Skyrim:Soul Cairn Horse Quest

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Find Arvak's skull. Quest Giver: Soul Location(s): Soul Cairn Reward: Summon Arvak spell ID: DLC01SoulCairnHorseQuest2 Suggested Level: 13

Arvak's Skull

Quick Walkthrough

1. (Optional) Talk to a distraught soul.
2. Find Arvak's skull.
3. Return to the soul.

Detailed Walkthrough

This quest can only be started within the Soul Cairn. It can be started one of two ways, either by interacting with the distraught soul or by simply finding Arvak's skull. The soul who starts the quest can be found between the large wall and the entrance to the Boneyard (where Valerica is held). When first approaching him, you will hear him calling out to Arvak in distress, yelling, "Arvak! Arvak, where are you? Arvak, please come back! Come back!" and calling his name repeatedly. If you speak to him, he'll plead with you to help find Arvak. You'll have to ask him what he's talking about, and he'll explain, "Arvak. My horse. We came to this horrible place together. We were attacked by monsters, so I told him to run." He tells you how loyal Arvak is, and that the poor creature has been running for too long. He begs you to find Arvak's skull, giving you a quest to locate it.

Head towards the main castle, the location in which Serana's mother is located, and head due east from the front of the castle. You will see a shrine with mistmen. Upon locating the skull, there will be mistmen surrounding it, all turning hostile as you approach. After dealing with them, you are free to take the skull, causing the soul to materialize nearby, a short distance away from the shrine. He will thank you considerably by giving you a reward, saying, "He's such a loyal beast. Here, I'll teach you how to call him to you." You will now have access to the spell Summon Arvak, which allows you to summon Arvak both within and outside of the Soul Cairn. Arvak's behavior is similar to a regular horse, though he will dissipate after 60 seconds from when you summon him if you are not mounted. As you walk away from the soul, he will be undeniably pleased to see his horse get a break, telling you, "Goodbye, hero! Take good care of Arvak for me!"

Bugs

• Arvak's skull is not given to the soul upon completion and is kept.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.1 of the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.
• You may be unable to pick up Arvak's skull. ^?
  • Loading a previous save and then coming back seems to fix this.

Quest Stages

Soul Cairn Horse Quest (DLC01SoulCairnHorseQuest2)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
20		(Objective is assigned): Find Arvak's skull in the Soul Cairn
100		(Objective is assigned): Retrieve Arvak's skull
150		(Objective is assigned): Return Arvak's skull

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 10, 15, 170, 200, 250, 255.

 

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DLC01SoulCairnHorseQuest2 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DLC01SoulCairnHorseQuest2.