Tamriel Rebuilt:Hide and Seek

Take an ill-advised sip of a Master Wizard's potion. Quest Giver: Arquebald Vene Location(s): Old Ebonheart Reward: None ID: TR_m3_OE_HideSeek

Master Wizards have the strangest of brews

Quick Walkthrough

1. Drink the Bottle of Sludge on the desk of Arquebald Vene, in Old Ebonheart's Mages Guild.
2. Speak to Rakan, and either kill it, or bring the 'enchanted skull' it desires.
3. Choose 'wealth' to be teleported to the Ebon Tower's treasure vault, 'adventure' to be teleported to Durthungz, or nothing to be teleported to Old Ebonheart.

Detailed Walkthrough

The leader of the Mages Guild in Old Ebonheart is Arquebald Vene, a particularly cranky mage to whom you will be directed during the course of the Imperial Cult quest, Politics to Play. He will ask you to drink the potion that starts the quest. However, you can drink this potion and start the quest even without being part of the Imperial Cult, as it is not owned. It is the bottle of sludge pictured, present on Arquebald's desk on the top floor of the Mages Guild.

Drinking the potion will see you transported to the "Subfuscous Cupola", where the Daedroth Rakan has set up a game for its own amusement. You need to either defeat Rakan in combat to be returned to the Mages Guild, or bring it an enchanted skull hidden in one of the chests scattered about the location. The catch is that every time you open a chest that does not contain the skull, you will lose a portion of your health.

To find the correct chest, pick up the Unusual Key on the planter at the eastern side of the area. The note under it explains how it works - simply place the key back in the world and it will point to the chest with the enchanted skull. You can use this multiple times to home in on the correct chest - the one wedged in between the western planter and the building.

Return the skull to Rakan. It will ask if you wish to be rewarded with riches or adventure. Choosing riches will teleport you right into the heart of the Ebon Tower's treasure chamber - which is filled with high-value items, but also contained by level 100 locked doors (fortunately, there is a secret passage out in the fake wall opposite the stairs). Choosing adventure will transport you to the Dwemer ruin of Durthungz. Choosing 'neither' will see you teleported to the edge of a high tower in the Ebon Tower. The haybale in the cart below this location has a script attached to it, meant to break your fall, but this does not seem to function in the current release (information accurate as of 13/01/22).

Notes

• This quest is more usually encountered during the course of the Imperial Cult quest, Politics to Play, but can actually be begun at any time by drinking the Bottle of Sludge on Arquebald Vene's desk.
• The console ID of Rakan's playground is "Subfuscous Cupola".

Quest Stages

The following Journal ID and Index codes can be used with the Journal console command to manually update the quest to a certain point.

Hide and Seek (TR_m3_OE_HideSeek)
Index	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I've awoken in what appears to be some kind of large tower devoid of any signs of life. There are numerous chests lying around the plaza.
15		I've found a strange key and an even stranger note.
20		A daedroth named Rakan has told me that I'm the latest participant in one of his "games". I need to find the correct chest and retrieve an enchanted skull, or else I'll surely die here. If I beat him in combat I can avoid his game entirely.
30		I've found a strange key in one of the planters. The note with it says that it unlocks all of the chests, which doesn't help me. It feels unusually light in my hand.
40		The key pointed me towards a specific chest. I found an enchanted skull inside.
50	Finishes quest	In exchange for handing over the skull, Rakan has returned me back to Mundus, in a place of my choosing.
60	Finishes quest	I've destroyed Rakan and awoken back in the Old Ebonheart Mages Guild.
70	Finishes quest	I escaped from that place.

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