Dead Men's Respite

Dead Men's Respite is an ancient Nordic tomb in .
It is located southwest of Morthal on the bank of the Hjaal River in Hjaalmarch Hold. The tomb is the final resting place of King Olaf. The initiation quest for the Bards College faction, "Tending the Flames," takes place here. Dead Man's Respite is also a possible location for the Companions radiant quest "Trouble in Skyrim," and Neloth's quest "Azra's Staffs."
==Layout==
Upon entering the dungeon, there is a Ruby Dragon Claw on the middle table that will unlock the door and release four enemies into the room. It is possible to kill the four draugr in this room while sneaking, before picking up the Claw, while they are asleep. There is an Iron Door on the left of this room with minor loot. This is also where the Dragonborn ends up after defeating King Olaf One-Eye and collecting the loot from his treasure room.
Down the hall, there is a burial chamber and this part of the tomb is a puzzle as there are rotating doorways activated by a pull chain. Activating the pull chain will change the doors, opening some and closing others.
Continuing further in, there is a room with two circular grates in the floor. Two Frostbite Spiders will drop from the ceiling. To the left there is an urn behind a spider's web and an apprentice chest. Open the floor grate on the far side of the room by activating the chain to the right of the entrance. Behind is a watery passage to a large, two-story room. Walking up the wooden ramp on the right will lead to a cage-like door which is rigged with an adept-level trap. Activate it in the bottom right corner of the door to avoid the pendulum axes. The trap may be disabled by pulling the chain on the pillar once past it. Up the stairs is an iron door.
Past the iron door is an Arcane Enchanter and a sealed door that is currently inaccessible due to a magical seal. To the right of this and down the slope there is a powerful draugr that may use the Disarm shout. There are more rooms with draugr, but only one will be hostile until passing through again on the way back out. They may be killed before they wake on the first walk through. The leveled Draugr Warlord will attack as soon as one enters the room.
The left side of the room he is found in has a floor trap switch, a draugr body, a Grand Soul Gem, a Common Soul Gem, a stamina potion and several Scrolls. Going through the right side will lead to a room with another circular grate in the floor. An expert locked door with a master locked chest behind it can be found on the way.
In the room with the circular grate, cage doors will open and about six Restless Draugr will attack. A trapped chest in one of the back rooms contains some minor loot. Pull the chain to open the grate and proceed down the spiral staircase. At the bottom, pull the handle to open a secret doorway.
Next is a room with Svaknir's ghost, as well as his corpse. The corpse clutches King Olaf's Verse and the Dragonborn must take the book to continue the quest. Behind the magic-sealed door will be a Dragon Claw puzzle door and the Dragonborn must arrange the pictures on the door to match the symbols on the ruby dragon claw collected earlier in order to enter the next room. (Wolf, Hawk, Wolf).
Past the door is King Olaf's burial room with draugrs sitting on thrones around the oval middle. At the end, on the way up the stairs to Olaf's coffin are leveled draugr. At the end of the room is a Word Wall for Whirlwind Sprint. One can either loot the key from Olaf's body when doing the quest or pick a Master level lock to go through a door to a small room with treasure. Using the lever there will unlock the next door back to the first room of the dungeon.
==Notable items==
*Ruby Dragon Claw
*Word Wall for Whirlwind Sprint
*Speech Skill Book: The Buying Game – in the rotating doors section, past a battering ram and two Draugr
*King Olaf can drop an Ebony War Axe or Ebony Sword from level 21
==Facilities==
*Arcane Enchanter
==Quests==
===Tending the Flames===
In order to prove their worth, the Dragonborn must traverse the dungeon and retrieve King Olaf's Verse. After acquiring the book, King Olaf One-Eye himself must be fought and killed before leaving the tomb.
===Trouble in Skyrim===
The Dragonborn must talk to Farkas to get this quest. This is one of three possible repeatable quests Farkas will offer the Dragonborn after reaching a certain point in the Companions quest line.
===Find the Source of Power===
After receiving a Letter from a Friend and reading it, the Dragonborn is tasked with finding a Word Wall at a radiant location. This location can be any with a Word Wall contained within it. Traveling to the location and learning the word for the appropriate Dragon Shouts will complete the quest.
==Gallery==
King Olaf's Verse Location.png
Svaknir Sealed Door.png
Olaf's last battle.png
==Bugs==
Click to see the list of bugs encountered
*The puzzle door encountered after obtaining King Olaf's Verse and following Svaknir's ghost to Kings Olaf's Burial Chamber will glitch and show all Dragon symbols. To fix this, reload an autosave.
* Before the Bards College quest to recover King Olaf's verse is activated, the puzzle door will not open.
*Sometimes, the puzzle door rings will not activate, rendering it impossible to escape without loading an older save.
*The draugr will not attack until the Dragonborn has fully entered Olaf's burial chamber. While standing in the doorway, one can easily kill most of the slumbering draugr with a bow or spells while they sit on their thrones.
* If any followers have not fully entered King Olaf's chamber before the battle starts, only killing King Olaf will open the door to let them in.
*If none of the quests for the Greybeards have been completed, the Dragon Claw door will not always open.
*Sometimes, at the Sealed Door, Svaknir will be running against the wall opposite. Because one cannot interact with him, this means the quest ends here. A good idea to prevent this is to make a clean save outside of the tomb.
* If the Dragonborn is killed after King Olaf has been awoken and load a save from before entering the room, upon return all of the draugr (including King Olaf) may be awake instead of coming in waves as normal.
*King Olaf uses the Dragon Shout, Disarm, which can make equipped any weapons permanently disappear.
* When dropping down the hole after the two Frostbite Spiders, the game may freeze.
* Sometimes when Svaknir's corpse is found, his ghost will not leave from there.
* King Olaf's Verse next to Svaknir's body may not spawn, making exit from the dungeon impossible.
**One solution is to use Unrelenting Force at the area, as the item may have spawned underneath the world.
**Exploding spells may also dislodge the book.
*The word of power behind Olaf may not always be there.
* Killing the Draugr in the first room while they sleep before picking up the Ruby Claw will cause the iron gate to not open, preventing the completion of the dungeon.
* Sometimes, after falling down the hole past the Frostbite Spiders and fighting the Draugr in the next room, using a Shout at the draugr on the balcony can cause the game to constantly remind via the upper left of the HUD that the door is magically sealed. This is because the sealed door is behind the wall where the draugr stands, and the Shout goes through the wall. This does not have an adverse effect on gameplay, however.
*Sometimes after collecting King Olaf's Verse and returning to the sealed door, Svaknir will be stuck in a laughing animation and will not open the sealed door.
* An unenchanted Ebony Sword or Ebony War Axe can be found on King Olaf at lower levels.
==Appearances==
*
de:Totmannsruh
es:Respiro del Muerto
fr:Répit des morts
ru:Упокоище
uk:Спочинок мерців
Category:Skyrim: Hjaalmarch Hold Locations
Category:Skyrim: Word Wall Locations