I'm currently in the "Allies for Bruma" stage of the MQ. I've visited every city and managed to close every gate directly threatening each. All save one; Anvil. I'm having a lot of trouble finding how to close that gate. When inside the Oblivion realm you find the main tower portal high up on a central plateau that seems completely inaccessible. hen I follow the main path, so to speak, it takes me to the other side of the plateau but to a lava lake dead end. I can't scale up the rocky plateau despite my high agility and so far I've not found any entrances to caves or something other that would lead me to the top of the plateau. How the heck do you get to the damn tower?

Secondly. I understand that this quest seems to be optional in the sense that you don't need to go to every city and convince every count and countess to send troops by closing the gate outside their respective cities. THis being said I've travelled back to Bruma after my failure to close the Anvil gate. I've spoken to everyone inside the castle. The countess, Burd etc. AND I've travelled to cloud ruler temple and talked to everyone important there as well, Jauffre, Baurus, MArtin etc. yet nothing seems to make the quest move forward. According to my quest info I have to go to Anvil and close the damn gate.

How do I close the damn Anvil Gate?

OR

If indeed this is an optional quest how do I get the quest moving forward again?

Anvil's Gate always leads to Random World 7 - which includes two sections of tunnel to get to the tower. You've just missed the entrance(s). They should show up with door markers on your local map, if you've passed them.

alright ill pay more attention to my local map.
cheers

edit; Was I wrong to think that this quest is optional?

It's definitely optional. I think you were given two quests at the same time, though. Did you do the non-optional one already?

i'm not really sure what you're talking about? I play Oblivion on and off so I couldn't tell you in detail the progress i've made up to date in the quest. I remember seeing chancellor Ocato and him telling me I had to go see the cities as the legion was spread too thin already.

My question still stands however, How do I get the MQ moving again without closing the Anvil gate?

ghastley had it. To elaborate:

Use your local map only. It's very easy to overlook the door. Maddeningly easy... I speak from personal experience as well. Once you find the door, I use this method, and it works time and again:
I stand near the doorway, and look towards the main tower if I can. The Tower Portal I mean. If I cannot see it, I move as far as possible so that I can see the tower, then note which way I am facing. If I have to move far away from the doorway to get eyes on the tower, I try to extrapolate what that means in terms of compass direction.
^^ This is obviously a lot easier if you can see the tower from the doorway. Save your game often. The planes of Oblivion are a dangerous place.... (sounds like a loading screen )
I enter the tunnel. Sometimes there are two exits in these caves. I try to take the exit that is more oriented toward the compass heading I'm directed towards.
Here's the deal though, entering the exit of the current cave will randomly teleport you to a different cave. I've been randomly teleported five times in a row in one Oblivion Gate, talk about feeling postal . Just keep on your compass heading, and you should find yourself on a higher plane, often being able to actually see on your local map the first cave entrance. Work your way up. You might even have to enter yet another cave system, though the cave systems that are higher tend to be just one cave with the exit to the Tower Portal, unlike the cave systems that are lower on the mountain, which can bring one to one's knees, I been there brotha.

Alternatively, those special city gates are optional, as noted ad nauseum above.

Thanks for the info. I will mos def try and close this last special gate. HOWEVER, my question from the beginning still stands. If I wish to overlook this gate and I choose NOT to close it how do I get the main Quest to get going again?? Is it simply as stupid as (I just thought of this right now as I was typing) that the Main quest is still in my quest log under a different name and I simply need to click on it so that it can tell me what the f I need to do. "Allies for Bruma" then, would not be the name of the main quest in that given part of the game. Do you get what I'm saying? lol I feel like im really not explaining this well.

Edit: Wher are my manners. Here is your cookie Ice cream fine sir for your help in closing the gate

Anvil is optional, but you will need the help if you can get it. The Nether tunnel is not too far from the gate. It’s easy to run by it.

On the Bruma Gate - you must have another quest assigned by Martin to go get and bring back something. Check your Quest Journal.

thank you T-mar. I will do just that