Reaching the top of the Destruction school earns you one last lesson. Faralda, the Altmer Destruction trainer at the College of Winterhold in Winterhold, hands you a strange book that leads across Skyrim to three ancient pedestals. Blast each with the right element and the book reveals a master-level spell – along with a rather hostile message from the archmage Shalidor.
Requirements
- Destruction skill 90. The quest only becomes available once your Destruction skill reaches 90.
- One fire, one frost and one shock spell. Each pedestal must be hit with a specific element. A bow with a fire enchantment can stand in for the fire spell. Master-level ritual quests are aimed at mages who have already worked through the Expert tier, but the pedestals themselves only care about the element.
- The quest is part of the College of Winterhold questline of master-level spell quests.
How to start
With Destruction at 90, find Faralda in the Hall of Countenance or out on the College grounds and ask whether there is anything more to learn about Destruction. She gives you Power of the Elements, the only trace of lost master magic she ever found, and suggests it will serve you better than her. Read it: its single page is a riddle pointing to the north coast.
Walkthrough
At each site, activate the pedestal to place the book on it, cast the required element at the pedestal, then take the book back. A new riddle appears each time.
1. Windward Ruins – fire
The first verse mentions the northern coastline, Dwemer to the south and a stand where the sea should boil. Travel to Windward Ruins, southwest of Dawnstar. Place the book and hit the pedestal with a fire spell (or a fire-enchanted arrow). The next page points south, toward the Greybeards’ mountain.
2. North Skybound Watch – frost
Head for North Skybound Watch on the southwestern slopes of the Throat of the World, southeast of Riverwood. If you have not found it yet, start at Helgen and go east: north of the Helgen-Ivarstead road, a dirt path on the left (before the Falkreath Stormcloak Camp) leads toward Orphan Rock; the watch lies beyond it to the northwest. Watch out for a wispmother in the area. Go inside, place the book and strike the pedestal with frost.
3. Four Skull Lookout – shock
The third verse speaks of a humble crown on the mountains above the river near Karth. Travel to Four Skull Lookout, directly south of Karthwasten in the Reach. Place the book and hit the pedestal with a shock spell.
Read the completed book
Pick up the book and read it. You learn Fire Storm immediately, and a final poem appears: Shalidor mocking the “feeble, foolish mage” who dared seek his teachings, claiming the tome for himself and wishing its owner dead. Nothing actually attacks you – it is just flavor.
Rewards
- Fire Storm – learned when you read the finished book.
- Blizzard and Lightning Storm spell tomes become available for purchase from Faralda (about 3,330 and 3,454 gold respectively).
Tips and notes
- Activate the pedestals in the order the book gives them – fire, frost, shock. Doing them out of order is a likely reason the last pedestal refuses to respond.
- If a pedestal does not react, aim lower so the spell hits the stand itself, under the book.
- Bring enough gold back to the College: the two remaining master Destruction tomes are expensive.
- The three sites are far apart; Windward Ruins and Four Skull Lookout are not near the College, so fast travel to Dawnstar and Karthwasten helps.
