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The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (TESM)
Mage's Guild Guide v1.6 6/xx/02
(c) 2002 by Zelgadis-sama (Daniel Guidotti)
Email: klaxxin@hotmail.com

CONTENTS:

0.0 Version History
0.1 News (READ!)
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Preparation
3.0 Skills
4.0 Mages Guild Ranks and Requirements
5.0 The Missions
5.1 Balmora
5.2 Ald-Ruhn
5.3 Sadrith Mora: Wolverine Hall
5.4 Vivec
5.5 Getting a Wizard's Staff (Sud)
6.0 Usage of this FAQ
7.0 Credits & Acknowledgements
8.0 Feedback
9.0 Miscellaneous
10.0 Closing

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0.0 VERSION HISTORY

6/05/02 v1.0 Initial Release.
6/07/02 v1.1 Added additional formatting, fixed grammar and spelling errors
added quests for Edwinna Elbert, Skink-in-His-Shade, and Trebonius Artorius.
Also added master trainers to skills section.
6/08/02 v1.2 Extensive grammar and name spelling and format fixes. Also reworked
the sneak and athletics section. See Credits for more additions to certain
missions.
6/10/02 v1.3 Updated Ajira's missions in Balmora (including the Staff of Magnus
and the Warlock's ring and added correct mission rewards for many missions. Also
updated All of Ranis' missions and added rewards. Updated the Ranks and
Requirements section. Fixed many incorrect name and location spellings.
6/11/02 v1.4 Even more grammar and spelling fixes (hopefully, most names and
places should be correct...). Doubled the size of section two. Added alternate
ways to complete several missions. Updated credits section. Fixed minor factual
errors. Fixed some formatting problems. Finalized Ajira, Ranis, and Edwinna
missions. Added Wizard's Staff mission. Finally added first mission from
Trebonius.
6/13/02 v1.45 Added a way to get around accidentally selling the Chimarvamidium.
Rearranged some sections to make presentation more logical. Fixed numbering
inconsistencies. Removed some useless paragraphs. Updated Credits. Added extra
information to many missions. Fixed a contradiction in 5.7.1. Reformatted
ENEMIES, NOTE, and REWARD headings. Fixed more grammar and spelling errors.
Added section 2.1.2.1 Added more info on Trebonius.
6/19/02 v1.5 Arbitrarily added news section. Fixed errors that tons of people
emailed me about!! Fixed more numbering inconsistencies. Updated info on
Neminda, and recovering stolen loot.
6/xx/02 v1.6 Standardized credits and removed redundant references. Added TONS
of credits. Further formatted NOTES, REWARD, and ENEMIES headings. Added counter
to credits section. Fixed yet more grammar and spelling errors. Removed
parenthetical references to smooth flow. Updated miscellaneous section with
patch info. Clarified section 5.1.12.

0.1 News

Sorry about this, but v1.6 is *another* interim edit. I feel obligated to
release it now so I don't keep everyone waiting. I just haven't had the time to
play recently. However, I WILL have time to play this weekend, so rest assured
that I will probably release v1.7 sometime Sunday. In the meantime, I've fixed a
number of random issues. I've also added a lot of the simpler email feedback. A
lot of the interesting stuff still needs to be confirmed, but I will be adding
it shortly.

I don't know how many of you will notice this, but I completely overhauled the
Credits system. Credits are now listed AFTER each paragraph in which the
creditor's information was used. I tried citing the in the FAQ, but ruined
continuity. Never fear. I have listed each individual contributor and their
respective contributions to the FAQ in alphabetical order, at the end of the FAQ
in section 7.0. The credits are now mostly up-to-date. If you don't see your
name now, you probably won't. I've used all of the relevant information that I
could, and have given proper credit for its usage in the FAQ.

I've also added some interesting formatting for you power users. The NOTES,
REWARD, and ENEMIES heading are now exclusive. This means that anytime you
search for these words, you will reach a bold faced word (with a few impossible
exceptions). I hope this helps a little.

E-mail has dropped off (thank god) so I'm not as busy. This also tells me that
although this FAQ is not complete, it is getting mature. I will probably release
2-3 more versions before I finish, but no promises.

In other news, the Morrowind patch, v1.1.0605 was released a while back, and it
introduced some important changes regarding gameplay, mostly for the better, I
think. I encourage all users to get this patch, as it eliminates many of the
'cheats' in Morrowind, and adds some much-needed features. For the full list of
features, read the file that comes with the Patch. It can be found at
www.elderscolls.com. If you just can't wait, some of the most pertinent changes
are listed in section 9.0

Finally, this NOTE is for all of you X-Box users out there. Please don't email
me with your questions about names and locations. As far as I know, the X-Box
version is IDENTICAL to the PC version, except that many of the names/places
have different names. When in doubt, follow the directions in the FAQ (this
applies to PC users as well). If that doesn't work, talk to the NPC who gives
the quest. Remember that I discovered much of the information in this FAQ
myself. I don't have the time or the energy to reply in detail to every request
that I receive. If you can convince me that you are truly stuck, then I may make
an exception, but PLEASE be considerate.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my Mage's Guild Guide for Morrowind. This is my first attempt at
writing a strategy guide, so please bear with me if everything isn't perfect.
Since the game is still new, there isn't much info on completing many of the
missions. I've decided to write an all-inclusive guide for those of you who wish
to become the Arch-Mage of the Mage's Guild. I hope to provide a complete list
of all related Mage's Guild missions and any alternate ways completing them.
Please be aware that I still have to add and retouch a few more missions. I
expect the FAQ to be complete in a month or so.

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2.0 PREPARATION

Here are some recommended preparations, in terms of skills, armor etc. that you
might want to know about while you quest. It is likely that you are just
starting out and won't have access to many of the things that I describe here,
however, having them at some point will make your life a *LOT* easier.

Although this IS a Mage's Guild FAQ, I still feel that it is necessary to
include some in-depth strategy, so these following sections are going to be
somewhat lengthy, but quite informative. If none of this interests you, skip
right to section 5.0.

2.1 Running is Good, and Sneaking is Better

First, you might want to train your athletics skill. Being a slowpoke is no fun,
and can considerably increase the time it takes to get from point A to B. You
can't outrun the local fauna if you are too slow. My recommendation is to find a
room and face a corner. Jam the run key down on your keyboard and go to bed,
school, or work. When you come back in ~8 hours, your athletics skill should be
55-60+ if Morrowind doesn't crash in the meantime. This is plenty for now. If
you *must* have 100 athletics, be warned it can take 24 hours or more to max out
the skill.

The sneak skill can be trained in the same way. Find a lone NPC indoors and get
behind him/her/it. Find a way to mash your sneak key down and do something else.
It takes ~6-10 hours (it seems to vary) to get the sneak skill to 100. (You do
NOT have to hold the move key down for this. Just the sneak key.) This is
important because there are many things that you may want to steal, and being
caught can cause many problems. A high sneak skill is essential no matter what
class you are. (Dan Lethcoe)

NOTE: If your copy of Morrowind crashes a lot like mine, you have a better
chance of successfully training your skills if you do it indoors. There isn't
any evidence supporting this claim, just my personal experience.

2.1.1 Lessons in Sneakin' and Thievin' (or How Not to Be Seen) =P
(Credit goes to Monty Python for that one)

Sneaking and Thievery are so important in Morrowind that I'm going to dedicate
more space to describing ways to avoid capture, or salvage your game if you are
caught. Most of this is stuff that I learned the hard way.
Lesson: Read this FAQ (sheeesh, no hate mail for this, please)

In general, save your game each and every time you plan on doing something
illegal. This means that before every theft, pickpocket, and out and out murder,
you SAVE your game... this can save you mucho heartbreak if your only option is
to restore your game. A good example of when this might be necessary is killing
Temple Guards in Vivec. If you kill more than five of them, every guard in the
game will try to kill you, and no one will talk to you or give you missions. You
MUST restore your game. Just try not to kill that many people, and especially
not people who can give you training.
Lesson: Don't randomly kill everyone.

When you are stealing, try to stay out of the line of sight of your target. If
you can get the target to turn the other way by talking to him/her/it, so much
the better. Also, make sure that the yellow sneak icon is visible before you
attempt to steal anything. A simple rule of thumb: When stealing, if the yellow
sneak icon is showing, you probably won't be caught. This isn't the law though.
Sometimes if you steal something expensive, or an NPC enters the room just as
you steal, you'll be caught regardless of whether you are sneaking. Just restore
the game if that happens.
Lesson: The yellow sneak icon is your friend

When you try to pickpocket from people, the game is much different. Many times,
the only way to get what you want, without too much effort, is murder. A good
example of this is during a mission from Ranis Athrys. She asks you to get some
papers from Itermeral. If you can't steal from him, lead him into the middle of
nowhere and kill him. There are also other NPCs in Morrowind, which are tough or
near impossible to pickpocket. An example of this is the Slavemaster at the Dren
Plantation. The are lots of slaves that want to be freed. If you want to free
them, you need the key from the Slavemaster, but there are too many people
around (why on EARTH would the slaves report your crime??). It is impossible to
get the sneak icon to appear. So kill the man and take his key. (Here you aren't
penalized for some reason. Btw, does anyone know how to join the Twin Lamps?
I'll write a FAQ for that too if anyone can tell me how).
Lesson: If you can't steal, try killing the target.

This brings me to my next point. You can kill certain people with no
repercussions. Any thief, bandit, necromancer, or other form of outlaw can be
killed and looted from with no consequence. Anybody in town with no name (e.g.
Ordinators and Hlaalu/Redoran/Telvanni guards) can generally be killed with no
repercussions. Just make sure that you don't kill them in crowded places. If you
kill someone in a closed room, you will be caught if there are people on the
other side of the door or wall. You won't have to pay a fine, but everyone will
attack you anyway. This is where removing the corpse might come in handy, but I
don't know anything about that. If anyone knows, help me out. Don't loot from
corpses either. If you kill someone without being caught, and then loot the
corpse in public, you'll have to pay a fine.
Lesson: Kill people who won't cause problems, but don't loot corpses when you
can Be Seen.

NOTE: I updated to the patch. It seems as though just about every time you kill
someone now, you get fined. I do recommend patching, but remember that it is now
even easier to get caught.

The best way to get out of a Jam is the Thieves' Guild. If you become a member
(talk to Sweet-Lips Habasi in Balmora at the South Wall Cornerclub), you can
have your fines easily removed without talking to the guards. This is important
because if you must be caught, you'll lose everything that you ever stole,
regardless of the town. This doesn't apply to treasure from caves or bandits.
This DOES apply to everything that you steal from stores in towns, or from any
barrels and crates. Example: If you steal a soulgem in Balmora, and have to pay
a fine in Vivec, you'll lose the soulgem. This is especially troublesome when
you steal armor, rings, or other good equipment. It doesn't make much sense
either. How can a guard in Vivec know exactly what you stole in Balmora? Stolen
items are relocated to the nearest 'evidence' chest. Finding those is up to you.
Lesson: Join the Thieves Guild

If you want to be really sneaky, find yourself a house. If you really want to
feel secure, kill whomever is inside the house (making sure that the target is
ALONE). You can also get a house in Balmora by completing the main quest. Drop
all of your stolen goodies in the house. This is especially good if you've been
Seen and the guards are chasing you. Run indoors and drop your things, and head
outside and pay the fine. Pick up the goods later after you've paid the fine.
Make sure that when you're being chased that the guard is far enough away.
Otherwise some guards can actually follow you through doors and catch you
anyway. (James Foster)
Lesson: Drop stolen items before getting caught.

2.1.2 If You Are Seen... (and have to fight)

If you have to fight, and can't avoid it, let the OTHER person strike first. I
can't stress this enough. The game reminds you of this fact frequently, but I
often found myself being attacked first, but I was the one who struck the first
blow. Remember, being attacked DOESN'T matter. It's the person that strikes the
first blow that determines whether or not you've committed a crime.

NOTE: You don't always have to fight. Many times you can run away from whomever
saw you. Find a guard and turn yourself in or restore the game. This will reset
everyone to normal.