Shor’s Stone is a small mining village north of Riften, close to the Velothi Mountains and just south of Shor’s Watchtower. It sits on a slope on one of the few routes down out of the mountain-ringed valley, and the whole place lives or dies by its mine. When you first arrive, that mine is full of spiders and the townsfolk are getting worried about their next paycheck. Named after Shor, chief of the Nordic gods, it is a modest place with a surprisingly useful smithy.
Residents
- Filnjar – Nord blacksmith and the village’s unofficial leader. He lives in his own house, sells leveled weapons, armor and smithing materials such as ingots, and can be married once you have dealt with his spider problem.
- Sylgja – Nord miner who works in Redbelly Mine. She is still recovering from a bad fall underground, and her parents run the mining camp at Darkwater Crossing. Her mother is Annekke Crag-Jumper.
- Odfel – Nord miner who constantly complains about sharing a house with Grogmar. He is a marriage candidate with no quest attached.
- Grogmar gro-Burzag – Orc miner bunking at Odfel’s while his own house waits to be built. He insists the mine is running dry, much to Filnjar’s annoyance.
- A small force of guards, which is unusual for a settlement this size.
Services
- Filnjar’s smithy, open 8:00–20:00, with 500 gold for trading. You can invest in his shop.
- Forge, grindstone, smelter, tanning rack and cooking place.
- Grogmar pays for iron ore you bring him.
Quests
- Mine or Yours – Filnjar asks you to clear Redbelly Mine of frostbite spiders. Expect five, two of them the larger kind. The reward is leveled gold, from 500 up to 1,500.
- Special Delivery – Sylgja asks you to carry her satchel of letters to her father, Verner, in Darkwater Crossing and bring his reply back. She pays with a leveled piece of jewelry and becomes a marriage candidate.
- Truth Ore Consequences – Hafjorg in Riften wants an ore sample from Filnjar.
- For the Companions, Farkas may send you here to win a fist fight with Filnjar or Sylgja.
Notable items
- Three ebony ore samples next to the smelter.
- Ore veins in Redbelly Mine (see below).
Tips
Do Mine or Yours early. Apart from the gold, finishing it makes Grogmar spread the word that you are a friend of the Orcs, which opens the doors of strongholds like Largashbur. Selling Grogmar iron ore also does the trick if you prefer mining to fighting.
Spiders and wolves sometimes wander right into town, and the residents will charge in to fight them. Keep an eye out, or you may come back to find your favourite blacksmith gone for good.
Good to know
Everyone calls Redbelly an iron mine, Filnjar included, yet its veins are actually ebony. Odfel also boasts about his pickaxe Rocksplinter, which never actually turns up in the game.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Shor’s Watchtower, Fort Greenwall, Northwind Summit, Boulderfall Cave, Northwind Mine.
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.
