Old Friends

Enemy Revealed

As you continue to perform Side Quests for Neloth in his fungal hideaway in Tel Mithryn, he may refer to attackers trying to thwart him. You may have disregarded this as paranoia, and he mentions it only infrequently as he orders you to finish different tasks. However, when you return to Tel Mithryn, you find a group of three or four Ash Spawn waiting to defeat you. Slay them and head in to speak with Neloth. Something more troubling is afoot!

Not surprisingly, Neloth says that he has legions of enemies back in Morrowind, but in this case, somebody in Solstheim is to blame. You can ask what needs doing (or if there’s a bounty reward), and Neloth hands you a special ring. Wear it, walk around Tel Mithryn, and follow any strange clues it may impart. You may wish to ask Neloth about how the ring works (it follows a link back to the summoner of the Ash Spawn and provides a visual clue of their location). You can also ask about the threats he’s received.

• Neloth’s Ring of Tracking

Place Neloth’s Ring of Tracking on your finger, step outside, head down to the ash grounds at the foot of the fungal root structures, and then look to your right (northeast). Head through the gaps in the rocky outcrops, and peer down toward the coast, with Nchardak in the distance. Something odd catches your eye in the small walled graveyard with the single pine tree. A strange purple glow emanates from one of the grave sites. Head closer and activate Ildari’s Sarcophagus. After heaving back the lid, you’ll find a staff and (more importantly) a Heart Stone inside. But no skeleton!

• Heart Stone

Low-Life at Highpoint

Back at Neloth’s tower, explain that the Heart Stone is the source of the attacks. You explain where you found it, and Neloth blames himself. The grave belongs to Ildari, his apprentice before Talvas. He found it annoying when she died. Reply regarding the lack of body in the grave. This continues the conversation.

Or ask more about the experiments he inflicted on her. He lets you know how he tried to emulate the Briarheart and implant a Heart Stone into Ildari’s chest. It didn’t take.

It seems Ildari may still live! He casts a divination, takes both the Heart Stone and his ring, and commands Ildari to reveal herself. A few moments later, he has her location. You’ll find her in Highpoint Tower. The time for friendship seems to have passed; Neloth wants that thrice-cursed Heart Stone ripped from her chest.

Head northwest from Tel Mithryn, until you find the cascading stream that used to be the Harstrad River before the choking ash falls from Red Mountain blocked much of the drainage. Move up the stream in the direction of Highpoint Tower, but don’t continue to clamber up to the remains of the tower; the entrance is partially hidden. Instead, stay below the rocky area around the tower, and move clockwise around until you’re slightly north of the location, facing south. A group of Ash Spawn are lurking near the dying pine trees and trama roots. Defeat the foes, locate the roughly hewn steps in the rocks that wind up to the southeast, and the stone tunnel entrance to the tower.

Head down three levels of spiral steps (pausing at the table two floors down to secure the first of Ildari’s Journals) to a curved stone tunnel that leads into a rocky cave attached to the base of the tower structure with numerous revolting egg sacs to your left (southwest). These burst as you head toward them, so slay any Flame Cloaked or Albino Spiders you find here or in the small cavern with the ruby geode deposits and the low caverns with sapphire and amethyst geodes and scattered bones.

• Ildari’s Journal, vol. I

Back at the tower tunnel, move north into the next section of tunnel, plucking the Soul Gem from the magic caster trap so it doesn’t spit shock bolts at you. Head past the Ash Spawn waiting to repel you, checking a circular side chamber for more foes. Back in the curved tunnel, rush the next caster trap and halt the electrical damage before continuing east to the tunnel exit.

A Sorcerer Scorned

Watch the explosive rune on the ground in the roughly circular chamber with the Arcane Enchanter. Head east down the large dungeon passage, watching for a wall rune at the far end. To the right (south) is a small dead-end passage with cells. One still has a prisoner inside—Niyya. If you unlock her door [Adept], she tells you Ildari sealed her and other miners into these cells and used them in her experiments. Ildari seems quite deranged. Just how deranged is detailed in the second of her journals, found on the table in the jail area.

• Ildari’s Journal, vol. II

Backtrack to the wall rune and head north toward the bowl torch. Turn right (east) and follow the passage into a mine area. Drop down into the mine where veins of gold and sapphire ore can be depleted. Then head northwest, under the three hanging lanterns, and prepare for fraught combat as you reach a small fortification built within a large cave. Ildari Sarothril appears atop the battlements, telling you Neloth was a fool to send someone like you to finish her off. She’s not the friendly sort, as indicated by the minions she summons before fleeing.

With a crackle from the gems surrounding her summoning plateau, she conjures an Ash Guardian, and three or four Ash Spawn also join in the throng. Back into the mine so you aren’t swamped, and set about removing these initial threats. Then head toward the fortification, move up and around to the left onto the earthen walkways, and face four more Ash Spawn. There’s a dead-end mine shaft nearby. Check it before climbing the wooden scaffold steps surrounding the old fort, passing the summoning circle and heading across to the interior of a partially ruined tower where Ildari yelled at you from.

Drop down and inspect the shelves and room, grabbing any items you wish. There are potions and ingredients, a book called Deathbrand (which launches the Solstheim Side Quest of the same name), Ildari’s third journal, and a strongbox (not made by the East Empire Company).

• Deathbrand
• Ildari’s Journal, vol. III

Exit the room via a southwest tunnel that winds up and turns into a fissure with Ash Spawn appearing as you progress. Deal with four or five of them before venturing down the fissure or climbing up the natural rock bridges if you wish to sneak past your foes. This leads to a castle corridor. The only way is to the right (southwest), over a bridge (which is actually above the initial chamber with the floor rune and Arcane Enchanter). This ends in a grand, two-story hall at the western end, where Ildari resides.

The Dunmeri apprentice has grown in competence (and insanity) since her time with Neloth. Face her ice storms and thunderbolts in an epic battle, disrupting her fast healing and other attempts to protect herself if you can. Long-range attacks may be more effective, as fighting on the narrow bridge to her balcony bedroom is tricky. When she finally drops to her knees, race in and rip her heart out, finally ending her malicious ways for good. Search her corpse for robes and a staff.

• Heart Stone
• Telvanni Robes

Quest Conclusion

Activate the lever near the small bridge to her balcony, and a barred archway opens, allowing you to exit via a long path that ends at a pull chain that opens a section of wall leading back to the initial tower chamber. Exit, and return to Tel Mithryn. Tell Neloth of your victory, and he seems actually impressed by your prowess. He gives you a staff and makes you a member of House Telvanni.

• [Random] Staff
• Bed and Chest

Postquest Activities

Additional quests are available from Neloth. Ask what it means to be a member of his house, and Neloth mentions that when he returns to Vvardenfell in a few decades, you would be seen as nobility. In the meantime, you have your own bed and chest here to use as you please.