Moss Mother Cavern is a lush, sunlit cave at the end of a mountain range west of Whiterun and roughly southeast of Rorikstead, on the western side of Lake Ilinalta. It’s one of the prettiest caves in Skyrim – an open roof, a waterfall, a pond ringed by trees – and also one of the deadlier ones, thanks to the locals.
What you’ll find
- Blue and monarch butterflies fluttering around the entrance – handy for blue butterfly wings.
- A huge main cavern open to the sky, with a stream spilling down the wall into a pool.
- Three spriggans and a bear.
- The bodies of the hunters Ari and Niels.
- An iron ore vein where the first spriggan waits on a ledge, and a gold ore vein on the bank above the pond.
Quests
Hunter and Hunted – Valdr is lying hurt outside, sick from spriggan poison. Cure him with a potion or a spell such as Healing Hands, then clear the cave so he can recover his friends. Your reward is Valdr’s Lucky Dagger and an invitation to his home in Falkreath.
The cave is also a possible spot for Runil’s journal (Find Runil’s Journal), for one of the Shalidor’s Insights books, and for Meridia’s Beacon.
Notable items
- Valdr’s Lucky Dagger (quest reward).
- An adept chest with gold and a steel mace plus a soul gem, on a ledge to the right just before Ari’s body.
- A chest with gold, a necklace and a dagger, plus armor and a potion, up the path past the pond.
- A two-handed sword and shield lying at the bottom of the pond under the waterfall.
Tips
Spriggans love to blend in with the scenery, so move slowly and scan the trees and ledges before you commit. Don’t skip the pond: dive in for the sunken sword and shield. And yes, technically you can heal Valdr, kill him and get your potion back – but then there’s no dagger, and you’ll have to live with yourself.
Good to know
If the quest marker misbehaves, players report that entering normally and leaving the hollow tree trunk alone helps.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Hunter’s Rest, Falkreath Imperial Camp, Sunderstone Gorge, Bannermist Tower, Half-Moon Mill.
Location data (hold, map position, editor ID) read from the Skyrim game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.