“Scroll Scouting” is a short Dawnguard quest about tracking down the Elder Scroll (Dragon) – the one you may already have used to defeat Alduin. How long it takes depends entirely on what you did with that scroll in the main quest.
How it starts
After the reading in Prophet, Dexion Evicus explains that he needs all three Elder Scrolls to read the whole prophecy. If you don’t have the Dragon scroll on you, this quest appears.
Walkthrough
You still have the scroll
If you got it from the Tower of Mzark during Elder Knowledge and kept it, there’s nothing to do – it’s already in your inventory.
You sold it to Urag gro-Shub
Many players hand the scroll to Urag gro-Shub at the College of Winterhold after the main quest. Go back to the Arcanaeum and buy it back. The standard price is 4,000 gold; with persuasion he’ll go lower, and as Arch-Mage you can get it for roughly half.
You never had it
Then the quest plays out almost exactly like Elder Knowledge: Urag sends you to the odd scholar Septimus Signus north of Winterhold, who knows where an Elder Scroll can be found. Talking to Urag or meeting Septimus completes “Scroll Scouting”, and the actual retrieval continues through Blackreach as in the main quest.
Notes
- If you haven’t played the main quest that far, this route reaches Septimus early – and with him the Daedric quest Discerning the Transmundane and the Oghma Infinium.
- The scroll eventually goes to Dexion in Seeking Disclosure.
