- For other uses, see Pale Lady.
This side quest begins upon finding Frostmere Crypt and meeting Eisa Blackthorn.
Walkthrough
Frostmere Crypt
To begin this quest, travel to Frostmere Crypt to find a group of bandits attacking one of their own, a female named Eisa Blackthorn. If Eisa survives on her own or through any intervention, the Dragonborn may speak to her and find out that one of her comrades stole a sword from the leader of the gang. She tells the Dragonborn that he/she can go find the stolen sword inside the crypt; although, she does not want to talk anymore and offers no further dialogue options. If she dies or is found dead, her body can be looted for her journal, which gives the Dragonborn the quest upon reading it, as well as some background information on the quest. If the quest glitches and Eisa is merely standing around outside Frostmere Crypt, the quest can be acquired without killing her by searching Eisa's inventory in sneak mode and reading her journal. (It is not necessary to pickpocket the journal.)
Upon entering the crypt, there will be a direct line of view looking down at two bandits seated at a table down some stairs. There is a third bandit (mage) hiding in an alcove that rushes in from the right. Directly ahead is a gate; pull its opening chain and continue through the passage.
This passage forks, off to the right into a barred iron door (which will be passed through after completing the dungeon), so turn left for now and continue on along a precarious walkway, caged in by iron bars. After crossing it, it will lead to a decently sized room with a bandit. To the left is a weapon rack with some loot on it; the path to continue on is to the right.
Optional objective
At this point, the quest guide should have updated to say that "In Frostmere Crypt, the bandit Ra'jirr stole a sword from the gang's leader in order to stop the 'Pale Lady', a mysterious figure haunting his dreams. He fled into the tunnels below the ruin, with the bandit leader in pursuit." The Dragonborn is told to follow Kyr and Ra'jirr into the tunnels.
After taking the right out of the caged walkway, across from an opening which allows for spying on some bandits talking, there is a room with Kyr's Log and a chest that can be looted. Take the log and exit the room to the left. The room will contain Ra'jirr's Note and Eisa's Journal (if it was not taken off her corpse). Take this, and backtrack to the two bandits that were heard chatting at the table, just a short distance out the door and to the left.
Frostmere Depths
Climb down the stairs here and take out what bandits attempt to stop you. Follow this path to a lever — activate it. This lowers a drawbridge which can be accessed via a hallway in the room where the bandits were at the table. Backtrack here and cross the lowered bridge, after dealing with the poor bandit attempting to block the way. Occasionally dispensing the bandits along the way, jump down from the bridge and follow the quest arrow, which leads towards a mine-looking area. It should be noted that upon entering the "mine" section of the dungeon, there will be a silver ore vein on the first left.
Take out the bandits and turn left and then right, meeting up with the quest arrow. This takes the Dragonborn to Frostmere Depths.
Talk to the dying Kyr to learn that he was ambushed by Ra'jirr. Continue down the spooky path, to find Ra'jirr giving his best efforts against The Pale Lady and the Wisps which are spawned by her as a Wispmother.
At this point the Dragonborn may complete the quest one of two ways: "Banish" them all by killing them, or looting The Pale Blade from Ra'jirr's corpse and placing the blade on the stand ahead.
The Pale Blade
- If chosen to kill the Pale Lady and her shades, the quest is complete. The Pale Blade can be looted from Ra'jirr's corpse.
- If chosen to put The Pale Blade on the sword stand on the altar, The Pale Lady will be appeased and she will leave, giving a completed quest message. If the Dragonborn subsequently picks up The Pale Blade again, The Pale Lady will reappear, which restarts the quest. It is necessary to then elect to leave empty-handed, or to kill The Pale Lady for the weapon.
Immediately before the path reaches the small body of water which surrounds the altar, the path branches off to the left. Following the path just past the fallen tree is a skeleton with a levelled weapon and shield. Follow that path around the water and up a small rocky outcropping, to the right of the path, for a master level chest containing random loot. Following the path around the water to the right will lead to an Orichalcum Vein.
To exit the cave, go up the stairs to the right of the altar, collecting the Dragon Shout on the right. Proceed up the stairs and collect from the chest beside the door.
In the next exit section, beware of the pressure plate at the top of the stairs. There is a path of stone arcing over a pool of water; it is actually a submerged room, and contains some random loot and an Adept-level chest beneath the water. Continuing on leads to the other side of the barred door encountered at the beginning of the dungeon.
Journal entries
| Journal Entry |
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Outside Frostmere Crypt, I found a group of bandits attacking one of their own. It seems she was implicated when one of her friends stole a sword from the leader of the gang.
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In Frostmere Crypt, the bandit Ra'jirr stole a sword from the gang's leader in order to stop the 'Pale Lady', a mysterious figure haunting his dreams. He fled into the tunnels below the ruin, with the bandit leader in pursuit.
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In Frostmere Crypt, the bandit Ra'jirr stole a sword from the gang's leader in order to stop the 'Pale Lady', a mysterious figure haunting his dreams. Ra'jirr ambushed and killed the bandit leader before heading into the underground forest. |
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In Frostmere Crypt, the bandit Ra'jirr stole a sword from the gang's leader in order to stop the 'Pale Lady', a mysterious figure haunting his dreams. She appeared and attacked before he could use it to seal her away.
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Killed the Pale Lady: In Frostmere Crypt, the spectral Pale Lady was released when a group of bandits stole the enchanted sword that sealed her tomb. I killed her and claimed the sword as my prize.
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Returned the Pale Blade on the sword stand on the altar: In Frostmere Crypt, the spectral Pale Lady was released when a group of bandits stole the enchanted sword that sealed her tomb. By returning the sword to her altar, I returned her to her rest.
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Trivia
- With skilled play, a specific skill build, and proper gear, it is possible to one-shot the The Pale Lady, then Calming Ra'Jirr when he attacks you, and then pickpocketing The Pale Blade out of his hand with the Misdirection perk. This will allow the quest to be completed without killing any of the living.
- It actually turns out Ra'Jirr and Eisa betrayed their original leader (Hajvarr Iron-Hand) from White River Watch and escaped to Frostmere Crypt.
- Upon leaving the crypt, if Eisa was still alive, she will no longer be found outside, or, if killed, her body will vanish.
- If the quest is completed by killing the Pale Lady and looting The Pale Blade, is it possible that a random encounter with a Wisp Mother, accompanied by two or three wisps, may occur during travels.
- In the room after the Word Wall, a chest, armor, soul gems, and a weapon can be found in the water.
- The Pale Lady can be more quickly banished by looting the Pale Blade off of Ra'Jirr and putting on its stand. However, if the sword is removed again, the Pale Lady will reappear.
- There is a word wall for Ice Form in the same room you fight the Pale Lady.
- The Pale Lady might be a reference to the vampire of the same name in the quest Lost Histories from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Bugs
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This section contains bugs related to The Pale Lady (Quest). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:
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- It has been, noted that the quest won't start as intended for some players. This may be due to a dragon attack, scripting issues or other unspecified glitch. Eisa may end up not being attacked by the other bandits, the dialogue for the quest may be unavailable or if you don't proceed along the specific path to the crypt (i.e. approach Frostmere Crypt from the West, along the road), the quest trigger might not work. You may try to reload an earlier save to experience the quest as intended, or you can pickpocket/kill Eisa for her journal and read it to start the quest.
- 360 If the player enters Frostmere Crypt before obtaining the quest from Eisa, and then exits the dungeon, she will have disappeared. Therefore, the player is unable to start the quest.
- Solution: proceed through the crypt and into the Frostmere Depths. When you get to the altar search Ra'jirr's corpse for the Pale Blade and place it upon the altar. If you pick it up again, the quest will begin. You can choose to kill the Pale Lady or simply place the sword on the altar again.
- After initiating the quest by stealing Eisa's journal and completing the quest by returning the sword to the rack, exiting the crypt may crash the game.
- Next to the Word Wall, a Steel Greatsword can be found floating in mid-air.
- In some cases, the characters (Eisa, Kyr and Ra'jirr) do not attempt to converse with the player. At the most, only Eisa replies, "Hmm?".
- Ra'jirr is sometimes found already dead right after you enter the Frostmere Depths.
- The sword may be shown as the quest arrow being in a rock wall to the right of the waterfall and not able to be picked up. Typing "prid FF00227F" in the console followed by "moveto player" will make the sword appear.