Saturday, August 16, 2014

Quest: Bleak Falls Barrow/ The Golden Claw

Well hello all,
As you can probably tell by now, I go through little spurts of playing Skyrim (whether because of time constraints or because I get bored with it for a time) but now I'm back on with Amédë doing the both the Bleak Falls Barrow quest (to retrieve the dragonstone) and The Golden Claw (to retrieve the golden claw). On your way up to Bleak Falls Barrow you will run into a leveled animal on your first or second bend in the path. There is also a tower you will go past that apparently doesn't have a name (or maybe it's just part of the barrow). Anywho, there are two bandits there to kill, usually one by the tree directly in front of the bridge to the tower, and the other one prowls around inside the tower. If you have a bow like I do, I get close enough to just make out the first bandit, kill him and then kill his friend when they come running out of the tower. <I'll edit here when I have time to look around for specific loot in the tower>. A little way ahead and around the corner is the barrow. Creep along the boulders to the left until you can see a lookout post jutting out. One bandit paces that bridge and can easily be picked off. One they're taken care of, go PAST the stairs (don't go up them yet) and go around the pillar of another lookout post, you'll see the stairs going directly up to the door. Hide where you can see the whole outside area. There will be a bandit standing by a pillar diagonally right of you, and the other bandit will be behind the stairs, but come running out if you kill the other one first. Now jump up onto the stone walk, go up the stairs and proceed into the barrow.

Once inside, proceed quietly to the back of the room. There will be two bandits standing in front of a fire, talking. There will be a few dead skeevers and a dead bandit on your way back that you can loot, another bandit will be lying on top of a burial table. Next to the fire is a Novice chest. Walk down the stairs and through the cobwebs, loot a few burial urns around the corner, go down another set of stairs, find more minor loot around the corner, and keep going till you reach a doorway where you see a bandit killed by poison darts. The room will have a puzzle, that follows the emblems above the next doorway (except for the middle one that is on the floor). There is a health potion up the stairs on a bookshelf. When you go through the gate, go up to the table in front of you, there will be the skill book Thief, some burial urns and a chest to loot. As you wind your way down the next staircase, skeever will come running up (I don't know if this has happened with anyone else, but normally they just run past me). You'll hear Arvel the Swift call out as you continue. Bust through the spiderweb in the next door way and battle a giant frostbite spider. I like to go back through the doorway and lure the spider over there because it can't get through and will stand there trying to attack you while you can pelt it with arrows...or whatever. Arvel will continually scream and shout. You'll see him stuck in the cobwebs in the next doorway. There will be a few egg sacs that you can loot. Get Arvel down from his mess and he will run away calling you a fool. You can either kill him now, or wait and let the draugr get him in the next room. Kill the sleeping draugr and the prowling one. Loot Arvel if you didn't already kill him and take the golden claw. Watch for the swinging gate trap before moving ahead, kill a few more sleeping draugr in the next room, and then go through a hallway with swinging blades. Through the next hallway, kill any draugr that get in your way (there will be a couple standing unconscious in their holes).

When you get to a room with a waterfall, a draugr will burst out of its crypt. There is a chest on the other side of the room. Turn right from the doorway and pull the chain to open the gate over the river. There are a couple groups of glowing mushroom you can pick. Before you get to the end of the river, turn right next to a chest and go down thepath (or die a painful death) there will be a troll around the bend that you can kill from the river opening. There is a chest, a couple skeletons, and a skeever at the bottom of that ramp, loot the and then go back up through the next path across the bridge. In the next cavern, kill the draugr and go through the door to Bleak Falls Sanctum. After going through another hallway with swinging blades, the next room will have a draugr up on the bridge, one in the upper area, and one that comes out from it's crypt right after coming through the door. You can utilize a fire spell here with the oil on the floor, or shoot down one of the hanging lamps. Go up and across the bridge and through another door to a large hallway. At the end is a puzzle door. Go into your items menu to the golden claw and zoom in on it to see the code to the door (this is how it is for all puzzle doors and claws). Once you have the emblems right, activate the keyhole and proceed on (I remember the first time I ran into these doors, I thought it was so much better than Oblivion).

Ok, guys, you're in the last room. You've got this.
The only thing you'll have to fight in here is a leveled draugr. Go across the bridge and up to the Word Wall platform. Before activating the Word Wall, I suggest looting everything you can/want, because the draugr will come away after you receive the word. Once you are ready, activate the wall (Unrelenting Force) and then RUN across the bridge again. The draugr has the disarm shout, so I suggest using a destruction spell (EVEN if you don't plan to use magic or are not that high in destruction). Now, your plan of attack is obviously up to you, but if you're a low level which most people are when they do this quest, you might want to follow my battle plan.
Get the draugr to come down to the bridge and stay on the south side right next to the river. As soon as he gets close enough, blast the draugr with your spell and then jump over to the other side of the river before he gets close enough to attack you. He will go back over the bridge to try to get you again, attack him with your spell as soon as he's in range and then leap over to the other side again. Wash, rinse, repeat.
In this game, I had waited such a long time before doing this quest that I was able to kill him with two shots before he even got down to the bridge. I had waited so long because once this quest is done, the quest that initiates the dragons starts when you get back, and personally I like to be a little bit stronger to take care of dragons).

Now, loot the draugr for the dragonstone, go up the far steps and head on out and back to Whiterun!

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