Silverdrift Lair

Silverdrift Lair
Map
Hold	The Pale
Location	Southeast of Dawnstar
Type	Tomb
Quests	Possible location for: Fetch Me That Book! Hitting the Books Find the Source of Power Find the Word of Power Wind and Sand
Location ID	SilverdriftLair01 SilverdriftLairExterior

Silverdrift Lair is an ancient Nordic tomb found Southwest of the Pale's eastern mountains, north and just slightly west of Fellglow Keep, directly north of the Shrouded Grove, east of the Tower of Mzark, and southeast of Dawnstar.

Enemies

Enemies include leveled bandits outside and leveled draugr inside, including possible overlords and death overlords. At higher levels, a death overlord and/or a Dragon Priest will be guarding the word wall.

Walkthrough

Finding a way through this dungeon/crypt can be quite difficult, not just because of the traps, but also because of the location of the switches used to open certain doors. The best method is to check all posts for a handle to activate. These are very small and hard to notice if not knowing what to look for, most notably at the junction where there are two swinging traps and two draugr.

The first room entered is a kitchen of sorts, with two dead bandits. A passage leads east to a junction with a dead bandit and a draugr. There are paths to the north and east, but the wall to the northeast is actually a large column with a coin purse behind it. The path to the east leads to a door that is barred from the other side. The path to the north turns east and leads to an iron door, beyond which is a room with a draugr, shelves on both sides, and straight ahead, a table with several potions and the Two-Handed skill book Words and Philosophy. There are openings on either side of the table that lead to the second level of a large central chamber with bridges, wooden ramps, wooden platforms, and several more draugr.

Across the bridge on the north side of the table are two circular stone platforms with wooden spiral ramps leading down to the bottom floor. Down the first ramp (around the northern pillar) to the lower level, there are two urns against the east wall. Proceeding to the right around the room is a throne, a fire pit with various animals hanging waiting to be eaten, an apprentice-locked chest with leveled loot, and then a chest against the west stone wall behind a wooden wall. To the right of that is a passage leading to the west (See the Secret path section below for more information). Finally, in the northeastern corner is another door that is barred from the other side, which leads from the hidden path.

Back up on the second level, continuing on east is another bridge where there is a trigger for a swinging gate trap at the end. Beyond that is another swinging gate trap and two more draugr. Beyond that are two stone posts—the one on the right (south) side has a handle that opens a spike gate straight ahead. Before that gate, though, on the south end of the room is a platform with an enchanted helmet—taking it causes a spike trap to rise from the floor, so care should be exercised.

Beyond the now-opened spike gate to the east is an iron door with a draugr, a dead bandit, and a table to the northeast with a chest with leveled loot and a potion. To the north is an adept-locked jail cell that is empty. To the south is a gate with a pull chain to open it, but when opened, a swinging log trap is triggered. Beyond that, the passage climbs steps up and around, eventually heading north to a room with a long table and two more draugr. A passage continues north, then west and north up more stairs, then down to a room with another draugr, a chest with leveled loot, and the pickpocket skill book Thief on the right (west) side of the room between skeletal hands coming out of stone.

Another passage from the south end of the room leads west down stairs to an unlocked gate that opens into a cage-protected bridge high above the central room previously seen. At the other end of the bridge is another draugr. The path turns south and leads up stairs, then forward to an iron door. Behind it is a large room with two more draugr (including a draugr death overlord), an unnamed dragon priest (at high levels), and the word wall. There is a fire trap straight ahead. Up the stairs on the right side is an upper level for the room that has no notable loot. Facing the word wall, the steps to the left side are protected by a fire trap.

To the right (west) is an iron door leading to a room with urns and a chest containing lots of loot. To the left of the chest is a chain that, when activated, opens the gate to the north. Beyond the gate are steps leading down and to the left to a door with a wooden bar blocking it. Activating the bar and opening the door leads back to the first junction entered in this dungeon (the one with the dead bandit).

Secret path

There is an easily missed secret path which originates in the large main chamber. At the very bottom, along the western wall, there is an opening into a puzzle room. There the Dragonborn will find a snake and a whale pillar, each with its own handle. One handle opens the stone door and the other triggers a fire trap. The solution is hidden by a hanging lantern, obscuring a whale symbol.

The path that opens leads to the west, then north into a room with two draugr. At the north end of that room, a path leads east to a crypt with two more draugr. To the right (east) is an expert-locked chest on a table. At the north end of this room is a doorway leading east to another crypt. In the center immediately ahead is a post with a handle that, when activated, opens the door directly ahead to the east where another high-level draugr waits, but which has no other exit points. To the north is another post with a handle that, when activated, opens another door to the east. Behind that door are multiple coin purses, armor, a weapon, and a chest with leveled loot. To the south is another post with a handle that opens a third door to the east. This one leads to a passageway south to a barred door. Activating the door bar and opening the door leads back to the lowest level of the central room.

Traps

• Battering Ram Trap (wall chain)
• Oil Lamp Trap, Oil Pool Trap
• Swinging Spikes (pressure plates)
• Spear Trap (pedestal pressure plate)
• Fire Pressure Plates in the wall room

Quests

• Fetch Me That Book!
• Hitting the Books
• Find the Source of Power/Find the Word of Power
• Wind and Sand ^DR

Notable items

• Skill Book (Two-Handed) Words and Philosophy
• Skill Book (Pickpocket): Thief
• Word Wall: Disarm

Trivia

• This is a useful place to gather blood in "Discerning the Transmundane," as all blood types except Altmer and Falmer can be found here.
•  PC  The Base ID of the particular Bosmer bandit located here is fixed as 000328DCC.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Silverdrift Lair. 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.

•  PC   360   PS3   The Word Wall sometimes may not yield a Word of Power.
• Sometimes the barred doors can be opened but the bar cannot be moved. The Dragonborn may be able to jump over the bar but may not be able to return to the other side. This can result in the Dragonborn not being able to access switches on the barred side and therefore become stuck. If this happens, it is necessary to reload an earlier save.
•  360   The door to enter the ruin starts in an "open" (doors pushed inward) position, instead of shut, like other ruins. This does not affect gameplay, simply activate the doors to shut them, then reactivate them to enter the ruin.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim