Daggerfall:The Lost Artifact

Quick Walkthrough
# Talk to the Quester of your Knightly Order.
# Head to the specified dungeon.
# Find and kill the lich.
# (Optional) Find a note on the lich's corpse and read it.
# Return to the Quester within the time limit to complete the first quest.
# (Optional) Embark on a second quest to retrieve an artifact.
# Head to the dungeon named in the lich's note.
# Find and talk to the wizard within.
# Head to the dungeon named by the wizard.
# Find the wraith within and put it to rest.
# Head to the town named by the wraith.
# Search for the artifact at that town's Mages Guild.
# Pick up the artifact within the second time limit to complete the quest.

Detailed Walkthrough
The Army of the Dead
Speak to the Quester, who says:

:''"I am (Quester's name) of this knightly order. I have a most dangerous quest (player's first name). You are one of the few that could possibly take it on. A lich is raising an army of undead. We need someone to go in and put a stop to it."

Accept
The Quester goes on:

You are brave indeed. The lich has made (dungeon) into its lair. Go there and destroy the foul thing. In (time limit) days we will send out someone else, should you not return.

Decline
The Quester answers:

:"I understand, (player's name). This is too dangerous even for you. There are one or two other heroes that might be able to pull this one off. I'll go ask them."

A Lich-Hunt
thumb|right|The lich wants to destroy the region
thumb|right|Do not underestimate the danger of this situation
Head to the dungeon named by the Quester. Enter it, then find and destroy the lich within. Beware, as there is a 33% chance that you will come up against an even more dangerous Ancient Lich. Regardless of its type, when the lich is destroyed a message pops up saying:

:The lich is dead. Without his magical support, the army of undead will return to the grave.''

Loot the lich's corpse to find a note, which reads:

:...have found a clue at last!
:I dare not even name the lost
:artifact of ancient power that
:it points toward. It is too
:late for me. I will die down
:here in (second dungeon),
:''lost among it's dark passageways.
:First, I will hide my clue.
:If I cannot...

Reading this note triggers the start of the optional quest, but before embarking upon this adventure, you must report back to the Quester or you will fail your original quest when its time limit expires.

Reward
Upon reporting back to the Quester, he heralds:

:"Hail to the hero, (player's name)! Well done! You name will be recorded in all the histories."''

This ends the quest you were given by the Quester. However, even though the quest is complete, you will not be able to receive another quest from him until the original time limit has fully expired.

Optional Quest
The Wizard
thumb|right|The wizard
thumb|right|A lock of the wizard's hair
Take your leave of the Quester and head to the dungeon named in the lich's note. Search this dungeon, and you will eventually find a wizard living within. Speak to the wizard and be told:

:''"A pox upon you for disturbing me (player's name). (Oath), of course I know your name, and no I'm not going to tell you mine. What's the use in bein' a wizard if you can't know things normal folks don't. I also know why your here. You want (Chrysamere), except you didn't know it by name, did you? The only way you're gonna get it is if you do me a favor first.

Decline the offer
You will anger the wizard and be yelled at:
:::''"You trudged all the way down here to speak to me and now you don't want to continue? Inconceivable! Get out of my sight!
::The wizard will not bother you further, but you will be unable to continue your search for the artifact. In addition, you must now wait until the quest's second time limit has expired before you can get another quest from the Quester.

Accept the offer
The wizard replies:
:::''"You see, I don't actually know where your artifact is. My great grandfather once sought for it. According to family history, when he found it the Mages Guild took it from him and hid it somewhere. His spirit has never rested easy since. If you have this lock of my hair with you when his spirit is put to rest, he may tell you where to find what you seek. He haunts (third dungeon)."

The Wraith
Armed with the lock of hair, head to the dungeon named by the wizard. Enter it, and find the specter, a wraith, that haunts its halls. Put it to rest by destroying its spectral body. If you have the lock of hair in your inventory, the freed soul will speak to you, saying:

:"You hold a token of my lineage, a bit of hair from one of my descendants. Know ye that I have wandered these halls for long decades waiting for this sign. Go to the Mages Guild in (town). There you will find what I once lost."''

The Mages Guild
thumb|right|The Mages Guild would like to keep their artifact
 
Head to the town named by the spirit of the wizard's ancestor, then locate and enter its Mages Guild. If you arrive outside the guildhall's opening hours (11:00 to 23:00), you will have to pick the lock or cast an Open spell to enter. Find the artifact within, but be prepared to take on any battlemages that may be guarding the artifact.

The artifact 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 Chyrsamere." Pick it up to end the quest.

Reputation Gain/Loss
 

Enemies
Random dungeon monsters
Quest Target. Any of the following:
One Lich
One Ancient Lich
Wizard's Ancestor: One Wraith
5x One Battlemage every five in-game minutes (50% chance) once you enter the Mages Guild



 

Gallery
 

Notes
The first part of the quest is very similar to The Army of Undead, a Knightly Orders quest included in the base game. Look for slight differences in the quest offer dialogue if you are trying to receive this quest over the original.
Before you start your search for the artifact, you must report back to the Quester before the first time limit (the one given by the Quester) has expired. If you don't do this, the quest will count as failure when you have found the artifact. After you report back, you can still embark on the optional quest, which has its own time limit.
If you don't read the lich's note until the first time limit of the quest has expired, it will disappear from your inventory and the quest will end.
The second time limit starts after you read the lich's note. This time limit is always 180 days, 12 hours. You can conduct your search for the artifact at any time during this period.
Since this quest involves three dungeons, it is possible the wizard will be staying in a town instead of a dungeon if you are in a region which has very few dungeons. In this case, the town's name will be mentioned in the lich's note instead of a second dungeon. Simply travel to this town and ask around for the wizard until you know in which building he or she can be found.
Although the wizard won't give you his or her name, it still appears in the final two journal entries.

Bugs
Although it was intended that you could acquire any of four possible artifacts, an oversight in the questfile causes Chrysamere to be the only possible reward.
Two of the other intended options, Necromancer's Amulet and the Warlock's Ring, were somewhat illogical since they are both possible rewards at the end of the Main Quest. The third intended option was the Staff of Magnus.
DFQFIX restores the missing three rewards; each has a 25% chance of being the artifact in question.

Additional Dialogue
After you have accepted this quest, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
''"(Region) is bracing itself for the Lich's onslaught."
"All (region) is praying that Questers can kill that Lich."
If you fail the quest, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
"The Lich has temporarily left (first dungeon). Temporarily."'
''"The Lich will return to (first dungeon). That's a certainty."
If you successfully complete the quest, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
"(Region) is saved, and we have Questers to thank."
"A (player's race) knight from Questers defeated that Arch-Lich."
If you successfully complete the quest, the quest giver may later greet you with:
"It'd be rude of me not to help the rescuer of (region), eh?"
If you failed the quest, the quest giver will greet you with:
"You're lucky that Lich didn't destroy all (region), (player's first name)."
"(Region) was in serious danger from that Lich. And you didn't care."''

Quest Log