Skyrim:Lifting the Shroud

Investigate the haunted barrow outside of Ivarstead. Quest Giver: Wilhelm Location(s): Ivarstead, Shroud Hearth Barrow Reward: Sapphire Dragon Claw, Word for the Kyne's Peace shout Disposition: =1 (Wilhelm) ID: FreeformIvarstead01 Suggested Level: 6

Could the barrow really be haunted?

Quick Walkthrough

1. Offer to investigate Shroud Hearth Barrow after Wilhelm complains it might be haunted.
2. Explore the barrow and track down the "ghost."
3. Take Wyndelius' diary to Wilhelm for your reward.

Detailed Walkthrough

A Haunted Barrow

When visiting Vilemyr Inn in Ivarstead you may overhear the innkeeper, Wilhelm, warning Lynly Star-Sung about a ghost in the nearby barrow. If you are intrigued and like a good ghost story, Wilhelm will inform you that Shroud Hearth Barrow, an ancient Nord crypt just outside of town, is haunted and warns you away from it as well. When pressed further, Wilhelm will confess to seeing the spirit and complain that the haunting is harming his business. If you volunteer to investigate the haunting, Wilhelm will think you daft and tell you of Wyndelius Gatharian, an adventurer who went to explore the barrow a year ago. Screams were heard in the night, and the adventurer was never seen again. Alternatively, you can go directly to the barrow without speaking to Wilhelm beforehand.

Ghost Hunting

Enter the barrow. At the first intersection, you might see Wyndelius' ghost through a locked gate to your right, asking you to leave. The first part of the barrow has no enemies, only several traps that you must navigate through. Head left to a room with four levers and pull the two middle levers (the ones closest to the door) to open the two metal gates. The right side lever triggers an arrow trap. In the next room, to the right is an apprentice-locked door. Directly behind it is a pressure plate that activates a spike trap. It is, however, nowhere near the pressure plate so walking slowly over it will leave you unharmed. Beyond the spike trap is a booby-trapped chest. Moving back, pull the chain to open the next gate and continue on. There is a spike trap here too, but once again moving slowly over it will work. Eventually, behind an unlocked door, you will find Wyndelius.

Philter of the Phantom

Wyndelius will attack you on sight, unless he is sleeping, which allows you to perform a sneak attack or a stealthy inspection of the room. If you kill him, his ruse is revealed; he is not a ghost at all, and his spectral appearance was due to a potion called Philter of the Phantom. On the table you will find his journal, which explains why he pretended to be a ghost. However, killing Wyndelius is not necessary to complete the quest; you need only recover the journal. Take the journal to Wilhelm and, in exchange, he will reward you with the sapphire dragon claw; Moth-Owl-Wolf, the very item Wyndelius gave his sanity and life to possess. The claw is needed to explore the rest of the barrow which contains a word wall with a part of Kyne's Peace shout.

Notes

• The claw will be marked as a quest item until the player clears the barrow.
• If the barrow is left alone long enough to reset, Wyndelius' body will remain dead while replenishing a new bottle of Philter of the Phantom.
• If you pick up the journal before speaking to Wilhelm, you'll instead be given the option to say "Actually, you need to take a look at this." and give him the journal. The quest will still proceed as normal.
• After you finish the quest, Wilhelm will occasionally say "Now that our "ghost" has been unmasked, I hope we see more visitors in town than just the occasional pilgrim." when you talk to him.

Bugs

• If the puzzle door does not work, check here for possible fixes.
• The sapphire dragon claw may still be marked as a quest item after you finish the quest, which prevents you from removing it from your inventory. ^?
  • Re-visiting Shroud Hearth Barrow after it has respawned, and clearing it again, may remove the quest item marking from the claw.
• If Unrelenting Force is used during the fight with Wyndelius, his journal may be knocked off the table and impossible to find, making the quest impossible to complete. Obtaining the journal and the claw through console commands will not make the quest continue, and the quest will remain unfinished even if you clear the entire barrow. ^?
• Even after you finish the quest and solve the mystery of the ghost, Wilhelm and Lynly will still engage in conversation and act if the ghost still exists, causing him to tell her to stay away from the barrow. ^?

Quest Stages

Lifting the Shroud (FreeformIvarstead01)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
20		Objective 10: Investigate Shroud Hearth Barrow
30		Objective 20: Bring Wyndelius's Journal to Wilhelm
200	Finishes quest

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 10, 250.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage FreeformIvarstead01 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest FreeformIvarstead01.