Skyrim - Shroud Hearth Barrow

I've been into Shroud Hearth already, so run through the tomb with not much to worry about. I once more find the solid stone door which previously hindered my progress, and insert the sapphire claw into the specially designed nooks. At first, nothing happens with the door - it remains resolutely steadfast. A quick rotation of the outer discs to match up with the creatures shown on the pad of the claw sees the door sink into the floor upon reinsertion. This seems like a fundamental design floor for a form of security, but I don't complain to Stenvar - after all, I just got into the place.

Draugr and skeletons form the guard beyond the door, but with a wry smile I demolish them with my follower. We continue in this fashion, making swift progress through the barrow.


I enter a chamber with a large waterfall cascading down, and a drawbridge pulled up. Despite the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I am forced to calm myself to correctly solve the puzzle required to lower it. This is truly the mark of a great adventurer - excelling in battle, but with the cognitive capacity to infiltrate tombs and dungeons successfully.

Things get a bit hectic as soon as I enter the barrow depths. Whereas the entrance only contained your bog-standard draugr, this door had hidden the horrors of draugr scourgers. These, though undead in a similar fashion to normal draugr, do not go down quite as easily. They prove to be of most trouble when there are more than one, and we are regularly assailed from all sides by the sickening creatures. To make matters worse, they throw magic at us too.

Stenvar wades into them without a moment's hesitation, which regularly proves his undoing. He lies there at the mercy of the scourgers while I make a tactical withdrawal. This is by no means cowardly - by moving away from him, I draw the draugr away from my comrade, and I am able to lay damage upon them without fear of striking down Stenvar.

Where there aren't scourgers, there are layers of traps. Swinging axes lunge out of corridor walls to slash at me as I walk through. Pits of fire ambush me as I walk through chambers. Spiked doors operate from hidden switches to throw me across rooms. But the numerous treasures I acquire as I move through the tomb spur me on.

We finally enter a chamber populated by not only the dreaded scourgers, but something much worse - a Draugr Overlord. They slash at us with ancient yet powerful blades, and shock magic damages my ability to cast spells myself. I drink potions to aid in the regeneration of my magicka, and conjure up a fire atronach to give them something else to target. It does exactly what I need it to, throwing fireballs at the undead creatures while Stenvar and I use our blades to hack them down.

Eventually we are left on our own, and I begin to study the chamber. A few chests lie about, filled with yet more booty. But the familiar circular wall at the end of the room bestows the greatest treasure - another dragon word.

With the tomb clear, I exit to daylight from a nearby door. Today has been tough, probably the toughest yet with my erstwhile ally Stenvar. Yet we remain alive, for now.

Skyrim - Wylandriah's Spoon

Ivarstead is the next location on my list of places to visit. It has been a while since I returned there, and it will be good to see some of the people who I met on my visit so long ago. I take quite a roundabout route to get there, discovering Snapleg Cave on the way.

My arrival in the town is as dramatic as the journey was dull. As I crest a bridge looking down at Ivarstead, I see my good friend Klimmek engaged in mortal combat with a bear. He looks to be doing quite well until the bear stands upon its hind legs and smashes its weight on top of him. He falls dead, and I cry in dismay.

I run into the town and kill the bear. Everyone else goes about their business, despite the corpse of the much-loved Klimmek lying across the middle of the main street through the town. And to think, last time I was here he'd just confessed his love to Fastred. So much to live for, yet now nothing more than worm fodder.

I enter Fellstar Farm, and retrieve Wylandriah's spoon - she's the eccentric and very forgetful mage who works for the Jarl of Riften. She'd asked me to pick up various bits and pieces they'd she'd left scattered around various places in Skyrim, and this was the first I'd come to.

Again, no one in Ivarstead says a word - I've literally just broken into a house to get this spoon back. Maybe they're in shock from the death of Klimmek? Maybe they are over-awed that the Dragonborn is back in town? Who knows.

I walk into the Vilemyr Inn and speak with the barkeep. I give him a journal I found on my last visit to Shroud Heath Barrow, and he rewards me with one of the jeweled chicken feet that is used to access so many of these tombs. This one is a sapphire claw.

I head to the Barrow, just up the road from the inn. I have to pass Klimmek on the way, and to give him some dignity, drag him to the gutter - at least he won't be run over by passing carts. Turning my back on Ivarstead, I re-enter Shroud Hearth Barrow one more time.