Volunruud

Volunruud
Map
Hold	The Pale
Location	North of Whiterun, just past Halted Stream Camp
Type	Tomb
Sublocations	Volunruud Elder's Cairn
Quests	Silenced Tongues The Silence Has Been Broken
Characters	Amaund Motierre, Rexus (Both during the quest The Silence Has Been Broken)
Location ID	Volunruud01 Volunruud02

Volunruud (Dragon Language: Vol-unruud: "Horror-[?]") is an ancient Nordic tomb that is found north of Silent Moons Camp and Halted Stream Camp, in The Pale.

Quests

• Silenced Tongues
• The Silence Has Been Broken
• Trouble in Skyrim (Radiant quest)
• Fetch Me That Book! (Radiant quest)

Walkthrough

When entering Volunruud for the first time, Heddic's Volunruud Notes is on the floor. Reading it will begin the quest "Silenced Tongues." Down the stairs is a large chamber with four branching paths to begin.

The southwest tunnel leads to a room with some minor loot, usually gold or potions. This is also the room Amaund Motierre resides in during the Dark Brotherhood quest "The Silence Has Been Broken." The tunnel to the west leads through some catacombs to a small room that contains the ceremonial axe placed on a display rack on the far wall, as well as a few leveled draugr and a draugr deathlord. This room contains many pressure plates that trigger spike traps if stepped on, so caution is suggested. On the throne is the One-Handed skill book Mace Etiquette.

Back up to the main area, the northeast tunnel leads to a large room with three more Draugr and a swinging gate trap on the floor. Once the Draugr are dealt with, the stairs on the right in the hallway lead to a bridge to an iron door. It leads to a small room containing a coffin and two more undead waiting. An ancient Nord helmet can be found here, as well as the ceremonial sword.

The door to the Elder's Cairn after the Ceremonial weapons have been placed.

Back in the main chamber, the stairs to the north should be followed. This leads to the entrance to Elder's Cairn, where there is a small table containing embalming tools and a leveled shield. Upon activating the door, the Ceremonial Weapons will be placed in the indicated slots, and the door can be opened.

Inside the Cairn, down the path is a Draugr archer on the platform above. After he is dispatched quickly, the Dragonborn will have to fight 3–4 leveled Draugr and Kvenel the Tongue, a particularly tough enemy who can summon frost atronachs and wields two unique weapons; Eduj and Okin, both of which can be looted off of his corpse when defeated.

After the fight there is a chest with random leveled loot and a word wall containing one of the words for the shout, Aura Whisper. To the right (north) of the wall is a path leading up over a bridge towards a small room with a few urns. On the left of the bridge there is another chest on a ledge to be looted. It can be reached by walking carefully around the small ledge jutting out from the rock pillar, or by using the shout Whirlwind Sprint from the bridge. Once finished, the Volunruud main room can be used to exit.

Notable items

• One-Handed skill books: Mace Etiquette and Night Falls on Sentinel.
• Unique Item: Jeweled Amulet
• Unique Sword: Eduj
• Unique War Axe: Okin
• Word Wall: Aura Whisper
• Dragon Priest Dagger
• Volunruud is a potential spawn location for Meridia's Beacon, required for the quest "The Break of Dawn."

Alchemy ingredients

• Bone Meal
• Salt Pile
• Troll Fat

Trivia

• The draugr deathlord in the room containing the ceremonial axe is a considerably powerful enemy at lower levels. The spike traps on the ground can be used against it while dodging its Disarm or Unrelenting Force shout.
• Using a fully charged Disarm shout against Kvenel will cause one, if not both, of his weapons to be thrown through the air and land somewhere where they may never be found.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Volunruud. 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.

•  360   PS3   NX   Sometimes, the Word of Power in the final room cannot be obtained.
•  360   Sometimes, Kvenel will only spawn with one unique weapon, not two, as he is supposed to.
• The northwest room's swinging door can become stuck and prevent passage into the hallway.
• Sometimes the door cannot be opened when both ceremonial weapons have been obtained without first reading the notes. If the notes are read after obtaining the ceremonial weapons, the quest sometimes will not start. A simple solution is to drop both ceremonial weapons and notes (dropping the notes may or may not be essential). Pick up the notes again and make an attempt to activate the door. The quest "Silenced Tongues" started from a failed attempt to open the door, allowing the weapons to be picked back up and successfully activating the door.
• The ceremonial axe hung in the west room may not be able to be taken down, a solution is to shoot it with an arrow or use the unrelenting force shout to knock it off its holder.
• Sometimes, when fast traveling with a horse, it can end up dead on the spot.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim