Healing a House is a Dragonborn side quest about a sick mushroom tower. Part of Tel Mithryn, the Telvanni home of Neloth on Solstheim, is withering, and Neloth has told his long-serving mycologist Elynea Mothren to fix it or be replaced. She is not about to make the dangerous trip for the cure herself, so the job falls to you.
How to start
Enter the Tel Mithryn Apothecary and you will hear Elynea ranting about Neloth’s unreasonable demands. Ask her what happened. She explains that after decades of loyal service Neloth has threatened to replace her unless the tower is repaired, and that the cure is three taproots soaked in the headwaters of the Harstrad river. She offers to pay you to do it.
Walkthrough
Get three taproots
Elynea tells you taproot has to be cut from a Spriggan, although alchemists sometimes sell it. Either option works. A handy hunting ground is the unmarked Giant Nirnroot Island, which is home to three leveled spriggans – exactly the number of roots you need.
Soak the taproots
Travel to the Headwaters of Harstrad, a small cave. Elynea warns that the waters attract Spriggans, and indeed one lives inside. Kill it, then activate the headwaters to soak your taproots.
Return to Elynea
Bring the Soaked Taproots back to the apothecary. Elynea keeps two of them and hands back the third, asking you to plant it in the withered part of the tower’s interior wall.
Plant the taproot
Climb up through Tel Mithryn and look for the large, dark bulge on the wall. Plant the taproot there, then go back down to Elynea, who is relieved that Neloth might finally leave her alone. She pays you and the quest is complete.
Rewards
- Two leveled Potions of Well-Being, which restore Health, Magicka and Stamina. Their strength depends on your character level.
- Unlocks Elynea’s Ingredients, a follow-up errand for rare alchemy ingredients.
Tips and notes
- Once the quest is done and you step out of the apothecary, many of the blemishes on Tel Mithryn disappear, including the big dark red patches around the planting spot. The tower clearly recovers.
- With the blemishes gone, a previously hidden lab is revealed. Inside are two caged, non-hostile spriggans: an ordinary one and a burnt spriggan.
- Ildari’s Journal, vol. III later reveals that Ildari Sarothril, Neloth’s former apprentice, was behind the withering.
- The journal has a ‘quest failed’ stage, but the source does not explain how it can be triggered.
