Hitting the Books

College of Winterhold

Hitting the Books
No image yet
Prerequisite	Under Saarthal
Type	Faction
Quest Giver	Savos Aren
Location	Fellglow Keep
Rewards	2920, Hearth Fire, v9 Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments Daughter of the Niben Racial Phylogeny Response to Bero's Speech The Black Arts on Trial
Quest Objectives
Speak to Urag gro-Shub Find the stolen books (3) Free Orthorn (Optional) Return the books

The Arch-Mage has requested you go seek Urag gro-Shub for assistance in finding out what the artefact, an ominous rotating sphere, that was unearthed in Saarthal is and what it does.

Walkthrough

Speak to Urag gro-Shub

The Arch-Mage first sends you to Urag gro-Shub, the Librarian of the college. You can find him at the Arcaneum. Just head back the way you came and turn left and down the stairs to get to the Arcaneum. Urag can usually be found behind the desk at the far end of the library. Talk to him and he will tell you that the books were lent out to a mage known as Orthorn who has disappeared. He was last seen at Fellglow Keep and Urag wants you to recover the books. So head to Fellglow Keep.

Find the stolen books (3)

Outside the keep, there will be 3 mages and a Flame Atronach hanging around outside the dungeon. Two will be near the entrance, one will be atop a watchtower in the centre and the atronach will be in the remains of a ruined tower nearby. Kill them and make your way into the keep.

The entrance to the dungeons can be found in the ruined tower where the Atronach was. So go there and enter the dungeon. You will be in a short corridor that opens up into a flooded room with two Frostbite Spiders and an Apprentice Ice Mage sitting at a table on the second level. The mage will use mainly Ice Spike as well as using a Lesser Ward to protect himself. He will heal when he is low on life. When he is dead, go down the corridor to the right. Mind the pressure plate that will trigger poison darts across the corridor at the base of the stairs.

There will be a room with some loot on the left hand side on the way down the corridor. Just before you enter the next room, there will be an Ice Rune on the floor. Blast it to trigger it from afar or just walk through. There is a Novice Conjurer in this room that will come running once the rune triggers. She will mainly use Flames. Once she is dead, you can use the four levers by the exit to release the caged vampires who will run into the next room to start attacking the mages there. The vampires will usually die pretty fast, but you can pickpocket them and place some weapons and armor in their inventory to give them a fair shot.

Either wait till the confusion dies down or wade in and start blasting indiscriminately. There are 3 mages in that room, a Novice Fire Mage, Novice Conjurer and an Ice Mage. Once they are dead, continue down the corridor into another circular room with jails lining the wall. At the far end will be a Novice Storm Mage. The moment he spots you, he will run to the levers in the centre and begin releasing the monsters inside. There are two Wolves that will run out to attack you if you are not quick enough.

At this point you can finish the optional quest. Just pull the middle lever and speak to Orthorn when he is out to ask him where the books are. He tells you that the leader of the mages in the keep has taken an interest in the books and has taken them from him. Beside the jail with the Wolves, there is a corridor that leads deeper into the dungeons and ends at a firing range of sorts for mages. There are 3 mages in here; a Novice Ice Mage, and two Apprentice Fire Mages.

Go back the way you came and up the wide flight of stairs. At the top there will be a wide corridor with coffins on either side and two Novice Necromancers at the end. When you enter, skeletons will start rising from the coffins. Kill them all and head towards the coffin at the end where one more weak skeleton will rise. Kill it and take the exit to the left to Fellglow Keep.

Run around the corner into a large room with a Novice Conjurer and a Novice Storm Mage. Either will flee when low on life to a door at the back of the room. In the room beyond, there will be a Novice Necromancer that will help them. On a pedestal in the first room where the Novice Conjurer was standing is a book that will raise your Conjuration skill.

Now go past the room where the Novice Necromancer was and head down the hall. At the end of the hall you will exit into a room with a familiar behind some desks and an Apprentice Ice Mage on the second level. A Novice Storm Mage, Novice Conjurer and Familiar will show up from the doorway on the second level to the left of the staircase. Inside the room on the other side of the staircase there is a Stone of Barenziah along with an Alchemy Lab and an Arcane Enchanter.

When you are ready head up the staircase in the room where the Storm Mage and Conjurer appeared from and you will be in a circular room filled with bookshelves. Head out the exit on the other side and around the corridor and you will be greeted by a Flame Atronach. Go into the door it was guarding to the Fellglow Keep Ritual Chamber.

Inside this chamber is The Caller, the boss of this place and the one who stole the books. If Orthorn is still alive at this point, you can negotiate with The Caller to let you take the books and leave in exchange for leaving Orthorn behind. If he is dead or if you choose not to leave Orthorn, you will begin combat. She teleports around the room to any of the three books and summons a Flame Atronach to help her. Alternatively, you may choose to leave Orthorn behind, sneak around behind her and backstab her anyway.

Once you have the books, it is time to return to the College.

Free Orthorn (Optional)

You free Orthorn just before the end of the Fellglow Keep Dungeons in a circular room with jail cells. He can be released by pulling the middle lever in the centre of the room.

Return the books

Back at the College, go down to the Arcaneum and report to Urag. He will thank you for the books and reward you with 6 skill books that will raise each one of your mage skills by one. Speak to him again and he will tell you that he has identified the strange artefact and that you are to go find Tolfdir in the Hall of Elements.