Arniel’s Endeavor is a four-part quest for Arniel Gane, the College of Winterhold’s resident Dwemer enthusiast in Winterhold. He keeps his project secret at first, but it eventually turns out he wants to recreate the event that made the Dwemer disappear. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
How to start
- Join the College of Winterhold and complete Hitting the Books.
- Ask Arniel at the College if you can help him. According to the source, the cog request only becomes available once Good Intentions has begun.
Walkthrough
Part one: Dwemer cogs
Arniel asks for ten Dwemer cogs without saying why. You can do this before or after The Staff of Magnus. Good places to find them:
- The Dwarven storeroom just outside Mzulft has four.
- Mzulft itself, visited during Revealing the Unseen, has well over ten in containers, on tables and on automatons.
- The Dwemer Museum in Understone Keep, Markarth, has about fifteen. Turn right on entering: four are in a Novice-locked case and around ten more are lying about.
- The Tower of Mzark has six: five behind the device and one on a shelf in the room that connects to Blackreach.
- Raldbthar has eight.
The quest does not track how many cogs you carry, so count them yourself before heading back.
Part two: the warped soul gem
Next, Arniel complains that Enthir will not hand over something he bought. Enthir says he was never paid, but will call it even if you fetch him the Staff of Tandil from a random location. Known spots include Ansilvund, Boulderfall Cave, Brittleshin Pass, Cragwallow Slope, Falkreath Watchtower, Fellglow Keep, Harmugstahl, Hob’s Fall Cave, the House of Clan Battle-Born in Whiterun (behind the locked door), Ilinalta’s Deep, Morvunskar, Movarth’s Lair, North Brittleshin Pass, Rannveig’s Fast, Southfringe Sanctum, Sunderstone Gorge and Yngvild. Give Enthir the staff, take the warped soul gem (useless for capturing souls, as Enthir points out) and bring it to Arniel.
Part three: Dwemer convectors
This part opens after The Eye of Magnus (one bug note in the source mentions The Staff of Magnus instead). Arniel’s own convector overheated and broke, so he finally admits he is trying to recreate the Dwemer’s sudden disappearance. Rather than build another, he wants you to use real Dwemer convectors around Skyrim and teaches you a novice Destruction spell to heat them.
Place the warped soul gem in a convector, burn it with the spell for about three seconds, take the gem back, and repeat at two more convectors. Convectors are marked on your map:
- Two northeast of Markarth: one just north of Deep Folk Crossing, past the north gazebo and over the hill, and one due east of Druadach Redoubt across the river.
- Two near Mzulft: one in the Dwarven storeroom south of the fast travel point, and one on a table in the first room past the hall inside Mzulft.
- One west of Shor’s Stone and north of Autumnshade Clearing.
- One south of Ivarstead.
- One at the Ruins of Bthalft.
Return the altered gem to Arniel. He thanks you and says the last piece will arrive soon.
Part four: Keening
Leave the College for a few days, then talk to Arniel again. Enthir is once more the suspect, but this time it really is not his fault: Arniel arranged the delivery himself and the courier never showed up. Enthir points you to where the courier was last headed, a random location such as 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 Pond, Mistwatch, Morvunskar, Pinepeak Cavern, Tolvald’s Cave, Treva’s Watch, Uttering Hills Cave, Redwater Den (Dawnguard) or the Wreck of The Winter War.
The courier is dead, but his package is intact: it is Keening, a Dwemer dagger from Morrowind. Bring it to Arniel and watch. After a short speech he strikes the soul gem with the dagger, there is a burst of energy, and Arniel is simply gone, leaving Keening on the floor.
Rewards
- Summon Arniel’s Shade (Conjuration spell)
- Keening, left behind after the experiment
- The convector-heating spell Arniel teaches you
Tips and notes
- If you collect ten cogs before talking to Arniel, the dialogue skips straight to “I’ve got the cogs” and the quest may be marked complete without properly starting.
- Found the courier early? You can hand Keening to Arniel as soon as Enthir tells you where to look.
- Arniel’s shade may keep wandering the College afterwards, sleeping and walking around as if still alive.
- Keening was one of the tools Kagrenac used on the Heart of Lorkhan. Arniel’s vanishing mirrors what happened to the Dwemer, and whether he “succeeded” is left for you to decide.
