblivion. I should tell Savlian Matius that the way into Kvatch is now open. (This stage adds an achievement if you are playing on a console)
60		Savlian Matius of the Kvatch Town Guard has asked me to aid him as he and his men attempt to re-take the city of Kvatch. They're pushing in now; I'll need to follow closely and make sure Savlian survives.
70		I have entered the ruined city of Kvatch with Savlian Matius and his men. We must clear the southern plaza before the survivors in the Chapel can be rescued.
80		I have helped Savlian Matius and his men retake the southern plaza. I should talk to him about our next move.
90		It is now safe for the survivors of the attack on Kvatch to leave the Chapel for safety in the camp south of the city. Savlian has asked me to help him further. I should let him know when I am ready.
200		Savlian Matius has been killed. (This quest is marked as finished once the refugees reach the encampment. This Journal Entry does not appear in-game as Savlian Matius cannot be killed.)

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.
It is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage MS48 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.