User:Biffa/sandbox/8

Military Fort: 8 (view on map)
# of Zones	5
Clearable	No
Respawn Time	10 days
Level	Min: 6
Occupants
Forsworn; either Imperials or Stormcloaks
Important Treasure
Last Scabbard of Akrash Guide to Better Thieving
Console Location Code(s)
FortSungard01, FortSungard02, FortSungard03, FortSungard04, FortSungard05
Region
The Reach
Location
West of Whiterun South-southeast of Rorikstead
Special Features
# of Alchemy Labs	1
# of Forges/Anvils	2
# of Grindstones	1
# of Workbenches	1
# of Cooking Pots/Spits	1

Fort Sungard

8 is a large Forsworn occupied fort located strategically at the crossroads between the Reach, Whiterun Hold, and Falkreath Hold.

The fort is on top of a small mountain, making access limited to approach from the plains of Whiterun Hold. Initially the fort will be occupied by Forsworn, but the interior of the buildings are entirely free of them, making exploration easy.

The fort has a courtyard and five interior zones: Fort Sungard Muster, Fort Sungard Shrine, Fort Sungard Annex, Fort Sungard Tower, and Fort Sungard Oubliette.

Related Quests

• Liberation of Skyrim: Drive the Imperials from Skyrim. (radiant)
  • The Battle for Fort Sungard: Take this fort in the name of the Stormcloaks. (radiant)
• Reunification of Skyrim: Reunite Skyrim under the leadership of the Empire. (radiant)
  • The Battle for Fort Sungard: Retake Fort Sungard for the Imperials. (radiant)
• Skilled Apprenticeship: Retrieve a skill book for Ghorza gra-Bagol.

Walkthrough Forsworn Occupation

Exterior

Although there are several stealthy and covert methods to enter the courtyards of this fortress, the most likely route of entrance is the main gate. If you have not joined a side in the civil war yet, the exterior of the fortress will be teeming with up to eight Forsworn; five archers and three melee fighters, although this will be the only location in the fort inhabited by them. The route leading up to the main gate has a wooden lookout tower and many barricades blocking access, a melee warrior can easily get overwhelmed by the Forsworn here. There are also two single-horse stables, one of which has a gate outside the main wall. There are two more defenders found atop the battlements, who are found near the entrance to Fort Sungard Muster. There are three final defenders found atop the upper level.

Entering through the main archway leads to a small courtyard with a flight of stairs in front of you leading up to an area containing a small roofed section, with two food sacks and a crate underneath. Following the wall around to the left, there is a cart containing a steel mace and a potion of health by some more crates and barrels. There is also another flight of stairs leading up to the battlements. From here another flight of stairs heading east, to the south is an arch and to the west more stairs. The stairs to the east lead to another courtyard with a open-sided wooden building in the middle and entrances to the Fort Sungard Annex and Fort Sungard Tower, an arch leading to a collapsed wall and more stairs leading up to the upper level and a second entrance to the Tower. Beneath the arch to the south is a central lit brazier with four pillars arranged in a semi-circle. West of this is an entrance to the Fort Sungard Shrine. There is a wall that continues past this and joins with the stairs to the west on top of the main building with a trapdoor into the Fort Sungard Muster and more stairs leading up to a flag post. Opposite the cart is another arch with a path underneath that leads around to another door to the Muster. Around the exterior of the fort are a few barrels containing foodstuffs and a few hanging moss growing down the walls.

Fort Sungard Muster

The Muster is largely the living and eating quarters for the fort. It has three entrances, the trapdoor and door leading to the upper room and a sewer pipes leading from ouside the fort's walls. Entering through the door, there is a small table to the left, with a copy of Mixed Unit Tactics on top. Three long wooden tables with benches on either side down the middle of the room and three small tables to the right, but none of these hold anything of interest. Against the rear wall is a flight of stairs leading down, while against the west wall is a ladder giving access from the trapdoor outside. To the left of this is a doorway into a long thin room with a total of eight single beds down the side walls, with three unlocked chests containing minor loot among them. At the far end of the room is a wooden table with a copy of the Smithing skill book Last Scabbard of Akrash, a random pair of gauntlets, an iron and a steel ingot on top and on the ground to the left is a random helmet.

Descending the stairs leads to what appears to be a kitchen of sorts, with a small table at the bottom of the stairs with a baked potato, a portion of grilled leeks, a salmon steak, a searred slaughterfish steak and some cheese on top. There is a barrel under the table and bucket of potato beside it. Against the east wall is a large fireplace with a cooking pot hanging in front. To the left is a table and several food barrels. There are four counters in the room, two in the middle and two along the north wall, on these are two salt piles, a haunch of raw venison, another baked potato, a garlic bulb, a joint of rwaw beef, two sweet rolls, a portion of grilled leeks, a potato, and a Taproot. There is a bucket containing two leeks by one of the counters and hanging from the ceiling are two garlic braids, two bunches of dried elves ear and a bunch of dried frost mirriam.

To the west are stairs down into a room containing five cupboards mainly holding clutters, but also a baked potato and Charred Skeever Hide. On the floor is a copy of Biography of Barenziah, v3 and a pickaxe, while hanging from a rack from the ceiling are two rabbits and a pheasant. At the rear of the room stairs lead up to a water pipe that you can use to enter/exit outside the fort walls.

Fort Sungard Shrine

The Shrine is a small area of the fort consisting of two rooms. The entrance leads to the upper room empty except for a shrine. While the fort is controlled by the Forsworn, the shrine is a Shrine of Kynareth. Stairs lead down to the lower room which contains an alchemy lab, a stack of two open coffins, with a purple mountain flower and two bowls of bone meal on top. A third upright coffin in the corner that may be looted and a couple of straw bales with an adept locked strongbox on top.

Fort Sungard Annex

The Annex is the armory of the fort. The entrance leads into a room with a large fireplace, two archery targets and a cart containing two hide shields, a banded iron shield, two iron swords and an iron greatsword. On the ground in front of the fire is a woodcutter's axe and on top of the high mantel is a bucket containing a random poison, with a random war axe resting on top. To the right of the fireplace are stairs leading down to a cell with an adept locked gate, however it contains nothing of interest. From here more stairs lead further down. At the bottom there is a wooden door to the left, a food barrel and woodcutter's axe among a pile of firewood opposite and another wooden door to the right. Through the first door is a room containing a long wooden table with copies of Mixed Unit Tactics and Brief History of the Empire, v1, a key to Fort Sungard Jail, which unlocks the cell above. Under the table is a basket containing a Scroll of Call to Arms and several rolls of paper. To the right is an unlocked chest and a doorway through to a bedroom containing an unowned double bed, with an end table to the left, a square table to the right, with two loose septims, an iron dagger and a wedge of cheese. At the foot of the bed is another unlocked chest and in the northeast corner is a tall wardrobe.

The door at the other end of the passage leads out onto an outdoor balcony that overlooks Whiterun Hold, containing a blacksmith's forge, anvil, workbench and grindstone (see bugs).

Fort Sungard Tower

The Tower is a four story building with exits on each floor. Entering via the door opposite the open-sided wooden building leads to the second floor, where you will find a cart containing two pieces of moonstone ore and a pickaxe, with another pickaxe on the floor beside it. There is also a doorway into a large room with a table and two food barrels on the right. Past these is another doorway on the right into a room containing a cupboard with an urn on top, and a long wooden table with a random shield, a random helmet, a steel dagger, a bottle of wine, two random potions, a garlic bulb and a copy of Mixed Unit Tactics on top and a bucket on the floor beside it containing two leeks. There is a second bottle of wine on the end of a wooden beam sticking out from the wall. In the middle of the east wall is an exit that leads out onto a balcony with a table and chairs overlooking Fort Sungard Oubliette. Back in the room, against the south wall is a small table next to a cupboard with a pickaxe, salt pile and knapsack on the shelves. To the right, against the same wall is an unlocked chest, to the left curved stairs descend and to the right they ascend. Climbing to the next floor leads to an empty cart and three food barrels with a doorway into a circular room with a central pillar, a straw bale, another empty cart with two more pickaxes on the floor and a round table with a small coin purse and a single septim on top. To the east a door leads outside on the upper level of the fort and to the right of this is a doorway through to another curved staircase that leads to the top of the tower, a straw bale, with a ladder that leads up to a trapdoor out on to the top of the tower, an iron mace on the floor in front and behind the bale a bunch of lavender, a flute and five loose septims. Descending the stairs to the lowest level lead to another entrance/exit. Through this door you come out opposite the entrance to the Oubliette, outside the main walls.

Fort Sungard Oubliette

The Oubliette is the jail tower of the fort. The main entrance leads into a large room with a large central fireplace, a long wooden table to your left, with a bottle of wine and a woodcutter's axe on top, a straw bale and food barrel against the outer wall, and an empty set of shelves and another barrel against the inner. There are three cells, two apprentice locked and the other novice locked, two of which contain unowned bed rolls, but nothing else of interest. A ladder leads up to a trapdoor by the west wall which opens out on top of the tower. To the right of the entrance are curved stairs leading down. At the bottom is an empty cart with two more pickaxes on the floor, beside a doorway to a room with a hole in the floor with a tall drop beneath it, that can potentially kill very low level players. It is recommended that you save or use the Become Etheral dragon shout prior to attempting the drop. At the bottom is a bandit that appears not to have survived the drop and beside him a copy of the Pickpocket skill book Guide to Better Thieving, a copy of the Fort Sungard Jail key, another woodcutter's axe and a couple of lockpicks can be found near the corpse and among the rubble. To the south is a novice locked gate that is also opened using the Fort Sungard Jail key, and leads along a passage with a glowing mushroom growing on the wall to a hidden alternative exit. It brings you out almost opposite the road that passes the entrance to Sunderstone Gorge.

Notes

• A note urging the Forsworn to hasten the taking of the fort is found in the tent with the boss chest at the Serpent's Bluff Redoubt.
• If you open the local map at the crossroads to the east of the Fort, the area will be called "Granite Hill". Granite Hill was to be a village in Falkreath Hold that was omitted from the final game, similar to Heljarchen in The Pale. It is referenced in the game files, and also in the book Holdings of Jarl Gjalund.

Bugs

• When exiting to the smithing balcony of the Fort Sungard Annex, your follower may get trapped there.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.2.1, fixes this bug.
  • You can fast travel with Fort Sungard as the destination to solve this.
• You may not be able to interact with the grindstone.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.2.1, fixes this bug.
• A Forsworn can be generated inside of the shrine, making it impossible to reach or kill them.
  • This can be remedied by standing to the left of the door and casting rune spells onto the lip part of the shrine.
• It may be impossible to re-garrison the fort by clearing out the Forsworn - they may simply respawn. ^?