Lifting the Vale

Background
When the Hero enter Bruma, a Nord named Tolgan will ask them to meet with Countess Narina Carvain and give them 25 as an incentive. When they talk with the Countess in Castle Bruma, she tells them that she's an avid collector of Akaviri items and considers her collection the most complete of Cyrodiil.

However, one artifact, the Draconian Madstone, has eluded her for some time. Based from an old, transcribed Akaviri diary, Carvain believes that it can be found at the legendary Pale Pass, an Akaviri fort deep within the northern mountains.

The fort at Pale Pass was where the Akaviri staged their assaults while attacking Tamriel from the north many ages ago. The countess believes that the Akaviri commander has the stone in his possession and tasks the Hero with finding it.

She gives them a transcription of the journal, which provides an explanation of how to find the legendary Pass, and a roughly drawn map of Pale Pass that came with the journal. She also provides them with the first map marker, Dragonclaw Rock.

Serpent's Trail
To find Dragonclaw Rock, follow the dirt path east and then northeast from Bruma. Once they arrive there, head northwest up the mountain and they should find the cave location Serpent's Trail. In the trail, there are rats, Pale Pass Ogre Stonewreckers, Imps, Wolves and a Mountain Lion or two (level dependent) as well as a Dreugh depending on level.

Watch out for trap pads on the ground and avoid those. They'll eventually come across a skeleton and a message window will say that it's the dead messenger that wrote the journal entry. He's holding the Akaviri Orders that he was supposed to give, so pick that up. Continue on through the cave until they come to the door that leads outside to Pale Pass.

Pale Pass
In Pale Pass, the Hero will find Pale Pass Ogre Stonewreckers and possibly wolves, bears or rats. Simply follow the path north-northwest until you arrive at the old fort. Enter the fort into the Mouth of the Serpent.

The Ancient Fort
Once they enter the fort, head down the hall and watch out for a log trap when reaching the first hallway intersection. The main enemies of this fort are Undead Akaviri Soldiers, who wield a Ruined Akaviri Katana and Ruined Akaviri Shield.

The room to get to is the Venom of the Serpent. There are several ways to get there from the beginning, although if one intend to scout out and eliminate everything in the whole place, they'll eventually make their way there. If not the quickest and most direct way is the following:

At that first hallway intersection, make a left, go up the stairs and jump across the hallway to the other side (or, if they don't have a high Acrobatics skill, jump to the side platform to get across). Then enter the Scales of the Serpent. Fight the way through and go down the stairs, but slow down once they come to the hallway. If they look up they'll see a bunch of rocks in the ceiling. Allow the rocks to fall and then proceed.

Follow the hallway as it turns left, lower and cross the bridge and enter the Fangs of the Serpent. Once inside, look at the columns and they'll notice they have some arrow trap holes. Go to the right and simply go around them from the right side. They should now be on the upper level, lower the bridge and cross it and make a left and get into the Venom of the Serpent.

Commander Mishaxhi
In the Venom, they'll see the ghost of Akaviri Commander Mishaxhi. Don't attack him yet. Go up and talk to him and he'll ask them where the orders are and they have three options, all of which are viable options:


 * 1. "I’m here for the Madstone."; At which point he'll get angry ("How dare you address me that way!") and attack the Hero.


 * 2."Here are your orders." If they picked up the orders from the dead messenger and give them to him, the commander will be satisfied and the entire fort will be at peace and all remaining skeletons will die. He'll then walk through the door wall, which will open.


 * 3."I’m from the army of Reman!"; At which point he'll say, "Then prepare for battle! I’ll not let this fort fall to the dogs of Reman!" and attack them.

Any of the three options is fine and achieve the same purpose, which is opening the wall behind him where three chests and the Draconian Madstone are hidden. If they do decide to kill him he'll drop the Akaviri Dai-Katana when they beat him, but be sure to pick it up immediately. Otherwise the katana will disappear with his ghostly body.

Return to the Countess
Go back out to Pale Pass and then fast travel back to Bruma for the reward of the Ring of the Vipereye or do the Keys and Barrels before going back.

Minor side quest: Keys and Barrels
As a small side quest in the area, in one of the small frozen ponds southeast of the fort there is a Frozen Barrel. In this barrel they will find a key and a Crumbled Note.

The note tells a little story about how someone (G.S.) steals a ring from the wizard Ortharzel. After fleeing this mysterious person ends up in the Pale Pass and decides to hide the ring here. He mentions that he used the "key to a key" trick.

The key from the Frozen Barrel unlocks the Rusty Chest hidden amongst the grass in the tower just west of the entrance to the Mouth of the Serpent. The Rusty Chest contains a key to the Old Chest hidden behind some rocks along the trail southeast of the lake with the Frozen Barrel.

The Old Chest contains the key to the Forgotten Chest southwest of the entrance back to Serpent's Trail. Lastly, the Forgotten Chest contains the stolen Circlet of Omnipotence, a one pound ring which increases five attributes by a small amount each.

Trivia

 * This is a long quest, so be prepared and stock up on healing and magicka potions before leaving. If they are experienced in Security, bring a lot of lockpicks as there are many locked chests on the way that contain some good loot and gold. If they are a mage with experience in Conjuration, summoning creatures can help in battle.
 * It is recommended that they scout out the entire fort as the chests contain some valuable loot.
 * Note that Mishaxhi is one level above the Hero and has a full Blades Kit.

Bugs

 * The reward is a quest item that cannot be removed from your inventory and in some 360 versions of the game, can be incredibly harmful. It has enchantments lesser than the Draconian Madstone that you have to trade for it. But regardless, going to jail can remove every single quest item from your inventory.
 * The Ring of the Vipereye is a glitched item and is much weaker than the Draconian Madstone, but when you complete the quest, you can find the Madstone behind the countess throne sitting in a display stand. If you find the right moment, you can easily steal it.

Тайна долины