Skyrim:Morvunskar

Military Fort: Morvunskar (view on map) (lore page)
# of Zones	1
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	10 days or 30 days
Level	Min: 8
Occupants
Warlocks
Important Treasure
Cherim's Heart Mystery of Talara, v3
Console Location Code(s)
MorvunskarExterior01, MorvunskarExterior02, MorvunskarExterior03, MorvunskarExterior04, Morvunskar01
Region
Eastmarch
Location
Southwest of Windhelm North of Riverside Shack
Special Features
# of Arcane Enchanters	1
# of Tanning Racks	1
# of Forges/Anvils	1
# of Workbenches	1
# of Cooking Pots/Spits	1

Morvunskar

Morvunskar is a small fort southwest of Windhelm containing warlocks and their leader Naris the Wicked. It contains only one zone, Morvunskar.

The Oblivion realm Misty Grove is accessed here during the quest A Night To Remember.

Related Quests

• Arniel's Endeavor: Uncover an ancient Dwemer secret. (radiant)
• A Night To Remember: Find your lost friend, Sam, as you recover from a bad hangover.
• Onmund's Request: Help Onmund negotiate the return of a family amulet from Enthir. (radiant)

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

Walkthrough

Exterior

The fort's tactical position is evidenced by its view of Windhelm to the northeast and Kynesgrove to the southeast, and also by the large number of main roads visible from its towers. The entrance tunnel through the southern wall has a pressure plate near the beginning that activates four different flame spout traps, starting from the far end and moving toward the plate. Upstairs in a small courtyard are three bedrolls beneath wooden shelters around a campfire. The door to the interior of the fort is west of the fire, and there is a chest by the bedroll to the north.

Five mages guard the exterior of the fort. The first can be seen in a wooden guard tower above the entrance tunnel, while two others patrol the first courtyard. The fourth patrols the stairs up to the camp, and the fifth is sitting in a chair by the fire. The warlocks have a high detection level, making a stealthy approach difficult, though the fort can be accessed from the western side due to landslides that have made the ground level with the height of the walls.

Morvunskar

The forge

The kitchen

Looking across to the throne

Looking down to Naris the Wicked

The shrine of Dibella

There are unusually large numbers of alto wine, empty wine, and wine bottles in the fort.

If you go silently to your right after entering, you will overhear two mages having a conversation in a room to the northwest:

Mage #1: "They drink all day and night and what do I do?"
Mage #2: "You work the forge."
Mage #1: "I work the forge."
Mage #1: "Why do they need me to do this? We use magic, not weapons. I swear they make me do this for a laugh. At least I'm not dealing with the prisoners down below."
Mage #2: "Yeah, I don't know how I feel about what goes on down there."
Mage #1: "I bet Naris gets a kick out it [sic]. Nasty fella he is."
Mage #2: "You better quiet down before you end up there. Then I'd have to work the forge."

The room the mages are in contains a forge, a workbench, a bed, and a table holding three iron ingots, two pieces of iron ore, a piece of silver ore, and a copy of the Smithing skill book Cherim's Heart. The door beside this room is barred from the other side. The room opposite the main entrance is the kitchen, and contains a cooking pot over a campfire, a tanning rack, and a woodcutter's axe; a bunch of dried frost mirriam, a bunch of dried elves ear, two garlic braids, three rabbits, three pheasants, and four salmon hang from several racks.

In the middle of the entrance room are two fire braziers that mark the onward path, which is down some steps and through an unlocked door. A hanging moss grows to the left of the stairs. Beyond the door is a narrow passage that turns twice before ending at another wooden door. Through the door is a wide passage, with a small wooden table on the left holding a medium coin purse, a bottle of wine, and six loose gold coins. Opposite the table is a small end table holding a small mead barrel.

At the end of the passage are stairs leading down into a large chamber with several hostile mages. To the left before a pile of rubble ahead to the north is a pressure plate that activates flame spout traps from the left wall. The chamber is in two sections, with several pillars throughout. A wide flight of double stairs on the right leads up to the boss mage and another mage. There are four troll skulls between the double flight of stairs, and at the top two chairs on raised sections with more stairs leading up to them act as improvised thrones. Beside the higher of the two chairs is a small end table, and to the left is an unlocked chest. (Note: A portal to Misty Grove appears to the right of the thrones if you are on the quest A Night To Remember. The area affected by the portal to Misty Grove is larger than its physical appearance, and may extend even to the small storeroom below the throne area. If the portal is active, you will therefore need to hug the left wall and proceed slowly toward the end table and chest to avoid being transported.) Near the bottom of the double stairs is a toppled set of shelves leaning against the side of the stairs by a pillar; the shelves hold many empty wine bottles and bottles of wine.

The left side of the chamber has several small tables and chairs, quite a few of which have been overturned. Another mage patrols this area. Against the west wall is a set of shelves holding six common books, a random potion of healing, and a food sack. To the north is an opening leading into another passage, with a doorway under the stairs nearby to the east leading into a small storeroom containing a novice-locked chest, an adept-locked strongbox, and two food barrels. The passage to the north has a pressure plate that triggers a spike wall from the right. Just after this trap is a T-junction, with passages leading to the right and straight ahead. Ahead are two bedrooms. The bedroom on the left contains a long wooden table against the south wall with an arcane enchanter built in, an unowned double bed against the north wall with an end table to the right, and a set of shelves to the left holding twelve common books and a random filled soul gem. The bedroom on the right contains two unowned single beds and a small square wooden table. Taking the passage to the right brings you past several stacks of unusable barrels; around the corner, a mage is sitting at a table on the left. Beside the table is a sideboard holding four more common books, and a second table and chairs.

The passage then turns to the west, with a novice-locked door on the east wall and another room ahead containing three unowned bedrolls, a shrine of Dibella, two end tables, and a round wooden table holding two bottles of alto wine. The end tables hold two leather strips and a leveled potion of invisibility, respectively. Through the novice-locked door is a flight of stairs leading down to Naris the Wicked and the results of his "experiments". You may even overhear some of his comments about his experiments, such as the "...sweet smell of burnt flesh." He is standing in front of a wooden gated cell, with six burnt corpses among some burning coals inside. The lever to open the gate is on the wall to the left. Also to the left is an unlocked chest, and to the right is a set of shelves and a round wooden table holding a copy of the Destruction skill book Mystery of Talara, v3 and a leveled poison.

The passage turns to the west, passing a table covered in blood holding a small coin purse and an iron dagger. Opposite the table is a set of shelves holding eight common books. From here the passage climbs and turns south. At the top is the barred door, providing a shortcut to the exit.

Notes

• An iron ore vein is west of the path up to the fort.
• A gold ore vein and a corundum ore vein are west of the fort. To reach them, go west around the rocks from the bottom of the path to the fort, then head north until directly west of the Morvunskar map marker.
• A shrine of Talos is at the end of a short path east of the main road toward Windhelm, with an assortment of weapons and items at its base.
• 105 empty wine bottles are scattered throughout the fort.
• Morvunskar also appears in ESO.

Bugs

• Sanguine can sometimes be found in Morvunskar fighting the mages in the large room downstairs. This can happen at any time after the quest A Night To Remember has started. Sanguine is essential, but not leveled, so the fight can go on endlessly. If Morvunskar is the target of a Dawnguard quest, the master vampire may join the fight with Sanguine and the mages. If this bug has occurred, you will probably hear the battle in progress shortly after you enter the interior.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.0.0, fixes this bug.
• If you return to Morvunskar after completing A Night To Remember, sometimes the portal to Misty Grove will still be accessible. Passing through it will end with you being stuck in Misty Grove, as Sanguine is no longer there to teleport you out.
  • The Official Skyrim Patch, version 1.4, fixes this bug.
  • On the PC, you can open the console and type tcl to toggle collision, then fly under the map just below where you enter Misty Grove to find a door that will take you back to Morvunskar.
• In the large central room where the portal to Misty Grove appears, you may encounter up to seven assorted magic casters. Depending on circumstances, if they all attack, their spell-related graphics (lightning, fire blasts, etc.) may cause the game to crash or lock up. Making a save before entering the room is advisable. ^?
• If you're sent here by Gunmar to kill a Volkihar Master Vampire for the Dawnguard, sneak through to the vampire and do that first or he may fall through the floor, making it impossible to complete the quest. ^?