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Laid to Rest

By
Seren Morgan-Roberts

This page offers a guide on how to complete the Laid to Rest side quest, which is obtained in Morthal. This quest is required for unlocking the Hjaalmarch Homestead lot in the Hearthfire DLC.

Investigate Hroggar’s House

There are multiple ways of accessing this quest. When you speak to the residents of Morthal, they’ll all be gossiping about the burned house and about Hroggar. You can find the burned house and start the quest yourself, or a guard might come up to you and ask you to help out. Alternatively, you can go directly to the Jarl, who can be found in Highmoon Hall in Morthal, and they’ll ask for your help in solving the case.

The Jarl will ask you to investigate the burned house in Morthal.

The quest requires that you first investigate Hroggar’s burned house in Morthal, which you can find easily on the map via the quest marker. As you approach the house, the ghost of a small girl will appear. She is the daughter of Hroggar and died in the fire. When you speak to her, she’ll ask you to play hide and seek with her in exchange for information about who set the fire, but it’ll need to be night time before she begins playing.

Helgi will appear at the burned house.

To find her, you’ll need to head up the hill behind the burned house and find the coffin. Once you approach the coffin, however, you’ll be approached by Laelette, who’s a vampire and hostile! You’ll need to defeat her before you can talk to the little girl, Helgi again. She’ll tell you awful story of the fire, and before long Thronnir, Laelette’s husband will appear and tell you some more information about how his wife began spending time with Alva.

Thronnir will offer some more information on his wife’s connections to Alva.

After speaking to Helgi and Thronnir, you’ll be prompted to investigate Alva’s house. If you go during the day, Alva will be in the house, but if you go at night, which is more likely since you’ll probably heading straight from speaking to Helgi, then Alva won’t be in the house and you won’t have to fight her (she’s a vampire too). You’ll probably also need to break into the house, so make sure you have some lockpicks to hand!

When you enter, you’ll want to go straight to the basement and investigate the coffin (she’ll be in the coffin and promptly be awoken if you go into the basement during the day). Inside the coffin, you’ll find Alva’s Journal, which will detail the whole vampire debaucle in Morthal. You’ll then get an update to the quest that requires you head to the Jarl and tell her of your findings. She’ll reward you with a bit of gold for bringing her the information, but she’ll also ask that you help clear out Movarth’s Lair and defeat the Vampire Master Movarth.

Alva’s journal can be found in her coffin in the basement.

Clearing Out Movarth’s Lair

When you leave Highmoon Hall, you’ll be approached by a band of angry Morthal residents. They’ll then announce that they are also going to go take on the Vampire Lair. You can then follow the angry mob to the cave, which is across the bridge and north of Morthal.

Movarth’s Lair is found northeast of Morthal.

After arriving at the mouth of the lair, however, you’ll find that the peasant mob is actually far too frightened to face the Master Vampire and instead decide to run back home - thanks for nothing! Thronnir, however, does stay since he wants to avenge his wife Laelette. You can choose to have him accompany you into the lair or go home. A word of caution, if you aren’t high-levelled or good at managing followers, it is extremely likely that Thronnir dies in the cave. There are a lot of strong vampires, and if you want to sneak around he’ll blow your cover. Useful to have extra help, but is it worth the cons and the likelihood that he dies? Up for debate.

The Peasant Mob unfortunately won’t be of much help to you.

When you enter into the Lair, your first encounter will be two Frostbite Spiders. Easy enough to take out with your bow before they even spot you, if that’s the way you play! Next, you’ll want to continue through the cave and you’ll soon come across a Vampire Thrall. The Bandit Thralls are essentially glorified bandits, and are probably the equivalent of a stronger mid-tier bandit type so watch they don’t damage you too much if you’re lower levelled.

As you head through into the next room, you’ll come across some more Vampire Thralls. Take them out how you wish, and proceed into the next area with caution - this is where the vampires reside!

How to Beat Movarth

There is a balcony up to the left of the entrance into the “hall” where you can stealthily snipe Movarth, who is sat at the dining table in the center of the room. Unless you’re a super high-levelled archer, you likely won’t one shot him, but it’s a good vantage point to get in a few sneaky bow shots in before you decide to head into melee combat. Of course, if this isn’t your style then you can go in guns ablazing and take out Movarth and the handful of vampires in this room like a juggernaut. Movarth is categorised as a boss so you’ll want to fight him accordingly. Make sure to dodge or block his melee attacks if you are in close range as he packs quite the punch, and you’ll also want to regularly heal as he’ll use his vampire powers to drain you of health whilst simultaneously healing himself.

Movarth will leech your health to heal himself so make sure to beat him down quickly!

If you’ve killed any of his vampire mates then it is also probable that he’ll reanimate their corpse and you’ll have to fight them again whilst also dealing with Movarth! HP management is important in this fight, especially if you’re not a high level, so be sure to pause and pop some health potions or nibble on some cheese wheels to survive.

Once he’s dead, you’ll want to explore the rest of the large cavern area for the loot chests and any more lingering vampires or thralls. There will be some in the side rooms that you’ll probably need/want to take out. Make sure to quicksave after that fight with Movarth before you go exploring.

After you feel satisfied with your cave exploration, head back up to the start of the lair and exit the same way you entered. As you approach the exit, the ghost of Helgi will appear and thank you for avenging her and her mother. You can then head back to the Jarl and collect your prize!

Helgi’s ghost will greet you at the exit and thank you for avenging her and her mother.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Bethesda Softworks
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, XB 360, XB One
  • Genre
    Action RPG
  • Guide Release
    11 November 2021
  • Last Updated
    7 November 2021
    Version History
  • Guide Author
    Greg Wright

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Skyrim is the homeland of the Nords, a fierce and proud warrior people who are well suited for the bitter cold and mountainous terrain which defines the land. Now scarred by civil war, Skyrim faces its darkest days with the return of the legendary dragons and their leader, the World-Eater Alduin. The future of Skyrim and even the lands beyond hangs in the balance, as the people await the prophesized Dragonborn, a hero born with the power of The Voice and the only one who can contend with the dragons. You are that Dragonborn; your task is to investigate why the dragons are returning, and discover a way to defeat them. At the same time, you’re free to explore Skyrim at your own pace, uncovering its many wonders along the way.

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