The Stuck Lock

The Stuck Lock is a Mages Guild quest available during the events of. The Agent is sent to open old chest with a magical lock, bought by a Merchant in town.

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.
 * Enter the Pawn shop and speak with the Merchant.
 * Cast the open spell on the chest.
 * Defeat the surprise.
 * Speak with the Merchant.
 * Return to the Guildmagister before the time limit expires.

Walkthrough
When seeking to complete some work for the Mages Guild, the Agent will be offered a seemingly simple task by one of the Guildmagisters. A local Merchant has just bought an antique chest, but has been unable to open it, even with assistance from the town's locksmiths. The Guildmagister suspects that the chest is one of a number of "trick boxes", which can be only be opened using an open spell.

A Trick in a Box
The Agent will be sent to the Merchant's shop, a pawn shop located in the same town as the Guildhall. Speaking with the merchant will cause them to hand the Agent the box, which will go into the Agent's inventory. The Agent may now cast the open spell via an item or using their own magicka, and prepare for one of four surprises to emerge from the box:

An Impish Annoyance
Upon casting the open spell an imp will appear, along with a notification including the imp's message:

"Happy birthday, [old mage] you old fart!"

- A Surprise imp

The Agent must kill the imp and speak with the Merchant, before heading back to the Guildmagister within the time limit.

The Cursed Wand
After the spell has finished casting a wand will be added to the Agent's inventory, as well as a message from the box's creator:

"To [old mage] on your 110th birthday. Use me for a preview of your 120th birthday!"

- An old Wand

Using the wand will cause a skeletal warrior to appear, which will instantly attack the Agent. The Agent must therefore destroy the skeleton and speak with the Merchant, and then return to the Guildmagister before the time limit expires.

Of Mice and Bats
After the casting of the the open spell, a notification appears, containing the details of a card left by the creator of the box. Along with it come a trio of rats aided by a pair of bats, which must be dealt with before the Agent can speak with the Merchant. After those tasks have been completed the Agent can return to the Guildmagister.

The Non-Surprise Surprise
Upon opening the box a notification appears, stating that there is confetti, but nothing else within the box. With nothing else to do, the Agent may speak with the Merchant before heading back to the Guildmagister to complete the quest.

Rewards
If the box contained the wand the Agent will get to keep it. Otherwise, there will be no material reward for successfully completing the quest, although the Agent will receive the usual 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:

Trivia

 * This quest was only originally available with the CompUSA Special Edition version of
 * This quest will not be available in any town that does not contain a pawn shop.
 * NPCs have a variety of comments to make referencing the quest if asked for any news:
 * Acceptance: "Did you hear about [merchant's name]? [He/She] bought an old chest and now [he/she] can't open it. What a hoot!"
 * Success: "[Merchant's name] got the Mages Guild to open [his/her] trick box, and it turned out to be empty! At least that's what I heard."
 * Failure: "[Merchant's name] finally gave up on his magic box and sold it to someone else."
 * The time limit for the quest is an unspecified two days.