Oblivion:The Elven Maiden

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1 Quick Walkthrough
2 Detailed Walkthrough
3 Blood Price
4 Notes
5 Bugs
6 Journal Entries

Steal a statuette for a mystery buyer.^edit

Quest Giver: Armand Christophe at Waterfront District
Location(s): Waterfront District, Cheydinhal
Prerequisite Quest: Untaxing the Poor, 100 gold fenced
Next Quest: Ahdarji's Heirloom
Reward: Promotion to Bandit, 100 gold, access to new fence in Leyawiin, Dar Jee.
Fame/Infamy: Infamy +2
ID: TG03Elven
Difficulty: Low

Llathasa's Bust

[edit] Quick Walkthrough

Receive the next and last mission from Armand Christophe.
Travel to the temple in Cheydinhal, and gain access to the undercroft.
Avoiding all guards, enter Lady Llathasa Indarys' crypt to steal the statuette.
Steal the statuette, and return to the Imperial City, only to find yourself in a new predicament.
Neutralize any suspicion of Armand Christophe by exposing a snitch in the guild.
Plant the statuette in Myvryna Arano's cupboard then alert Hieronymus Lex.
Persuade him to search Myvryna's home, and she will be arrested.
Once that is done, meet Armand Christophe who will inform you of another doyen to take missions from.

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] The Mission

Your next job consists of stealing a statuette made in memory of the recently deceased Lady Llathasa Indarys of Cheydinhal. You can only start this quest after you have fenced 100 gold.

Once you arrive at Cheydinhal, asking the beggars reveals that the statuette is located beside Lady Llathasa's crypt in the chapel undercroft of the city temple. The place used to be free to public access, but has recently been placed under guard by command of the town's count, Count Indarys.

[edit] Recovering the Statuette

The undercroft is guarded 24 hours a day by the Chapel Guard, an Altmer watchwoman who circles through the undercroft on her patrol route. If spotted, she will attack you on sight even if you have committed no crime other than trespassing. Killing her will count as a murder, as well as invoking the blood price for the quest (usually 1000 gold). Therefore, the challenge in obtaining the statuette is sneaking past the guard. High sneak skill or Invisibility/Chameleon can be very helpful. Patience and careful timing work, too: only move when the guard is at the opposite side of the undercroft.

Lady Llathasa's crypt is to the left, down the stairs. In the back of the alcove you will find the statuette (Llathasa's Bust) and a coffin (Llathasa's Tomb). As long as you only pick up the statuette you can sneak back out of the undercroft without incident, and return to the Imperial City.

If, however, you also try to plunder Llathasa's Tomb (i.e., if you activate the coffin to see what's inside), you will conjure up her ghost. The ghost will attack you, which will usually alert the guard as well. The easiest way to avoid this is to simply not look inside the coffin; the one or two pieces of unenchanted jewelry in the coffin aren't really worth the trouble.

Some alternative options for obtaining the statuette are:

Allow the guard to see you. Grab the statuette then run out of the chapel with the guard in pursuit. Run to the nearest town guard, who will act in your defense and kill her. Doing it this way will not incur a bounty since you only provoked her, and she was the only one who detected you, thus when she dies, so does your incrimination.
Use calming magic such as Soothing Touch on the guard before she attacks, then run out. You will not incur any bounty from this and the guard will not follow you.
You can allow Llathasa's Spirit to see you, and position yourself so that the ghost will attack the guard. The ghost can usually kill the guard and it won't incur a blood price. Since this was done in the undercroft without anybody else watching, you won't incur a bounty for trespassing. You can then just run outside followed by Llathasa's Spirit, and the townspeople will all gather around and attack her (although this risks killing numerous townspeople, especially since most of them cannot do any damage to the ghost).

[edit] A Setup

Unfortunately, upon arrival in the waterfront, you find out that Armand has been accused of stealing the statuette and has gone into hiding. Even worse, the Waterfront is crawling with guards including Hieronymus Lex. Other Thieves' Guild members will tell you that Methredhel is looking for you. If you don't run into her in the streets, visit Methredhel's house to find out more about Armand. It seems that your job was a setup in order to expose a traitor in the Thieves' Guild. It is a Dunmer named Myvryna Arano (the same woman who delivers the invitation to the Thieves' Guild). In order to turn the tables on her, you must sneak into her house (located on the Waterfront). If your sneak skill is good enough, you may be able to get into the house when guards around (just make sure the sneak "eye" shows that you are undetected); if your sneak skill isn't good enough, you may have to wait a long time before there are no guards around. Once inside, place the statuette in "Myvryna's Cupboard", which is the cupboard nearest the door and next to her bed. Then speak with Hieronymus Lex and convince him to search Myvryna's house. Lex's disposition must be at least 71 for him to believe you.

Once this is done, Armand will be cleared of charges and will meet you at midnight in the garden. He will then promote you in rank, as well as give you the name of another fence, Dar Jee, in Leyawiin, far to the south. This is Armand's last quest. If you ask for more special Thieves Guild quests, he will tell you to see S'krivva in Bravil.

[edit] Blood Price

Killing any of the following NPCs whilst this quest is active will require you to pay a blood price to Armand:

[edit] Notes

During the Untaxing the Poor mission, the Guild traitor Myvryna Arano had an "exempt" entry on the list of people taxed. Too careless on Lex's part....

After you complete the quest, the Chapel Guard guard remains on patrol in the Chapel Undercroft, and respawns if killed. She still attacks you on sight, though blood price no longer applies. If you kill her, you can take her nearly-complete set of chainmail armor. Beware that killing her still counts as a murder, even though she attacks first. If, however, she dies without alerting any other NPCs (which is usually the case, as she's normally the only NPC around), you will not receive a bounty but still be noted for the murder. This is also useful if you would like to get your thief character into the Dark Brotherhood.

The chapel guard will not attack you if you are a Pilgrim in the Nine Divines, having started the Knights of the Nine quests.

If you summon the ghost by stealing from the grave and quickly hide behind a pillar, the guard may attack the ghost and ignore you. This is an easy way to obtain her armor without getting a bounty or blood price, as the ghost will often kill her.

If you are caught by the guards or Lex and choose to pay your bounty, the bust will not be removed from your inventory even though it is marked as stolen

Lex's search really isn't very thorough. Armand Christophe can be found sitting in a chair in the basement of the eastern Imperial Warehouse on the Waterfront. If approached he will tell you, "I'm in hiding from the Imperial Watch. Go find Methredhel. She has your instructions."

Although you are given the rank of Bandit for completing this quest, this does NOT mean that you are free from attack by bandits e.g Those found in ruins, or campsites.

[edit] Bugs

Do not start the An Unexpected Voyage quest while this quest is active. Doing so will crash the game; this glitch has not been fixed with the v.1.1.511 patch. See this page for details.
- This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.
Sometimes when you enter Myvryna's house with Lex, he will check the cupboard, and then he will immediately leave the house before he can stop talking. You will be stuck in view-mode. If you are on PC, you can use console codes to continue: enableplayercontrols and setstage TG03Elven 75. Otherwise, the only solution is to reload an earlier save game.
After Myvryna has been arrested, Armand sometimes does not subsequently appear in the Garden of Dareloth at midnight. He may be in the Imperial Trading Company Warehouse basement where he hides during this quest. The warehouse is the easternmost one along the waterfront (the right-hand 4 on the map). Possible ways to fix this problem:
- Go find Armand in the warehouse.
- Pickpocket a beggar near the waterfront so you are cast out of the thieves guild. Make it your active quest, and Armand may reappear.
- On the PC, you can use the console code player.moveto 352A0 to move your character to wherever Armand is located.
- This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.
If the Waterfront guards are dead, their bodies will still go to the house area.
- This bug is fixed by the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.
This quest can be completed without actually having to steal the statuette. If you kill one of the Blood Price NPCs while the quest is active, paying the 1000 gold Blood Price automatically completes the quest.

[edit] Journal Entries

The Elven Maiden (TG03Elven)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
6		(Set quest target for bust)
7		(Set quest target for Myvryna)
10		Armand of the Thieves Guild has asked me to steal the bust of Llathasa Indarys from Cheyhindal. They will pay 100 gold coins.
15		I learned that the bust of Llathasa Indarys is in her tomb. She is buried in the chapel undercroft of the Temple of Arkay in Cheydinhal.
20		I have the bust. Now to get back to Armand.
30		The Waterfront is crawling with Imperial Watch. They are all looking for Armand Christophe. I'm sure he won't show at midnight. Dareloth's Garden is too hot. I'll need to find out where he is hiding. Maybe one of the other Thieves Guild members knows. I'll have to start asking around for them.
40		I overheard the pompous Hieronymous Lex say that there is an informant in the Thieves Guild.
50		Methredhel contacted me. She says that this whole job was just a setup to flush out the informant, a Dark Elf named Myvryna Arano. They didn't see fit to let me in on the plan though. She has specific instructions from Armand to plant the bust in Myvryna's cupboard. Then I have to find Hieronymus Lex and snitch on her.
60		The bust is in Myvryna's cupboard. Now to tell that windbag Lex where to find it.
70		I told Hieronymus Lex that Myvryna was the thief. He didn't believe me, probably because she is his informant. Fortunately his overblown sense of duty will make him check it out anyway. He is insisting I follow him.
75		Hieronymus Lex found the bust I planted. Now all I have to do is report to Armand. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until the next midnight for him to return to the Garden of Dareloth.
76		(Myvryna in prison cell)
80	0	Armand thanked me for my help in exposing Myvryna Arano as the informant. He promoted me to Bandit in the Thieves Guild.
100
Blood Price (TG03BloodPrice)
30		I have slain one of the residents of the Chapel of Arkay in Cheydinhal. I'll have to pay the blood price for it. Armand told me it is 1000 gold per person slain. Unfortunately, he will only talk to me after midnight in the Garden of Dareloth.
31		Armand is extremely unhappy. I have to pay a blood price of 1000 gold coins for each resident of Cheydinhal's Chapel that I killed. Until I do, I am out of the Thieves Guild. Unfortunately, he will only talk to me after midnight in the Garden of Dareloth.
35	0	I paid my blood price. Armand has readmitted me into the Thieves Guild.

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.