Skyrim:No One Escapes Cidhna Mine

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Escape from Cidhna Mine!
Location(s): Cidhna Mine, Markarth
Prerequisite Quest: The Forsworn Conspiracy
Reward: Silver-Blood Family Ring and/or Armor of the Old Gods (see notes)
Disposition: =1 (Thonar Silver-Blood) if Madanach killed
ID: MS02
Suggested Level: 6
 
The prison cell in which you awaken at the beginning of the quest

Quick Walkthrough[edit]

  1. Complete The Forsworn Conspiracy and go to jail.
  2. Brawl, bribe, and/or lie your way into a meeting with Madanach.
  3. Follow Madanach's instructions and escape with the rest of the prisoners, or kill Madanach and escape on your own.

Detailed Walkthrough[edit]

Doing Time[edit]

Borkul the Beast

You will arrive in Cidhna Mine after completing the quest The Forsworn Conspiracy and choosing to go to jail, where Urzoga gra-Shugurz tells you that you will have to mine for your freedom. Your journal will inform you that you must find Madanach, also known as the King in Rags, to help clear your name. Head through the gate, walk down the wooden platform, and talk to miner Uraccen who is sitting by the fire.

Uraccen will say that you won't be able to speak with Madanach unless you can get past his bodyguard Borkul the Beast. Uraccen can entertain you with a story of one of Borkul's exploits before you go speak with him. Borkul is guarding one of the three gates in this room. When you ask him to see Madanach, he tells you that the toll for entry is a shiv. As alternatives to his request, you can brawl with him, intimidate or persuade him, or pickpocket the key from him.

Option Dialogue Reaction
I don't have a shiv. Then find one. That dung heap Grisvar's been known to make a few. Find a shiv
Here's your shiv. All right, head on in. But don't try anything in there. Madanach is smarter than you think. Pass the door
Madanach is expecting me. (Persuade) Passed: Hmph. Fine. Go on in. But don't try anything in there. Madanach knows more than you think.
Failed: The only thing Madanach expects is a bottle of Skooma in tribute every so often. You're not getting through.		 Passed: Pass the door
Failed: Nothing
How about some skooma instead? (Bribe) Passed: Ah, now that's a good idea. Head on in. But don't try anything in there. Madanach is smarter than you think. Passed: Pass the door
Let me through, pig-face. (Intimidate) Passed: Those eyes. All right, killer, go on through. But don't try anything. Madanach knows more than you think.
Failed: That's what I was hoping you'd say.		 Passed: Pass the door
Failed: Turn hostile
How about I fight you for it? (Brawl) Brawl: That's what I was hoping you'd say.
  • Victory: It's been so long since I tasted my own blood. Sour.
    • You'll let me through now?
    • Yeah, yeah. Go on in.
  • Failure: (Nothing)
 Brawl
I'll pay the toll later. That's right. Turn around and leave. Nothing

To get a shiv, talk to Grisvar the Unlucky, who will ask for a bottle of skooma. To get the skooma, you have to find Duach and pass a speech challenge, win a brawl, or pickpocket him.

Option Dialogue Reaction
I need some. Badly. (Persuade) Passed: Getting the shakes, huh? All right. Take it. Old gods keep you.
Failed: Skooma addict. Get lost.		 Passed: Get the skooma
Failed: Nothing
Hand over the skooma. (Brawl) Passed: Easy there. I didn't mean nothing. Take it.
Brawl: That's it.
  • Victory: Damn addicts always stealing from me.
    • Now give me that skooma.
    • Here. I hope you choke on it.
  • Failure: (Nothing)
 Passed: Get the skooma
Failed: Brawl
Never mind. Smart. Nothing

Bring the skooma to Grisvar, who will give you the shiv. If you want to keep the shiv, then you can still attempt the alternatives to completing Borkul's request. You can pickpocket an additional bottle of skooma from Duach and bribe Borkul with it. Alternately, you can also start a battle with the Forsworn prisoners (attack anyone but Grisvar). This locks you into killing Madanach, as he becomes hostile. This fight can be difficult; you have no armor, no enchantments, and your only non-conjured weapons are pickaxes and possibly shivs, though you can still use any magic or powers that you may possess. Once you've won, loot the key off Borkul's body and proceed to kill Madanach per the next section.

The King in Rags[edit]

Planning to escape

Once you get past the Orc, you will see Madanach sitting at a desk. He will direct some disparaging remarks at you regarding your predicament, and ask you what you want. Here, you can take one of two paths: take your revenge, or find your answers. If you seek revenge, you can kill Madanach here (or at any time) and then escape on your own. If you want a fair fight, you can tell him you plan to kill him; otherwise, just attack him. Attacking him will make all of the other prisoners hostile (except Grisvar), but as long as they are out of range, they will not rush in to join the fight. Search Madanach's body for a key and a note, then unlock the gate and exit the prison.

If you seek answers instead, Madanach will direct you to Braig, another prisoner, to hear his story of injustice. After you have convinced Braig to tell his story, return to Madanach. You will see a different side of Madanach, and the horrors that drive his purpose. He tells you he wants to return to the war and will help you escape as well, but only if you prove your loyalty to him by killing Grisvar the Unlucky. If you gave your shiv to Borkul, you can get a new one from Madanach at this point. Find Grisvar and kill him. If you tell him that, "Madanach says hello", Grisvar will eventually become hostile and the other inmates will attack him. Once he's dead, return to Madanach, who will declare you an honorary member of the Forsworn and lead the prisoners to the escape tunnel.

Escape[edit]

Fighting for freedom

After a short speech, follow Madanach and the Forsworn through the tunnel to Markarth Ruins. You will encounter a pair of frostbite spiders, then one or two Dwarven Spheres as you make your way through the ruins. If you're on your own, you can sneak off the bridge onto the floor below, as fighting alone will be quite difficult without any of your normal equipment. Once past the automatons, continue through the ruins until you reach a short tunnel that leads to a door to Markarth. Thonar will return your equipment and give you the Silver-Blood Family Ring if you are on your own and have killed Madanach when you exit the gates.

If you sided with Madanach, a Forsworn woman named Kaie will be there to return your confiscated goods and give you the Armor, Boots, Gauntlets, and Helmet of the Old Gods. The Forsworn will all equip their own gear and run out. When you follow them through the door, you will emerge into a standoff between the Forsworn and Thonar Silver-Blood, accompanied by a Markarth City guard. After a short conversation, Madanach and the Forsworn will attack and kill Thonar, then fight their way through the rest of the city guard to the gates. Note that some of the townsfolk may be hostile to the Forsworn and can be killed during the breakout.

Once outside the city walls, Madanach and any remaining Forsworn will then run to Druadach Redoubt where they will take up permanent residence. Madanach's Forsworn at Druadach Redoubt will remain friendly to you if you sided with him, although all other encampments will still be hostile. No matter which approach you used, you will be pardoned.

Notes[edit]

  • It is possible to obtain both the Armor of the Old Gods and the Silver-Blood Family Ring.
    • Side with Madanach and stall him in the escape tunnels after receiving the Armor of the Old Gods. When the other Forsworn run outside, you can kill him and loot his key. Head outside and kill the other Forsworn, then return to Madanach's corpse in order to get his note. You can then exit the ruins again and talk to Thonar in order to receive the ring.
    • You can also attack and kill the Forsworn while still in the tunnels. Once you exit, Thonar will give you the Silver-Blood Family Ring.
  • This quest counts towards the Sideways achievement regardless of whether you choose to help or kill Madanach.
    • Escaping from Cidhna Mine during this quest does not add to "Jail Escapes" statistic, nor will it grant you the Wanted achievement.
  • Escaping with Madanach and his followers can lead to the unintended deaths of several non-essential NPCs as you make your way through Markarth itself.
    • You can skip to the end of the quest and avoid the potential massacre completely by fast traveling away from Markarth once you've escaped the ruins. You'll need to do this quickly and/or stealthily, before the city guards can become hostile to you and thereby prevent you from fast traveling; you can still complete the quest later by speaking to Madanach either at Drudach Redoubt or on the way there.
    • Alternatively, wait until midnight before heading out, when most citizens will be indoors and away from the fight.
    • Vigilant Tyranus, required for the quest The House of Horrors, will never sleep and is always present on the streets of Markarth before his quest is started. He will thus attempt to attack the Forsworn, and as he is essential but weak, he can get stuck in a fight and thus cause the battle to last much longer than necessary. It is advised to begin his quest in order to remove him from the streets.
  • The inhabitants of Cidhna Mine are all scripted to die if you decide to kill Madanach in his cell and escape from the mine alone.
  • The Markarth Ruins remain accessible after this quest; however you cannot sneak back into the mine this way as the way back into Madanach's cell is closed off.
  • If you side with Madanach, he gives you all your non-quest items at the exit of the ruin. You will receive all your quest items after Madanach has finished his dialogue with Thonar and started fighting.
    • When your inventory is returned to you, it will include any stolen items that you were carrying when you began the quest. This is unlike going to jail normally, where the guards permanently confiscate your stolen items and do not give them back at the end of your sentence.
    • Once either Madanach or Thonar returns your items to you, the residents of Markarth will act as if you sided with that person in dialogue, regardless of whether or not you killed them after receiving your items.
  • The Dragonborn expansion provides another possible method of smuggling possessions into the mine, which is to give some of them to the Secret Servant acquired from the Black Book, Untold Legends, before being incarcerated. Once within the mine, you can simply summon the servant and retrieve your possessions from him.

Bugs[edit]

  • If you are doing one of Delvin's and/or Vex's special jobs, and you trigger this quest before you report back to them, you will be told you failed the Thieves Guild quest when you return to them, because you were arrested.
  • Killing the guards in the mine before starting this quest can potentially block quest progression.
  • Borkul the Beast cannot be intimidated due to the confidence level bug.
    • PC Only The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.0.5, addresses this issue. His confidence value has been lowered one notch to "Brave" instead of "Foolhardy"
  • Any of the prisoners killed may not get their bodies removed correctly due to their alias in the DialogueCidhnaMine quest not getting cleared.
  • Some of the Forsworn in Cidhna Mine are not properly killed when siding with Thonar due to still being locked in protected aliases.
  • If you start the process to escape Cidhna Mine but turn on Madanach while in the ruins, the control quest MS02EscapeMadanachEnding is never terminated, which results in Thonar hanging around outside the ruins indefinitely.
  • Thonar's arrival outside the ruins could be delayed due to a control quest checking for the wrong location starting up. The delay was sometimes significant enough that he could be missed entirely and leave the quest stuck.
  • Getting thrown into Cidhna Mine may disable all sound effects for picking up items or transferring them between inventories. This should turn back to normal after the quest is completed, but can persist even after completion.
  • If you kill Madanach and escape by yourself, Thonar may attack you on sight. Due to him still being marked as essential at this point, you won't be able to kill him.
    • To fix this, either cast a Calm spell on him, or leave the location for 24 and return to the escape exit point. Thonar should be calm and ready to talk.
  • You are able to smuggle outside weapons into the prison during the quest. To do this, you must hotkey the equipment before entering the Shrine of Talos. While none of the items will show up in your inventory, they will still appear in the hotkey menu, and can be equipped. However, this only works with quest items, and they may disappear completely afterwards, potentially breaking any of the item-related quests, such as Alduin's Bane or Rebel's Cairn. ?
  • On PlayStation On PSVR only, the summer 2018 patch (1.4.40.0.8) broke this quest; after submitting to the guards and agreeing to go to jail, you will end up with a black screen almost immediately. You will still hear some audio for a short time, but very quickly you will be unable to bring-up the in-game menu (for Save/Load/Quit), click any buttons or choose any actions, or hear any sounds. Your only option will be to system-close the application. ?
    • The bug occurs while Urzoga gra-Shugurz is speaking to you. If you load an old save and kill her before starting the quest, the bug should not be triggered, although due to another bug, killing her might lead to you not being able to escape the prison.
    • If you own the game on disk, delete your installation, then re-install the game, but don't apply any patches. Play the game; after you've exited the cell, it should work to save the game, apply all patches, then continue playing.

Quest Stages[edit]

No One Escapes Cidhna Mine (MS02)
Stage Finishes Quest Journal Entry
5 I'm imprisoned inside Cidhna Mine, framed for Eltrys' murder. I have to find Madanach, the King in Rags, and clear my name.
Objective 10: Ask a prisoner about Madanach
10
Objective 20: Get past Borkul the Beast
25
Objective 25: Talk to Madanach
30
Objective 30: Hear Braig's story
40
Objective 40: Return to Madanach
50
Objective 50: Kill Grisvar the Unlucky
60
Objective 60: Return to Madanach
70
Objective 70: Follow Madanach
100 Finishes quest☑ I have helped Madanach escape Cidhna Mine, and he and his Forsworn have taken credit for all my past crime, clearing my name in the Reach.
200
Objective 150: Kill Madanach
210
Objective 200: Search Madanach's body
220
Objective 210: Read Madanach's note
230
Objective 220: Escape Cidhna Mine
250 Finishes quest☑ Thonar Silver-Blood has granted me a pardon for killing Madanach. My name has now been cleared in the Reach.
  • The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 20, 55, 75, 77, 80.
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 MS02 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 MS02.
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