Skyrim talk:Moss Mother Cavern (quest)

Initiation of the Quest

Anyone have any info about a pointer quest to this? Please add it to the quest. I ran into it on my way to Falkreath city and thus had completed it before ever going to Falkreath.--Bwross 04:28, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

I remember a woman in Falkreath gave me the pointer, but I don't remember who it was. She said they were overdue and was worried about them. DeeLow 18:17, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

I believe I got the rumour about him (and the associated quest pointer) from Valga Vinicia, the innkeeper in Falkreath. --80.254.147.84 11:37, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

(←) Also, I see the note about the dagger being one of the best in the game, but what is the rationale for that? It's stats don't seem particularly good, and compared to say, a daedric dagger with a powerful offensive enchantment, I don't see the advantage of a 25% critical chance (versus a 100% chance of, say, fire damage). DeeLow 18:21, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Not sure about its actual values, but daggers are extremely fast animations in the off hand making them of high use for dual wielders who want to emphasize a main hand weapon. Its up for testing, but if you put a Daedric Sword with +30% crit chance stacked with the +25% critical chance from Valdr's, that should lead to the main hand critting just about every other time. The dagger with Legendary gets up to 50 base and much higher with enchanted +smithing gear and +smithing potions. Combined with sneak perks and you can one shot kill most normal things from the dagger alone (50x15=750 dmg). Using the dual weilding power attack and full dw perks, most creatures aside from Ancient Dragons die almost instantly.--Bwross 04:18, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Hmm. I carried it around for a while, smithed it up to 100 base damage and tried it in a few situations, but as a one-handed player (sword & shield) I just wasn't getting any mileage out of it. I didn't think about the critical chances stacking - I assumed that the % would apply only to the weapon it was enchanted on. That is quite interesting... DeeLow 19:05, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

It's fun to dualwield it with Merunes Razor in the mainhand for sneak backstabs at master difficulty and without smithing. The damage output is wildly unpredictable then. You might kill instantly or you might need to run.....--145.94.200.171 09:27, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

I was dual wielding it with Chillrend, which has a chance to paralyze, and my impression was that the paralysis chance went WAY up. It seemed that more than 50 per cent of my strikes ended up with the target frozen on the floor for two seconds. --174.6.51.17 07:54, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

He died

A dragon spawned while i'm on his quest to clear the cavern. Now he's dead and i still need to give him a potion? — Unsigned comment by 95.96.10.232 (talk) at 13:32 on 14 January 2012

A dragon spawned for me too when I was on the way to the cavern, not knowing it was a cavern I was looking for or there was a person to talk to. After the dragon died I found the cavern but there was no one outside or a body. I went in, cleared it, but the quest won't delete from my quests. I've been back there a few times and around the whole area. No body, no Valdyr and he's not in Falkreath. I can only assume the dragon killed him. I've noticed that since the last update many bodies just disapear. Some stay but most seem to disapear quite quickly.--2.98.155.238 17:22, 27 December 2012 (GMT)

He won't start quest

The first time I came across him he didn't start a conversation or call for up. So I left him and came back ages later and he's still the same, I used healing hands on him until I was out of magic and I know he needed it because I got a skill up for healing him. Yet he still doesn't start the quest. - grelaria. — Unsigned comment by 209.213.133.220 (talk) at 06:07 on 9 February 2012

I've got the same problem. I can't even advance the quest stages, even if I attack him he is just unresponsive and takes every arrow, no console commands seem to help in dealing with this. My guess is, it is kind of a corrupt save file in regards to this quest. Or maybe it is just because the f*ckin radiant quest system decided to place the journal of the priest in Falkreath in Moss Mother Cavern thus making it unavailable for this quest. Blink86 09:23, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Valdr's Lucky Dagger not rechargable?

I have Valdr's Lucky Dagger and the charge bar is completely empty now (after a couple of vigorous fights). However, it refuses to recharge in the regular way, with a soul gem. Is it busted for good or does the charge bar mean nothing with this weapon? --174.6.51.17 07:45, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I haven't found any need to even attempt to recharge the dagger. It just appears to work without draining any charge. After all, it's not like it's got a 'normal' enchantment. Of course, it is a little tricky to determine whether it actually is working or whether it has run out of charges, but when dual-wielding the dagger in my left hand and a sword in my right, I appeared to be getting a critical strike nearly every combination attack (that is, pressing both buttons together). Given that each combination consists of three attacks, and adding the dagger's 25% bonus to the 10% bladesman bonus provides in excess of 1/3 chance of a critical, this seems consistent with the dagger's enchantment applying without charge. --Gaebrial 07:57, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Leaving to get potion

I didn't read everything he said, so I though the only way to heal him was to get a potion. As I never use these, I had to leave (fast travel to Whiterun, entered Breezehome and fast-travel back), and he was still very much alive. Two of the notes should be modified, no ?

Also, in the detailed walkthrough, it says "after giving him a healing potion", even though you can spell-heal him. I know everything is said in the notes, but for clarity's sake, wouldn't it be better to say so in the walkthrough ? Especially as what it looks like is you can only heal him with a spell, and that's what I though after talking to Valdr, so others might make/have made the same mistake.--Jng 12:26, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Leave the notes but modify the text to include healing spells. The quest is bugged so it must be done at low levels when most won't have heal other spells. The Silencer 12:43, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

I did this quest yesterday evening, being level 61. How is it bugged ? Nothing strange or unexpected happened to me ! And if it is bugged, shouldn't that be said ? Jng 12:47, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Not everyone gets a bug, third bug on the page is the one I'm refering to. If were you in the area before it would cause him to spawn at that level, the possibility of him dying is only triggered if he trys to interact with you. I have been there at level 40 and he was bugged that way. The Silencer 13:03, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Potentially best weapon in the game?

Should the note of this being potentially one of the best weapons in the game really be there? In the case of dual-wielding this weapon with a Dragonbone Mace you'll be getting 8 critical damage, or an average of 2 damage per hit. Granted, it does not require any recharging but even so 2 damage per hit is hardly anywhere close to the best in the game. I'd suggest removing it, a normal dagger of just about any material with an actual enchantment is better than this weapon. — Unsigned comment by 212.187.86.225 (talk) at 17:43 on 10 January 2013

Valdr and Falkreath

I have never been able to find Valdr in Falkreath after completing this quest, despite his statement that he would like to see me there. Additionally, this quest does not appear to count towards becoming the Thane of Falkreath, despite being entirely contained within Falkreath. --Morrolan (talk) 17:30, 20 February 2013 (GMT)

I have the same problem of trying to become Thane, but Valdr's quest doesn't count. Is this a bug or an oversight? -Light-in-His-Eyes (talk) 17:28, 26 February 2013 (GMT)

Finished Quest but marker remains on map and in journal

"The quest will sometimes be finished, but stay in your journal at the "Locate Valdr's hunting party." stage. The reward is given regardless." I have had this happen. Marker remained after finishing the quest and getting Valdr's Lucky Dagger. I was able to remove the map marker with console command "setstage dunMossMotherQst 105". However the active quest journal entry remains. — Unsigned comment by 76.6.106.197 (talk) at 22:54 on 15 April 2013‎

Thanks for confirming the bug—I've marked it as such on the page. As for your solution, that would cause the quest to be flagged as failed, so wouldn't be desirable. Did you try the solution listed? If so, what happened? If that didn't work, depending on what point in the quest you were at, it may have been necessary to set each stage in turn until it cleared, or you may need to try a SetObjectiveCompleted command instead. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 04:46, 16 April 2013 (GMT)

Quest journal error and fix

Quest was completed normaly but left a map marker and still had the quest in my journal even though the screen said the quest was completed. I was able to finish the quest and remove the map marker and journal entry with commands setstage dunMossMotherQST 5 to restart the quest, then setstage dunMossMotherQST 10 to remove the map marker and entry. Further command setstage dunMossMotherQST 105 completed the quest for game purposes. ~RT — Unsigned comment by 76.6.106.197 (talk) at 23:42 on 22 June 2013‎

Restart a new game

I started a new game (Skyrim 1.9.x + HF + DB + USKP + UHFP + UDBP + SMPC) and I tried to reproduce the mentioned bugs (journal misc quest not completed, can't heal Valdr because at higher level he's supposed to be already cured, missing in Falkreath Dead Man's Drink inn etc.) but I could not. I'm afraid these bugs happen only for old (corrupt) savegames and probably Bethesda fixed most of them in successive official patches. The problem is that many users may still have in their old savegames (started before the patches came out) buggy scripts attached to Valdr and the unfixed quest... Hexaae (talk) 15:01, 20 September 2013 (GMT)

There are many bugs out there which don't occur for everyone, and regardless, testing shouldn't be done with all those mods anyway. After bugs have been on the page for a significant amount of time without confirmation, they can be moved to the talk page to keep them documented and to allow for further investigation by users with unmodded games. For now, it's fine to leave all the current bugs on the page. — ABCface^◥ 22:52, 20 September 2013 (GMT)

When I went to visit him in my current game, I found that he'd abandoned his usual spot to chase after and kill a fox that had strayed too close. He was near me when he killed it and immediately initiated dialogue at the "thanks for the potion" stage and the quest continued from there with the journal entry bug. This is just a single observation, but I wonder this sort of thing might be causing some of the glitches associated with the quest, especially since it could happen when the player passes through the area but doesn't meet him at that time. - ND — Unsigned comment by 174.4.166.247 (talk) at 08:30 on 26 September 2013‎

Buggy, the fourth

Okay. My game has all the add-ons, all patches, all unofficial patches and some more mods.
I got the quest with journal and map marker by Valga Vinitia, the barkeeper of Dead Man's Drink in Falkreath.
I'm lvl 29 when encountering Valdr. He spoke to me as I would have healed him, opening his speech with a thank for "that". I decided to make it on my own. No change, when I lay Healing Hands on him. No dialogue possible, just an answer by him. No change either when chosing to help him (take him with me).
I got the "Clear Moss Mother Cavern" journal entry by him with leaving "Locate Valdr's hunting party" active. No new map marker for the cavern, the other stays on Valdr (inside the cavern on the entrance, which could be an explanation for the mentioned but non-confirmed bug "When attempting to view this quest on the map, it will incorrectly focus on the north section of the map."; although the entrance isn't to the north).
After clearing the cavern I shall return to Valdr. Outside he speaks to me, hands out the dagger and tells me to meet him in Falkreath. He himself will first bury his friends. Quest finished. "Locate…" remains active with a marker on Valdr. Valdr enters the cavern, where he will stand around. No further dialogue possible.
Fast travel to Falkreath where I find him in the tavern. He thanks again. Valga thanks, too. Marker remains on Valdr, "Locate…" remains active.

• Stage for "Locate…", given by Valga: 15
• Stage after speaking with Valdr, leaving him outside the cavern: 30
• Stage after having cleared the cavern with journal entry to speak to him: 50
• Stage after receiving the dagger: 60
  

Stage 15 normally is given after healing Valdr. Because I'm not into scripting, I would think this could also be set when healing is for given reasons (high level) not necessary. Stage 20 is set when PC is undecided what to do next – could be read as "has healed, but not spoken again to Valdr", I think. A little more research in the CK – oh, I think I see the error. Stage 5 (Locate…) is set as completed when quest is at stage 10, but not above! So, I will give it another try by setting it to stage 10 after speaking to Valdr, then lay healing hands on him (can't bear this squirming Nord there… ;) and see…
(Think of this as me thinking aloud while analyzing the bug.) -- CompleCCity (talk) 17:26, 26 March 2014 (GMT)

Okay, didn't help. Neither before nor after speaking to Valdr. Because it's not possible for me to heal him (because he doesn't ask for it) all that happens is, that the objective to "Locate…" is replaced by "Heal…" and the marker remains on Valdr. Fiddling around with stage 5 doesn't help either.

Don't know what I overlooked before, but setstage dunMossMotherQST 10, leaving the console, and after that setstage dunMossMotherQST 20 did solve the quest objectives for "Locate…" and "Heal…" and there's no map marker on Valdr now anymore. There's no map marker anymore even nowhere! :o

I leave this as documentation if there's no reason against it… -- CompleCCity (talk) 17:54, 26 March 2014 (GMT)

Frenzy/Fury Workaround

I'm level 50, and ran into the bug where he is already healed, and thus wont let you heal him to complete the quest. (I think this might have been related to a mod that let NPCs instaheal when out of combat) In order to bypass this, I used fury on him as soon as I was in range. This put him in combat mode so that he didn't autoheal, but he was still sitting and didn't attack, and I was able to talk to him and get the dialogue where he asked for help. I told him I would use a spell, and hit him with healing hands as soon as I saw fury wear off. Since I play with mods, I can't confirm that this method would prevent the bug in the vanilla game, but it would be nice to verify, since it would allow PS3/360 players, who can't access the console, to have a workaround. — Unsigned comment by 24.154.173.47 (talk) at 21:59 on 29 July 2014

Confirmed on PS3. Valdr talks only after casting frenzy/fury on him. Talk to him a bit, wait until the spell wears off, then provide a potion/healing spell on him.--65.28.89.216 23:31, 13 October 2014 (GMT)

Thane of Falkreath

Is this quest supposed to count towards Thanehood? Valdr seems to be in the correct faction (and additionally, I was sent after him by the innkeeper), but this quest did not count towards my good deeds. Ninepaw (talk) 19:10, 13 August 2014 (GMT)

Protected?

Is Valdr protected during this quest or not? The article contradicts itself (notes vs. the main body). 69.250.248.247 05:48, 30 November 2014 (GMT)

He would not be protected before the quest, which is why that note is there to mention that he could meet a premature death. However, once he starts following you, he would become protected based on this sentence from the article on Protected NPCs: "A permanent follower accompanying the player is set as protected, regardless of whether or not they are normally." So while Valdr is normally not protected and can die before the quest, he becomes protected when he accompanies you into the cave as a permanent follower. Forfeit (talk) 06:45, 30 November 2014 (GMT)

Okay, that being the case, I will add a small note to clarify this. 69.250.248.247 07:02, 30 November 2014 (GMT)

Valdr is immediately hostile?

In my latest playthrough, I was passing by Moss Mother Cavern on the way to Sunderstone Gorge. The moment I came into Valdr's line of sight, he got up and attacked me. At the time, I didn't realize who he was, since he resembles any other bandit, and he attacked before I could even speak to him. I have no idea what triggered this, since I didn't do anything to provoke him, and it was my first time discovering Moss Mother Cavern, so it's not like I cleared it out ahead of time. Anyway, he's long since dead, and now I can never do this quest. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 20:12, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

Hmm very strange, maybe you were a vampire? Other than it is probably a glitch. RIM (talk) 10:05, 1 August 2015 (UTC)