Forbidden Legend

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Forbidden Legend
Quest Giver	A Gauldur Amulet Fragment Lost Legends A Writ of Sealing
Location	Folgunthur Saarthal Geirmund's Hall Reachwater Rock
Prerequisite	Under Saarthal Explore Geirmund's Hall or Folgunthur
Reward	The Gauldur Amulet Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson Gauldur Blackblade Gauldur Blackbow

Background

"Long ago, the Archmage Gauldur was murdered by his three sons, who stole his amulet of power and divided it among themselves."

When the three sons divided the amulet amongst themselves, they immediately began a rampage around Skyrim. This attracted the attention of the High King Harald of Skyrim, which caused him to send his best warriors and his personal battlemage Lord Geirmund. A great chase ensued, from the wilds of the Reach to the glacial north. one brother is said to have perished in the ruins of Folgunthur, at the Foot of Solitude. The others were run to ground soon thereafter. And once it was done, King Harald ordered every record of their murders destroyed, and Gauldur's name and deeds were struck from the rolls of history.

Objectives

• Investigate the cryptic message
• Investigate the Gauldur legend
• Learn the truth from Daylas Valen
• Read Daynas Valen's notes
• Find the Gauldur Amulet fragment in Saarthal
• Find the Gauldur Amulet fragment in Folgunthur
• Find the Gauldur Amulet fragment in Geirmund's Hall
• Reforge the Gauldur Amulet
• Take the Gauldur Amulet

Walkthrough

There are multiple ways to begin this quest. First is by reading the book "Lost Legends" found throughout Skyrim. Please see Lost Legends locations for more information on their locations. a copy can be found on a Dead adventurers body in Reachwater Rock where part of this quest takes place. The quest can also be activated by reading a Writ of Sealing in any of the burial locations.

Folgunthur

Mikrul Gauldurson

Travel to Folgunthur and read the journal of Daynas Valen in the camp outside the cave. The journal tells the Dragonborn about his travels with the Ivory Dragon Claw. He traveled to Folgunthur looking for the Amulet. Follow him inside, past the corpse of his compatriots. He will be lying on a Claw button next to a bridge. Take the Claw and his notes, read them, and activate the button to cross the bridge. Once across and having avoided the traps and Draugr, the Dragonborn will come to a gate with four levers. In sequence, pull the two on the right starting at the one nearest the gate, and after those two pull the lever on the left furthest from the gate then pull the one on the right closest to the gate and the gates will all be up. Follow the path to the room with two thrones, facing a chain lever to open the grille in the floor covering a staircase. The lever to the left of the leftmost throne opens the door to the room with pillars to unlock the grille (eagle-whale-snake). The chain pull in the previous room finishes the job. Descend and deal with two Frostbite Spiders in the room below. ahead will be a rotating-ring hole, similar to Bleak Falls Barrow. Dispatch several Draugr, and enter the combination to the puzzle (Eagle-Eagle-Dragon). Once inside, fight Mikrul Gauldurson, one of the easier Gauldur brothers as he has no special skills that seperate him from a regular leveled draugr, he does however have a small contingent of leveled draugr thralls who will attack the player upon Mikrul's awakening. Take his Gauldur Amulet Fragment and enchanted sword, Gauldur Blackblade. After beating him, use the claw to gain access to the two rooms on the back wall. One has a shout, that can complete the miscellaneous quest Find the Word of Power given by the Greybeards. Proceed to leave by using the door to the right of the word wall.

Saarthal Excavation

Jyrik Gauldurson

In order to gain access to the excavation site, the Dragonborn must first begin the quest Under Saarthal. This quest is attained by joining The College of Winterhold. If the Dragonborn is not skilled with magic it may be suggested to not join until prompted by the quest Elder Knowledge as this will only require the dragonborn to demonstrate their Thu'um to join the college (after asking her if an exception may be made for being dragonborn). After completing the very short quest First Lesson, Tolfdir will give the quest Under Saarthal. Upon this journey Tolfdir will be by your side for most of the dungeon, making the hardest part a short stretch where he leaves you after defeating a room full of draugr, and coming back right before Dragonborn discovers the antechamber with Jyrik and The Eye of Magnus inside. Defeat Jyrik in Saarthal, by the orb, and take his Writ of Sealing and his Gauldur Amulet Fragment. To defeat him as a mage watch the elemental cloud around him as it changes randomly between storm, frost, and fire, and do not use the element that is cloaking him as he will resist the attack. Warriors may treat him like a Draugr Scourge Lord, or another Draugr mage. Read the writ to start the next quest point. Then, go to the Arcaneum and (if dragonborn hasn't already) read the book Lost Legends (on a small table on the right hand side of the room, behind the pillars not in the middle, as you enter) to get the next clue about the origin of the Gauldur Amulet Fragment.

Geirmund's Hall

Sigdis Gauldurson

Geirmund's Hall is a dungeon close to Ivarstead, grave of the hero Geirmund. Travel there and upon entering the cave, there is a large hole in the ground, drop through it. There is an underwater alcove, with a chest and a Potion of Waterbreathing. Climb up the steps and enter a room with a puzzle, the order of the stones starting from the first one is Eagle, dolphin, Snake, dolphin. Activate the lever by the door. The next room, after fighting a few Draugrs along the way the dragonborn should come to a large room and after climbing the steps, immediately to your right is an altar with the body of Geirmund holding a key. Take the door opposite Geirmunds resting place, and follow the path to the left, where the dragonborn will encounter a strong leveled Draugr. once he is killed you reach a dead end and a lever on the ground; don't pull that lever as it's a trap but if you look the opposite direction from it, you will find another lever (a few feet on the wall behind it); pull that one instead and the drawbridge will drop.

Sigdis and his clones

Then face Sigdis Gauldurson, arguably the hardest of the three sons if the player went at the boss without using stealth while taking potshots at it with range attacks. There are four sigils on the ground in the cave where you fight him. He will teleport to whichever three you are farthest away from and make two copies of himself. All three will attack you, including using Shouts like Unrelenting Force (which will knock you over whether the Dragonborn has any bonuses for the Unrelenting Force shout or not) and, at higher levels, Disarm. If you attack one of the clones, it will dissipate after one hit, and after both clones have died Sigdis will teleport away again. It is possible to tell Sigdis apart from his clones because he is the only one with the true health amount (the clones will have full health), and also by the fact that his clones, being summoned, will be surrounded by a bluish glow, in addition the "real" Sigdis can be identified by being the only one wearing an Ancient Nord Helmet, with his helm's decorative horns curling downwards; the horns on his clones' helmets will be curled upward. Sigdis also carries the Gauldur Blackbow. After you have killed him, take the Gauldur Amulet Fragment.

Notes:

• If you have a healthy supply of empty petty soul gems, a bow with soul trap, and good sneak skill, you can farm the clones to gather a good number of souls.
• Try not to fall down the hole again while exiting the dungeon.

Forging the Amulet

Door Combinations:

1. Emerald Claw: Bear, Whale, Snake
2. Ivory Claw: Eagle, Eagle, Dragon

After all of the fragments have been collected, go to Reachwater Rock, near Karthspire. Inside, there the Dragonborn will find a dead Adventurer near the Emerald Dragon Claw, on a pedestal along with a note warning would-be explorers away from the site. Enter the claw door using the combination inscribed on the palm of the Emerald Claw: Bear, Whale, Snake (from the top down.) Inside will be yet another Claw door, this time using the Ivory Dragon Claw's combination Eagle, Eagle, Dragon (again, from the top down.) Place the three amulet fragments on the pedestal to make the ghosts of each son to appear which the Dragonborn will have to fight in turn.

First will be Mikrul, who again can be faced as a leveled Draugr with a small horde, the draugr he commands will not stop attacking until Mikrul is defeated

Sigdis will use the same tactics as before, disappearing and reappearing to shoot arrows at you, using four out of the six possible locations, and using shouts occasionally. Take advantage of his teleports to abuse the wait function, restoring your health and providing a handy autosave. The real Sigdis has a slightly different helmet model (iron helmet) than his clones, and his clones will always have full health, and be surrounded by a slightly bluish glow.

After Sigdis, Jyrik will appear occasionally teleporting around the room.

Once all three sons have been defeated, they will reappear as ghosts above the pedestal, as they look to take you on three against one their father appears and banishes them. Archmage Gauldur will then reforge the Gauldur Amulet Fragments into The Gauldur Amulet, a necklace that grants +30 to health, magicka, and stamina.

Don't forget to loot Gauldur's skeleton before you leave, as it holds a decent amount of money. Additionally, be sure to watch out for the Ghosts' use of Unrelenting Force as you may get stuck on the platform that the Ghosts you haven't fought are on, and will not be able to get back down.

Note: There are some good chests/ loot to be found when exiting the cave that the player would have likely missed. The locations are:

1. At the entrance to Gauldur's grave, the player can find a false wall which leads to some leveled loot which should automatically unveil itself upon clearing the dungeon.
2. There is a chest (adept) containing leveled loot and potions in the chamber where you found the Emerald Dragon Claw that's on top of a pillar. Using the Whirlwind Thu'um may be necessary for some players in order to reach the platform.
3. There is also a Giant floater in Arriva's bog and an Iron Shield in the water, just under a floating skeleton.
4. There is also another chest (adept) in the water below the pillar in Reachwater Rock.

Trivia

• The battle with Sigdis and the way he fights is strikingly similar to the Wizzrobes of the Legend of Zelda series. Both enemies teleport around the room to designated spots, make clones of themselves (which can be picked out from the real one with a sharp eye) and shoot projectiles at the player.

Bugs

Click to show

Reading the note before you got the quest will make you unable to progress further, subsequently reading the Writ does nothing. The only known way to fix the quest (if you got it by killing Jyrik) is to obtain a copy of "Lost Legends" and read it. Then the quest will progress correctly. During explorations, if you locate Daynas Valen and go inside, he will be immediately hostile to the player even if you have not yet begun this quest. Once the quest has begun, despite killing him at his house, Daynas's body will be in the ruin where you can get his journal and the claw.  PS3   In the attempt to access the shout within the Folgunthur Crypt, after killing Mikrul Gauldurson and the other Draugr thralls, the march music may just proceed without a shout being given to the player. Reloading does not fix this bug.  360   Occasionally the pillar puzzle in Geirmund's Hall will not work. No known method of fixing this. Reload recommended. Update: Reload does not work. May have to start quest over. If you enter and clear Geirmund's Hall before starting the quest, Sigdis' body and amulet fragment will disappear; a marker will hover where the body was when you defeated him.The trick is that you must do this at the location that you kill the boss. At the console: prid a5e68 <enter> enable <enter> Exit console mode and loot the body for the fragment. the journal will be updated, and you can complete the quest normally. on the 360: A fix for the disappearing sigdis amulet is this: complete the other steps as normal, and when you return to Giermund Hall, the quest arrow will be pointing to the now present body of Sigdis. Not sure if it always works. If you enter the lair with Mikrul Gauldurson already out of his tomb, there is a chance you can't loot his corpse after killing him. You may want to reload your last save, go back to his room, and if he is out of his tomb again, simply back out of the zone and re-enter. He should be in his tomb, where you can quickly kill him, and loot him after.  360   Sometimes Mikrul Gauldurson will be impossible to loot even when he comes out of his tomb. Try killing him without sneaking, with a different weapon, such as a sword instead of a bow, or killing him last after killing the other Draugr. This should make him lootable. If the amulet in Saarthal is not picked up before the Eye of Magnus is moved there is a chance it will disappear along with the corpse of Jyrik. At a high enough level Sigdis can use the "Disarm" shout to remove your equipped weapon, if you are standing in certain parts of the dungeon the weapon may be dropped outside the mapping making it impossible to retrieve. Disintegrating any of the three bosses will prevent the triggering of the script which forges the amulet, trapping you in the room. Killing the thralls while in the sarcophagus prevents them from spawning during the battle. Killing or paralyzing Sigdis before he teleports for the first time, such as with a fatal sneak attack, the Paralyze spell or enchantment, or the Unrelenting Force shout, can cause him to fail to reappear or reappear paralyzed and unattackable, making it impossible to retrieve his Fragment. Sigdis' Unrelenting Force attacks can push the player up onto the platform where Gauldur's body sits. Once up there, the player will not be able to come down again (they'll be stuck behind an invisible wall), and Sigdis will not be able to attack the player. You escape using the 'tcl' console command, or by reloading a previous save. Sigdis' Unrelenting Force can push a player through the gate on the opposite side of the amulet pieces causing the player to be stuck there until the amulet is reforged In case there are any problems in completing the quest, here is a list of the relevant items, for use with 'player.additem'. Lost Legends: 000ED608 Sigdis's Gauldur Amulet Fragment: 0002D753 Mikrul's Gauldur Amulet Fragment: 000F1C17 (on French version: 0002D74F) setstage dunGauldursonQST stage 31/32/33 Other bugs can probably be solved by reloading your last save or autosave. Good luck and save often! If you have an NPC who is following you for a specific quest, they may become hostile to the ghost of Gauldur, preventing the finish of the quest. You can just attack them until they submit and it continues as normal. Alternatively, reload and retreat to the far end of the room before Gauldur spawns and they will be too far away to become hostile. If you are quick enough after killing the ghosts you can loot their bodies for their weapons again. Killing Sigdis just before he is teleporting might make him disappear. Reentering Geirmund's hall solves this. In the Reachwater Rock section (where you go to combine the amulet fragments), it's possible to get stuck on the platform where the defeated spirits are standing. This could prevent finishing the fight and/or collecting the completed amulet (and leaving the cave). Try to avoid jumping up there; otherwise you'll need to reload a previous save. During the final battle, disintegrating any of the 3 brothers with a lightning spell will cause the ash pile to reappear on the altar but the quest will not advance, Tried with disintegrating 1, 2 and all 3. The only way to fix this is to reload a save before the disintegration. If you received the quest before going to the College of Winterhold, you will not be able to enter Saarthal or pick up the amulet inside until you listen to Tolfdir at the college. (Where he teaches you to use a ward spell.) If you choose to travel to Folgunthur before Saarthal with Tolfdir, it is possible that the gate combination (closest on the left, farthest on the right) with be stuck and trigger the wrong gate leaving you stuck. The only way to solve this is to use the lever that opens the last gate and closes the first one must be triggered and you must back through with the first gate closing and the rest opening. The quest may completely disappear from the player's log without them completing it. No fix is known at this time, although reading "Lost Legends" MAY fix the quest. if you are near the brothers ghosts, the second brother you fight in Reachwater cave might shout you to the locked coffin and you can get stuck and can not get out without reloading. While the reforged amulet will grant you an extra 30 points of Stamina your carrying capacity remains unchanged when it is equipped. After finding the three amulets, no quest marker appeared telling me to go to Reachwater Rock. Before restarting, I had a go at the next part. Once I had killed the three brothers the quest objective 'pick up the amulet' activated and I could continue. Power attacking any of the amulets while they are on the pedestals turns them into a bucket. [PS3 and Xbox] Occasionally, only 2 of the 3 will appear as Ghosts. Only way to fix is to reload before or during the battle. The Saarthal excavation site can occasionally be found with Jyrik already killed. You may loot him as normal. If you have a bugged game that doesn't fix itself when you read "Lost Legends" and is stuck on "○Read Daynas Valen's notes" then just collect all other fragments from the three sons -- Jyrik at Saarthal, Mikrul in Folgunthur and Sidgis in Geirmund's Hall--, then go to Reachwater Rock after you defeat all of the sons and defeat all three trials, afterward take the amulet, that the Arch-mage Gaulder reforged, and the quest log will tell you that you read the notes, regardless if you choose to keep them or not, and the quest is completed.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Template:1st