Turning a Blind Eye

This quest opens up as a possibility when you have sold at least 600 gold worth of stolen goods to one of the guild fences.

From this point on, once you receive the notification that you can get another quest, your best chance to get it is to stand in one place in the Imperial City and wait in 24-hour spurts.

I usually choose an open area in the Waterfront. Wherever you choose to wait, a member of the Thieves Guild will approach you and say that you need to meet the Gray Fox at Helvius Cecia's house in Bruma.

So, fast-travel to Bruma.

Face the chapel and head down like you're going to Ongar's house...but just keep going. Helvius Cecia's house is the sixth one on the right. Enter the house.

Head forward and left, down the stairs. Keep going once you reach the bottom, and when you see a bed, turn right. Here is our Gray Fox.

He wishes you to get Savilla's Stone, which is in a location known as the Temple of the Ancestor Moths. Killing human guardians of the stone will not earn you a blood price. He says it is north of Cheydinhal, so open your maps and scroll over to north of Cheydinhal.

We're in luck. It's just Northeast of Azura's Shrine! How delightful! Fast-travel there and head northeast from there.

Once you reach the place, go up the stairs and turn to the right to see some old guys tending a garden. Talk to one. (I chose Brother Hjar.) Raise their disposition to 80+ (just in case) and the blind priest option will tell you that the priests there, above ground, can see just fine. They raise food and whatnot for the blind priests, whose work makes them blind, and that they work in the catacombs which are very dark. But since they're blind it doesn't make a difference to them.

Inquiries about Savilla's Stone will go nowhere, no matter how high the target's disposition.

Go back to the main path you departed from. Turn left this time instead of right, and go into the teeny chapel. (You may have to pick the lock)

Turn right immediately and go up the ladder.

Talk to the monk you see there, a Brother Holger. Raise his disposition to above 80 and choose the Savilla's Stone conversational option. He'll tell you the monks in the catacombs guard it.

Now ask where the catacombs are. Follow him down the ladder and out of the chapel into the building next to all the gravestones (it's to the left when you leave the chapel). Go down the stairs and to the right once inside. Continue following him through this room, make a left at its top, and then right down a flight of stairs.

Go through the door ahead.

You'll get a quest notification that says the true guardians of the stone would not be subject to blood price and that you had better be careful. Save now.

Head forward into the room, and then turn left. Turn into the corridor on your right, and proceed along the corridor until you reach another right. Here is where I had to fight my first Blind Monk...their bodies can be looted for an Ancestor Moth Key, so make sure you kill at least one on your way.

Go straight into the large room where several monks are. Don't worry about killing them, it's fine, just might take a minute to get them all, although they don't really carry anything useful other than the key. Either way, whatever you do, proceed through the door ahead of you. Go forward and turn right. Go down the stairs and pick the lock of the door here, then go through it.

Go straight ahead and at the top right, there's a door that the keys will open. It's a room with lots of beds. This is where I met the Blind Moth Prelate, who has a Catacombs Key which you'll need.

From where you entered, make a U-turn and go down the passage there. (You'll know it's the right way because there will be a chest on your right and a wardrobe on your left) There will be a door there that the Catacombs Key will open, so go on through it.

Proceed down the corridor. It's one way, but be careful. There are trap tripwires down here! In between two tripwires, on your right, is a passage. Take it.

There's treasure in a chest (and damaging gas all around!), but once you take it the way you came in will shut. That's okay, because there is a passage to the left which you can take to get out!

Follow this corridor (be careful of a falling logs trap, and a Home Alone-style swinging-log-from-above trap) and make your first available right to be faced with another door that the Catacombs Key will open.

So this is the place. There'll be a Blind Moth Prelate guarding the stone. Kill him, but try to do so quickly (poison your weapon with a health-lowering potion, for example) because he can and will heal himself.

There's a Dark Welkynd Stone that will fire spells at you. Don't pay it any mind unless you're a lower level--maybe equip a weaker potion that will heal you over a few seconds to counteract it if you want to feel safe. Savilla's Stone is to the right of it, in a sort of holder and looking for all the world like a crystal ball! Go ahead and take it.

Go up the stairs ahead of you and turn right. Go into the corridor there and into a room with a ladder (and a chest that has a note on the Gray Cowl) that will lead you up and out.

Now fast-travel back to Bruma and go to Helvius Cecia's house.

Speak to the Gray Fox about Nocturnal's Cowl, and he'll ask how you know that it is Nocturnal's Cowl. You'll say from the note in the monastery and he will say that yes, it is. But it is cursed--he says he just told you his real name twice. That you've met before but that to you, he and the person you met are two different people.

Now talk about Savilla's Stone. Your reward is 500 gold, +2 to your infamy, and another promotion.