Oblivion:Dagon Shrine

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Contents 1 Quick Walkthrough 2 Detailed Walkthrough 2.1 Travel to the Shrine 2.2 Gaining Entry 2.3 The Ritual 2.3.1 You Handed Over Your Equipment 2.3.2 You Blew Your Cover 2.4 Fighting the Cultists 2.5 Jeelius 2.6 Escaping from the Caverns 2.7 Return to the Temple 3 Alternative Scenarios 3.1 Stashing Your Equipment 3.2 Sneak into the Antechamber 4 Notes 5 Bugs 6 Journal Entries

Find, and infiltrate, the Mythic Dawn shrine. edit Quest Giver: Given after the completion of The Path of Dawn quest at Green Emperor Way Location(s): Lake Arrius Caverns Prerequisite Quest: The Path of Dawn Next Quest: Spies Reward: Progress in story line Fame/Infamy: Fame +1 ID: MQ06

Come for the speech, stay for the sacrifices.

[edit] Quick Walkthrough

1. Travel to the Mythic Dawn secret shrine in Lake Arrius Caverns.
2. Steal the Mysterium Xarxes.
3. Return to Martin in the Great Hall of the Cloud Ruler Temple.

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] Travel to the Shrine

You've finally been able to track down the location of Mythic Dawn's secret shrine to Mehrunes Dagon. The location, marked on your map, is in the northeastern part of the province at Lake Arrius Caverns, just north of Cheydinhal. Unlike Weynon Priory and Kvatch, you cannot immediately quick travel to Lake Arrius unless you happen to have been there before.

[edit] Gaining Entry

The Doorkeeper just inside the cavern will let you into the shrine without much hassle at all. He says you should go and speak with Harrow, Warden of the Shrine of Dagon. Harrow will ask you to hand over all of your possessions (including all of your gold) and put on an Initiate's robe. If you refuse, you'll get a warning and another chance to don the robe. If you follow Harrow's instructions, you temporarily become a member of the Mythic Dawn and you are allowed to follow Harrow into the shrine.

At any point, you can refuse to cooperate and instead fight your way in. You will be told that your cover has been blown. You will then need to fight your way through the entire shrine, killing all the cultists you meet. You can choose whatever option is better suited to your character's strengths (or morals). If you are a weak fighter or are skilled at sneaking, thieving, illusion magic, or just plain running, playing along with the Cult may be advantageous. Strong fighters may have an easier time simply marching in fully armed and cutting down everything in their path.

There are a few strategies for coping with Harrow taking all your equipment:

• Harrow will not take any quest items that you may have in your inventory. Therefore having weapons such as the Blade of Woe, Umbra, the Honorblade of Chorrol, or even the weapons shipment from the The Desolate Mine quest can be advantageous.
• You can drop most of your equipment on the ground just before speaking to Harrow (you may not want to drop small, difficult-to-find items like keys). You can then pick everything up the moment after you agree to hand everything over. This allows you to enter the next section fully equipped without blowing your cover. You will still need to loot Harrow later in order to retrieve your gold and any other items you allowed him to take.
• You can subsequently pickpocket Harrow to retrieve some items.
• You can obtain some replacement equipment from the storage room at the far end of the Shrine Antechamber. You should drop a few lockpicks before speaking to Harrow (and pick them up after you give him your equipment) because this room is locked. Even if you do not give your equipment to Harrow a visit here is recommended because it has some nice loot.

[edit] The Ritual

There are two main options here, largely dictated by whether or not you turned over your equipment when you entered the shrine.

[edit] You Handed Over Your Equipment

Harrow will lead you to a ceremony, already in process, directed by Mankar Camoran himself. After a short speech, Mankar will disappear into a magical portal; unfortunately he takes the Amulet of Kings with him. It is impossible to kill Mankar at this point, because he is flagged as an essential NPC. It is not even possible to try to pickpocket the Amulet of Kings from Mankar because he is also flagged as a "ghost" meaning you cannot interact with him in any way. Trying to obstruct the quest at this stage can lead to a serious bug later, so it's best to just let Mankar escape.

Once Mankar gets away, a quest message will pop up to inform you that your new target should be the Mysterium Xarxes, because it may aid you and Martin in retrieving the Amulet. At this point you will be introduced to Ruma Camoran, Mankar's daughter, as a new Initiate, and she asks you to perform a ritual sacrifice of Jeelius, an Argonian priest. You may choose to agree or refuse to perform it. If you refuse, the cultists will immediately turn on you. Since you are weaponless and vastly outnumbered, this would be a very difficult battle. You have several choices at this point:

• Kill Jeelius, which will allow you to wait until things cool off a bit before stealing the book. Although you are now part of the Mythic Dawn, you cannot get out of the cave until you take the Mysterium Xarxes. Wait for one hour, which will allow the whole room to clear out except for Harrow, Ruma Camoran, and one additional guard (who stands behind the altar area). Then proceed to grab the book, attack those three and escape, fighting any other cultists along the way.
• Agree to the sacrifice (for now at least). Go to the podium and pick up the silver dagger. Then grab the Mysterium Xarxes and run for it. You'll need to keep running all the way through the Shrine Living Quarters (avoiding many cultists along the way). You won't be safe until you make it out of the caverns.
• Agree to the sacrifice . Go to the podium and pick up the silver dagger. Then kill Ruma, (she is a relatively easy kill) loot her staff, grab the Mysterium Xarxes and run for it.
• If you are powerful enough to deal with the cultists, you can refuse to make the sacrifice, or even free Jeelius.
  • If you want to save Jeelius, realize that picking up the Mysterium Xarxes will cause the statue of Dagon to collapse on top of him. See Jeelius for tips on how to help him survive.
  • See Fighting the Cultists for tips on how to survive the ensuing fight.
• If your sneak skill is high enough, you can pickpocket your best items from Harrow and then use those items to kill him and take all of your stuff back, making the rest of the battle easier.
• Another way is to pickpocket some lockpicks from Harrow and use them to open the door at the end of the hall outside the Shrine. You will find a basement with some scrolls, potions and weapons which will make it a lot easier when you attack.

[edit] You Blew Your Cover

If you refused to turn over your equipment in the first place, you will need to kill Harrow (and the doorkeeper if he runs in). Fight and sneak your way through the antechamber and into the main Dagon Shrine, where the ceremony led by Mankar Camoran is going on. Your quest should update with your new target: the Mysterium Xarxes. Fight your way to it. Taking it will collapse the statue, close the entrance and open a new exit through the cult's living quarters.

[edit] Fighting the Cultists

In most cases, you will end up having to fight your way through many Mythic Dawn cultists.

• By choosing opportune times to start fighting, you can reduce the number of cultists you will need to fight. In particular, most of the cultists will leave the shrine area if you wait for a while (the shadows on the upper level of the shrine area are good areas to hide while waiting).
• If you gave up your equipment, you will always want to start by killing Harrow in order to recover your equipment.
  • Before you pick up the book or free the sacrifice, Harrow is the only one to follow you around. So walk off to a remote spot (for example, near the escape door) to kill Harrow (or push him off the upper level to keep your cover) without having to fight everyone else at the same time.
• If you are outnumbered by cultists at the shrine area, you can stand under the statue of Mehrunes Dagon. When the cultists are under it with you, run and grab the Mysterium Xarxes. This will cause the statue to collapse on top of them, killing most of them instantly.
• Don't forget to take out Ruma Camoran and loot her staff.
• To avoid being cornered by multiple cultists, keep moving at all times.
• Use area-of-effects staves/spells to damage as many people at once as possible.
• Invisibility spells work well, because cult members will not attack you when you're invisible.
• Frenzy spells cast on the cultists can make it possible to make it through the living quarters without being attacked.
• If your conjuration is at least at an apprentice level, you can summon some bound armor and weapon for extra protection against the cultists.
• Summon a minion before the cultists turn hostile. Strike the summoned created three times with your fists. When the minion turns hostile manoeuvre your character so that you have members of the mystic dawn are between you and your summoned creature. The cultists will then start combat with your summoned creature. You are able to repeat this process until the majority of the initiates are dead. Scamp or ghost typically work well. If you have higher magicka you may want to summon something that is powerful enough to kill the mystic dawn guards (who typically will used their heal spell if you use a weaker summon like a scamp or ghost).

[edit] Jeelius

Helping the Argonian sacrifice, Jeelius, to survive this quest can be challenging (although it is also optional).

One challenge is avoiding his death when the statue of Mehrunes Dagon collapses around him. If you free him before taking the Mysterium Xarxes then the statue will not collapse on top of him (although this option has disadvantages later). Otherwise, as soon as you grab the book, you can rush to stand over Jeelius, deflecting some of the statue, and casting a Convalesence spell on him if necessary. Also, casting a destruction spell with an area effect on the falling statue may deflect most of the large chunks.

As soon as you free Jeelius, he will run towards the exit, avoiding as many guards as he can. Jeelius is able to cast a few randomly-determined spells, so he might be able to heal himself and should be able to attack the cultists with a destruction spell. However, he will die if he gets cornered. Trying to follow Jeelius can make things worse because it just attracts more cultists than if he tries to flee alone. If you do try to follow him, be prepared to use many convalescence spells (or even defensive spells like Shield) on Jeelius.

To guarantee Jeelius' survival, you can delay freeing him until after you have gone through all of the Living Quarters and killed all of the cultists. Then return to the shrine, release him, and accompany him out through the empty corridors.

If you escort Jeelius through the caves, he will thank you once you get outside and introduce himself as Jeelius from the Temple of the One in the Imperial City. If he survives, you can go to the Temple Of the One a few days later. As a reward, he will give you free one-point skill boosts in Alchemy, Mysticism, and Restoration (provided your skills are below 90).

[edit] Escaping from the Caverns

No matter which option you choose, you will end up leaving the Dagon Shrine area through the door on the north side of the shrine, leading to the Shrine Living Quarters. This door does not unlock until you take the Mysterium Xarxes, at which point the door you entered through also locks.

There are many cultists (as many as 15) in the living quarters, all of whom have to be killed or avoided to make it out. Taking the time to check the chests and other containers can be worthwhile, because they may contain good loot.

Once you make it through to the first zone, Lake Arrius Caverns, your way is blocked by a "Rock Wall". The turn handle to activate the Rock Wall is located at the start of the tunnel, in the previous room.

[edit] Return to the Temple

When you finally make it outside, head towards Cloud Ruler Temple with the Mysterium Xarxes. Martin may be found in the Great Hall of the Temple, and he will take the Mysterium Xarxes. He believes it may hold the key to opening a portal to find Camoran, but he will need some time to safely study it.

After your escape from the shrine, Mythic Dawn agents will now attack you on sight (due to a scripted faction-wide disposition decrease when you pick up the Mysterium Xarxes). Some agents are posing as townsfolk. Your only warning will be a scream, "For Lord Dagon!", before they summon their Daedric armor and attack you in the street. However, it is usually easy enough to find a guardsman to cut them down for you, and the townsfolk will help as well. Also, many more Oblivion Gates will start to open up; the probability of one opening increases from 25% to 50%, and the maximum number of gates increases to 50.

[edit] Alternative Scenarios

There are a few less common options that some players may choose to use to get through this quest.

[edit] Stashing Your Equipment

If you want to avoid giving your equipment to Harrow without dropping everything on the ground, you need to create a container where you can stash everything. This is possible if you are not averse to killing a follower and have obtained one who you are willing to sacrifice. Kill the follower just before talking to Harrow and place all your items in the body. Talk to Harrow, then go back and get your items. The advantage of this method is that if you have a large amount of items (especially small ones, like keys), you simply "take all", rather than trying to drop, then find everything. You may be able to get a creature to follow you in, instead of using a follower.

[edit] Sneak into the Antechamber

For high-level fast and sneaky types it is possible to sneak into the Antechamber without giving up your equipment and without blowing your cover.

Talk to the doorman and have him open the door to meet Harrow. Switch into sneak mode. As you pass the doorman on your way down the hallway he's triggered to harmlessly rattle off something. Harrow will be walking towards you as you head down the hallway; making eye contact in proximity will trigger the dialogue sequence. Immediately retreat back to the antechamber while remaining in sneak mode - if he gets too close, he will launch the conversation you are trying to avoid. Harrow will follow to a point near the doorman, then turn around. With his back to you, sprint (still sneaking) past him, open the door, and - still in possession of all your weapons and items - head to the main chamber where Camoran is giving his sermon.

Always in sneak mode (Chameleon helps too), wait for Camoran to finish his sermon and enter the gate. Harrow enters the chamber and assumes the same position as if you had agreed to give him all your equipment. The sequence plays out as if you joined the Mythic Dawn, without the alarms that are raised by all the killings required for the "You Blew Your Cover" option. After Camoran leaves, Harrow will track you down per the script- avoid him! Eventually Ruma Camoran will also nonchalantly pursue, looking to get your thoughts on killing the lizard. Lure them both to the elevated position next to the door you originally entered and kill them. This goes unnoticed by the other followers who then file past through the door you entered as if things went as planned; leaving you in the main chamber with all your equipment and an undisturbed Jeelius and Mysterium Xarxes! From here the story varies, but the punchline is that you kill everyone, collect the loot and free Jeelius.

In this scenario, it is possible for the Mythic Dawn agents in the sermon room to become hostile if you kill Ruma, even if there is no way they could have seen you. This does not happen if you kill Harrow. A way around this is to lead both Ruma and Harrow to a secluded ledge and kill Harrow from afar first, preferably in one hit while in sneak mode, so he does not initiate his dialog. Then if you allow Ruma to come to you, she will not talk with you, but go hostile when she gets within talking distance after the death of her fellow cultist. If you kill Ruma after she becomes hostile, the Mythic Dawn agents will continue to act as if nothing has happened.

[edit] Notes

• The front cover of Oblivion's game box is also the cover of the Mysterium Xarxes book.
• Mythic Dawn agents fail to recognize you as a potential enemy or spy even when wearing Blades armor.
• The Mysterium Xarxes will count as a stolen item in your journal - pay it no mind as it is impossible to complete the main quest without it. Note that most of the other loot lying around in the Living quarters will also count as stolen (but will not be flagged as such and so won't be taken by guards), so keep this in mind if you care about such things.
• If you try to activate Mankar Camoran's portal, you'll find that a key is needed to open it.
• Followers who accompany you into the caverns will kill the Mythic Dawn members for you, preventing you from having to blow your cover up until the point when you have to pick up the Mysterium Xarxes.
• If you return to Lake Arrius Caverns after completing the Main Quest, most of the Mythic Dawn agents inside will no longer be hostile towards you. You can talk to them and raise their disposition, but they will have no available dialogue options.^{[verification needed -- see talk page]}

[edit] Bugs

• On rare occasions, Mankar has not gone through the portal to Paradise, possibly because the player tried to prevent him from escaping. Although this does not cause any immediate problems, this will later make it impossible to complete the Paradise quest (even on the PC, it is quite tricky to recover from this glitch). Basically, Mankar ends up permanently trapped in Tamriel as an unkillable character (you cannot even interact with him because of the ghost setting) usually, and quite ironically in later stages of the Main Quest, in the headquarters of his mortal enemies: Cloud Ruler Temple's Great Hall, near the fireplace and the eventual Paradise portal. Therefore, it is best to not try to interfere with Mankar's scripted actions during this quest. If, for whatever reason, Mankar Camoran is standing next to the shrine after everyone has been killed, it is advisable to reload an earlier save and redo this quest.

• This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

• When Harrow takes all your equipment, it may trigger the Permanent Effects from Quest Items glitch.

• If you happen to be in 100% chameleon when you pick up the Xarxes, you might notice how not all of the cultists will turn hostile. The same applies for when you leave the cave, the Mythic Dawn agents in the cities will continue to act like normal citizens. This is good for roleplaying, as you can return to the cave and live among the cultists (just make sure to kill the hostile ones.).

• When handing your items over to Harrow, the game will crash if you are wearing Bound Armor.

Note: This has been corrected by the Oblivion 1.1.511 patch.

[edit] Journal Entries

Dagon Shrine (MQ06)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
10		I have followed the clues hidden in the four volumes written by Mankar Camoran to a gravestone in Green Emperor Way. At noon, a map of Cyrodiil appeared on the gravestone, with the location of the Mythic Dawn's shrine marked on it. I need to find my way into the shrine and locate the Amulet of Kings.
20		I have arrived at Lake Arrius Caverns. The secret Mythic Dawn shrine must be somewhere inside.
30		I have passed the first hurdle. The Mythic Dawn guard has let me into the secret shrine. Now to locate the Amulet of Kings.
40		Harrow, the Warden of the Shrine, accepted me as an initiate into the Mythic Dawn cult. I was required to give him all my possessions and dress in an initiate's robe. He said that the Master, Mankar Camoran himself, is here at the shrine, and might perform my initiation himself. I should follow Harrow and see if he leads me to Mankar Camoran and the Amulet of Kings.
41		My cover is blown. The Mythic Dawn know I am an enemy. I must reach the inner shrine and locate the Amulet of Kings.
45
46
48
49
50		Mankar Camoran escaped to his realm of Paradise with the Amulet of Kings, and closed his magical portal behind him. But the Mysterium Xarxes itself is here in the shrine. I must get the Mysterium Xarxes. It is my only hope of finding a way to recover the Amulet now.
51
60		I have the Mysterium Xarxes, the Mythic Dawn's book of secrets. Now I must escape this place and return to Cloud Ruler Temple.
70		I have escaped with the Mysterium Xarxes. Now to deliver it to Martin at Cloud Ruler Temple.
80
100	0

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 quest stage. Where quest is the internal name of the quest, and 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.

Prev:  The Path of Dawn

Up: Main Quest

Next: Spies