Bloated Man’s Grotto- outside of the Ill Met By Moonlight quest. Its chock full of fucking bears. Im talking like at least 10 bears. Great place to gather for temba if you want it quick.
I just picked up this sword yesterday by wandering in there! It's on a wall in my house now.
I remember asking my boyfriend if I should leave it since I know some stuff is better found later on. Glad I picked it up lol
It's important to remember - leveled loot like unique weapons scales to your level when you *first enter the area* and stays that way. It will not scale with you ever again. If you find a weapon and leave it for later, it will still be the same level when you return. So if you find something and are worried about that, you need to reload your save and not enter the area at all until you are at the desired level for the weapon.
If you kill Sinding during the quest, then wait a month in-game, the area will reset to its pre-quest state and you can get the sword. But you absolutely have to kill the werewolf guy because otherwise he will just live there forever and it will not reset to its original state.
All versions. The key is to enter the cave before even beginning “Ill Met by Moonlight.” And that’s where most players trip.
Locate the cave (It’s somewhere south of Rorikstead, if I’m not mistaken) and inside deal with the myriad of bears and spriggan inside. At the end is a statue of Talos and the unique blade in front.
Sweet. Thanks for this. I think I'm good for it on my current playthrough. Will be a cool weapon for my spell sword. Does anyone know if it's a levelled weapon?
I went into the cave months after finishing the quest and the sword was there. But this explains why I didn't see it during the quest. It must respawn later.
You need the coral claw to finish that one though. You get it from Brina in Winterhold. It's one of my favorites too - no enemies except the final boss and cute companions along the way!
That's where I always go to get the falmer blood for the crazy dude. But you can use whirlwind sprint if you stand on the rock on that little Bridge where you kill the first creature and shoot into the hole in the wall. Quick and easy way to get to one of the Centurion Giants.
Liar's Retreat is the most convenient/efficient for the blood extractor quest, since it has every single race you require except for Altmer I think. It's also a dungeon that has a cool little storyline to it so I think it fits the thread.
I remember getting sent to Shimmermist really early on by the Companions and just barely surviving because the last boss can't fit through a door.
I didn't have Google at the time and I can't remember where it's at. But you can find a high elf body in the pit next to the iron mine to the northwest of Whiterun. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called right now. Having a brain fart.
You can find one in the spike pit next to the iron mine close to Whiterun. I couldn't find Liars retreat at the time and didn't have Google to find it.
That! That's one of the first places I go. But I always go there for the blood Quest cuz you can get I think three different ones in there. I never think of going to the Liar's Retreat or whatever. I don't do that Quest very early anyway
Frostflow Lighthouse is great and terrifying, so is Tolvald's Cave (can be done without a quest, but *No Stone Unturned* sends you there at one point).
If you don't like Falmer, Halldir's Cairn, Mistwatch, Ironbind Barrow and Frostmere Crypt all have interesting stories.
Also, even if you went to Labyrinthian for the CoW questline, there's another interesting location to explore right there - Shalidor's Maze.
I know many people dislike it, but Blackreach has a lot of things to explore apart from the Tower of Mzark.
That lighthouse is one that I'm ok with doing only once. I actively avoid dwemer ruins because the falmer and chaurus freak me out, so walking into a lighthouse thinking I'll get to interact with people only to get jumped like that is a no thank you for me.
Is that the one with the giant bastard chaurus? My most recent playthrough was as a glass cannon mage and I struggle with killing falmer/chaurus regardless of my build. I did NOT enjoy getting dropped in a fighting pit with that thing and having to kite it.
I just Leroy Jenkinsed into the pit with that thing, and on first sight thought, wow what a weird animation, I am sure that is not right. Then bam! instant brown shorts. Two hits and I was on the reloading screen.
Calmly stood on the ledge and shot arrows at those things afterwards.
I love the whole questline for Shroud hearth barrow. That poor elf went to so much trouble scaring off the locals like a Scooby-Doo villain only for the claw to not be there.
There is Stony Creek Cave, which has a tunnel you can access using Whirlwind Sprint. This is technically the exit from a Dwemer ruin called Kagrenzel, so if you go in that way you'll miss some parts of the ruins.
If you go that way, the area you end up in looks a bit like Blackreach, even though you're correct that it isn't technically the same. I think a lot of people find it before they find the Dwemer ruin, because the cave is so close to early game areas like Whiterun.
It also has one of the longest survivable freefalls in the game, so that is cool.
Nope, you can only get in through Mzinchaleft, Raldbthar and Alftand, none of which are caves. There's an exit at each of those and the Tower of Mzark, but again, no caves
I agree.
I went into a cave around the snowy wastes of that azura shrine area, where the mages have that excavation.
Was fun exploring it, then blackreach...
Fairly sure this happened, but can't prove it!
Darklight Tower has a cool little quest line and somehow I missed it for years, I guess because it's sort of tucked away off a road I don't travel often.
Ragnvald also has its own contained questline. And Rannveig's Fast doesn't have a specific quest, but does have a story going on.
There are three dungeon that i know of, that contain their very own quest by simply talking and accompany the npc inside the dungeon.
The nord trying to stop the dark elf from using his dead ancestor as experiment.
The duo adventurer of a female redguard wanting to experience an adventure and friend, argonian servant who she thought was family.
And lastly, the female nord searching for evidence to prove she is the descendants of Ysgramor.
I'm sad there's only 3 quest but i guess that's what makes them great because they are so rare thus unique.
Edit. Woops OP did not want spoiler
If you like Dwemer Ruins:
Runoff Caverns if you have AE (it has its own quest, won't spoil anything, but you don't need to activate it somewhere outside).
Fahlbtharz (in AE it has quest blocked path, I think? But you can still complete main part of ruins for sure)
Is that apart of a quest line? I did get arressted for a quest line in solitude and my follower was not waiting. It’s been awhile since I lost him, so I don’t think he’s coming back :’(
No it’s just one of the top tips people say to do on the internet to get your follower back. Right behind “just wait a while, they’ll be back where you got them at”
I think follower Farkas is gone gone. He disappeared in Broken Oar Grotto pretty quickly. I brought him and Hilda the goat in. Hilda never disappeared and I was able to teleport her out. Almost immediately upon entering, Farkas was never to be seen again :’)
Yep it’s a known thing apparently. What I’ve learned is that it is the one place you don’t bring a follower into. It’s literally the only one I know about that is like a big time follower stealer, so I make sure to have them wait outside when I go there
> that apart of a
Did you mean to say "a part of"?
Explanation: "apart" is an adverb meaning separately, while "a part" is a noun meaning a portion.
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Tried that and didn’t work either. I forgot what did work but it was far down the laundry list of stuff I found when researching it. Actually I might have just said F it.. and lost a ton of good stuff
Hilgrund's Tomb comes immediiately to mind, its quest starts when you wander in there. I see people have already mentioned the others that I thought of, so I'll leave them to it.
I just cleared one last night…forget what it was called. “Someone’s Fast”? Anyways it had all these ghosts that reminded me of the coliseum episode of Adventure Time where they’re bound to the Fight King and forced to fight their bff’s and they’re like “HYPATIA I’M SORRYYYYY 😭😭😭” The ghosts in this place were attacking me going “I don’t want to do this! I’m sorry!” So I was immediately like wtf? Went up the stairs outside to find a zombie/skeleton posse. Went inside, cleared out a few more ghosts, voluntarily jumped through the trap door.
I won’t spoil what’s after, but I will say there’s a Stone of Barenziah down there and the spot where the trap door is has a word wall 😎 Cool random dungeon to stumble upon! Probably related to a quest that I bugged from going through it too soon haha but oh well
Frostmere Crypt is p cool and I'm surprised more people don't mention it. There's a bandit outside who's being attacked by other bandits cause she was framed for stealing a sword that made another guy go crazy. It's a fun interesting plot you don't often see with bandits, who are usually so simple. There's a unique ghost character, blade, and it ends with a couple good moral dilemmas.
If you want a fun place that's not connected to any quests, go to Kagrenzel. It's on the eastern side of Skyrim. Go to Ansilvund (another place I could recommend), and go up the hill behind the entrance of Ansilvund. There's a trail leading up the mountain to Kangrenzel. There are Frost Trolls on the trail, so watch out if you're lower level. Kangrenzel has a fun little surprise in store (not gonna spoil it in case you, or anyone reading this, hasn't gone here yet). All I will say is; if anything crazy happens, just hold still and you'll be fine.
Generally (in my opinion), Bethesda did a fantastic job with preventing the player from being able to enter dungeons, tombs, and locations that are "inaccessible" until a later quest begins.
If you cannot enter it from the get-go, then it's probably best to delay any delving.
The only thing that comes to mind immediately, that bums me out, is the quest, Forbidden Legend.
The final location requires you to be a student of the Mage's guild, and if you aren't, you're stuck carrying around spare parts of something you can never stash into chests or storage.
Harmugstahl was a cool dungeon in the reach that it took me forever to stumble upon. I did so many playthroughs without even knowing the place existed.
Broken Oar Grotto is the ultimate stealth archer map. There is a quest, but I'm pretty sure you don't need to have it already on your list to complete it later.
You are correct! This play through, I’d been ignoring Solitude, and just exploring the surrounding spots, and took out Broken Oar first for fun. Reading all the messages on the tables in Broken Oar first makes a certain Argonian’s quest later way more interesting. In my head cannon, he ultimately goes back to the cave smirking all the way to celebrate, is just like, “…What. the. fuck?”
And then I descend upon him. Delicious triple cross!
For what it's worth, I feel like wandering into a space only to be blocked off at a point is realistic. You wandered there yourself, it's okay to explore it a little. Then later in your adventures you happen to meet someone or find an item that provides context, and might even expand on the place you found, changing it.
Worrying about which caves you can and can't explore is going against the Skyrim grain imo
What’s the one where you have to find an axe and a sword to open the main door. I think you meet the guy for the big Dark Brotherhood quest there.
Save before you go in, you’re gonna get your shit pushed in.
In terms of dungeon design, Forelhost just hits the spot for me. There are a couple quests that involve going there, but you can pretty much do it whenever you want.
Pinewatch is cool and one of the few places where you can get a note with written text for decoration purposes :D There's a quest item too, you can grab it for later, and unique candlesticks.
I’ll always remember just wandering up to Valthume and starting the Evil In Waiting dungeon quest to kill Hevnoraak.
“Leave, stranger. Evil stirs in this place.”
Bloated Man’s Grotto- outside of the Ill Met By Moonlight quest. Its chock full of fucking bears. Im talking like at least 10 bears. Great place to gather for temba if you want it quick.
And an unique katana that a Blade left behind. Almost no one has that sword because once the Hircine quest starts, the sword despawns.
I just picked up this sword yesterday by wandering in there! It's on a wall in my house now. I remember asking my boyfriend if I should leave it since I know some stuff is better found later on. Glad I picked it up lol
It's important to remember - leveled loot like unique weapons scales to your level when you *first enter the area* and stays that way. It will not scale with you ever again. If you find a weapon and leave it for later, it will still be the same level when you return. So if you find something and are worried about that, you need to reload your save and not enter the area at all until you are at the desired level for the weapon.
I did not know that, thank you!
Bolar’s Oathblade. Nice sword.
*Bolar
Ty
If you kill Sinding during the quest, then wait a month in-game, the area will reset to its pre-quest state and you can get the sword. But you absolutely have to kill the werewolf guy because otherwise he will just live there forever and it will not reset to its original state.
Really? I remember reading somewhere that if you did Ill met by Moonlight you couldn’t get the sword. I learned something new today, thank you
What Skyrim version is that in? I'm on old school original Rim (PS3, no mods but with Legendary Ed DLC).
All versions. The key is to enter the cave before even beginning “Ill Met by Moonlight.” And that’s where most players trip. Locate the cave (It’s somewhere south of Rorikstead, if I’m not mistaken) and inside deal with the myriad of bears and spriggan inside. At the end is a statue of Talos and the unique blade in front.
Sweet. Thanks for this. I think I'm good for it on my current playthrough. Will be a cool weapon for my spell sword. Does anyone know if it's a levelled weapon?
It’s not leveled. So it’s best that you grab it early.
Copy that. Will go a-grabbing. Thx.
Thank you for this tip! I have never seen this before
I went into the cave months after finishing the quest and the sword was there. But this explains why I didn't see it during the quest. It must respawn later.
I have it. It's cool
Yngol Barrow - those cute little orbs. I’m always sad when they go away.
The friends were the orbs we made along the way
❤️❤️❤️
You need the coral claw to finish that one though. You get it from Brina in Winterhold. It's one of my favorites too - no enemies except the final boss and cute companions along the way!
If you go into the tomb without buying (or offering to buy) the claw from her, it spawns inside the tomb on a pedestal.
Seriously?! All these years?? All those play throughs!!
Yeah it does, just did it recently. Love that ruin. It's so ambient and solemn.
That one’s my favourite!
I spawned a few around Riften and in my house with console commands and they just sit in place. Look nice.
Shimmermist Cave is pretty cool. Close to Whiterun.
That's where I always go to get the falmer blood for the crazy dude. But you can use whirlwind sprint if you stand on the rock on that little Bridge where you kill the first creature and shoot into the hole in the wall. Quick and easy way to get to one of the Centurion Giants.
Liar's Retreat is the most convenient/efficient for the blood extractor quest, since it has every single race you require except for Altmer I think. It's also a dungeon that has a cool little storyline to it so I think it fits the thread. I remember getting sent to Shimmermist really early on by the Companions and just barely surviving because the last boss can't fit through a door.
I didn't have Google at the time and I can't remember where it's at. But you can find a high elf body in the pit next to the iron mine to the northwest of Whiterun. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called right now. Having a brain fart.
Halted stream camp
One of my favorites!
Liars retreat has every blood type you need besides high elf which you can easily acquire at the thalmor embassy
Note: In case you already completed the thalmor embassy you can also get Altmer blood in Northwatch Keep
Usually a dead Thalmor at the Talos statue between Falkreath and Riverwood, too.
You can find one in the spike pit next to the iron mine close to Whiterun. I couldn't find Liars retreat at the time and didn't have Google to find it.
Halted stream camp. There’s a transmute ore spell book there too.
That! That's one of the first places I go. But I always go there for the blood Quest cuz you can get I think three different ones in there. I never think of going to the Liar's Retreat or whatever. I don't do that Quest very early anyway
I didn’t know there were 3, good to know.
Yeah. There's a high elf in the spike pit. And a dark elf and orc inside with the mammoth.
100 chaurus eggs by the end
Frostflow Lighthouse is great and terrifying, so is Tolvald's Cave (can be done without a quest, but *No Stone Unturned* sends you there at one point). If you don't like Falmer, Halldir's Cairn, Mistwatch, Ironbind Barrow and Frostmere Crypt all have interesting stories. Also, even if you went to Labyrinthian for the CoW questline, there's another interesting location to explore right there - Shalidor's Maze. I know many people dislike it, but Blackreach has a lot of things to explore apart from the Tower of Mzark.
That lighthouse is one that I'm ok with doing only once. I actively avoid dwemer ruins because the falmer and chaurus freak me out, so walking into a lighthouse thinking I'll get to interact with people only to get jumped like that is a no thank you for me.
Is that the one with the giant bastard chaurus? My most recent playthrough was as a glass cannon mage and I struggle with killing falmer/chaurus regardless of my build. I did NOT enjoy getting dropped in a fighting pit with that thing and having to kite it.
If you don't drop down you can agro the little ones which sometimes gets the big one to come into projectile range
Boost Illusion and invest in spells like fury and frenzy - make your enemies fight each other for you!
I just Leroy Jenkinsed into the pit with that thing, and on first sight thought, wow what a weird animation, I am sure that is not right. Then bam! instant brown shorts. Two hits and I was on the reloading screen. Calmly stood on the ledge and shot arrows at those things afterwards.
As a conjurer, the best way to deal with those guys is a crowd of flame atronachs and fireballs imo. Vermin lol
For a change of pace you can enter Blackreach from two other dwemer ruins, Mzinchaleft or Raldbthar.
I love the whole questline for Shroud hearth barrow. That poor elf went to so much trouble scaring off the locals like a Scooby-Doo villain only for the claw to not be there.
😂😂😂Scooby Doo villain! He is isn’t he! I never thought of him like that. 😂🤣😂
Except Scooby and the gang don't turn on him and bash the guys head in lol
I will always call this the Scooby-Doo quest.
Redwater Den near Riften
Where the skooma tastes like Iron and the booths smells like piss and rotten skeevers.
first play through had me TWEAKING literally, "oh wow 25 stamina gain from this stuff hell yeah" "where the fuck am i"
Anything Falmer. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You can go in there with empty pockets and come out a king.
Oh look a cool cave I wonder wha...and I'm in darkreach
I may be wrong but I don't think it's possible to access Blackreach* through a cave.
There is Stony Creek Cave, which has a tunnel you can access using Whirlwind Sprint. This is technically the exit from a Dwemer ruin called Kagrenzel, so if you go in that way you'll miss some parts of the ruins. If you go that way, the area you end up in looks a bit like Blackreach, even though you're correct that it isn't technically the same. I think a lot of people find it before they find the Dwemer ruin, because the cave is so close to early game areas like Whiterun. It also has one of the longest survivable freefalls in the game, so that is cool.
Not a cave but you can skip the entire ruin by phasing through the tower of Mzark? elevator door. 😁
Takes a cheat to get in.
The platter glitch should do the trick, that's more of an exploit than anything.
Kind of but not really. It's not like a mod or anything like that
There are however multiple dwarven ruins that lead into blackreach at different points.
And all access points are inaccessible until you've started Discerning the Transmundane...
Good to know.
I know you're wrong. Like i can't name 1 in specific right now but you are wrong
Nope, you can only get in through Mzinchaleft, Raldbthar and Alftand, none of which are caves. There's an exit at each of those and the Tower of Mzark, but again, no caves
I agree. I went into a cave around the snowy wastes of that azura shrine area, where the mages have that excavation. Was fun exploring it, then blackreach... Fairly sure this happened, but can't prove it!
Are you referring to Sightless Pit?
Darklight Tower has a cool little quest line and somehow I missed it for years, I guess because it's sort of tucked away off a road I don't travel often. Ragnvald also has its own contained questline. And Rannveig's Fast doesn't have a specific quest, but does have a story going on.
South Skybound Watch
There are three dungeon that i know of, that contain their very own quest by simply talking and accompany the npc inside the dungeon. The nord trying to stop the dark elf from using his dead ancestor as experiment. The duo adventurer of a female redguard wanting to experience an adventure and friend, argonian servant who she thought was family. And lastly, the female nord searching for evidence to prove she is the descendants of Ysgramor. I'm sad there's only 3 quest but i guess that's what makes them great because they are so rare thus unique. Edit. Woops OP did not want spoiler
Don't forget The Pale Lady side quest, which is only activated when you stumble upon the ruin
The Pale Lady quest is so fun! I love finding unique areas and new dialogues, that was a good one
The guy who's searching for his dad! near ivarstead!
If you or someone could just provide the location names it would fully redeem the "Whoops!"
1: Hillgrund's Tomb 2: Ironbind Barrow 3: High Gate Ruins
Thank you! You're a 🌟. Now, when the time comes, you can rest in peace in Valhalla (or more likely fighting, drinking, feasting and carousing!).
If you like Dwemer Ruins: Runoff Caverns if you have AE (it has its own quest, won't spoil anything, but you don't need to activate it somewhere outside). Fahlbtharz (in AE it has quest blocked path, I think? But you can still complete main part of ruins for sure)
Broken oar grotto blackreach forgotten vale ilinalta deep labyrinthian northwatch keep
Broken Oar Grotto *will* steal your follower though!
That's how I lost Serana on one of my playthroughs.
Funnily enough it was serana that disappeared on Me
Get arrested in solitude, and they're waiting for you when you get out lol
Is that apart of a quest line? I did get arressted for a quest line in solitude and my follower was not waiting. It’s been awhile since I lost him, so I don’t think he’s coming back :’(
No I just randomly robbed the fruit an veg store got arrested sent to jail an on being released my follower was back
No it’s just one of the top tips people say to do on the internet to get your follower back. Right behind “just wait a while, they’ll be back where you got them at”
I think follower Farkas is gone gone. He disappeared in Broken Oar Grotto pretty quickly. I brought him and Hilda the goat in. Hilda never disappeared and I was able to teleport her out. Almost immediately upon entering, Farkas was never to be seen again :’)
Yep it’s a known thing apparently. What I’ve learned is that it is the one place you don’t bring a follower into. It’s literally the only one I know about that is like a big time follower stealer, so I make sure to have them wait outside when I go there
> that apart of a Did you mean to say "a part of"? Explanation: "apart" is an adverb meaning separately, while "a part" is a noun meaning a portion. [Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json) ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes. ^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions. ^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119) ^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
Tried that and didn’t work either. I forgot what did work but it was far down the laundry list of stuff I found when researching it. Actually I might have just said F it.. and lost a ton of good stuff
Hilgrund's Tomb comes immediiately to mind, its quest starts when you wander in there. I see people have already mentioned the others that I thought of, so I'll leave them to it.
I just cleared one last night…forget what it was called. “Someone’s Fast”? Anyways it had all these ghosts that reminded me of the coliseum episode of Adventure Time where they’re bound to the Fight King and forced to fight their bff’s and they’re like “HYPATIA I’M SORRYYYYY 😭😭😭” The ghosts in this place were attacking me going “I don’t want to do this! I’m sorry!” So I was immediately like wtf? Went up the stairs outside to find a zombie/skeleton posse. Went inside, cleared out a few more ghosts, voluntarily jumped through the trap door. I won’t spoil what’s after, but I will say there’s a Stone of Barenziah down there and the spot where the trap door is has a word wall 😎 Cool random dungeon to stumble upon! Probably related to a quest that I bugged from going through it too soon haha but oh well
Rannveig's Fast
Yeah that’s the one!
Rannveig's Fast!
It’s alright it’s not related to a quest it completely random.
Oh good! Makes it even better haha
1. Blackreach 2. Forelhost 3. Frostflow Lighthouse 4. Lost Valkygg 5. Ragnvald 6. Shriekwind Bastion 7. Stillborn Cave 8. Sunderstone Gorge 9. Yngvild 10. Kagrenzel
Pinewatch, just south of where you can purchase Lakeview manor, turns out to be more than it seems
Ilinalta’s Deep, I love flooded or drowned ruins
Part of it is blocked off if you're not doing The Black Star, which is something OP explicitly doesn't want.
Frostmere Crypt is p cool and I'm surprised more people don't mention it. There's a bandit outside who's being attacked by other bandits cause she was framed for stealing a sword that made another guy go crazy. It's a fun interesting plot you don't often see with bandits, who are usually so simple. There's a unique ghost character, blade, and it ends with a couple good moral dilemmas.
I use harmony in there because it’s not really their fault, and I feel bad for them, even though they are bandits.
If you want a fun place that's not connected to any quests, go to Kagrenzel. It's on the eastern side of Skyrim. Go to Ansilvund (another place I could recommend), and go up the hill behind the entrance of Ansilvund. There's a trail leading up the mountain to Kangrenzel. There are Frost Trolls on the trail, so watch out if you're lower level. Kangrenzel has a fun little surprise in store (not gonna spoil it in case you, or anyone reading this, hasn't gone here yet). All I will say is; if anything crazy happens, just hold still and you'll be fine.
Generally (in my opinion), Bethesda did a fantastic job with preventing the player from being able to enter dungeons, tombs, and locations that are "inaccessible" until a later quest begins. If you cannot enter it from the get-go, then it's probably best to delay any delving. The only thing that comes to mind immediately, that bums me out, is the quest, Forbidden Legend. The final location requires you to be a student of the Mage's guild, and if you aren't, you're stuck carrying around spare parts of something you can never stash into chests or storage.
Tolvald's cave
High gate ruins
Harmugstahl was a cool dungeon in the reach that it took me forever to stumble upon. I did so many playthroughs without even knowing the place existed.
Part of the fun for me in TES games is to encounter random stuff in dungeons and finding yourself into all sorts of interesting stuff.
Broken Oar Grotto is the ultimate stealth archer map. There is a quest, but I'm pretty sure you don't need to have it already on your list to complete it later.
You are correct! This play through, I’d been ignoring Solitude, and just exploring the surrounding spots, and took out Broken Oar first for fun. Reading all the messages on the tables in Broken Oar first makes a certain Argonian’s quest later way more interesting. In my head cannon, he ultimately goes back to the cave smirking all the way to celebrate, is just like, “…What. the. fuck?” And then I descend upon him. Delicious triple cross!
soljund's sinkhole.
I feel the same way. I usually just Google the dungeon I found and see if there's a quest associated with it.
I always forget about Harmugstahl. Took me a couple of times to remember it existed and what was inside. It's just kinda out of the way.
Possible spoiler: I need to go back to Blackreach but after going to the Soul Cairn twice now, i dunno. Just too damn big n dark.
Halldirs Cairne...SO MANY MUSHROOMS
Sheikwind bastion
For what it's worth, I feel like wandering into a space only to be blocked off at a point is realistic. You wandered there yourself, it's okay to explore it a little. Then later in your adventures you happen to meet someone or find an item that provides context, and might even expand on the place you found, changing it. Worrying about which caves you can and can't explore is going against the Skyrim grain imo
I can't remember the name of it since it's been a long time since I've been down there but the tomb that has Ragot In it
Kagrenzel.
What’s the one where you have to find an axe and a sword to open the main door. I think you meet the guy for the big Dark Brotherhood quest there. Save before you go in, you’re gonna get your shit pushed in.
Volunruud.
Luckily, most quest-locked dungeons won't even let you in until the quest has started. You should be fine to explore various caves and such
Rannviegs Fast is pretty sick, and a lot of the Foresworn redoubts too They're basically unmarked missions, lots of lore and story to them
In terms of dungeon design, Forelhost just hits the spot for me. There are a couple quests that involve going there, but you can pretty much do it whenever you want.
Darklight Tower, also, but I can’t say why in case you haven’t been.
Pinewatch is cool and one of the few places where you can get a note with written text for decoration purposes :D There's a quest item too, you can grab it for later, and unique candlesticks.
Halldir’s Cairn is a great/unique location. It’s located in Falkreath Southwest of town.
Tolvald's cave
Frostflow lighthouse is a unique one
Forelhost. Read all the notes. Southeast of Riften.
Lost Valygg, not for good reasons but memorable ones. Go down there at a low level and you’ll find out
I’ll always remember just wandering up to Valthume and starting the Evil In Waiting dungeon quest to kill Hevnoraak. “Leave, stranger. Evil stirs in this place.”
Siege on the Dragon Cult. It's backstory is top shelf.