Skyrim:Darkwater Pass

Cave: Darkwater Pass (view on map)
# of Zones	1
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	10 days or 30 days
Level	Min: 18
Occupants
Falmer, Chaurus
Important Treasure
Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
Console Location Code(s)
DarkwaterCavernUpperExterior, DarkwaterCavernLowerExterior, DarkwaterCavernExterior, DarkwaterCavernStart, DarkwaterCavernOrigin, DarkwaterCavernW01, DarkwaterCavernExit
Region
The Rift
Location
South-southwest of Darkwater Crossing Northeast of Nilheim
Special Features
# of Arcane Enchanters	1
Ore Veins
# of Silver	1
# of Iron	1

Darkwater Pass

Darkwater Pass is a small cave south-southwest of Darkwater Crossing containing Falmer and chaurus. It contains only one zone, Darkwater Pass.

Related Quests

• Extracting an Argonian: Rescue Derkeethus from his Falmer captors.

Walkthrough

Exterior

To find the cave, leave Darkwater Crossing via the bridge heading southwest, on the far side take the road leading northwest toward Fort Amol, and follow the path marked by a pile of rocks on your left shortly before reaching the next bridge. At the top the path forks, with the left (southeast) fork leading to the cave and the right (west) fork eventually leading to Ivarstead. The cave entrance is marked by a statue with a lit brazier on top and a pair of iron doors flanked by Falmer totems. It is near a large waterfall along Darkwater River, on the shore of a pool formed by the waterfall.

Darkwater Pass

As soon as you enter, you are in a narrow partially flooded tunnel heading roughly north. There is a mist or fog in the air making visibility even worse. Use of Detect Life or the Aura Whisper shout is very useful in this cave. After a short distance, the tunnel turns to the west, with an urn and an unlocked chest at the turning. The tunnel opens into a cave, with the ground rising to the right toward a Falmer hive that conceals a Falmer. Ahead are a stone bridge and platform, similar to those found in Nordic ruins.

Crossing the bridge, you will see a large partially flooded chamber ahead, with a leveled Falmer wandering near a Falmer tent with another Falmer inside. In the distance, there is a waterfall falling down the far wall of the chamber, and several varieties of fish are swimming in the water below the falls. To the north is another tunnel. Next to the waterfall is an unlocked Falmer chest, and it is possible to climb the left side of the cave to reach a lit brazier with a random healing potion beside it (good mountain climbing skills required), opposite to this is a ledge with another healing potion which can be accessed by using whirlwind sprint. On the north wall of the cave, to the left of the tunnel is a silver ore vein, and on the ground in front of it is an iron ore vein. As you enter the tunnel to the north, the ceiling becomes vaulted with pillars supporting it every few paces; there are three leveled chaurus in hiding ready to ambush you behind the pillars. There are several chaurus egg sacs in this area and also throughout the rest of the cave. In front of the east wall of the vaulted chamber is a ledge holding two burial urns, an urn, and an apprentice-locked wooden chest. The path continues to the north, up a flight of wide stairs.

At the top, the tunnel turns to the west again and climbs more stairs. At the top, you enter a room with a large trap door in the floor under which Derkeethus will be trapped during the quest Extracting an Argonian (see bugs). There are doorways to the west and south here. To the south you can hear and see a Falmer wandering about. Take care as there are two Falmer hives in the same room, both of which conceal leveled Falmer. The room is circular and the walls have indented shelves all around. Two of these shelves hold random poisons, and another has a leveled potion of the warrior. There is an arcane enchanter at the rear of the room with a copy of the Enchanting skill book Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments and a random aversion to shock poison. Finally, behind the enchanter is an unlocked Falmer chest.

Back in the trap door room, there is a burial urn to the left of the west exit. There are also three alcoves in the northern wall. The left alcove houses an urn, a random healing potion and a coin are on the floor in front of the center alcove, and the right alcove has a lever that opens a hidden door.

To reach Derkeethus, pull the lever to open the hidden door, behind which you will find a wooden spiral staircase. Take the staircase down to the bottom where there is an unlocked wooden chest. A doorway in the west wall opens onto a short corridor with a loose chaurus egg on the floor. This corridor heads south to a locked gate with a small circular room beyond. This circular room - the prison cell for Derkeethus - is called "Darkwater Pit". Shortly before the gate on the left side of the corridor is another burial urn. The pit is directly beneath the trap door and contains a few steps leading down to a shallow pool of water. Another chest and three more burial urns are in the cell. In one of the three burial urns is the Darkwater Pit key, which will open the cage, but oddly, you have to open the cage to reach the urn with the key or, alternately, reach through the gaps in the gate to open the urn and take the key.

Final chamber

The path to the west climbs a wooden spiraling ramp with several glowing mushrooms growing on the central pillar. The room at the top has stairs ahead, with a balcony along the rear of the room. There is a Falmer standing opposite where you enter to the right of a clearly trapped corridor. You can see a claw trap hinged above the doorway. To the right of the stairs is a lever which triggers both the claw you can see and a second claw hinged on the ground. There is a burial urn near where the Falmer stands, and a tripwire is in the doorway, serving as another trigger for the claw traps. To the south, there is a doorway leading into a narrow corridor heading up stairs. On your right is an alcove containing two urns, one of which is broken. There are two random healing potions beside the urns. By a lit brazier the corridor turns to the west and continues to climb. Near the top it turns north then almost immediately back to the west. Ahead is another chamber.

There are several leveled Falmer in and near this chamber, including one concealed in a hive. There is a flight of stairs descending against the west wall, with another flight ascending from the bottom of these. At the top is a leveled Falmer who is patrolling the top of the stairs. From the top of those stairs, it is a short drop to access the lower of the two doorways at the rear of the room. Dropping down into the water and entering the doorway, take the first turn on the left and then immediately left again to find a stone table with an unlocked wooden chest and two burial urns. In front is a small waterfall dropping into a pool to the left of the stairs before dropping over the large waterfall to the east into the first large chamber. To the left of this waterfall is a Falmer hive on the wall with a concealed Falmer inside.

Opposite this is a bank sloping up from the water to the rear of the chamber. There is another leveled Falmer on this path. At the rear of the room you will see two doorways with wooden planking walls to the left of them; there is another Falmer standing behind these. Near the top of the ramp, you pass another claw on the right wall at head height, with the tripwire a few paces past it. Beyond this point, the architecture is decidedly Nordic. The tunnel climbs a few more stairs and then turns to the west again and then back on itself to the north. This is where the Falmer that was behind the wooden planking is standing, unless you have already dealt with him. The path passes the wooden wall seen from the other side; at the end is a large metal bowl with a chaurus egg sac growing in it. There is also a loose chaurus egg on the floor, and two more are inside the bowl. The path turns back to the south, and stairs lead up to iron doors that allow you to exit the cave.

Notes

• In the water just outside the exit about 30 feet to the right, there is a skeleton with a random weapon, helmet, shield, boots, and knapsack lying around; this person appears to have been murdered, as the skeleton is tied to a stone block.
• There is no map marker for the exit, which is west of the entrance marker and north of Nilheim on the shore of a small pond.

Bugs

• Derkeethus may decide to follow you to the door but refuse to exit. Reloading older saves does not seem to fix this issue.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.3.1, fixes this bug.
  • A workaround is to exit the cave and use the console commands prid 0001B08D and moveto player then talk to him, which should finish the quest.
  • Another solution is to push him as close to the exit as possible, then leave the cave; he should follow you outside.
• The cave interior is flagged as an outdoor area; therefore, it cannot be used for shelter from sunlight if you are a vampire.
  • The Official Skyrim Patch, version 1.7.7.6, fixes this bug.

Maps

South Entrance

East Entrance

Spiral Stairs

Grate

Falmer Tent

Fish pond

Landing

Ramp

Arcane Enchanter

Darkwater Pass Map