Turning into a vampire in Cyrodiil often starts as a curiosity or a desperate survival tactic in a dark dungeon. The initial stat boosts to Strength, Speed, and Willpower feel incredible, and the added bonuses to Sneak and Acrobatics turn any character into a night-stalking predator. However, the novelty wears off the moment you realize you can no longer travel during the day without your health bar evaporating, or when every shopkeeper in the Imperial City refuses to speak to your pale, vein-streaked face.

Getting cured of vampirism in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is notorious for being one of the most grueling, time-consuming, and bug-prone questlines in the game. Whether you are playing the classic version or the remastered edition, the process remains a significant undertaking that requires traveling across the entire province. This is the definitive breakdown of how to rid yourself of the undead curse once and for all.

The Three-Day Grace Period: Porphyric Hemophilia

Before you become a full-fledged vampire, you first contract a disease called Porphyric Hemophilia. This usually happens during a melee encounter with a vampire in places like Memorial Cave or various abandoned forts. At this stage, you are not yet a vampire. You are simply infected.

During these first 72 in-game hours, you can cure the condition as easily as any other common ailment. A simple "Cure Disease" potion, which can be purchased at any alchemy shop or found as loot, will wipe the infection clean. Alternatively, visiting a chapel in any major city and activating the central altar will grant you a blessing that removes all diseases, provided your Infamy isn't too high compared to your Fame.

If you sleep after those three days have passed, your character will undergo the transformation. You will wake up with a new set of powers, a heightened sensitivity to sunlight, and the realization that a simple potion will no longer suffice. You are now a member of the undead, and the path back to humanity is much steeper.

Starting the Vampire Cure Quest

The formal quest to cure vampirism—known in the game files as MS40—does not appear in your journal automatically. To trigger it, you need to speak with a healer or a priest at any of the city chapels. Ask about "Cure Vampirism," and they will direct you to the Arcane University in the Imperial City.

Once at the University, locate Raminus Polus. He is usually found in the Arch-Mage's Lobby. Polus will admit that while the Mages Guild doesn't have a ready-made potion, he knows that Count Janus Hassildor of Skingrad has been researching the topic. This sets the stage for a much larger narrative involving the Count's own struggle with the condition.

Travel to Castle Skingrad and speak with the steward, Hal-Liurz. She is an Argonian who can usually be found in the Great Hall. After you tell her you have information regarding the cure, she will fetch the Count. Janus Hassildor will reveal that he and his wife are both vampires, but while he has embraced his nature, his wife has refused to feed and has fallen into a catatonic coma. He wants a cure for her and is willing to pay you handsomely if you find a way to brew it.

The Witch of the Corbolo River

The Count directs you to search for a woman named Melisande who lives in a remote hut along the Corbolo River, east of the Imperial City. Her home is called Drake Lowe.

Melisande is a classic "hedge witch" with a deep knowledge of forbidden alchemy. She agrees to help you but demands a steep price in the form of rare materials. Her first requirement is five empty Grand Soul Gems. This is often where players get stuck for hours, as Grand Soul Gems are not common items in the early to mid-game.

Where to Find Empty Grand Soul Gems

It is vital that these soul gems are empty. If you find a Grand Soul Gem that is already filled with a soul, Melisande will not accept it. Here are the most reliable locations to gather them:

  1. The Mystic Emporium: Located in the Imperial City Market District. If your Mercantile skill is decent, you can usually buy one or two here.
  2. Mages Guild Halls: Check the shop inventories of the alchemists in Chorrol, Bruma, and Cheydinhal. They occasionally stock one.
  3. Dungeon Crawling: High-level necromancer and conjurer dungeons are your best bet. Places like Moss Rock Hole or any ruin filled with cultists often have soul gems in chests or on altars.
  4. The Theft Route: If you aren't afraid of a little bounty, the Mages Guild in Chorrol has several Grand Soul Gems locked in display cases. Use a high Security skill or the Skeleton Key to liberate them.

Once you deliver the five empty gems to Melisande, she will give you the real shopping list. This is the core of the quest, requiring five distinct and difficult-to-obtain ingredients.

Gathering the Alchemical Ingredients

Melisande requires a specific mixture of plants, blood, and remains to brew the cure. You will need to track down the following:

1. Six Cloves of Garlic

Garlic is common but often ignored until you need it. You can find it hanging in many kitchens across Cyrodiil. Skingrad is particularly well-stocked with garlic; check the basements of houses or the kitchens of the local inns like the West Weald Inn. Most food vendors in the Imperial City will also have a few cloves for sale.

2. Five Nightshade Leaves

Nightshade is a dark purple flower that grows primarily in the West Weald region. If you follow the Gold Road between Skingrad and Kvatch, you will see them dotting the landscape. They also frequently grow in cemeteries. If you prefer to buy them, the Main Ingredient in the Imperial City Market District almost always has a few in stock.

3. Two Shoots of Blood Grass

This is the red, bladed grass found exclusively inside the Planes of Oblivion. If you have already closed the main gates near the cities, you might find this difficult. However, most alchemy shops that specialize in "daedric" ingredients will carry it. If there is an active Oblivion Gate nearby, simply step inside, grab the grass near the entrance, and step back out.

4. Blood of an Argonian

Melisande will provide you with a special enchanted dagger. You don't need to kill an Argonian; you simply need to stab one to collect a blood sample.

  • The Safe Choice: Find a hostile Argonian in a dungeon. Veyond Cave, north of Bravil, is filled with Argonian tribesmen who will attack you on sight. Stabbing one of them fulfills the requirement without incurring a murder bounty.
  • The Easy Choice: If you are a member of the Arena, your next opponent might be an Argonian.
  • The Ethical Shortcut: Visit Peryite's Shrine. The followers there are in a frozen trance. You can stab one of them, collect the blood, and they won't even realize it happened (though this still counts as an assault in your stats).

5. Ashes of a Powerful Vampire

This is the most dangerous part of the quest. Melisande tasks you with killing a specific vampire named Hindaril. He is located in a dungeon called Redwater Slough, which is found along the Panther River, far south of Cheydinhal.

Redwater Slough is a partially flooded cave system. Hindaril is a formidable opponent, often guarded by other undead. He is locked behind a gate that requires a key found deeper in the cave (usually in a chest protected by traps). Once you slay him, search his body for the "Ashes of Hindaril." Regular vampire dust will not work.

The Brewing Process and Potential Bugs

After delivering all the ingredients to Melisande, she will tell you to wait for 24 hours. Use the wait function or go explore a nearby cave. When you return, she will have two doses of the Vampire Cure potion. One is for you to drink, and the other is for Rona Hassildor, the Count's wife.

Warning: Do not drink your potion immediately if you want to complete the quest smoothly. There is a long-standing bug where drinking the potion before delivering the other dose to the Count can break the quest dialogue scripts.

Return to Castle Skingrad. Speak to Hal-Liurz, who will lead you to a secret chamber where the Count and Melisande are waiting by Rona's bedside. Melisande will administer the cure to the Countess. The scene is somber; Rona will briefly wake up, speak to her husband, and then pass away, as the cure finally allows her body to succumb to the exhaustion of her long coma.

Wait for the Count to finish his grieving process. He will ask you to leave and return in 24 hours. When you return, speak to Hal-Liurz again, and the Count will reward you with a significant amount of gold (the amount scales with your level). At this point, you can safely drink your potion and return to your mortal form.

The DLC Shortcut: Deepscorn Hollow

If the thought of gathering soul gems and stabbing Argonians sounds too tedious, there is a much faster way provided you have the "Vile Lair" official add-on (included in most modern versions of the game).

Deepscorn Hollow is a player home designed for evil characters, located in the southeastern corner of the map. Once you purchase the upgrades for the lair from Rowley Eardwulf at the Wawnet Inn, you will have access to the "Font of Renewal."

Inside the Font of Renewal, there is a cluster of Purgeblood Salts. By harvesting these salts and then activating the stone basin in the water, you can cure your vampirism instantly and as many times as you like. This is the preferred method for players who want to toggle their vampirism on and off throughout their playthrough.

Using Console Commands (PC Only)

For those playing on PC who have encountered a game-breaking bug or simply don't have the patience for Melisande's errands, the console is the ultimate cure. Press the tilde key (~) to open the console and use the following steps:

  1. Add the Potion: Type player.additem 000977E4 1. This adds the specific cure potion to your inventory. Drinking it should trigger the cure script.
  2. Force the Cure: If the potion doesn't work due to a script error, you can manually remove the vampire traits by typing set pcVampire to -1.
  3. Clean up Spells: Even after curing the base stat, you might still have vampire spells in your magic menu. You can remove these individually using the player.removespell command followed by the specific spell ID (e.g., player.removespell 0003B2AA for Hunter's Sight).

Managing Your Condition While Questing

Because the quest for the cure takes several in-game days, you will likely reach the higher stages of vampirism before you finish. At Stage 4 (100% Vampirism), you will take 8 points of sun damage per second, making outdoor travel during the day impossible.

To manage this, you must feed. Feeding on a sleeping NPC resets your vampirism back to Stage 1 (25%), where you take zero sun damage. The best places to feed are:

  • Guild Halls: If you are a member of the Fighters or Mages Guild, the beds are filled with sleeping members at night.
  • The Imperial City Waterfront: The beggars sleep outside and are easy targets, though you should be careful of patrolling guards.
  • Inns: Sneak into the rooms of paying guests at night.

Feeding does not kill the victim, nor does it necessarily incur a bounty if you aren't seen. It is a necessary evil to ensure you can reach the various locations required for Melisande's ingredients without turning into a pile of ash on the Gold Road.

Final Considerations

Once you have taken the cure provided by Melisande, you become permanently immune to Porphyric Hemophilia in the original game logic. You can never become a vampire again. This is a massive decision for your character's progression. If you find yourself missing the night-eye or the stealth bonuses, your only way back is through loading an old save or using the Vile Lair's unique mechanics.

Most players find that the freedom to walk in the sun and interact with the world's NPCs far outweighs the loss of vampiric powers. The world of Cyrodiil is far too beautiful to only see it through the purple tint of Night-Eye.