Oblivion:Cheydinhal Recommendation

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OB-qico-MagesGuild.png
 Recover a lost ring to obtain a recommendation from Cheydinhal.
Quest Giver: Falcar at the Cheydinhal Mages Guild
Location(s): Cheydinhal Mages Guild
Reward: Cheydinhal Recommendation, Buoyancy
Fame/Infamy: Fame +1
ID: MG02Alter
 
The Cheydinhal Mages Guild

Quick Walkthrough[edit]

  1. Speak with Falcar, the head of the Cheydinhal Mages Guild, who asks you to find his lost ring.
  2. Go see Deetsan to obtain a key to the outside well and a Buoyancy spell.
  3. Retrieve the ring from the well and speak with Deetsan again.
  4. Search Falcar's room for your recommendation, but find evidence of Necromancy instead.
  5. Speak once again with Deetsan and she will agree to write your recommendation for you.

Detailed Walkthrough[edit]

Cheydinhal Mages Guild[edit]

Speak to Falcar in the Cheydinhal Mages Guild for a recommendation. He wants you to find a Ring of Burden an Associate recently lost. He suspects it was thrown down the guild well and says you'll need a key to get in; Deetsan - another guild member - has one. Deetsan will agree to talk to you about your assignment only if Falcar is not in the same room, which is the case between 1pm and 6pm. Once he's out of sight, you'll learn you're not the first one to get this task. Vidkun - the previous Associate - disappeared while trying to find the ring. After this word of caution, Deetsan will give you the Well Key and a Buoyancy spell.

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Feather[edit]

A grisly sight awaits you down the well

The well is just behind the guild. Create a save point before entering the well, as this part of the quest is prone to a bug. Use the Buoyancy spell Deetsan gave you or a similar Water Breathing spell or enchantment as the well has no air pockets to breathe in. There is obviously no need to worry about this if you are an Argonian. The well itself is small and you'll find poor Vidkun's body inside with the ring. The ring has a weight of 150, so be sure you have at least that much space in your inventory or a Feather or Fortify Strength spell or potion. Otherwise, you may end up like Vidkun.

You do not actually need to bring the ring back to the guild; you can drop it immediately after receiving the related quest update. There is also a Nirnroot in the well that you may want to grab. On the way back out, make sure the camera is in first person mode, otherwise lining up the exit can be extremely difficult.

Alternatively, if you just grab the ring, it will not add to your encumbrance. Drag it to the well exit, then pick it up and exit, dropping it outside.

Falcar's Tantrum[edit]

When you return, Falcar is nowhere to be seen. Speak with Deetsan instead and tell her that Vidkun is dead. She will have a different reaction if you tell her about Vidkun after you ask about your recommendation. If you present the ring to her, she will tell you that it's useless and to drop it anywhere, as it is most likely just part of a "sick joke" of Falcar's. Falcar, it seems, got quite mad when Deetsan told him that she had helped you and when she threatened to report him to the Council of Mages, he yelled some nonsense and stormed out of the guild. Deetsan says to search Falcar's room to see if he had already written your letter of recommendation.

Falcar's Secret[edit]

Head down to the basement and search Falcar's room. Open the locked drawer (its difficulty is leveled) and find two Black Soul Gems, a sign that Necromancy is afoot. There is nothing else to find, so return to Deetsan with the gems. Deetsan will take the two gems and offer to write your recommendation for you herself. If you have already raided Falcar's room before he left, you cannot give Deetsan the Black Soul Gems before this point.

You only need one Black Soul Gem to finish the quest, but both will disappear once you talk to Deetsan. The spare soul gem can be used normally. However, these are not counted as proper Black Soul Gems by the game, but as regular Grand Soul Gems instead. Therefore, these cannot be used to trap NPC souls. Be careful not to use both, as then you will not be able to complete the quest (see bugs). Deetsan will accept these gems if they are filled, but she will not notice any other Black Soul Gems you might have in your inventory.

Notes[edit]

  • Prior to finishing this quest, if you overhear some of the other mages talking to each other, they will discuss how the water has tasted strange lately: "Have you noticed a change in the well water recently? It tastes strange to me." Since they are probably drawing their water from the Mages Guild well, the dead body is probably the cause.
  • After completing this quest, mages in the other guild halls will mention that Deetsan is now running the Cheydinhal Mages Guild Hall.
  • You can use the grab control to move the ring around without it weighing you down, or grab and drag Vidkun's body to the ladder before taking the ring.

Bugs[edit]

  • Falcar's Black Soul Gems are identified as Quest Items so they cannot be set down, but they will still work with Soul Trap and disappear once used to recharge a weapon or enchant an item. If both are used in this way, it will become impossible to complete this quest and gain access to the Arcane University.
    • On PC This problem can be fixed by entering the console command player.additem 0003C7FC 2 to give their character new copies of the soul gems.
  • If you pickpocket Falcar's key to get into his room before retrieving the Ring of Burden, the key will be permanently marked as a quest item and is undroppable even after the quest is completed. This isn't a weight problem since it is a zero-weight item, but it permanently adds to inventory clutter.
  • The Black Soul Gems will still count as stolen items in your journal. There is no way to get them without having them adding to your stolen statistic; this is the one case where virtuous characters are forced to do something illegal in order to enter the Mages Guild. See this page for more information.
  • If you enter the well but do not retrieve the ring and then return more than three game days later, Vidkun's body will have disappeared. Without the body it is impossible to get the ring, and - as with the previous quest - impossible to complete the quest.
    • If you do have to leave the well, deactivating the quest (choose another quest to be your current active quest) will prevent Vidkun's body from disappearing.
    • On PC You can fix this problem by entering the console command player.additem 0002E5AC to give your character the ring.
  • You can enter Falcar's room early by either following him in, using the pickpocket trick, or waiting until 6am when he wakes up. Be careful if you follow him in, as the door will lock behind you.

Journal Entries[edit]

Cheydinhal Recommendation (MG02Alter)
Stage Finishes Quest Journal Entry
10 I need to get the key to the Cheydinhal Mages' Guild well from Deetsan.
20 I need to enter the well behind the Mages Guild in Cheydinhal to retrieve a Ring of Burden for Falcar. The last person given this task has disappeared; should I learn anything about him, I should speak with Deetsan.
30 I have found the Ring of Burden, and should return it to Falcar.
80 I need to search Falcar's quarters in the Cheydinhal Mages' Guild for any sign of his recommendation letter. If found, it should be given to Deetsan, along with anything unusual.
90 There's no evidence of a recommendation in Falcar's room, but I've found Black Soul Gems. I should take them to Deetsan immediately.
100 Finishes quest☑ Deetsan has agreed to send a letter of recommendation to the Arcane University in Falcar's stead.
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 PC It is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage MG02Alter 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.

Next: There are seven Mages Guild recommendation quests that can be completed in any order:

Once all seven are completed, your induction into the Mages Guild is completed by: A Mage's Staff

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