Skyrim:Stony Creek Cave

Cave: Stony Creek Cave (view on map)
# of Zones	1
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	10 days or 30 days
Level	Min: 6
Occupants
Bandits
Important Treasure
Bliss Bug in a JarCC Finn's Lute Mystery of Talara, Part 4 Ruin's EdgeCC Treasure Map X Unusual Gem
Console Location Code(s)
StonyCreekCave01
Region
Eastmarch
Location
Southeast of Windhelm North of Ansilvund
Special Features
# of Alchemy Labs	1
# of Fishing SuppliesCC	1
Ore Veins
# of Moonstone	2

Stony Creek Cave

Stony Creek Cave is a small cave southeast of Windhelm containing bandits. It contains only one zone, Stony Creek Cave.

Related Quests

• Finn's Lute: Return an invaluable lute to Inge Six Fingers.
• No Stone Unturned: Find the 24 gems to restore the Crown of Barenziah.
• The Edge of Ruin^CC: Find a madwoman's legendary bow.
• Careless Curation^CC: Find the missing Curate to retrieve the Mask of Sotha Sil.

Radiant Quests

• Amulet of the Moon: Find the Moon Amulet for Kharjo.
• Dungeon Delving: Do a favor by retrieving an item from a cave.
• Find Shahvee's Amulet of Zenithar: Do a favor by retrieving an item from a bandit hideout.
• Harsh Master: Take care of a runaway crew member.
• Kill the Bandit Leader: Do a favor by slaying a bandit leader.

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

Walkthrough

Exterior

The entrance to the cave is near a small pond with a jetty and rowboat to the west. With the Fishing Creation installed, some Fishing Supplies can be found here. Fish from Temperate Lakes can be caught here. The middle of the pond bed features several harvestable clams. The cave entrance is to the east of the pier; a stream accompanied by rising steam flows out of the cave into the pond. There is a stack of crates with three food sacks to the right of the entrance, and several Nordic barnacle clusters on the rock walls on either side of the entrance. A corundum ore vein is a short distance east of the cave, with an iron ore vein slightly northwest of that.

Stony Creek Cave

Stony Creek Cave interior

The cave itself consists of the stream that fills the pond at the entrance, and has two main areas. The first thing you see upon entering is a dead Breton drooped over a beam in front of the stream. The water here contains some salmon and two lootable skeletons. The path consists of some planks that extend into the water to the right-hand side of the water. After turning the first corner along the path formed by the stream, the air appears to be shimmering; this is flammable gas, and can be ignited with flames or a torch (just having a fire spell equipped is enough to set it off). The gas extends almost to the final chamber and partway into the side chamber, and if ignited, will deal significant damage to any enemies caught in the blast. However, any remaining enemies will be on high alert after igniting the gas, making any further stealth approach very difficult. The tunnel is patrolled by two bandits.

The side chamber is down a tunnel to the right shortly before the main path takes a left turn. There is a bandit on lookout here on high alert; he is always sitting on the edge of the planks beside a lantern at the entrance to the side tunnel, even though a chair is available for use. At the bottom of the planks is a lootable skeleton, and behind the bandit is a medium coin purse, an imp stool, and a Namira's rot. To the left before the fungi and between the lit sconces, the tunnel continues to the side chamber. Halfway through the tunnel is a tripwire which triggers a swinging mace trap hanging from the ceiling, but if you sprint through the trap, the swinging mace should not hit you.

The side chamber contains the boss bandit, who carries Treasure Map X. With the Ruin's Edge Creation installed, the boss will also be carrying the bow Ruin's Edge the first time you kill him. The boss chamber also contains an alchemy lab with a bowl of ectoplasm on top. To the left of the lab is a table with an orange dartwing and a bowl holding some deathbell flowers on top. To the right is a bench with an unusual gem, a random poison, a bowl of fire salts, and the Illusion skill book Mystery of Talara, Part 4. In the corner is the unlocked boss chest, which contains Finn's Lute and other random loot. Growing around the chamber are two bleeding crown, one white cap, and one Namira's rot.

Returning to the tunnel and going north, on a ledge to the right just past the end of the gas is a Namira's rot. There is one last bandit in the large chamber, mining one of the two moonstone ore veins that are marked by lit lanterns. The chamber also contains an apprentice-locked chest near the ore vein to the left, a couple more skeletons that can be looted, and several food sacks. With the Saints & Seducers Creation installed, a unique Bliss Bug in a Jar is on a pair of crates immediately to the left as you enter the chamber. Finally, a waterfall falls from a ledge on the rear wall, with an exit from Kagrenzel in the short tunnel beyond. This exit is accessible from this direction by carefully jumping up the small rock face beneath the waterfall or by using the Whirlwind Sprint shout when standing on a small hill to the right of the waterfall.

Notes

• Stony Creek Cave also appears in Legends.

Bugs

• For quests related to Kagrenzel, your map marker may point you to Stony Creek Cave. This also applies to the Clairvoyance spell.
• It is advised not to take Finn's Lute until the quest Finn's Lute has been started, as it will not be removed from your inventory if taken beforehand.
  • The Official Skyrim Patch, version 1.5, fixes this bug.
• The chief bandit carrying the treasure map may not appear. Forcing the dungeon to respawn, either through starting one of the quests that require a boss bandit or waiting 30 days, should make the boss spawn. ^?