Liar’s Retreat is a bandit hideout tucked into the rocks northeast of Karthwasten and southwest of Cliffside Retreat, just east of the Reach Stormcloak Camp. You can also reach it by heading northwest from Broken Tower Redoubt. The bandits picked a cosy spot with a bar and everything – unfortunately for them, the Falmer dug straight up through the floor. You arrive in the middle of the aftermath.
What you’ll find
- A fort-style first section where bandits and Falmer have been fighting to the death. The Falmer are winning.
- A lone Orc bandit barricaded behind a locked door in a sleeping area. Hiding has not made him any friendlier – he is still hostile.
- A huge hole where the Falmer broke in, leading to proper Falmer tunnels deeper down.
- Frostbite spiders (one likes to drop from a hole in the ceiling) and chaurus, including a Chaurus Reaper. With Dawnguard installed, that reaper may be swapped for a Chaurus Hunter.
- Two pens: one holds a dead bandit, the other two living bandits being taunted by a Falmer through the gate. They may break out and kill it, but they will still turn on you afterwards.
- A final chamber with Rahd’s body on an altar, a Falmer sword stuck in his chest.
- Three corundum ore veins between the spider nest and the bandit pens, plus a fourth outside.
- A mushroom farm’s worth of ingredients in the Falmer section: glowing mushrooms, Namira’s Rot, bleeding crown, imp stool, white cap, fly amanita, blisterwort and a mountain of chaurus eggs (86 egg sacks, if you are counting).
Notable items
- The Longhammer – a unique Orcish warhammer next to Rahd. It often slips under the slab he is lying on, so look carefully. Grab it the first time; if you leave it, it may be gone on your next visit.
- Speech skill book Biography of the Wolf Queen – third room on the left, on a stone shelf between an iron helmet and some potions.
- Tavern Clothes on a dead woman behind the bar in the first room – one of the few places to find them.
Tips
There is no shortcut back to the entrance, so budget your carry weight for the walk out. When you return to the fort section, three bandits stroll in, the chief yells for his (very dead) barkeep, and they promptly blame you for the massacre. Be ready for one last fight on the way out. Avoid entering in werewolf form – the game may freeze.
Good to know
If you are working on Discerning the Transmundane, this cave is a blood bank: Falmer, Orc and every Elven blood type except Altmer can be collected here. The Dwemer ruin the Falmer came from is not accessible, sadly.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Reach Stormcloak Camp, Cliffside Retreat, Broken Tower Redoubt, Bruca’s Leap Redoubt, Dragon Bridge Overlook.
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.