The Ultimate Heist - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Guide - IGN (2024)

You must fence 1,000 coins worth of stolen property and have completed the Boots of Springheel Jak to begin this quest. Once you do, wait in a major city and Amusei will come looking for you again. He'll tell you to meet the Gray Fox in the Elven Garden district of the Imperial City at Othrelos' House. When you meet Gray Fox, he wants you to pull off a heist for all times. You are to steal an Elder Scroll! To help you, he gives you back the Boots of Springheel Jak so that you can reach a ledge you otherwise wouldn't be able to jump to. He also gives you the Arrow of Extrication so that you can unlock a door no other key can open, as well as the Imperial Sewer Key. He has written down the entire plan in a scroll called Plan for the Big Heist. Refer back to it if you forget what you're doing.

The first step is to activate the Old Way using the Glass of Time. Travel to the Imperial City Palace and enter the Elder Council Chambers. Travel around the ring to the left until you get to the door leading to the basement. Pick the lock and go through. You're now in an area that you're not supposed to be in, so go into stealth mode and don't let any guards see you. There is one guard who patrols around the inner ring and then switches to the outer ring. We found it easiest to follow the outer loop around until you find the Glass of Time, activate it, and then sneak back across the center when the guard switches to the outside. When your task is complete, hightail it out.

Next go to the Arboretum. Look for the Grate to the Southeast Tunnel and enter the sewers. Go down the stairs and turn the lever to open the next area. Move through the tunnels until you get to teh door leading to Beneath the Bloodpath. at the bottom of the stairs, a creature will attack. Kill it and go through the gate to the right. Go back up the next staircase and wind your way around to the next open room. Turn the crank on the right side of this wall. In the next room you'll find yourself on a platform above either an animal or a vampire. Sneak attack it before it recognizes you are there. One more vampire might also attack you in this region. There is a chest in the room on the other end of the bridge, as well as one over near where you first entered this region that can be found by taking the path straight ahead instead of going to the right. Search this area to collect everything and then head back to the room where you fought the vampires. Go north until you come to a gate with a wolf behind it. Kill the wolf, open the chest inside of the room, and turn the crank. This lowers a gate outside in the previous room that allows you to go through the sewer to the west.

Another vampire might be waiting for you on the other side. Deal with it (or the creature in its place) and go down the side path to a locked gate. Use the Imperial Sewer Key to open it and grab the goods from the chests inside. Next, go down the manhole in the center of the room and your journal will update.

You're now in the Palace Sewers and need to look for the Old Way. Drop down off of the bridge and fight the vampires waiting at the bottom. Go through to the next room, open the chest for some free stuff and turn the crank to open the door. Take a right (going up the stairs leads you back to the beginning) and open the gate at the end. The water in this next room has some Slaughterfish waiting to attack if you fall in. Open the gate at the end of the next room and open the chest in the corner. Fight off the low level enemies and look for a run down door. This is your entrance to the Old Way.

There's lots to explore in this area, but there are also a ton of high level adversaries. Watch out for pressure plates that trigger traps. You can quickly cut west and then to the south to get to the locked door leading to the next area. Just follow your compass and you'll be there in a flash. As soon as you go through the first locked door, you'll find yourself in a room literally full of undead creatures. Make use of the multi-tiered room to keep yourself from having to face them all at once. If you can get all of the close ranged enemies on the lower area and clear out the top, you can have a sanctuary to retreat to. Grab the items from the chest after you clear out the undead army and go to the west through a crack in the wall.

Drop through the crack into the well lit room and travel east into the Lost Catacombs. This area has a few chests and another giant army of undead monsters. This section can be especially dangerous for a thief. You might find yourself having to run through it while ignoring the difficult battles. When you come to an open area, you'll find that the door you need to go through is opened remotely. Use your Boots of Springheel Jak to jump up onto the ledge that goes around the entrance to the room. There, you'll find a set of switches. Hit one of them and you'll open the gate at the far end of the hall. Go down and enter the Hall of Epochs.

Inside, you'll find more undead enemies in the first room. Once you deal with them, grab the four Welkynd Stones (the glowing orbs at the top of the pillars). Move into the next large room and deal with the undead enemy there. Grab a few more Welkynd Stones and then walk up the stairs. Your journal will update saying that this is the location to use the Arrow of Extrication and mentions that there is probably a specific place that you have to stand.

Start walking around the outer ring and your journal will update again when you approach some the wall blocking off the central podium. It tells you that you'd better look for a way to get through them. There is only one door out and it goes back into dangerous territory.

The first door puts you on a balcony with some enemies. Fight them off and then search the room. There are a few chests full of items as well as a button to push. No, this isn't the one that opens the way to the podium. It actually opens up a small tunnel at the bottom of this platform leading into a hidden room. Go through the secret door and you'll find another door to take.

The next few rooms are completely filled with undead enemies, but there are also a lot of chests and Welkynd stones to collect. Carefully fight your way through the first room and go down the staircase in the back corner. After another room of fighting, you'll go down the last staircase. Some more tough enemies are guarding the final room. After you clear them out, press the button behind the coffin. This opens the wall back in the room where you need to use the Arrow of Extrication. Sweep across the area to collect a few more chests full of items and then climb the stairs back up.

Walk around the ring to the far side and you'll notice that the door is open to the central podium. When you stand on the pressure plate, your journal updates telling you that you need to hit the pedestal at the far end of the room which is now open. Your target is the glowing area. Equip your bow and the arrow and save your game. If you miss the shot, you probably will be able to retrieve the arrow, but it is so time consuming that you're better off reloading the save. Remember, your arrows fall under gravity, so you'll have to aim a bit high. Steady your shot at the top of the statue's forehead and let the arrow fly. When it connects, your journal will update telling you that you have opened the secret path into the palace.

Before you can get into the palace, the two statues on each side of the pedestal you just hit come to life. They may be tough if you are a low level, but they won't be much compared to what you just battled through. When the coast is clear, walk down the newly unveiled stairs and enter the Imperial Guard Quarters.

Most of the guards are asleep, but any noise will wake them up. There are a bunch of locked chests here, though they don't contain anything great. Feel free to steal everything you can carry. You've earned it. Sneak past the guards and out into their eating room. Continue into the hall and up into the Elder Scrolls Library.

Walk around the ring and pick one more door to get into the interior. When you first enter, sneak around to the right and you'll come up behind a Blind Moth. On his right is a lever that you need to pull. On the ground floor, you can find assorted books, scrolls, alchemy ingredients, and several jewelry boxes. Sit down on the chair near the fire in the center of the room. The Blind Monks mistake you for someone else and come down to hand you the Elder Scroll. Sneak past the Blind Monks up the stairs and pick the lock on the door at the top.

Back in the halls, you have no choice to but to go up. Going back down into the guard's rooms will get you spotted for sure. There are patrolling guards and even more Blind Monks in these halls. Use the side nooks to hide and let them pass. Wind your way around into the Moth Priest's Quarters and then again up to the Imperial Battlemage's Chamber. When you come to a door that is locked, wait outside it. Eventually its inhabitant will come out. Go through the door she just opened to gain access to the central room. You might feel inclined to start robbing this area blind. While there are some decent items under the display cases, most notably potions, we don't recommend it. Eventually, people walk through here and they'll immediately start attacking when they spot you. Go to the fireplace in the back of the room. The one thing you should be sure to do is read the book on the shelf next to the fireplace titled 2920, Second Seed. This will increase your Speechcraft skill. Next, drop down through the fireplace chimney. The Boots of Springheel Jak will prevent you from dying during this fall, but they get destroyed when you hit the ground. You'll land back down in the Old Way. Retrace your steps and get back out of the sewers.

Note: We were able to survive the fall without the Boots of Springheel Jak equipped at level 23 with 58 for Acrobatics and 240 for health, so we still have those sweet loafers.

Take the Elder Scroll back to the Gray Fox. It seems your job isn't over. The Gray Fox wants you to take a ring to Countess Umbranox in Anvil. Check your inventory and you'll learn it is a wedding ring. Deliver the ring to the lady in the castle at Anvil. She recognizes it as her missing husband. The Gray Fox appears and talks about his ordeal as the Gray Fox. The Countess isn't too happy, so the Gray Fox tries to heal her pain by giving you the Gray Cowl and naming you as the new leader of the Thieves Guild. The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal fortifies your Sneak 25 points, gives you 200 pts of Feather, and gives you Detect Life 120 ft all at constant effects. It also puts your bounty at 500 and your infamy at 100 each time you put it on, though you can pay off your bounty at the Thieves Guild which is now located in Dareloth's House. To get in, enter through the new door that is open in the garden where you first began the Thieves Guild. Enter through there and move through the basement to find all some fellow thieves.

If you get caught with the 500 bounty, the guards will simply try to kill you since they recognize you as the Gray Fox. Take it off again and your bounty vanishes with none the wiser, unless they already began attacking you.

Make your way back to the Waterfront to check out the new hangout of the guild you now run. Be sure to have a look around. Armand Christophe is here and can pay off any bounty you ever acrue. Also, you can unlock the upstairs with the Guildmaster Key to a room that essentially is yours now.