Oblivion:Molag Bal

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Contents 1 Quick Walkthrough 2 Detailed Walkthrough 2.1 Molag Bal's Shrine 2.2 The Assignment 2.3 The Reward 2.4 Dialogue 3 Notes 4 Bugs 5 Journal Entries

Goad the local do-gooder into killing you.  edit Quest Giver: Molag Bal at Molag Bal's Shrine (map) Location(s): Molag Bal's Shrine, Brindle Home Reward: Mace of Molag Bal Fame/Infamy: Fame +1 ID: DAMolagBal Required Items: Lion Pelt Required Level: 17

Shrine of Molag Bal

[edit] Quick Walkthrough

1. Offer a lion pelt to Molag Bal.
2. In Brindle Home, goad Melus Petilius into attacking and killing you with Molag's Cursed Mace.
3. Be resurrected by Molag Bal and receive the Mace of Molag Bal.

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] Molag Bal's Shrine

See the oblivion map for the location of this shrine. No one will add the shrine's marker to your map for you. However, it is possible instead to be referred to Olyn Seran, one of the worshipers at the shrine who is also the Master Trainer for Conjuration. If the Conjuration Training quest is active, a quest marker will be placed near the shrine.

The Redguard, Amir, at the shrine will tell you that you must offer Molag Bal a lion pelt (which can be obtained by slaying a mountain lion). Sometimes, lion pelts will appear in random loot sacks. At level 17 and higher, mountain lions will spawn outdoors in Farm, Plain, Rainforest, Highlands, and Mountain regions (see Outdoors Creature for a map of where these terrains can be found). They will also appear indoors in any caves or ruins occupied by animals; the closest good cave to check is Unmarked Cave. Return to the shrine with the pelt and offer it to Molag Bal.

[edit] The Assignment

Molag Bal will tell you about Melus Petilius who has forsworn violence. You are to induce him into attacking you with the Cursed Mace (which Molag gives you). Petilius lives near Brindle Home in the deep woods to the southwest. Between 10 a.m. and noon he heads to his wife's grave. While he is at the grave, drop the Cursed Mace on the ground between him and the tombstone and attack him (e.g., hit him with a weapon, hand-to-hand or cast an aggressive spell). You must attack him while he is at the grave; it is the only place where he will pick up the mace. Attack him elsewhere and he usually will not respond with aggression, and definitely will not use the mace, even if you have dropped it in front of him. If he is at the grave, he will pick up the mace and attack you. Furthermore, he rarely picks up the mace if you drop it after you attack him; thus it advisable to place it by him before you strike.

Let Melus attack you until you die. It is advisable to save beforehand, however: there is a significant bug that may occur when he kills you. The bug notes provide tips on how to avoid triggering the bug.

[edit] The Reward

At the moment you die (after a loading screen), you will reappear at Molag Bal's shrine. Activate the shrine to receive your reward: the Mace of Molag Bal which absorbs strength and magicka upon strike.

[edit] Dialogue

At the start of the quest, Molag Bal says:

Another mortal come to do my bidding. I only wish suffering and death. You will bring me both. I want to see a man brought to the edge. And pushed. Near Brindle Home you will find Melus Petilius. A good man. An honorable man. He disgusts me. He has sworn an oath: never to raise a weapon against another man again. I want him to break that oath, and damn himself forever. You will let him kill you with this: the Cursed Mace. As you are doing this for me, I'll save your miserable life. Probably. Get out of my sight.

When you complete the quest, he says:

Well, it seems you've accomplished the task set out for you. Well done. Another man damned. Another ruined soul. But, you'll still get your prize, won't you? I think it was worth it... don't you? Keep up the good work, little mortal.

If you fail and return to Molag Bal, his speech is:

You've failed, mortal. I didn't figure you had it in you. Weakling. Pathetic piece of filth. Leave, before I make you sorry you ever came here.

[edit] Notes

• Petilius must not die, or you will fail the quest.
  • Be sure to leave your horse at Brindle Home, else it may attack Petilius, when he starts attacking you.
• Do not take anyone with you (eg. Mage Apprentice, Dark Brotherhood Murderer, Shadowmere), as they may attack and kill Petilius.
• Soul Trap and Turn Undead will both turn Petilius hostile without doing any damage to him.
• It is not actually necessary for Petilius to kill you. If he attacks you, and you either yield or run, then you will be transported to the shrine of Molag Bal the next time you die, even if you are killed by someone else days later in a different place. The quest will then continue from that point as normal.
• Petilius' attack is a great chance to increase your Block Skill. Since you're intentionally going to die, simply hold block the entire time Petilius is wailing on you. Depending on what armor you chose to keep on and your current level, the longer his attacks will last, and while it is time consuming, a surprising level of increase can be obtained. However, if you are already an expert in blocking, it is possible that your knockback counterattack may kill him. You can also use this approach to increase your Restoration Skill by casting healing spells to prolong the time he will be attacking you.
  • Likewise, this is also a great opportunity to increase your Heavy and Light Armor (if you don't mind repairing it afterwards).
• Given that you must be level 17 to start this quest, you probably need to help Petilius in his efforts to kill you. Remove all your armor, especially any items with Reflect Damage enchantments. You can also injure yourself ahead of time to make it particularly easy for him. However, make sure you do not lower your health below 20 points. Damaging your health below 20 greatly increases the chances that you will trigger the quest's bug when you die. Possible ways to damage yourself include:
  • Eat some Nightshade, found outside of his home.
  • Find a hostile creature or bandit and let it attack you.
  • Summon a creature, attack it three times, then let it attack you.
  • Create a custom spell to damage yourself.
  • Fall from a great height, or remain underwater until you begin to lose health.
  • Briefly don the Blackwood Ring of Silence, which can be received from Ajum-Kajin during the Information Gathering quest.
• Increasing the game difficulty to maximum also makes this quest easier, since Petilius' attacks will inflict six times as much damage. However, this also makes it more likely that you will trigger this quest's bugs. If you increase the game's difficulty, set it back to a normal level when your health falls below 70 points.
• Olyn Seran, a worshipper at this shrine, is the master trainer in Conjuration. If you do not complete Molag Bal's quest correctly, Olyn will not have the conversation option to complete the Conjuration master training quest.
• If you return to Petilius after finishing the quest, he says "No... you're dead! I killed you myself! What manner of creature are you? Will I be tormented with your image forever?" If you kill Petilius you will be able to retrieve the Cursed Mace. However, the mace is of questionable value: it has no enchantments and does the same amount of damage as a regular Iron Mace, while weighing almost three times as much. Its only benefits are very large health and a half-decent resale value (320 gold).
  • Though no bounty is given for this act, it still counts as a murder and so may be a good choice to begin the Dark Brotherhood quests.
• In the Ayleid language, 'Molag Bal' translates directly to 'Fire Stone'.

[edit] Bugs

• In this quest, Petilius is not actually supposed to kill you. The game just waits for your Health to drop below 20 points and then teleports you back to the shrine. As long as Petilius is doing "normal" amounts of damage, your health should never fall below 0. But if Petilius deals more than 20 damage in a single hit, it is possible for you to die and be resurrected. Petilius will only do more than 11 points of damage per hit when he does a power attack or if the game's difficulty is higher than the default value. Being killed and resurrected can have several consequences; the best way to avoid/fix all such problems is to reload a save from before Petilius attacks you.
  • Your Birthsign, Race and Fortify Attribute/Skill bonuses (eg. Night Mother's Blessing, Gray Prince's Training, Scales of Pitiless Justice, etc.) will be removed; your fame may be reset to zero. Bonuses provided by items can be retrieved by simply dropping them and picking them up again. However, this method doesn't work for all items and certainly can't restore racial and birthsign bonuses.
  • If you are killed while knocked down, you will have no body when you are resurrected. To fix this bug, you can get yourself knocked down again or simply load a previous save game.
    • Alternatively, you can save, exit Oblivion, and reload. This will sometimes reload the body mesh.
  • If you are sitting in a chair when Petilius kills you, you will reappear sitting on thin air and unable to move.
  • To avoid triggering this bug, you just need to make sure that Petilius' last hit takes your damage below 20 points, but not below 0 points.
    • Make sure your health is at least 20 before you start the fight (i.e., if you damage yourself ahead of time to speed things up, do not lower your health too far). If you lower your health to 20 points, do not take any additional measures to speed up the quest, otherwise you are guaranteeing that you will trigger the quest bug.
    • When your health approaches 20, undo any actions you may have taken to increase Petilius' damage (put all of your armor back on, turn down the difficulty slider, etc.).
    • Note that with the difficulty slider set to maximum, each of Petilius' hits will do 66 points of damage (more if he does a power attack). Therefore, the difficulty slider must be set to a normal level as soon as your health falls to 67 or less.
• It's possible the cursed mace will be flagged as a quest item. This prevents you from dropping it to complete the quest. This can be fixed by entering setquestobject 26F98 0 into the console.

[edit] Journal Entries

Molag Bal (DAMolagBal)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		Molag Bal's follower has told me that, in order to summon the Daedra, I must present an offering of a lion pelt to the statue. [You must be level 17 to begin this quest.]
20		Molag Bal has spoken to me, and wishes me to help him corrupt Melus Petilius, by forcing him to kill me with the Cursed Mace. I should travel to Brindle Home and see what I can find.
30		I have spoken to a resident of Brindle Home, who tells me that Petilius has lived in a small house outside of town since the death of his wife.
40		I have learned that Petilius visits the grave of his wife every day.
50		Although I tried to goad Petilius into fighting me, he would not. Perhaps I will have to try when he is in a different state of mind.
60		I have goaded Melus Petilius into attacking me with the Cursed Mace. I have been transported back to the Shrine of Molag Bal. (If Melus used the Cursed Mace) or I have goaded Melus Petilus[sic, not Petilius] into attacking me, but not with the Cursed Mace. I have been transported back to Molag Bal's shrine.(If Melus did not use the Cursed Mace)
100		Molag Bal was pleased that I was able to corrupt the paladin. He has rewarded me with the Mace of Molag Bal.
105		I allowed Petilius to kill me, but he did not use the Cursed Mace. I have failed in the task given to me by Molag Bal.
110		Melus Petiliusis[sic, not Petilius is] dead, so I cannot complete the task given to me by Molag Bal.

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 DAMolagBal 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.