Skyrim:Nurelion

Nurelion (RefID: 0001B115)
Home City	Windhelm
Store	The White Phial
Race	High Elf	Gender	Male
Level	1	Class	Fire/Frost/Shock Mage
RefID	0001B115	BaseID	00014148
Merchant
Gold	500 (+500 Investor; +1000 Master Trader)
Sells	See The White Phial
Buys	Apothecary (Animal Parts, Food, Ingredients, Poisons, Potions, Raw Food, Recipes)
Other Information
Health	50	Magicka	50
Stamina	50
Primary Skills	Illusion
Class Details	CombatMageElemental
Morality	No Crime	Aggression	Unaggressive
Voice Type	MaleOldGrumpy
Faction(s)	CrimeFactionEastmarch; TownWindhelmFaction; White Phial Services

Nurelion

Nurelion is an aging High Elf mage who runs The White Phial in Windhelm, an alchemy shop named after a legendary artifact he's spent most of his life trying to find. Now that he's finally learned of its location, a recent illness is preventing him from getting it, granting you the opportunity to retrieve the White Phial for him.

Known for his short temper and disrespectful remarks, his assistant Quintus Navale has to put up with Nurelion's behavior every day, but considers it an honor to work for the brilliant alchemist. If he dies, Quintus will take over the shop.

Nurelion wears a set of merchant clothes along with a pair of boots. He wields an iron dagger and carries the key to the store along with a selection of common items and gold. His schedule is bugged, so he only offers his services from 8am to 8pm and eats for the rest of the time.

Related Quests

• The White Phial: Retrieve a legendary artifact to fulfill an old alchemist's wish in Windhelm.
• Repairing the Phial: Acquire the materials necessary to repair the White Phial.
• Further Study^CC: Collect a fish to help an alchemist experiment with potions. (radiant)

Dialogue

He usually greets you with:

"Alchemy is simple. Unless, of course, you are simple. Then I can't help you."

"Must you bother me now? I've almost figured out where it is."

"I don't appreciate loiterers, if that's what you're here to do."

"I hope you have coin to spend, and you're not just here to gawk at my goods."

When you leave the conversation during his services:

"I hope to see you again soon."

Outside his services:

"If you have need of tonics or potions, come see me at my shop."

When you talk to him about making an investment in his business, he'll tell you:

I'd like to make an investment in your business.

"Ah yes, good idea. Best to let a professional businessman handle that money for you."

Let's see what you can do with this. (500 gold)

"A wise choice, my friend. After all, what would a common adventurer know about the complexities of finance?"

On second thought, perhaps I'll invest another time.

"If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

Quest-Related Dialogue

The White Phial

"I'll... I can... just..."

When you first enter The White Phial shop, you'll encounter Nurelion and Quintus arguing:

Nurelion: "I'll be fine."

Quintus: "Master, you're far too old for this sort of journey. We don't know what's inside..."

Nurelion: "I'll... I can... just..." (coughing violently, unable to speak)

Quintus: "You see, you're not well! Have a seat and I'll fetch you some tonic."

Nurelion: "Bah. If there was a tonic that could help me, I would have found it by now..."

Approach Nurelion, and he'll greet you with:

"I'm so close to the answer..."

What were you arguing about?

"Just a man's life work, is all. I've finally derived the location of the White Phial, but this doting busybody won't let me get it."

If you tell me where it is, I can get it for you.

"You would do that? It's good to know there are some people out there who are willing to help an old man. It's buried with its maker, Curalmil, in a long forsaken cave to the west of here. Curalmil was a crafty one, even in death. You would need the skills of a master alchemist to reach his resting place. Luckily for you, I've already made the mixture. Here, take it. Please... don't dally. I've wasted enough time arguing with my useless assistant here."

This marks the start of the quest The White Phial.

He has vast knowledge of the topic, and at this point you can ask for a bit of information on it:

What is the White Phial?

"A legendary bottle, forged in the days when Skyrim was just starting its turn to ice. A small container, made of the magically infused snow that first fell on the Throat of the World. It is said that the Phial will replenish whatever fluid is placed inside of it. For an alchemist like myself, it is the most pure expression of my art. To create from nothingness is... poetry."

Why is the Phial so important to you?

"I have spent my entire life searching for it. It brought me all the way to these frozen reaches from the warm embrace of Summerset Isle. Entire years spent in libraries. Seeking out tiny villages with local legends that contain but a whisper of a hint of the Phial. I even named my shop after it, hoping that it might attract anyone who had heard of it. And now it's within my grasp... but the Eight, it seems, have chosen me for their amusement. ... for in my current condition, I'll never be able to lay my hands on it."

When you leave conversation with him: "Why are you still standing around here? Go get me the Phial, you fool."

Consequently greet him:

"May the Eight guide you to the Phial..."

Nurelion stares at an empty fireplace.

Return with a broken phial, and face a disappointed dying old man, sitting in his chair in front of the fireplace upstairs:

I've brought the Phial, but it's damaged.

"This... it matches every description of the Phial that I've found in lore. But if it can't hold liquid, there's no way of knowing. How did you manage to damage it, then? This is what I get for not retrieving it myself."

It was like this when I found it.

"Figures -- I doubt you have sufficient knowledge to harm the Phial even if you wanted to. Either way, this is the end of it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm not quite in the mood to entertain guests. I trust you can show yourself out. Here's for your trouble."

If you leave the conversation before telling him you've found the phial in that condition, he'll utter:

"Of course, leave an old man with a ruined dream. Just like everyone else. Fool."

Repairing the Phial

"Master, look. It's the Phial."

During the quest Repairing the Phial, you can witness Quintus running up to his dying master lying in bed right after he's fixed the phial with the ingredients you've collected. An emotional scene takes places as Quintus presents what Nurelion has spent so long searching for:

Quintus: "Master, look. It's the Phial."

Nurelion: "What? How?" (weak, dying, weakly coughing)

Quintus: "It doesn't matter. Look, it's refilling with your tonic as we speak."

Nurelion: "Marvelous."

With this last expression of passion, Nurelion exhales his last breath, having been able to witness his life-long dream come to fruition.

Conversations

He and Quintus may sometimes converse with each other:

Nurelion: "Quintus, could you fetch me a copy of The Firmament? I need to compare the old star charts to today's."
Quintus: "Did they really record the star positions from Curalmil's tomb? There's no way it's that precise."
Nurelion: "Confound it, boy, I know what I'm doing. It will help me determine the season of his burial, which I can cross-reference."
Quintus: "I... I apologize, master."
Nurelion: "Don't waste time apologizing, just find the book!"

Quintus: "Master, I have a question about infusions of arrowroot."
Nurelion: "Damn it, child, didn't I tell you to gather my notes on sub-material properties?"
Quintus: "Yes, and I'm working on it, but I'm also trying to..."
Nurelion: "When I ask you for something, I expect it to get done."
Quintus: "Yes, master, I know. I just want to keep up my own projects as well."
Nurelion: "You can waste your own time, not mine. An apprentice obeys his master. A good one does, at least."
Quintus: "Yes, master. I'm sorry, I'll get back to those notes straight away."

Nurelion: "I'm sorry to always be so hard on you, boy. I just worry I don't have much time left."
Quintus: "I know, master. Don't say such things -- there is always time."
Nurelion: "Don't be so sure. Now, have you finished grinding the dried snowberries?"
Quintus: "Erm... no. Not yet. I'm sorry, I was reading up on the effects of distillation."
Nurelion: "What? You've been lollygagging in idle reading?"
Quintus: "No... I was trying to..."
Nurelion: "Out of my sight!"

Notes

• Nurelion knows no spells despite being a mage.
• In the game's DialogueViews files, early versions of Nurelion's dialogue for The White Phial can be found. One notable altered line being: "You would do that? It's good to know there are some people out there who are willing to help an old man. It's buried with it's maker, Curamil [sic], in a long forsaken cave to the northeast of Heljarchen." Seeing as the town of Heljarchen was removed from the final game, his final line was altered accordingly.
• If you walk away from the conversation when you've given the broken phial, you can still tell Quintus that Nurelion only gave you five gold coins despite not having gotten anything.
• After Nurelion gets in bed to await his death dialogue cannot be accessed. If dialogue is attempted in his deathbed a box will show explaining he is laying in bed and dying.
• If you talk to him just after the witnessed argument with Quintus, the dialogue option quickly changes from "What are you arguing about?" to "What were you arguing about?"

Bugs

• Nurelion's schedule was supposed to be more diverse. He was supposed to have breakfast from 6am to 8am, have dinner from 8pm to 10pm, and sleep from 10pm to 6am. These packages have no duration however, so his breakfast package overrides the others due to its position in the schedule list.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.3.2, fixes this bug.
• If you get a fishing job from the Thieves Guild intending for you to pickpocket Nurelion and you have completed The White Phial quest, the job will become impossible, as only the "asleep and dying" message will appear. Solutions to this are either to quit the job or complete it using the console.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.3.3, addresses this issue. Now Nurelion is prevented from getting selected as a target after completion of the White Phial.
• Nurelion may be heard shouting out his idle remarks from his bed after completing The White Phial, although apparently he's supposed to utter them only during his services.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.2.2, fixes this bug.
• After he is alseep and dying, he will sometimes get out of bed if Quintus sees you steal or forge numbers. If you attack Quintus at this point, Nurelion will turn hostile but he will be intangible and attacks pass through him. ^?
• With Dawnguard installed, you can feed on him multiple times as a werewolf after his death, though he will only increase perk progress once.