So you finally want to get rid of this annoying nightmare?
This is the key chapter of the whole quests, so I’ll try to keep the hints for this quite low on level 1 and 2 (though everything will still be revealed on level 3, of course).
Before falling into despair, I recommend asking some people about the Blade and that bloody curse. Yes, there are persons who can help you! Just imagine who might know anything about such curses or such kinds of ancient magic.
In addition, keeping an eye on your inventory while dreaming might help.
Last but not least, exploring the nightmare’s world thoroughly will reveal very important things.
If you do everything right, the prey will turn into the hunter, until the demon will be banished!
You will have to do what you have probably supposed already: Find a way to transport the Ghostly Blade into the dream world. But that won’t be as easy as expected, because simply holding the Blade in your hand (by equipping/unsheathing it) right before going to sleep doesn’t work (and no, this is no bug!).
In fact, something else is still missing. To find the solution, there are several approaches:
- Asking competent people about the Blade. Some of them will give you helpful hints: Why not try the mages guild?
- Paying attention to your inventory after entering the dream world: Is it really completely empty?
- Searching every corner of the labyrinth: There’s something to discover that will provide the solution. Try to get “to the end of the tunnel”!
If you do everything right, you will be able to produce something that makes the Ghostly Blade “dream-persistent”, so that it will follow you into the dream the next time you enter it.
And then it’s time for you to scare the hell out of that demon in turn!
Se here’s everything you need to know! If you don’t want to spoil anything, keep to the level 1 and level 2 information above. Only use this box when you’re really completely stuck, or if you have strong evidence for a possible bug.
So here we go (starting “extreme spoiler mode” NOW…):
The persons to talk to are Bothiel at the Arcane University, and Sinderion, the famous alchemist in Skingrad (known from the Nirnroot quest line) Be aware that some of the essential dialogues (as well as the solution to the whole puzzle) won't be available unless you've picked up the "Dried Essences" in Aaro's Tomb in Chapter 07 Finding the Blade. If you haven't done so, it's vital to go back there now and get them!
Go to Bothiel at the Arcane University and talk to her about the “Ghostly Blade” topic. Many others throughout Cyrodiil will offer that topic, but she’s the only one who can help. She will investigate it for 24 hours. After waiting for that amount of time, come back and talk to her again. She will give you some general hints then.
After you’ve experienced the first nightmare, go back to her to ask once more, this time there’s a new topic “Why do I have such nightmares?”. This will motivate her to give you some more hints.
After you’ve experienced the nightmare more than three times, she will offer yet another topic “That nightmare won't go away!”. This time, she will give you even more details.
In addition, visit Sinderion in Skingrad and talk to him about the “Dried Essence”. He will ask you to lend him one of the flagons for 24 hours. Wait for that period, then go back and talk to him again to receive some helpful information about the essence.
But that’s it. There’s no more information to find. The rest is up to you.
Everything Bothiel and Sinderion can tell you are just fragments of the following full solution:
To defeat Dundellon’s Nightmare, you need to prepare the Ghostly Blade by poisoning it with a special poison, and then hold it in your hand (i.e. having it equipped and unsheathed before going to sleep).
Side-information: This is why the “See you Sleep” mod is incompatible with Blade of the Haunted (as described in the readme), because it forces any weapon to be sheathed automatically before going into sleep mode. If you are using that mod, you need to disable it during this special part of the quest.
The poison you need is the true “Essence of Dreaming” (this means the fluid version of it). This fluid potion can only be produced by soaking a Dried Essence in the waters of the so-called “Fountain of Dreams”.
The Dried Essences, which you should have picked up in Aaro’s Tomb in chapter 7, will always follow you into the dream world! If you haven’t noticed that until now, take a look at your inventory next time you are sleeping.
The “Fountain of Dreams” can be found inside the dream labyrinth, but it’s a bit difficult to get to it at the “end of the tunnel”. Keep in mind that it’s located at the very top of the labyrinth, at the spring of the waterfall that you may have noticed already, i.e. you’ll have to climb up high, always taking care not to fall down.
Here’s a description of the path to the fountain:
When entering the dream through the default starting point, walk straight up the stairs in front of you through the archway with the dense spider webs.
At the next crossing, head left, following the stairs leading down. You’ll come to a “pavilion”-like structure with one of those helpful Ayleid wells (this one is called the “Spring of Fortitude”, giving you some protective magic effect for about 60 seconds). Activate it to ensure that next time you’ll start from here.
There’s only one path that parts from here, sharply to the right and up again. Follow it until you’re passing a waterfall at right hand, coming out of nowhere from somewhere above. Keep in mind that it’s the source of this waterfall that you need to find!
A little after the waterfall, you’ll notice another stairway emerging from below and crossing your path beneath it, but without directly connecting to it. Jump down to the right, leaving the current stairs and continue on this new path (walking up, not down!).
Pass through another archway. Closely after and above it, another unconnected stairway emerges from below and crosses your path from left to right. You’ll see that is has another archway close by to the right. Jump down again, facing right and up. When turning around and looking back, you’ll detect a chest with a helpful (and respawning) healing potion. Take it, if you like, but don’t forget that your path leads up!
Follow the stairway up (through the 3rd archway), ignoring the next turnoff to the right. Just head on straight.
Now the path will turn left in a 90° angle. Follow the turning (the stairs continue to ascend upwards to the left).
You will reach the next “pavilion” with another helpful well (this time it’s the “Well of Recreation”, providing a healing effect). Once again, activate the well, which will move your next “fallback” point to this location. Then continue along the only path that parts from here: To the left.
The rest of the path may appear quite long, winding and weird, but don’t let it irritate you: From here, there are no crossings or turnoffs anymore, only several interruptions that will force you to jump over some gaps. But you cannot get lost anymore, unless by falling down. You will come past the waterfall once more (only on a higher level this time), and also through another archway.
The very last section ascends even more steeply up, finally breaking through the cloud layer looming above your head. If the demon should still be on your heels, it won’t be able to climb that steep part easily, so if you’re lucky, you can completely outdistance it here.
The rest is easy: Once above those “clouds” and following the only path (still only gaps, but no crossings here anymore), you’ll soon recognize a large, round building floating in the air (like everything else in this labyrinth). Walk through the entrance, and here you are - the Fountain of Dreams is within reach! Once you come close enough, you will get another journal message, telling you that you’ve found it and that it smells like clover (this is a hint related to something Sinderion told you about the Dried Essence earlier).
Now it’s time to produce the true Essence. Like placing the Key Stones in chapter 7, you have to hold a Dried Essence in “grab mode” and place it above the fountain’s basin. Note that this has been reported to be somewhat lagging on some computers! If the fountain refuses to detect that you have placed the flagon in it, try to do some steps forward and backward, slightly changing your position, each time waiting for some seconds to give the fountain a chance to detect that you are there. It ma require some trying until it works.
When this is done correctly, you must receive another journal message stating that you’ve just created a true Essence of Dreaming, then you will wake up immediately! This means that you can only produce one Essence at a time, though only one is required if you don’t make any mistakes and waste it (please note the “stumbling blocks” described below).
So now you have the true Essence!
When you’re awake again, you have to apply the poison to your Ghostly Blade, then hold it in your hand (which means: equip and unsheathe it), then go to sleep again. This time the sword will be with you inside the dream. You will get a journal message telling you exactly that.
Once the Blade has been taken to the dream world for the first time, it will always follow you into the dream forever, even if it loses the poisoning afterwards (which will naturally happen when hitting the demon for the first time). So there’s no need to apply the true Essence once again the next time you go to sleep (so that’s why only one Essence is needed, if doing everything correctly).
Also you might notice that as long your are holding the sword inside the dream, the scary blur and vibration of the visuals are gone: As long as you hold the Blade, your head is clear! Sheathe it, and the trembling starts all over.
Some stumbling blocks to be aware of:
- Do not use the Ghostly Blade in combat after poisoning it and before going to sleep! This will consume the poison before it can take effect, which only means that you’ll need to produce and apply another one!
- As there are only 3 Dried Essences, you can only create 3 true Essences from it. This means: You have 3 attempts to transfer the Ghostly Blade to the dream world. After that, your last chance is gone!
All that remains to do now is very straight forward: Just fight and kill Dundellon’s Nightmare with the Blade of the Haunted! That’s it. Stay alert, however, because the ghost is still some tough foe! It might require more than one attempt to defeat it, i.e. you might have to go to sleep several times to face it, until it finally goes down.
Once you’ve killed the enemy, you’ll get another journal message.
After that, hurry to loot the dead ghost to take a powerful amulet from its body (called the “Heart of Nightmares”). It’s just an optional loot item, nothing relevant, but it will follow you back to reality when waking up, so it’s worth taking it! This must be done quickly, because only some seconds after its death you will be transferred automatically to another dream scene (“Alysmera’s Redemption”), which leads over to the final chapter 10.
