Speak to Crescius Caerellius then m ake your way into the Northern Mine (located through the door on the left side of the town) and speak to Crescius Caerellius to instigate the mission. Once you’ve asked him everything, you’ll recieve the Gratian’s Letter and the Raven Rock Mine Key .

Retrieve Gratian Caerellius’s Journal¶

Proceed down the stairs and then push on down into the deeper parts of the mine. When you reach the junction, pick the right path and then push onwards, killing any spiders that get in your way.

Hack away at any spider webs you see, you can also melee attack the boarding to find loot such as a difficult-to-open East Empire Trading Company Chest (with pendant inside). Once you’re ready, open the steel gate with the key you were given earlier.

Keep your eyes peeled for not only Draugers , but also traps in the ground as well! When you reach the three Draugers, two will be inanimate until they hear you, so it’s worth sneaking up on them to get some critical hits in.

It’s worth saving before you really kick the fight off as one of the Draugers has the power to summon Frost Atronach demons to pummel you. It’s a good tactic to nip back the way you came or , you can even ignore them altogether by opening the door opposite and running away!

Loot the tables in the next room and if you have an Ancient Nordic Pickaxe you can mine the very rare Stalhrim Deposit here. Nearby there’s an Alchemy Lab with loads of ingredients on the surrounding shelves.

Be careful when you reach the ramp leading up as there’s a trap involving two electric shock Soul Gems in both alcoves (so it’s wise to try and run past instead of into them as they’ll drain your magicka and your health super quick)!

Save your game at the bottom of the hill as there’s two Draugr Deathlords roaming the next room. Lure the one down the bottom out and hit it hard and fast with your strongest weapons. You can then use a bow and wait for the Deathlord on the walkway up ahead to stop, before getting a shot off to chip away at its health.

At the top there’s a switch to pull, then run back around, enter the new pathway, take the left and grab the Spell Tome: Ice Spike book from the pedestal. Go through the opposite tunnel and be careful at the top as there’s another Soul Gem electric shock trap waiting for you. If you use your Whirlwind Shout to reach it, you can pick it up and deactivate the trap.

Be careful after going through the small overpass towards the stairs, there’s a trap on the floor that triggers poisonous arrows. Hang a left and then drop down into the room below. Loot the chest in the alcove to the right and then search through the corpse of Gratian Caerellius for the Bloodskal Blade.

This blade will fire off a red energy attack that damages enemies with 30HP per hit, but it’s also needed to solve a puzzle that will allow you to exit this room.

Escape Bloodskal Barrow¶

You need to hold the direction in which you want to fire the magic attack off (so hold left or right before pressing attack). Now aim for the slots so your blade is matched up with the angle of the red magic leaking out of the block.

So that’s horizontal for the first two, then vertical for the next two and finally horizontal again (this time up high), for the last two. You can use your Whirlwind Shout to get past the corridor of swinging blades (but you can also run past them normally too).

Save before approaching the chest in the centre of the room as this’ll trigger a fairly tough boss fight with Zahkriisos , who’s rather good with shock magic (and can take you out super quick if you’ve not got any resist shock potions to hand).

You can duck behind the chest and then pop out and fire off a magic burst from your Bloodskal Blade (being sure to quickly nip back behind the chest for cover). You can keep this up to chip away at his health as he doesn’t regenerate it. Hiding here also gives your energy chance to recover if you take a nasty electric shock.

Once he’s dead, loot him for his mask and then go to the back of the room to learn the last part of the Word of Power Dragon Shout: Wyrm, Dragon Aspect .

Return to Crescius Caerellius¶

Go through the exit at the right side of the room (if looking at the chest from the dragon wall) and in here you’ll find the ‘Black Book: The Winds of Change’ and if you want to do this future side-quest now, then you can read the book and go to that chapter in our guide.

Otherwise, simply take the nearby loot and then head up the spiral walkway to the door at the top to Bloodskal Barrow . Be careful when you enter here for there’s a few Reaver Thugs in the room after pulling the chain. Use the Alchemy Lab if you like, otherwise you can now head outside to the main map.

Now Fast Travel back to Raven Rock and then enter the house beside the dock and speak to Crescius to complete this lengthy and difficult side-quest!