The Black Star (Quest)

Background
"Aranea, a priestess of Azura, says I am destined to find an elven man, who can turn the brightest star as black as the night. She believes he is in Winterhold."

- The Dragonborn

Many years ago, Malyn Varen was exiled from The College of Winterhold for pursuing questionable research with Soul Gems. Malyn was trying to find a way to prolong his spirit, and he believed that storing his soul inside the Daedric Artifact Azura's Star would prevent him from dying. Unfortunately for him, one of the properties of the Star was that black souls&mdash;the souls of sentient, mortal beings&mdash;could not enter it. As such, he began experiments to modify the Star's properties so that it would accept black souls.

The further Malyn progressed toward this goal, the more Azura tormented him. The artifact slowly drove Malyn insane, causing him to hear voices and see people that were not there, and eventually, to murder one of his students. After this, he left the college, collected a band of followers, and continued his research at Ilinalta's Deep, an abandoned Imperial outpost that had mostly collapsed into the adjacent river. There, he continued his work, eventually succeeding in capturing his own soul inside the modified Azura's Star and achieving a state of immortality.

Walkthrough
(To avoid a possible bug where Aranea attacks unprovoked, the Dragonborn may first speak to Nelacar in the College of Winterhold and recieve the quest The Black Star that way instead.)

To receive this quest, the Dragonborn must first talk with Aranea Lenith at the Shrine of Azura, south of Winterhold. She will tell you that the Daedric goddess has chosen you as her champion, and you must find an elven mage who can turn the brightest star to the darkest night. You can find this elf in The Frozen Hearth inn at Winterhold.

Talk to Dagur and ask him about the elf. He will tell you that the elf is called Nelacar, and that he has a rented room.

Talk to Nelacar and you can intimidate or bribe the necessary information out of him. He will tell you that his mentor, Malyn Varen, was experimenting with Azura's Star, and that the last known location of Malyn was Ilinalta's Deep.

Ilinalta's Deep can be found west of Riverwood. There is a trap door atop a partially submerged tower that leads into the underground complex.

Ilinalta's Deep
After entering, go past the crucified skeleton and enter a flooded room with a partially open doorway on the left. Walk through the doorway and down the subsequent hallway. Following the hallway is a small room containing a Skeleton and the first of many Conjurers (Necromancers at higher levels) found throughout the dungeon. In the next room are two more Conjurers, and a Skeleton lurks in the room on the left, which contains some food and a Potion of Water Breathing.

The door on the right leads to the next area, which contains a Conjurer, a Skeleton, and a wolf. The underwater passage behind the waterfall on the left leads to a hidden room with a chest and a Breathing Water Skill Book floating near the ceiling. Rather than teach the Water Breathing spell, the book increases the Alteration skill by one level.

The right-hand passage in the previous room leads to two Conjurers and a Skeleton. There is a small sleeping quarters to the left, as well as an Arcane Enchanter, an Alchemy Lab, and several useful pieces of loot. The door on the right has an Apprentice lock, with a chest and some potions on the other side.

At the end of the next passage is a high-level Conjurer, on the far side of a flooded depression that cuts across the room. There is a partially submerged stairway on the far side of the depression that can be used to approach the Conjurer from the safety of the water. Under the water near the stairs is a door with an Adept lock. Loot on the other side includes a leveled Soul Gem and a chest containing a Spell Tome, potions, and gold.

Back in the partially flooded area, a door on the left with an Apprentice lock opens onto a small room with a couple of potions and alchemical ingredients. Up the stairs on the far side of the room is a door locked by a timber bar. Activate the bar to move it and go through the door to come onto a small landing area. Follow the landing to the right and through another door which leads to the final section of the dungeon, Ilinalta's Deluge.

Follow the path down to reach an area with two Conjurers. There is a chest, and quite a few potions and Soul Gems scattered throughout this room and the smaller one to the right. The door to the left leads down a path, through another door, and into a room populated by a Conjurer and a Skeleton, with cages along both walls. Through the door at the end of the room is a set of stairs opening onto a medium-sized room with a high-level Conjurer and four Skeletons. There is no loot in here, so continue straight up the stairs to the left.

In the room at the top of the stairs, Malyn Varen's skeleton sits peacefully in a chair, with the Broken Azura's Star at its feet. Also in the room is a chest with a small amount of loot. With the Broken Azura's Star in hand, the dungeon can be exited via the ladder that leads to the ceiling.

Cleansing the Star
There are now two options to fix the Broken Azura's Star:


 * 1) Give it to Aranea Ienith
 * 2) Give it to Nelacar

Speaking to the desired NPC with the Broken Azura's Star in one's inventory will begin this final step. Whichever option is chosen, the Dragonborn must enter the Star to cleanse it of Malyn Varen's soul. The Dragonborn is warped out of the Star several seconds after defeating Malyn inside, regardless of the status of Malyn's three Dremora henchmen.

Once Malyn's soul has been defeated, the Dragonborn is pulled out of the Star, thanked, and given either a working Azura's Star by Aranea Ienith, or the Black Star by Nelacar. The former can trap only white souls&mdash;those of non-sentient creatures&mdash;while the latter, according to Nelacar, can trap only black souls&mdash;the souls of sentient beings. In actuality, however, The Black Star can hold either white or black souls, just like a Black Soul Gem.

Additionally, bringing the Star to Aranea makes her available as a follower. While giving the Star to Nelacar does not provide a companion option, The Black Star has the advantage of a much more abundant source of Grand Souls, as all black souls are of the Grand level. Meanwhile, only white souls from exceptionally powerful monsters, typically unique bosses, are Grand Souls.

Trivia

 * Malyn's skeleton in Ilinalta's Deluge can be reanimated with an Apprentice-level reanimation spell.
 * Defeating Malyn's Dremora is an effective way to collect Daedra Hearts. Just be sure to loot the Dremora's bodies before being warped out of the Star.
 * Trying to pickpocket Malyn will prompt the message "This person has already caught you."
 * The person that you didn't help during this quest will have some foul words for you when you interact with them.
 * If you cleared Ilinalta's Deep and Deluge before starting this quest, new opponents will be present there when you go there in the quest, even though Ilinalta's Deep will still be marked as "cleared" on the Skyrim map.

Strategies
The inside of the star is a platform, with circular stairs leading down to the bottom of the room. The 3 Dremora appear in the following place: The 1st spawns close to the top of the stairs, the 2nd one a little farther down from the first, and the 3rd one being almost at the bottom of the staircase. Taking each one on at a time is the best option, then going with Malyn. This is because the Dremora's powerful fireballs complementing his own formidable lightning attacks, Malyn Varen can prove quite a challenge. One option for those having trouble is to focus on killing Malyn as quickly as possible, then avoid the Dremora until the Dragonborn is warped out of the Star. Malyn is a Dunmer, so be aware that he is 50% resistant to fire damage. A full Unrelenting Force is helpful when fighting both the Dremora and Malyn, because it gives you time to attack them. Whirlwind Sprint can be used to close the gap and begin attacking Malyn as quickly as possible. Ice Form is also useful, as it keeps Malyn from running away at the fight's outset.

Repeated use of Conjure Flame Atronach or the Sanguine Rose is an effective answer to both the Dremora and Malyn himself: the summoned minion absorbs attacks and deals damage, all while allowing the Dragonborn to attack from a safe distance. Alternatively, one could incapacitate the Dremora using Ice Form or Voice of the Emperor, then focus on Malyn or engage the Dremora one at a time. An Invisibility Potion, a high Sneak skill, and the Assassin's Blade perk can also be used to defeat Malyn unmolested, or to tackle the Dremora individually.

The Atronach Stone can be useful here as it absorbs a portion of incoming spell damage, as can The Lord Stone thanks to its increase to magicka resistance. Potions that grant resistance to magicka, fire, or shock are also effective, as are weapons imbued with Damage Magicka or Absorb Magicka, such as the Staff of Magnus.

Bugs
"I'll end your miserable life!" as if an enemy is there. This can be fixed by going outside and killing the dragon, although depending on Level, this can take a long time. This bug can happen at any poin in the quest where you interact with Nelecar in the inn.
 * The Dragonborn may not be transported out of the Star upon killing Malyn. This renders the quest unable to be completed, and requires the loading of a save from before the Star was entered to progress with the game.
 * If the Dragonborn is in werewolf form upon leaving the Star, Aranea will attack, even if the Dragonborn is incapacitated speaking with Azura. If the Dragonborn is killed in this way, when the game loads the autosave from within the Star, it will crash.
 * When Nelacar takes the Broken Star for examination, sometimes he never says anything, and trying to activate him simply prompts a "This person is busy" message. The quest cannot be advanced beyond this point, making getting either Star impossible. There have been reports of fixing this glitch by attacking Nelacar with a weapon until he passes out.
 * Aranea may be hostile on the Dragonborn's first visit for no known reason. This can be fixed with a Calming ability such as Voice of the Emperor.
 * After completing the first section of Ilinalta's Deep, some people have found the path to Ilinalta's Deluge blocked by a boulder, as it is before the quest is activated. Leaving the dungeon and reentering seems to fix this.
 * Sometimes, the Dragonborn may be unable to pick up the Broken Azura's Star upon finding it. This can be fixed by using a Destruction spell on it, which will knock it to a new location in the room. It can then be picked up.
 * The Dragonborn may be transported to a location near Ilinata's Deep upon being removed from the Star. If so, the Dragonborn will be slowly "floating" down, unable to move, jump, or Fast Travel until reaching ground.
 * The Dremora inside the Star can be revived repeatedly using the Revenant spell. This can be abused to level up the Conjuration skill indefinitely, along with whatever offensive skill is used to kill the Dremora.
 * If the Dragonborn is killed by the Dremora after Malyn is dead, but before being removed from inside the Star, both the Broken Star and a fixed one may be in the Dragonborn's inventory upon reloading. The quest will be marked as completed, rendering the Broken Star useless. This may result in the Dragonborn not being transported out of the Star.
 * When the Dragonborn is looking for the mage who studies the stars, if Nelacar is spoken to first, he will confess that he is that mage and tell you about the next part of the quest. Afterward, if other people in the area are spoken to about the mage, they will still tell you to try talking to Nelacar, and the "Talk to Nelacar" part of the quest will be impossible to complete. Luckily, this does not affect completion of the quest as a whole.
 * It is possible to receive this quest again after completing it, by meeting a Dark Elf on a pilgrimage to the shrine. The quest cannot be advanced past talking to Aranea, however.
 * When speaking to Nelacar for the first time, he may not talk about Azura's star and you cannot carry on with the quest.
 * If any of the dremora from inside the broken Black Star is still alive and attacking you when Nelacar pulls you out, Nelacar (and any followers you may have) will be in "combat" mode for a few seconds, as if the dremora is nearby. The dremora will also be marked on your compass bar, at the top of the screen.
 * Malyn may be registered as defeated by being tansformed into a rabbit by way of Wabbajack.
 * The bar on the door leading to the final section of the dungeon may not open. This can be fixed by saving and loading the game data.
 * Sometimes, if a dragon is attacking Winterhold, them Nelecar will ready his spells and face the wall and will say things like