Skyrim:Dustman's Cairn

Nordic Ruin: Dustman's Cairn (view on map)
# of Zones	2
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	Never (storage is safe)
Level	Min: 6
Occupants
Draugr, Frostbite Spiders, Silver Hand members, Skeevers
Important Treasure
Fragment of Wuuthrad, Battle of Sancre Tor
Console Location Code(s)
DustmansCairnExterior01, DustmansCairn01, DustmansCairn02
Region
Whiterun Hold
Special Features
Word Wall	Fire Breath
# of Alchemy Labs	1
# of Arcane Enchanters	1

Dustman's Cairn seen from above

Dustman's Cairn is an ancient Nordic barrow located in the central tundra of Whiterun Hold. It contains two zones: Dustman's Cairn and Dustman's Crypt.

There is a word wall inside holding a word for the Fire Breath shout. The interior is quest-locked, and there is little of value outside the cairn. There are a multitude of flowers around the outside of the entrance, and eleven hanging moss plants and an iron shield around the inside of the entrance.

There is a well-maintained road between Hamvir's Rest and Fort Greymoor, and the path up to Dustman's Cairn comes a short distance before it ends at Hamvir's Rest. There happens to be an upturned cart, with its load of cabbages spilt, near to where the dirt path starts.

Related Quests

• Proving Honor: Claim a Fragment of Wuuthrad from Dustman's Cairn.

NOTE: Some radiant quests have a sizeable list of possible locations. These quests are not placed on individual place pages, and are instead listed at radiant quest locations.

Notes

• Unless you are on the related quest, you will only have access to the first room, which contains three leveled draugr to guard the loot.
• If you have been sent here by a radiant quest after you have completed Proving Honor, you will need to reload your game and ask the giver for another quest. This is because this location does not respawn, and you will be unable to complete the quest. If you have received the quest before the quest, it should still be completable while concurrently completing Proving Honor.

Dustman's Cairn

Zone 1: Dustman's Cairn

A draugr welcoming party

You enter at the top of a short set of stairs. When you descend the steps three draugr emerge from the sides of the room and attack. After they have been dealt with, check the table in the middle of the room for the Two-handed skill book, Battle of Sancre Tor. Beside the book is a pickaxe and a lockpick. There is also a novice-locked chest beside the table. There are three dead draugr lying by the three sarcophagi around the edges of the room, each holding a small amount of gold. There are two dressers beside the entrance to the room, one with some junk, the other with a pickaxe and a bowl of bone meal. Around the room are two bleeding crown plants, and two hanging moss plants. The path forward is opposite the entrance, it will be blocked by fallen rocks before the quest Proving Honor is activated.

Just before the next door along the path is a hanging moss plant on the right-hand side. The next room contains four draugr, all of whom are standing in alcoves, in wait for unwary explorers. The first room to the right contains one of these draugr and a bleeding crown. The room with the lantern contains another draugr. The third draugr is in the room opposite, in an alcove on the front left-hand side. The final draugr is in an alcove on the left as you follow the path northwards to the next section of the dungeon.

The throne room

Through the door is a tunnel blocked with a giant cobweb: on the floor to the right before the first one is an orange dartwing. At the other end of the tunnel is a broken table and two dead draugr on the floor. There are two iron ingots on the shelves to the left of the table. The next room is safe to enter. To the left, down the stairs, are two thrones and an arcane enchanter. Across the room, on a set of shelves, is a leveled potion of fortify Two-handed. The path forward, to the southeast, is blocked: you will need to activate a lever in the room the northeast. The room with the lever also contains a bowl of bone meal, a potion of minor stamina, a potions of minor healing and a leveled healing potion. There are fourteen hanging moss plants hanging from the roof, only four of which are reachable by jumping from the outcroppings around the room.

Follow the twisting path until you turn east, you will then see two members of the Silver Hand conversing on the other side of the tunnel. When they are dead, check the first alcove on the right for a leveled helmet on a pedestal, be careful as a dart trap is activated: the trap is located directly north of the pedestal. On the pedestal in the second alcove is a flawless amethyst and some loose gold: there is no trap here. There is an imp stool plant beside the pedestal, and a bowl of bone meal on the shelves beside where the Silver Hand members stood. There is nothing of interest in the next room.

Through the next door there is a draugr lying in wait: it is in an alcove opposite the door and slightly to the right. In the next room there is a member of the Silver Hand standing over a bloodstained draugr and another member patrolling the walkways above the far side of the room. There is a novice-locked chest under the stairs. Ascend the stairs and turn around to the left, search for a chain hanging from the wall beyond the rubble. This lowers a secret area to the left of the stairs that contains a high-leveled chest. There is a dead Silver Hand warrior lying on the middle sarcophagi, and through the door to the east, a master-locked chest, two urns, and behind the door, a coin purse. Before descending the stairs to the south, grab the pine thrush egg and hanging moss near the brazier to the left. On a table to the right of the stairs is a leveled sword, some loose gold, two potions of minor magicka, and two potions of minor healing.

There are more draugr in the next section. The first is again lying in wait in front and slightly to the right of the door. There is another around the corner to the right by the large urn, and another to the left of the rubble further along the path. There is another draugr in an alcove of burial slots to the left, another on the left by the rubble, and another straight ahead. There is a Silver Hand patrolling around here too. Past the Silver Hand member and a broken urn is the final living draugr here. Down the slope is a dead draugr by an adept-locked chest.

The next room is populated by more Silver Hands. The first stands lookout on the platform straight ahead on the far side of the room, and to the upper right. Check behind the pillar on the left for a white cap plant before progressing: there is another to the back right of this first part of the room. There are two Silver Hand members standing by the fire in the middle of the second part of the room. The ramp to the first member is here, going back past you. There is a pressure plate in the middle of the stairs through the next door, and two Silver Hands at the bottom, hiding behind the pillars on either side: the pressure plate activates darts from the right-hand wall. There is an open chest to the far left of corner before the final door.

Zone 2: Dustman's Crypt

Silver Hands fighting draugr

There is a Silver Hand leaning on a sarcophagus around a corner when you enter the crypt. Through the door is an enclosed walkway above a large room: there are two Silver Hands below, who may provoke some of the draugr in the room. It is also possible to snipe the victors with ranged attacks. More draugr lie in wait along the next corridor. The first is around the corner at the first alcove, the following two are on the outside of the corner (there is also a white cap plant here). Down the slope is a white cap plant, with a draugr on either side of the tunnel. Around the corner from here is a Silver Hand, and two draugr lying in burial slots on the left-hand wall: these two will usually have been awakened by the presence of the Silver Hand here. There is a final draugr in a slot opposite the rubble up ahead. There is a white cap lying loose at the corner and another two in the rubble further along, there is also a white cap plant and an urn with some loot in the rubble. There is a chest in an alcove to the right.

The corridor eventually ends above a room with a Silver Hand: once dealt with, loot the apothecary's satchel found on shelves to the right of the entrance. Underneath the stairs is an adept-locked chest. There are four burial urns spread around the preparation table opposite the chest. Opening the adept-locked door to the south reveals a selection of rare ingredients: there is a bowl of vampire dust, frost salts, two bowls of bone meal, and some ice wraith teeth.

The next room is the one seen from the previous walkway, there is a chest to the left that contains the Dustman's Cairn key among its loot. The key is needed for the far door, which is obviously key-locked otherwise. There is nothing else of note in the room, except for any remaining enemies that you will have taken care of at this point. There are two skeevers in the next corridor, and another two in the room after that: the room also contains an alchemy lab. There is a novice-locked door to the southwest, behind which is an urn and a potion of minor healing.

A well preserved carving with a valuable gem

Through the door to the east is the tunnel that allows you to continue: there is also another skeever there. There is another skeever in the tunnel, and two Frostbite Spiders when the tunnel opens out: there is also an egg sac to the right. You will need to take the higher path around the sides of the cave to progress, as the lower path is a dead end, and too high to jump up. There are two draugr between the second bridge and the exit to the cave. In the corridor after this, there is a carving on the wall to the right, with a bright ruby lodged in the middle carving. The corridor after this contains only a white cap plant, a hanging moss plant (both mid-way through the corridor), and some dead draugr.

The word wall

Through the iron door is the final room of the dungeon. There is a word wall for the dragon shout Fire Breath, a fragment of Wuuthrad, and a good many draugr. Beside the fragment are two leveled healing potions and three leveled soul gems (all the way up to black). There is a boss chest to the right of the word wall, and a few urns by the stairs to the right. The draugr will only be activated once the fragment is taken, this also means that the shortcut back to the entrance of the cairn is inaccessible, as it is through a sarcophagus atop the stairs. There are a total of seventeen draugr that come alive, including a boss-leveled one: additionally the iron door magically locks with an apprentice lock.

The exit tunnel leads to the north-westerly sarcophagi in the very first room, don't forget to pull the lever to lower the hidden wall.