Blindsighted

Blindsighted is the second to last quest given to the character in the Thieves Guild questline. It is also the quest upon which the Skeleton Key is received.


 * Prerequisites: Trinity Restored


 * Rewards: Skeleton Key, Eyes of the Falmer, Nightingale Bow


 * Key NPCs: Karliah, Brynjolf, Mercer Frey


 * Enemies: Bandits, Falmer, Centurion Spheres, Dwarven Spiders, Dwarven Centurion

Objectives

 * 1) Travel to Irkngthand
 * 2) Speak to Karliah
 * 3) Locate Mercer Frey
 * 4) Slay Mercer Frey
 * 5) Retreive the Skeleton Key
 * 6) Escape from Irkngthand
 * 7) Speak to Karliah

Walkthrough
Travel to Irkngthand Upon arriving at Irkngthand, be wary of bandits who have set up camp here. You will need to fight your way up to the top to gain entry to Irkngthand. ''Note: If you have not started this quest, you cannot gain full entry to this dungeon. (Dungeon Lock Outs)''
 * Irkngthand1.jpgJournal Entry: I'm on my way to Irkngthand, a vast dwarven ruin that supposedly contains the legendary "Eyes of the Falmer." Karliah and Brynjolf are waiting for me within. Together we hope to stop Mercer Frey from stealing the Eyes and escaping Skyrim with the Skeleton Key of Nocturnal.

Speak to Karliah
Upon entering Irkngthand, make your way across the hall past the fire and bodies and up the stairs. Make a right and then make your way along the hallway. Go past the water and through the gates into the next hall. There is a sphere at the bottom of the stairs patrolling, as well as other spheres that will come out the holes in the walls as soon as you are detected, so dispatch them as quietly as possible. In the next room, rotating flame towers will activate. You need to make you way around these without making too much noise, you still have enough speed to sneak through them, just time it well enough. At the final flame tower, make your way all the way around it and then open the gate to the right of it. Make your way up the stairs until you reach the master locked gate. Opposite the gate is a lever, pull it. You will find yourself in a new area where Karliah and Brynjolf are waiting for you. Speak to Karliah and she informs you about traps that Mercer may have left.
 * Journal Entry: I've entered Irkngthand, a vast dwarven ruin that supposedly contains the legendary "Eyes of the Falmer." Karliah and Brynjolf are waiting for me within. Together we hope to stop Mercer Frey from stealing the Eyes and escaping from Skyrim with the Skeleton Key of Nocturnal.

Locate Mercer Frey
Open the doors in front of you and watch for the flying mace ball. Turn left and head down the stairs (watch for the expert locked gate full of goodies to your left as well). Karliah will spot Mercer and small scene will take place. Afterwards, follow the path round and open the door. Head down until you reach the next hall. A Falmer Gloomlurker will attack, between the three of you, you should quickly dispatch it. Head over the mound to your left towards the lever and pull it. Across the hall, you will spot another lever that you will need to also pull in order to open the door. You can either do one of two things: Once they are taken care of, pull the other lever and the door will open. If you take to long you notice that you have to pull the other lever again as it is set on a time limit, just pull one and immediately sprint to the other until you get it. Once the door is open, head down the stairs, watching for the spinning blades in the ground and head through the door. You will find yourself in a huge hall area, make your way along killing the Falmer Gloomlurker's as you go. Don't panic when the ground shakes. Once you are at the other end, you will see a tower has collapsed and you must make your way up the spiral ramp and through the door at the top. Go down the stairs and watch for the bear traps as you go. Grab the detect life scrolls in the room to your right, they will come in handy later. Go through the gate on your left and then through the door at the end of the corridor and you will find yourself, once again, in a large hall. Brynjolf will tell you that you can sneak around or take on the Dwarven Centurion. Since there are a lot of Falmer in this room, you can jump off the little bridge to the right and on your left there is a button that activates the Centurion. This will soften up the Falmer and they should kill the Centurion for you.
 * Journal Entry: Karliah and Brynjolf have joined me in my exploration of Irkngthand, a vast dwarven ruin that supposedly contains the legendary "Eyes of the Falmer." Together we hope to stop Mercer Frey from stealing the Eyes and escaping Skyrim with the Skeleton Key of Nocturnal.
 * 1) Dispatch the other two Falmer Gloomlurkers below using arrows
 * 2) Sneak over to the other side of the hall (towards the lever) and find the expert locked gate, unlock it and use the explosive arrows to take out the Falmer Gloomlurkers (use Throw Voice to get them into position if you have it)

Regardless of choice, make your way to the cage and then head up the stairs. You should see the path lead up and around to where you want to go, watching for the Falmer traps. After the bear traps you should see some spiders and Falmer across the hall. Once they have been dispatched, head into the door leading to the Irkngthand Slave Pens. Make your way down the stairs and quickly kill the Dwemer Spider, then head left and continue down the stairs. Activate the lever and a spinning blade will take out the two Falmer down below, but remember to turn it off before continuing. Run down the hall and be careful of the three flame pressure plates near the corner. Once in the next hall, Karliah will tell you there are a lot of Falmer in the next room and to sneak or take them on. If you want to sneak, simply stick the far right hand side walls and follow it all the way around and into the pen where there is a small cave at the back. After the cave you will find yourself in a larger cave, with two Falmer Skulkers in front of you. Kill them and continue down the ramp, and you will be confronted with several Charus, along with another Falmer Skulker. Make your way through the back of the cave into a downwards hill, making sure to kill the Falmer before dropping down. Head through the gate and then down into Irkngthand Sanctuary.

Statue_of_the_falmer.jpg Mercer Frey

 * Journal Entry:

Mercer will be removing the eyes of the statue as you enter. He spots your group and makes the ledge you are standing on collapse. Before the battle begins, he will talk to you for a bit about the Thieves Guild and honor. Mercer uses an invisibility spell, so use detect life scrolls (if you are cheap or didnt get the scrolls, use detect life to reveal him then stick a magelight on his head.) to see him and take him down. Once he's down, grab the both Skeleton Key and Eyes of the Falmer.

Escape from Irkngthand
Brynjolf and Kalirah will jump down to you and the place will start filling up with water, don't panic. Once the water is high enough, a piece of the statue's head will fall off and open an area behind it. Head into the area and sprint until you find yourself in Bronze Water Cove.
 * Journal Entry: Mercer Frey is dead and I've recovered the Skeleton Key of Nocturnal from his corpse. I need to escape Irkngthand before the place collapses around me.

Speak to Karliah
Upon speaking to Karliah she will tell you that returning the key will not be easy. The inner sanctum has been locked due to the fact the Nightingales failed to protect the key in the first place and the only way through is via the Pilgrim's Path. Brynjolf heads back the guild whilst Karliah is too afraid to face Nocturnal after her failure, so you must do this alone.
 * Journal Entry: Safe from the dangers below, Karliah, Brynjolf and I finally have a moment to breathe. Mercer Frey is dead, the Skeleton Key of Nocturnal is in my possession and, most importantly, the Nightingales have survived.

Bugs
A small glitch can occur during the stage of the quest after getting the Eyes of the Falmer. Mercer will make his way for the stairs, but get stuck and begin glitching up and down the wall, causing you to be frozen in the cutscene. Mercer eventually fixes himself after a few minutes.

There is a possible major "quest-breaking" glitch. When you swim out of the cavern after it fills with water, both Karliah and Brynjolf can get stuck in the flooded cavern. To end this quest you have to talk to Karliah, but you cannot talk to her when she is underwater. Reloading a previous gamesave can solve this problem, or on PC you can use the console and type "player.placeatme 0001B07F" for Karliah and "player.placeatme 0001B07D" for Brynjolf.

Another quest-breaking glitch is that Mercer may not appear in the cavern at all. To solve this, save before you enter the cavern, then 'player.moveto 22651' and click on Mercer with the console open. Then, reload your save, enter the cavern, and 'enableplayercontrols'. Jump off the ledge, then type 'moveto player' in the console. Mercer should float his way up to the head of the statue and collapse the ledge, then run down to face you, allowing you to resume the quest as normal. It's possible that turning collision off may break this.