Oblivion:Secrets of the Ayleids

Umbacano wants you to try to buy the Crown of Nenalata from a rival collector. Quest Giver: Umbacano in The Imperial City Location(s): Imperial City, Talos Plaza District, Elven Gardens District, Nenalata, Lindai Prerequisite Quest: Nothing You Can Possess Reward: 1000 gold; Ayleid Crown of Nenalata and/or Ayleid Crown of Lindai ID: MS27

The throne room of Nenalata

Quick Walkthrough

WARNING: It is recommended that you find and sell all ten Ayleid statues to Umbacano before Stage 60 of this quest. After this point, The Collector cannot be completed successfully.

1. After you return with the carving from the High Fane, Umbacano will give you the next assignment.
2. Receive 1000 gold towards "persuading" a rival collector to hand over the crown of the last king of the Ayleids.
3. Proceed to Herminia Cinna's home, and choose whether to steal her crown or retrieve another one.
4. Either way, return to Umbacano with your findings, and he will instruct you to act as his bodyguard at Nenalata.
5. Depending on your actions, you will kill Umbacano and his summoned creatures. After the brawl (or fleeing), make your way out of Nenalata.

Detailed Walkthrough

Rival Collector

This quest is obtained from Umbacano after returning the carving from the High Fane to him in the Nothing You Can Possess quest. Umbacano tells you that this is a bit different from what he's had you doing before, but still thinks you might succeed where others have failed. A rival collector of Ayleid artifacts has obtained the crown of the last king of the Ayleids, and Umbacano wishes to own it. The collector, Herminia Cinna, refuses to sell it to Umbacano, and he is hoping you can convince her to sell it to you. He gives you 1000 septims to purchase the crown, and tells you that you can keep whatever you do not spend; possibly encouraging you to steal it.

The Two Crowns

Go find Herminia Cinna; she lives in the Elven Gardens District. Upon talking to her, you will find that she refuses to sell you the crown. However, she does offer you an alternative. Herminia thinks that Umbacano has an ulterior motive in obtaining the crown. It has some minor magical powers of its own, but she believes it also has control of some other magic that he wishes to possess, and she believes it is for the best if he does not acquire it.

Herminia explains that the Ayleid society was not a unified nation, but rather was composed of individual city states. Nenalata was known as the last kingdom simply because it lasted a few hundred years longer than the others, and Herminia thinks that if you brought Umbacano the crown of another Ayleid king, he wouldn't be able to tell them apart. She has already thought about the matter, and wishes you to obtain the royal crown of Lindai. She gives the key to the royal tomb of Lindai and shows you that it is located a bit east of Chorrol.

You are now given a choice: steal the crown of Nenalata from Herminia's house, or retrieve the crown of Lindai from the ruins.

Steal the crown of Nenalata

Break into Herminia's house, make your way up to her bedroom, and you'll find the crown in an Ayleid cask. You can either pick the lock on the Ayleid cask (Hard lock) or pick the lock on her desk (also a Hard lock) to obtain the key to the Ayleid cask. For spellcasters, there is no difference between the two Hard locks; for lockpickers, the desk is the easier of the two. You may also pickpocket Hermina's house key; it opens the desk, as well as the house. Once you give Umbacano the crown, he will ask you to guard him as he explores the ruins of Nenalata.

Pursuing this option will net you better loot, as you can obtain and keep both crowns, but you will not get the ruined crown of Lindai (which can be used to level up your Armorer skill). When you reacquire the Nenalata crown later, it will no longer be tagged as stolen. The crown of Lindai can be retrieved whenever you feel like it, provided that you get the key from Herminia first, rather than just stealing the crown of Nenalata without ever talking to her. You can speak with her and get the key before or after stealing the crown. If you speak to her after stealing it, she will tell you that it is gone and mildly imply that you might have had something to do with the theft. However, raising her disposition above 70, she will still explain about the Lindai crown and give you the key.

Acquire the crown of Lindai

Travel to the ruins of Lindai and delve deep into the ruins. Eventually, you'll find the crown near the end of the tombs. The crown itself is light armor with a few useful magical abilities. Return to the Imperial City and give the crown to Umbacano. He'll comment that the markings aren't quite as one of his reference books describes, but he mistakes it for the real artifact anyway. He now has one more task for you, which is the same as the end of the first option: travel to the ruins of Nenalata and act as his bodyguard.

The Last City of the Ayleids

Nenalata is located where the Silverfish River meets Niben Bay; a map marker will be added to your map. Even if three days haven't passed, you should find Umbacano waiting outside along with his other bodyguard, your old friend Claude Maric, if he still lives. If you speak to Claude, he says that he doesn't bear you any ill will and hopes that you hold no hard feelings, either; the incident was just business.

Nenalata is populated with particularly powerful enemies for your level, so it may be a good idea to do the fighting yourself, especially at higher levels, or aided solely by Claude Maric. This is chiefly to keep Umbacano from dying, which ends the quest. Simply clear out the dungeon before leading him in or tell him to wait in a safe room before you and Claude fight the enemies.

Umbacano asks you to escort him to the throne room, so make your way through the three levels of the ruin, fighting the undead inhabitants. Once you arrive at the final chamber of the last zone, Umbacano will place the carving that you recovered from the High Fane; this will open a secret passage to the throne room. He will then walk up to the throne, talking about how now he can begin to reclaim his ancient birthright, then sit on it and recite a few words of power in the elven tongue. From this point, the outcome will vary depending upon which path you took.

The King of Nenalata

The King of Nenalata

If he wears the true crown, Umbacano transforms into the King of Nenalata and will become hostile. In addition, six secret passages will raise from the sides of the room and more undead will be released. Umbacano will also attack you, using his staff or one of his range of shock spells. Kill him and the undead, loot his corpse, and exit the ruins through the side passageway that opens up in throne room.

A Tragic Fatality

If he wears the crown of Lindai, the Dark Welkynd stones lining the room will kill Umbacano and destroy the crown of their hated rival. Several secret doors will open, allowing undead to enter the room and attack you. Fleeing here is a real option, even if you have Claude to help you out, especially at higher levels. You cannot run back out the way you came in, so you will have to go up the stairs for the exit. (The staircase is all the way to the north, through the northern room which contained some of the undead--to the left of the throne as you face it.)

Once the undead are defeated, loot them, Umbacano, and Claude Maric, if he died. Your old employer is still wearing the crown, now destroyed and not repairable, and has the keys to his house and some level-dependent equipment. Claude also has the usual range of level-dependent equipment. Retrieve what you wish and then leave the ruin.

Notes

• If you turn Umbacano's inital offer down twice, he will find someone else to do his dirty work, which results in Herminia being killed and removed from the game. If you speak to him again, he will still ask you to escort him to Nenalata.
• If Herminia Cinna dies in any other way, the quest marker will still lead you to her corpse. Remove her house key from her body and continue the quest as normal. This is quite likely to happen in the wilderness, as Herminia is a traveling NPC. However, her corpse is permanent so she will not despawn.
• The incantation chanted by Umbacano to gain entry to the throne chamber is Av Auri-El ye Tamri-El dellevoy an Arpen Aran tarnabye!, which translates roughly as By Auriel and Tamriel grant the noble King passage! When he ascends the throne, he proclaims Av Sunna Tam Riel arctavoy an Arpen Aran malaburo!, which means By blessed Tamriel acknowledge the Noble King [in your] loving-vassalage but was given the official annoted translation Upon this bright crown acknowledge [the] Noble [ie, True] King loving-vassalage.
• Herminia Cinna's cask appears only after Umbacano hires you (Journal Entry 10) so you cannot steal the crown beforehand.
• Part of the effect of becoming the King of Nenalata is to turn Umbacano into a Stage 4 vampire, which means he will use the same combat dialogue as a regular vampire.
• If Claude Maric survives the attack at the end, he will return to his horse outside the ruins and start making his way back to the Roxey Inn.
• The crown of Lindai will respawn after a few days. So you can give the crown to Umbacano (to get the ruined crown for its armorer benefit) and later get the normal crown (for its 35% resist magic enchantment).
• Killing Umbacano after he transforms into the King of Nenalata will be counted as murder, even though he turns hostile.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch fixes this bug.

Bugs

• If Umbacano dies before he has a chance to use the carving from the High Fane, and you take it from his body, it will be tagged as a quest item and you'll be unable to drop it, despite the fact that it's useless now.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch fixes this bug.
• Sometimes Claude doesn't follow you into the ruins and remains on his horse outside. When you leave, he will be there waiting to hear about Umbacano's unfortunate fate. Then, unless attacked, he will ride off into the sunset. ^?
• If you kill Umbacano before he transforms fully into the King and then take the Staff of Nenalata or the Crown of Nenalata you will be unable to equip them and they may be counted as quest items. To remove the quest item status, place the items back on Umbacano's body then take them again. To clear the unequippable status, drop them to the ground and then pick them up again.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch fixes this bug.
  • If unable to place items back on Umbacano's body or drop them, leave Nenalata and the quest journal should update to finished status (does not alert you on screen). Re-enter Nenalata and travel back to Umbacano's corpse (shortcut will still be open). The Crown(s) and staff should now have the ability to be placed on Umbacano's body and dropped, thus removing quest and unequippable status.
• Claude also carries a High Fane Key, which, when picked up from his corpse, counts as a quest item.
  • The Unofficial Oblivion Patch, version 1.3.0, fixes this bug.

Journal Entries

Secrets of the Ayleids (MS27)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
5
10		Umbacano has hired me to obtain an Ayleid Crown he wants from Herminia Cinna, a rival collector. He paid me in advance; whatever I do not use to purchase the crown I can keep as my fee.
15		Umbacano hired me to retrieve the Crown of the Ayleids from Herminia Cinna, a rival collector. By chance, I had already stolen the crown, and was able to deliver it immediately, to Umbacano's great surprise.
20		Herminia Cinna refused to sell me the Crown of Nenalata that Umbacano wants. She hinted that it can be used to access potent magical powers that would dangerous in the wrong hands. then Herminia Cinna gave me the key to the royal burial vault of Lindai, which she believes holds a similar Ayleid Crown. She suggested that Umbacano would not know the difference between the Crown of Lindai and the Crown of Nenalata, since he has never seen either one. then I need to bring Umbacano one of the Ayleid Crowns, either by stealing the Crown of Nenalata from Herminia Cinna, or by recovering the Crown of Lindai as Herminia Cinna suggested. then
30		I have retrieved the Ayleid Crown from Herminia Cinna's house. Now to deliver it to Umbacano.
35		I have found the Ayleid Crown of Lindai, just as Herminia Cinna said. Now to return to Umbacano to complete my task.
50		I gave Umbacano the Ayleid Crown of Nenalata, as he requested.
55		I gave Umbacano the Ayleid Crown of Lindai, as Herminia Cinna suggested. He did not appear to be aware that it was not the Ayleid Crown that he had asked me to retrieve.
60		Umbacano has asked me to meet him at the Ayleid ruin of Nenalata. He wants me to help him reach the throne room so that he can complete his research on the last king of the Ayleids.
70		I met Umbacano outside the ruins of Nenalata. I need to guide him safely to the throne room.
80
84		Umbacano is dead. The only thing left to do is try to escape this death trap!
85		(Umbacano puts on the crown)
86		(Umbacano transforms into King of Nenalata)
89		Umbacano died during the expedition to Nenalata. I failed in my duty to protect him. Now I will never know what secrets are hidden in the Throne Room of Nenalata.
90		Umbacano was transformed into an evil Ayleid King in the throne room of Nenalata. I must escape from this death trap!
95		Umbacano was horribly destroyed in Nenalata when he declared himself King of the Ayleids using the crown of the rival city of Lindai. Now to escape the wrath of the undead denizens of Nenalata!
100	Yes

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.
• It is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage MS27 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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