Skyrim:Unseen Visions

Perform a ceremony to read the Elder Scroll. Quest Giver: Dexion Location(s): Ancestor Glade Prerequisite Quest: Seeking Disclosure Next Quest: Touching the Sky Reward: None ID: DLC1VQ06

A Moth Priest's knife

Quick Walkthrough

Make a save or rely on the most recent auto-save before entering the glade as a series of scripts need to be triggered, but can easily fail. Leaving and re-entering the glade may correct some problems, but script failures can cascade, so redoing the glade from the last save is preferable. See bugs for more information on possible issues.

1. Find a Moth Priest's draw knife.
2. Gather bark from a Canticle Tree.
3. Attract Ancestor Moth Swarms.
4. Read the Elder Scroll.
5. Speak to Serana.

Detailed Walkthrough

A Canticle Tree

Ancestor Moths surrounding the player

Finding Ancestor Glade

As instructed by Dexion Evicus, your first task is to acquire a Moth Priest's draw knife from the Ancestor Glade northeast of Falkreath.

Take the eastern road out of Falkreath and at the first four-way intersection you come across, head northeast. Soon after negotiating the bandit bridge guarding the approach to Pinewatch, turn south onto a narrow mountain trail. After climbing for a while you will come across a bandit camp; from here press on to the southwest and continue climbing high into the mountain. The entrance to the cave is marked by a series of cairns.

Reading the Elder Scrolls

The vision

Ancestor Glade

If you told Serana to leave you, she will be back with you once you enter the cave. Head deeper into the cave, up a ledge and across a fallen tree trunk until you emerge into a large hidden clearing. Having been initially unimpressed by the glade, Serana will now gasp in astonishment at the sight before you. Descend down the path towards the stream bisecting the carvern; in particular, make for the glowing tree on the eastern side, just by some rapids. Here you will find a ring-shaped stone with a draw knife lodged inside it.

Using the Draw Knife

Activate the stone to acquire the draw knife (note that from this point a gate bars your exit from the cavern) and use it on the canticle tree just to the north. Once you have obtained some bark, you will need to attract seven Ancestor Moth swarms. There are swarms moving all across the Glade, which you can attract by standing next to them for some time. As soon as you have seven swarms following you, a shaft of unnatural light will illuminate the stone knife holder. Return there and read the Elder Scroll (Blood), which will actually cause you to read all three scrolls.

Reading the Elder Scrolls

After reading the Scrolls, you have a vision of a glowing map with lines for rivers and with two notable features glowing red: in the lower left the ram of Markarth and in the upper right the wolf of Solitude. The location of Auriel's Bow is shown by the small white symbol, similar to the Elder glyph , near the head of the river in the top-left quarter of the map.

Talk To Serana

Once the vision fades, Serana will immediately come over and ask if everything is alright. She will ask about Auriel's Bow's location and you will be able to point her to Darkfall Cave thanks to your vision, thus completing the quest. As you leave the cavern, you will be ambushed by Dawnguard Soldiers or Vampires, depending on which faction you have sided with.

Notes

• Serana will automatically become a follower at the start of this quest. Your other follower is automatically dismissed upon entering Ancestor Glade.
  • If you had a second follower due to the soul cairn loophole it may be possible to keep the second follower by telling them to 'wait here' while outside Ancestor Glade. You must do this before entering otherwise the second follower will be dismissed. Once the quest is completed, exit Ancestor Glade and your second follower will still be outside. Simply tell your second follower to follow you again. This does not always work.
  • Another way to keep your second follower is to sprint past them or make sure they take a long route getting to Ancestor Glade. As soon as you enter whirlwind sprint through the entrance into the clearing. The point where your follower is required to part is scripted around half way down the entrance to the glade and by using the shout it can be avoided altogether. It may take a few tries, so save the game before attempting. If you succeed here the second slot will be permanent unless you dismiss Serana. Even if you can't get it to work there is another opportunity during Touching the Sky.
• None of the Elder Scrolls can be removed from your inventory.
  • When on the Dawnguard's side, it is possible to sell two Elder Scrolls to Dexion Evicus.
  • The Elder Scroll (Dragon) can be sold to Urag gro-Shub, but only if you did not buy it back from him.
• If you transform into different form (Vampire, Werewolf) while gathering moths, all existing moths will disappear around you, but will not interfere with the ongoing quest count.

Bugs

• Serana may not have entered the glade with you and is shut out behind the barred gate.
  • To fix this, you can wait a couple of hours and she will appear next to you or you can reload and make sure she follows you into the cave (possibly needing to use Unrelenting Force) or while looking at the closed bars, move to the left and glitch outside of the level by walking into the wall, then jumping over to the area on the other side of the barred doorway and go back inside the level. Alternatively, you can try to give move commands to Serana by holding down E while facing her until you can command her.
• After obtaining the Draw Knife, you may not be able to harvest the bark from the Canticle Trees.
• You may be able to harvest from the canticle trees, but the objective for attracting moths will never appear.
  • Use the console command SetStage DLC1VQ06 30 to set the objective to gathering moths.
• The barred gate may not shut.
• You may not be able to read the scroll.
  • Add a second copy of the Elder Scroll to your inventory with player.additem xx0118F9 1. You end up with two copies, but should be able to read the extra scroll.
• The post scroll reading attack may not occur.
• The gate may not reopen. This can occur if you fail to speak with Serana before approaching the gate.
  • If Serana is in combat mode, kill all the enemies on the far side of the gate (which can be a challenge, since they often move out of range), then speak with her and the gate will open.
  • Alternatively, select Serana in the console, move to the far side of the cavern from the gate, then use moveto player followed by stopcombat. This should allow you to speak to Serana and the quest will proceed normally after that.
  • The gate can be removed by opening the console, selecting the gate with the mouse, then using the disable command. This will allow the enemies in if they're trapped on the other side, and/or allow you to escape.
• Serana may not engage in dialogue after the battle.

Quest Stages

Unseen Visions (DLC1VQ06)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		After discovering that Dexion has become blind, I've had to secure alternate means to decipher the Elder Scrolls and locate Auriel's Bow. It's been suggested that I might be able to read the Elder Scrolls myself if I use an ancient technique performed by the original Moth Priests. I'm now on my way to a place known as the Ancestor Glade to discover the origin of the mysterious ritual. Objective 10: Find a Moth Priest's knife
20		Objective 20: Gather bark from a Canticle Tree
30		Objective 30: Attract Ancestor Moth Swarms (<Global=DLC1VQ06MothsFound>/7)
50		I've used the unusual knife to collect the bark from the Canticle Trees dotting the Ancestor Glade, which has in turn drawn Ancestor Moths to me. I've felt a surge of energy run through my body and I feel drawn towards the large column of light in the center of the Glade. Objective 40: Enter the column of light and read the Elder Scroll (Blood)
60		I'm now standing in a column of light which appears to stretch into the sky at the center of the Ancestor Glade. According to Dexion, I've completed the Ritual of the Ancestor Moth and can now read the Elder Scrolls. I'll need to begin with the Elder Scroll I obtained from the Soul Cairn in order to decipher the location of Auriel's Bow.
70		Objective 60: Speak to Serana
200	Finishes quest	After entering the column of light in the Ancestor Glade, I was able to read the Elder Scrolls. I had an incredible vision that pinpointed a cave entrance far away on the western edge of Skyrim. This appears to be the location of Auriel's Bow. If I'm to stop Harkon from completing the Tyranny of the Sun, I should hasten there immediately.
	Finishes quest	After entering the column of light in the Ancestor Glade, I was able to read the Elder Scrolls. I had an incredible vision that pinpointed a cave entrance far away on the western edge of Skyrim. This appears to be the location of Auriel's Bow. If I'm to complete the Tyranny of the Sun before Harkon, I should hasten there immediately.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 40, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DLC1VQ06 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DLC1VQ06.

Prev: Seeking Disclosure

Up: Dawnguard or Volkihar Vampire Clan

Next: Touching the Sky