Great Gate
From the OblivioWiki – your guide to everything Oblivion
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Upon the opening of the three lesser gates, you will obtain this quest automatically once the Great Oblivion gate has been opened.
[edit] Background
Dagon has opened the three lesser gates after a bold plan by Martin to allow a Great Gate, similar to the one that destroyed Kvatch, to be opened. It is now time to enter the gate and obtain the Great Sigil Stone.
[edit] Walkthrough
The Great Gate has opened. You have kept Martin safe, so far so good. Enter the gate itself and view the giant siege engine before you similar to the one that destroyed the walls of Kvatch. Don't view it too long, though, because it's firing a hail of fireballs towards you and the gate.
You don't have much time in this quest. In fact, there's a time limit (15 minutes) to close the Great Gate. The basic strategy of this map: Save at the start and keep it as a backup save for later on. Then run.
Immediately head towards the left and do a lot of jumping to avoid the pools of lava as you head for the first door to the Caverns. Inside the caverns, slay only the Daedra in your way and head for the door to one of the lesser towers. Inside this tower, head for the top. Kill the Daedra guarding the Corpse Masher, then ride your way up, killing any other Daedra in the way. At the top, activate the Gate Control, then head back down through the door. Go past the opening gate, and deal with the Dremora. If you can't finish the fight quickly either ignore them or knock them off the ledge into the pits of lava.
Enter the tower. Immediately kill the Sigil Keeper. He has the Sigil key that you will need to enter the Sigil Stone sanctum. Proceed up into the Rending Halls, killing any Daedra in your way. Be sure to use your map to avoid getting lost (there is a map marker). Exit back into the tower at the top of the halls, and continue to proceed your way up the tower.
Grab the Great Sigil Stone at the top of the tower.
If you are short on time, then ignore the Daedra or knock them off the ledge (if possible). The only Daedra you really need to kill is the Sigil Keeper since he has the key, and even he can be skipped if you have lockpicks, an Open Average Lock spell, or the Skeleton Key; the door to the Sigilium Sanguis is only protected by a pickable Average (three-tumbler) lock. Be sure to have brought lots of healing potions to this mission since there is going to be quite a bit of running (you don't have time to do much stealth). Also, enchanted weapons and armor help a lot. A good acrobatics skill can help you jump the broken bridges.
Alternatively, if you're high-level alchemist or Illusionist, brew a few dozen Invisibility or Chameleon potions or bring an invisibility spell, like Deathly Visage, bring along lockpicks, an Open Average Lock spell, or the Skeleton Key, and simply run straight to the Sigil Stone.
After completion a statue will be erected in your honour near the northern gate of Bruma. For this reason, you may want to bring along your favourite set of armor/weapons, for purely cosmetic reasons, as your equipment at the moment you grab the Sigil Stone is the equipment you will be pictured with.
[edit] Notes
If you have certain enchanted items from the Shivering Isles, some weapons may not appear in your statue. When beat with Dawnfang/Duskfang, the character was depicted with a dagger instead.
Also, this is the only quest where Jauffre can (and most likely will) die. Same goes for Baurus.
A good way to cover lots of ground at speed is to invest in an invisibility enchantment, such as Deathly Visage which is available to members of The Dark Brotherhood from the Kajhit M'raaj-Dar Using an invisibility enchantment will mean that you can bypass any fights with Daedra or Dremora that you encounter in the tower and cave system. As you will of likely to of just completed the Miscarcand quest, you are likely to have a large quantity of Welkynd Stones in your inventory, handy for filing your magica, as you will have to cast the invisibility enchantment regularly as it dispels whenever you walk through a door, activate anything or attack.
It is possible, when activating the Great Sigil Stone to grab it, to get multiple of them by activating repeatedly. I don't know why it would be necessary since they can't be used.
