Skyrim:Dustman's Cairn

Nordic Ruin: Dustman's Cairn (view on map)
# of Zones	2
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	Never (storage is safe)
Level	Min: 6
Occupants
Silver Hands, Draugr, Frostbite Spiders, Skeevers
Important Treasure
Battle of Sancre Tor Fragment of Wuuthrad
Console Location Code(s)
DustmansCairnExterior01, DustmansCairn01, DustmansCairn02
Region
The Reach (see bugs)
Location
Northwest of Whiterun Southeast of Drelas' Cottage
Special Features
Word Wall	Fire Breath
# of Alchemy Labs	1
# of Arcane Enchanters	1

Dustman's Cairn

Dustman's Cairn is a medium-sized Nordic ruin northwest of Whiterun containing Silver Hands, draugr, frostbite spiders, and skeevers. It contains two zones: Dustman's Cairn and Dustman's Crypt.

Its word wall teaches part of the Fire Breath dragon shout. Before the quest Proving Honor, most of the ruin will be inaccessible.

Related Quests

• Proving Honor: Claim a Fragment of Wuuthrad from Dustman's Cairn.

• This location is one of many potential targets for one or more of the Radiant quests.

Walkthrough

Exterior

There is little of value outside the cairn. Many flowers typical of the central tundra of Whiterun Hold grow outside the entrance, including lavender, mountain flowers, and tundra cotton, and eleven hanging moss and an iron shield are found inside the structure.

A well-maintained road runs between Hamvir's Rest nearby to the north and Fort Greymoor to the south, with a short dirt path leading north to Dustman's Cairn. An upturned cart with a scattered cargo of cabbages is near the intersection of the road and path.

Dustman's Cairn

A draugr welcoming party

You enter at the top of a short set of stairs. When you descend the steps, if you are not on the quest Proving Honor, three draugr emerge from upright sarcophagi on either side of the room and attack. If you are there as part of the quest, Farkas will be accompanying you. The three dead draugr will be lying near the three sarcophagi. Regardless, check the table in the middle of the room for a copy of the Two-handed skill book Battle of Sancre Tor. Beside the book is a pickaxe and a lockpick. There is also a novice-locked chest beside the table. Two sideboards flank the stairs leading down from the entrance, one with some clutter, the other with a pickaxe and a bowl of bone meal on top. Around the room are two bleeding crown fungus, and two hanging moss. The path forward is opposite the entrance, it will be blocked by fallen rocks before the quest is started. Among the rubble to the right of the passage is another pickaxe, and as you continue there are numerous hanging moss and various fungi throughout the ruins, some of the moss is unreachable.

The next area contains four draugr, all of whom are standing in alcoves, in wait for unwary explorers. The first room to the right contains one of these draugr and a bleeding crown fungus. The room with the lantern contains another draugr. The third draugr is in the room opposite, in an alcove on the front left-hand side. The final draugr is wandering to the left as you follow the path northward to the next section of the dungeon.

The throne room

Through the door is a tunnel is covered with a thin cobweb you can walk through; on the floor, to the right is an orange dartwing. At the other end of the tunnel is a broken table and two dead draugr on the floor, beside one of these is an ancient Nord war axe. There are two iron ingots on shelves to the left of the table. The next room is safe to enter. To the left, down the stairs, are two thrones and an arcane enchanter. Across the room, on a set of shelves, is a random potion of the berserker and a leather strip. There is another set of shelves on the other side of the room holding a random potion of the defender and a goat hide. Against the south wall is a stone table with a dead draugr on top. The path forward, to the southeast, is blocked; you will need to activate a lever in the room to the northeast. The room with the lever also contains a bowl of bone meal, a potion of minor stamina, a potion of minor healing, a leather strip and a leveled healing potion.

Follow the twisting path until you turn east. You will then see two Silver Hands conversing on the other side of a raised section of the tunnel. When they are dead, check the first alcove on the right for a random helmet on a plinth that is trapped and triggers a dart trap from the north. There is a second orange dartwing on the ground. On the pedestal in the second alcove is a flawless amethyst and some loose septims. There is an imp stool fungus beside the pedestal, and a bowl of bone meal on some shelves beside where the Silver Hands stood. The only items of interest in the next room are a pickaxe near a gap through which you can see deeper into the ruins and a luna moth wing on the left by some cobwebs (as well as a blue dartwing hidden behind the basket).

Through the next door, are more catacombs with a draugr lying in wait; it is in an alcove opposite the door and slightly to the right. There is also an urn and two dead draugr that can be looted. The next room is to the east and contains a Silver Hand standing over a bloodstained draugr and another Silver Hand patrolling the walkways above the far side of the room. There is a novice-locked chest under the stairs and a small coin purse on the ground in the eastern corner. Ascend the stairs and turn around to the left. Search for a chain hanging from the wall beyond the rubble. This lowers a secret area to the left of the stairs that contains a high-leveled chest. There is a dead Silver Hand warrior lying on one of the sarcophagi and a level draugr to deal with. There are several urns and burial urns in this area and through the door to the east, a master-locked chest and behind the left-hand door, a large coin purse. Before descending the stairs to the south, grab the pine thrush egg, silver amethyst ring and hanging moss near the brazier to the left. On a table to the right of the stairs is a random sword, eleven loose septims, two potions of minor magicka, and two potions of minor healing. Beside the table is a burial urn, with another two on ledges above; one of these you will have to jump to reach as it is to the south, on top of the wall separating this area with the previous area where the pickaxe and luna moth wing were found.

There are more draugr in the next section. The first is again lying in wait in front and slightly to the right of the door. There is one around the corner to the right by a large urn, and another to the left of some rubble farther along the path. There is another draugr in an alcove to the left, another on the left by the rubble with two large urns among it, and one more straight ahead. There is a Silver Hand patrolling around here too. Past the Silver Hand and a broken urn is the final living draugr. Near the top of a slope there is an ancient Nord battle axe lying on the ground, with a second one among the rubble on the right. Down the slope is a dead draugr by an adept-locked chest, with two burial urns to the left in an upper alcove. To the south is a flight of stair with a wooden door at the bottom. On the right is an urn and burial urn.

The next room is populated by more Silver Hands. The first stands lookout on the platform straight ahead on the far side of the room, and to the upper right. There are white cap fungi in the northeast and southwest corners of the first area. There are two Silver Hands standing by the fire in the middle of the second part of the room. The ramp to the first Silver Hand is here, going back past you. Through the next door, behind the door to the left is a medium coin purse along with two rings (on the hand of a skeleton poking through some rubble and roots), and partway down in the middle of the stairs, is a pressure plate that triggers a poison dart trap from the right-hand wall. Two Silver Hands are at the bottom, hiding behind the pillars one on either side. There is an unlocked chest to the far left of corner before the final door.

Dustman's Crypt

Silver Hands fighting draugr

There is a Silver Hand leaning on a sarcophagus around a corner when you enter the crypt (on the right just before the wooden door in front). Through the door is an enclosed walkway above a large room: there are two Silver Hands below, who may provoke some of the draugr in the room. It is also possible to snipe the combatants with ranged attacks. More draugr lie in wait along the next corridor. The first is around the corner in the first alcove, the following two are on the outside of the corner (there is also a white cap fungus here). Down the slope is another white cap fungus, with a draugr on either side of the tunnel. Around the corner from here is a Silver Hand, and two draugr lying in alcoves on the left-hand wall: these two will usually have been awakened by the presence of the Silver Hand. There is a final draugr in an alcove opposite the rubble up ahead. There is a white cap fungus lying loose at the corner and another two more loose fungi in the rubble farther along and also one growing and an urn with some loot right at the top of the rubble. There is a chest in an alcove to the right.

The corridor eventually ends above a room with a Silver Hand; once dealt with, loot the apothecary's satchel found on the sideboard to the right of the entrance. Underneath the stairs is an adept-locked chest. There are five burial urns spread around the preparation table opposite the chest. Opening the adept-locked door to the south reveals a selection of rare ingredients: there is a bowl of vampire dust, frost salts, two bowls of bone meal, a sample of ice wraith teeth and a potion of cure disease.

The next room is the one seen from the previous walkway. There is a chest to the left that contains the Dustman's Cairn key among its loot. The key is needed for the far door, which is key-locked. There are two burial urns on the left and on a sideboard by a stone pillar near the middle of the room is a steel ingot and a stone bowl containing a leather strip. There is nothing else of interest except for any remaining enemies that you will have taken care of at this point. Beyond the locked door is a wide passage guarded by several skeevers. It ends with a door leading to a room that contains an alchemy lab and a table with three dead draugr lying on top. There is a novice-locked door to the southwest, behind which is an urn and a potion of minor healing. To the west is a cave-in with another burial urn among the rubble and a door opposite to the east.

A well-preserved carving with a valuable gem

Through the door to the east is the tunnel that allows you to continue; there is also another skeever there. There is another skeever in the tunnel, and two frostbite spiders when the tunnel opens out, as well as an egg sac to the right and a couple of desiccated corpses that can be looted. You will need to take the higher path around the sides of the cave to progress, as the lower path is a dead end, and too high to jump up. There are two leveled draugr, one of which is a magic-user between the second bridge and the exit to the cave. In the corridor after this, there is a carving on the wall to the right, with a bright ruby lodged in the middle carving. The corridor after this contains only a white cap fungus, a hanging moss (both mid-way through the corridor), and some dead draugr.

The word wall

Through the iron door is the final room of the dungeon, which contains a word wall for the Fire Breath shout, a fragment of Wuuthrad, and many draugr. The draugr will only be activated once the fragment is taken. This also means that the shortcut back to the entrance of the cairn is inaccessible, as it is through a sarcophagus atop the stairs. There are a total of seventeen draugr that come alive, including a boss-leveled one. Additionally, the iron door magically locks with an apprentice lock. This door doesn't unlock after the battle. Beside the fragment are two random healing potions and three random soul gems (all the way up to black). There is a boss chest to the right of the word wall, and a few urns by the stairs to the right. The exit tunnel leads to the northwesterly sarcophagi in the very first room. Don't forget to pull the lever to lower the hidden wall.

Notes

• Unless you are on the quest Proving Honor, you will only have access to the first room, which is guarded by three leveled draugr.
• It is possible to use a rune spell to activate the draugr in the final room in smaller numbers prior to taking the fragment. This makes the final battle easier.
• If you have been sent here by a radiant quest after completing the quest Proving Honor, you will need to reload your game and ask the quest giver for another radiant quest. This is because this location does not respawn, and you will be unable to complete the quest. If you have received the radiant quest before starting Proving Honor, you should still be able to complete it while concurrently completing Proving Honor.
• If you do not want to join the Companions but still want the word for the Fire Breath shout, you can glitch through the door fronted by loose pottery by holding a wooden plate against it then running against the plate or using the Whirlwind Sprint shout until you clip through the door, then proceed down the tunnel. The back of a leveled draugr will be before you; if you kill it in one strike, the coffin lid will fall, allowing you access to the rest of the ruin, and if not, you will have to pass through it using the wooden plate glitch. It is advised not to take the fragment of Wuuthrad on the table, as it will persist in your inventory as a quest item. The word wall will still teach the word if you enter this way, and the boss chest will still contain loot. You can even explore the rest of the ruin by using the wooden plate glitch to pass through any key-locked doors, and the hostile Silver Hands will still be present.

Bugs

• Although geographically located in Whiterun Hold, Dustman's Cairn is erroneously marked as being in the Reach. This means that radiant quests which would otherwise be confined to the Reach may send you here instead.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.1.1, fixes this bug.

Maps

• 

  Dustman's Cairn

• 

  Dustman's Crypt