Containment
Quest Giver	Mirabelle Ervine
Location	Winterhold
Prerequisite	Revealing the Unseen
Next Quest	The Staff of Magnus
Reward	Savos Aren’s Amulet Torc of Labyrinthian
Faction	The College of Winterhold

Walkthrough

A Plague on Winterhold

Mirabelle Ervine rouses you from the battle-scarred Hall of the Elements, where strange magics are emanating from the Eye of Magnus. Ancano remains with the Eye, protected by bonded magic too strong to pierce.

Mirabelle’s most pressing concern is finding the Arch-Mage, who was knocked away by the explosion. Rendezvous in the exterior courtyard, where a crowd is forming around the crumpled form of Savos Aren.

Tolfdir confirms the shocking news; Savos Aren has succumbed to the wounds he suffered during the battle with Ancano. But the time for mourning will come later; Winterhold is being overrun with entities summoned by the Eye. The danger present in Winterhold is threatening the entire town. A plague of Magic Anomalies are attacking the townsfolk.

Although optional, it’s worth stopping on the bridge to tell Faralda of the situation. Ask her to help; she gladly brings her considerable magic to bear on the enemy and manages to coax Arniel Gane into the fight as well. The three of you should help even the odds once you cross the bridge into Winterhold. If you have made followers of students like Onmund, they will aid you as well as NPC's.

The ten Magic Anomalies are easily spotted and quickly removed. Ranged magic is a good choice, but pinpoint spells that don’t hit the townsfolk who are under Magic Anomalies attack work best; you don’t want collateral damage killing off the very people you’re here to protect!

You may wish to rush over to any groups of these magical entities and leave Faralda and Arniel to deal with them; this allows you to coax as many of them away from the townsfolk as possible. If Faralda is here when the ten magical foes are dead, she shouts that she’ll stay here and check for any more incursions. Pick up any Soul Gems that the Magic Anomalies dropped when they were dispatched.

Return to the College and seek out Mirabelle Ervine, letting her know that Winterhold is safe for now. She wishes she could say the same for the College. While she attempts to keep the Eye of Magnus contained with her fellow mages, you are to locate the Staff of Magnus once and for all.

Mention that you’re off to Labyrinthian, and Mirabelle is taken aback: The Arch-Mage gave her an item from this place and told her she’d know what to do with it. She hands the following items over to you and tells you to leave. Quickly.

Notes

• It is a very good idea to wait until night to start this quest, otherwise any townsfolk of Winterhold wandering outside their homes will likely be killed by the Magic Anomalies. (Ranmir, among others in town are known to be found dead after completing this quest.)
• Shadowmere can be particularly useful in protecting the townspeople, as the magic anomalies will be attracted to him first and it is unlikely that they will kill him.
• The Magic Anomalies have Grand Souls, making it a very good opportunity to obtain many Grand Souls (10 in all) in a short amount of time. However there a chance they will drop other soul gems (including Black).
• A dragon attack on Winterhold or the College is possible during this quest.

Bugs

• There is a bug related to this quest in which no NPC's react to the body of the Arch-Mage and no enemies are spawned in Winterhold. This can be fixed on the PC version by entering setstage MG05 0 in the console. If this does not work for you, try dragging the body to the group of people close to you.
  •  360   PS3  The quest has not shown up either. The Arch-Mage's body is on the ground with no other NPC's reacting to it
  •  360  Fix for above problem if possible, load a save away from the College, and also, dismiss any followers before reporting back to the Arch-Mage after completing the previous quest.
  •  PS3   No known fix for above problem. Tested completing all related and unrelated quests and dragging body around with no luck. NPCs would just walk passed like you are not holding a decomposing arch mage corpse in front of their faces. In other words the College of Winterhold questline is buggered at this point.
• It has been reported that an Ancient Dragon has killed everyone in the College courtyard and thus the quest cannot be continued. Reload until Tofdir, Arniel Gane and Nirya are alive. They will help kill the dragon. PS3:
• it is possible to re-animate the arch-mage as a thrall but he will dissapear on the bridge to winterhold
• The Elder Dragon can also arrive just as you exit to go look for the arch mage body. A bit inconvenient in the above quest.
• A bug has been reported in which the doors to the Winderhold College remain permanently half-opened such that the player can no longer enter the college.
  •  360   PS3   Look at the sides, bottom and everywhere of the door and it should be say enter, then click the door and it closes but you don't enter. Then, it should be fixed.
• Also during this quest, a bug may develop that causes a crackling sound when loud sounds occur. The source of this bug has not yet been identified. Resetting the console has been known to solve this issue.
•  PS3   It may happen that the character Ranmir leaves the Frozen Hearth just as the Magic Anomalies attack the town. He will slowly walk towards Birna's Oddities, seemingly unaware of the enemies and get killed. Other times he will not be seen dying, but still disappear from the game permanently. The only work around for this is to reload a savegame from before leaving the college and try to save him, or hope he does not leave the inn. If he is not seen leaving the inn, after all enemies are killed both inn and Birna's Oddities should be checked to make sure he is still alive and not just disappeared. Also, this bug is unconnected to the time of the day. No matter if you trigger the quest night or day, Ranmir may still leave the inn and get killed.
  • Solution: Make sure you have a save before heading out and talking to Tolfdir. Head down and Faralda will talk to you. After that, wait one hour. Then head into town and take them out as quick as you can. Then check both Frozen Hearth Inn and Birna's Oddments to see if Ranmir is alive.
•  360   PS3   After the explosion the Arch-Mage's body is invisible but NPC's are standing around and quest is still active... They are all staring at the ground in a circle.
•  360   PS3  You may receive a bounty for any deaths of citizens/livestock within Winterhold, regardless if Faralda, Arniel Gane, or even the Magic Anomalies kill it.
•  PS3   One way around the Arch Mage glitch is to talk to Tolfdir outside and ask about the Arch Mage being dead. This started the next part to protect the town.