Oblivion:Vahtacen's Secret

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1 Quick Walkthrough
2 Detailed Walkthrough
3 Notes
4 Journal Entries

Find out how the mages are faring at the excavation of Vahtacen. ^edit

Quest Giver: Raminus Polus at Arcane University
Location(s): Arcane University, Vahtacen
Prerequisite Quest: Ulterior Motives
Next Quest: Necromancer's Moon
Reward: Promotion to Conjurer, Robe of the Conjurer
Fame/Infamy: Fame +1
ID: MG10Vahtacen

Vahtacen: A forgotten place in perilous times

[edit] Quick Walkthrough

Talk to Raminus Polus then Irlav Jarol to get your assignment: check up on the progress of research at Vahtacen, an Ayleid ruin.
At Vahtacen solve a puzzle to get access the inner depths of the ruin.
Explore the ruin and retrieve an Ayleid artifact.
Take the artifact back to Raminus Polus for your promotion and a shiny new robe.

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] The Arcane University

After being promoted to Evoker (Ulterior Motives), speak to Raminus Polus for your next task. He promises "no necromancers this time" which is definitely a change after the past few assignments. Raminus tells you to help out Irlav Jarol who is in charge of Vahtacen, an Ayleid ruin site that the Mages Guild is exploring to find Ayleid artifacts. Irlav is your next stop; depending on the time of day, he can be found upstairs in the Mage's tower or in the lobby with Raminus. Irlav forwards you to yet another person: Skaleel. Skaleel is currently running the research at Vahtacen and has reported that there is a blocked passage. You are to visit the site and speak to Skaleel to see what the problem is. She gives you a key to access the site.

[edit] Unblocking Vahtacen's Passages

When you reach Vahtacen (a ways southeast of Cheydinhal), you will find a remarkably empty cave: the first section has all been cleaned out by the Mages Guild. At one end the cave tunnel breaks through into an underground Ayleid ruin. Here you will find Skaleel, who seems unimpressed by the fact that Irlav sent you to check on things. She tells you that they have found a Pillar but have been unable to figure it out. She suggests you try your luck at figuring it out but warns you to be careful and only cast basic spells.

In the northwest corner of the room is a gate that opens with the key Irlav gave you. Down the passageway (ignoring for now the ominous about-to-be-attacked music - see note below) you'll find the Pillar and another Mage's Guild member, Denel. It seems the pillar reacts to having magic cast on it but so far the only result has been that the caster has been zapped back. Nothing fatal... at least not yet. He also mentions tablets in the corners of the room with writing on them; he thinks the markings could be translated if he had an Ayleid Reference of some sort. Denel suggests asking Skaleel for such a reference.

Explore the room containing the pillar yourself. You'll find the four inscriptions, which read (in clockwise order starting at the door):

av molag anyammis
av mafre nagaia
magicka loria
magicka sila

To translate these, you will indeed need an Ayleid Reference and guess what: Skaleel just happens to have one, Ayleid Inscriptions and Their Translations. She doesn't think it will help but gives it to you anyway. If you read through the book yourself, you'll only easily figure out the first phrase.

To translate the rest of the phrases, you'll need Denel's help. Give him the book, then speak to him about Translation. You'll find out that the four phrases correspond to:

From Fire, Life or Fire Damage
Frost Damage
Magicka Darkens or Magicka Wanes or Damage Magicka
Magicka Shines or Magicka Waxes or Fortify Magicka

(The order again is based on location in the room; Denel will present them to you in a slightly different order, which can introduce some confusion).

As you might have guessed from the translation you have to cast certain spells at the pillar in order to open it (or whatever it does). These spells have to be cast at the pillar: casting Fortify Magicka on your self won't work; also Drain Magicka can not be substituted for Damage Magicka. The strength of the spells does not matter. Fortunately, if you don't happen to have all these spells, a chest next to Denel has scrolls that provide Fire Damage, Damage Magicka, and Fortify Magicka (only Frost Damage is missing from the chest's scrolls). The scrolls regenerate in the chest after three days if you used them prematurely (you will need to leave Vahtacen for three full days if you want them to regenerate). Enchanted arrows and staves with fire damage, frost damage and damage magicka can also be used. As you cast each of the four spells in sequence (Fire Damage, Frost Damage, Damage Magicka, Fortify Magicka), portions of it lower to reveal a stairway. If you make a mistake, you will indeed get zapped by as many of the Dark Welkynd stones that can take aim at you. If you're worried about being zapped, you can stand out by Denel and take aim with your targeted spells from a safe distance.

[edit] The Rest of Vahtacen

If you speak to Denel or Skaleel once the pillar has opened, they will suggest that you explore the new areas of the ruins. Or you just run straight in without talking to either of them. What follows is a fairly standard Ayleid ruin. Besides the usual undead, watch out for a devious selection of traps in this area.

You will eventually reach a large room with hanging cages. There is a typical glowing-blue switch in the southeast end of the room, go up the staircase and look to your right and you'll see the switch which raises stairs that lead to the center platform. Head up the platform; when you reach the top, a number of level-dependent undead will be released. You can either kill the undead first, or finish off your mission and then deal with them. There is another switch on the platform; activating it raises the cage and reveals an Ancient Elven Helm. Grab it and take it with you. (If you are looking for more loot go to the north west end of the room there will be 4 chests filled with loot.)

Alternatively, you can climb the stairs to the first push block and then turn to the side (right or left, it doesn't matter which). Go to the east/west wall of the chamber. You should see a small ledge which runs all the way around the chamber. Climb onto this and walk around it. There are regular gaps which you should be able to jump fairly easily. Eventually you will come to a cage which hangs significantly lower than the others. Jump onto this. If you have high enough acrobatics you should be able to jump from this onto the central platform. Now press the push block which raises the cage and releases the undead. The advantage to this method is that the undead will be unable to reach you as you will not have raised the stairs. Now you can snipe the undead with spells or arrows.

[edit] Finishing Up

If you show the Ancient Elven Helm to Skaleel, she says that you may have found something very important and urges you to return to the Imperial City so the mages there take a closer look at it. Back you go: find Irlav Jarol and give him the Helm. Finally, report in to Raminus to advance to the rank of Conjurer and receive your leveled Robe of the Conjurer.

[edit] Notes

Although you are given the rank of Conjurer for completing this quest, this does NOT mean that you are free from attack by conjurers, e.g., those found in ruins, or forts.
Be sure to save your game after talking to Skaleel. When you go down the hall to Denel, you may attract the notice of a hidden monster (there are two ghosts located on the other side of the wall). If you do, Denel may notice the monster and enter fight mode. Once he enters fight mode you will be unable to talk with him about the book and, the quest will be hung up at this point. The easiest way to avoid this is to sneak down the hall to Denel. Even if you are able to talk to him, if you cast a fire spell (like flare) at the pillar and the pillar moves, but you still get shocked and then the pillar resets, it is bugged. So don't keep trying; you aren't doing anything wrong, but you need to reload and avoid getting in combat.
If you've already pickpocketed the Ayleid Reference Text from Raminus Polus, the quest won't continue when Skaleel gives the book to you. The only option is to remove it from your inventory before speaking with her. Do so by typing the following into the console: player.removeitem 0003353B 1
- Alternatively, just initiating a conversation with Skaleel and then going back to Denel seems to work.
If you wish to keep the Reference Text for your own library, it is possible to unlock the pillar without first surrendering the book to Denel if you know the correct sequence of spells.

[edit] Journal Entries

Vahtacen's Secret (MG10Vahtacen)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		Raminus Polus has asked that I speak with Irlav Jarol about assisting with his research.
20		I need to find the Ayelid ruins of Vahtacen and speak with Skaleel.
30		A room in Vahtacen contains a pillar that reacts to magic. I need to figure out how it works, but I must be careful so that I am not harmed. It's been suggested that I should stay away from anything but simple, single-effect spells.
35		Skaleel may have some reference material for deciphering the Ayleid symbols in Vahtacen. I should ask her for it.
37		Denel has offered to find translations of the inscriptions on the walls of Vahtacen. I should read all the inscriptions, and then tell him what they say.
40		I've solved the puzzle of the pillar, opening up more of the ruins of Vahtacen.
50		I've found an object deep within Vahtacen. I should take it to Skaleel.
60		I need to deliver the Ayelid^{[sic, not Ayleid]} artifact to Irlav Jarol.
100	0	I have delivered the artifact to Irlav Jarol.

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.