In "retrieve the staff" part, random cave selected was BrittleShin. After slaying the mage, my character cannot search his body (or pickpocket). Quest arrow points to the dead mage but....

Is there a code to open the mage's inventory?

Hey there,I noticed this sometimes happens with dead bodies.After you kill them you can't loot them.I usually save and reload when this happens and it fixes it.If it does not I restart the game and it fixes it.Leaving the area and coming back also works.For instance I noticed sometimes you can't mine ore,so I leave the mine and re-enter and I can mine it.I hope any of this will work for you.

Thank you, Batviper. I'll try all of these ideas. I do save faithfully!