If you’re solving the “Vahtacen’s Secret” quest in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and find yourself stuck on the pillar puzzle, this guide is for you. This part of the Mages Guild questline can be a bit confusing if you’re not sure what to do or which spells to use. In this guide, we will walk you through exactly how to complete the puzzle.
How To Solve Vahtacen’s Secret Pillar Puzzle
The pillar puzzle for the “Vahtacen’s Secret” quest in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the quests you will get through the Mages Guild. By this point, you need to take care of all the prerequisites leading up to the puzzle, including speaking with both of the necessary NPCs.
Behind Dinell, you will find a chest containing a few spells. These spells hold the four spells you need to solve the puzzle:
- Fire (which is “Flare”)
- Frost (“Snowball”)
- Sever Magicka (“Damage Magicka”)
- Fortify Magicka (“Elevate Magicka”)
You can use the scrolls directly if you want, or you can opt to use custom spells.
It’s important to cast the spells in a specific order: first Fire, then Frost, then Sever Magicka, and finally Fortify Magicka. If you’re looking to buy the Sever Magicka spell, there’s only one place in the entire game where you can get it that is Salinus Vassinus at the Mages Guild in Skingrad.
Start by casting the Fire spell on the pillar. Follow that with Frost, then Sever Magicka. Finally, cast Fortify Magicka. It is an on-touch spell, though it might work as a target spell as well. Once you have cast all four spells in the correct order, the pillar opens up, allowing you to proceed. That’s how you complete the pillar puzzle for the Mages Guild.
When you cast each of the four spells in the right order Fire Damage, Frost Damage, Damage Magicka, and Fortify Magicka the pillar will start to lower slowly, and eventually reveal a staircase. But be careful! If you mess up the order or use the wrong spell, the Dark Welkynd Stones around you will fire at you. The more that can see you, the more you’ll get zapped.
How to Get the Spells
If you don’t have all the spells you need, there’s a chest right next to Denel that has scrolls you can use. These include scrolls for Flare (which does fire damage), Sever Magicka (drains magicka), and Elevate Magicka (boosts your magicka). The only thing missing is a scroll that deals frost damage. Luckily, you can find a frost damage scroll at the Bruma Mages Guild, or you can buy one from the Skingrad Mages Guild.
