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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Hints
The Lost Boys
1 of 14: Start your search for the "lost boys" by finding the Lost Boy Cavern (location 24 on the Nibenay map).
2 of 14: The cavern entrance is kind of lost itself, being a bit hard to find at the end of a fairly long forest trench.
3 of 14: Before entering, look on a large rock to the right of the door to find a "weathered journal" page that starts the story of Erandur and Vangaril.
4 of 14: To continue the story, explore the Lost Boy Cavern area until you find exits to the Canyon and Yawning Halls areas.
5 of 14: In the Canyon area, head to the south end of the main cave room (the huge one with all the bridges across ravines) and find the table in the small room south of that. On it is a crumpled piece of paper with a note by Erandur to Vangaril written on it.
6 of 14: In the Yawning Halls, there's another crumpled piece of paper (with a note presumably written by Erandur) in the north wall niche in the small room that's near the SE corner of the area.
7 of 14: When you're done exploring both of those areas, find the door to the Hidden Bastion in either area. (In the Canyon area, it's at the west end of the central ravine.)
8 of 14: In the large room south of the bastion's starting cave, find the southern niche that has several tables set up with various necromatic gear. There are three letters to the Mages Guild there -- two on the central table and one on the floor.
9 of 14: These letters were written by Vangaril after he'd supposedly banished the lichiness from Erandur's soul. Apparently, he botched the procedure somehow, and Erandur's lich-self fused with him to form a combo hyphenated-name lich.
10 of 14: Go up the nearby stairs and along the passage to a large room with several treasure chests in it.
11 of 14: The chest in the western alcove contains a key and a folded note that was apparently written by Vangaril before he wrote the three letters you saw in the table area.
12 of 14: The key will open the old wooden doors that are east of the stairs, so go through them when you're ready to face the lich named Erandur-Vangaril.
13 of 14: If your character's level is under 23 when you first enter the Hidden Bastion area, the lich will be an unhittable and non-hostile "ghost" that you can't do anything to.
14 of 14: Unfortunately, that never seems to reset, no matter how many times you level up and how many days you wait before you return. So make sure you're level 23 or higher the first time you *ever* enter the Hidden Bastion area so you can kill the lich and claim his leveled staff and magic blunt weapon.
