Can You Cure the Afflicted in Skyrim?
Yes, you absolutely can cure all the poor souls across Skyrim afflicted with an incurable plague in the Skyrim quest "The Only Cure." By slaying the deranged apostate priest Orchendor, you lift Peryite‘s curse and essentially heal every single afflicted NPC.
As a passionate Skyrim player myself, I was delighted when I discovered this daedric questline to cure the sick. Read on for a complete walkthrough plus expert tips and insights into undoing Peryite‘s pestilent work in Skyrim!
Understanding Peryite and Orchendor
To cure the afflicted, you must first understand why they became afflicted in the first place. The daedric prince Peryite is the demonic god of pestilence, plagues, and disease. Long ago, Peryite gifted some mortal followers across Tamriel with damage health and poison abilities to "cleanse the world" as he saw fit.
However, one of his priests, an Altmer named Orchendor, abandoned his duty and lost Peryite‘s favor. Obsessed with plagues and diseases, Orchendor began conducting twisted experiments infecting people with harmful toxins. This spawned countless afflicted victims begging for a merciful end to their suffering.
According to the Skyrim wiki, Orchendor is hiding deep within the Dwemer ruins of Bthardamz – and this is where our quest begins.
Starting the Only Cure Quest
You can trigger this quest by approaching any of the Afflicted around Skyrim who will beg you to end their misery. The most common location is near Markarth‘s gates. Or talk to the orc named Kesh at the Peryite shrine southeast of Markarth to formally start the quest.
Kesh will ask you to gather some items to speak to Peryite:
- Flawless Ruby
- Silver Ingot
- Deathbell Flower
- Vampire Dust
Return with the ingredients and inhale the cauldron‘s vapor to commune with Peryite directly. The dragon prince will formally charge you with entering Bthardamz and killing Orchendor to lift the curse on the afflicted of Skyrim.
Fighting Through Bthardamz
Bthardamz is a massive Dwemer ruin located northwest of the Lover Stone containing afflicted and mechanical foes. According to UESP, here are some key details on what awaits inside:
- 5 Zones – Each zone has various enemies and challenges
- Massive size – Has at least 150 different areas and rooms
- Enemies – Afflicted, Dwemer machines, Dwarven spiders / spheres
Work your way through Bthardamz eliminating hostiles until you reach Orchendor‘s lair in the main chamber overlooking the great forge.
Confronting Orchendor
Orchendor sports extremely high health (440 points) and knows expert level Destruction spells, so be prepared for an intense showdown! My recommended strategy is resist his magic then close the gap for melee strikes. Block his spells with a shield or Ward spell and keep health potions handy.
Once Orchendor falls, Peryite will speak and officially lift the curse on the afflicted of Skyrim – our quest is complete!
Rewarded with Spellbreaker
Return to Peryite‘s shrine and speak to Kesh to collect the Spellbreaker artifact shield as a reward.
This unique Dwarven Shield has a lesser ward enchant that blocks 50 points of spell damage by raising a defensive Ward when blocking. As IGN describes, that‘s equal to the base Ward spell plus Augmented Flames perk without using any magicka!
Any combat class would benefit greatly from Spellbreaker. As a passionate gamer myself, I especially recommend it for:
- Warrior Tanks – Blocking mages becomes trivial
- Battle-Mages – Frees up Alteration perks for other magic schools
- Stealth Archers – Creates breathing room against detect spells
So in summary, by curing the Afflicted you not only heal numerous victims of Peryite‘s cruel pestilence across Skyrim but also earn an incredibly useful reward that enhances almost any build. Quest complete!
