Elder Scrolls
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Elder Scrolls

Tolvald's Cave is a cave in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is a large cave comprised of three zones, which are inhabited mostly by Falmer. The cave is located southeast of Ansilvund and east of Shor's Watchtower. It is on a ridge with a wheelbarrow in front of it. It is the location of the Crown of Barenziah for the "No Stone Unturned" quest.

Sublocations[]

Tolvald's Cave[]

Upon entering the cave, there is a small hunter's camp consisting of three bed rolls and an apprentice-locked leveled chest. There is a hunter's journal to read on the stool between two of the bed rolls.

Turning the corner, there will be an Ice Wraith, a snow bear or a frost troll. Follow the tunnel beyond it to the left, be aware of the bone "tripwire". A short distance down the tunnel another Ice Wraith, Snow Bear or Frost Troll will be in an alcove to the right. Continuing forward, the tunnel goes off to the right opening into a small cavern with another wraith, troll or bear in it. A tunnel on the opposite corner leads to a Dwemer door. Through the door, there is a raised platform with a trapped chest on it. The trap cannot be disarmed. Search the chest; poisoned arrows will fly from the walls, and two hidden doors will open, allowing three Falmer of varying levels to come out. Two are melee, one is ranged. At higher levels, 6–8 Falmer can appear, mostly being melee.

Take either path to a room containing multiple Alchemy Ingredients around the room as well as an Alchemy Lab. There is a dead hunter in the gated area to the left.

Continue onto the next room where there is a Falmer camp. There are three Falmer in this room and another slain hunter on a table. One of the Falmer has a Shaman's Key; It is a rare key but opens no lock or chest in the game. There is a leveled chest on the left side of the room next to the tanning rack.

The Falmer camp continues into the next room and overlooks two Frostbite Spiders. Following the path through the camp, there are three or four Falmer. There is an adept-locked chest behind the first tent on the left and another found in the right tent with a door. The tunnel in between the tent leads to Tolvald's Gap.

Tolvald's Gap[]

Upon entering Tolvald's Gap a large cavern opens with water running from the ceiling. In the cavern, there are several Falmer and skeevers. One of the Falmer drops a Shaman's key.

Heading down the ramp, up the bridge to the right is one of three chests under the waterfall to the right. Continue on this path into a small room to find a few more Falmer, lots of mushrooms, and another chest inside the tent. Head back out of the room past the stream. Head down the land-bridge and follow the river downstream, turning right towards the waterfall to find the last (apprentice-locked) chest.

Following the stream into the next room, there are two Frostbite Spiders and a few Falmer (some of which are hiding in an alcove to the right). Keep following the stream to a tunnel, containing a skeever, which leads to a circular room with a few Falmer and some Chaurus and/or Chaurus Hunter FledglingsDG inside the gated enclosure to the right. There is an ore vein inside and several egg sacs to harvest. Go up the ramp where there is an adept-locked chest before heading into the tunnel.

The tunnel leads back to the main chamber and more Falmer. The tent on the left contains a leveled chest. Follow the ledge to into the tunnel on the right and eventually the stream appears again. Follow it upstream this time and exit to Tolvald's Crossing.

Tolvald's Crossing[]

A short way down the tunnel, there is one powerful leveled Falmer next to a waterfall on a Dwemer bridge. A little past the waterfall on the left there is an astral vision that fades into a skeleton and a Faded Diary.

Keep following the tunnel until it divides into two paths:

To the right is a small clearing with another astral vision with a skeleton and the Tattered Journal. Besides the skeleton is a magic staff. Opposite is an apprentice-locked leveled chest. The path is further blocked by rubble unless you are on the final stage of the "No Stone Unturned" in which case you may continue into the next chamber. Amongst the debris there are swords, armor, and the crown. The ghosts of three elven guards will appear and attack the Dragonborn, guarding the crown in death as they did in life.

The left path has a tripwire that can be deactivated. Just past the trap to the right are a few skeletons, an expert-locked chest, and some books including the Destruction Skill Book, Mystery of Talara, Book III.

A little further down the tunnel is a ramp which doubles back to a Falmer and a master-locked chest. Back down the ramp, follow the path to a small room with two tiers of Falmer. The tent on the second level holds a chest.

Head through the gate down the tunnel to a larger Dwemer room with several Falmer and a skeever. Upon entering the room another astral vision quickly disappears. On the table at the base of the ramp is a skeleton and a Ruined Trailbook along with some loot. Up the incline, there is a table with 2 Human Flesh on it. Follow the ledge to the left until you reach the first tunnel to the right. There is a Falmer inside with a chest. Back out to the ledge, continue to the next tunnel and follow it into a room with several Chaurus and/or Chaurus HuntersDG before a river.

Cross the bridge to the center platform and take either bridge the rest of the way across. There are a few Falmer and another Chaurus or Chaurus HunterDG or two. There is a Dwemer chest at the structure to the left. Go through the gate and follow the tunnel to find more mushrooms and a moonstone ore vein on the right. Upon reaching the Dwemer floor over the river, go to the far side and walk on the ledge down and around and then across the Dwemer pipes. Follow the tunnel back to Tolvald's Cave.

There is a wall chain to open a secret door back into the hunter camp.

Quests[]

Alchemy ingredients[]

Notable items[]

In Tolvald's Cave[]

In Tolvald's Gap[]

In Tolvald's Crossing[]

Amenities[]

  • 3 Tanning Racks (2 in the area where the Falmer huts are first encountered; a third to the right after going up the ramp where you find the Ruined Trailbook book)
  • Alchemy Lab (in area where the Falmer are first encountered)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Directly east of this location, up in the mountains, lies the ancient Nordic tomb of Skuldafn, which is only accessible during the quest "The World-Eater's Eyrie".
  • The cave seems to have been used as a route for the Dunmer escaping from Morrowind, as both Keening and the Crown of Barenziah were said to have been lost in Tolvald's Cave from Morrowind.
  • This cave is a possible location for the book and quest item N'Gasta! Kvata! Kvakis!.
  • The path to the Crown of Barenziah is not accessible until you have talked to Vex about the Crown.
  • This cave contains the highest number of glowing mushrooms and the second-highest number of chaurus eggs in the game.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Tolvald's Cave. 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.
  •  PC   360   The secret doors near the trapped chest may fail to open. Re-loading save points do not help, and it is unknown if this is able to be fixed. If this happens, a chain next to the left hand door can be used. (Patch 1.4)
  •  PC   The ghosts of the three elven guards guarding the crown in "No Stone Unturned" may be aggressive to each other if they do not see the Dragonborn and will fight until there is only one left.
  • Sometimes approaching the Crown and then heading directly right can cause the elven sentinels to attack each other.
  •  PC   If the Dragonborn comes here for some other reason than the Crown and goes all the way through the cave, the astral visions relevant to the Crown quest will not reappear.

Appearances[]

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