Oblivion:Arrow of Extrication

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This article is about the quest. For the item, see Arrow of Extrication (quest item).

 
OB-qico-ThievesGuild.png
 Steal an arrow for the Gray Fox.
Quest Giver: Amusei in The Imperial City
Location(s): Imperial City, Chorrol, Bravil, Fathis Aren's Tower
Prerequisite Quest: Turning a Blind Eye, 700 gold fenced
Next Quest: Boots of Springheel Jak
Reward: 500 gold, promotion to Master Thief, access to new fence, Fathis Ules
Fame/Infamy: Infamy +2
ID: TG09Arrow
 
Fathis Aren at work in his tower

Quick Walkthrough[edit]

  1. Wait for Amusei to find you, usually in the Imperial City.
  2. Go to the house of Malintus Ancrus in Chorrol and meet with the Gray Fox.
  3. Go to Bravil and talk to the beggars for information on Fathis Aren.
  4. Find and traverse the hidden passage from Fathis' room to his tower.
  5. Enter Fathis Aren's tower and steal the Arrow of Extrication.
  6. Go back to Ancrus' house in Chorrol and give the arrowhead to The Gray Fox.

Detailed Walkthrough[edit]

Orders[edit]

After you have fenced 700 gold and have completed the previous quest, Turning a Blind Eye, go to the Imperial City and wait for orders from the Gray Fox. Amusei should arrive shortly, and will give you orders to go to the house of Malintus Ancrus in Chorrol. You meet the Gray Fox once more, and he will tell you that you need to steal the Arrow of Extrication from the Court Wizard of Bravil, Fathis Aren. Once in Bravil, pay a beggar who tells you about Fathis Aren. You find out that Fathis keeps his most treasured items in a ruined tower outside of town. There may also be a secret passage from the castle to this tower.

The Castle[edit]

Head to the Castle in Bravil. Fathis' room is in the North Wing of the Castle. Getting into the North Wing might be tricky if you don't time it right, so wait until early morning when the guards change shifts, around 7:30am, to pick the lock and enter. Enter the chamber and look for the Arrow. More specifically, you only need to check the two chests that are to your left as you enter. Unfortunately, the arrow is not in either. You will then get a journal entry telling you to look for a secret passageway. One of the two pillars on the alcove straight across from the entrance of Fathis' room is the lever that opens up the secret passage to Bravil Wizard's Grotto. If you are in the Mages Guild, note that you can get kicked out for stealing items in this room.

Passage to the Tower[edit]

Bravil Wizard's Grotto and the subsequent Bravil Wizard's Lair are unusual dungeons, where you will encounter Conjurers, Dremora, and possibly Daedric creatures. There are several locked chests worth opening, and useful alchemical ingredients can be found in many places. Moving through the dungeon will also require unlocking some gates and doors, so bring your lockpicks.

As you explore, you will eventually find a door that says it needs a key to be unlocked. The only key to open this door is Aren's Strange Key, which is carried by Fathis Aren; you may pickpocket this key from him ahead of time if you wish. If you don't have the Strange Key, you will need to take the underwater passage found in the tunnel system. The underwater tunnel is quite deep, and traversing to the bottom will reveal the unique Giant Slaughterfish boss and a door leading out to the bottom of Niben Bay. However, the tunnel to the next zone is only partway down the cavern, and it is quite tricky to find. Of course, water breathing spells/potions will be helpful in navigating this area. For more information on these zones, see the place page.

Fathis Aren's Tower[edit]

In order to get out of the fort area, you need to take the arrowhead and Fathis' key from his chest, which is located in the same room as his lab is set up. The chest is unowned, so taking anything from it does not count as stealing. Most other things in the tower are marked as Fathis' property, however, and he will not be happy if you take them. To make matters more complicated, if he sees you, unless your disposition with him is 95 or higher, he will likely attack you on sight. If his disposition is higher than 95, you can easily walk past him to access the quest-related chest. Members of the Mages Guild need to be particularly careful not to be caught, as they will be expelled from the guild if they are. Higher ranked mages are likely to have an easier time taking the arrow since their allegiance with the Mages Guild will raise Fathis' disposition. Finally, if you kill Fathis during this stage, you will not incur the blood price, but you will get kicked out of the Mages Guild.

Afterwards, make your way outside using the main door and return to the Gray Fox who will reward you with 500 gold and promote you to Master Thief. He will also tell you that you can now use Fathis Ules, the best fence in the guild, as your fence. Unfortunately, due to a bug, Fathis will not offer his services after completing the quest Sins of the Father, even if you returned the Honorblade of Chorrol to him. However, you can still invest in Fathis Ules as long as you are an Expert in Mercantile.

Blood Price[edit]

Killing any of the following NPCs while this quest is active will require you to pay a blood price to Armand:

Notes[edit]

  • Amusei will not seek you out and initiate the quest if you are in jail or in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.
  • On Xbox An achievement will be unlocked upon being promoted to Master Thief.
  • Fathis will always be at the alchemy station in his tower during the later parts of this quest; he will never eat, sleep or wander at any time, no matter how much time passes. He only breaks this schedule if you engage him in combat.
  • You can sometimes find Fathis on the road just west of Bravil as he is out travelling.}[verification needed — not part of his AI schedule?] You may, at this point, kill him or pickpocket his Tower Key from him, and walk in through the front door of his tower. Note that killing him at this point will require you to pay the blood price, and he may be hostile towards you if you become detected depending on his disposition.

Bugs[edit]

  • If you accidentally triggered a serious bug earlier in the game, sometimes Amusei won't arrive as fast as he was intended to. See this section for possible workarounds.
  • Sometimes the Gray Fox won't appear at Malintus Ancrus's house. Malintus Ancrus will tell you not to keep the Gray Fox waiting but he will never show up. What you need to do instead is go to Helvius Cecia's house in Bruma which is where he met with you for the Turning a Blind Eye quest. After you've gotten the arrow the Gray Fox will still be in Bruma.
  • Some doors in this dungeon cannot be opened with target alteration spells (they go straight through the door). Bring lockpicks.
  • The secret door in Fathis Aren's castle room sometimes doesn't open after manipulating the lever (though the sound effect of an opening door plays), preventing you from entering the passageway. ?
    • On PC You can fix this with the console command tcl (toggle collision) to enable you to pass through the wall.
  • If you triggered the Gray Fox quests prematurely (for example, because of the Temple of the Ancestor Moths glitch), make sure to finish all of the other Thieves guild rank advancement quests before you complete the Arrow of Extrication quest. If not, the other quests will reset your guild rank and trigger a serious bug during the Ultimate Heist.
  • Sometimes Malintus Ancrus will not be standing outside his house when you return to Chorrol with the arrowhead.
    • If this happens, go inside and talk to Malintus before speaking with the Gray Fox, otherwise the Independent Thievery quest will not update and you will not be able to start the next quest.
    • Alternatively, you can fence your amount up to the next benchmark or attack the Gray Fox and make him follow you out of Malintus Ancrus' house. This seems to fix the journal.
    • Another option is to wait until the early morning, then enter the house. If Malintus is asleep, talk to the Gray Fox and complete the quest. Exit the house, and when the door icon turns red, reenter. Malintus should light a torch and approach you. Quickly exit again, and Malintus should exit the house and your journal will update. If he does not appear after a few seconds, reenter and instantly exit again.
  • Fast traveling from within the tower after having been detected by Fathis can result in him continuing to chase you. This can cause the guards to run off after his summoned creatures and prevent further fast traveling as the game considers you to be in combat. ?
  • If the beggars in Bravil die before you start this quest, the map markers will still direct you to where their bodies last were, even if the bodies have disappeared.
  • The dialogue options allowing you to pay a blood price to Armand does not appear, making the quest unfinishable in some circumstances, since S'Krivva won't allow you to pay the price either. However, depending on console patches, after completing the quest and finally visiting the Gray Fox to submit the arrow head, he may chastise you for killing during the quest and offer an opportunity to then pay the blood price, thus bypassing the bug.
    • On PC The following console commands can be used to advance: SetStage TG09Arrow 39, SetStage TG09BloodPrice 95 and Set TG09Arrow.TotalDead to 0.

Journal Entries[edit]

Arrow of Extrication (TG09Arrow)
Stage Finishes Quest Journal Entry
10 Amusei sought me out and delivered a message from the Gray Fox. I am to meet him at the home of Malintus Ancrus in Chorrol. He has another task for me. It seems Amusei has finally straightened up and joined the Thieves Guild. He is even trusted enough to deliver messages for the Gray Fox.
20 The Gray Fox will pay me 500 gold coins to steal the Arrow of Extrication. It was recently recovered by Bravil's court wizard, Fathis Aren. There will be no bloodprice for killing Fathis, so long as he doesn't die in the castle. I should start my search in Bravil.
22 (Removes the Gray Fox from Malintus Ancrus's House in Chorrol)
25 A beggar in Bravil told me that Fathis Aren has claimed the ruined tower southeast of the city for himself. The door to the tower is impenetrable, but rumor has it that Fathis uses a secret passage from inside the castle to get to it.
26 I found Fathis Aren's rooms in Castle Bravil. Now to locate the Arrow of Extrication.
27 I've searched both chests in Fathis Aren's room. Neither had the Arrow of Extrication. I'm beginning to think it isn't here. This room doesn't seem to have enough wizardly stuff for a wizard of Fathis stature. I wonder if there is a secret chamber where he keeps his more valuable treasures?
28 I didn't find the Arrow of Extrication in his room. I should explore this secret passage though. It would be very much like a wizard to hide his valuables in some dark hole filled with monsters.
30 I found a key shaped arrow head, but not the whole arrow. This must be what the Gray Fox is looking for, or at least as close as I am going to get. I should take it to him.
39 The Gray Fox accepted the key shaped arrow head. Apparently it is all that remains of the Arrow of Extrication. He is going to try and get it reforged.
40 Finishes quest☑ The Gray Fox accepted the key shaped arrow head. Apparently it is all that remains of the Arrow of Extrication. He is going to try and get it reforged. He thanked me for my efforts and promoted me to Master Thief in the Thieves Guild.
50 Finishes quest☑ (Removes the Gray Fox from Malintus Ancrus's House in Chorrol)
Blood Price (TG09BloodPrice)
90 I've killed someone while attempting to get the Arrow of Extrication. Murder is against the Thieves Guild code. I'll have pay the blood price for it of 1000 gold coins per person killed. I can pay Armand.
91 The Gray Fox has recinded [sic] my Thieves Guild membership because I committed murder while obtaining the Arrow of Extrication. I can get back in if I pay the blood price. I can pay Armand.
95 Finishes quest☑ The bloodprice has been accepted. I am back in the Thieves Guild. My promotion ot [sic] MasterThief is now final as well. I finally got paid for the theft of the Arrow of Extrication.
Notes
  • Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
  • Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in random order.
  • If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
  • On PC It is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage TG09Arrow stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages. See SetStage for more information.
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