THE CATHEDRAL



First I'll give you a tour around the main hall of the Cathedral. It's so huge, it's understandable if you get lost there once in awhile. Closest to the entrance is the Aqua area, with the Pool of Aqua (don't stare at the bathers, BB addicts!) and in the middle the Altar of Aqua.
The next area is where the Altar of Terra is located. To the right you'll see a lone Templar Monk (Nun?), she could sell you some nice spells (my favorites are Call Bear and Call Wolf). To the left you can find an Altar of Healing; this may come in handy when you return from your travels and need to recover quickly.
The third part of the Cathedral is the area of Ignis. Only a simple dome for an altar here, nothing special. And the last area is where the Altar of Aer hangs out. Literally - look up, it's inside the sphere!

Right behind it is the small choir of the Cathedral, where you can meet Reverend Coes. As the Templar Monks may have told you, he's the one to talk to if you want to speak to Lady Stadi Galanos. First he'll ask you to meditate on (touch) the Altar of Ignis; the right donation (don't overdo it!) will earn you the Cup of Ignis. After this you need to solve Rev. Coes' riddle. Maybe you can figure it out from the tapestry directly behind him, but if not: the Queen is white, and her Element is Water. Rev. Coes will then give you the key to the Inner Sanctum, the tower behind him.
Talk to Rev. Xanondorf up in the tower about Lady Stadi. Before he'll allow you to go to her, you need to cleanse yourself by bathing in the Pool of Aqua, and then performing an act of charity. Read more about the latter in the book "Charity" on the bottom shelf of the bookcase there; and since you are already reading, I suggest that you read the other books to, such as "On Purity", to learn more about the Elements. This may help you later on.

Go to the Altar of Aqua and touch it. After a moderate donation you can touch it again and answer the question. I told you you should read the books: this is the examination! If you did your homework, you'll know that the essence of Water is Time, and that it can be purified by bringing it to the place called One. That answer will earn you a Pearl of Unity.
Now it's time to go and do some charity work. Go out and find somebody poor to be generous to! Walk towards the harbor and turn left, you'll see a poor-looking Khajiit; he doesn't need your money, so continue past the Smoking Pipe and turn left at the Black Pot. This is the market square; beyond it is a bridge. There's a beggar in that area called Gazar, he's your target. From the book "Charity" you'll know what to say to him. Gazar tells you about his friend's problem, he's the Khajiit on the quay, Xanatos. Talk to him and help him by finding his wedding ring.

Dive into the harbor and crawl through one of the grates on the bottom. Follow the passages, you'll end up meeting Alt3c who went diving before you. When you talk to him, he'll say something about liches taking away the ring, and then he'll be attacked by a slaughterfish. You might be able to save him, but it is of no consequence for the quest.
So now your mission down there should be clear: find the liches, and you'll find the ring. But how? All passages seem to be closed off, the only way to proceed is in the direction where the slaughterfish came from. Don't turn left but go straight on, you'll find a stone button. Press it. This puzzle is about pressing buttons like that to open doors elsewhere, I think you'll be able to figure that out on your own.
Near that first button is an old rusty door with lock level 50. You can safely ignore that, you don't need to go in there for the main quest.
Eventually you'll be back where you found Alt3c. Dive into the room nearby with two slaughterfish (one very big one), and beyond that is another room above the water. That's where the liches are. Kill them or sneak past, and take the ring from a plate in one of the alcoves. Return to Xanatos and give him the ring. This completes your cleansing, so you may return to Rev. Xanondorf now.

Rev. Xanondorf will give you access to Lady Stadi Galanos. Talk to the Lady, she'll give you a history lesson, and she'll also tell you that you should cleanse the Elements, and how. This is a crucial point in your quest, so listen carefully! You need to retrieve the four Corrupted Pearls of the Elements from the four different Realms of Aqua, Terra, Ignis and Aer, but not necessarily in that order. It's up to you when to go where. The portals (or "dimension doors") to the Realms can be found inside four Mills; you have already been in one, the Ebony Mill in Caldera, which gives access to the Realm of Terra. The location of the other mills are unknown to her, you have to visit the mage Timpy in Sadrith Mora who knows all of them.

However, to be able to go through the dimension doors, you need to go to Reverend Coes to ask about the Amulet of the Righteous. But when you get out of the tower, Adreian Sophes, one of the Ordinators that accompanied Gandor Amsirva, is waiting for you, and he's desperate. What to do now?

Again, it's totally up to you. To summarize, you can do any of the following, in no particular order:

THE AMULET OF THE RIGHTEOUS: THE PILGRIMAGE OF THE CATHEDRAL



When you first entered the Cathedral, you were probably wondering what those bathers were doing there (aside from bathing, of course). You're about to find out, it's your turn now!
When you talk to Reverend Coes about the Amulet of the Righteous, he'll give you a paper with some pointers on how to do the pilgrimage and get the Seed of Renewal. You already know about meditating from when you were cleansing yourself, so the first stages of the pilgrimage should be easy.

Touch the Altar of Aqua first, you'll get a journal update. Next up is the Altar of Terra. When you meditate there, you'll be teleported to an underground location. All you need to do is go through the right door; the others will just bring you back to your point of entry there, and you can simply try again. Just take care not to put a foot wrong, it's a loooong way down... Btw the doors are labeled, so nothing could be easier.
You already know what to do at the Altar of Ignis: get another Cup. This leaves the Altar of Aer. It's inside the spinning sphere above you (don't get dizzy! unless that's your idea of fun, of course), so you need to levitate. Meditating on it will take you to another underground location, and this one looks a lot more difficult. I don't need to tell you what to avoid here... Again, as with Terra, the wrong doors will only take you back to your point of entry.
There are two ways to do this, the quick one and the smart one. If your timing is right you may go through a door just in time, but it's very risky. It's easier to hover next to the statue, just out of reach of those flying axes, and "squeeze through" the edge of the door. Choosing the right door will complete your meditations.

The pilgrimage continues through the door in the tower that you can see on your right. On your way up in the tower you'll see a nice tapestry showing a man reaching up, and some numbers in triangles. Remember: clues like this tapestry are important in The Black Mill! Proceed to the top and go to the door on the other side of the Cathedral. That door is locked, and to enter you need to know the Sum of the Hands, or failing that, the Sum of the Feet. Go back to the tapestry I mentioned to get the right number, or just take your best guess.
Inside this tower you can go upstairs and out to enjoy a nice view of the city, but your pilgrimage should take you to the basement, or Catacombs, as is the more appropriate name for such things in Cathedrals. The tapestry near the door may alarm you a little, but go in anyway.

You'll see a large room with cells on three sides - some are open and others closed. There are four corpses of famous(?) Templar Monks, you need to find the one called Raaman, Touching it will make the gratings rise up on two sides of the room. Go to the cell in the southeast corner and touch the disc on the wall, called a Stone of Moonphases. This will teleport you to another cell. You're locked in now, but don't worry: the stone that you're standing on will always get you out. There are three other choices: touch the one on the left. Then (in the next cell) touch the one on the right. Now you have only two choices; touch the stone in front of you. Solved! (Rumor has it that you can figure this out from the tapestries, but I never have.)
You're in the main hall again, and you can see a flower in the middle: this is the Flower of Renewal, which contains the Seed you need. This completes your pilgrimage. Take the Seed to Rev. Coes, so he can give you the Amulet of the Righteous and a nice present. You're a real Pilgrim now!

The Amulet gives you access to the four Realms, but you only know the location of one of them - Terra. You have the following choices now: