13: Information at a Price

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Guide - Mages Guild

13: Information at a Price

Speak to Hannibal Traven in the Arch-Mage's Tower Council Chambers and select the 'Tasks' dialogue option. He tells you that the count of Skingrad, Janus Hassildor, claims to have important information for the Mages Guild. Travern wants you to travel to Skingrad to discuss the matter with Count Hassildor.

Fast travel to Castle Skingrad and enter the County Hall. Once there, locate and speak to the count's stewardess, Hal-Liurz. She will leave momentarily to inform the count that he has a visitor. When Hal-Liurz returns with Count Hassildor, he will approach and initiate a conversation.

Before he is willing to divulge the information, the count requires that a small task be completed. Bloodcrust Cavern, a cave outside of town, is home to a band of vampires. This has attracted vampire hunters to Skingrad, who are making the count, a vampire himself, a little edgy. He wants you to eliminate the vampires in Bloodcrust Cavern of vampires to drive hunters out of Skingrad. He doesn't care if they are killed or persuaded to leave, he just wants them gone.

Locate and speak to Eridor the vampire hunter, who is busy patrolling the streets of Skingrad.

Killing the vampire hunters yourself is an unnecessarily difficult task, mainly because it is difficult to catch the hunters alone. If you murder one of the hunters and a Skingrad Guard catches you, he will act accordingly. You can dispose of the vampires in Bloodcrust Cavern yourself, collect the Vampire Dust from each corpse, and show the dust to Eridor to have the hunters leave the city instead. The vampires in Bloodcrust Cavern are quite strong, and there are plenty. For these reasons, it is much easier to simply have the vampires in Bloodcrust Cavern kill the hunters for you, or vice versa.

First, you'll need to locate Eridor, who is busy patrolling the streets of Skingrad. If you have 'Information at a Price' set as your active quest, a second marker will be visible on your compass, this one pointing to Eridor. When you have located Eridor, tell him that you have information for him. Tell him that the vampires are in Bloodcrust Cavern. Then, speak to him again and ask where the other hunters are looking; doing so will mark the location of the other two vampire hunters on your map.

If you've told Eridor where the vampires are, you're essentially killing two birds with one stone. Eridor and his men will eventually set out to the nest and attempt to eliminate the vampires inside. It is very unlikely that the hunters will succeed, however, as the cave is full of them. Wait for about 10 hours via the wait menu and by then the vampire hunters should have made their way to Bloodcrust Cavern.

Wait outside the cavern until a notification pops-up, informing you that the vampire hunters are dead. With the vampire hunters out of the way, you still need to eliminate the vampires that remain in Bloodcrust Cavern. So, enter Bloodcrust Cavern and finish the job. When there are no longer any vampires in the cave, a notification will pop-up onscreen to inform you of the fact. Before leaving, you may want to explore the rest of the cave, as you can search the dead vampires and vampire hunters and possibly find some useful equipment.

Kill the vampires in Bloodcrust Cavern.

If the hunters succeed in killing the vampires in Bloodcrust Cavern, attack them as the exit the cave to finish the task.

As you are potentially facing vampires during this quest, your character may contract Porphyric Hemophilia (aka the 'vampire disease'). If you aren't partial toward having your character turn into a vampire, there are two ways to impede the transformation: visit a chapel in one of the major cities and pray at the altar there, or down a Potion of Cure Disease. To discern whether or not your character has contracted Porphyric Hemophilia, pull up the Active Effects menu and check each of the effects listed there to determine if they stem from the disease.

Return to Castle Skingrad when the job is done. Enter the County Hall and speak to Hal-Liurz to have her fetch Count Hassildor once more. When Hal-Liurz returns with the count, select the 'Information' dialogue option while speaking to him. He tells you that Mannimarco, the King of Worms, has returned to Cyrodiil with hopes of bringing destruction to the Mages Guild. Return to Arcane University and speak to Traven at once. You'll have to wait a couple of days before Traven will have another task to assign.