Skyrim:Raven Rock Mine

The entrance can be found by following the path between Ienth Farm and Alor House, past the ash yam field on your left and the wood chopping block and smelter on your right. There is a woodcutter's axe on top of a barrel by the chopping block. There is a wealth of crates, barrels and boxes outside of the mine all marked with the East Empire Company emblem. Both sides of the entrance are lit with braziers on stands. There are also two entrances via Bloodskal Barrow.
 
Residents

† Dead 
  Appears after the mine is reopened.

Related Quests
 
 
 
 
 

 

Walkthrough

Raven Rock Mine
Descend into the mine, passing several boxes, barrels and crates bearing the mark of the East Empire Company. At the bottom turn west and enter a habitable area. 
thumb|left|Typical marriage The first time you enter the mine you will overhear an argument between Aphia Velothi and her husband Crescius Caerellius. Crescius wants to search the mine and his wife is worried that he will get killed.  Speaking with Aphia will give you insight into their relationship, the history of the mine, her husband and his family. Speaking with Crescius will initiate the quest The Final Descent. If the An Axe to Find quest is active, recover an ancient Nordic pickaxe from Crescius while talking to him. This will be of benefit when exploring the mine. Crescius will also give you the Raven Rock mine key during the conversation.

thumb|right|Into the hole This area acts as a base camp for the mine; between two benches is a copy of History of Raven Rock, Vol. I, and a desk has two gold coins.To the left of the desk are some shelves with various items of clothing, two leather helmets, a copy of Lives of the Saints and The Red Year,Vol.I. A flight of wooden steps leads up to a loft. Under the stairs are more boxes, crates, barrels and open crates, one of which contains a sample of iron ore. In the loft, mechanisms for raising and lowering buckets into and out of the mine below are on the wall. There is a grindstone in the southwest corner, and a table with a copy of The Poison Song, Book III in the center. There is an expert-locked East Empire Company strongbox underneath the table. There are various crates, barrels and a sack behind the table and three pickaxes on the floor. 

thumb|left|Blocked! Down the wooden steps into the mine, you will descend several levels of wooden ramps. After passing an illuminated table with a mead barrel on a platform, you have a choice of right or left. To the left is some flammable gas, old exhausted ore deposits, a small table with an iron ore sample, and a skeever. To the right is the rest of the walkway down and three frostbite spiders along the way. Eventually your path will be blocked by wooden slats barring your way forward. Remove these with magic or a weapon and continue on to chamber with a locked gate. An expert-locked East Empire Company strongbox is on a crate to the right of the gate. The gate can only be unlocked with the Raven Rock mine key that you received from Crescius. Opening the gate allows you to enter the ruins mentioned in the letter received from Crescius at the start of the quest. Shallow water covers the floor of the catacombs ahead. Follow the wall to the left to find a chest in an upper burial compartment. A draugr is slumbering in a compartment close by.  There are three other sleeping draugr in the area that will be roused by any fighting. 

A pressure plate that activates a spike wall trap is in the middle of the passage onward. Pass by the spike wall and up a flight of stairs with a dead draugr at the top. The path turns to the west here and takes you to a chamber with four draugr-occupied thrones; two facing you, and two just behind facing the other direction. A fifth draugr is roaming in the distance. A random potion and a rare potion of waterwalking are between the two thrones. Of the draugr facing you, only the draugr on the left will awaken. This will likely alert the draugr in the distance. Once they are taken care of, round the corner and take out the draugr in the throne nearest you; the other is motionless. Climb the ramp through a doorway into a circular chamber with a metal grate covering most of the center of the room. Around the perimeter of the room are thrones occupied by draugr. Five of the draugr will rise while you move about the room. As you can see this can be quite a tough battle. On the south wall, tucked in the rubble from a cave-in, is a master-locked chest. The exit is to the west.

thumb|left|Stalhrim deposit In the next room are two upright sarcophagi to the left with a filled common soul gem between them. The path twists around to the west to a raised area with two dead draugr seated on thrones and two embalming tables. On the tables are three random potions, a random strength potion, a random soul gem, a bowl of vampire dust, a sample of scaly pholiota, deathbell flower, a bunch of frost mirriam and a random poison. Between the two tables is a Stalhrim deposit, which you can mine if you have the ancient Nordic pickaxe. Mining this deposit uncovers another dead draugr. An alchemy lab is around the corner on the east wall with an ashen grass pod and two bowls of netch jelly on top. There are sets of shelves on either side of the lab; the one on the left holds a burial urn, a sprig of dragon's tongue, a sample of scathecraw, a bowl of frost salts, a sample of emperor parasol moss, a luna moth wing and a salt pile. The one on the right holds a burial urn, a sample of ash creep cluster, another luna moth wing, some fire salts, a boar tusk, some spawn ash, a bowl of void salts and a potion of waterwalking. 

thumb|right|Sparkly The path continues to the north, climbing to a plateau where two spellcaster traps shooting Sparks are, one on either side of the path. Knocking out or removing the filled soul gems will disable the traps. The path immediately descends down into shallow water to a pair of unlocked wooden doors. Through the doors is a multi-level room with shallow water covering the floor. At the far end of the room is a waterfall, behind which is an apprentice-locked door leading to a single room within Bloodskal Barrow which contains two large urns flanking an upright sarcophagus filled with Stalhrim which once mined reveals a dead draugr. There are no other exits from this room--(see notes). A raised area is on the right with a patrolling draugr wandering along it. Engaging the patrolling draugr will alert up to five additional draugr to converge and attack you. Climb up to the raised area, or use the stairs at the far end of the room, to access an overlook. Here are several upright sarcophagi, all but two of which have been opened. On your right in the south wall is a lowered portcullis. At the far end of the room is a lit fireplace with a wooden walkway connecting to the other side. Once you've crossed over you will find an arcane enchanter with an expert-locked chest underneath. A potion of waterwalking and a weapon are on the floor. A plinth with a handle on top opens the portcullis back on the other side.

thumb|left|Up there 
Head back across the walkway and through the open portcullis with a choice of going left or right. To the left is a room with a plinth holding an Ice Spike spell tome surrounded by lit candles. Above is another level with a spellcaster trap to the east, which can be disabled safely from here. To the right is a wooden spiral ramp leading up and onward. Before climbing, however, underneath the ramp is an adept-locked chest, a burial urn, and a half-buried urn. When you reach the top of the ramp, you will see three pots on a ledge in the northwest corner; if you jump to this ledge, behind the pots you will find the fourth and final potion of waterwalking. On the landing at the top of the ramp is a long bow and quiver of iron arrows. In the southwest corner is a small ledge you can jump to that has a small coin purse behind a bowl. A wooden wall ahead shields you from the spellcaster trap seen from below. It fires Lightning Bolt spells at you, powered by a filled soul gem. In a darkened alcove to the right of the wooden blockade is a plinth holding a scroll of Fireball. Cross over the walkway, bypassing the spellcaster trap, where a bookcase is on your right with a bowl of frost salts and a sample of canis root. If you examine the eastern wall directly behind the spellcaster trap, you'll notice the outline of a secret door; the pull chain to open it is to the left of the door, obscured by cobwebs. This secret alcove contains a potion, a chest, and a coin purse. The path onward is through a door to the west, leading into a corridor and across a catwalk heading north. Once you cross, you enter a corridor with several upright sarcophagi on either side. Three pressure plates are on the floor in front of you that each activate a dart trap. The stairs ahead lead to an unlocked wooden door with an adept-locked chest. The second sarcophagus on the left has fallen over revealing a tunnel heading west.

thumb|left|The strange door Following the tunnel through the sarcophagus as it twists and turns, you will come out overlooking a large cavern far below. A large, strange door is at the far end of the room situated between two waterfalls. Jump down from your perch to the rocking landing below and make your way to the door. In front of the door you will find the remains of Gratian Caerellius lying upon a bed roll. He still carries his journal, which explains what happened to him and his assistant Millius. You will also need to search him for the unique two-handed greatsword, the Bloodskal Blade. Gratian's journal reveals what he has found out about the blade and his thoughts on how it can be used to open the strange door. Next to Gratian is a satchel and an elixir of vigor. If you explore the rest of the cavern, you will find several dead draugr, as well as an unlocked chest at the lower end of the cavern where the stream exits and several small cages hanging in front of the door containing skeletons and draugr that can be looted.
 
The strange door is opened by equipping the Bloodskal Blade, then performing a power attack in front of each of the red lines in the door that roughly match their orientation, either vertical (forward) or horizontal (strafing). Begin with the bottom pair and work your way up. Wait until your green fatigue line is full for each swing. Aim your cursor at the red glowing line before starting the power move and swinging. Each time you perform a swing correctly, the door will slowly rearrange itself and extinguish the line that matched your swing. Once you have completed all seven of the required swings, the door will open into a long corridor filled with seven sets of three swinging blades in a row.

This pendulum blade trap, similar to some traps in Dwemer and other ruins, are triggered entirely by proximity and cannot be disabled at the far end: the lever at the far end only operates the door.  The pendulum blades will simply stop once the player has progressed past all of them to the lever that opens the far door.  If the blades are again approached from the far end, regardless of the state of the door lever, the blades will once again begin swinging; this will make it virtually impossible to bring followers through the blades unharmed.

thumb|left|Risen from the deadthumb|right|The Black Book This opens the way into a large water-filled cavern. To the left is a chest. Approaching the chest, which contains very little, will cause a dragon priest named Zahkriisos to rise from the water in front of you and start attacking you with powerful shock magic. Once you have destroyed him you can take his mask, which grants its wearer shock resistance of 50% and a boost to shock damage of 25%. Around the corner to the left, in the west corner of the room, is a portcullis with a lever. At the far end of the cavern is a word wall that contains a part of the Dragon Aspect shout. Under the water you will find five Nordic barnacle clusters and a cluster of slaughterfish eggs.

Defeating Zahkriisos will raise the portcullis, as does the lever in front of it. Beyond is a plinth holding the Black Book, The Winds of Change. Taking it will transport you to Apocrypha and The Winds of Change quest. To the right is an arcane enchanter with two soul gems in stands behind and a bookcase containing two random potions, a random helmet, a pair of random boots, a bowl with a petty soul gem inside, thirteen gold coins, a garnet and an amethyst. On the left is a sideboard with two burial urns on top and an unlocked boss-level chest beside it. In the center of the room is a waterfall flowing into a grate in the floor and around this is a wooden spiral ramp leading up to an unlocked iron door which will take you to Bloodskal Barrow. Either make your way through the barrow to the Solstheim exit, or backtrack through the mine to Raven Rock.
 
 

Notes
The four potions of waterwalking found here are the only ones in the entire game; no merchants sell them and they cannot be crafted.
When exiting back from the single room behind the waterfall, the door shows as opening into Bloodskal Barrow instead of Raven Rock Mine.
Completing The Final Descent allows the mine to open for business again.
Once reopened, this mine has the second-highest number of ebony ore veins in the game.
Crescius Caerellius partially supports his claims that his grandfather must have died by some means other than a tunnel collapse by stating his belief that the mine's tunnels are too sound for such an event to occur. Though he is right that his grandfather's disappearance was due to other causes, his confidence in the tunnels may be misplaced: a short distance down the tunnels from the entrance to the mine, you can discover a pair of skeletal arms protruding from beneath a boulder near the wall of the tunnel, seemingly the remains of someone killed by a collapse.

Bugs
 
If the player has the Wax Key Lockpicking perk and unlocks this strongbox, the Brand-Shei's Strongbox key is given to the player.
 
 
 PC users can get around this by using "tcl" to turn off collisions before approaching the wall.
This bug can also be overcome by using the Whirlwind Sprint Shout, into the word, when the textures are normal. This may take a few tries from different places, so be sure to save first. 
Similar to this method, should the player have the Silent Roll Sneak perk, they can also spam roll into the word when the textures are normal to get it.
Learning at least one of the other words of Dragon Aspect before approaching the wall may mitigate this glitch.
If "saving before console command" while standing in the trigger radius of the wall and than reloading that save, the word wall is double-bugged: The word is neither learned nor is it glowing on the wall, but the "mana flow" is still happening and the sound is still playing, but nothing triggering whatever you do (neither "tcl" nor wirlwind helps). Saving must be done while far from the wall.
 

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