A Mage's Staff

Your first goal? The creation of your very own staff. Head to Wellspring Cave to obtain the wood for your first prized magical possession. Unfortunately, as soon as you enter, you'll find Zahrasha, one of the two attendents here, dead on the floor, with a necromancer glowering at you nearby. You know what we say: the only good necromancer is a zombified necromancer. Or something like that...

You'll find a cave key on Zahrasha's body. Pick it up before proceeding onwards; you will of course encounter more necromancers before you reach another door leading to the Waterfront. This will pop you out onto a small island in Lake Rumare, where you'll find the wood for your staff...but not without some trouble. As many as three Necromancers are here waiting for you, and with their zombies and skeletons, that could mean that you'll be facing as many as six opponents. You'll have to kill them, so you may want to try getting their attention individually before luring them back into the Wellspring Cave and attempting to fight them there, so that they'll have a harder time running for help when they get low on health.

'I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!'

Regardless, kill them all, check the body of Eletta, then grab the Unfinished Staff from the stone chest between the two torches. Return to Raminus to deliver the bad news. He'll take your information on advisement, and tell you to reach Delmar in the Chironasium to complete your staff. This is a fairly easy procedure; you'll be able to tell him what kind of effect you want the staff to have, and he'll make one just the way you like it. He'll need a day to prepare the staff, though, so you'll have a little time to wander around, if you like. Be sure to read the "Before the Ages of Man" book in the Chironasium for a boost to your Mysticism skill. If you can break into the upstairs portion of the building, you can also find a book called Cleansing of the Fane, which will leave a map marker for an Ayleid ruin called Malada far to the east. Not quest-critical, but an interesting place to explore if you're looking for something to do.

Note also that the Enchanting Altar is in the Chironasium, should you wish to enchant something. If you have any decent souls trapped in soul gems, now would be a good time to make a new ring or amulet or something similar.

Mercator, prepare to meet your maker.

At any rate, return to Delmar in 24 hours to obtain your staff, which is apparently levelled in effect so that it's appropriate no matter when you obtain it. At level 18, our Paralysis staff stunned enemies for eight full seconds!

Ulterior Motives

Return to Raminus to turn in your quest, and obtain your next advancement. He needs you to head to Janus Hassildor, the count of Skingrad, and retrieve a book from him. If you've dealt with Hassildor before, you'll know that there's something off about him....

Head to the Castle Skingrad County Hall during normal work hours and speak to Mercator Hosidus, who gives you a pretty smarmy reply to your inquiry. Nonetheless, he says that he'll try to get you an audience with Hassildor, and to return in 24 hours for your reply.

The response? Affirmative. The Count will see you...but only at an abandoned mine outside of town. Rich folk and their eccentricities! All you can do now is head to the point indicated on your map and wait until 2:00 AM, which is the time when Mercator indicated that Hassildor would show up.

And indeed Hassildor does show up there at that time. But before he does, Mercator and two of his necromancer friends will intercept you - it's an ambush! They intend to kill you, and would probably succeed had the Count himself not followed them. All you really need to do here is run out to the road and attempt to defend yourself as best you can. Hassildor will follow you and kill your attackers, right as rain. After your rather intense conversation with him, return to the Arcane University in high dudgeon.

Vahtacen's Secret

Raminus will reward you with a useful amulet for your role in Mercator's undoing, and give you a new task: you're to speak with one Irlav Jarol, who's conducting research in an Ayleid Ruin. For the moment, though, he's holed up in the Arch-Mage's tower. Track him down, and he'll tell you that there's some problem with the site - a block passage, or somesuch. He wants you to head on over and see what you can do to help.

Travel to Vahtacen as best you can, then speak to Skaleel when you enter. She'll be somewhat skeptical of your ability to help out, but in the end, she'll let you know of a mysterious pillar that's been located deep within the ruins. Apparently it's sensitive to magical energies, but can also reflect energies back onto spellcasters. Caution signs are yet to be hung, but for now, be careful.

Speak to Denel further along the path to learn about a reference book that Skaleel has been holding onto. Asking her about it will persuade her to hand it over, so feel free to check it out before getting up close and personal with the pillar itself.

This Means Something...

If you want to examine the markings in the room and compare them to what's in the book, feel free. Only one of the markings has a direct reference in the tome, however, so in order to get more acquainted with the translations, speak to Denel. If you've examined all of the markings, he'll tell you what they mean. One refers to a fire spell, one to frost, one to a fortify magicka spell, and one to a damage magicka spell. Unfortunately, you won't be able to tell the correct sequence of events until you experiment a bit, but here's a hint: it's fire, frost, fortify, then damage.

Unlocking the pillar here will let you pass through to the dungeon beneath the dungeon.

If you don't have these spells on hand (although everyone should have fire and frost spells by now, surely), then you're probably not alone. We're not even sure that there is a spell that casts fortify magicka on a target; you may have to make one at the Arcane University. Otherwise, if you're of the lazy sort, just search the chest near Denel, which has scrolls for each of the effects that you need. Again, cast them in order of Fire, Frost, Damage Magicka, and Fortify Magicka, and keep in mind that some of the scrolls require you to be within touching distance of the pillar. Casting all of them, in that particular order, will unlock the pillar and reveal a passage to Vahtacen Lorsel.

Make your way through the dungeon, avoiding traps and undead, until you reach the green marker on your map. The large pedestal in the center of this room is currently inaccessible, so take the steps on the southeastern side of the room and look for the push block inside one of the pillars there. Pushing it will raise the steps to the central pedestal, where you'll find another switch that reveals an Ancient Elven Helmet. Grab it, then either fight the undead that have appeared, or just run away. You'll probably want to exit via the southeastern route, as there are a couple of small chests that appear to have boss-level loot. There are more in the other small exit in the northern side of the helmet's room.

With the helmet in hand, return to Jarol in the Arcane University to hand it over. After doing so, you can return to Raminus for a nice reward: the Robe of the Conjurer.