Proving Honor

The Companions have given me one final challenge before inducting me. I'm to retrieve a fragment of Wuuthrad, the Blade of Ysgramor, from Dustman's Cairn while Farkas judges my valor.

Walkthrough
Speak to Skjor after completing "Trouble in Skyrim"; he tells the Dragonborn they still have yet to prove themselves to the Companions. One more quest must be completed before becoming a full-fledged member of the Companions. During the trial, Farkas assesses the Dragonborn's progress. Talk to Farkas and agree to meet him at Dustman's Cairn. Temporarily, Farkas replaces any existing Follower. (The follower may return to their home location if this happens, but the player can later travel there and ask them to follow again.)

Dustman's Cairn
The entrance is a bit hard to see. If Farkas was asked to be met there, he stands on the path beside rocks that are difficult to climb. Find a better way up the small hill to a ring of stones surrounding a pit. At the south end of the pit is a set of stairs leading down into the pit. The entrance is near the bottom of the stairs.

Enter the first room. Farkas says it looks like someone has been digging lately.

Continue down a path to a room where leveled Draugr reside. Kill them and proceed through the wooden door. Take the path down to a large cavern and pull the lever in the middle of the adjoining room to close the exit, trapping the Dragonborn inside. This triggers a cutscene. After the scene, speak to Farkas about what happened. During this leg of the quest, Farkas does not aid the Dragonborn in battle. Only in the last room of the Cairn does he assist in battle. This may be level dependent - at higher player levels, Farkas seems to hang back and watch, but once the player initiates combat, Farkas will pursue and attack any fleeing Draugr or Silver Hand members and finish them off. He will provide substantial assistance to lower leveled players even before the final room.

Continue through the caves. Members of the Silver Hand attack. Proceed through two wooden doors. Dispatch the Silver Hands inside, and go up the stairs, past the burial urns to the next room, and through the wooden door. Continue down the path. Silver Hands and Draugrs will be encountered along the way until the door to Dustman's Crypt is reached.

Dustman's Crypt
Upon entering the crypt, more Silver Hand members attack. Dispatch them and take the side door, go across the bridge, and go right to take the path down, fighting Silver Hand and Draugr on the way toward the crypt. The Draugr can be easily dispatched using Destruction spells, arrows, or melee weapons with long reach. This causes them to die before being woken, leaving only the Silver Hands to deal with.

After this, a large room with a chest containing Dustman's Cairn Key appears off to the left upon entering the room; this opens the iron door ahead. There are several Skeevers down the path. The next room contains two Frostbite Spiders followed by several Draugr.

The next iron door leads to a larger room. On the altar lies the fragment needed to complete the quest. Behind the altar is a Word Wall. Approach it to learn a new word of power for Fire Breath. After retrieving the fragment, several leveled Draugr appear. At higher levels most of the enemies are Draugr Deathlords, and up to and possibly exceeding level 12, Draugr Deathlords. When facing higher level enemies, Farkas is of little help, and his Heavy Armor makes sneaking more difficult. Placing runes near the spawn points of the Draugr causes them to emerge prematurely, allowing them to be picked off one by one, before the fragment is grabbed.

Once finished, go up the stairs and through the door to return to Dustman's Cairn and a quick path to the exit.

Return and Reward
Return to Jorrvaskr; Vilkas rendezvouses with the Dragonborn and asks to be followed. Follow him to the courtyard, where Farkas vouches for their competence during the mission, and the Dragonborn is formally inducted into the Companions.

Strategy
The Draugr battle at the end of Dustman's Crypt can be quite challenging on higher difficulty setting as Farkas will be quickly overwhelmed and the seemingly endless waves of Draugr attacks will test the Dragonborn's capacity at sustaining a lengthy battle.


 * This battle is a great opportunity to showcase the power of Dawnbreaker, the Daedric Artifact one-handed sword obtained from the quest The Break of Dawn. Killing a Draugr with it will occasionally cause a fiery blue explosion that will make the other Draugrs flee, including Deathlords. It may be mildly aggravating to chase after the hysterically fleeing Draugr, though fortunately since the room is sealed off they often become stuck against walls with their back towards the player. When they flee if you are a bit of an archer and sneaker, you can just shoot them with their backs turned.
 * Upgrading the Fire Breath shout before picking up the Fragment of Wuuthrad can be very helpful, particularly if you are able to cluster Draugr together when using it, dealing damage to multiple enemies
 * Marked for Death shout is also particularly useful here and can be used the same way as above


 * Certain scrolls can also be very effective, such as a Scroll of Bane of the Undead.
 * Using a warhammer you can hit Draugr inside their coffins before picking up the fragment allowing you to engage them one at a time.
 * Leaping up on the table where the Fragment was and using archery to dispatch the Draugr is a viable strategy for a player and Dragonborn skilled at archery. Farkas will tend to run around and melee the Draugr, who will then focus on attacking him, leaving the player to pick them off at their leisure, as Draugr cannot jump up onto the table and thus have limited offensive options against the player. This strategy is especially effective if the player has enough archery skill to drop Draugr before they can fully walk out of their sacrophagi--which the Wuuthrad perch is helpful with, according an excellent view of the room.
 * There is a safespot to the right of the table on which the Fragment is found in the corner. The rock behind the large urn next to the black cabinet is an exceptional spot for picking off Draugr as they will not come near you and will actually hide if you are standing on it. However, you are still susceptible to the Draugrs' Fus-Ro-Dah shouts, and even though they cannot harm the player, they may slam you into the wall causing minimal damage.

Notable loot

 * Battle of Sancre Tor (Two-Handed Skill Book): on the table in the first room.
 * Further in the Cairn, there is an alcove to the north, in there a Master-locked chest containing two magical items and can be found.
 * After the in-game event where Farkas turns into a werewolf and kills a handful of Silver Hand, he drops his Skyforge Steel Sword which can be picked up off the ground. He will use an Iron Greatsword from that point.

Trivia

 * After seeing Farkas turn into a werewolf, he may be asked, "The Companions are werewolves?" He responds with, "Not everyone, but all the members of the Circle are. It's a secret to everybody." This is a reference to The Legend of Zelda and the popular internet meme.
 * A female Silver Hand can be seen in a coffin, with her arms crossed over heart, mimicking a Draugr.
 * Once in the crypt, if overwhelmed, sometimes if you go through the door leading to Dustman's Cairn, the Silver Hand will not follow you.
 * As you watch the Silver hand surround Farkas, one says "If he wears that armor, he dies", even though he does not wear the Wolf Armor.
 * Because this dungeon is listed on the Dungeon Lock Outs, it cannot be accessed prior to the quest.