The Golden Claw (Skyrim)

Overview

 * Prerequisite: N/A
 * Quest Giver: Lucan Valerius or Camilla Valerius at the Riverwood Trader
 * Reward: 400
 * Reputation Gain: N/A

Riverwood
Go to the town of Riverwood and talk to the shop keeper Lucan Valerius, or Camilla Valerius depending on if you have killed Lucan. Lucan will ask you to go to the Nordic ruins of Bleak Falls Barrow to obtain a lost family heirloom called the Golden Claw.

Bleak Falls Barrow
Travel to the Nordic ruins of Bleak Falls Barrow and enter, but be careful traveling to the ruins; a dragon sometimes spawns outside. Low level players may want to enter the ruins quickly. Once you have entered the ruin you will hear two bandits talking about Arvel the Swift.

Puzzle Room
You will come across a puzzle room in the Barrow; it will have three movable pillars to the left and in the middle wil be a lever. If you pull it arrows will fall from the roof hurting you. You will need to switch the pillars in order starting at the first pillar: This is the same order as on the 3 markers of the same size that you can see in front of you as you enter the room. (Note: If the pillars do not move, you can fix this by exiting Bleak Falls Barrows, and re-entering.)
 * Snake
 * Snake
 * Whale

Past the puzzle room is a Scoll of Fireball on a table after the spiral stairs.

Bleak Falls Barrow (continued)
Travel through the dungeon. You need to slash or burn through a spider web to enter a room with a giant Frostbite Spider. Eventually you will find Arvel the Swift, trapped in a web. You'll have to kill the Frostbite spider and free Arvel, but as soon as you free Arvel he will make a run for it. He tries to run, but is killed by Draugr.

( Note : Here is an excellent chance to earn some sneak XP. Before entering the room with the Wounded Frostbite Spider in it, get the said spider's attention but don't go in, stay hidden around the corner so that the sneak icon is up, face the wall and keep sneaking into the wall to earn the XP. After a while the sneak icon will begin to fade, simply get the spider's attention again and rinse & repeat. Enjoy.)

(Strategy: The Frostbite Spider cannot enter the door at the beginning of the room. Use a bow, and walkthrough the archway, fire, then exit. Repeat until he is done.)

Arvel will have the Golden Claw on his body as well as his journal. Keep on going through the dungeon and you will find the crypt of some Nordic warriors, who will attack. Deal with the Draugr and carry on through the dungeon. You'll come to a massive door with locks on it. You'll need to look at the symbols on the palm of the Golden Claw and match them up. (Use R to rotate and R3 to zoom in.) The combination is:
 * Outer Ring - Bear
 * Middle Ring - Butterfly
 * Inner Ring - Owl

Word Wall
Once you have solved the puzzle and opened up the door you will come to a dragon altar room with a Word Wall in it. Go towards the word wall and you will learn a dragon shout. Once you have learned the dragon shout a dragon priest or Draugr Overlord will arise from his coffin and attack you. Kill the priest (or overlord), leave Bleak Falls Barrow through a back exit.

If you leave through the back exit, you can't return the same way to pick up missed loot. You can, however, come back in the main entrance. You can alternatively exit by backtracking through the ruins.

Return to Riverwood to give Lucan or Camilla the claw to receive your reward.