Skyrim:High Gate Ruins

Nordic Ruin: High Gate Ruins (view on map)
# of Zones	3
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	10 days or 30 days
Level	Min: 24
Occupants
Draugr, Vokun
Console Location Code(s)
HighGateRuins01, HighGateRuins02, HighGateRuins03, HighGateRuinsExterior
Region
The Pale
Location
West of Dawnstar East of Wreck of the Icerunner
Special Features
Word Wall	Storm Call
# of Arcane Enchanters	1
Ore Veins
# of Orichalcum	2

The entrance to High Gate Ruins

High Gate Ruins is a medium-sized Nordic ruin directly west of Dawnstar, and a short distance east of the Wreck of the Icerunner. It contains three interior zones: High Gate Ruins, High Gate Ruins Catacombs, and Vokun's Throne Room.

The dragon priest Vokun resides here. The quest A Scroll For Anska is initiated as soon as you speak with Anska in the ruins. There is also a word wall here which teaches part of the Storm Call shout.

Related Quests

• Alteration Ritual Spell: Acquire Kahvozein's Fang and use it to get heartscales from a dragon for Tolfdir. (radiant)
• A Scroll For Anska: Help Anska trace her roots in High Gate Ruins.

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

Zone 1: High Gate Ruins

The ruins are inhabited by draugr. In the first room after encountering Anska there is a chest toward the far wall. On the walkway above the chest are an altar and a bookshelf where a soul gem and a few potions may be found. Following the walkway round to the left brings you to a copy of the Destruction skill book A Hypothetical Treachery near a skeleton. A chest can be found by following the walkway round to the right.

The door nearest the altar leads to a room with a few draugr, and a bookshelf with several potions. A few alchemical ingredients may be found on the bookshelf and elsewhere in the room, along with an arcane enchanter.

A corridor leads past a spiked gate trap to another two-tier room containing four levers. If Anska is with you she will comment on the room being some sort of puzzle. True enough, set into the floor is a stairway behind a gate which is opened by pulling the levers in the correct order. The solution is carved into the rock high up on the south wall of the room: Eagle—Whale—Fox—Snake.

Zone 2: High Gate Ruins Catacombs

From the entrance into this area, a corridor leads deeper into the catacombs past dormant draugr who awaken at your presence. The corridor contains several pressure plate traps, and partway along the corridor there is an altar upon which several potions can be found (check to the side of the altar for a further potion). From here, a trail of gold coins leads to a chest protected by a spike trap operated by a pressure plate.

Shortly, an iron door leads to a small room with a soul gem a dais atop. The dais has a pressure switch, and when triggered will cause two draugr to emerge from their sarcophagi. The room also contains a locked door, behind which are a burial urn and a chest containing mediocre loot.

A long corridor, containing several pressure plate traps, leads to an iron double door, and in turn to another small room similar to the soul gem room. This room, however, has a lever in the center and sealed iron gate. The lever releases the first of two high-level draugr from its concealed resting place within the wall, and also reveals a second lever. The second lever releases the second draugr and reveals a third lever which opens the gate. Behind the gate is a bookshelf with another selection of potions, and the entrance to Vokun's Throne Room.

Zone 3: Vokun's Throne Room

A short corridor leads to the double door of the throne room proper. Along the corridor there is a large stone bowl containing a number of potions. As you approach the double door, it will open on its own to reveal Volkun rising from his sarcophagus. When dispatched, Vokun drops his eponymous mask.

On the far side of Vokun's Throne Room is an antechamber containing two chests (one of which contains good loot), several urns and burial urns, and a word wall which teaches part of the Storm Call shout.

If you have the quest A Scroll For Anska, the scroll in question will be sitting on the stone table in front of the word wall.

A shortcut back to the exit exists on the upper level of the antechamber, to the left of the room as you enter from the throne room. A passageway leads via a chain-operated gate to the room in which Anska is originally found.

Notes

• Two orichalcum ore veins are located 240 ft south-southeast of the ruins.
• If you have Hearthfire installed, the ruins are located a very short distance almost directly behind Windstad Manor.

Bugs

• If the radiant quest Fetch me that Book! or Shalidor's Insights has been accepted and directs the player to High Gate Ruins, the book will be located in a chest in the antechamber behind Vokun's Throne Room. However, the antechamber will be inaccessible if the player has already visited High Gate Ruins and killed Vokun.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.2 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
  • This can be resolved by using console commands, either to resurrect Vokun and kill him again (select the body, not his ashes) or to simply pass through one of the closed gates (use 'tcl' to turn clipping on and off).
  • Vokun's Throne Room may be accessed by utilizing a follower to open the gate blocking the player from the antechamber exit above the first room. This is accomplished by bringing a follower after clearing out the entire dungeon (unconfirmed if clearing out the dungeon is necessary), climbing up the pile of rubble, in the first room, beside Anska, and using Whirlwind Sprint to access the walkway leading to the exit from the antechamber (simply climbing the rubble at the left corner of the balcony also works). The follower will run through the dungeon and eventually, in approximately 1-3 minutes, appear on the other side of the gate from the player. The follower can then be instructed to pull the chain, thereby opening the gate and permitting the player into Vokun's Throne Room.
    • Since the 1.4 patch, using the system wait command while standing against the gate no longer works.