Half-Moon Mill is a lumber mill north of Falkreath, on the west end of Lake Ilinalta. It’s run by Hert and Hern, who say the mill supplies Falkreath with lumber and firewood and once supplied Helgen too. They’re friendly, polite and only slightly creepy – which is impressive, considering they’re both vampires.
What you’ll find
- The mill house and a working sawmill where you can cut lumber.
- A small butcher’s shed full of meat – and, if you look closely, human bones, a skull and bloodied clothes hidden among the venison.
- A chicken coop with eggs, a wood chopping block with a Woodcutter’s Axe, a tanning rack and grindstones.
- Salmon in the river and lake, an iron ore vein nearby, and quarried stone behind the uncut log pile.
Quests
Contract: Kill Hern – a Dark Brotherhood contract sends you here to take out Hern. Both vampires turn hostile during this job.
Notable items
- The book Physicalities of Werewolves – under the bed in the house and very easy to miss.
Tips
Outside of the contract, Hert and Hern won’t attack you, even if you take them up on staying the night. Sell Hert some firewood and the whole place turns friendly: you can take most items in the house without it counting as stealing, and sleep in the bed. Chopping wood here is an easy early-game money maker. With Hearthfire, Hert also sells sawn logs for building Lakeview Manor across the lake – if the couple dies, the log quest marker may still point here, but buying logs at another mill clears it.
Good to know
There’s a dead rabbit on a stump near the house with a fork and a bottle of mead beside it, and a troll skull sits near the meat shed door. Their comments about guests are… let’s say memorable.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: The Lady Stone, Evergreen Grove, Hunter’s Rest, Bannermist Tower, Ilinalta’s Deep.
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.