A Researcher's Notes

A Researcher's Notes is a Mages Guild quest available during the events of. The Agent is sent to pickup a famous researcher's notes for the benefit of the Guild, amid reports that it could be stolen by another faction.

Background
After completing several mundane tasks for the Mages Guild, and improved their magical skills, the Agent will be accepted as a member of the Guild. Guildmagisters will therefore begin to offer the Agent more difficult tasks, rewarding them with and a boost to their reputation, meaning they can climb further through the Guild's ranks.

Objectives

 * Speak with a Guildmagister from the Mages Guild.
 * Journey to the specified town.
 * (Potentially) Receive a letter from the Dark Brotherhood.
 * Speak with the Scholar and receive their notes.
 * (Optional) Turn the notes over to the Dark Brotherhood.
 * (Potentially) Receive a fake set of notes.
 * Return to the Guildmagister with either the genuine or fake notes before the time limit expires.

Walkthrough
Once the Agent has joined the Mages Guild, one of the Guildmagisters will reveal that a famed scholar has agreed to send the Guild a sample of his research. However, rumour has it that a group of renegade mages, known as necromancers, are also interest in the research, meaning the scholar himself is reluctant to deliver the notes in person. The Agent will therefore act as a courier for the notes, being sent to obtain the notes from the scholar.

A Scholar's Work
The Agent must head to the town in which the scholar is living, before uncovering their specific location from the local populous. Upon their arrival in town there is also a 50% chance that the Agent will receive a letter from the Dark Brotherhood, the tone of which will vary depending on the Agent's reputation with them. Regardless, the Agent must meet with the scholar, who will greet them stating:

"You're the [player's race] the Mages Guild sent over to protect my work, yes? Marvelous to meet you, my child. Here's the bally thing. Good luck getting past those infernal Necromancers with it. I certainly couldn't."

- A famed Scholar

The Scholar will hand the Agent the notes and send them on their way. The Agent may now return to the Guildmagister before the time limit expires, and/or decide if they want to take up the Dark Brotherhood's potential offer.

(Optional) A Dark Offer
Should the Agent wish to betray the Guild and hand the notes over to the Dark Brotherhood, they must head to the location specified in the Brotherhood's letter. Once there, the Agent will have to speak with the contact, who will have one of two "offers" to make:

Paying for Trouble
The first potential "offer" will be a sum of, equal to the offer made by the Guildmagister for taking on the quest. The contact will take the notes and hand over the, although this will effectively make the quest fail, for the Agent has no notes to turn in.

Deceiving the Guild
The other potential offer will see the Agent handed a smaller, but otherwise random amount of, as well as a false set of notes. These notes will allow the Agent to complete the quest for, as the contact states: "All research notes look alike anyhow." With the fake notes in hand, the Agent must return to the Guildmagister before the time limit expires.

Rewards
The Agent will receive a random amount of from the Guildmagister for their efforts, alongside the boost to their reputation within the Guild. The penalties for failing the quest are relatively high by comparison, but will also see gains among some anti-Mage Guild factions:

An additional reputation boost can be obtained by accepting the Dark Brotherhood offer:

Trivia

 * If the Agent has more than 10 reputation with the Dark Brotherhood then they will always receive the letter.
 * NPCs have a variety of comments to make relating to the quest when asked for any news:
 * Acceptance:
 * "Maybe that [scholar's name] is a celebrity to scholar types, but [he/she]'s just a [scholar's description]"
 * "It's an honor for [scholar's town] to host the renowned [scholar's name]'s visit to [region]."
 * Success:
 * "[Scholar's name]'s research will help the Mages Guild in a number of ways."
 * "The Necromancers didn't seem to get their hands on [scholar's name] ... or did they?"
 * Failure:
 * "The Necromancers will be the dominant magical power in Tamriel in a few years."
 * "The Mages Guild is unable to defend itself against the Necromancers."