Skyrim:Geirmund's Hall

Nordic Ruin: Geirmund's Hall (view on map)
# of Zones	1
Occupants
Draugr, Frostbite Spiders, Skeevers
Important Treasure
Words and Philosophy
Console Location Code(s)
GeirmundsHallExterior, GeirmundsHall01
Region
The Rift
Location
East of Ivarstead

Geirmund's Hall

Geirmund's Hall is a small crypt east of Ivarstead containing draugr, frostbite spiders, and skeevers.

It is located on an island in the middle of Lake Geir.

Related Quests

• Forbidden Legend: Investigate the forgotten Gauldur Legend.

• Note: This location is one of many potential targets for one or more of the radiant quests found on this page.

Walkthrough

Exterior

There are several blue and red mountain flowers, a canis root plant, a thistle and gourd growing on the island. There are several upright stones and three patches of bleeding crown fungus in front and either side of the entrance. There are two iron ore veins, just east of the entrance and one corundum ore vein a short distance to the northwest. Near some rocks, to the north are two patches of imp stool fungus.

Geirmund's Hall

Upon entering there is a cave with many fungi growing in the cave including fourteen bleeding crown, nineteen fly amanita, and five white cap fungi. There are two skeevers that will attack as you descend towards a large sink hole. To the west of the hole is a dead adventurer who is carrying a copy of Lost Legends, which will start the Forbidden Legend quest, if you haven't already started it. The only other item of interest is an iron ore vein on your left as you descend.

Jump down through the hole in the ground into the pool below. Under the pool you will find a short dead-end passage to an unlocked chest, a random sword, medium coin purse, a random potion of waterbreathing and a random empty soul gem on the sandy bottom. Be careful to make sure your follower does not come with you because you may be unable to leave the water-filled passage and drown when they block your exit. There is an iron door to the west with wooden stairs leading up out of the water to it. Opposite among some rubble is a burial urn and a small coin purse. Through the door you will face two frostbite spiders in a web filled room with an adept-locked door to the north and a passage to the south. Behind the door is a short passage with a broken table on your right with a random set of armor, a random shield and a random potion of healing.

To the south is a pressure plate that triggers a poison dart trap from the walls ahead. Continuing to the west and down a flight of stairs into some shallowly flooded catacombs with rotating pillars, look at the walls. The order is Eagle—Whale—Snake—Whale. There are pillars for each one in this area guarded by one draugr each, one of which at least is a magic-user. Halfway through the pillar section, there is a table with a random filled soul gem on a weight sensitive plate which will set off a battering ram in the form of a mammoth head and tusks swinging down from the ceiling. You can set the trap off safely if you are beside or on top of the table when you take the soul gem, there is also a random potion on the table. There is a burial urn by the first rotating pillar and a large urn by the table. At the bottom of the stairs, there is the first pillar (Eagle). Turning right, the second pillar (Whale) is next to the stairs. The third pillar (Snake) is behind the table. Going slightly backwards, then left, you can see the fourth pillar (Whale). Then turn to the right, pull the lever and you can go through the door to the north.

A short tunnel with several more fungi growing along it leads to an area where you will encounter three more draugr (one at the bottom of the ramp, and two more guarding the corpse of Geirmund at the top). There is a well hidden small coin purse in the second shelf of the fallen bookshelf at the base of the ramp; only the very top of it shows through the sand. A second hidden coin purse is among some rubble to the south. To the west is a sideboard with a random bow and a single arrow on top. To the right is a set of shelves holding a leather strip and a random potion of stamina.

Before approaching Geirmund for the key, you can use a Whirlwind Sprint shout to reach the broken bridge on the west side of the room, leading to a leveled treasure chest. Be careful when opening the door as it is rigged—there is a spellcaster trap that shots firebolts at you directly behind it that will blast you when the door opens, remove the soul gem to disarm. You can stand to the side to avoid the blast or disarm the tension cable first. The chest itself is not trapped, but does have an expert-level lock on it.

Proceed to take the key from Geirmund's skeleton (the key is visible in his hand but it's not in his inventory). You can grab the epitaph for some content reference if you want, and Geirmund has some pretty good loot for the taking. To the east of Geirmund is an urn with an unlit brazier in front containing a random mace. The key will open the door directly behind Geirmund's resting place or you can pick the adept-lock. As soon as it opens, a draugr may or may not spawn at the arcane enchanter's table, and there is a large spider or skeever to the left. Up the stairs to the right, there is a potion of invisibility and an urn for the taking. On the table with the enchanter is a random battleaxe and random poison, while beside the table on the ground is a random empty soul gem. Once you've dispatched of the spider or skeever, proceed to the west, past two bookcases, the second of which has a random helmet on top. At the bottom of the stairs on the ground to the right is a small coin purse. Proceed up the stairs where another leveled draugr will be patrolling. There is another sideboard on the left with a random set of armor and boots, and a random bow on top.

Once you reach the drawbridge, you'll be facing the raised bridge (with another draugr behind it) and a lever. There will be spear holes in the wall pointed in your direction—the said lever is a dummy that sets off a spear trap. Instead of that lever, if you are facing the bridge, the useful lever is directly behind you hidden in the corner. That one will lower the bridge for you. (If you did not Whirlwind Sprint to the hidden treasure chest from before, you can now just drop off the right side of this bridge to get to it and backtrack to here once you've gotten your treasure.) Kill the draugr here and cross the bridge to the center pillar. Here lies another switch that will drop the other side of the bridge. Two more draugr are mulling around the far side of this walkway. You can easily shoot and kill them before dropping the bridge. However, when they die, they may land on the pressure plate behind them setting off the swinging axes in the hallway. You will find one more draugr, who is a magic-user just past the pressure plate around the corner at the end of that hall. As you descend the stairs you will pass another sideboard with a random poison on top. Around the corner the passage ends on a ledge.

This next area is where you'll confront the boss, Sigdis Gauldurson. The area below the ledge where you will fight the boss is full of many more of the fungi already found throughout the ruin aswell as many hanging moss growing in this area. Once you drop down here and head towards the quest objective, Sigdis Gauldurson will bust out of his sarcophagus. Don't bother wasting arrows/magic/shouts as he is rising. They will not harm him, and may trigger a bug (see the Bugs section).

Boss Strategy

Sigdis will conjure two illusions of himself and teleport to one of four spots in the room. The illusions will die in one hit, so find the real one and defeat him. There are several strategies to do this:

• The illusions glow with a faint blue aura, while Sigdis himself does not. Equip your bow and arrow, crouch behind his tomb for cover, and aim for the one without the glowing blue aura. If you kill the two illusions he will teleport and create them again. If you approach Sigdis, he will generally try to deal one more hit of damage before teleporting and summoning new illusions. This rapid room-crossing can be tricky to overcome for melee-dependent classes. For melee players, a bone-crushing shield bash will stagger him long enough to land an overpowered hit or two quick follow-up hits before he teleports away.
• While Sigdis is teleporting, put a rune on one of the spots he appears, then quickly turn to aim at another spot. When he finishes teleporting, either you will have hit him or you've eliminated an illusion. If the latter, quickly fire again at another spot and you can potentially eliminate 2 of the 3 possible versions of him.
• Return to the ledge from which you entered the cavern. It's then easy to pick Sigdis off, and he doesn't seem to shoot back, although he still teleports himself and his two minions around the room.
• Once you've hit the real Sigdis, his damaged health bar will start to show when your sight hovers over him, while the illusions will never show a damaged health bar as they dissipate when damaged. This is an easy way to tell where Sigdis is when he teleports.
• Look closely at them: the fake two have glowing purple runes on them, while the real one does not. The real one will also have a helm with horns curled down, like an ancient Nord helm, while the illusions he makes have helms with the horns straight and pointed up, like those on the Helm of Yngol or on draugr deathlords, or no horns at all.

It is important to note that when he is attacked by a melee weapon, it may be disarmed from you (although shield bashing seems to alleviate this threat). Try to use magic when able.

Once he is defeated, you'll find an escape tunnel behind his sarcophagus leading to a treasure room. There is a boss-level unlocked chest with a plate with two pearls and a small pearl on top. To the right is a set of shelves holding a random helmet, gauntlets and shield, a random potion of magical and a copy of the Two-handed skill book Words and Philosophy. To the south a passage leads to a lever that will open a hidden door back to the first room.

Notes

• Tell any follower you have to wait outside the cavern or on the tomb side out of harm's way. Do not leave them on the islands in the middle of the water. They may die or kill his clones, making your task harder.
• Sigdis' clones have petty souls. Using a bow with a soul trap enchantment and a decent Sneak skill, you can farm the respawning clones until your soul gems are all filled. However, the only way to leave the ruin is through the secret door that opens when you kill Sigdis, so you can only exploit this mechanism for a single session.

Bugs

• Save before falling down the hole. Sometimes the pillars won't turn when activated. Reloading may resolve this.
• If you get a kill move on Sigdis and he teleports while in the middle of the move, his body may disappear making it impossible to complete the quest.
  • Ficheiro:Pc22.png The body can be recovered with the console. Type prid 000A5E68, then moveto player, then disable, then enable . This will make the body accessible again.
• Do not attempt to use Unrelenting Force against Sigdis while he is emerging from his coffin. He will glitch and you will be unable to kill him. ^?
  • If you do glitch him by starting with Unrelenting Force you may be able to un-glitch him by using it again on the "dead body" while fighting him. One of the three spawns during the fight will almost always be a dead body.
• If you kill Sigdis before he teleports, the exit may not open and you will be trapped.
• If you paralyze him before he disappears he will glitch and be unkillable. ^?
• You may be unable to loot Sigdis if he has been disintegrated. ^?
• Followers caught in the pendulum trap room sometimes disappear for good. ^?