Template:SkyrimTombs Dead Men's Respite is a an ancient Nordic tomb located southwest of Morthal on the bank of the Hjaal River in Hjaalmarch Hold. The tomb is the final resting place of King Olaf. The player is sent here to complete the initiation quest, Tending the Flames for the Bard's College in Solitude. Dead Man's Respite is also a possible location for the Companions' Radiant Quest: Trouble in Skyrim.
Walkthrough
At the beginning of the dungeon the player will see a ghost, but will be unable to interact with it. There is a Ruby Dragon Claw to collect. Taking the claw will unlock the door, and release four enemies into the room. This is one of many traps to be found along the way. It is quite simple to kill all four Draugr enemies in this room while sneaking, before picking up the Claw, while they are asleep. There is an Iron Door on the left of this first room with some minor loot.
Moving Walls Room
Following the hallway, the player will come to a burial room and see the ghost disappear through a wall. This section of the tomb is a small puzzle as some of the walls are actually rotating doorways activated by a pull chain. Activating the pull chain will change the configuration of rooms, opening some and blocking others.
Going Down
Eventually the player comes to a room with two circular grates in the floor. After defeating the two large Frostbite Spiders that drop from the ceiling, open the grate on the far side of the room by activating the chain to the right of your entry point. Following the watery passage leads to a large, two-story room. Walk up the wooden ramp on the right, but take care before opening the cage-like door: the door is rigged with an adept-level trap. Activate it in the bottom left corner of the door, like always, to avoid the 9 pendulum axes. If you happened to miss the trap and activate it anyway, leave your companion behind and sprint / Whirlwind Sprint your way to the end and disable the trap by pulling the chain on the pillar in front of you. Climb up the stairs and through the Iron Door.
Past the Iron Door
Past the iron door the player will discover an Arcane Enchanter and a Sealed Door that is currently inaccessible. To the right of this and down the slope -- at this point you may experience a Draugr that is very powerful and may use the disarm shout against you, so be very careful when using melee weapons -- where more rooms containing draugr bodies can be found and looted, but only one will be hostile until you pass through again on your way back out (the two standing in the walls will awaken then, easily solved by killing them before they wake on your first walk through). The level-dependent Draugr Warlord will come for you as soon as you enter the room, but dealing with him should be fairly simple as long as you have a few potions and keep your distance. The left side of the room he is found in contains a floor trap switch, a draugr body, a Grand Soul Gem, a Common Soul Gem, a stamina potion and a Scroll of Circle of Healing. Continuing through the right side will bring the player to a room with another circular grate in the floor. An expert locked door with a master locked chest behind it can be found before it.
In the room with the circular grate, cage doors will open and about 6 Restless Draugr will come through. A trapped chest in one of the back rooms contains some minor loot. Pull the chain to open the grate and proceed.
Finding the Ghost
The player will ultimately be led to Svaknir's ghost, as well as his corpse. The corpse clutches King Olaf's Verse and the player must take the book to continue the journey.The book is not actually on the body of Svanik but is in his hands. You must aim at the book and take it in order to get it, searching Svanik will only give you gold. Svanik's ghost will disappear, but the player can find it by returning to the sealed door.
The Sealed Door
Dead Men's Respite Ruby Dragon Claw puzzle solution
Behind this door will be a puzzle door and the player must arrange the pictures on the door to match the symbols on the dragon claw in order to enter the next room. (Wolf, Eagle, Wolf).
Past the door is King Olaf's burial room. The ghost of Svaknir calls upon King Olaf, causing waves of Draugr to attack. Svaknir will help the player fight the Draugr and King Olaf One-Eye will appear to join the fight.
After the player and Svaknir's ghost defeat Olaf, Svaknir's ghost pulls out a lute, plays a few notes, and disappears now that he is finally at peace. At this end of the room is a Word Wall. The player can either loot the key off Olaf's body or pick a Master level lock to go through the door, where they will find a small room with treasure. Using the lever will unlock the next door, and the player will find themselves back in the first room of the dungeon.
Notable Items
- Ruby Dragon Claw
- Arcane Enchanter
- Spell Tome: Soul Trap
- Word of Power, Whirlwind Sprint
- Speech Skill Book: "The Buying Game" - in the rotating doors section
Notes
- When dropping down the hole into the water, your follower may need a nudge first.
- If you go before the Bard's College quest line to recover King Olaf's verse for the Winterhold College Library quest, the ruby claw door will not open. (Note: This is not always the case. Demonstrated on the 360 & PS3)(Also seen in PC)
- The draugr won't attack until the player has fully entered Olaf's burial chamber. While standing in the doorway, you can easily snipe most of the slumbering draugr while they sit on their thrones, making the final battle considerably less hectic.
- If your follower doesn't fully enter King Olaf's chamber before the battle starts, only killing King Olaf will open the door to let your follower in.
- If you have not completed any quests for the Greybeards the Dragon Claw door will not always open. (PS3 confirmed as of patch on 2-10-12.[Still able to kill Olaf and complete dungeon before speaking to Greybeards as of 4-22-12])
- Sometimes when you reach the Sealed Door, Svaknir will be running against the wall opposite. Because your character cannot interact with him, this means your quest ends here. A good idea to prevent this is to make a clean save outside of the tomb. (Note: Seen on an unpatched PS3 version of the game.)
- If you are killed after King Olaf has been awoken and load a save from before you entered the room, when you return you may find that all the draugr (including King Olaf) are awake instead of coming in waves as normal. This can make the battle quite challenging, especially for characters with low crowd control ability. (360)
- As with any dungeon, It is wise to save your progress periodically.
- If you lose your partner (as in left him behind) back by the large spider room, the last battle is very hard to complete. Sniping most of the draugr before entering the room (point 3) is the best way to solve this problem. Also you will have to go back through the dungeon to retrieve your partner, so if you sneaked by any enemy at any time during the dungeon before the spider part, make sure you have sneak on again (they'll still be there).
- If you have Dawnbreaker from the quest "The Break of Dawn", it can make the fight with Olaf A LOT easier because of its ability to fear stronger undead when it does the explosion from killing an undead with it
- King Olaf uses a Power Word to disarm you, which can possibly make your weapon(s) permanently disappear.
- When dropping down the hole after the two frostbite spiders the game may freeze (PS3)
