An Axe to Find

An Axe to Find
An ancient Nordic pickaxe Glover Mallory wants returned.
Quest Giver	Glover Mallory
Location	Raven Rock
Reward	Ancient Nordic Pickaxe or Leveled
Type	Miscellaneous quest
Quest ID	DLC2RR03Intro

"You havn't seen Crescius Caerellius have you? That foolish old man's taken my pickaxe again!"

―Glover Mallory

An Axe to Find is a miscellaneous quest in The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn in which the Dragonborn must return an ancient Nordic pickaxe to Glover Mallory in Raven Rock from Crescius Caerellius.

Objectives

1. Retrive the Ancient Nordic Pickaxe
2. Return Ancient Nordic Pickaxe to Glover Mallory (if recovered)
3. Tell Glover Mallory a lie about the Ancient Nordic Pickaxe (if not recovered)

Walkthrough

The Dragonborn can start the quest by inquiring about the matter with Glover Mallory.

What's the matter? "You haven't seen Crescius Caerellius have you? That foolish old man's taken my axe again!"

Why all the fuss over a simple pickaxe? "No, no, no. This isn't just your run-of-the-mill pickaxe... I'm talking about an Ancient Nordic Pickaxe. They don't exactly grow on trees you know."

Can't you just get the guard to find Crescius? "Um, I prefer to handle these things on my own. Look, if you se Crescius, tell him to give me that pickaxe back and I'll pay you for the trouble."

What's an Ancient Nordic Pickaxe? "It's the only tool tough enough to crack stalhrim, is what it is. Not many of those beauties left in the world... forging the is a lost art. The one Crescius "borrowed" came from the Skaal Village up north, I, uh, traded them some goods for it."

Is stalhrim a type of ore? "Calling stalhrim an ore is like calling my forge a campfire. Some folks say it's "enchanted ice," but I think there's more to it than that."

I assume it's rare. "I don't think I've come across more that a chunk or two in my lifetime, and smithing's my trade. If your looking to learn more, you should head over to the Skaal Village. Someone there's bound to know more about it than I do."

After accepting the quest from Mallory, Crescius Caerellius can be found at either Caerellius House or Raven Rock Mine. When he is asked about Glover's Ancient Nordic Pickaxe, he can be convinced to give up the pickaxe so it can be returned.

Glover wants his Ancient Nordic Pickaxe back. "The damn fool doesn't even deserve to have it. The pickaxe was made for mining, not selling. I'll bet he stole it from the Skaal in the first place."

It doesn't belong to you. "Oh, very well. Here. Tell him I hope he drops the thing on his foot."

Fine. You keep it. "Now you're finally talking some sense. A mining tool belongs in a mining family. Just tell him I lost it or something."

Let me think about this. "Good. Now let me get back to what I was doing."

After returning to Glover Mallory, he will give the pickaxe to the Dragonborn. If the Dragonborn is unable to recover the pickaxe from Caerellius, they can lie about the pickaxe and Mallory will still provide a reward of leveled .

Crescius lost your Ancient Nordic Pickaxe. "Blast! That careless old fool. Well, thanks for trying anyway. Here you go... for your trouble."

I have your Ancient Nordic Pickaxe. "So you finally tracked down old Crescius, eh? Quite a character, isn't he. Tell you what. Since you went through all that trouble of finding it for me, you keep it."

After all that, why? "I wanted to remind that codger you can't just go around taking things from other people. Now that you've delivered the message, I'm satisfied. Besides, that pickaxe hasn't done me any good in years. Maybe you can put it to good use."

Rewards

Level
1–9	250
10–19	400
20–29	500
30–39	600
40+	750

Journal

An Axe to Find – DLC2RR03Intro
ID	Journal Entry
15	Objective 10: Retrieve the Ancient Nordic Pickaxe
20	Objective 20: Return [sic] [Do not change this to Return the. This misspelled word is how it appears in-game.] Ancient Nordic Pickaxe to Glover Mallory
25	Objective 30: Tell Glover Mallory lie [sic] [Do not change this to a lie. This misspelled word is how it appears in-game.] about the Ancient Nordic Pickaxe
200	Quest complete

Trivia

• The Dragonborn can choose not to return the pickaxe to Glover Mallory and keep it instead. It will remain in the inventory as a quest item, making it a useful, weightless pickaxe.
• Glover Mallory will let the Dragonborn keep the pickaxe, explaining that he only wanted to teach him that it is not right to steal. This is ironic, given his close ties with the Thieves Guild.
• If one has not completed the quest "The Final Descent" beforehand, talking to Crescius will start it, and it is impossible to avoid.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to An Axe to Find. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. 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. 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.

•  XB1   If you start this quest with the Final Descent quest active, Crescius Caerellius will not appear in his home nor in Raven Rock Mine, making it impossible to get Glover's Ancient Nordic Pickaxe from him to complete the quest.
•  PS3   The pickaxe will weigh 10 units, despite being a quest item.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn