Cracked Tusk Keep is an abandoned fort along the main road west of Falkreath that a band of Orcs has taken over and remodelled into something resembling an Orc stronghold. Unlike the strongholds, though, these Orcs are hostile bandits and attack on sight. Their leader Ghunzul is one of the guardians of the pieces of Mehrunes’ Razor, and the shards themselves sit in a well-trapped vault underneath.
What you’ll find
- Outer yard – crumbling walls and towers, Orc hunters and bandits, a smokehouse, and a blacksmith’s corner with forge, grindstone and workbench.
- Inner keep – three levels reached through a main door, a lower door with an adept lock, or a trapdoor in the tower roof that drops you next to Ghunzul’s bedroom. There is an Alchemy Lab on the lower level and six usable bedrolls on the main floor.
- Cracked Tusk Vault – a damp corridor with a small locked cell on each side and a larger chamber at the end. Four tripwires fire poison darts, another swings a battering wall, and the pedestal itself shoots darts when you lift the shards.
Quests
Pieces of the Past – the Shards of Mehrunes’ Razor rest on the pedestal at the end of the vault. Ghunzul keeps the Cracked Tusk Vault Key on his end table (or on his body); it opens the cage on the lower level, and a button inside opens the way down. Without the key you will need to pick an expert lock.
Notable items
- Shards of Mehrunes’ Razor – quest item for one of the Daedric artifacts.
- Light Armor Forging – Smithing skill book on a table by the forge.
- Rislav the Righteous – Light Armor skill book in a vault cell on the left.
- Lost Legends – in a vault cell on the right, which starts the quest Forbidden Legend.
- Three locked chests: apprentice on the very top of the keep, adept beside the entrance to the shards room, and master in the ruined round corner structure north of the smithing area.
Tips
Take the roof route: climb to the tower, use the trapdoor and you land right beside Ghunzul’s quarters. If the cage button only toggles the door in third-person view, switch to first person to press it. In the vault, walk slowly and look down – those tripwires are the real boss.
Being Blood Kin with the strongholds won’t calm these Orcs, but killing them won’t upset any other Orcs either. Swing freely.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, Roadside Ruins, Halldir’s Cairn, Twilight Sepulcher, Evergreen Grove.
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.