At the Summit of Apocrypha

At the Summit of Apocrypha is the final quest for . In order for the Dragonborn to gain the final word of power of the Bend Will shout, Storn Crag-Strider sacrifices himself to Hermaeus Mora, and surrenders the ancient knowledge that the Skaal have withheld for so long. By journeying back to Apocrypha and defeating Miraak, peace will be restored to the island of Solstheim.
==Background==
Hermaeus Mora taught me the final Word of Power of the Bend Will killing Storn in the process. I now have what I need to return to Apocrypha and face Miraak.
==Objectives==
#Unlock your "Bend Will" shout
#Read "Waking Dream"
#Reach Miraak's Temple
#Use the "Bend Will" Shout to tame Sahrotaar
#Defeat Miraak
==Walkthrough==
The first step in the quest is to unlock the last two words of the Bend Will shout using absorbed dragon souls. The second step is to read the Black Book: Waking Dreams in order to enter the Apocrypha realm to face Miraak.
===Chapter I & II===
Reading Waking Dreams (which can be taken back from Storn's body) will transport the Dragonborn to Apocrypha. Just south of the starting platform is a table with a few books including Bone, Book I. Just northwest of the starting platform there is a table with a soul gem. To the northeast of the starting platform is a pod containing leveled loot and other books. Then look directly to the west and find another pod containing leveled loot. Straight ahead and up some steps is a large book that, when activated, transports the Dragonborn to Chapter II.
Up the stairs are three seekers. At the top of the third set of stairs, a ledge against the south wall leads west to a dead end and a pod with leveled loot and several books. Over a longer bridge, just before the last set of stairs in this chapter that lead up to the south southeast, a ledge against the west wall leads north to another pod with minor loot and several more books. Up the stairs to a higher platform, the book On Apocrypha: Boneless Limbs is on an altar. Taking that book causes a set of stairs on the north side of the room to extend. At the top of those stairs is a ledge overlooking a vast sea with tentacles waving. This ledge contains the book serving as the door to Chapter III.
===Chapter III===
This section starts with a tunnel leading northeast. A closed gate that cannot be opened is on the right (southeast) side, through which can be seen a scrye. The tunnel splits to the left and right, each side being guarded by a seeker. The left side is a dead end. The right side leads to a set of stairs up to a room with a table against the northeast wall that holds some loot. A pod is adjacent to this, and another pod is at the foot of the stairs west of table; a pedestal with the book Delving Pincers is nearby the table as well. Taking the book opens the gate back near the beginning of this chapter that was protecting the scrye. Returning to that room and activating the scrye will expand a tunnel ahead to the southeast.
At the end of the tunnel is a table with a soul gem, several scrolls and books. Turning right (west southwest), the path leads to a high overlook with numerous bridges leading to closed gates. To the left (south) is another scrye that can be activated, opening a gate to the right of the entrance of the room, in which is a vessel containing books and random loot. The central bridge leads to the far (south) side and a pod with random loot. To the right (west) of the pod is a pedestal with the book Prying Orbs. Taking the book causes a gate to open on the west side of the room, which is visible directly past the pedestal, but getting there requires walking around on the bridges. Going towards the newly opened gate and through the tunnels leads to a book that is the door to Chapter IV.
===Chapter IV===
There is an immediate choice whether to go left (east) or right (west) down steps. To the right, from the first landing down, a bridge to the west leads to a pod with random loot and some books. Either way down leads to several seekers, and eventually to an area of the room with a table against the east wall with some books. The main path leads south from there through a tunnel. The tunnel curves to the left (east) until an intersection is reached near a stone table. One tunnel leads to the right (south), but walking down it causes the entire tunnel to retract. The other tunnel to the east leads to the same retraction. If the Dragonborn then goes back west and south to the original starting location, they can see that the tunnels have shifted to lead to a new area with more seekers.
A set of stairs up to the southwest leads to a landing with a table (holding scrolls) and a pod (containing a small amount of gold and several more books). Up a second set of stairs to the north is a Font of Magicka and a pedestal with the book Gnashing Blades. Taking this book will cause the tunnel to shift again. Back down both sets of stairs, a new tunnel has opened to the right (south). The tunnel curves to the left (east) and leads to an intersection. On the right (south) is a dead end with tables to the left and right with many books. Back at the intersection, proceeding forward (east) into the apparent dead end will cause the tunnel to expand. There are two stone tables - the one on the left has scrolls and a soul gem, while the one on the right has seven books. The tunnel ahead leads to a Font of Stamina, where it turns left (north), then curves towards the left (west) and leads to another font of stamina. A short bridge leads northwest to a set of stairs where a seeker stands guard. Up the stairs is a table with a soul gem and five books. A bridge and steps lead right (east). There will also be a seeker around this area. The path continues up and clockwise until a scrye is reached. When activated, it shifts the tunnel so that going back down the steps and bridges counter-clockwise leads to another new area (which starts with a ramp up to the north).
This area is more open with a large pool in the middle, from which a lurker vindicator emerges. In the northwest corner of the room is a scrye that, when activated, opens a gate in the southwest corner. The tunnel behind the open gate leads north. There is a table at the end on the left side that contains several scrolls, soul gems, and a spell tome for the spell Conjure Seeker (only if the Dragonborn has a Conjuration level of 40). Straight ahead is a vessel with leveled loot. Back south against the east wall is another scrye that opens a large gate to the north in the main room. Beyond that gate are stairs leading to a Font of Magicka and a book that is the door to Chapter V.
===Chapter V===
The tunnel leads northwest, then turns northeast. It leads to a large dome shaped area with several walkways, several pods with random loot around the edges, and a central glowing structure, all protected by a seeker. Also around the edges of the walkway that encircles the room are pedestals where the books that have been collected need to be placed. Each pedestal has a clue as to which book needs to be placed there:
*The pedestal with the fangs – Gnashing Blades
*The pedestal with the pincers – Delving Pincers
*The pedestal with the tentacles – Boneless Limbs
*The pedestal with the eye – Prying Orbs
Once the final book is placed, the central structure opens, and now the book that leads to Chapter VI can be entered.
===Chapter VI===
This book leads to the summit. Down a short set of steps, it is possible to go left (south) or right (north). Either path ends up in the same place, but going right leads past a table with the skill book The Art of War Magic and a soul gem. A tunnel leads up to an open area. In the distance are two seekers studying a word wall. After defeating them and a Lurker that appears out of a slime pool, reading the Word Wall will teach a word of the Dragon Aspect shout.
If all three words of the Bend Will shout have not yet been unlocked, nothing will happen. If it is possible, unlocking them now the quest should continue. Otherwise reading the Black Book: Waking Dreams again to leave Apocrypha, completing "The Gardener of Men," or absorbing more Dragon Souls to have enough for the words should progress the quest.
Suddenly, Miraak's dragon, Sahrotaar, will fly overhead and begin a powerful attack. The full power Bend Will shout will break his will. He will land and state, "Hail, thuri. Your thu'um has the mastery. Climb aboard and I will carry you to Miraak."
Once the Dragonborn mounts him, he will take off and a message will appear to explain how to ride the dragon. Sahrotaar cannot be directly controlled in flight, rather guided in a general direction to attack enemies. He will fly over a platform with several seekers and lurkers, giving the Dragonborn a chance to practice attacking. Once they are all dead, he will proceed to the high tower with Miraak. Alternatively, the Dragonborn can command Sahrotaar to land and he will bring them to Miraak.
===The First Dragonborn===
During the flight to the tallest tower in Apocrypha, Sahrotaar will remark: "Beware, Miraak is strong. He knew you would come here." Upon reaching the tower, Miraak will remark: "Sahrotaar, are you so easily swayed? No. Not yet. We should greet our guest first."
Upon landing and dismounting Sahrotaar, Miraak begins a short monologue while his other two dragon minions, Relonikiv and Kruziikrel, sit perched upon the nearby arches:
"And so the First Dragonborn meets the Last Dragonborn at the summit of Apocrypha. No doubt just as Hermaeus Mora intended. He is a fickle master, you know. But now I will be free of him. My time in Apocrypha is over. You are here in your full power, and thus subject to my full power. You will die. And with the power of your soul, I will return to Solstheim and be master of my own fate again. Kruziikrel! Relonikiv! Now!"
This can be a very hard battle. During it, Miraak will have to be defeated four times. The first three times he is brought down to low health, he will become ethereal, teleport to the middle of the arena and use a shout to kill a dragon and absorb its soul, restoring his health completely. This is scripted and unavoidable, even an attack that should kill Miraak in a single hit will not kill him.
When all three dragons have been killed and Miraak reaches low health again, Hermaeus Mora will intervene when Miraak tries to escape again by levitating Miraak in the air and impaling him with a tentacle, killing him. Mora then voices his fury at Miraak for thinking he could betray Mora within his own realm, where Mora knows everything. Miraak then burns up similarly to a dragon, leaving only his skeletal remains.
Hermaeus Mora: "Did you think to escape me, Miraak? You can hide nothing from me here. No matter. I have found a new Dragonborn to serve me."
Miraak: "May he/she be rewarded for his/her service as I am!"
Hermaeus Mora: "Miraak harbored fantasies of rebellion against me. Learn from his example. Serve me faithfully, and you will continue to be richly rewarded."
Miraak's death marks the end of the quest. Upon his death, five to ten dragon souls are gained from him, plus any he stole from dragons the Dragonborn killed. His skeletal remains can be looted for his mask, robes, boots, gloves, sword and staff. In addition, each of the dragons he killed can be looted for dragon bones, dragon scales and gold.
===Conclusion===
A structure will then appear out of the central pool with the Black Book on a pedestal. Activating the book will cause several green orbs with one skill tree on each to appear. These orbs allow the Dragonborn's skill trees to be reset. Resetting a skill tree cost one dragon soul and frees up all perk points in that tree for redistribution to any skill tree. This can be done with any number of skill trees as long as the Dragonborn has remaining dragon souls either at this time or by later re-reading Waking Dreams and returning to Apocrypha. Activating the book a second time will return the Dragonborn to Solstheim.
After exiting the book and returning to the Skaal Village, Frea will ask the Dragonborn whether Miraak is dead. She then asks whether her father's death was necessary. Finally, she will offer advice to the Dragonborn, warning them that Herma-Mora's path is not compatible with what the All-Maker intended when he created the Dragonborn. With the completion of the quest, the Tree Stone can be cleansed and its power can be obtained.
==Journal==
At the Summit of Apocrypha – DLC2MQ06	At the Summit of Apocrypha – DLC2MQ06
ID 	Journal Entry
10 	Hermaeus Mora taught me the final Word of Power of the "Bend Will" Shout, killing Storn in the process. I now have what I need to return to Apocrypha and face Miraak.
*Objective 10: Unlock your "Bend Will" shout
100 	
*Objective 20: Read "Waking Dreams"
200 	Hermaeus Mora taught me the final Word of Power of the "Bend Will" Shout, killing Storn in the process. With this Shout, I can tame Miraak's dragon and force him to fly me to Miraak's temple in Apocrypha.
*Objective 25: Reach Miraak's Temple
250 	
*Objective 30: Use the "Bend Will" Shout to tame Sahrotaar
300 	
*Objective 40: Defeat Miraak
400 	Hermaeus Mora taught me the final Word of Power of the "Bend Will" Shout, killing Storn in the process. I used the Shout to tame Miraak's dragon and flew to his temple, where he was waiting for me.
550 	Hermaeus Mora taught me the final Word of Power of the "Bend Will" Shout, killing Storn in the process. I used the Shout to tame Miraak's dragon and flew to his temple, where I fought and killed him. Miraak will never threaten Solstheim again.
*Quest complete
==Gallery==
Gnashing Blades.png|Gnashing Blades pedestal.
Delving Pincers.png|Delving Pincers pedestal.
Boneless Limbs.png|Boneless Limbs pedestal.
Prying Orbs.png|Prying Orbs pedestal.
Summit of Apocrypha - Seekers Word Wall 2.png|Seekers examine the Word Wall.
Summit of Apocrypha - Riding Sahrotaar.png|Riding Sahrotaar.
Summit of Apocrypha - Final Arrival.png|Confronting Miraak at the Summit.
Summit of Apocrypha - Miraak Defeated.png|Miraak defeated.
==Trivia==
*Until this quest is completed, no new quests can be acquired from the Skaal, nor can any other quests from the Skaal be completed.
*Until this quest is started, it will only be possible to go to as far as the Word Wall in Chapter VI of Waking Dreams. The visible exit to Miraak's lair will not be present, so a manual exit to Solstheim via reading Waking Dreams again will be required.
*Even after this quest is completed, all Black Books will remain as quest items, and therefore, permanently assigned to the Dragonborn's inventory.
*Using Bend Will on Sahrotaar during this quest counts as progress towards the Dragonrider achievement.
*During the battle against Miraak, if the Dragonborn tries to jump from the platform on which the battle takes place, into the ocean of ink, they will be teleported back to the center of the platform.
*It is possible to fight Miraak while riding Sahrotaar, eventually Sahrotaar will die and the Dragonborn will fall on the floor as if they fell from a dead horse.
==Bugs==
Click to see the list of bugs encountered
*It may be possible for the item Black Book: Waking Dreams to not be present in the Dragonborn's inventory after teleporting out of it the first time in the Temple of Miraak dungeon. This is a visual glitch in some cases, and the item is still in the Dragonborn's inventory. Using the player.drop command on the item's ID will cause it to be summoned in mid-air as if it was still on the pedestal in the Miraak Temple dungeon.
*Once landing Sahrotaar on the summit, one can remount him and fight from the sky. However, this causes Miraak to use the shout to take his soul – whether or not health is low. This is useful, as then the Dragonborn will only need to kill him three times.
* Upon arrival to the summit, if the Dragonborn does not instruct Sahrotaar to land, the dragon will do so on its own. After Miraak speaks and the battle commences, the Dragonborn will remain atop of Sahrotaar. At this point, one can target Miraak in battle. Sahrotaar will fight him until he consumes all three dragons, leaving the Dragonborn to only have to fight him through one health cycle.
*When fighting Miraak, riding Sahrotaar during the battle may lead to a bug where he disappears when healing himself.
* Occasionally, when entering the "Waking Dreams" area of Apocrypha and any other areas, the game may freeze.
** A possible fix for this is to press the Xbox menu button as soon as the screen loads.
** Another possible fix is, if the game freezes before the menu button can be pressed, pressing the menu button while the screen is frozen will eventually bring up the Xbox Menu, allowing for the game to be continued or exited from.
* After defeating Miraak and opening the Black Book: Waking Dreams, it is possible to be missing one of the Clear Skill Perks (Ex: Clear Destruction will be missing). A possible fix is to leave the area and read the Black Book: Waking Dreams again; this should restore the missing Clear Skill Tree perk.
* If Miraak is brought down to zero health before he is able to absorb the next dragon, he can not be defeated and the quest cannot be finished.
**Reloading from the last save allows this to be avoided.
**An alternative is to kill all of the dragons at the beginning of the battle before attacking Miraak.
** Select Miraak with the console command prid , then manually fill his health using setav health 0. (Note: if Miraak becomes unkillable once solid, use setav health 1 to weaken him.)
* If the dragon that Miraak is trying to kill is out of reach the quest may become stuck with Miraak remaining ethereal forever. This can happen even if another one of the dragons is within reach. If this happens, either kill any of the dragons so Miraak can absorb the soul or reload a save.
* After using the Bend Will shout on Miraak's dragon, the option to mount him may not appear.
** This can be solved by using the console command tcl to enable no clip, "walking" up to and then talking to Miraak. He will then attack as he should.
** Sometimes Miraak will not enter his monologue and will only have a single dragon pet with him making it impossible to finish the quest.
* When Miraak becomes ethereal to heal himself, there is a chance that the Dragonborn will absorb the dragon soul instead of him. This makes it impossible for him to get out of ethereal mode, which makes the quest unable to be finished.
**The dragon soul appears to be consumed by the nearest Dragonborn. Staying away from the dragon he is about to consume will avoid this.
**Another possibility is to sneak until he cannot see the Dragonborn, which will cause him to come out of ethereal mode.
**This glitch may also occur if is downloaded before the latest update. If this is the case, the Dragonborn will always absorb the dragon's soul.
* When reading the Black Book: Waking Dreams, the Dragonborn may not be teleported to Apocrypha.
** This can be fixed by opening the console and typing: player.drop 1 followed by player.additem 1, then reading the book from inventory.
* When the Dragonborn approaches the word wall and learns a word of power, the dragon may not show up. This prevents the quest from being completed.
**This might not be a bug, but an oversight: Ensure all the Words of Power are unlocked for the Bend Will shout. Unlocking the last Word of Power should prompt the quest to update and Sahrotaar to appear.
** If all the words for Bend Will are unlocked and Sahrotaar still does not appear, using the console command setstage dlc2mq06 200 will force the quest to update and summon the dragon.
*Using Unrelenting Force on a dragon in conjunction with Dragonborn Force, if the player selected this reward from Black Book: Epistolary Acumen, will stop Miraak from absorbing the soul, rendering the mission impossible to complete.
* After Miraak absorbs the first soul, it is possible for him to not become material again. This problem is caused by him not restoring to his full heath.
**This can be fixed by opening the console, clicking on Miraak and using the command resethealth. It will make him mortal again. This can be repeated if he is stuck on his second or third soul consumption.
**This problem can also be solved by not reducing Miraak's health to zero, which can be achieved by hitting him with non-power attacks and making sure he has about 20% of his health left when he begins his shout.
** This can be fixed by killing all the remaining dragons, and then going into sneak mode until the combat ends. Afterwards, go behind Miraak and attack him, and the battle should resume as normal.
** Killing all three present dragons before Miraak absorbs any dragon souls and slowly making damage to his health without power or staggering attacks (e.g. using Flames or iron arrows and a hunting bow) will make Hermaeus Mora appear normally when Miraak's health is low.
* After Miraak absorbs the three dragons' souls, it is possible that he will not be killed by Hermaeus Mora. Mora's dialogue in the center pool will occur, but he will never appear, making it impossible to complete the quest.
** A solution is to type into the console SetsStage DLC2MQ06 500 to finish the quest, then use SetsStage DLC2MQ06 580 to bring the book up to be able to pick a perk and get home. With this method, Miraak's body can not be looted for his items.
* After using the Bend Will shout on Miraak's dragon, the dragon will land and can then be mounted. However, the dragon will take off, leaving the Dragonborn hanging in the air in the mounted position.
** A possible solution is to delete Data\Meshes\Actors\Dragon\Character Assets\skeleton.nif — this is usually placed by Realistic Ragdolls and Force, and will result in dragons reverting to the default joints from the vanilla game.
** If the above method fails to work, it is possible to dismount Sahrotaar by pressing the dismount key. After pressing it once, then waiting approximately twenty seconds, Sahrotaar may have landed somewhere and the dismounting animation will occur. The game will have also registered that the dragon was mounted and will no longer require him to be mounted again, which means that the only requirement left is to kill Miraak. It is possible to get to Miraak by opening the console and typing in TCL. From there, Miraak's temple is directly west.
* Miraak will not be impaled by Hermaeus Mora, and will instead get stuck in the middle of the platform.
** A possible solution is to use the moveto player console command to move Miraak back up to the arena. Using SetStage DLC2MQ06 500 will end the quest and SetStage DLC2MQ06 580 will bring up the book to get back and receive the cleared perk. Miraak's body cannot be looted, but the command openactorcontainer 1 will allow the PC to retrieve the items. There will be no animation or dialogue, however the quest will still continue.
* It may be impossible for the Dragonborn and Miraak to absorb dragon souls, thus the final quest cannot be finished.
*If the Dragonborn tries to manually steer Sahrotaar, he will fly past Miraak in a straight direction without stopping.
*If the Dragonborn does not get off Sahrotaar upon reaching Miraak, Sahrotaar will fly off with the Dragonborn still aboard. This will make it impossible to get off the dragon without reverting to an older save.
* When Miraak's body burns, his skeleton does not fall to the ground to be looted. However, everything else continues.
*The central structure in Chapter V may not open after placing all four books.
* When Hermaeus Mora impales Miraak, he may not die and cannot be killed or looted afterwards. This prevents the achievement from being earned. He may disappear if Apocrypha is revisited, however.
** To escape Apocrypha, the coc command must be used, for example coc riverwood to teleport to Riverwood.
* Dismounting Sahrotaar manually may cause the Dragonborn to take acid damage throughout the animation, killing them before the player regains control.
** The battle can be won by simply never dismounting Sahrotaar; this bug does not occur if he is killed and the Dragonborn falls off him. Alternately, reloading the game may allow the Dragonborn to dismount normally.
* Instead of running to the center of the map to absorb a dragon soul, Miraak may phase through the floor, and fly off far away in the distance, taking the soul with him, but not reappearing back to fight. This leaves the dragons to circle endlessly, and the quest impossible to complete.
** Finding where he flies off to, and shooting projectile magic at him should hit. Afterwards, jumping towards him should reset the player's position to the center of the platform, as well as Miraak.
==Appearances==
*
de:Auf dem Gipfel von Apocrypha
es:En la cima de Apocrypha
ru:На вершине Апокрифа
Category:Dragonborn: Main Quests