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Elder Scrolls

"I've finally located Vokun's crypt! The scroll I'm looking for has to be here. Maybe you could help me find it, I just know it's in here."
Anska[src]

A Scroll For Anska is a quest available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This quest is given to the Dragonborn by Anska, who is located in High Gate Ruins.

Objectives[]

  1. Find and return Anska's scroll to her
  2. Help Anska retrieve her scroll
  3. Return the scroll to Anska

Walkthrough[]

Upon entering High Gate Ruins, the Dragonborn will encounter Anska just after she finishes off one of the draugr attacking her with her Destruction magic. She states that she has been searching for the tomb of Dragon Priest Vokun for a few years and believes that the scroll, which links her bloodline back to Ysgramor himself, is located in the ruins. She will then request the Dragonborn to retrieve her scroll. If Anska dies, even if the quest has been completed, another entry will be added.

High Gate Ruins[]

After accepting the quest, Anska will begin to follow the Dragonborn. She mostly relies on her spells, so she will tend to keep her distance from enemies throughout the ruin. The ruin is mostly inhabited by Draugr, and almost all of them are leveled.

Puzzle solution: Look up and to the south. Note the sequence of Hawk, Whale, Fox, Snake. The northern ceiling has the same sequence, but the third carving has fallen to the ground. Now match up the pedestals (which also contain a specific animal carving), and activate the lever of the Hawk, Whale, Fox, and Snake pedestals to match the ceiling order. If the puzzle is solved successfully, the grating swings open. Descend the spiral stairs, and enter the door to High Gate Ruins Catacombs.

High Gate Ruins Catacombs[]

There are more traps (and leveled Draugr) as progress into the ruins is made, so beware of pressure plates and trip-wires. Head through the altar room, then down the long hallway to a second altar room, where three levers must be activated.

Puzzle solution: Pull the lever in the center of the room. The next is in the right alcove. Fight the Draugr guarding it, activate the lever, and face a second foe in the left alcove before activating the lever behind it.

The second lever opens the portcullis allowing entry into Vokun's Throne Room. Upon entering, the dragon priest Vokun will awaken from his sarcophagus with a screech, and it will be necessary to defeat him. Utilizing the columns in the room to avoid his attacks will be helpful, as he uses a Staff of Fireballs alongside Ebonyflesh and Flame Cloak. After defeating Vokun, it will be possible to acquire his mask. The mask must be picked up there, otherwise it will become impossible to fill the dragon priest shrine at Labyrinthian. Go behind his coffin to find a room containing the Sealed Scroll for Anska on the table and a word wall, containing a word for the Storm Call shout.

Exit the chamber via the north door at the end of the narrow corridor to end up in High Gate Ruins (Interior). Locate Anska, and hand the scroll to her. She is most grateful and provides a reward of a Conjure Flaming Familiar spell tome, completing the quest.

Journal[]

A Scroll For Anska – dunHighGateRuinsQST
ID Journal Entry
10 Find Anska's scroll and return it to her for a reward.
  • Objective 10: Find And Return Anska's Scroll To Her
20 Help Anska retrieve the scroll from High Gate Ruins.
  • Objective 20: Help Anska Retrieve Her Scroll
90 I have the scroll, I should return it to Anska for my reward.
  • Objective 30: Return The Scroll To Anska
100 High Gate Ruins is clear and Anska has rewarded me with a powerful new fire spell.
  • Quest complete
150 I have failed to protect Anska, now I'll never know what her scroll was for.
  • Quest failed

Trivia[]

  • To avoid Anska being killed by high-level enemies, do not accept the quest right away. Go through the tomb and kill everyone. After reaching the throne room and killing Vokun, she will appear. Pick up the scroll off the table to start the quest. Then simply turn around and hand her the scroll to complete the quest.
  • Anska, because of her eagerness to reach the scroll, is extremely "pushy." If following behind, she will frequently nudge the Dragonborn forward, possibly triggering traps.
    • A way to avoid this, her hitting followers, breaking stealth and other related issues using the console is to prid her and then use the command tai which will freeze her in place until the quest is completed.
  • Pick up the scroll before going anywhere near the dragon shout. The process of learning the dragon shout may blow the scroll to an unreachable location (see Bugs).
  • After the quest is completed, if Anska is asked what the scroll says, she will say it is encrypted and that it will take time to read it. Her dialogue will never change. She can be killed, but the scroll will disappear.
  • In Vokun's Throne Room, there are snake symbols on the walls of the chamber, as if there is a puzzle nearby to solve. However, this is not the case, so why the symbols are there is unknown.
  • Since Anska uses area of effect destruction magic, she may accidentally hit the player's follower if one is present. This will cause the player's follower to attack Anska. Additionally, the player's follower may accidentally hit Anska which will cause her to become hostile towards the follower and the player.
  • This quest only counts towards the achievement "Sideways" if Anska survives.
  • Because Anska is not essential at any point, she can be killed before starting the quest, thus preventing acquisition of the Flaming Familiar spell.
  • Once in possession of the scroll, despite its lack of utility, the Dragonborn can respond to Anska's thanks with, "Your thanks isn't enough. I think I'll be keeping this," to which Anska responds with, "I cannot let that happen." This choice simply exits dialogue with no effects. It is possible this was intended to start a fight for the bereft scroll at one point in the quest's development.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to A Scroll For Anska. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

  1. Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
  2. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
  3. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.
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  • The quest must be completed the first time the dungeon is entered, as it is not possible to return later. The dragon priest does not respawn, and the only way to open the gates on either side of his tomb is to kill him. They close after leaving the dungeon for the first time.
    •  360   An exception may occur where it is possible to leave the dungeon completely without getting the scroll (assuming Anska had grabbed it herself), go home, drop off some items then fast-travel back to the dungeon, and still find all the doors open. Return quickly to the throne room, and the scroll will still be on the table.
  • It is possible to re-enter the dungeon through the back entrance to Vokun's Throne room. It is necessary to have a follower other than Anska to succeed. Climb on top of the ruins on the opposite side of the back entrance to Vokun's Throne room. Then jump down on the little square surface, which is level with the opposite side. Then use Whirlwind Sprint (use the full shout if to be sure). Wait by the gate, the Follower should come to the other side of the gate. Then ask them to pull the chain, and entry will be possible.
  •  360   If being accompanied by a follower, sometimes the follower will get hit with Anska's attacks, causing the follower to attack her. This can fixed by using Healing Hands to heal the follower until they are back to full strength, at which point the attacks will stop.
    •  360   However, it is possible that healing the follower will have no effect on Anska's hostility to the follower, and vice versa. The bug may stop randomly, or may stop after fighting an enemy in the crypts. Additionally, some followers, such as Cicero, will kill Anska when she enters a kneeling stance, rendering the unique spell unobtainable. In order to protect her (and receive the spell at the end of the quest), tell followers to wait at the beginning of the tomb and finish the quest without their help.
  • It is possible that Anska will become unkillable, causing the quest to be impossible to fail.
  •  PS3   If Anska is killed after picking up the scroll or the scroll is picked up after killing Anska, it will be locked to the inventory with no known fix for removing it
  •  PC   If Anska is killed after picking up the scroll or the scroll is picked up after killing Anska - use console, select her and type "resurrect," if she disappears type to console "player.placeatme 000443F3"
  • It is possible (though rare) that Vokun could get stuck in a corner or in-between the pillars.
  •  360   The scroll may not be on the table but may be inaccessible due to a second location where it can spawn; behind the dragon shout wall - this bug is a possible result of acquiring the dragon shout beforehand, however it is possible to fix this bug through the death of Anska. You will then complete the quest, failed but completed none the less.
  • Another glitch is where Anska will not speak to the Dragonborn upon entering High Gate Ruins. This does not need to hinder progress through the dungeon. After defeating Vokun, she may appear moments later. Upon speaking to her the Dragonborn will have 2 options, neither of which start the quest. If the player checks the journal, the quest will not be there. Because of this, the quest is unable to be completed, (since it technically does not exist) causing Anska to follow until she dies. If she dies, the journal record states, "Quest Failed: A Scroll For Anska," which means the quest was failed even though it was never started.
    • Fix: If Anska's Sealed Scroll is picked up at the end of the dungeon, the quest will begin at the point that the Dragonborn must return the scroll. Speaking to Anska then will give the option to return the scroll and complete the quest. Though Anska not speaking to the Dragonborn upon entry is a glitch, it does not render the quest impossible to complete. In fact, it may be easier to complete the quest since there is no risk of Anska being killed.
  • If Mjoll the Lioness is following the Dragonborn and is told to leave, she will go back to Riften, and Aerin will appear in High Gate Ruins and act as though he is still in Riften.
    • Fix: Reload a previous save.
  • Sometimes Anska will stand still and you will not be able to interact with her, thus being unable to deliver the scroll, one way to fix this is to use the console to kill/resurrect her in order to reset the dialogue.
  • Even if you have a follower, Anska will refer to killing Vokun as easier with "the two of us."

Appearances[]

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