Skyrim:Restoration Ritual Spell - The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP) (2024)

Quick Walkthrough[edit]

1. Talk to Colette Marence.
2. Talk to Augur of Dunlain.
3. Pass the Augur's test.

Detailed Walkthrough[edit]

Find the Augur of Dunlain[edit]

Once you reach level 90 in the Restoration skill and have completed Good Intentions, travel to the College of Winterhold and speak with Colette Marence. Ask her if you can learn anything more about Restoration magic. She will tell you to go speak with the Augur of Dunlain down in The Midden.

Pass the test[edit]

The Augur of Dunlain will give you a test. Once you have stepped into the "light", all non-quest items will be taken from your possession. The Augur will summon one ghost, shortly followed by another, and finally a third; each will attack you with destruction spells and/or weapons. It is not possible to attack these ghosts; your only goal is to keep yourself alive using Restoration magic. Alternatively, the Become Ethereal shout will leave you invincible for most or all of the test, depending on how many words have been unlocked. If you are still alive when the test stops, you will receive your items back and the Bane of the Undead spell. You will also be able to buy the Guardian Circle spell from Colette Marence the next time her inventory resets.

Notes[edit]

• If your Sneak skill is high enough, you can simply crouch before the first ghost notices you and remain hidden for the duration of the test.
• The ghosts favor frost spells, so if you are a Nord or vampire—or better yet, both—this will be very easily accomplished.
• You can take along one item (for example, a ring with double magic resist 45%) to the test by dropping the item and then holding it in the air while going to the light.
• If you have completed Bound Until Death from the Dark Brotherhood quest line, you can summon the Spectral Assassin while crouching and the test will be passed after a few seconds.
• Appearance of the Guardian Circle spell upon the completion of this quest can be bugged. See Guardian Circle for fix.
• You can give as many items as you need to your follower, and step in to the light. Then, before the first ghost notices you, talk to your follower and trade items to retrieve them. Items with Fortify Restoration, Fortify Sneak, and/or Resist Frost enchantments would be good choices.
• Unlike other ritual quests, this one grants you the first spell directly rather than as a spell tome.

Bugs[edit]

• After meeting the Augur of Dunlain and stepping into the light, the game may hang up.
  • Removing some of the items from your inventory before stepping into the light may help avoid the bug.
• Completing this quest may cause a persistent scripting error to repeat several times a second. It appears to be unintrusive in gameplay, but it will flood Papyrus logs.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.0.0, fixes this bug.
  • By using the console, the quest can be set to an earlier stage where the faulty script does not occur: setstage MGRitual04 10.
• After you survive the test, the Augur's scripted response of You are worthy. The knowledge is yours might get stuck in a loop. However, the quest will still be marked as complete and leaving the chamber has no negative side effects.
• One or more of the hostile ghosts might linger after the test is complete. As they are ethereal, they cannot be killed, and will follow you around the Midden Dark attacking you.
  • Reloading a save previous to the ritual will solve this problem.
• The game will incorrectly flag the Alteration Ritual Spell quest as being completed, instead of the Restoration quest.
  • This causes the spell tome Mass Paralysis to be available for purchase upon quest completion.
  • The bug doesn't prevent the Dragonborn from completing the Alteration quest at a later date.
  • Bug fixed by the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
• Sometimes the Guardian Circle spell tome may not appear after successfully completing the quest.
  • Reloading a previous save and interacting with her merchant inventory prior to starting the quest seems to fix this.
  • This may occur because the game incorrectly flags the Alteration ritual quest as being completed instead of the Restoration quest. You can buy the Guardian Circle spell directly after completing the quest because the game also gives her the tome directly so you wouldn't have to wait until her inventory resets, but once it does reset, the book will never appear again.
  • You can fix this with the console command set MGRitualRestBook to 0 .
• If you successfully complete the test, the quest will complete, but you may not receive your items back (or they can remain unequipped), nor will the Augur speak with you again.

Quest Stages[edit]

Restoration Ritual Spell (MGRitual04)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I've asked Colette about additional training in Restoration. She suggested there are spells I don't yet know, but that the Augur down in the Midden is the keeper of that knowledge and I'd have to gain his approval before I can learn them. Objective 10: Gain the Augur's approval
200		I've passed the Augur's test, and have been granted the Bane of the Undead spell.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 20, 30, 40.