The Elder Scrolls Online: Ebonheart Pact – Skill Point Quests – Shadowfen – Reticulated Spine

The Skin-Stealer’s Lair in the Reticulated Spine questing zone, you will be rewarded a skill point.

Shadowfen
1. Three Tender Souls
2. Getting to the Truth
3. Scouring the Mire
4. Trail of the Skin-Stealer
5. The Skin-Stealer’s Lair (Skill Point)

Reticulated Spine Questing Zone

1. Three Tender Souls
Quest Giver: Vicecanon Hrondar
Location(s): Stormhold
Reward: 200 Gold
Recommended Level: 24

– Quick Walkthrough –

1. Talk to Gethis Omobar, Dendras Indalor and Tiiril Alor.
2. Examine the dead.
3. Talk to Gethis Omobar.
4. Examine the house.
5. Report to the vicecanons.

– Detailed Walkthrough –

You volunteer to interview the witnesses. Vicecanon Hrondar says Dendras Indalor is at home, Gethis Omobar at the smithy, and Tiiril Alor at the Mages Guild.

Gethis Omobar’s wife, Eroni, died. He doesn’t believe the Shadowscales killed her because they treated everyone the same. She is in the mortuary, but Gethis has the key since Eroni made all the locks.

Tiiril Alor thinks Shadowscales killed Arilen.

Dendra Indalor’s brother, Naldyn, died. Most of Stormhold probably wanted to kill Naldyn, but the Shadowscales are also possible killers.

Examine the Dead
Eroni Omobar’s body is directly across from the entrance. Her skin is burned, and she has “a clean, precise cut” in her chest. The combination of wounds is unknown to the local Mages Guild. Naldyn Indalor’s body is relatively unharmed, except for a “clean and precise” stab wound to the heart. There is another cut near it, which looks like it was made after he died. Arilen Maralvel’s throat is cut, which killed him. He has a “small, precise cut upon the chest” that was made after he died.

Smith Halva enters the tomb with an urgent message for you. Gethis saw Eroni enter their home. He wants to meet you there as soon as you can.

Gethis Omobar is lying on the ground outside his house. He entered the house to find out how his wife returned, and she stabbed him. If the Argonian inside the house hadn’t leapt between them, Gethis would be dead. He asks you to help the Argonian remove the Eroni impostor from his home.

Inside the house is the body of a Shadowscale Scout. His journal reveals that the murders are not the work of the Shadowscales.

You return to Vicecanon Hrondar at the Fighters Guild. He is not there, so you talk to Vicecanon Heita-Meen instead.

2. Getting to the Truth
Quest Giver: Vicecanon Heita-Meen
Location(s): Stormhold, Silyanorn Ruins
Reward: Stormhold Cuirass + 200 Gold
Recommended Level: 24

– Quick Walkthrough –

1. Find Vicecanon Hrondar’s location at Listens-to-Water’s hut.
2. Rescue the prisoners in Silyanorn Ruins.

– Detailed Walkthrough –

Vicecanon Hrondar is missing, and Vicecanon Heita-Meen fears it is the killer.

You go to Listens-to-Waters hut, but he is dead. His journal shows suspicious activity at Silyanorn Ruins. However, a Dominion spy appears and tries to kill you.

Inside Silyanorn Ruins, you find Vicecanon Hrondar tied up. There are other prisoners, and you free all four of them.

You meet Vicecanon Hrondar outside the ruins to receive Stormhold Cuirass and 200 gold.

3. Scouring the Mire
Quest Giver: Vicecanon Hrondar in Stormhold
Location(s): Ten-Maur-Wolk
Reward: 50 Gold
Recommended Level: 24

– Quick Walkthrough –

1. Meet Vicecanon Hrondar at Ten-Maur-Wolk.

– Detailed Walkthrough –

Vicecanon Hrondar wants to take the fight to the Dominion. You agree to meet at Ten-Maur-Wolk, a Daedric ruin to the southeast.

However, once you arrive Hrondar tells you the Dominion ambushed them.

4. Trail of the Skin-Stealer
Quest Giver: Vicecanon Hrondar
Location(s): Ten-Maur-Wolk
Reward: 260 Gold
Recommended Level: 26

– Quick Walkthrough –

1. Talk to Vicecanon Heita-Meen inside the cave.
2. Find Vicecanon Hrondar’s soldiers.
3. Free Ukatsei from the skin-stealers.
4. Talk to Ukatsei inside the cave.
5. Find Vicecanon Hrondar.
6. Talk to Ukatsei.

– Detailed Walkthrough –

Vicecanon Hrondar needs you to confirm the other vicecanons are alive. His scout found a cave inside the middle of Ten-Maur-Wolk. However, the Aldmeri Dominion is fiercely defending it.

Find the Vicecanons
Vicecanons Heita-Meen and Servyna are inside a cave to the south. Talk to Vicecanon Heita-Meen who is kneeling next to the log benches in the cave.

Vicecanon Heita-Meen suspects you are a “skin-stealer,” but she tells you that the Dominion plans to lure Vicecanon Hrondar into a trap if he tries to rescue the vicecanons. You need to tell him to call off the attack.

Warn Vicecanon Hrondar
You find the body of one of Vicecanon Hrondar’s soldiers south of the cave, next to the daedric-looking well in the middle of the water. Her skin is slightly charred—she is one of the skin-stealers’ victims. You discover a small vial of liquid on her body, and accidentally spill some on yourself.

The rest of the regiment is to the west, next to the cages. Mudyn, the surviving soldier, says the skin-stealers came from the underground and dragged the rest of the soldiers away. They wore the faces of the regiment’s soldiers and attacked when the soldiers prepared to assault the cave. Mudyn was stabbed in the back and worries they took his face.

The skin-stealers took Ukatsei alive to an altar. You need to rescue him from the skin-stealers’ ritual.

Stop the Ritual
Ukatsei is tied to a rock north of Mudyn. He needs you to untie him before the elf who tried to steal his skin returns. She left to get a duller knife, “so it would last longer,” after Ukatsei kicked her when she tried to cut his chest.

The elf, Nedrasa, appears after you finish talking to Ukatsei. Defeating her will free Ukatsei and count as stopping the ritual.

Ukatsei runs into the cave where you found the vicecanons earlier in the quest. He says Vicecanon Hrondar’s guard led him away before the attack. He asks you to watch his back while he tracks down the vicecanon.

Tracking the Vicecanon
With Ukatsei following you, exit the cave and go east. Ukatsei will pick up the trail, and you continue east to find Vicecanon Hrondar’s body.

He looks different from the soldiers you saw near the cave. It looks like he has been dead longer than the others and shows no signs of battle. There is a small hole on his chest, and his skin is slightly charred.

You talk with Ukatsei about your discoveries. He wonders if the vicecanon was dead before the attack on the cave or was he dead even longer. Although Ukatsei can tell the skin-stealers by smell, Vicecanon Hrondar always smelled like mead. The Dominion may know important secrets. The other vicecanons need to know about this.

5. The Skin-Stealer’s Lair
Quest Giver: Ukatsei
Location(s): Ruins of Ten-Maur-Wolk, Lair of the Skin Stealer
Reward: Wrap of My Enemy’s Skin + 416 Gold + 1 Skill Point
Recommended Level: 26

– Quick Walkthrough –

1. Enter Ten-Maur-Wolk.
2. Choose whom to rescue.
3. Enter the vault.

– Detailed Walkthrough –

Ukatsei thinks he knows where the fake Vicecanon Hrondar is hiding. Vicecanon Hrondar ordered him to stay away from a nearby hill. There must be an entrance to the temple there. Ukatsei warns the vicecanons while you investigate.

The entrance to the temple is to the south. It is a Daedric portal guarded by Dominion soldiers.

Explore the Ruins of Ten-Maur-Wolk
Inside the ruins of Ten-Maur-Wolk and to the right is a Dremora named Lyranth, who is held in place by magical blue chains. She claims she is behind the skin-stealers. The Dominion summoned her from Oblivion and are siphoning her power.

She offers to tell you Ruuvitar’s, the Dominion alchemist, plans if you set her free. You can agree or refuse.

If you agree, she sends you to find two altars. You need to touch them to remove the bonds.

Release Lyranth
Your first step to free Lyranth is to find the inner altar. However, you can choose to talk to Bijot along the way. He and his friends came to the ruin to look for Daedric artifacts to sell to mages. The Dominion caught and killed his friends, so Bijot is the only one left. He suggests helping each other escape and says that Lyranth cannot be trusted. You can decide to help him by freeing his friends, or you can continue with the Dremora’s plan.

Rescue Bijot’s Friends
The Dominion captured Bijot’s friends’ souls in Animus Geodes. You need to destroy three of the geodes to save his friends.

The geodes look like purple crystals surrounded by blue mist and black chains. There is one in an alcove you passed on your way to Bijot, one to the right of the inner altar, and one at the south end of the ruins.

After all the geodes have been destroyed, you talk to Bijot near the inner altar. He says there is a door behind Lyranth where the Dominion are keeping Hist sap. They use the Hist sap to steal skins, but if you burn it you will be able to stop them. Bijot suggests you distract Lyranth while he opens the door to the Vault.

Lyranth reveals that the Hist sap combined with her essence allows the Dominion to create skin-stealers. The Hist sap steals the victim’s memories. Ruuvitar’s goal is to acquire the Mnemic Egg, along with all of Black Marsh.

The Lair of the Skin-Stealer
Inside the Lair of the Skin-Stealer, you set fire to four vats of Hist sap by interacting with the coals beneath each of them. If you chose to help Bijot, you can talk to him before attacking Vicecanon Hrondar’s impostor. Bijot offers to free the impostor’s prisoners, as the fake vicecanon will kill them when you approach and gain power from their deaths.
Alternatively, Lyranth will offer to capture their souls, thereby killing them before the imposter can utilize them.

You kill Vicecanon Hrondar’s impostor, who turns out to be a Khajiit named Sarshar. If you can avoid the deaths of the four prisoners around him by killing him quickly enough, Bijot will stay in the ruins to free the prisoners. He tells you Ruuvitar left to find a place of power where he could use the Mnemic Egg and that the Daedric portal will take you beyond the ruins.

Report to Vicecanon Servyna
Vicecanon Servyna is at the bottom of the steps after you exit the portal. Your actions in Ten-Maur-Wolk allowed the vicecanons to organize an escape from the cave.

Continue to the next Stonefalls skill point questing zone, Leafwater.