Oblivion:Mages Guild Suspension

Collect alchemy samples to regain your guild membership. Quest Giver: Starts automatically after a crime against the guild Location(s): Arcane University Reward: Restored membership of the Mages Guild ID: MGExpulsion01, MGExpulsion02

Cast out of the University

Quick Walkthrough

1. After breaking a rule of the Mages Guild, you are told to talk to Raminus Polus.
2. Collect alchemy samples and hand them over to regain your standing.

Detailed Walkthrough

Commit The Crime

Upon joining the guild you are presented with a copy of the Mages Guild Charter, which states that any crime committed against a guild member results in suspension. Unlike in the Thieves Guild, however, assault is not counted as a crime and only theft and murder will cause a suspension.

• It seems that it was intended to include assault as a punishable crime but the necessary scripts are commented out.

Theft is only treated as an offense if it is detected but murder is always counted, even if you have 100% Chameleon in effect at the time. As soon as the offense is committed, the Mages Guild Key is removed from your inventory and you are moved outside if the offense was committed on guild property. At this point, guild members will often start to direct you to Raminus Polus.

Raminus will give you a small lecture about how disappointed he is and then offer a chance for redemption.

First Offense

If your crime was a theft, you need to acquire 20 Dragon's Tongues and 20 Redwort Flowers. For murder, you need to acquire 20 Vampire Dusts and 20 Daedra Hearts. On your first offense, there is actually a glitch that allows you to collect 20 of just one of the two required items, although you will lose whatever you have collected so far of the second required item. Once you have collected enough, return to Raminus Polus to turn in your ingredients and be reinstated.

Full details on where to find each of the ingredients are provided on the individual ingredient pages. The following list provides only a couple possible suggestions.

• Dragon's Tongues
  • 21 plants are near the entrance to Fort Redwater.
  • Enough flowers are scattered south of Bravil to cover the 20 needed. Look along the path and on the north shore of the inlet to the Lower Niben.
  • 6 plants are on the shore of a swamp that is located just above the 'd' in 'Blackwood' on the map.
  • 14 plants can be found just southwest of the entrance to Fort Irony.
  • 4 plants can be found by the top of the 'L' in Leyawiin.
• Redwort Flowers
  • Alchemy stores may randomly stock them, but you will probably have to wait for enough to spawn.
  • 21 plants are on the shore of a swamp that is located just above the 'd' in 'Blackwood' on the map (these are easiest to find if you have installed the Knights of the Nine official download; then there are 25 at the entrance to Fort Bulwark). There are also 11 Dragon's Tongue plants here.
  • You can find 5 more plants southeast of Leyawiin's North East gate, just off where the path curves, or straight in the direction from the gate to Fort Blueblood
• Daedra Hearts
  • Starting at level 12, alchemy stores may randomly stock them, but you will probably have to wait for enough to spawn.
  • Dremora are easiest to find before you have completed the Main Quest, or just check near or inside any Oblivion Gates.
  • Brittlerock Cave and Conjurer Dungeons are other locations where hearts may be acquired.
• Vampire Dust
  • Raminus will only accept standard Vampire Dust, not the quest-specific Vampire Dust found on Bloodcrust Vampires.
    • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch allows Raminus to accept Bloodcrust Vampire dust.
  • Never sold in alchemy stores.
  • Vampires can be found in various Vampire Dungeons.

If you were Arch-Mage when you were expelled from the guild, you can still use the Enchanted Chest to duplicate ingredients. One catch is that you will officially be trespassing to get to the Arch-Mage's Quarters - even though there is never anybody upstairs in the tower to catch you, it does mean that you cannot wait upstairs to pass the time. Another catch is that the ten duplicated versions of the ingredients will be considered stolen items, but Raminus will accept stolen ingredients just as readily as legally obtained ones.

Second Offense

After your second offense the procedure is nearly identical to the first offense. You are again sent to collect 20 Dragon's Tongues and 20 Redwort Flowers if you committed theft, or 20 Daedra Hearts and 20 Vampire Dusts for murder. The only difference is that this time around you must have 20 of both requested ingredients.

Third Offense

After your third offense, you are permanently expelled from the Mages Guild. The most serious implications are that you will no longer be able to access the Enchanting and Spellmaking altars and be permanently denied the services of Boderi Farano (Advanced Mysticism Trainer), Martina Floria (Master Illusion Trainer), Gaspar Stegine and Borissean (Spell Merchants): they are all residents of the Arcane University, which will be forever closed to you.

If you are Arch-Mage it is impossible to get permanently expelled; you just receive a normal bounty for any offenses that you commit.

Notes

• Quest stage 20 will never appear in your journal, see here.
• As Arch-Mage, you will still have the right to go into your quarters and your enchanted chest will work. Thus, you can collect just one Daedra Heart and Vampire Dust, place them in the chest a couple of times, and return them to end your suspension.
• Even if you are Arch-Mage, Raminus will still refer to you as an Associate.
• The items taken by Raminus can be subject to the Separate Stack Removal glitch.
• You will be wrongly accused of murder if someone under your command commits it.
• If you have the Unofficial Oblivion Patch installed, Raminus will accept Vampire Dust from Bloodcrust Vampires as well as standard Vampire Dust.

Bugs

• If you are suspended from the Mages Guild while you are in the exterior portion of the Arcane University campus you will be stuck in there: the gates to the outside and the doors to the Arch-Mage's lobby are unpickable. If you are in any of the Arcane University buildings, you will be immediately teleported outside when you are suspended, but you will then be in the same situation of being unable to leave the Arcane University grounds.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch fixes this bug.
  • If no guards are chasing you, then you can simply fast travel to any other location on the map and "escape" the Arcane University.
  • If a guard is chasing you, fast travel is disabled. If your bounty is low, only a single guard may be in pursuit, except he may be stuck outside the Mages Guild fence and will never succeed in catching you. To resolve the situation, you can turn yourself in to one of the Imperial Battlemages on the Arcane University grounds. A battlemage can normally be found outside the Imperial Watchtower on the University grounds, or else you can go inside the watchtower (ignoring the red trespassing symbol on the unlocked door) and find a guard sleeping upstairs. With a low bounty, you will need to initiate a discussion with the battlemage, at which point you are given the standard crime options. Choosing to either pay your bounty or go to jail will result in you being transported outside the University grounds.
  • If your character has a high Acrobatics skill it is quite easy to jump onto the circular plinth with the alchemy plants beneath and then jump over the wall.
  • You can use the unlock or tcl console commands to escape.
• In the German and Spanish versions of the game, Raminus Polus will tell you to get 10 of each ingredient, but you actually need 20. ^?

Journal Entries

Mages Guild Suspension (MGExpulsion01)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I have stolen from the Mages' Guild, and have been suspended from the guild for it.
15		In order to regain favor with the Mages Guild, I must bring 20 Nightshade and 20 Mandrake Root to Raminus Polus at the Arcane University.
20		I have attacked a member of the Mages Guild, and have been suspended from the guild.
25		In order to regain favor with the guild, I must bring 20 Dragon's Tongue and 20 Redwort Flower to Raminus Polus at the Arcane University.
30		I have killed a member of the Mages Guild, and have been suspended from the guild for it.
35		In order to regain favor with the guild, I must gather 20 Vampire Dust and 20 Daedra Hearts and deliver them to Raminus Polus at the Arcane University.
100	Finishes quest	I have been reinstated into the Mages Guild.
Mages Guild Second Suspension (MGExpulsion02)
10		I have stolen from the Mages' Guild, and have been suspended from the guild for it.
15		In order to regain favor with the Mages Guild, I must bring 20 Nightshade and 20 Mandrake Root to Raminus Polus at the Arcane University.
20		I have attacked a member of the Mages Guild, and have been suspended from the guild.
25		In order to regain favor with the guild, I must bring 20 Dragon's Tongue and 20 Redwort Flower to Raminus Polus at the Arcane University.
30		I have killed a member of the Mages Guild, and have been suspended from the guild for it.
35		In order to regain favor with the guild, I must gather 20 Vampire Dust and 20 Daedra Hearts and deliver them to Raminus Polus at the Arcane University.
100	Finishes quest	I have been reinstated into the Mages Guild, with the warning that any further infractions will result in permanent removal from the guild.

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.
• It is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage MGExpulsion01, MGExpulsion02 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.