Look, the Path of Knowledge Skyrim quest is basically where the Dragonborn DLC stops playing nice and starts getting weird. You've probably already met Neloth. He’s that grumpy, borderline-insufferable Telvanni wizard who lives in a giant mushroom called Tel Mithryn. If you’re at this point in the game, you’re likely trying to stop Miraak, and Neloth is your only ticket into the "forbidden library" of Nchardak.
It’s a long quest. It’s damp. There are a lot of brass pipes. Honestly, if you don't like Dwemer ruins, this is going to be a rough hour for you, but the payoff is one of the coolest Black Books in the entire game.
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Finding Nchardak and Dealing with Neloth
You start off by chatting with Neloth at Tel Mithryn. He’s obsessed with Black Books—specifically one located in the sunken Dwemer city of Nchardak. It's on the eastern coast of Solstheim. Just follow him. He walks at that awkward NPC speed where he’s faster than your walk but slower than your run, which is always fun.
Once you get to Nchardak, you'll realize the place is flooded. The entire central mechanic of the Path of Knowledge Skyrim experience is water management. You aren't just hitting switches to open doors; you are literally draining and flooding rooms to reach different elevations.
Neloth has one cube already. You need five.
The Great Cube Hunt in the Great Workshop
The Great Chamber is your hub. You’ll see these pedestals where you place "Control Cubes." When you put a cube in, the water level drops. Take it out, the water rises.
Inside the Workshop, things get technical. You’ll find the second cube pretty quickly on a pedestal. This lowers the water enough to reach the lower doors. Here is where people usually get stuck: they forget to pick the cubes back up. Don't do that. You need to carry them with you to manipulate the environment in the next room.
The combat here is standard Dwemer fare. Expect a lot of Dwarven Spiders and Spheres. If you're playing on Legendary difficulty, those Spheres can one-shot you with their crossbows if you aren't careful. Use the pillars for cover. Neloth is actually pretty helpful in combat since he spams shock spells that drain the magicka and stamina of the automatons.
Moving the Water Levels
In the North wing of the workshop, you’ll find a third cube. By now, the layout is getting confusing. You have to drop the water to find the cube, then raise it back up to swim to a ledge, or vice versa.
Pro tip: Watch the overhead pipes.
The Dwemer architecture actually gives you hints about where the water is going to flow. If you see a cluster of active steam vents, you're likely heading the right way.
Navigating the Nchardak Aqueduct
This is the part of the Path of Knowledge Skyrim quest that tests your patience. The Aqueduct is a massive room with three bridges. You need to get the bridges down to reach the final cubes.
Neloth will stand on a platform and wait for you to do the heavy lifting. Classic wizard move.
- Reach the upper platforms by using the cubes to manipulate the water.
- There are three switches on a high platform. You need to hit them in a specific order to lower the bridges.
- If you mess up, the traps reset. It's not a deadly puzzle, just a "I’ve been in this gold-tinted room for too long" kind of puzzle.
Once you have four cubes, you head back to the Great Chamber. You need four cubes to activate the steam boilers that power the reading room.
The Boiler Room and the Final Boss
With the boilers running, the final cube is revealed. But, because this is Skyrim, nothing is ever that easy. As soon as you grab the final components and head toward the Black Book, a Dwarven Centurion Master decides to wake up.
This guy is a tank.
He breathes steam that ignores a good chunk of your armor rating. If you’re a stealth archer (and let’s be real, you probably are), stay on the upper walkways and pepper him with arrows. If you’re a melee build, wait for him to finish his steam breath animation before closing in. His melee swing has a massive knockback effect that can send you flying into the water, which is just annoying.
Once the Centurion is scrap metal, you finally get to the prize.
Reading the Black Book: Epistolary Pryer
The climax of the Path of Knowledge Skyrim quest happens back in the Reading Room. Neloth will use the steam power to unlock the protective case holding the Black Book Epistolary Pryer.
When you read it, you’re sucked into Apocrypha. This is Hermaeus Mora’s realm. It’s green, it’s full of tentacles, and the "water" (ink) will kill you if you touch it.
Navigating Apocrypha
Apocrypha isn't as hard as Nchardak, but it's weirder. You’ll deal with Lurkers and Seekers. Seekers are annoying because they clone themselves and drain your magicka. Keep your eyes on the "real" one—it’s usually the one that didn't just pop into existence.
The moving hallways are the trickiest part. The walls literally shift as you walk. If you feel like you’re going in circles, you probably are. Look for the "Scrye" switches—those bulbous, fleshy looking things on the walls. Activating them opens the path forward.
At the end of the book, you meet Hermaeus Mora himself. He’s a giant mass of eyes and tentacles with a voice that takes about five minutes to say one sentence. He offers you a deal: he’ll give you the second word of the "Bend Will" shout if you give him the "secrets of the Skaal."
Why This Quest Actually Matters for Your Build
Completing the Path of Knowledge Skyrim mission isn't just about the main story. The rewards from Epistolary Pryer are some of the most powerful passive buffs in the game. When you reach the end of the book, you get to choose one of three "Dragonborn" powers:
- Dragonborn Force: Your Unrelenting Force shout (Fus Ro Dah) does more damage and has a chance to disintegrate enemies. This is great for pure fun, but maybe not the "meta" choice.
- Dragonborn Flame: When Fire Breath kills an enemy, a Fire Wyrm emerges from their corpse to fight for you for 60 seconds. It’s surprisingly effective for crowd control.
- Dragonborn Frost: Your Frost Breath shout now encases enemies in a block of ice, effectively acting like an Ice Form shout but with a shorter cooldown.
Most players go for Dragonborn Force or Frost. Being able to freeze a high-level enemy solid just by breathing on them is a game-changer in higher-difficulty crawls.
Essential Next Steps After Completion
Once you exit the book and finish your conversation with Neloth, the quest technically ends and leads right into "The Gardener of Men." But don't just rush off to the Skaal Village yet.
First, take a second to loot the rest of Nchardak. Now that the water is drained and the Centurion is dead, there are several high-level chests in the lower levels of the Workshop and Aqueduct that were previously inaccessible. You can find some high-tier enchanted gear or a lot of Ebony ore.
Second, check your inventory for those Dwarven Cubes. You don't need them anymore, but they are unique items. More importantly, talk to Neloth back at Tel Mithryn. Completing this quest opens up his side missions, including the ones that let you get the "Staff Enchanter" and his unique spells like "Reluctant Steward."
Finally, head to the Skaal Village. You'll need to talk to Storn Crag-Strider to progress the deal you just made with the Daedric Prince. Be prepared for a bit of a moral dilemma, as the Skaal aren't exactly thrilled about sharing their secrets with a tentacle monster.
Actionable Insight: Before heading into the next leg of the journey, make sure you have at least two Dragon Souls stored up. You'll need them to unlock the words of the Bend Will shout that Hermaeus Mora is about to start handing out. If you're short on souls, go hunt a dragon at one of the peaks in Skyrim or Solstheim before talking to Storn.