SSE 4: Bleak Falls Barrow

Bleak Falls Barrow is a ruin sitting atop a mountain north of Riverwood. Despite being infested by bandits, I have two reasons to be there - to retrieve the stolen gold claw for Lucan of Riverwood, and to find the Dragonstone artefact which might give Farengar a clue behind the revival of the dragons of old. 

The exterior of the ruins is sparsely guarded and easily overcome with a few well placed stealth shots. Still, the entrance looked impressively built into the snowy peak that one can only imagine the size of the cave complex it protects.

Within, I find surprising little resistance - it turned out that the thieves did not go far in their own explorations, for they were foiled by a giant that made short work of most of their numbers already. The spider despite being extraordinarily large was alone and hence offered little challenge. In the spider's lair I found one lone survivor who was holding on to the golden claw. Avel the Swift attempted to bargain his freedom for the claw, but chose to flee with the claw the moment I cut him loose from the webbing. He would not outrun his treachery - and my arrows, for that matter.

I ventured on. The deeper part of the ruin required the gold claw and the combination inscribed on it to open - so the thieves were right on their hunch that the claw was related to the ruins, though I question the wisdom of placing the key and the combination on the same device.

The place is crawling with undead Daugr - old, well preserved Nords - so at least part of the ruin was once a mausoleum (I think). At the end sits an particularly strong Daugr who holds the Dragonstone. There's also an old wall inscribed with what Farengar called dragon script.

I followed a hidden tunnel behind the wall and exited the mountain to its south, a short distance from Riverwood due west. Along the way back to Lucan, I encountered the a lonely shed belonging to an old hermit lady called Anise. The crone was not who she looked to be, as I discovered a letter in her cellar that made clear that she is a Witch! Anise gave me no choice but to slay her out of self defence. The letter mentions someone named Helgi. I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for that.

I returned the claw to a thankful Lucan before heading back to report my findings to Farengar. At the mage's laboratory I saw him discussing his research with none other than Delphine, the owner of the Sleeping Giant Inn. So apparently being an innkeeper in Riverwood is just a front... Farengar confirmed that Delphine was his "source" about the Dragonstone. But before we could go further with the investigation of the artefact, news came of a sighting of a dragon just south of Whiterun. The Jarl's men were ordered to head to the watchtower there to confront the beast, and he insisted that I go with them, since I had the "most" experience surviving a dragon - yeah, I don't think that's how it works, Balgruuf...

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