Sightless Pit is a cave southwest of Winterhold with a nasty twist: the entrance is a straight drop. Once you jump in, there is no climbing back out, so the only way home is forward through the whole dungeon. A ruined camp and a scattering of dead bandits near the start are the game’s polite way of saying you may have made a mistake.
What you’ll find
- Falmer, chaurus and frostbite spiders – a rough mix for low to mid-level characters with no escape route.
- A gradual change from natural cave into Dwemer ruin, complete with traps.
- The Temple of Xrib, a large Falmer settlement packed with Falmer and their pet chaurus. An altar here holds a Dwemer chest with randomized valuables.
- An elevator from the temple up to the Abandoned Cave, which takes you back out to the surface.
- Plenty of chaurus eggs and glowing mushrooms around the Falmer camp in the temple.
Quests
Sightless Pit is a possible target for several radiant and miscellaneous quests, including Shalidor’s Insights, Wind and Sand, Azra’s Staffs, Family Heirloom and Trouble in Skyrim.
Notable items
- Aevar Stone-Singer (Pickpocket skill book) – left of the campsite near the entrance.
- The Doors of Oblivion (Conjuration skill book) – on the Altar of Xrib, a little further up the mountain after you leave through the Abandoned Cave. Taking a weapon from the altar wakes several skeletons, who carry more copies.
- Random loot on the Falmer and in the Dwemer chest on the temple altar.
Tips
Leave your follower outside. Companions are notorious for leaping down the whole drop in one go and dying on impact unless they are essential, which is a grim way to lose a housecarl. Bring potions and something for poison, because the Falmer and chaurus come in numbers and there is no backing out to restock. Outside, a troll respawns just west of the entrance, making the spot a decent farm for troll fat; at low levels you’ll meet a lone ice wraith instead.
Good to know
The skeleton on the Altar of Xrib is famously buggy: each time you open its inventory it reportedly holds one more copy of The Doors of Oblivion, as long as you don’t take them all. A coin purse and steel arrows on the pedestal also restock often.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Shrine of Azura, Mount Anthor, Saarthal, Alftand, Winterhold.
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.
