Skyrim:Silverdrift Lair

Nordic Ruin: Silverdrift Lair (view on map)
# of Zones	1
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	10 days or 30 days
Level	Min: 6
Occupants
Draugr
Console Location Code(s)
SilverdriftLair01
Region
The Pale
Location
East-southeast of Fort Dunstad Northwest of Nightgate Inn
Special Features
Word Wall	Disarm
# of Cooking Pots/Spits	1
Ore Veins
# of Quicksilver	2

Silverdrift Lair

Silverdrift Lair is a medium-sized Nordic ruin located east-southeast of Fort Dunstad and northwest of Nightgate Inn. The ruins are inhabited by draugr. It contains one zone: Silverdrift Lair.

Inside Silverdrift Lair

Related Quests

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.

Walkthrough

Exterior

There are some bandits hanging around near the entrance of the ruin.

Zone 1: Silverdrift Lair

Two dead bandits flank a cooking spit in the first room. There's an urn and a bookcase with an iron helmet on the middle shelf up against the south wall. Continuing through the east doorway into the next area to find a dead bandit by a junction; the hallway continues east and also turns north. A draugr patrols the area. The way east is blocked by a barred door (where you can find a coin purse and possibly some random armor in the space behind the broken column). Continue on through the northern hallway, which curves east toward a large iron door.

A draugr will greet you on the other side of the door. Loot includes a random potion of restore health on a southern bookcase and an iron mace on a small table. An embalming table adorned with candles holds another similar health potion, a random potion of restore magicka, and a copy of the Two-handed skill book Words and Philosophy.

Both paths ahead lead to a multilevel central chamber: the ground level is connected to a middle level via spiraling wooden ramps, and the top level, which features a small caged bridge running east to west through the chamber, is out of reach. A draugr patrols the ground floor near a fire pit and a throne. There is an apprentice-locked chest with some decent leveled loot directly southwest of the fire pit. If you look west from the fire pit, under the balcony you came down from, you'll see a sort of wooden wall. Behind this wall is a bedroll and a chest with more random loot. Northeast of the fire pit, you'll find two urns and another barred wooden door. From here, you can either take the detour for more loot through the doorway on the ground floor to the west, or head for the word wall by going over the second-level bridge to the east.

A Lootable Detour

Go through the west doorway on the ground floor of the large central room, and you'll come to a small space that appears to be a dead end, with two pedestals on either side with animal carvings—a whale and a snake. The hanging lantern is positioned to hide another animal carving (a whale) higher up the wall. If you pull the right handle (the whale), the west wall will lower so you can move forward. If you do decide to pull the left handle (the snake), back up quick because the lantern above will drop, break open, and light up the flammable oil all over the floor. You can disarm this trap by igniting the oil before stepping into the area.

Move through the lowered wall down a hallway covered in webs; two draugr will emerge from standing coffins in the next room. A small table has a random extra magicka potion sitting on top of it. A doorway to the east leads to a brightly lit room patrolled by two draugr. A southeastern table holds an expert-locked chest with some leveled loot, as well as random armor and boots.

A northeastern doorway leads to the next room, which has three two-part sections. One part of each section has a handle that opens a rotating wall into the other part. The northern handle reveals a small room with a chest with some minor loot as well as a random greatsword, a random shield, and three coin purses. The middle handle opens the way to a draugr. The southern handle leads to a hallway curving south toward a door with a bar over it, which leads to the northeast corner of the large, three-level, central chamber.

Finding the Word Wall

Go to the second floor; to the east across the little stone bridge are two pressure plates that will activate spike wall traps. Two draugr are just past the traps, one of whom is guaranteed to be of a higher level and equipped with a bow, and may also possess a melee weapon. Continue east to a dark area with a gate on the east wall that is opened by a handle on a stone pillar to your right. (Note: the switch can be difficult to spot. Facing the closed gate, between the second pressure plate and the pair of small stone pillars, look to the right pillar which should have a candle at its base, illuminating the switch.) In the southern area of the dark room, you'll see some steps leading to a random enchanted helmet resting on a weight-sensitive plate. There's a spear trap which is triggered when the helmet is removed. It can be avoided by using telekinesis, a projectile spell, or an arrow on it from a distance, or else jump up on the ledge to the right of the pedestal and pick up the helmet from there. The trap can be activated again if the pedestal is pushed down and let up again by the player or other items.

Head through the eastern gate to find more draugr. There's a random potion of restore health and a chest with some minor loot. There are two doors in this room: a northern adept-locked cell door (which has nothing behind it), and a southern gate that leads toward your goal which may be opened using a pull chain to the left of the gate. A swinging log trap will activate the moment you pull the chain, so back up or stand aside.

Through the gate and up the stairs is a room with a long dining table and a couple of draugr. There's a leveled sword on the table. Head through the northern doorway and up some more spiraling stairs. A draugr will meet you at the top. On the eastern table is a random potion of restore stamina, and on the west wall is a chest with some minor loot as well as a copy of the Pickpocket skill book Thief.

Proceed through the western doorway, down the stairs, and through the gate at the bottom, leading to the top-level caged bridge in the main chamber. A draugr will be waiting with a bow and chance of melee weapon on the other side of the bridge. Move across the bridge, turn south, and head up some stairs. The door at the top leads to the word wall.

The only notable elements of this room are the word wall and two draugr guarding said wall. One is a generic higher level draugr, the other is a leveled boss draugr or dragon priest of the melee variety equipped with an enchanted sword. The boss draugr will almost always be located in front of the word wall, usually facing toward it.

Once you manage to defeat them, obtain the word of power (part of the Disarm shout) and head down the hall through the western doorway. In the next room there will be two urns as well as a boss-level chest sitting on a stone altar in front of you. Pull the chain to the left of the boss chest, and proceed through the north gate, down the stairs, and around the bend to the barred door, which opens up into the first hallway you entered.

Notes

• Two quicksilver ore veins are located 200 ft northwest of the lair on a cliff (head to the right when exiting the lair and stick to the rocks to your right until you see path up to the small plateau).

Bugs

• In the main chamber of the first zone, there's a torch in an alcove on the eastern wall of the ground floor. It is possible to jump behind this torch and get stuck with no legitimate way to escape. ^?
  • Summoning an atronach beneath your feet, should you become trapped in this space, may slowly push you out with creative jumping and a little luck, allowing you to escape (confirmed with a storm atronach).
• The barred door will open from the wrong side, but, as the bar will still be in place, there is no way to raise the bar to go backwards through the ruin. ^?
• The wall might not teach you a Word. This can prevent further information about Words of Power via the Greybeards, or letters from friends. ^?
• After exiting the ruins through the shortcut, you may fall into a crevice with no way out. Load the previous save to escape or fast travel. ^?