Thursday, December 29, 2011

Skyrim: The World-Eater's Eyrie / Skuldafn Temple / Sovngarde / Dragonslayer Walkthrough

This quest is relatively straight forward and probably does not require a lot of guidance, but there are a few stages that are more tricky and there are a couple of puzzles to solve.

This quest is first initiated when you use the Call Dragon shout on the Dragonsreach Porch to call Odahviing and trap him. Once you have him trapped and have a conversation with him, you end up getting him to reveal the location of Alduin's portal to Sovngarde and then flies you to Skuldafn.

Once you get to Skuldafn, there will be a number of high level Draugr (wraiths and deathlords) before you get to the door to head inside the Skuldafn Temple. I did not count exactly, but there are at least 8 Draugr (some deathlords, some wights, etc.) and there are two dragons. Be careful not to attract the attention of everyone all at once or it will be a very difficult fight.


Head up all the stairs and around the broken tower and up the stairs again to get up to the door that says Skuldafn Temple. This is where you want to go. You can check out the North and South Towers out here if you want as well, but there is not much to tell in them except some more Draugr. Once you get inside the Skuldafn Temple, you will enter a big room with a number of Draugr that come after you almost at once. Kill them and continue forward. You will end up heading up some stairs into a room where more Draugr will attack you. After you kill them, you'll probably notice there are three of the infamous pillars and two gates in front of you. The two side pillars need to be positioned so that the symbol that faces the nearest fire bowl matches the one carved there. The center pillar needs to match the symbol above the gate you want to open.

If you face the pillars from the gates, to open the right gate, you need to see bird - bird - bird and the left gate you should see bird - snake - bird. This is what is shown in the two pictures at the right. The right gate has a chest with not much in it and nothing else behind it. The left gate is the one you need to go through in order to continue with the quest.

After going through the left gate, you will go up some stairs to the left and end up on the walkway above a room with a single Draugr Wight below you. As you approach him, a Deathlord and another Wight will also begin to attack you. After you kill the three of them, head straight through where the Draugr Deathlord came out of. There will be frostbite spiders you need to kill in this area, but they shouldn't be much of a problem. Kill them and continue on along the corridor until you reach the double iron doors. Through these doors are another two Draugr - a Deathlord and a Wight. As soon as you open the doors you will notice another pillar. After killing all enemies you will probably notice that there is no exit from this room. The pillars are what provide the exit to you.

The picture on the left shows you the location we are talking about and will be the reference frame used for explaining the solution. While looking forward towards the wooden bridge that will drop, the pillar on your right needs to be set to the bird, the one to your left needs to be set to whale, and the one behind and below you needs to be set to snake. So that puzzle solution from left to right would be whale - snake - bird. These symbols come from the symbols shown in the mouths of the people corresponding to them. Going across the bridge will allow you to access a door that again is labeled Skuldafn Temple. You need to continue through this door to continue with the quest.

When you go through these doors you will enter a room that has another three Draugr in it. There is a Deathlord, a Wight, and a Scourge. Defeat them and continue up the stairs, across the bridge, and through the corridor to the spiral staircase. At the top of the spiral stairs is a room with three more Draugr and a gate that needs to be opened by lever. directly across the room from the gate is an iron door behind which is flammable oil on the floor which can help kill the Draugr. If you go through that door and turn left 180 degrees you'll see a lever that will lift the gate so you can continue forward.

As you continue forward through the passageway ahead, be careful of the flammable oil trap. When you turn left at the end of the corridor with this trap, straight ahead will be a puzzle door and a Draugr Death Overlord guarding it. Kill the guard and take the Diamond Claw from him to get through the puzzle door. The solution from top to bottom is wolf - moth - dragon (as shown at the right).

This door will allow you to enter a room with a word wall in it. This word wall gives you a word for the Storm Call shout. There are no more Draugr in this section of Skuldafn so you may go straight up to the word wall and then continue on without worries. If you continue toward the quest marker, you will get to a door that says Skuldafn. Be prepared before leaving through this door. After you leave the door, you will be in an area with three Draugr Deathlords, a Draugr Scourge, two Dragons, and a Dragon Preist. Be especially careful of the Dragon Priest as he has a staff that will do 50 shock damage per second. You can get to him before he grabs the staff, however, if you move quickly. He will start heading for it as soon as you go out the door - he is out the door and to the left and then up the stairs. Get to him as quickly as possible, but still try to avoid having all enemies attacking you at once.

Also, the wooden planks that go to a tower straight ahead of you as you exit the door, follow them before going through the portal. All the way at the bottom there is a chest with, among other things, a flawless diamond in it.

Once you have defeated all the enemies, you will be able to get to Alduin's portal to Sovngarde. To use the portal, you need to activate the Dragon Seal, then you can simply walk into the portal. If the Dragon Priest has not yet reached his staff, then all you need to do is to walk into the portal.

Once you have gone through the portal, you will need to make your way through the mist to get to the Hall of Valor. You will meet a soldier quite quickly who will tell you how to get there and will follow you. You need to simply keep walking through the fog and get to the bridge. When you get to the bridge to the Hall of Valor, you will meet Tsun with whom you need to talk and later fight in order to gain admittance to the Hall of Valor.

Once in the Hall of Valor, you will speak with Ysgramor who will tell you that they were all commanded by Shor not to attempt to fight Alduin, but that there are three who have been waiting for me to come which would be their cue to join you and drive Alduin out. As it turns out, these are the same three people who you saw fighting Alduin when you read the Elder Scroll to learn Dragonrend. Follow them back outside where you will finally get to kill Alduin. I found it easiest to use Dragonrend to keep him on the ground and attack him that way.

Once you have killed Alduin, there are some awesome animations as he dies and then you just need to go talk to Tsun again to be sent back to Nirn. When you talk to him and tell him you want to go back home, he teaches you a shout to bring a hero from Sovngarde to aide you - the Call of Valor shout. This is officially the end of the main quest. Congratulations on completing an Elder Scrolls game.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Skyrim: No Stone Unturned / Stone of Barenziah Locations

When you talk to Vex in the Ragged Flagon about the unusual gem you found, she tells you that they are stones from the crown of Queen Barenziah. The crown was stolen, but was clearly dismantled and the gems are scattered all over the place. There are 24 total and on their own they are basically worthless, but if all 24 are found, they could be incredibly valuable. This conversation starts ends the miscellaneous quest to bring the unusual gem to an appraiser and begins the No Stone Unturned quest.

These Stones fo Barenziah really are scattered all over the place, but are mainly concentrated in places you need to visit for various semi-major quests. Quests like the Dark Brotherhood, Theives Guild, College of Winterhold, Stormcloaks/Legion, etc. often bring you within reach of these objects. However, for your convenience, I have put together a list of exactly where each of them is. I'll be updating the details as I go back through the game for a second time.

Location
Notes
Whiterun
Halls of the Dead Catacombs (in the first room, go down the left stairs and it will be to your left)
Whiterun
Dragonsreach (Jarl's room)
Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary
Astrid's room. Still accessible after the Death Incarnate quest.
Whiterun
Jorrvaskr (Kodlak's room)
Solitude
Blue Palace (Jarl's room)
Thalmor Embassy
Elenwen's Solar on the second floor.
College of Winterhold
Arch-Mage's Quarters
Black-Briar Lodge
East of Riften (second floor bedroom, next to bed)
Riften
Mistveil Keep (Jarl's room)
Markarth
The Treasury House (end table in Thonar's bedroom, which is the left from the front door)
Windhelm
Palace of the Kings Upstairs (Wuunferth's Room)
Markarth
Understone Keep - Dwemer Museum (on a table in the first room to the left)
Fellglow Keep
Northeast of Whiterun (straight up the stairs and to the right)
Stony Creek Cave
Just North of the Ansilvund Burial Chambers (last room on the table)
Windhelm
House of Clan Shatter-Shield
Solitude
Proudspire Manor (must be purchased for 25 000 gold)
Pinewatch
In a house west of Helgen there is a secret hideout accessible from the basement.
Yngvild
The island northeast of Dawnstar (bedroom behind the throne in Yngvild Throne room)
Dainty Sload
Ship along the coast southwest of the Solitude Lighthouse (last room on the table)
Sunderstone Gorge
On the table with two bodies in front of the Dragon Word Wall.
Dead Crone Rock
On the stone table opposite dragon word wall.
Ansilvund Burial Chambers
Northeast of Shor's Stone and due north of Riften.
Rannveig's Fast
After falling down the trapdoor in front of the chest and Dragon Word Wall)
Hob's Fall Cave
On the northern coast, directly between Dawnstar and Winterhold. Near the alchemy set.


If you have any trouble finding any of these Stone of Barenziah locations, please let me know. As I said, I'll be updating as I go through the game again, so if I need to revisit any particular part sooner rather than later, I can do that.

Skyrim: Dragon Armor Creation and Stats

The following are two tables showing the items needed to create dragon armor and the armor rating of it once created. Keep in mind that a smithing level of 100 is necessary to create dragon armor as is the perk for dragon armor smithing.


Here is a helpful bit of info if you are trying to figure out how much dragon stuff to sell and how much to keep in order to make your dragon armor.

A full set of Dragonplate (heavy) armor requires:
  • 6 Dragon Bones
  • 13 Dragon Scales
  • 10 Leather Strips

A full set of Dragonscale (light) armor requires:
  • 14 Dragon Scales
  • 7 Iron Ingots
  • 4 Leather
  • 10 Leather Strips

Heavy Dragon Armor

Items Used
Item Created
Created Item Properties
Dragon Bone × 2
Dragon Scales × 3
Leather Strips × 3
Dragonplate Armor × 1
Heavy Armor
Armor Rating = 46
Dragon Bone × 1
Dragon Scales × 3
Leather Strips × 2
Dragonplate Boots × 1
Heavy Armor
Armor Rating = 17
Dragon Bone × 1
Dragon Scales × 2
Leather Strips × 2
Dragonplate Gauntlets × 1
Heavy Armor
Armor Rating = 17
Dragon Bone × 1
Dragon Scales × 2
Leather Strips × 2
Dragonplate Helmet × 1
Heavy Armor
Armor Rating = 22
Dragon Bone × 1
Dragon Scales × 3
Leather Strips × 1
Dragonplate Shield × 1
Other
Armor Rating = 34


Light Dragon Armor
Items Used
Item Created
Created Item Properties
Dragon Scales × 4
Iron Ingot × 2
Leather × 1
Leather Strips × 3
Dragonscale Armor × 1
Light Armor
Armor Rating = 41
Dragon Scales × 2
Iron Ingot × 1
Leather × 1
Leather Strips × 2
Dragonscale Boots × 1
Light Armor
Armor Rating = 12
Dragon Scales × 2
Iron Ingot × 1
Leather × 1
Leather Strips × 2
Dragonscale Gauntlets × 1
Light Armor
Armor Rating = 12
Dragon Scales × 2
Iron Ingot × 1
Leather × 1
Leather Strips × 1
Dragonscale Helmet × 1
Light Armor
Armor Rating = 17
Dragon Scales × 4
Iron Ingot × 2
Leather Strips × 2
Dragonscale Shield × 1
Other
Armor Rating = 29