You can trigger this quest by visiting the Temple of Kynareth in Whiterun . Inside, find Danica Pure-Spring and chat with here. Your chatting will turn to the subject of the Gildergreen, the giant tree outside of the temple (which I’m sure you’ve noticed).

The tree is… sick, and needs the sap of its mother, the Eldergleam, to awaken from its slumber. But only a special sword can cut the Eldergleam, so you need to find it for Danica, starting this quest.

The weapon you need is the Nettlebane , and its being held by a Hagraven over at Orphan’s Rock . Orphan’s Rock is located just northeast of Helgen , the city you first started in, so head over there and take the road east until another readily-seen road goes north.

Be careful here as there will be a ton of traps on the ground. The road has bear traps while the rock formations can hide ice traps (which HURT). As you go north, you will end up battling witches. Take them out and don’t forget to loot their robes. Up ahead is a small camp (with a chest in a tent) you can loot, but to the left is a rock where the hagraven will try to bombard you with POWERFUL fire magic.

Kill off the witches while avoiding her fire magic, then rush her as you would rather fight her in close range than from afar. Kill her off and loot her for the Nettlebane! Don’t forget to check the tent on the lone rock for another chest before returning to Danica.

Once you bring the weapon back to Danica, she will be surprised that you even returned at all. She doesn’t want to do ANY dirty work on this quest and will ask you to go get some sap from the Elderglean yourself (gah, boy is she ever lazy!).

After accepting (because what else are you to do!?) a nearby man named Maurice Jondrelle will ask to come with you. You can accept or refuse him, so do as you wish (I accepted as he DOES offer an alternate way of doing the quest; read below).

Now we must travel to the Eldergleam Sanctuary. It is located east of Fort Amol. Fast travel to the closest place nearby and make your way there, to zone into a cave-like atmosphere. Head further in to have the cave expand into a beautiful forest (lovely, isn’t it!?). There are two people here admiring the scenery as well.

Be sure to check out the area they stand in to find a RESTORATION SKILLBOOK named “Mystery of Talara, v2” leaning up against a rock. There is also a chest up on the ledge from the main path, by a tree. Head up the main path now and use the Nettlebane to clear the roots blocking the road, opening up a path to the Eldergleam.

As you approach the tree, Maurice will be shocked at your behavior, calling you a man of violence (sheesh!). He will question your intentions. Tell him that you are here for the sap. He’ll protest more and at this point you have a choice to make. You can either ask if Maurice has a better idea and NOT collect the sap of the tree, or you can ignore Maurice and collect the sap of the tree anyways:

- LET MAURICE HANDLE IT:

If you choose to let Maurice handle the situation, he will run up to the tree and begin to pray. After a short while, he’ll tell you he was successful and you can take the sapling nearby and give it to Danica. He will also be leaving you to spend more time in this sanctuary. Head back to Whiterun and see Danica. After some convincing she will accept it as Kynareth’s will. The quest will now be over.

- TAKE THE SAP YOURSELF

Ignore Maurice and head up to the tree and use Nettlebane to obtain the sap for yourself. Once you do so, you will be attacked by a Spriggan! Bah! Take the thing out. In fact, this entire area now has Spriggan enemies (for example, down in the rest area the visitors are likely dead, killed by some Spriggan enemies…).

Fight your way out of the sanctuary, killing Spriggan enemies as you go and once you are outside you can head back to Whiterun and give the sap to Danica. She will then use it to restore the Gildergreen and this quest will be over.