Blind Cliff Cave is a Forsworn dungeon southwest of Karthwasten and east of the Lover Stone, in the hills above Markarth. It is split into three parts: a vertical cave, a pair of outdoor towers joined by a bridge, and the Blind Cliff Bastion. The big draw is a feud between two hagraven sisters, which you get to settle in exchange for a unique staff.
What you’ll find
- Cave: a small, climbing cave with six Forsworn and six iron ore veins.
- Towers: an outdoor section with three Forsworn, a lever-operated gate, a bridge and a locked gate that only opens later. Both towers have ground-level windows you can slip through, skipping the cave entirely.
- Bastion: the hagraven Melka locked in a cage, five Forsworn, her sister Petra, several traps, an alchemy lab past the swinging blades, and three quicksilver ore veins.
- A hidden door, opened by a handle near the alchemy lab, that leads back to a stash by the cage with a chest and some ingots (iron, corundum, moonstone and quicksilver).
- A barred door in the last room that lets you drop into the top of the upper tower, where two more chests wait.
Quests
- The Affairs of Hagravens – free Melka with the chain by her cage and kill Petra plus the Forsworn. Melka stays friendly, gives tips on the traps and pays you with the Eye of Melka staff.
- Jarl Igmund of Markarth can send you here for Hrolfdir’s Shield, which sits in a chest in Petra’s room.
- Possible location for Shalidor’s Insights and for a Rescue Mission target.
Notable items
- Eye of Melka – unique staff, Melka’s reward.
- 2920, Rain’s Hand – Restoration skill book on Petra’s body.
- The Refugees – Light Armor skill book on a chest at the top of the ramp in a dark part of the cave.
- Mystery of Talara, Book IV – Illusion skill book by the fire in Petra’s room.
Tips
Free Melka before you kill everyone. If Petra and the Forsworn die while Melka is still caged, she can get stuck on the stairs and the quest may break. Also stay in the room during the final sister-versus-sister brawl – if you wander off, Melka can end things herself and then never hand over the staff. Sibling rivalry, hagraven edition.
Coming over the mountain? The tower windows let you reach the Bastion without touching the cave at all.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Four Skull Lookout, The Lover Stone, Kolskeggr Mine, Shrine to Peryite, Karthwasten.
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.