Highpoint Tower is an Imperial stone fort on Solstheim, added with the Dragonborn expansion. From the outside it is a single tower; inside, a spiral staircase winds down into a sprawl of rooms, a spider lair and a big network of caves. Its entrance stays blocked by ash until the quest Old Friends begins, a story that ties together Niyya and the Telvanni wizard Ildari Sarothril.
What you’ll find
- Three levels of spiral staircase with signs of recent life – furniture, plates, goblets and a dead fire.
- A spider lair with flame spiders, cloaked spiders, jumping frost spiders and their albino cousins.
- Ash spawn, rune traps on the floor and electrical casters powered by soul gems.
- A cave system through a break in an eastern wall, with geodes, a mine with gold and orichalcum ore, and an alchemy lab in a broken tower.
- An ash guardian encounter and, finally, Ildari Sarothril herself in Telvanni robes.
Quests
Old Friends – the whole fort is built around this quest, and Ildari’s three journals trace what happened here along the way.
Notable items
- Ildari’s Journal vol. I–III (tower, prison, northeastern broken tower).
- Telvanni Robes worn by Ildari.
- Souls, Black and White in an open crate; Ahzidal’s Descent on a shelf in the second tower.
- Sapphire, amethyst, ruby and emerald geodes in the spider caverns.
- A black soul gem in a box on a beam behind the alchemy ingredients.
- A Wedding Wreath, other hats and two valuable necklaces in a box under the walkway near the ash guardian.
- A full set of Skaal armor and a strongbox up a ramp in the tunnels past the ash guardian chamber.
Tips
Shoot the soul gems out of the casters with an arrow instead of trading blows with lightning. Niyya has very little health, so clear the rockfall rocks in the earlier room – they can kill her – or wait a few hours once she heads for the exit and she will be outside. If a follower gets stuck on the ash guardian’s platform, knock them off with Unrelenting Force.
Good to know
This is one of the rare places where firewood lies around as ordinary loot. Lumberjacks of Tamriel, rejoice.
Nearby
Closest places on Solstheim covered on TamrielSaga: Brodir Grove, Ramshackle Trading Post, Kagrumez, Fort Frostmoth, Kolbjorn Barrow.
Map position and editor ID read from the Dragonborn game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.
