Online:Retaking the Pass

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Defeat the undead army and rescue the Mane.

Zone:	Greenshade This quest is part of the Zone Story
Faction:	Aldmeri Dominion
Objective:	Driladan Pass — Help the Dominion defeat the undead army.
Quest Giver:	Bodring, Estinan
Location(s):	Driladan Pass, Old Merchant Caves
Reward:	Vinedusk Staff Very High Leveled Gold
XP Gain:	Very High XP
ID:	4546
Prerequisite Quest: The Staff of Magnus ← Previous Naemon's Return Next → Shades of Green
Prerequisite Quest: The Staff of Magnus ← Previous Naemon's Return → Next Shades of Green

Enter the Shadow Wood

An undead army surges through Driladan Pass and assaults Marbruk on the command of the Shade of Prince Naemon.

Quick Walkthrough

1. Search for the Mane.
2. Find out the true intentions of the Shade.
3. Talk to the 3 skulls
4. (Choice) Release or condemn their souls.
5. Talk to Indaenir.
6. Close the Shadow Rifts.
7. Defeat the Servant of Naemon.
8. Talk to Indaenir.
9. Talk to Bodring.

Detailed Walkthrough

Driladan Pass has been overrun by undead and necromancers from the Veiled Heritance. The Khajiiti Mane, Akkhuz-ri, has brought an army to help in the fight alongside the Vinedusk Bosmer clan, but has been forced to take refuge in an old mine tunnel. Fight your way through the tunnel to find him. Also with him is a Bosmer who seems to have a special connection to nature, Indaenir. When you have cleared the path, the Mane will go back to Marbruk to reorganize the troops and retake the pass, while you go on with Indaenir who believes he can find a way to discover what is going on.

Indaenir discovers that most of the wildlife has fled the place, but the torchbugs remain: and he sends you to follow the torchbug to gather the skulls of three "fallen" Bosmer who broke the Green Pact in life, named Ollion, Ethril and Thraul. This place is also packed with necromancers and undead. Having gathered the skulls, head to the Stone Table, where Indaenir questions them to reveal that what was once Naemon has now become a shade-lich that seeks to corrupt the entire forest into something called the Shadow Wood. You will have the choice to either release the souls of the fallen Bosmer, or condemn them to continued imprisonment; a choice which may be made separately for each one. Ollion and Ethril seem genuinely repentant, while Thraul is completely unrepentant and in fact rejoices in the coming of the Shadow Wood, in which he believes the fallen dead will have their turn to judge those who condemned them.

The Shadow Wood, in fact, has already been created and the Shade is trying to merge it with the "real" wood. Your next task is to find and close three rifts between the real wood and Shadow Wood, with Indaenir's assistance. All three are down in the great river-chasm (there is a path leading to stairs, just to the left of the Stone Table as you originally face it): two of them in caves off the northern and southern sides respectively near the eastern end: the third further west, in the open air. Indaenir closes the rifts, while you have to fight yet more undead and necromancers and protect him while he does so. The Shade of Naemon will taunt you as you close the first two: when you try to close the third, he says "You go too far. Now experience the Shadow Wood for yourself" and you are dragged into the shadow-world. Instead of skeletons and necromancers, you'll now be facing spriggans, imps and lurchers in a dark, sinister version of the world.

Indaenir, too, will appear ghostly. Talking to him suggests that you head for a place where the real and shadow worlds coincide: he suggests the Stone Table. The best way to get there is up the stairs out of the chasm at its eastern end, on the northern side, where you will have to fight a Servant of Naemon. Defeat him, and you will be transported back to the real world (you won't be able to loot the Shadow's corpse, if it leaves one, because it will be left behind in the shadow version of the world). Indaenir suggests that you go back to Marbruk to report the news: it is now safe to head back over the bridge and through Driladan Pass, where Bodring will be waiting for you at the south end.

You'll learn, from Bodring, that the chances are that Naemon will be going for Hectahame, the legendary heart of Valenwood (you may also have learned of the importance of Hectahame in The Flooded Grove: however, there is corruption in other parts of Valenwood too, in Dread Vullain (Right of Theft) and Verrant Morass (The Blight of the Bosmer), and Indaenir has already gone to one of those places to deal with it. Choose either: whichever you go to, he will be there.

Notes

• Three quests - Retaking the Pass (Driladan Pass), Right of Theft (Dread Vullain) and The Blight of the Bosmer (Verrant Morass) - are all part of the overarching meta-quest Shades of Green, although you will not be assigned the latter until you complete ONE of these three, whereupon you will be assigned Shades of Green with one objective already completed and the other two still to do. If you follow the Zone Story in the correct order, Retaking the Pass will be the first one of the three encountered. Alternatively, if you somehow reach Hectahame before starting ANY of the three, then Breaking the Ward will ask you to choose ONE of the three places to go to.
  • The three are also mutually exclusive: while you're doing one of them, it will not be possible to start either of the other two. This is because, although technically the quest giver for each one is a different member of the Vinedusk Rangers, all three also involve Indaenir, and he can't be in three places at once.
  • All three are needed to unlock Hectahame itself.
• The Mane and Indaenir won't exist in the tunnel, unlike the rest of their party, before starting the quest.
• The skulls won't exist before starting the quest or reaching the related objective.
• The shadow rifts and the skeletal mages tending them won't exist before starting the quest or reaching the related objective.
• While displayed as a hint, talking to Indaenir while in the Shadow Wood is not mandatory to do in order to proceed with the quest.
• The Veiled Heritants in the southern section of the pass, including the tunnel, are removed once the quest is completed.

Bugs

• Despite Indaenir telling you to follow the torchbug, it is removed from sight after he finishes talking with it. Besides, it is not needed to complete the objective as the individual skulls' locations are pinpointed on the map. ^?
• Closed shadow rifts will reappear after a few seconds. Closing the same one again won't count for the completion tally. ^?
• If you don't speak to Indaenir as part of the "hint" mentioned above, Indaenir appears twice next to you after defeating the Servant of Naemon. One of the versions will keep following you even after having spoken to him and parting ways. He will even persist after completing the quest and will repeatedly spam quest-proximity dialogue. ^?
  • Logging out and logging back in resolves this problem.

Quest Stages

Retaking the Pass
Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
	I've been asked to rescue Mane Akkhuz-ri whose party was cut off somewhere within the Old Imperial Tunnel. Objective: Find Mane Akkhuz-ri
	Mane Akkhuz-ri is suspicious of what the Shade's true motivations might be. He wants to speak to Indaenir about the matter. I should listen. Objective: Allow Akkhuz-ri and Indaenir to Speak
	Mane Akkhuz-ri is returning to Marbruk for reinforcement and suggested that I join Indaenir in trying to determing [sic] what the Shade's true motivations might be in ordering the attack on Marbruk. Objective: Talk to Indaenir
	Indaenir says he might know a way to determine what the Shade's true motivations are. I should meet him outside. Objective: Meet Indaenir Outside
	Indaenir spoke to a torchbug who agreed to lead me to find the remains of cursed Bosmer who are dead but have not been raised. Indaenir hopes they can tell us of the Shade's true motivations. I should follow the torchbug to find the skulls. Objective: Find the Skull of Ethril Objective: Find the Skull of Ollion Objective: Find the Skull of Thraul Hidden Objective: Let Indaenir Tame a Torchbug
	The torchbug led me to find the skulls of three Wood Elves who are dead and cannot be raised. I need to bring the skulls to the Stone Table where Indaenir is making preparations to commune with them. Objective: Take Skulls to Indaenir at Stone Table
	I need to help Indaenir question the skulls about the Shade's true motives. Objective: Interrogate the Skulls with Indaenir Objective Hint: Place Skulls on Table Objective Hint: Let Indaenir Confer with the Skulls Objective Hint: Talk to Indaenir Objective Hint: Talk to Skull of Ethril and Decide Her Fate Objective Hint: Talk to Skull of Ollion and Decide His Fate Objective Hint: Talk to Skull of Thraul and Decide His Fate Objective Hint: Talk to Indaenir
	The skulls revealed that the Shade plans to corrupt all of Valenwood, turning it into the "Shadow Wood." To stop the Shade's plans, I must first close the Shadow Rifts through which his influence is spreading. Objective: Close the Shadow Rifts: 0/3 Hidden Objective: Western Shadow Rift Hidden Objective: Northern Shadow Rift Hidden Objective: Southern Shadow Rift
	After closing the Shadow Rifts, I was pulled into the Shadow Wood and taunted by the voice of one of Naemon's Servants. I must confront this Servant of Naemon. Objective: Defeat the Servant of Naemon Objective Hint: Talk to Indaenir
	I defeated the Servant of Naemon and escaped from the Shadow Wood. I need to talk to Indaenir to determine what's next. Objective: Talk to Indaenir
Finishes quest	Indaenir believes there is much more for us to do, but he wants me to return to the forces outside Marbruk and report what we've discovered so far. Objective: Talk to Bodring

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the game 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.