Out of Balance

Walkthrough
Ask Drevis Neloren about College business that you can help with, and he tells you that the various points of focus for magic energies around the College have become polluted. Agree to help with their cleansing, and he hands you a special pair of enchanted gloves that allow you to delve into these focal points. For this quest he will give you the Mystic Tuning Gloves, which will be removed from your inventory once the quest is finished.

The Mystic Focal Points are the pillars of light with a strange blue glow that were visible before taking the quest. There is one in the courtyard’s center in front of the mage statue, one in the middle of the Hall of Attainment, and one in the middle of the Hall of Countenance. Just approach the beam of light wearing the gloves, and cleanse them.

After each one is purified, you will receive a random empty Soul Gem, a magic boosting buff, or a minor harmful discharge. Return to Drevis Neloren when you are done to complete the quest and have the gloves removed.

Bugs

 * When cleaning the Focals, a bugged two-hour buff may be placed on you that increases magicka regeneration immensely. It is possible to get multiples of this buff during the quest. In the active effects category, it appears as "Fortify Magicka." Selecting it reveals it as "Drain Magicka, +25 Fortify Magicka for 2 hours." It doesn't appear to increase magicka capacity at all (as listed on the skills screen), but increases magicka regeneration rate instead. In this case, the buff(s) may be removed by opening the character editor with the "showracemenu" console command (on PC) and closing it again. This will also remove other temporary buffs, such as blessings.