Skyrim:Broken Helm Hollow

Cave: Broken Helm Hollow (view on map)
# of Zones	1
Clearable	Yes
Dungeon	Yes
Respawn Time	10 days or 30 days
Level	Min: 6
Occupants
Bandits
Important Treasure
Battle of Sancre Tor
Console Location Code(s)
BrokenHelmHollowExterior01, BrokenHelmHollowExterior02, BrokenHelmHollow01
Region
The Rift
Location
Southeast of Riften Northwest of Stendarr's Beacon
Special Features
# of Tanning Racks	1
# of Cooking Pots/Spits	1
Ore Veins
# of Corundum	3

Broken Helm Hollow

Broken Helm Hollow is a small cave in the southeast corner of The Rift containing bandits. It contains only one zone, Broken Helm Hollow.

Related Quests

• Amulet of the Moon: Find the Moon Amulet for Kharjo. (radiant)
• Arniel's Endeavor: Uncover an ancient Dwemer secret. (radiant)
• Flight or Fight: Help Grosta at Heartwood Mill locate her missing husband.
• Retrieval: Journey to a random location to retrieve a fragment of Wuuthrad. (radiant)
• Striking the Heart: Assassinate a leader of the Silver Hand. (radiant)

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

Walkthrough

Exterior

The cave entrance is on the eastern face of the small peak southeast of Riften, near the large waterfall. Two low-level bandits stand guard outside the entrance. The treasure chest for Treasure Map IX is found partway down the waterfall, assuming you have obtained the map.

Broken Helm Hollow

A murdered husband

Alchemical samples found throughout the cave include bleeding crown, blisterwort, fly amanita, glowing mushroom, imp stool, Namira's Rot, and white cap fungi (see table below). The cave contains three sleeping bandits, two in the main campsite and a chief bandit on a raised area overlooking the camp. It is possible to take all three bandits by surprise if sneak mode is employed, so take care to avoid the bone chimes when entering the main chamber. Ahead you will see the two sleeping bandits and the bandit camp. It is advisable to first take out the chief bandit sleeping on the ledge overlooking the camp, as you have the opportunity for the first strike. Provided this leveled bandit has not been roused, a variety of sneak attacks, poisons, or a shout can be used to weaken him before he gets his bearings. The two bandits below will sleep through the altercation. Once the chief bandit is disposed of, the remaining two bandits can also be removed by sneak attack. An alternate strategy is to climb onto the table at the back wall of the camp and then jump up onto a large rock outcropping. This will give you an elevated position with a view of the entire chamber below and allow protected range attacks on the chief bandit.

The boss-level chest is on the raised area by the chief bandit. It is protected by a swinging mace trap with a novice-locked tension cable trigger on the right side of the chest. Next to the chest is an end table holding a copy of the Two-handed skill book Battle of Sancre Tor and a random potion. Next to the end table is a bookcase with a copy of Darkest Darkness. There is little in the way of treasure in the campsite, but it does feature a cooking pot and a tanning rack. A pull chain can be found next to a torch sconce at the bottom of the slope leading up to the raised area. Activating the pull chain will reveal a hidden room. Inside is an end table containing a spell tome, a poison, and a weapons rack holding a hunting bow and a steel sword. However, most notably, the room also contains the body of a Nord. The corpse will be anonymous unless the miscellaneous quest Flight or Fight has been initiated. Because of a bug, it is recommended not to activate/search the body until you start the quest by talking to Grosta. The dead Nord turns out to be her husband, Leifnarr.

Fungi
6 Bleeding Crown 1 Blisterwort 2 Fly Amanita 1 Glowing Mushroom 4 Imp Stool 3 Namira's Rot 2 White Cap

Notes

• Three corundum ore veins can be found here: one next to the stream inside the cave, one inside the secret room, and one outside at the bottom of the waterfall.
• At the base of the waterfall, near one of the corundum ore veins, is the body of a dead Khajiit with a coin purse and 4 loose gold coins next to him. Three levels higher on the waterfall cascade, there are 5 more gold coins and an iron sword.
• Broken Helm Hollow also appears in ESO.

Bugs

• Broken Helm Hollow isn't marked as a cave, so cave-based radiant quests won't target it.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.3.3, fixes this bug.
• The corpse in the hidden room is revealed to be Grosta's missing husband Leifnarr during the quest Flight or Fight. Leifnarr's body is unnamed, identified only by the generic title "Nord". If you find this corpse first without talking to Grosta, the quest will activate stage 15, "Report Leifnarr's Death to his family", but no dialogue option will be added to Grosta making the quest unable to be completed.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.0, fixes this bug.

Maps

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  Broken Helm Hollow