This might be a FAQ but I couldn't find anything after a couple of searches -- tons of "how do I use the Black Star", nothing on where to find a reliable supply of bandits or mages to tank it up with.

Helgen is pretty good, but it takes too long to reset. If I had like four or five lairs that reset in the shortest number of game days, I could round-robin through them anytime I need a couple of charges.

I'm particularly interested in mage lairs that reset their supply of soul gems. I keep going back to Fellglow Keep, but so far nada. Probably because there's a quest connected to it I haven't started yet.

For RP purposes, I currently don't kill anyone that would earn me a bounty. Stormcloak, Imperials, Silver Hand and orc encampments are also off-limits for now. I know, that cuts my supply by more than half, but there's only so much kill everything that moves I can do before getting bored. Gotta have some limits.

No enemies, except those spawned by random encounters, will respawn eariler than 30 days after you killed them. If you need black souls though, there are plenty of bandits around Whiterun (Halted Stream Camp, Silent Moons Camp,Swindler's den etc...) Also check the reach for Forsworn who are literally everywhere.

Most forts have Human NPCs in them. Also, Forsworn Redoubts are a good place to look for soul fodder.


Treva's Watch is a good place to go, plus there is a misc quest attached to it.

Well that explains why I'm fast travelling to nothing so often, but Helgen seems to respawn more quickly than 30 days. Not sure exactly how long, would have to look at my saves, but it was closer to 5 to 10 game days.

Thanks for the other tips, I'll check them out.

What does the black star do?? Make black soul gems?? Where do you get it!!??

You get it by completing Azura's quest. I acts as an indestructible black soul gem, so you can use it as many times as you want.



You're right, it does. Don't know why though . Come to think of it Valtheim Towers seemingly respawned every other day earlier in my game for a little while, then stopped completely.