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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Hints
Lifting the Vale
1 of 22: Once your Fame stat is 10 or higher, wait for an hour or two anywhere inside Bruma to get Tolgan to approach you.
2 of 22: He'll say the countess wants to see you, and will give you a 25-gold incentive to go talk to her.
3 of 22: Find her in Castle Bruma's Great Hall during the day and talk to her about "Draconian Madstone," "Pale Pass," and then "Draconian Madstone" again.
4 of 22: She'll send you after the madstone, giving you a key, a map, and a translation of an Akaviri messenger's old diary.
5 of 22: The diary mentions a Dragonclaw Rock and a "sentinel" of some kind, and these are both shown on the map.
7 of 22: From there, head west to find the giant sentinel statue, then go north a bit to find the entrance to Serpent's Trail.
8 of 22: It's a fairly standard cave-style dungeon with critters and ogres in it, so make your way through it to get to a door to the Pale Pass area.
9 of 22: Follow the Pale Pass road along, fighting or dodging ogres, until you reach the old fort called Mouth of the Serpent.
10 of 22: Go in through the fort's main door and fight your way through its undead defenders until you reach the door to the NW that leads to the Eyes of the Serpent.
11 of 22: It's a fairly small area with two doors that lead to the Fangs of the Serpent.
12 of 22: In it, find the turn handle on the floor near the raised bridges and use it to lower them so you can go across and get to the door to the Venom of the Serpent.
13 of 22: In there, head forward to find a ghost named Akaviri Commander Mishaxhi.
14 of 22: If you got the Akaviri orders from the Serpent's Trail cave earlier, you can talk to Mishaxhi and hand the orders over in order to get him to leave peacefully. Otherwise, you have to fight him.
15 of 22: Either way, the NW wall in the commander's area will open.
16 of 22: Go through it and grab the Draconian Madstone from the small, fancy pedestal it's on.
17 of 22: When you're through looking for other treasure, go through the nearby door to the Scales of the Serpent.
18 of 22: Use the turn handle that's near the raised bridges to lower them, then drop carefully down onto them.
19 of 22: Find the nearby door to the Fangs of the Serpent, then return to the Eyes of the Serpent and then the Mouth of the Serpent.
20 of 22: You can fast-travel back to Castle Bruma as soon as you're back in the Pale Pass area (if there aren't any ogres left alive nearby), but you might first want to participate in a little "key chain" treasure hunt.
21 of 22: Turn the madstone over to the countess to get the Ring of the Vipereye.
22 of 22: TIP: If your Sneak and Security skills are up to it, you can steal back the Draconian Madstone from the display case to the left of the throne. You can steal other valuable Akaviri artifacts from other display cases, but don't take the Akaviri Orders -- they're worth 250 gold, but you'll never be able to sell or drop them (unless you use the Declassifying Quest Items procedure on them).
