The Final Descent

The Final Descent is a quest in.

Background
''I've stumbled across Crescius Caerellius inside of Raven Rock Mine. He's convinced that the remains of his great-grandfather, Gratian Caerellius, are at the bottom of the mine and that the East Empire Company has falsely designated his ancestor's death as an accident. He's tasked me with exploring the mine on his behalf to locate the remains, and perhaps discovering what killed Gratian Caerellius.''

Raven Rock Mine
After entering Raven Rock Mine, Aphia Velothi and Crescius Caerellius can be seen arguing about venturing into the mine.

Crescius: " Damn it, woman! I said leave me be!" Aphia: "Crescius, last time you explored the mine you almost fell to your death. I'm not spending the rest of my days as a widow!" Crescius: "And I'm telling you that I'll do whatever it takes to find my great-grandfather's remains. He's down here, I can feel it." Aphia: "That was almost two centuries ago. There may be nothing left to find." Crescius: "Just let me go, woman!" Aphia: "Crescius, you're an obstinate old fool and you're going to get yourself killed."

After talking to Crescius, the quest starts.

The path heads down until a platform with a cave to the left side is encountered. Here lives a skeever and a skeleton. Further on, a cave can be seen to the right containing some minor loot and a frostbite spider. The path across the wooden platforms leads to another spider. Down the stairs is another spider. Inside the next corner is a fire trap.

Continuing down the next set of stairs, the path appears blocked, but the wood can be broken. There's an expert-locked East Empire Company strongbox on the chest next to the iron gate.

After unlocking the iron gate with the Raven Rock Mine key, it becomes obvious that the miners accidentally broke into an old tomb, similar to what happened at Soljund's Sinkhole. The path continues to some water, near which several draugr live. A chest can be found in the left crevice after entering the room with water. The next corner contains a trap. Around the corner and up the stairs, two thrones can be seen in the next room, with a draugr seated on the left one. Around the thrones and through the door at the end are more draugr. They can be killed easily at low levels by using the trap (pressure plate with swinging door).

The next room contains many draugr sitting on thrones. To the left side of the room is a master-locked chest. Through the door at the other end of the chamber, to the right, a stalhrim deposit can be found in the draugr crypt on the left. However this can only be mined with an Ancient Nordic Pickaxe. Further down the path is an alchemy lab with all sorts of ingredients, including some added by, specifically two netch jellies which are needed for a miscellaneous quest to retrieve five of them for Milore Ienth.

Further on is a lightning trap at the place with two torches. Through the water to open the door on the right, the next room contains more draugr, some of which may be draugr deathlords. Again, they can be easily killed by leading them back to the trap. The archer can be taken care of by sneaking at the entrance and sniping it with a bow because it only stays on the bridge ahead. In the waterfall, a door leads to Bloodskal Barrow. Inside are two urns and a stalhrim deposit with a searchable draugr under it.

Heading back and going upstairs to the right is a door that must be opened. The button for that door can be found on the opposite side of the chamber. There is an expert-locked chest beneath an arcane enchanter. Through the door to the left is a chamber with a spell tome for Ice Spike on a pillar. To the right is a ramp with an adept-level chest underneath. There is a lightning trap at the end of the chamber. Through the already opened wooden door is a walkway with pressure plates just beyond. At the end of the walkway is a door with an adept-locked chest behind it. Turning around, a little alcove is on the right side.

The next room contains the destination. Note that, after jumping down, there is no return until the Dragon Priest Zahkriisos is defeated. After jumping down, the water can be followed to the end, where there's a chest. Afterwards, taking Gratian's Journal off of his corpse and reading it will give the optional objective.

Passing Through the Bloodskal Door
To open the door, equip the Bloodskal Blade. When doing a power attack, a red beam will come out of the blade. If doing a horizontal attack (done by moving to the side while doing a power attack), a horizontal beam will come out, while a straight power attack results in a vertical beam. From the top of the stairs, with the reticle aimed at the glowing red fissures found at the left and right sides of the door, a horizontal power attack will unlock a horizontal red fissure. When a vertical fissure appears, a vertical power attack will unlock it. The sections of the walls will alter themselves along with the red fissures; continuing to aim the reticle and matching attack with the red fissures will eventiually result in each side having no visible red fissures left. Now the door can be hit vertically with the reticle aimed along the new, centered red fissure. This will open the door.

Through the unlocked door and the swinging blade traps, the lever at the end of the hallway opens a door. In the middle lies a chest. But this appears to be a trap, because it only contains two gold, and approaching it spawns Zahkriisos.

Zahkriisos is able to spawn seekers to his aid. He can use the master level destruction spell lightning storm. Zahkriisos can be killed by crouching behind a fallen pillar and using the blade's special effect to hit and hide. Having a follower with a bow will also distract him. Alternatively, he can be baited into a tight area, then the Dragonborn can morph into a werewolf. He must be cornered so he can't float over the water.

After he is defeated, the Word Wall teaches a word of Dragon Aspect. Back at the west end of the room, the exit to the right leads to a stand with a Black Book. Reading this will send the Dragonborn to Apocrypha. However, this quest can be started at any time - it is not necessary to start it immediately.

Apocrypha
Walking forward (being careful of the tentacles that come out of the water) starts the quest Black Book: The Winds of Change. After completing the quest, the Dragonborn is teleported back to the place where the black book was first picked up.

Raven Rock Mine (second time)
A chest at the left side of the room holds leveled loot. Up the stairs is the door to Bloodskal Barrow. At the end of the passage, activating the chain on the left side opens the stone door. Multiple enemies are present that need to be killed. At the end of the path is a door to Solstheim. All enemies in both towers need to be killed, in order to allow fast travel. Don't forget the adept-locked chest on top of the second tower. Fast traveling to Raven Rock and returning to Crescius at his house causes him to give a reward of 250-750 when the journal is handed in.

After this, Raven Rock mine will be reopened, which now serves as a large source of ebony.

Bugs

 * The Dragon Word Wall may not give any words of the shout Dragon Aspect.
 * Exiting the game and reloading a save before killing Zahkriisos will fix this.


 * This can be fixed by going back through the door and re-entering.
 * Ebony Ore may not spawn in the mine after the quest has been completed.
 * Upon leaving through the door to Bloodskal Barrow after returning from Apocrypha, a part of the tunnel will disappear and the Dragonborn will fall through the floor.
 * This can be fixed by going back through the door and re-entering.
 * Picking up the Bloodskal Blade will not add any weight to inventory, but will eventually cause the Dragonborn to be over encumbered.
 * Reloading an old save will fix this.
 * Also can be fixed by typing 'player.forceav speedmult 300' in console and saving and reloading. Walking speed will be back to about normal but sprinting won't work. However, it will be impossible to be over encumbered again.

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