I thought it would be cool to have a thread where we could list (and give directions to) all of those cool little places we find as we wander our way around Skyrim. This way we can not only express those little extra bits of story plugged into the game (most of them don't even have quests tied to them, so they often fall into the "easily missed" category), but also give our fellow gamers a little knowledge that they can use to track them down and experience them for themselves.

A commonly enjoyed one is Anise's Cabin due west of Helgen, with the back story of her trying to start a Witche's Coven and then having the Alchemy and Enchanting tables in the "secret" basemant. Just the whole ambiance of finding a little secret like this tucked away somewhere is very cool to me, and I think it will resonate with others in the same way.

So, what little secret places while wandering the wilderness have you found? How'd you find it, and what did you like best about it?

"The Chill." It's a mysterious little cave somewhere north of Winterhold. It doesn't show up on the map after you "discover" it either.

Inside there are three rusty cages (with nothing much of interest inside), and a weird, frozen Frost Atronach. It just stands there with its back to you just inside the door, and lets you kill it.

The problem is, once you spend all of 30 seconds nosing around inside and find nothing, you leave. And then, there are suddenly THREE Frost Atronachs just outside the entrance. These ARE aggressive, and they're apparently pretty salty that you put down their paralyzed pal.

Weird. Eerie.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Unmarked_World_Map_Locations

I beleive you have found winterholds jail if I remember right I served some time there once for an "accident" with a spell The Atronachs oddly are the guards

Just found this beauty the other day ...

I was wondering along the northern coastline. The wind was getting up and night was falling. I started looking for a place to shelter. In the distance, through the snow I saw a lighthouse. It looked perfect. As I approached the door I saw a dead horse outside ... I gave it little enough thought but I should have known better.

*minor spoiler* Turns out that a family moved in there only to be killed by falmer and their little bastard-insect-pet-things. Explore the basemant and you eventually find a huge nest of those little bugs ... filled with their eggs. Hundreds and hundreds of eggs. I think I picked up about 200 but I didn't get them all. Why? Well, you need them to make invisibility potions and are normally (in my experience) hard to get.

You also get some pretty good loot. And a blessing, if you figure out how to do something right

Right on! Good stuff guys, lets keep this going.

I found a shrine of Talos just Today, Near Foki's Shack that had a Light Imperial Shield and the Sparatan looking Imperial Helmet.

Wandering along the frozen coastline, between Winterhold and Dawnstar (I believe or between Dawnstar and Solitude lol I wandered that whole coastline), I found this empty tent near the shore. It contained 2 bedrolls, an Amulet of Mara, some wine, 2 goblets and various wild flowers covered the ground. I wonder where the two lovers went, after celebrating their wedding night.

@ Jaqen - OMG yea, that lighthouse was CREEPY! LOL

I just found one that I thought was cool as hell.

If you go West from Whiterun, you will come across a small spring that has a woman's hand sticking out of it, holding a random sword. I thought; 'Hey, that's kind of like the Excalibur legend...'. You'll kind of have to look around a bunch if you search for this one, its location isn't marked on the map. But should you be able to track it down, it's pretty good.

Oh yea, Excalibur! If you leave the sword there, it will change depending on your level. It was an Orcish sword when I found it with my first character. Now at lvl 56, it's an Ebony Blade. lol

Speaking of Whiterun: Who here has found the Lunar Forge? I've found it a few times, but I never forged weapons there. I need to try that out.
The place is called Silent Moons Camp and is North West of Whiterun.

Posted a location not that long ago....


http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1329984-found-a-loot-location/page__fromsearch__1

Nice location Bats! I'll have to check that out.

That reminds me. In the river east of Whiterun (between the Ritual Stone and Valtheim towers) There's a small island with a Saber Cat and a chest.

Here's a link to a cool map http://www.gamebanshee.com/showshot.php?/skyrim/mapofskyrim/skyrimmap.png

Nice find! Thankyou!!

I actually found this out last night, I had a bounty in Winterhold and didn't have enough gold to pay the bounty so I went to prison. Then I found myself in this odd place, It was pretty sweet.

That sword is level scaled, http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197988732882/screenshot/649876689693040893?tab=public, this time it was steel.

But you can get an Ebony sword from Arcwind Point at any level (i think), a somehwat hidden location west of Autumnwatch Tower, if you can pry it from the cold dead hands of a Deathlord

Also, there's a curious little Dwarven ruin hidden on the eastern mountains pretty close to where Skuldafn is, go east from Ansilvund and think fast

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197988732882/screenshot/649872251729597112/?tab=public

The sad thing is that the only location on that map that i hadn't discovered on my own is Japher's Folly Bring on the DLC

I found a weird place that's directly west of fort greymoor I think, allthough I was drunk at the time so my bearings may be off a little. It's a pit with a locked cage over the top and another of those simplistic and tedious puzzles with the 'bird' 'snake' 'wale' symbol system again, and when you get it right you can go into the pit, or fall into the pit, depending on your sobriety level, and get some rather anonymous but still worth a fair amount of gold loot.

Yeah, that's an unmarked ruin on the north side of the road from Whiterun to the west. There are many such unmarked locations with loot, but haven't found any else with a puzzle.

LMAO - yea I came across that place during my first play through (I was sober! =p) I think that's also the first place I saw a freakin' giant in the "wild" (besides the one on the farm the companions clobber) lol I kept an eye on him, but he didn't seem to care that I was running around these weird stones, trying to figure out the combination to open the grate that covered the chest hahahaha

There's a weird- I don't know- platform? south of Winterhold. It doesn't show up on the map.
There's some sort of pillar and an altar with a few odds and ends on it. No shrine, nothing intertactable.
I'm wandering around, exploring it, trying to figure out what it is and I get STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
I draw my weapons, but no enemies are showing up on radar.
Get hit by lightning again!
I pull back a little to check it out from a distance and hear Eola, who's with me at the time, yell out. Apparently she got hit when my back was turned.
Left without futher exploration and haven't gone back there yet.

Found this place today. There are loads of Lightning Runes on the ground and a soul gem on an altar.

Been there, saw the cages but no combat. Maybe my level was too low.

No offense, but that's not a secret thing. It's an actual quest that's in the guidebook.

My only secret thing probably isn't much of a secret by now; the Whiterun chest. I was stoked when I found out about it; so I turned on the game and ran over to the location and found the chest. Surely, this was gonna be cool. I open up the chest and... 6 gold pieces. Yay.

I once found a cabin in the woods that had been burned down and inside was a skeleton clutching a Conjure Flame Atronach scroll.

Amatuers and their conjuration spells. Psh.

I found a little stone circle not far from Whiterun with some of those turning puzzle stones. They open a great that conceals a treasure chest. Had missed that on my first three characters.

I remember that light house. That was probably the best and most intresting Miscellaneous quest in the game.