Waking Nightmare

Waking Nightmare
Quest Giver	Erandur
Location	Dawnstar Nightcaller Temple
Reward	Skull of Corruption OR Erandur as a Follower
Type	Daedric Quest
Quest ID	DA16

"I've overheard two citizens of Dawnstar complaining about horrible nightmares. They seem to be relying on a priest of Mara named Erandur for assistance.
Erandur has assured me he can end the nightmares, the source of which seems to be within Nightcaller Temple, a place of worship for Vaermina. I have agreed to assist him in this endeavor and we are now on our way."

―The Dragonborn

Objectives

• Follow Erandur to Nightcaller Temple.
• Speak to Erandur.
• Follow Erandur.
• Follow Erandur to the Library.
• Speak to Erandur.
• Locate The Dreamstride.
• Speak to Erandur.
• Follow Erandur to the laboratory.
• Locate Vaermina's Torpor.
• Drink Vaermina's Torpor.
• Release the Miasma.
• Disable the Magical Barrier.
• Speak to Erandur.
• Follow Erandur to the Skull of Corruption.
• Defeat Veren and Thorek.
• Speak to Erandur.
• Wait for Erandur to dispel the barrier.
• Murder Erandur or allow Erandur to complete his ritual.
• Take the Skull of Corruption (optional).

Walkthrough

This quest is given after visiting Dawnstar and speaking to Erandur, who is in the Windpeak Inn. All the townsfolk are suffering the same nightmares and Erandur knows how to get rid of them. He wants the Dragonborn to travel with him to the Nightcaller Temple, which is just a short distance east of Dawnstar, to stop the nightmares.

The entrance to Nightcaller Temple is the home of frost trolls, usually three. Snow Bears, Ice Wraiths or Frostbite Spiders may be there instead, depending on the Dragonborn's level.

Inside, Erandur will need to cast a spell on the wall to proceed. In the next room there will be leveled invaders Orcs. When the barrier is reached, Erandur reveals himself as a former priest of Vaermina who ran away during a long-ago attack on the temple by vengeful Orcs. He became a priest of Mara and now wishes to resolve loose ends in the Temple.

In order to pass through the barrier it will be necessary to go to the library to find the book The Dreamstride. There will be Vaermina Devotees to fight along the way and inside the library. Upon locating the book, Erandur states that there is a way to pass the barrier, but it requires Vaermina's Torpor, a potion that allows the user to relive the memories of another.

The next stop will be the laboratory, where Vaermina's Torpor should be stored. There are some more invader Orcs and Vaermina Devotees that will need to be dealt with along the way. The Torpor is located on the shelf in the corner of the laboratory. It is next to three lit candles on the wall. When Vaermina's Torpor is located, Erandur instructs the Dragonborn to drink it and upon doing so, they become Casimir, a Vaermina Devotee during the Orc raid on the temple. Casmir is instructed to release the Miasma to protect the Skull.

After releasing the Miasma by pulling a large ring on a chain on the wall just to the left of the barrier, the Dragonborn will find themselves on the other side of the barrier, where they must collect the Soul Gem powering the barrier. Erandur remarks about what happened, and then proceeds to the inner sanctum.

As the inner sanctum is approaches, Veren and Thorek, the two Vaermina Devotees that told Casimir - the Dragonborn in the dream - to release the Miasma come out and after some short dialogue revealing Erandur to be Casimir, they become hostile. After the battle, Erandur casts a spell to destroy the Skull of Corruption.

Here the choice is to kill Erandur as Vaermina commands and take the Skull of Corruption or let him complete his spell to destroy the Skull. If he lives, he can be a follower for no charge.

Notable Loot

• The Skull of Corruption.
• Skill book Mannimarco, King of Worms, in the laboratory.
• Unique book The Dreamstride.

Gallery

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Skull of Corruption as it appears in game

The barrier and the Skull

In the memories

The Skull in the memory

Erandur praying to Mara for help

Trivia

• There is a large number of Alchemy ingredients (including two Daedra Hearts) that can be found in the laboratory. (If the temple is left after completing the quest, there will be no way to get back into the laboratory.)
• High level potions scattered in the temple.
• Most of the Vaermina Devotees carry alchemy ingredients as well.
• There is an expert level chest behind a wooden door in the library.
• In the final room, there is a treasure chest on the right hand side of the stairs leading to the Skull.
• Outside, there is a chest on the backside of the tower (second tier).
• A moonstone ore deposit on the left side at ground level.
• The first room entered in the temple has a novice level chest on the right of the magic sealed door of Vaermina.
• Semi-unique Vaermina Robes, worn by the Vaermina priests in the temple.
• Novice Level Chest in the sleeping room.
• Both Orc and Dark Elf blood can be collected here for the quest Discerning the Transmundane.
• Using conjuration spells to resurrect the devotees and have them fight an Orc will generate unique dialogue.

Getting between Erandur and the wall when he uses flames against it, stopping the flames from hitting the wall does not stop the passage from opening.

• If Erandur is talked to while he is suspended midair in front of the Skull will break the spell holding him up and the normal dialogue options will appear. Exiting the dialogue will restore the spell and suspend him n the air again.
• After going through the Dreamstride, all of the loot respawns on the dead enemies.
• If the Dragonborn is wearing Miraak's Robes while in the Dreamstride, despite viewing the memories of another person, the tentacle explosion of the robes will still trigger in response to being hit by an attack.
• If over-encumbered before entering the Dreamstride, the Dragonborn will be over-encumbered when in the Dreamstride with no way to remove items.

Bugs

Click to see the list of bugs encountered.

This section contains bugs related to Waking Nightmare. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board. Very rarely, Erandur will enter the building, and turn hostile. If killed, his body will be unable to be looted or reanimated. Making the quest impossible to complete.  360   It is possible to just walk through the barrier, without needing to get rid of the soul gem, therefore skipping to the next dialogue with Erandur thinking the Dragonborn went through the Dreamstride, and allowing removal of the soul gem creating the barrier.  360  On the XBOX 360 version with Dawnguard and Dragonborn installed, it's possible that the quest will corrupt saves.  PC   360   PS3   Once leaving the Dreamstride, whenever a save is made, it can freeze, causing all progress to be lost after the last save.  It is possible to turn off automatic saves, do not save in the temple, finish the quest. It will be safe to save once outside the temple.  PC   It is possible that after entering Nightcaller Temple with Erandur he will cast flames at the statue of Vaermina to remove it but it will remain and he will port through without the Dragonborn being able to follow him.  PC   It is possible for Erandur to remain in the inn instead of leading the Dragonborn to the temple. This could to be caused by the bard in the inn.  PC   360   PS3   Erandur disappears when he enters Nightcaller Temple, making the quest impossible to complete.  PC   360   PS3   Erandur does not move from the barrier, or he can get stuck on the stairs after saying to go to the library. Since the door of the library is closed and he has the key, the quest can't be continued. To fix this use ice form on Erandur, making him fall from the stairs. Wait until the ice shatters and force him up the stairs with unrelenting force. Erandur will enventually speak, saying "this way" and the bug is fixed.  360   Once in the library and the Orcs and Vaermina devotees are killed there, Erandur may simply stand around on the lower level without saying what to do next. It may require talking to him two or more times to get the next instruction to search on the upper level, if this fails, save a game, get killed, and load the save. The conversation should now start. Upon entering the library, if the book The Dreamstride is picked up before prompted to do so by Erandur, it may prevent him from prompting to look for it, making it impossible to continue with the quest. This may be resolved by intentionally knocking out Erandur. (He cannot die at this point.) The same can also apply to collecting "Vaermina's Torpor". After deactivating the barrier and clearing the first two rooms, Erandur may run ahead and wait for the Dragonborn in the final chamber to complete the quest. In doing so, he will trigger enemies on the way that will then look and wait for the Dragonborn. It is also possible for Erandur to disappear making the quest impossible to complete. After waking up, the barrier must still be removed. If however the Dragonborn waits for a significant length of time and kills all the enemies until the Skull is reached, suddenly Erandur will run towards and past them, away from the skull only saying they have to hurry. He'll eventually disappear and after removing the barrier another Erandur will still follow, triggering the final battle.  PC   360   PS3   Sometimes, the enemies can be talked to before they awaken. They will say something, then "awaken" in a hostile state.  PS3   After the last fight, just before reaching the skull of corruption, Erandur may offer no dialog options.  PC   360   When in the Dreamstride the two Vaermina will finish their conversation, but will not start talking to the the Dragonborn. This will leave the quest broken and the Dragonborn will be stuck.  360   When fighting the snow bears outside the Nightcaller Temple it may make the Dragonborn be randomly teleported high into the sky where they will fall and die.  If Erandur is killed at the end of the quest, sometimes the option to take the Skull of Corruption will not appear. Reloading an earlier save may fix this.