Tamriel Rebuilt:Freedom for a Fiend

Unravel the twisted mystery of a trapped soul seeking revenge against its captor. Quest Giver: None Location(s): Mashadananit, Necrom, Rotten Shipwreck Reward: Contempt OR Bartolomaeus' Signet Ring ID: TR_m3_OE_Freedom; TR_m3_OE_Freedom2

An ancient Dunmer blade is key to a strange spirit's freedom.

Quick Walkthrough

1. Encounter a strange voice in (randomly) Mashadananit, Necrom Catacombs (Deep Vaults) or the Rotten Shipwreck.
2. Take the Hazy Soul Gem from the Ancient Chest.
3. Go to Old Ebonheart and enter the Treasure Chamber of the Ebon Tower's palace.
4. Either:
   1. Speak to Lloras Nelvel about an ancient Dunmer blade.
   2. Kill Theril Gilnyth in Romithren Monastery.
   3. Retrieve the Ancient Dunmer Blade from the Ebon Tower Curia (top floor).
5. Or:
   • Steal the Ancient Dunmer Blade from the Treasure Chamber.
6. Bring the blade to Seitur and ask locals about Bartolomaeus.
7. Confront Bartolomaeus and either:
   • Kill him, and interact with his body to stab it.
   • Side with him and defeat The Fiend.

Detailed Walkthrough

There are three locations in the mainland where you may encounter an odd voice emanating from an Ancient Chest. These are Mashadananit's Molten Halls, Necrom's Catacombs (middle of the Deep Vaults), and at the far inside end of the Rotten Shipwreck. Only one of these locations will contain the chest in any one playthrough. Search these places thoroughly, and you will know you are close when a popup appears with a greeting.

Once you have found the chest, open it. There, you will find a Hazy Soul Gem, which speaks to you. There's a spirit trapped inside. The creature asks you to free it and help it seek revenge against the warrior who imprisoned it. It will direct you to the vaults of the Ebon Tower palace to obtain an ancient Redoran blade that once sealed it away.

You can try to steal the blade directly (it's in the westernmost room of the treasure chamber behind some Dragonscale armor), or try to bargain with Lloras Nelvel for it. If you decide to negotiate with him, Lloras will ask you to kill a Tribunal Temple priest named Theril Gilnyth accused of slandering King Helseth. Theril is at the Romithren Monastery, which is east of Darvonis and the Nethril Plantation. Keep in mind that once you make the agreement, you can't go back; you will have to kill the priest to continue the story unless you use the console commands.

Once you've killed the priest and Nelvel knows of it, he will leave the blade in an out-of-the-way spot for you to pick up. Go to the top floor of the Tower Curia in Ebon Tower. The sword is in a long closed-off storage room atop a crate. After taking the sword, the strange soul gem will fuse with it. Now you will be commanded to kill Bartolomaeus, who resides north of Seitur.

Ask around Seitur and the locals will tell you Bartolomaeus has been seen fishing along the coastline north of the city. You'll find him on a long beach about a third of the way up from Seitur to Necrom (east of Vaden Ancestral Tomb.

When you meet Bartolomaeus , he is aware of what is going on, as he senses the malignant presence of the spirit. He explains that you are dealing with the Fiend; an entity which forcefully occupies and takes control of other organisms and that he was the warrior who sealed the spirit away. Although he defeated the Fiend, he was unable to correctly seal its soul due to his inexperience at the time, so the sealing was defective. The Fiend has planned to get revenge on Bartolomaeus, intending to steal his body by having you stab the warrior with the ancient blade that defeated it.

You now have to choose to aid Bartolomaeus in permanently defeating the Fiend, or to side with the Fiend in exacting its gruesome revenge.

Siding With Bartolomaeus

If you take the warrior's side, the Fiend will immediately turn on you both, knocking Bartolomaeus unconscious, leaving you to fight the Fiend alone.

The Fiend will successively take on the form of several powerful monsters. In the end, it will become exhausted and attempt to flee as a scrib; don't take pity on it, just kill it. Once the Fiend is dead, Bartolomaeus will give you his Signet Ring as thanks.

Siding With the Fiend

Siding with the Fiend will lead to battle with Bartolomaeus, who despite his humble appearance is actually a very powerful wizard. He will immediately summon two Skeleton War-Wizards to aid him. You will face very damaging skill and attribute-damaging spells and poison attacks. Even powerful characters with strong magicka-resisting armor and items will face a challenge here, so be aware that he will not go easily.

After defeating Bartolomaeus, interacting with his body will give you the prompt to impale his body with the cursed Dunmer blade, enabling the Fiend to inhabit his enemy's body and bind Bartolomaeus' soul to power your reward, the powerful enchanted Redoran ceremonial blade, Contempt.

The Fiend will then disappear after a few unfriendly parting words...

Quest Stages

The following Journal ID and Index codes can be used with the Journal console command to manually update the quest to a certain point.

Freedom for a Fiend (TR_m3_OE_Freedom)
Index	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
20		Something trapped in a soulgem in the basement of the Imperial Archaeological Society building asked me to help it seek its revenge against the warrior who sealed it there.
30		The being asked me to find the sword that sealed it away. The blade is in some vaults in the Ebon Tower Palace.
60		The soulgem fused into the blade. The being gave me a new target: the warrior Bartolomaeus who resides near Seitur on the Nedothril coast of Morrowind.
70		Someone in Seitur told me Bartolomaeus is illusive, but can often be seen fishing on the coast north of town.
80		I confronted Bartolomaeus. He told me the sword contains an evil spirit named The Fiend who inhabits the bodies of others. He offered to take the blade if I would help him banish the spirit for good.
81		Bartolomaeus took the sword and told me to prepare for a difficult fight. I should speak to him when I am ready.
85		I refused to give the sword to Bartolomaeus and he attacked.
90	Finishes quest	I slew the Fiend.
100	Finishes quest	Bartolomaeus died after giving me his signet ring. The Fiend is now banished forever.
110	Finishes quest	I killed Bartolomaeus.
115	Finishes quest	I plunged the sword into Bartolomaeus' body and the sword absorbed into him before reappearing in his hand.
120	Finishes quest	The Fiend now inhabits his body and Bartolomaeus is now trapped in the blade the Fiend gave me. The Fiend then disappeared.
Freedom for a Fiend (TR_m3_OE_Freedom2)
10		Lloras Nelvel agreed to bring me the ancient Dunmer blade from the vaults if I killed Theril Gilnyth in the Romithren Monastery. The monastery is straight east from Ildrim and the Nethril Plantation.
20		I have agreed to Lloras' arrangement. Lloras Nelvel will leave the sword in the top floor of the Ebon Tower Curia when I have done my job.
25		I showed Helseth's Signet Ring to Theril. He was happy to hear that Helseth was dead.
30		I killed Theril Gilnyth as Lloras Nelvel asked. The sword should be in the Ebon Tower Curia Top Floor.