The Break of Dawn

Overview

 * Enemies: Corrupted Shades, Malkoran
 * Objectives: Bring Meridia's beacon to Mount Kilkreath, Replace the beacon, Guide Meridia's Light through the temple, Destroy Malkoran, Retrieve Dawnbreaker.

Walkthrough

 * 1) The Beacon will spawn in a random chest after you reach level 12, hence it has no set location. You can use Clairvoyance to find the beacon. Alternately, you can go the Statue to Meridia and speak to Meridia to begin the quest. (This will set a way point to the Beacon.)
 * 2) Bring Meridia's beacon to the Statue to Meridia at Mount Kilkreath. Mount Kilkreath is located west of Solitude.
 * 3) Replace the beacon into the hands of the statue.
 * 4) Guide Meridia's light through the temple, activating the beacons to direct the light. Temple is guarded by Corrupted Shades.
 * 5) Destroy Malkoran, a quite powerful wizard. You will have to kill Malkoran twice: once while he is mortal and once when he is a shade.
 * 6) Retrieve Dawnbreaker. This is a one-handed Sword that has a powerful enchantment against undead.

Beholding the Beacon of Light
Once you reach Level 12, you may discover this strange gem in one of the large and ornate treasure chests you open. This gem occurs randomly; it's not in any fixed locations.

You can also travel to Meridia's Shrine, which is West of Solitude. She will tell you that you must get rid of the darkness and set a way point to find the Beacon of Light. It can spawn anywhere but the way point will tell you where it is.

Meridia's Beacon
Take this beacon, and as you exit the interior location, and every day thereafter, you hear a voice inside your head. It becomes increasingly alarmed at your lack of interest in helping the Solar Daughter, Meridia. When you wish to start this quest (if only to rid yourself of Meridia's alarming cranial lurking), find the Statue to Meridia. The other way this quest can start is you trek to Mount Kilkreath, in the mountain range west of Solitude. Try to spot a prominent statue of a woman with her arms raised to the sky, on the southern slopes just above Dragon Bridge. As you approach, you hear a voice commanding you to find and return with her beacon. Locate the object, and return to begin the quest.
 * Objective: Bring Meridia's Beacon to Mount Kilkreath SkyrimMeridiaStatue.png returned in its place]]
 * Objective: Replace the beacon
 * Target: Statue to Meridia

Once you set the Beacon on the cupped arms of the small statues at the feet of Meridia's effigy, you are caught and whisked into the clouds. An aspect of Meridia appears. She tells you that a necromancer named Malkoran is planning to raise the dead of Skyrim's Civil War and wage open war on the living, using the energy of a powerful artifact in her shadow-filled shrine. You are to enter her shrine and shine the brilliant beam of light throughout the dungeon; it will open the way to the inner sanctum, where Malkoran is defiling her Daedric artifact, Dawnbreaker.


 * Objective: Guide Meridia's Light through the temple
 * Target: Kilkreath Temple, below the Statue of Meridia

Shining Light in the Dark Temple
Desecrated Corpses here contain vastly more gold than average for dead bodies, especially if you are an Imperial.

You descend back to earth. Locate the Iron Door below the statue plinth and descend into the temple. In first large chamber, approach the pedestal in the center, which has a beam of light hitting it. Activate it. A beacon gem rises from the pedestal, ricocheting the light up and into a second gem contained in the mouth of a carved dragon. Then exit via the doorway underneath, into a second chamber where the ghosts of Imperial and Stormcloak Soldiers, controlled by Malkoran, attack you.

Retaliate (and search the remains, as there's usually gold to be scavenged), and then activate the pedestal on the central steps.

The wooden doors atop the main steps lead to a blocked area, so head south, along a side tunnel, where the beam pierces the wall. Engage in more ghostly combat, before heading to a third main chamber, where you encounter more shades. Climb the wooden steps, and go to the upper stone bridge leading to the next pedestal. Activate it, and head south to the door leading to Kilkreath Balcony.

This balcony is outside, overlooking the forested valley below. At the end of the bridge, there is an Expert level chest you can lockpick. Cross the bridge, fighting more ghostly foes, and quickly enter the door on the opposite side, leading to Kilkreath Ruins. At the main chamber, you face more spectral foes. Head up the steps (as the doors on the ground are sealed), and activate the pedestal at the top. Then navigate the corridors on the eastern side of the upper area, investigating any chests and urns you wish. Enter the caged bridge, then jump to the upper pedestal on the raised island. Head west through a previously sealed door.

This leads to another open chamber. Dispatch the shades before climbing the side wooden steps on the chamber's eastern side and following the corridor around and back to the room with the caged bridge. You are now above the bridge and can access the third pedestal, which unlocks the double doors in the south wall. Open them, and head down into the Kilkreath Catacombs.

Destroy Malkoran
You are close now; descend and enter an antechamber with the draped corpses of soldiers and a pedestal surrounded by candles. Activate the pedestal, which opens the double doors. Then descend to the main altar chamber, where Malkoran and a ghostly quartet of soldiers are ready to expel intruders. Attack these foes; consider backing up the corridor and steps you just descended so you aren't surrounded. Then fend off the attacks from Malkoran, bringing him down with superior combat and cunning. Be aware that after you kill Malkoran's human form, his shade spawns and takes his place and you have to kill him again.

Conclusion
Before getting the sword, be sure to loot the many corpses, as it will add up to over 1000 gold. Once done looting, approach the pedestal that holds the defiled Dawnbreaker and wrench the sword free. Your view fills with light to the realm of Skyrim. The dead shall remain at rest, and you are to keep Dawnbreaker and use it to purge corruption from the dark corners of the world. Wield it in her name (or agree to simply keep the weapon).
 * Objective: Retrieve Dawnbreaker

Taking Dawnbreaker will immediately teleport you out of the temple and into the sky for the final scene of the quest. Since the final room in the catacombs will become locked, the plentiful loot there must be taken beforehand.



Post-quest Activities

 * Carry Dawnbreaker and wield it for Meridia, whether you told her to find someone else to spread her religion or whether you're a firm believer.
 * Just north of the statue is an unguarded Word Wall containing one of the Elemental Fury words.

Bugs

 * After being taken thousands of feet into the air, a dragon has a chance of attacking, and you getting stuck up there forever. To avoid this, kill the dragon on top of the Elemental Fury word so there isn't a dragon close by. It might not be there though.
 * more of a mistake than a bug, going to the quest screen and looking at the quest description after completing the quest, it will read '...and retrived the artifact dawnstar...' instead of saying dawnbreaker
 * the beacon may not be in the chest. this could be caused by the fact that it spawned in the final donjon's chest of the quest silence tongues.(pc)
 * Sometimes, when Meridia talks to you a second time and then drops you back down to the map, the game will count it as a fall, killing you instantly. The cause of this bug is unknown, it doesn't seem to help if you're wearing light clothing either. Since Dragon Shouts cannot be preformed while falling, the Ethereal Shout ability will not help. To avoid this affecting you, save right after killing Malkoran.
 * Pressing start and bringing up the menu for a certain period of time as you fall will prevent this and will cause you to respawn at the shrine. MalkoIt is possible to escape this glitch by running towards the water after the conversation with Meridia. Another way to avoid fall damage is to position your character directly over the stone slab on which Meridia's shrine sits. because the pedestal is located underground some distance away from the shrine itself, the player will not be located directly above the shrine. If the player skips through the dialogue delivered by Meridia, they can walk around in mid-air until she finishes speaking, at which point she will drop the player again. For some reason, fall damage sustained from this "drop" is negated should the player land on the stone slab at the base of Meridia's shrine. You can also type "~" mid-drop and enter tgm to go into god mode. Then type tgm again after the fall to remove god mode.
 * In the PC version, the bug apparently appears when a dragon is nearby the first time Meridia speaks to you. After reloading a save file and killing a dragon circling overhead, the first conversation with Meridia happens normally, with the character safely falling back onto ground. However, the second conversation brings about the same problem. If no fix is discovered, use the console command 'tgm' to make yourself invulnerable and then allow yourself to freefall.
 * Sometimes upon receiving the quest, the location of the beacon will not appear on your map, making it impossible to find it and continue the quest without the use of the console.
 * It is possible to obtain two Dawnbreakers. Either cast Firestorm or summon and kill a Flame Atronach behind the statuette that holds Dawnbreaker and the sword may come flying away from the statuette. Picking up this sword does not end the quest. Additional copies of the sword can not be obtained this way. Touching the statuette holding Dawnbreaker after collecting the sword on the floor will end the quest normally with you receiving Dawnbreaker again.
 * It's possible to gain a second Dawnbreaker as one of the corrupted shades MAY pick up the dawnbreaker that is in the pedestal upon being attackted. Works similarly to the bug above.
 * In one of the caves the puzzle stones that you have to turn won't move. This is a bug common to the rotating pedestal puzzles, and it can be easily resolved by saving in place and then loading from the new save. Once the game loads, whether it is from a save or moving to a different area, the glitch is typically resolved.
 * It is possible that if, while fighting Malkoran's Shade, a summoned Dremora Lord kills the Shade, the quest will glitch and not update to give you access to Dawn Breaker. To fix this, expel any summoned Daedra and use the Conjuration spell "Dread Zombie" to raise Malkoran; immediately kill him in order to bring back the Shade, which you must kill yourself. If a follower kills him the second time and this bug persists, load a previous save or autosave and part ways with any followers before the reanimation.
 * Sometime, even after you have obtained the quest by going to the Statue of Meridia, a way point will not appear to guide you to the beacon, leaving this quest impossible to complete. Clairvoyance will also not help with this as it will not provide a way. There is no known fix for this bug. HOWEVER the Beacon will still spawn in a random big chest once the quest is accepted. Due to the large number of chests it can spawn in, finding it may still take a very long time.
 * The above bug appears to have been fixed with v1.4; when you exit the current area, the quest marker should now appear on the map.
 * Using Dead Thrall on Malkoran and killing him may result in another Malkoran's Shade spawning. This process may be used to theory of unlimited farming of Malkoran's Shade for possible coin and training select skills.
 * There is a bug that may prevent you from completing the quest (or making you stuck in the final chamber where you fight Malkoran). Even if you kill the Necromancer and his shade, the target indicator may still be on him; you'll be informed that the quest is completed, but you'll be unable to pull the Dawnbreaker out. The fix is to load the save BEFORE a fight with Malkoran.
 * When fighting Malkoran, his shade will sometimes spawn and not move, nor will it take damage, leaving you permanently fighting him. This typically occurs when you kill him before his followers (i.e. with powerful bowshots before being revealed) To fix this use a destruction spell (flames confirmed) against him, melee and bow attacks will not work.
 * [360] While fighting Malkoran, if you behead him, the shade will spawn and leave the area. It will hide behind the door frame and it will be unkillable. It will not attack you either, and you will gain XP for every hit.
 * PS3, PC - The quest journal will say that you have retrieved the artifact "Dawnstar" instead of "Dawnbreaker".

Missing Follower
If you enter the Kilkreath Temple with a follower they may become indefinitely lost to you once Meridia pulls you back into the sky after acquiring the Dawnbreaker. She takes you out of the temple and into the sky causing your companion to be stuck within the temple itself. Even after revisiting the temple they will not show up. Any carried loot will be lost along with them.

If all else fails, tell your follower, before removing Dawnbreaker, that it's time to part ways. To be safe, wait 24 hours and then take the sword. After Meridia returns you to the ground, you should be able to find your follower in their default location (i.e. your house, if married) along with all their armor/weapons/loot.
 * After Meridia drops you at the foot of her statue, to your far left you will see the balcony of her temple. Climb over the rocks and jump down to the balcony. Open the door leading to the Kilkreath Ruins where you fought Malkoran and your companion should be running up to meet you. This is more efficient than waiting and you can fast travel from the balcony so you don't have to backtrack to the front door.
 * A fix on PC only: Go to the unlockable iron door then type "~." Select the iron door with your cursor then type "unlock." This is a console command to unlock any door.
 * Alternatively, enter in the console : "prid #######" to select the follower. For Lydia the code is 000a2c94. Next, enter "moveto player" in the console. Your follower should appear beside you with all the items he/she previously had.
 * Waiting a few hours works. Your companion has to make their way back through the dungeon on foot and will reappear at the entrance.
 * Try immediately fast traveling to a town and your companion should appear. PS3- Fast traveling did not work. Parting ways worked. (PS3- Immediately after completing the quest and returning to Meridia's Shrine, fast traveling back to the shrine caused follower to catch up with player).
 * Before going through the last door have your companion wait and close the doors behind you. The doors will not reopen, so your companion can not charge forward when you are attacked. You will have to go back through the dungeons to get your companion back though.
 * It can happen that the quest drops you off at Boethiah's shrine after you have spoken to Meridia. You will not be able to go on with the quest anymore after this point.


 * glitch where becon light dosnt exit first cave and door on balcony remains locked

Behind the scenes

 * The Break of Dawn is a song written by the band 'Firefall'

Reference

 * The Official Game Guide of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Prima Games.