How do you activate Tree Stone?

The Ritual of Trees

Quest Giver

Tharsten Heart-Fang

Location

Skaal Village
Brodir Grove

Prerequisite

The Disappearance of Captain Carius

Next Quest

The Skaal Test of Wisdom

Reward

Progressing the quest " The Skaal Test of Loyalty

Type

Main quest Quest ID BM_Trees The Ritual of Trees is a one of the quests in the main questline of The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon needed to complete the quest "The Skaal Test of Loyalty."

Background

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As part of the main quest, "The Skaal Test of Loyalty," this quest requires the Nerevarine to find and activate the Tree Stone, with the help of The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer and the map.

The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer

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This is the extract of the book The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer that is relevant to this quest:

Aevar's strength had returned, so he traveled on to the Tree Stone, though the Good Beast did not follow him. When he arrived, the All-Father spoke to him.

"The First Trees are gone, and must be replanted. Find the seed and plant the First Tree."

Aevar traveled again through the Hirstaang Forest, searching for the seeds of the First Tree, but he could find none. Then he spoke to the Tree Spirits, the living trees. They told him that the seeds had been stolen by one of the Falmer (for they are the servants of the Adversary), and this Falmer was hiding them deep in the forest, so that none would ever find them. Aevar traveled to the deepest part of the forest, and there he found the evil Falmer, surrounded by the Lesser Tree Spirits. Aevar could see that the Spirits were in his thrall, that he had used the magic of the Seeds and spoken their secret name. Aevar knew he could not stand against such a force, and that he must retrieve the seeds in secret. Aevar reached into his pouch and drew out his flint. Gathering leaves, he started a small fire outside the clearing where the Falmer and the ensorcelled Spirits milled. All the Skaal know the Spirits' hatred of fires, for the fires ravage the trees they serve. At once, the Nature of the Spirits took hold, and they rushed to quell the flames. During the commotion, Aevar snuck behind the Falmer and snatched the pouch of Seeds, stealing away before the evil being knew they were gone.

When Aevar returned to the Tree Stone, he planted the tree in the ground, and the All-Maker spoke to him.

"The Gift of Trees is restored. Once again, the Trees and Plants will bloom and grow, and provide nourishment and shade."

Objectives

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1. Activate the Tree Stone
2. Defeat the Riekling
3. Retrieve the Strange Seeds from its corpse
4. Plant the seed
5. Activate the Tree Stone once more

Walkthrough

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The Tree Stone

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The Tree Stone is a dark grey and tall pillar and it can be found in the center of Solstheim, north of Brodir Grove. After activating the stone, the Nerevarine receives a message, "The First Trees are gone. Travel east and find the one who has stolen the Seeds. Beware--he who has the seeds, controls the trees. Plant the First anew." They must, now, travel east and find the culprit, who has stolen the seeds.

The riekling and the spriggans

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Note: It is possible to run/sneak with a Chameleon spell and kill the Riekling. Then promptly retrieve the seeds from his corpse. This will turn the spriggans non-hostile, thus avoiding a long battle.

Just east of the stone should be a Riekling surrounded by five Spriggans. They will attack the Nerevarine. Spriggans have a natural ability to die three times, thus they must, each, be killed three times. This may become a relatively challenging battle. Once the Riekling has been killed, the Strange Seeds may be retrieved from its corpse. The Spriggans won't attack anyone who is holding the Strange Seeds.

Restoring the Tree Stone

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After returning to the Tree Stone, the Nerevarine will receive instrctions to plant the seed not far from the stone. There, some stones can be seen, just left of the Tree Stone, between these stones there is a patch of fertile soil, this is where the seeds must be planted.

The Nerevarine may return to the stone and activate it to complete this quest.

Journal

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The Ritual of Trees – BM_Trees ID Journal Entry 10 As I approached the Tree Stone, I saw magical writing appear on its surface. They read: "The First Trees are gone. Travel east and find the one who has stolen the Seeds. Beware--he who has the seeds, controls the trees. Plant the First anew." Then, the writing disappeared.

• Quest accepted

20 I've entered a clearing where there are a group of Spriggans surrounding a Riekling minion. The Spriggans seem to be in the Riekling's thrall, and look . 30 I have recovered the Seeds from the Riekling. There was a clearing northwest of the Tree Stone where they might be planted. 40 I have planted the Seeds. I should return to the Tree Stone. 100 After planting the Seeds, I approached the Tree Stone. It began to glow with a magical light.

• Quest complete

Appearances

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Quick Walkthrough

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1. Use the Bend Will shout to cleanse the Beast Stone.
2. Use the Bend Will shout to cleanse the Earth Stone.
3. Use the Bend Will shout to cleanse the Sun Stone.
4. Use the Bend Will shout to cleanse the Water Stone.

Detailed Walkthrough

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With the Wind Stone cleansed, return to Skaal Village and tell Storn Crag-Strider the good news. He will suggest you to do the same for the remaining four stones of Solstheim. He doubts it will fully stop whatever Miraak is doing, but it may slow his progress. Your map will be updated and show you the location of your targets: Beast Stone, Earth Stone, Sun Stone, and Water Stone.

Beast Stone

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The Beast Stone is southwest of Skaal Village; this is the nearest stone you may find. Two entranced Rieklings are working there. A leveled cultist is patrolling around the stone and monitoring the work of Miraak's poor slaves. The cultist will attack you on sight, so defeat your enemy and use the Bend Will shout to cleanse the stone. The structure around the stone will collapse and a leveled lurker will raise from the water. The two Rieklings won't turn hostile to you. They will stay here for a short moment then return to their tribe at Thirsk Mead Hall.

Sun Stone

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Keep traveling south and you'll find the Sun Stone in the north of Tel Mithryn. A group of Reavers are focusing on their building. Shout at the stone and a leveled lurker will attack you. The fight will be much easier with the help of these Reavers. They won't attack you after the combat; they'll just wander around the stone and give you some generic, non-hostile responses. After you leave this area, they will be removed from the game.

Earth Stone

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Travel to Raven Rock and you should find the Earth Stone without much trouble. Bralsa Drel, Rirns Llervu, and three Redoran guards have lost themselves here, doing their work mindlessly. Cleanse the stone and two lurkers will appear this time. One is near the stone, the other one is near the coastline. The guards will try their best to give you a hand. Pay close attention to the safety of Bralsa as she gives a quest later on. They will return to the city soon after regaining their freedom.

Water Stone

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Walk along the west coast of Solstheim to find the Water Stone. The shrine at this stone is being worked on by a group of sailors, and a cultist is monitoring their work. The cultist will attack you without hesitation. Defeat your enemy and do the same to the stone. A leveled lurker will rise from the water and try to kill you. In addition, a low-level dragon will fly in from the west. If you haven't already triggered the Rieklings hidden in barrels to the southeast, they'll also arrive shortly, which can make for a chaotic battle. Fortunately, you don't need to guarantee the safety of every sailor. They will return to their boat docked in the bay once they are freed. After you leave this area, they will sail back to Skyrim with their ship.

Notes

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• Before you cleanse the stones, the entranced people working there will repeat the following texts mechanically: "Here in his shrine.(Here in his temple.) That they have forgotten. Here do we toil. That we might remember. By the night we reclaim.(Here we reclaim.) What by day was stolen.(What faithless minds have stolen.) Far from ourselves. He grows ever near to us. Our eyes once were blinded. Now through him do we see. Our hands once were idle. Now through them does he speak. And when the world shall listen. And when the world shall see. And when the world remembers. That world will cease to be."
• The entranced Rieklings around the Beast Stone will repeat some similar texts in their own language: "Wafoo athaaaal. Bertiflik a goroowala. Hra woong aba. Tika twafaara filik. Wilberk tikflaaar. Yuchaaa tungar cha tiweki. Bura warag faaanig. Tiri fuklik taaar aburak."
• More people and Rieklings would appear at Beast Stone, Sun Stone, and Water Stone during the night.
• The Tree Stone is the only All-Maker Stone that is not cleansed by the end of this quest.
• This quest must be completed to finish The Gardener of Men and the rest of the expansion's main questline.
• Prior to completing this quest, there is a chance that you will wake up at one of the stones whenever you sleep. See the notes section on the All-Maker Stones article for more detail.
• You can cleanse the stones before the quest has started. If you cleanse all of them before getting the Dragonborn quest, Storn will send you to find Frea at the Tree Stone, instantly completing Dragonborn and starting The Temple of Miraak.

Bugs

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• When attempting to use the Bend Will shout on a corrupted stone, you may lose the ability to interact with it, but the event will not start, causing the quest to become stuck.
  • Travel to the Wind Stone and acquire its power to get the quest working properly. Stones you've already tried to cleanse will spawn Lurkers as soon as you near them but the shrines will not explode.
  • Alternatively, simply leaving the cell and returning to it, or saving and reloading the saved game, may resolve the problem, with the Lurker(s) appearing and the quest updating after the fight.
• As many as three lurkers may appear (rare). One or two may be a significant distance from the stone after cleansing it. (Even out in the ocean or falling off a cliff).

Quest Stages

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Cleansing the Stones (DLC2MQ03B) Stage Finishes Quest Journal Entry 5

Objective 10:

Cleanse the Water Stone

Objective 20:

Cleanse the Earth Stone

Objective 30:

Cleanse the Beast Stone

Objective 40:

Cleanse the Sun Stone

After I destroyed Miraak's control of the Wind Stone, Storn has asked me to free the remaining sacred Stones using my "Bend Will" Shout. 200

Finishes quest

I cleansed the sacred Stones that Miraak had corrupted. Solstheim is free of his influence except for the Tree Stone, which remains imprisoned inside his new Temple.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DLC2MQ03B stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DLC2MQ03B.