This quest begins as soon as you start a new game.
"A dozen sealed letters, laid on doorsteps at night in mysterious circumstances, by unknown hands. The letters contained an invitation to a meeting in an abandoned mine in Fold Valley, an isolated southern region of the wide continent of Nehrim. The letters did not state why, or to what purpose. Yet most of the recipients obeyed, and they arrived at the appointed place at the appointed time."
(Nehrim's starting monologue)
You were one of the chosen, and you heeded the call...
You used to live and study at the peaceful and remote Tirin Abbey until you received a "mysterious letter". You have blindly followed the instructions given in the letter, leading you into a mostly abandoned mine on the southern border of the Middlerealm.
Tips[]
- The mine can be quite dark in some versions of the game. If your torch runs out and it is difficult to see, increase your gamma setting (in the game's video settings, accessible from the pause menu) or use toggle lite brite (tlb) in the console. To access the console, press the tilde (~) key and then type
tlb. - See controls if they are unclear.
- Players can access inventory items and spells more quickly by using hotkeys. In the inventory or spell list, select the desired item/spell and then any of the number keys 1 to 8. The item or spell is then assigned to the selected number and can be accessed by using only that key. This way, the player can equip or unequip the torch swiftly and thus the torch may last longer during the quest.
- Pick up and search every box and container on your way through the mine. Every piece of gold comes in handy at the start of the game. You will find scrolls and potions as you go, which are also useful.
- The first four levels are only accessible during this quest, so grab everything of value while you can. Outside of the mine are some safe containers along the path that you can store your excess items in so that you can retrieve them later.
- Until you get out of the mine, the game is linear. Follow the route and do not try jumping down (except when told to do so) or try to skip certain sections - you will die.
- Keep in mind that you do have a spell in your spell list. Light Spark will definitely come in handy for healing and creating light (for a short time).
- It is advisable to avoid melee combat with the black troll; he is extremely powerful.
- To run faster (when avoiding the black troll) sheathe your weapon.
Walkthrough[]
Character Creation[]
First, you create your character. Choose your name, race (from the three races offered), sex, etc.
Shadow Song Mine (level 1)[]
Meet Celebro[]
The game starts with you falling through some floorboards and being left in the dark. Previously, you were unconscious as somebody had clobbered you from behind. First of all, you will notice that you are unable to move. Do as your quest log instructs you. Open your inventory and click on the torch. Use [TAB], search your inventory for a torch and click on the torch. It will enable you to finally move. You now get to watch a fight between a man and a troll. After the troll dies, the man will talk to you. His name is Celebro and he too received the same mysterious letter. He suggests that you should be able to find a way back to the surface together. Close by are your first weapons: a sharp dagger (the dagger is held by a severed hand on the floor nearby) and a sharpened pickaxe. The first part of the game's story is rather linear (do not worry - a few quests on, and most of the world opens up), but do take your time to explore the mine's levels. Some moderately useful items are hidden in the mine. Even though you won't need many of them during your stay in the mine itself, you may find good use for them later. Take everything you can find. Go through the mine; Celebro will follow. You will meet more trolls on the way.
Activate the Machinery[]
Go up and you will notice some boulders falling in the distance. Walk on the wooden planks and find a small passage to a cavernous tunnel. There you will find a cog (large gear) on the floor just after encountering the next two cave trolls. Fit it in a gadget (axle) that is close by in order to activate the elevator. As soon as this has been done, join up with Celebro, who is standing in the elevator, and wait for it take you upwards. Once you are up, walk down and turn left (south). You should discover a small tunnel with a wooden door leading to Shadow Song Mine.
Shadow Song Mine (level 2)[]
Remove the bricks[]
Carry on through the mine. (Should Celebro fall into a killbox and die, you will have to fight the remaining trolls on your own, but otherwise you won't have any trouble.) Here you will enter a room with a corpse. Examine the room carefully, and you should find your first crafting tools. Explore the nearby tunnel and some falling boulders will block your and Celebro's way back. Following the main corridors you will notice that your passage is blocked by a huge heap of bricks. Press and hold 'z' to grab the bricks and move them out of the way to open the passage.
Destroy the rotten boards[]
After having successfully removed the bricks, the tunnels forks into two directions:
North: not the main road, will lead you to some loot guarded by a cave troll
West: main road - take this tunnel to proceed with the main quest.
On your way just after some bridges you should notice a rope system near a beware! sign. Before entering the tunnel, stop! Let the barrel cart pass! If you get hit by this, you will be killed instantly! At the end of the tunnel you will notice a lever, but do not concern yourself with it much, as it is broken and activating it will not work. However, you should discern some rotten boards that block your way. These cannot be destroyed using weapons; simply use 'spacebar' (or whatever key you have assigned as you 'action key', like opening a door) and the boards should start falling apart. Now you are attacked by another cave troll. Having dealt with him, a narrow tunnel will lead you to Wooden Door to Shadow Song Mine.
Shadow Song Mine (level 3)[]
Avoid the black troll[]
You will go through a door where Celebro decides to go ahead and investigate. He gets attacked and killed by a stronger black troll. You need to escape, so start running. Go left (a wooden area to the left of the mine) and find a lever (pop ups tell you what to do along the way). This closes a gate and causes a rock slide which supposedly kills the black troll. (This is optional; you might as well keep running!)
Escape on the platform[]
Climb up the stairs and follow the main corridor. Walk down the stairs and the passages, you will notice that some passages are blocked by lowered gates, however, you should find some stairs up that will lead you to an open area. You come to a docking area, where the black troll will start chasing you again. Here you need pull a lever in order to cross the chasm. The lever is placed in plain sight at the docks. After pulling the lever you will be automatically placed on the platform. Surprise! The black troll turned out to be stronger than you thought. While you ride across the gorge, he walks on the ropes above you. When you arrive he is waiting for you, so jump off the platform and go left (north). A door leading to Shadow Song Mine can be found on the right side.
Shadow Song Mine (level 4)[]
Find the Torches[]
The Black Troll will be still chasing you. Carry on (northwards) and enter a room with a metal gate. As soon as you enter the room, close this gate and, for the time being, you are safe from the Troll. When you try to open the Door again, you will get a message informing you that the Black Troll is waiting for you there, and now you should look around for an appropriate weapon to deal with the Troll. Examine the room. You should find the following:
- The gate at the other end needs a key ( the key to this Gate is eaten by the Troll, you need to eliminate the troll first),
- The note on the table tells you what to do next: you need to come up with four torches as the Troll is extremely sensitive to fire.
- Two levers (S wall).
Pulling the lever on the wall (one is broken) causes some logs to knock a cabinet off the wall. You can now go and search for the torches. (Use your "grab" key - usually, it's the Z key, but you may have remapped it - in order to clear away the logs, in case they cover some of the torches.) Or load the game and pull the lever again so you can collect all the torches. In total, you should collect four torches. Once you have done this, your quest log will update with information that now you are probably ready to kill the Black Troll and retrieve the key to the Gate.
Burn the Troll Alive[]
Once you have the four torches, you can leave the room and proceed into the Troll's lair (leave the room the via same Door you came in). When leaving the room go straight on (eastwards) through a lot Macrolepiota mushrooms. Climb up the stairs and follow the trail of blood. You are in the Troll's lair. Take a look at the room before approaching the Black Troll. Four torch holders surround this room. Fit the torches into these. (If you cannot sneak well enough to stay undetected by the Troll, you should try running. He is not that fast.) Simply use the 'use' (spacebar) control to place the torches in the Logs (torch holders). They will fit automatically. With each torch placed in the holder, the Troll will receive significant damage. In total, you should find four torch holders. Finally, The Black Troll dies and you can recover the Eaten Key for the locked gate. You should also receive your first level up now. Open the diary in your inventory - in the "Misc Items" tab - in order to level up.
Find a Hidden Passage[]
Now carry on through the mine. Come back to the room where you found the torches and open the Door (the one which Needs a Key). Follow the main tunnel and soon you can notice a lever to the left. Use it and a passage in front of you will open. You pass through an area with an abandoned inn and some more Cave Trolls. The inn is a dead end (although not without loot and beds to "rest" <T>). Now you have to find the correct way. Stand facing the tavern (your face to the door) and turn left (W), that is where you should search for the passage. Go there using the main path and you can see a huge barrel blocking your way. Do not go over the Barrel. Look up and on to the right you should discern some stairs up. Climb up these steps and you should be assaulted with another Cave Troll.
Jump into the Hole[]
On your way through the main tunnels you will encounter more Cave Trolls. Be sure not to fall off the wooden bridge or else you will die instantly. Once you are close to a Corpse, do notice that there are some wooden arrows that indicate that you should fall into the pit. The other way leads to a dead end, so you are left with no choice but to fall into the pit.
Shadow Song Mine (level 5)[]
Somewhere in this part of the dungeon, there a trap which allows the player to land wooden logs on a lot of trolls on the slope. This is necessary to gain the Bowling achievement.
Young Troll's Nest[]
As soon as you squeeze yourself into the hole and start falling down, you are in a new area, which contains a few undead (Rotten Creature) (including a burning man which comes alive if you come too close to him) and the first of 100 Magic Symbols. The Magic Symbol is placed in plain sight. As soon as you leave the narrow tunnels, you should be faced with a huge open area. To the left some scrolls can be found. However, you should take the road straight on (and do be hasty when walking over the boards, otherwise they will fall apart and you will die instantly). You are in an area with some Young Cave Trolls, and a path which leads to a bridge.
Fight off the Waves[]
(When in the Young Troll's nest, find an area full of light and continue your way towards it). It will lead you to a bridge and, consequently, to waves of trolls. Go over the bridge and here you need to fight off two waves of Young Cave Trolls. Some Health Potions that you collected till now will really come in handy. When you have finally defeated the Trolls, walk up and another Cave Troll will attack you. Deal with it and open the Wooden Door to Shadow Song Mine.
Shadow Song Mine (level 6)[]
Find a Tunnel[]
Next there is an area with a waterwheel and rats. As you enter the waterwheel area, your quest log updates with information that tree roots are penetrating through the roof of the tunnel, which indicates that you must be below the surface and the exit is near. Follow the main tunnel and some rats will attack you, namely Pit Rats and Young Pit Rats; and of course, some corpses to loot. To find a passage further, walk the main road close to the walls (no need to jump into the water; BUT you may earn the "Water Rat" achievement by wading in the pond & checking out the bodies therein) and follow the main path until you find some light which leads you to another tunnel. Carry on the main tunnel, go past a room with a well, and encounter some more Cave Trolls.
Merzul to the Rescue[]
You are almost out. The final area. You will be saved from a horde of Trolls by a mysterious mage, Merzul. Merzul tells you that the letters were intended to bring recruits to the mine. Those who his religious Order sensed to possess instinctive magic potential, "one of the gifted, who can touch the fabric of arcane worlds". He did not know that the mine had been taken over by Trolls. You are the only survivor of those who had turned up. His request to you to join his Order cannot be refused, as he would kill you if you did try to refuse.
Merzul mentions:- Chancellor Barateon / the outlaw status of mages and that there is war in Nehrim. The war at the moment is only being fought far away in the Northrealm.
He hands you some false documents that say you have been drafted to the army, these need to be taken to the Tirin Abbey before carrying on to the Arcane Sanctum.
You can now leave the mine. Be wary not to choose the way through the flames, they appear to be quite deadly. Keep to the left wall and walk over a small bridge there.
This quest is not completed until you hand over the false documents to High Priest Aratornias at the Abbey, but before that ..........
Maps[]
  Shadow Song Mine part 1 |
  Shadow Song Mine part 2 |
  Shadow Song Mine part 3 |
  Shadow Song Mine part 4 |
  Shadow Song Mine part 5 |
  Shadow Song Mine part 6 |
Notes[]
- Be sure that you follow every step of the quest as you are supposed to (Check this walkthrough if you are not sure how the quest should look like). Otherwise, the quest might get broken and and you will end up stuck in the mine unable to kill the Black Troll and get the Eaten Key.
- If, somehow, Celebro does die before encountering the Black Troll, you should still be able to finish the quest.
- Hirre is the NPC you see begging for help while crossing the platform. There is no way to help him.
- An alternate method to reach the torches involves stacking the large, square crate on the base of the ladder just underneath the chest of drawers and then one of the smaller crates on top of the fallen chest of drawers. Once this is done, jump on the crates in order to have enough height to jump up to collect the torches from the wooden chest on top of the chest of drawers.
- Grabbing a single torch will set the quest stage to 27 automatically, even if you did not read the note.
- The Steam version adds more items to the cave. Be sure to check the Shadow Song Mine page in addition to this walkthrough to obtain all of the important items, as some are easily missed. However, be mindful of your encumbrance.
Following Quests[]
Journey to the Abbey starts when the player exits the mine, which includes the 3 subquests:
Once the quest is completed:
Gallery[]
Quest Journal[]
The use of the console is same like in Oblivion. Description how to use console commands can be found here. Messages in brackets [] do not have a journal entry but represent the action taken at that stage of the quest.
| Shadow and Light - MQ00 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stage | End Q | Journal Entry |
| 0 | [Character Gen starts] | |
| 1 | I received this strange letter and foolishly accepted the invitation. I left the security of the abbey, in which I lived and worked, for some paltry reason. Now, look at the mess I'm in - I hardly entered this mine when I was clobbered from behind, only the devil knows by whom. And now I wake up here, in almost total darkness. What the hell is going on? | |
| 2 | Damn! What have I gotten myself into? The boards broke right under my feet. Now I've lost my torch! Damn it! Luckily, I packed another; but who knows how long I'll be down here? Hope it doesn't burn out. Anyway, first I have to light it before I make any move. | |
| 5 | [Player equips torch, a cave troll appears, Celebro kills it] | |
| 10 | [Celebro approaches the player.] | |
| 15 | I've met a man named Celebro. He said he had received a letter also that had lured him here. We need to be careful, but the fact remains that we need to leave this mine as quickly as possible. | |
| 16 | [Empty] | |
| 20 | [A rock slide happens and the Black Troll appears to kill Celebro] | |
| 25 | Damn it! Celebro was killed by a cave troll. And this one looks different than the trolls which we have met up until now - stronger and with black fur. I think it would be safer to run, instead of confronting it. | |
| 26 | The troll that killed Celebro is after me. I must escape. | |
| 27 | In a note I found out that the black troll is very sensitive to fire. Some torches can be found somewhere in this room. According to the note, I can put them into the appropriate devices in another cave and burn the troll. | |
| 28 | I have found four torches and with them I should be able to kill the black troll. This will be necessary as it appears I need a key to open the gate which undoubtedly will be somewhere in the troll's nest. | |
| 29 | I have succeeded in killing the black troll. Now, I should look around for a key. Who knows what this troll has been eating... I should search him. | |
| 30 | Tree roots are penetrating through the roof of the tunnel! I must be right below the surface. | |
| 35 | In front of me is the exit! I'm almost out. | |
| 36 | ||
| 40 | ||
| 45 | (empty) | |
| 50 | Before the trolls could move to attack, there appeared as if by magic, a man; the figure seems to be a magician. He killed all the cave trolls completely all by himself! I wonder if this could be the author of the letters? | |
| 55 | As a horde of trolls started to attack me, I was saved by a magician named Merzul. It turns out that he is the one who sent the letter. However, the meeting was ruined here because of the trolls. Merzul told me that I am a so-called Gifted One, that is, I can learn to use magic. For this reason, I am to come to Merzul and his "Order". But before I do so, I must deliver a forged letter to my master at the Abbey, stating that I must report to the army. | |
| 60 | ||
| 65 | End | I have delivered the fake message to the High Priest Aratornias. He let me go without dissent. Now I can visit the headquarters of the Order, known as the Sanctum. |