Arniel's Endeavor

Background
This quest repeats four times. Speaking to Arniel Gane of The College of Winterhold will reveal he is working on a secret project and requires the Dragonborn's help.

Part One - Dwemer Cog
Arniel will first ask the Dragonborn to find 10 Dwemer Cogs. Initially, he will not tell you what he wants them for. This quest must be started either prior to receiving the Staff of Magnus quest, or after the Staff of Magnus quest is completed. After obtaining the cogs head back to Winterhold.


 * The Dwarven Storeroom outside Mzulft has 4 inside.
 * Mzulft itself, accessed in the quest Revealing the Unseen, has many more than 10 available. Some are available in containers or on tables, some can be looted from defeated automatons.


 * Dwemer Mueseum in Markarth (Understone Keep) has roughly 15. Just head right as soon as you enter the museum. There are 4 under a Novice case and another 10 just lying around.

Part Two - Warped Soul Gem
After turning in the Cogs to Arniel, the Dragonborn is told to speak with Enthir about delivering some purchased goods. After a discussion with Enthir, the player is tasked with finding a staff (the Staff of Tandil) at a random location (listed below), and returning it to Enthir as payment for a Warped Soul Gem that is "warped beyond the ability to capture a soul with. "

Known locations of the staff include:


 * Fellglow Keep
 * Ilinalta's Deep
 * Cragwallow Slope
 * Morvunskar
 * Greywater Gorge
 * Falkreath Watchtower (Crossroads)
 * Harmugstahl
 * Yngvild
 * Rannveig's Fast
 * Boulderfall Cave
 * Ansilvund
 * North Brittleshin Pass
 * Hob's Fall Cave
 * Southfringe Sanctum
 * Movarth's Lair
 * Sunderstone Gorge
 * House of Clan Battle-Born in Whiterun (Behind the locked door)
 * Harmugstahl

Part Three - Dwemer Convector
This part of the quest cannot be started until the quest The Eye of Magnus is complete.

Speaking to Arniel Gane again, the player learns that his project is going terribly. Arniel claims to have forgotten to take into account the heat gain and has consequently destroyed his only working model.

It is at this point that he reveals he is attempting to discover how the Dwemer disappeared "instantly, and completely" by recreating the event. The parts the Dragonborn helped recover were made into a Dwarven Convector, which broke during his last attempt to recreate the event. When asked if he wants to build another, he says that he would rather have the Dragonborn find the Convectors, scattered throughout Skyrim, made by the Dwarves themselves. Arniel Gane offers to teach the spell to heat the convectors. "Three seconds burn is all that is necessary," he says.

Arniel postulates that by doing this, the Dwemer may possibly be contacted again.

To complete this portion, three Convectors must be found and used on the Warped Soul Gem. Arniel teaches you Arniel's Convection which is considered a Novice Destruction spell. (Note, this is the only spell that will work to complete the objective.)

Dwemer Convectors are marked on the in-game map, but cannot be fast-traveled to.
 * Two North East of Markarth.
 * One just North of Deep Folk Crossing, just beyond the north gazebo and over the hill.
 * One due West and across the river from Druadach Redoubt.
 * Two near Mzulft.
 * One is in the Dwarven Store Room South of where you arrive when fast traveling to Mzulft.
 * The Second is inside Mzulft, in the first room after the hall on a table.
 * One West of Shor's Stone and North of Autumnshade Clearing
 * One South of Ivarstead
 * One at the Ruins of Bthalft

Upon completing this part of the quest and returning to Arniel, the Dragonborn is thanked and told that the final piece will be arriving soon.

Part Four - Keening
After leaving The College of Winterhold for a few days, and after the Dragonborn drops off the modified soul gem, conversing with Arniel Gane (it's possible to find him in Hall of Countenance) will reveal that once again Enthir is giving him trouble. When the player speaks with Enthir, however, he claims that this time it isn't actually his fault. He says he did not keep close tabs on this package because Arniel Gane set up the delivery himself. Enthir suggests the Dragonborn search for the courier, and directs the player to one of the following radiant locations:


 * Autumnshade Clearing
 * Broken Helm Hollow
 * Cragslane Cavern
 * Cragwallow Slope
 * Cronvangr Cave
 * Darklight Tower
 * Darkwater Pass
 * Faldar's Tooth
 * Gallows Rock
 * Lost Knife Hideout
 * Mara's Eye Den
 * Mistwatch
 * Morvunskar
 * Pinepeak Cavern
 * Tolvald's Cave
 * Treva's Watch
 * Uttering Hills Cave

Once the Dragonborn retrieves the package (which turns out to be the dagger Keening) return to the College and give it to Arniel Gane. He will briefly monologue about what he is attempting to do, and then proceed to hit the soul gem with the dagger. Eventually, there is an explosion of energy, and his body vanishes leaving the Dragonborn with a completed quest, Keening, and a Conjuration spell to summon Arniel's shade.

The Keening can fall through the floor and appear in the room below.

His shade may appear in the college like he is a normal NPC, he sleeps talks and walks around like a shade. This has been confirmed. (on PS3 and Xbox)

Bugs

 * In Part Two when attempting to hand in the staff, you may get a bug that leaves the staff in your inventory even after handing it over (Occasionally even when the staff is completely removed from your inventory this can still happen). You will be able to receive the warped soul gem, Arniel will thank you and say he has much to do. The quest will finish—but you won't receive the next part in the quest chain. In some cases, though, the quest chain will continue. It is unknown whether this is just one case or many as of yet. (the next quest starts after 'The Staff of Magnus' quest is finished.)
 * The above bug can occur with no consequences whatsoever, apart from the player left with the Staff of Tandil as a non quest item.
 * A bug occurs in Part Two where the Staff of Tandil does not appear where the quest marker indicates.
 * [Fix] Type "player.additem 0006a093 1" into the console to receive the staff. Then type "setstage MGRArniel02 30" into the console to advance the quest forward one stage to where you need to give the staff to Enthir. You can then proceed to give the staff to Enthir, and the rest of the quest will progress as if the bug never occurred.
 * A bug occurs if you put the staff on your weapon rack instead of giving it to Enthir. Even if you put it back in your inventory, you won't be able to continue the quest.
 *  PS3 In Part Three, there is a bug that causes the warped soul gem to not heat up when using the Arniel's Convection spell. Saving before starting part three of this quest is advised. [Fix] This console command will fix it: setstage MGRArniel03 20. This will allow you to heat the warped soul gem in any convector.
 * In Part Three, if you have duplicates of the warped soul gem, you can deposit the extras into a Dwemer Convector to remove the extras from your inventory. Keeping one is advised. Once you've deposited the extras and used the dwemer convectors, return to Arniel Gane to progress the quest. [ Fix] Using the console command to remove duplicate warped soul gems from your inventory until one is left should solve this: player.removeitem 0006a10a 1. If that ID code does not work, one of the following will: 0006a106 / 006a107 / 0006a108 / 006a109/ 0010e44b.
 * If you are stuck on the first convector you use in Part Three of this quest, constantly seeing the message to "place the gem in the final convector", this indicates that the quest is bugged. The only workaround is to keep trying until you encounter the duplicate soul gem bug. Even though you will still get the message to use the 'final' convector, you will be able to use a second convector and continue to a third. Try using very short bursts of Arniel's Convection when heating as opposed to constant flow as a possible solution when receiving the message to place the gem in the final convector after only performing the mission in the first convector. You should receive regular quest updates for second and third convectors - was done on Xbox 360. [Fix] After heating the soul gem in the first convector, try retrieving the soul gem by using the take all function instead of taking the soul gem as an individual item.
 * [360] [PC] When dual wielding the convection spell on the convector, the quest will glitch, saying to go to the final convector, rendering you unable to complete the quest.
 * There appears to be a bug in this quest that stalls progress in Part Four, if Keening has already been discovered and claimed from the courier's body. The quest marker will be attached to the courier's body, but will not acknowledge possession of the dagger, Keening.
 * [Fix] Use the console command to jump ahead in the quest to where you have looted the courier's body (you must have Keening on you): setstage MGRArniel04 30.
 * Equip the dagger, then place it in a weapon rack. Taking the item from the weapon rack should trigger the progression of the quest.
 * After retrieving Keening and returning to the College of Winterhold, the door to the Hall of Elements from the main courtyard becomes stuck ajar so that entering the main building of the College through it is impossible. You must head to the balcony level either via the Hall of Contenance or the Hall of Attainment and enter one of the doors to the Arcaneum to reach the Hall of Elements.
 * [Fix] The bug fixes itself after a few in-game days.
 * Arniel will be found outside of the college, on the snowbank close to the river. After delivering the dagger, he will attempt to start his experiment but nothing will happen. Using Unrelenting force to push him from where he is standing (down towards the water) should enable him to walk back to the College. Waiting a few hours will not stop his course. It is best to do this before you give him the dagger so he is in the right spot for the end of the quest.
 * There is a rare bug where after completing the quest and Arniel disappears, none of the quest reward items were left behind. He advises you to step back, but ignore him, and stand beside the crystal. This seemed to work for some. Keening may be found in the room directly below, since it sometimes drops through the floor.
 * It is possible that you wont receive the Keening, but you still receive the Summon Arniel's Shade spell.
 * Sometimes, after he explains his experiment, he wont equip Keening and he'll strike the soul gem with his normal weapon. (for the second strike, he also misses with his hammer and hits the wall behind the gem)
 *  The final objective in part three, "Deliver the soul gem to Arniel", is not properly set as completed by the game. This does not seem to affect game play.
 * Arniel will hit the warped soul gem with his axe, not Keening. However, he will stil dissapear as though he had used Keening, the difference is purely visual.