Daggerfall:The Artifact

Quick Walkthrough
# Talk to the Quester of your Knightly Order.
# Head to the specified dungeon.
# Find the witch and speak to her.
# Head to the town named by the witch.
# Kidnap her great granddaughter from the palace.
# Bring the girl back to the witch.
# Head to the new dungeon named by the witch.
# Find and retrieve the artifact.

Detailed Walkthrough
Shadows of the Past
Speak to the Quester, who says:

:''"A rumor has surfaced as to the whereabouts of an ancient artifact of power. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Are you up to it, (player's guild title)?"

Accept
The Quester goes on:

:"I thought I detected the gleam of ambition in your eyes (player's first name). Supposedly, a witch living deep in the bowels of (first dungeon) has discovered a clue about where to find this thing. I'd start with her."

Decline
The Quester answers:

:"Not the ambitious type, eh? Some other lucky knight will be sure to snap this one up."''

Ancient Treasures
thumb|right|The Witch
thumb|right|The Witch's great granddaughter
 
Head to dungeon specified by the Quester and find the witch. Talk to her and she says:

:''"I am (witch's name). So, you want (artifact). It is true that I know something of it. You must do something for me if you wish to learn my secret. Long ago, when I was young and your grandfather was less than a gleam in your great grandmother's eye, I gave birth to a daughter. I left the child to be raised by others, but now that my powers are waning, I need an heir. My daughter is long dead, but I have a great granddaughter of the right age named (child's name). Bring her to me within (time limit) days and I will tell you what I know of (artifact). (Child's name)'s parents know nothing of her birthright and will certainly resist any attempt to take her. You will find her in (palace) in (palace town)."''

The artifact in question will be Auriel's Bow, Auriel's Shield, or the Lord's Mail; each has a 33% chance of being the object of your hunt. Since you must return to the witch, you may wish to set a Recall anchor at her position.  

Travel to the town, find the palace, and enter it. If you enter during its opening hours, between 10:00 and 18:00, you won't need to pick the lock on the entrance door or cast an Open spell. Find the girl, who will be on the palace's first floor, and grab her. As you do so, she screams:

:''"What are you doing! I don't want to go with you. Help! Mommy, daddy, help!"

Make a hasty escape, as the palace is crawling with guards. These may be warriors, knights, or battlemages, in any combination. If you loiter too long they will try to stop you, violently. When hit, the first guard shouts:

:"Intruder! Intruder!"

The second guard, when hit, gives you an ultimatum:

:"Put down (child's name) or I will be forced to kill you."

Choose "Yes" to surrender the child, "No"' to refuse and continue fighting. Note that handing the child over will cause you to immediately fail the quest, but allows you to avoid major reputation damage (see below). Bring the girl back to the witch and she tells you:

:"Ah yes, my heir. What did you say it's name was? (Child's name)? Yes, (he/she) will do fine. (Player's name), you have earned the right to pursue (artifact). The stars have told me that the path to (artifact) leads through (second dungeon). That is all I know."''

Within Your Grasp
Head to that new dungeon and find the artifact within. It will look like some other rusty dungeon equipment lying on the floor. If you use "Info Mode" (by default the F3-key) you can check any rusty equipment that you find; if you have found the artifact, it will tell you, for example, "You see a Auriel's Bow." Pick it up and your quest is completed successfully.

Reward
Upon retrieving the artifact a message pops up saying:

:Your quest is complete.

Reputation Gain/Loss
If you find and pick up the artifact, you will gain reputation as shown below.



Additional Reputation
If you turn the witch's great granddaughter over to the guards when you are forced to do so, you will gain/lose reputation as shown in the table below.



If you don't turn the witch's great granddaughter over to the guards when you are forced to do so, you will lose reputation as shown in the table below.



Enemies
Random dungeon monsters
5x One Warrior every five in-game minutes (50% chance) once you enter the palace
5x One Battlemage every four in-game minutes (25% chance) once you pick up the child
5x Two Knights every three in-game minutes (30% chance) once you pick up the child

Gallery
 

Notes
According to the questfile there is no time limit for this quest. While you are given a time limit for finding the witch's great granddaughter, the quest is not terminated once it expires. The quest is only terminated when you pick up the artifact or if you hand the girl over to the guards.
The witch is a member of the Glenmoril Coven and can therefore summon Hircine for you. The costs of the summoning depend on your Reputation with the coven. However, though the option is present, the witch does not offer you any quests.
Which artifact you receive is determined when you accept the quest, like all components in every single quest within Daggerfall. Thus, it is not possible to reload the game and talk to the witch again if she promises an artifact you don't want; you will still get the same artifact. You only can change the artifact if you get this quest again from a Quester.
You can embark on a quest for a specific artifact as often as you want, even if you have the artifact already. Therefore you could, for example, have three exemplars of the Lord's Mail at the same time, unlike the artifacts in later Elder Scrolls games.

Additional Dialogue
After you have accepted this quest, and after it ends, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
"I got a boil the other day ... but it healed."
"I just had a three hour conversation about the weather."
"The weather is pretty usual for this time of year."
"It seems a trifle coolish in (current locale) for this time of year."
"It sure is a lot warmer today than this time last year."
"My great aunt is going to a specialist across the Bay."
''"It's always funny what time it gets dark around here."
"We should erect a war statue around here."
"The kids these days with their magic. (Oath), I don't know."
"I had the weirdest dream last night."
"I heard a great joke. (Joke)"
"(Joke) Actually, that's a joke."
"(Joke) Can you explain that to me?"
"The legal system in (region) has it good points and bad ones."
If you successfully complete the quest, the quest giver may later greet you with:
"So, you won that which you quested for. What would have now?"
If you failed the quest, the quest giver will greet you with:
"I haven't anything to say to you, (player's first name)."
"I wasted my breath talking to you before."''

Quest Log