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Walkthrough: written by Krusty, not checked
Reward: written by multiple users, not checked |
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Quick WalkthroughEdit
- Speak to Deor Woodcutter in Skaal Village.
- Find Baldor Iron-Shaper at the abandoned lodge.
- Retrieve the map from Ancarion at Northshore Landing.
- Return to Baldor in Skaal Village.
Detailed WalkthroughEdit
Finding BaldorEdit
If you return to Skaal Village after the quest The Fate of the Skaal, you will overhear a conversation between Fanari and Deor:
-
- NOTE: Do not talk to anyone until they finish their conversation—see bugs.
Fanari: "Deor, you must be calm. I'm sure there's a good reason Baldor left us."
Deor: "Something isn't right, Fanari. I feel it in my bones and I smell it in the air. Baldor wouldn't leave without telling someone."
Fanari: "Don't worry yourself over nothing, Deor. Do you want a head full of gray hairs before you've seen forty winters?"
Deor: "It makes my heart heavy that you don't believe me, Fanari. Baldor could be in danger, and you will do nothing. If you won't help me, then I'll ask the All-Maker to send someone else who can."
If you ask Fanari about the missing person, she will just brush it off as another of Deor's crazy ideas, but Deor is quite serious. He will tell you that local blacksmith Baldor Iron-Shaper went missing in the middle of the night. Deor suspects a kidnapping motivated by Baldor's valuable expertise in stalhrim smithing. On the night of his disappearance Deor also saw two elves dragging something away to the "south and west", so start your search in that direction.
Abandoned LodgeEdit
While Deor's directions could lead you more-or-less anywhere on Solstheim, your compass objective marker will point you directly to an Abandoned Lodge southwest of the Temple of Miraak. The lodge is normally empty, but once you arrive, you'll be attacked by four hostile members of the Thalmor. Dispose of them and loot their bodies for a note from their commander and the key to the lodge. Inside, look around until you are met with the surprising sight of Mikael's book, A Gentleman's Guide to Whiterun. Head into the basement where you will find the scared, tied-up smith in a corner, weeping: "Help! Somebody! Please, someone, help me!" and "I have been taken against my will! I am in need of rescue!"
When you talk to Baldor, he will remember you as the hero who rescued the people of Skaal Village. Despite his wounds, he'll claim he's not hurt. When you ask why the Thalmor abducted him, he'll reply: "I do not know this word Thalmor, but if you mean the elves, they were trying to learn the secrets of forging Stalhrim. Their leader, an elf named Ancarion, has a map. He says that it shows the location of a hidden source of Stalhrim." He will then explain what stalhrim is: "Enchanted ice as hard as iron and cold as death. Stalhrim can be forged into deadly weapons, but the art is known only to smiths of the Skaal." He will then point you towards a Thalmor ship at the northwestern coast where Ancarion resides. He asks you to retrieve the map as it belongs to the Skaal people. Leave the wounded smith behind and make your way northwest to Northshore Landing.
Northshore LandingEdit
When you arrive, a Thalmor soldier will warn you to be careful. Make your way to the ship, and talk to Ancarion.
- I'm here about the Stalhrim map.
- "So you know my purpose here, then? I suppose you must have found that dullard of a blacksmith. Unfortunately for you, my mission here is also a secret. To protect it, I have no choice but to silence you. Now, give me one good reason that I should not kill you where you stand."
Three dialogue options will now be available. Successfully completing the third option will require a Speech skill of at least 75:
Option | Response | Result |
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The blacksmith won't talk. You're wasting your time (Persuade) | Pass: "I admit, we are not making the progress I'd hoped. Perhaps you are right, this venture might be more trouble than it's worth. Very well, you have convinced me. We will depart the island shortly and seek our weapons elsewhere." Fail: "You dare to question me? That insult will be your last!" |
Pass: Receive map Fail: Combat |
Leave this island now, or your life is forfeit. (Intimidate) | Pass: "I can see that is no idle threat. Very well, we will depart the island once we have loaded the ship. No weapon is worth dying for, not even a weapon forged from Stalhrim. Here, give this map to the blacksmith. I have no further need of it." Fail: "You dare threaten me? For that insolence, I will flay the flesh from your bones!" |
Pass: Receive map Fail: Combat |
You want Stalhrim weapons, and I think I can help you get them. Ancarion: "Here to make me an offer, then? Very well, what do you have in mind?" The smith said he'd teach me how to make Stalhrim weapons. Ancarion: "And you will sell them to me. I suppose I'll have to give you the map first?" Yes, otherwise he'll teach me nothing. You can trust me. (Persuade) |
Pass: "I might not trust you, but I will trust your greed. Very well, take the map. Return here with Stalhrim weapons and armor, and I will pay you a fair price for them. Tell the blacksmith whatever lie you will. We have no further need of him." Fail: "You expect me to just hand you the map, so you can deliver it to the blacksmith and laugh at the foolish Thalmor you so easily outwitted? You have made a grave miscalculation, and now you will pay the price!" |
Pass: Receive map and a new quest Fail: Combat |
If the Thalmor soldiers at the dock engage you in combat, you'll need to kill Ancarion and loot the map from his corpse. Regardless if he gave you the map, if you pickpocketed it from him, or if you killed him and looted it from his corpse, your final step is to return to Skaal Village and give it to Baldor. He will be quite pleased, and will teach you how to smith Stalhrim. This quest is now complete, and the next two will start when you return to Skaal Village.
NotesEdit
- The stalhrim source that the Thalmor are seeking is in the mountains to the south of Northshore Landing, and its marker will be added to your game map if you read the Stalhrim Source Map, or upon finishing the quest if you don't. There are another two stalhrim deposits just east of the ship, on a small unmarked island surrounded by horkers.
- If you have completed The Gardener of Men, all the villagers including Baldor will be "busy" until you complete At the Summit of Apocrypha. Make sure to talk to Baldor before you talk to Storn if you wish to complete this first.
- Although you must finish this quest before you can craft stalhrim, there is another requirement that must be met: your Smithing skill must be at least level 80, and the Ebony Smithing perk must be active.
- After you finish the quest, Ancarion will remain docked at Northshore Landing if you successfully made a deal to sell him stalhrim equipment. If the Merchant perk is active, you'll also be able to sell him weapons and armor that aren't made out of stahrim.
- After you finish the quest, the Thalmor soldiers you encountered outside the Abandoned Lodge will eventually respawn, though the new ones won't be hostile.
BugsEdit
- If you talk to the two Skaal villagers discussing the disappearance of the village blacksmith before they have finished talking, you will be unable to interact with the male villager, Deor Woodcutter, thus making the quest unattainable.
- There is a chance that the Thalmor Soldiers at the Abandoned Lodge will not be named, rendering them unlootable, thus making it impossible to obtain the key.
- The Unofficial Dragonborn Patch, version 1.0.3, fixes this bug.
- This can be fixed by typing
player.additem xx027e00 1
into the console where "xx" is the load order number of the Dragonborn add-on.
- There is a chance that after you speak with Deor your compass marker will point you to the furthest southwest point on the map, rather than the abandoned lodge.
- This can be fixed by waiting 48 hours outside of the abandoned lodge. The compass marker will move to the correct location and Baldor will spawn inside the lodge.
- If you successfully make a deal to sell Ancarion stalhrim equipment, he may eventually run out of gold, leaving him with nothing. ?
- Since Deor and Fanari are only marked as Protected, they can be killed by the player (for example, accidentally during the battle with the Lurker after the Wind Stone is freed). This will prevent the quest from starting.
- The Unofficial Dragonborn Patch, version 1.0.4, addresses this issue. It resurrects them if necessary, and marks them as Essential until the quest has started.
- You can force the quest to start by using
Setstage DLC2SV02 10
.[verification needed]
Quest StagesEdit
A New Source of Stalhrim (DLC2SV02) | ||
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Stage | Finishes Quest | Journal Entry |
10 | Baldor Iron-Shaper, the smith in Skaal Village, has gone missing. One of the other villagers, Deor, said he saw two elves dragging something through the woods on the day of Baldor's disappearance. They were heading southwest.
Objective 10: Search for Baldor Iron-Shaper
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20 | Baldor Iron-Shaper, the smith in Skaal Village, was abducted by the Thalmor. They were trying to get him to reveal the secret of forging Stalhrim. Baldor told me that the Thalmor leader, Ancarion, had a map that showed the location of a new source of Stalhrim, and he asked me to retrieve it.
Objective 30: Retrieve the Stalhrim Source Map
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30 | Baldor Iron-Shaper, the smith in Skaal Village, was abducted by the Thalmor. They were trying to get him to reveal the secret of forging Stalhrim. Baldor told me that the Thalmor leader, Ancarion, had a map that showed the location of a new source of Stalhrim, and I retrieved it. Now I need to bring it back to Baldor.
Objective 40: Talk to Baldor Iron-Shaper
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200 | Baldor Iron-Shaper, the smith in Skaal Village, was abducted by the Thalmor. They were trying to get him to reveal the secret of forging Stalhrim. Baldor told me that the Thalmor leader, Ancarion, had a map that showed the location of a new source of Stalhrim. I returned the map to Baldor and in gratitude, he offered to let me use his forge, where I can craft new items made from Stalhrim. | |
Unknown |
Objective 20: Talk to Baldor Iron-Shaper
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A New Source of Stalhrim (DLC2SV02Misc) | ||
10 |
Objective 10: Ask Deor about Baldor's disappearance
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- The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table:
- DLC2SV02: 0, 40, 50, 100, 110.
- DLC2SV02Misc: 0, 200.
- Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g.,
<Alias=LocationHold>
) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game. - Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
- Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
- If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
- On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering
setstage DLC2SV02/DLC2SV02Misc stage
, wherestage
is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest usingresetquest DLC2SV02/DLC2SV02Misc
.