Hard Answers
Quest Giver	Enthir
Location	The Frozen Hearth
Prerequisite	Speaking With Silence
Next Quest	The Pursuit
Reward	Nightingale Blade
Faction	Thieves Guild
Type	Thieves Guild main quest

It is received right after the completion of Speaking With Silence.

Objectives

• Speak with Enthir
• Speak with Calcelmo at the Understone Keep in Markarth
• Gain Entry to Calcelmo's Museum
  • (Optional) Obtain key to Calcelmo's Museum
• Obtain Calcelmo's Falmer Translating Guide
• Duplicate the writing on Calcelmo's Stone
• Return to Enthir
• Speak to Karliah

Walkthrough

1. Speak to Enthir at the Inn of Winterhold (Frozen Hearth) or usually found wandering in The College of Winterhold.
2. Travel to Markarth and speak to Calcelmo at Understone Keep - He will not grant you access to his research unless persuaded, bribed, or intimidated (or by helping him out by completing the temple quest 'The Book of Love').or you complete side quest for him by killing spider in mine. You may also "Pick-Pocket" Him.
3. Find (or receive through a side-quest from Calcelmo) the key to Calcelmo's Museum on his Alchemy table in the West wing of the Keep.
4. Go to the East wing of the Keep and enter the Museum, the guard at the door will tell the Dragonborn that they are not allowed to go in, after the dialogue the guard will not stop you for going into the museum.
5. Enter the museum, sneak past the guards which having a low sneak skill will make quite dificult. It's recommended that you wait for them to get back to work then sneak past. But watch out for the guard in the center. Then head stright up to the laboratory (if you took the museum key you will not have to pick the adept lock). In this first area there are many common dwemer artifacts that are found in different dungeons, and there are a couple different bookcases with adept difficulty locks with books. In the room behind the gate to the left, there is one of the Stones of Barenziah. In this same room a display case with an expert level lock it contains some very valuable items.
6. Head up to Calcelmo's Laboratory, from now on the player will want to sneak because the laboratory is restricted and guards will attack on sight. In the laboratory in an area to the left there is a journal and Spider Control Rod. After a few moments there will be a guard that will walk through the other two doorways opening them up for the player. These guards you can kill with no bounty, a task that Aicantar's Spider will be more than happy to complete for you, if you wield the control rod.
7. The doorway on the left is barred so the right path is the only path available. Find, pickpocket, or pick the master lock into the next area of the laboratory. Two guards will be talking and eventually travel down a hallway.
   • Alternately, there is a pullbar on a collumn near where the two guards walk. Pulling the bar activates a spinning blade trap which can be used to kill the guards completely unnoticed. (It will be located on the side of a stone pillar facing away from the patrolling guards a little above a lit lantern).
8. Either follow the guards and sneak by to get to the staircase to the next area, or go the opposite path and get to the stairway. Going the opposite way of the guards will lead to a hallway filled with a gas that is highly lethal and will quickly drain the health of the player. Opposite the hallway is a button that if stepped on will clear the path, run through before the gas fills the room again. The Dragonborn can leave an object on top of the button to remove the gas. The Argonian Histskin power can completely negate the damage from the gas. NOTE: Poison resistance does not make you immune to this damage.
9. The player will come to a room with a patrolling guard and Calcemo's nephew Aicantar sitting on a chair in front of a table. At the end of the floor is a valve that can be activated. An explosion will happen that will make Aicantar flee so and make it possible to pass and head up to the Tower. the explosion can be timed so that the patrolling guard doesn't die. If guards in the previous room are still alive, they will also run through this room.
10. Continue along through the next couple of doorways until the player sees the door leading to the wizard's balcony. In this room there is a Larceny Target called the Dwemer Puzzle Cube, which should be taken to Delvin Mallory for leveled gold.
11. Enter Calcelmo's Tower and make head up to Calcelmo's Stone. find a roll of paper and charcoal, which are found in abundance in the room before reaching the stone tablet, before activating the stone.
12. Once the Dragonborn receives the rubbing, Aicantar, 2 guards and the City Captain will enter the tower and. Aicantar insists that somebody is trying to sabotage his uncle's research, and demands that the guard searches the tower from top to bottom.
    • If you have high enough Magicka and Illusion, it's possible to neutralize all 4 hostiles using one or two Pacify area spells. After they are neutralized, simply walk out the door and down the waterfall.
    • Killing the guards and Calcelmo's nephew seems to give no bounty.
    • Sneak past Aicantar and the guards using careful timing and distractions (Arrows, etc.)
    • Remain in sneak behind the stone until the guards disperse and the nephew is sitting on the bench. Proceed ontop of the left platform (almost above Aicantar), jump onto the small pillar/fire goblet/thing, and onto the ledge directly above Aicantar. You can follow this ledge all the way to the door where you can simly drop down and exit the area.
13. Once out of the room with Calcelmo's nephew squeeze between the rocks on the left (looking at the tower stairs) and a wall. Follow this down to a nice view of the waterfall and drop into the pool below. The compass will be pointing in the direction of Markarth. After dropping down the waterfall, Fast Travel will become available again, making the next step of the quest much easier.
14. Return to Enthir and Karliah at The Frozen Hearth's cellar in Winterhold.

Rewards

• Nightingale Blade, given to you by Karliah, previously owned by Gallus Desidenius.
• Enthir as a guild fence.

Notes

• This is one of the only theives guild quests in which it is almost essential to kill an enemy to complete it, especially for lower level players.
• For a player with a low Sneak, a plethora of Invisibility Potions is almost a requirement.
• In Calcelmo's Tower, you do not need to go around and up through the Store. You can use Whirlwind Sprint to cross the ledge to the stone, then retrieve the writing materials from the room just past it and then record the translation.
• Once you have completed the quest - immediately upon exiting Calcelmo's tower you will notice a narrow path leading to Markarth’s waterfall – drop down it to make a quick exit. You will notice two skeletons and two Septims at the bottom. This also may be referenced by some of the guards saying "Don't trip".
• Invisibility potions are useful at critical moments.
• If you haven't received the key from Calcelmo, a good amount of sneaking is required once you gain access to the Dwemer Museum.
• If you encounter a guard and don't want to go to jail, you can kill him without a bounty added to your head if you have conjurations do the killing for you.
• Another way to avoid a bounty being added is to sneak and use archery to avoid being seen by the guards and allow a follower to do any final killing if needed and just remaining hidden until all the guards are dead.
• Another way to obtain Calcemo's Key to the Museum is to defeat the giant frost spider Nimhe inside the Nchuand-Zel Excavation Site. This method will not make the guards in the Museum portion hostile, initially.
• Enthir's dialogue after the player gives him the rubbing has a typo, he says 'undertsand' instead of 'understand'.
• An additional route to sneaking through Calcelmo's Laboratory is to use the various traps within the area to your advantage. If used properly you can neutralize all guards without alerting them of your presence or gaining gold to your bounty.
• you can also use a follower or the spider (if still alive) to sit on the pressure plate to access the poison hallway
• you can avoid almost all confrontations within Calcelmo's Laboratory by repeatedly clicking near the edge of the barred door to the left of where you enter. there may be a guard here, but on his own, he will prove easy to kill. If done correctly, by luck, you can remove the door bar and open the door easily. you will be just opposite the puzzle cube, and the door to the wizard's balcony is just to your left.
• You can transform into a werewolf and if nobody sees you, you can get away with killing everybody in the labratory. Remember to keep feeding off dead bodies to keep beast form going and to regain health.
• wait 24 hours before you actully do the rubbing so you can transform into a werewolf again.

Bugs

• If you complete Calcelmo's favor of killing the Frostbite Spider Nimhe and then gain safe entry into the Dwemer Museum and obtain Calcelmo's key after completion of this quest, you may get this quest a second time upon reentry of Calcelmo's museum. Note, that also means you can get the Nightingale Blade a second time. However, this may cause problems with the quest Darkness Returns (may be unable to finish), to avoid this, simply complete the Thieves Guild questline, then enter the museum to recieve the quest again.
• (!) If you entered Mercer's house and looted Mercer's Plans before completing the quest Hard Answers, The Pursuit will not initiate upon completion of the quest Hard Answers. This can be fixed on PC and 360 through 2 methods. On PC, by resetting the quest Hard Answers to the last stage with the command [setstage TG06 70]. On 360, by simply dropping the item 'Mercer's Plans' back into the appropriate spot (on top of Mercer's desk) and THEN completing Hard Answers. (Tested with Plans dropped in other locations.)
• For an unknown reason, if you want to speak with Enthir at the end of the quest, he doesn't want to talk with you.
• A solution for this is to complete Onmund's Request and return the staff to Enthir and he will speak to you allowing you to finish the quest.
• At the end of the quest, after Karliah tells you to meet her at the Ragged Flagon, Karliah will usually leave the room. However, sometimes she does not and stays in the cellar of the Frozen Hearth forever. It is impossible to continue with any Thieves Guild quests if this happens, and the only solution is to reload a savegame from before you brought Enthir the notes on translating Gallus' Journal. (PS3, Xbox360)
• After insciribing the information on the stone, if you stealth past the three NPC's that enter the room, you are able to complete the quest as normal but the quest stage will bug.
• If you have previously snuck into Calcelmo's Laboratory and stolen the Falmer Translation Guide before this quest begins, it may be uncompletable.
• For whatever reason, followers that you have with you while entering the museum illegitimately will say "You're not supposed to be in here!" when attempting to talk to them, instead of their usual dialogue. This may cause them to attack, it is best to leave them behind and enter by yourself
• If you have two save games with two different characters, and if you finish this quest on the first character's save game then load your second character's and complete this quest also. Then Reloading the first character will result in the quest to reset. Allowing you to do it again for another Nightingale Blade (needs confirmation).
• If you complete the quest, "Containment" before you complete "Hard Answers" and "The Staff of Magnus", Enthir will not talk to you when you complete "Hard Answers". Stealing the Quill on the desk next to Enthir, then shooting him in the arm with an arrow should allow you to speak to him.
•  PC    360   Sometimes when you finish the quest, the next quest might not start.
• Sometimes the Markarth City Guards will still attack and will think the Dragonborn is trespassing in the Dwemer Museum, even if the key was given by Calcemo, after killing Nimhe.
• Enthir will sometimes not speak his last sentence before player gives him the notes

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

References