I cannot for the life of me, remember the name of this place. It was in my last game file which I started over recently. I want to know if these NPC's are supposed to be dead, or if it was a bug.

The place was almost submerged underwater. It was near helgen, in the nearby river, going the oppostite direction of riverwood, past the stones and hunter.

It was a broken down fort / keep, and the only way in was a small door hatch, like a storm shelter.

When I first entered, I saw a large blue colored bonfire with several dead NPC's around the fire, and they all had names.

The place was full of necromancers and drauger, and it contained a "fish" "snake" "hawk" puzzle.

Can someone tell me if these npcs were supposed to be dead, and the name of this place?

is it this?

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Halldir%27s_Cairn

Illinalta's Deep.... part of a quest line involving Azura.... maybe? Though.... I don't remember a bunch of dead NPCs.... Aphie, isn't Halldir's Cairn over nearer to Cracked Tusk Keep? And there's water, but it's not submerged?

The only way in, is a tiny door on the floor. The water almost completely surrounds the tiny door on the ground.

To me, sounds like Illinalta's Deep, Bleakwall. If you found it before the quest line it's involved with, there might be dead NPCs etc....

That sounds like Illinalta's Deep... however I don't recall drauger or an animal puzzle.

I've never actually gone to Illinalta's Deep before the related quest so who knows what the dungeon is like. But once again I don't recall an animal puzzle or draguer in that dungeon.

Best guess is Aphaea is correct and its Halldir's Cairn. But finding people already dead in a dungeon isn't uncommon.

Like I already said, I found this place in a previous game. I have since started over.

I've never hit either of them prior the quests. But the Cairn is a LONG way from Helgen.... and not "under water".... and no trapdoor entrance.

Bleakwall.... maybe you're "munging" two separate dungeons in your memory? No matter though - if this is a completely new toon/playthrough, just don't worry about it. Get the quests and go on from there.

His internal description matches Cairn fairly well. But his external description is that of the deep. Sense it was his last character, I'm guessing he's misremembering a few details.

Thanks, everybody. I looked Illinalta's Deep on the wiki, and this is it. By the way, right next to the Fisherman's Journal, this is where the fire is located, with the dead NPC's laying around. These NPC's seemed important. I do not remember their names. Wiki says nothing about them.

Well then, my guess is that it's something "odd" that happens if you wind up in the Deep without having the associated quest.

ACTUALLY, I DO THINK I MAY BE MUNGING TWO DUNGEOUNS TOGETHER. I do not think Illinalta's Deep contains the fire with the dead NPC's. I think that I am mixing two locations up.

Illinalta's Deep doesn't have Duregar or an animal puzzle. So yeah you probably are.

It happens. I've done that myself - get into the one I thought it was, and "wut?".... because it's not really where I thought I was. Easy enough to do, as many locations as there are in this game.

wait, so am i the winner or not?!

lol.

I think we all get parts - Bleakwall is probably putting Illinalta's Deep and Halldir's Cairn together in memory....

Got it. It was halldir's cairn. Thanks Serethil for your help!

Oh, wasn't just me, and have fun in this playthrough.... It IS better if you get the quests associated with various dungeons though. If you're on pc there's a really great http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9720 which will tell you when you discover a dungeon if it's associated with a quest - and what "faction" (like TG, College, MQ, etc).

So I am the Winner!! Woohoo!!

You remembered something from a nerdy video game so I'm not sure that makes you a winner.

Oh, believe me. I NEVER even go near anything quest related without already having the quest triggered. This happened during a short, practice game where I was just testing things out.

To be honest, I am not even going near any zones or holds which could trigger quests. For now, I am just level grinding and staying in Riverwood, waiting for some more quest bug fixing patches.

Thanks everyone!

Then don't pick up the books Boethiah's Proving or The Legend of Red Eagle (don't touch anything with "Red Eagle" in the name, in fact).

And don`t pick up or read Lost Legends either

Well, now that you know you conflated two very different places, here's one that matches the above quote, just for fun: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Mara%27s_Eye_Pond

Oboy.... I TOTALLY spaced that one! It's bounded by water yes, but not all that near Helgen....