Hitting the Books

Overview

 * Prerequisite: Under Saarthal
 * Quest Giver: Urag Gro-Shub
 * Rewards:
 * 2920, vol 09 - Hearth Fire
 * Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
 * Daughter of the Niben
 * Racial Phylogeny
 * Response to Bero's Speech
 * The Black Arts On Trial

Arcanaeum
Seek out Urag Gro-Shub sitting at his desk inside the The Arcanaeum. Gro-Shub will tell you the books you need for your current dilemma were recently stolen by an apprentice by the name of Orthorn, who took the books and ran off to the Fellglow Keep to join up with a group of mages who left the College. He suggests you "speak" with Orthorn about the books.

Fortress
The Fortress grounds are guarded by at least three mages. Once dispatched, you will find the main entrance barricaded from the other side. There is, however, an entry point to the north to the dungeons. Once inside the dungeons, follow the path and dispatch the guarding mages until you reach...

Walk along the dark corridors to the second large room along. In the room there is an ice mage and some frost-bite spiders. Run up the stairs and kill the novices of the arcane arts. Follow the path south and kill the next magician. There are Traps in this area, not necessarily on the ground, that will shoot arrows from the walls.

Bend to the north / northeast and you will find a prison. To make it easier, you can release the Vampires from their cages, using the levers against the wall. They will ignore you and attack the enemy mages. Now, let the prisoners do the work, and follow them.

Run to the east, following the narrow passage and climb the stone stairs. In the next room you should try to kill the mage quickly; if you do not, the wolves will be released from their cages. You will now find the prisoner, Orthorn, in a cage. To free him, use the middle of the three levers. Speak to him in connection to the books and to find out where they are located - he says the stormcaller has them. After this conversation, you have the opportunity to have Orthorn as a temporary follower (for the remainder of quest).


 * Note: it makes it easier if Orthorn isn't killed, as the final battle is quite challenging without him.

Now follow the corridor in the north / northeast, and down the stairs. There are three other magicians practicing their skills. You can use sneak here very effectively. Otherwise, the best defense is attack.

Now follow the next steps to the north. At the top, there is a Necromancer or two and some skeletons. Directly engage the Necromancer(s), as the summoned undead will disappear with his/her death. At the end of the corridor is a Raise Zombie spell tome, in the sarcophagus. To the left is a handle, which you can use to enter the innermost sanctum of the fort.

In the next area, there are two mages; a fire-based Novice Conjurer, and an Apprentice Storm Mage. Should you be traveling alone. You should focus on one opponent and use cover to heal. If you are traveling with Orthorn, attack whomever he chooses. After the battle, scour the room for bits of treasure. Upon the pedestal, directly across from the entrance you arrived in, there sits the book "The Doors of Oblivion". Through the door to the east a Novice Necromancer lies in wait. As you continue your journey through the passageway to the north, you will find a Flame Atronach in the common room of the first floor, as well as an Apprentice Ice Mage with a Staff of Flames. The bottom floor also has a room where a Novice Storm Mage and Novice Necromancer are resting. In the room in the east it is just another mage, and nothing else really interesting. Continue up the stairs to the south.

In the room to the right, you'll find a bench and an Arcane Enchanter. There is also an Alchemy lab to the right of the door. On the desk next to the alchemy lab, you'll see an "unusual gem". To the left, there are two mages. Continue on further up the hallway and stairs. There are two bedrooms nearby. A little further down the hallway is a locked door. Inside is the shrine of Julianos, which increases your Magicka by 25 points temporarily.

The Caller
Now comes the grand staircase, west / northwest, to the top. There is one more mage that you have to fight, and he has the keys to the ritual chamber. You will encounter The Caller in the ritual chamber, and if you have Orthorn with you are given a choice. Either you fight against the sorceress or come to an arrangement with her. If Orthorn is not with you, she will tell you that you have nothing to offer her.


 * Arrangement: In the course of the conversation she offers to trade, requiring a team as a replacement for the mages and the books. She responds and waits. Talk to the witch again, to complete the bargain. Grab the three books and leave the place. You have to do this immediately, since opening the exit door after leaving is not possible.


 * Fight: Should you decide to fight her, she summons two Atronachs (the type is level dependent), which appear in the rooms behind her. She uses primarily frost and lightning magic. It is best to focus on her, as the Fire Atronach should despawn after killing her.
 * Persuade: She can be persuaded to not fight and you can just leave after collecting the books. After which she can be easily backstabbed.
 * If you have a high enough stealth level (about 65) and you're in sneak when you go through the door she will speak to you; exit out of the conversation and she wont see you. You can easily back stab her or just fire an arrow and kill her. Just grab the books and leave.

Tip: If you have the shout, you can use the cry of "Whirlwind Sprint" to immediately close with the caller and with two or three good hits finish the fight immediately.

Once the final battle is completed, you can safely take the three books (located on pedastals), and the Fellglow Keep Key, looted from The Caller. The door is directly behind the middle pedastal. Once through the door, you can take the trap door exit and proceed back to Skyrim.

Once you return to the The College of Winterhold, speak with Urag gro-Shub to return the books. He will then offer you the quest Good Intentions.

Bugs

 * Occasionally, you will be unable to trade with merchants while this quest is active. You can work around the issue by deactivating the quest in your quest log when you need to trade.
 * Sometimes the center pillar book will not show up or will get propelled to the ceiling.
 * Backstabbing The Caller with a poison of paralysis may glitch her due to her teleportation. She appears stuck on the ground, but you can kill her just the same.
 * With the Decapitate perk I was able to cut her head off during a teleportaion, she did not die but was missing her head. Another time, killed her during a teleport and she turned up without her robes on but were still in the inventory. (Xbox 360)
 * There is a bug upon entering the room with The Caller, sometimes Orthorn will not enter the room, and actually walks back through the entire dungeon.
 * There is also a bug during the conversation with the caller, if you (Persuade) or ask to 'leave', then Orthorn will say "how could you leave me here?", and he won't open the final dialogue. This can be avoided by immediately closing the dialogue with The Caller and attacking her; then you must re-enter the room until Orthorn appears. (PC)
 * There might be a bug so even if you just decide to take the books and leave without a fight, the door will not unlock.
 * If you accept the agreement, but kill The Caller, may happen that the book on the pillar in the right room can't be taken. There is no way to solve this problem.(PC: you could fix this by quicksaving ang reloading the game, note the book would be on the ground) [Note: Doesn't happen in PS3 if persuaded and killed]
 * After killing The Caller, one of the books may not be there. Reload from the autosave and get the books after the dialog but before killing The Caller.
 * If you open Orthorn's cell with the key, he will act as if he is still imprisoned and will not follow you (does not show up in his dialogue).
 * If loading your last save does not remedy the problem of taking the books and all you can do is read them. Repeatedly press your action button and it should pick them up.