Kagrumez is a Dwemer ruin south of the Temple of Miraak on Solstheim, added with the Dragonborn expansion. Its lift sits at the bottom of a large square pit, and the ruin below seems to have been built for one thing: the Kagrumez Trials. There’s even a balcony with spectator chairs, so apparently the Dwemer enjoyed watching people get shot by machinery. Now it’s your turn to be the entertainment.
What you’ll find
- Reavers and rieklings around the site, and inside a parade of Dwemer machines: Dwarven Ballista Masters and Guardians, Tempered Spheres, Dwarven Spiders and Spider Guardians.
- A master control in the main hall with holes for Kagrumez Resonance Gems. Each locked gate shows its required pattern on a round panel above it: two gems for the first, three for the second, four for the last.
- The trials themselves: once the pattern is accepted, a cage drops around you while the traps are set, then lifts and the enemies pour in. Every trial mixes up its trap types and layout.
- After the first trial, the Steadfast Dwarven Spider; in the next chamber, the Steadfast Dwarven Sphere. Both are unique, non-humanoid secondary companions, freed with a nearby lever – but only one can follow you at a time.
Quests
The Kagrumez Gauntlet sends you around Solstheim hunting for Resonance Gems to finish the trials – one of them is hidden in Nchardak.
Notable items
- Dwarven Black Bow of Fate, on a rack in the south-east room after the third and final trial.
Tips
The gate patterns, if you’d rather skip the guesswork: first gate middle-left and bottom-right; second gate top-centre, bottom-centre and bottom-right; third gate top-left, centre, bottom-left and bottom-right. The gems return to your inventory after each match, so four gems open everything. Moving between the second and third doors can mean a near-full walk around the perimeter to round up the last enemies, and the final wave may be tied to pressure switches. Lost a mechanical pet? Pull the lever in front of its original pen, wait a day, and it’ll be back.
Good to know
There are actually five Resonance Gems even though four is enough – a five-gem gate was planned but cut. And the high doorway in the main chamber, reachable with clever use of Whirlwind Sprint from the balcony, is just a dead-end spawn corridor for the machines. Curiosity rewarded with absolutely nothing.
Nearby
Closest places on Solstheim covered on TamrielSaga: Ramshackle Trading Post, Temple of Miraak, Beast Stone, Altar of Thrond, Brodir Grove.
Map position and editor ID read from the Dragonborn game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.
