Proving Honor

Overview

 * Prerequisite: Trouble in Skyrim
 * Quest Giver: Skjor
 * Reward: Choice of Skyforge Steel Weapon
 * Reputation Gain: N/A
 * Quest ID:

Background
"'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 will tell you that you’ve yet to prove yourself worthy of the Companions. He says you must complete one final quest before joining, and says that Farkas will be your Shield Brother and will assess your skill on the quest. Talk to Farkas and agree to meet him at Dustman’s Cairn. Farkas will temporarily replace any existing Follower.

Glitch: Sometimes your follower won't appear at their location after the quest, especially if you talked to them while Farkas was your follower. You may find them inside the Jorrvaskr, and may be required to repay their hire fee if a mercenary.

Dustman’s Cairn
The entrance is a bit hard to see. If you asked Farkas to meet you there, he will be standing on the path beside rocks that are hard 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 stars leading down into the pit. The entrance is near the bottom of the stairs.

Enter the first room; Farkas will tell you that it looks like someone has been digging here recently. There is a Two-Handed skill book on the table (Battle of Sancre Tor).

Continue down a path to a room where you will be attacked by Draugrs and a Restless Draugr. Once you’ve killed them, proceed through a wooden door and take the path down to a large cavern - there is an Arcane Enchanter in the corner. Explore the area; pull the lever in the middle of the adjoining room to close the door behind you (trapping you inside) and trigger a cutscene. After the scene, speak to Farkas about what happened. You will also be able to find the Skyforge sword that Farkas dropped during the cutscene, and Farkas doesn't pick it up. Feel free to take it. Also, immediately after Farkas unlocks the gate you are able to issue 1 or 2 commands to give Farkas. Use this opportunity to tell him to pick up a Silver Greatsword on the ground.

Continue through the caves; you will be attacked by a Silver Hand. Loot the area - but be warned, if you take anything off of a pedastal you will be shot by poison arrow traps - then proceed through two wooden doors. Dispatch the Silver Hands inside, unlock the Novice chest if you like, and go up the stairs and past the burial urns to the next room. Pick up the gold pieces and potions, and go through the wooden door. Continue down the path; you will encounter Silver Hands and Draugrs along the way until you reach the door to Dustman’s Crypt.

Dustman’s Crypt
You will be attacked by members of the Silver Hand upon entering the crypt. Take the side door, go across the bridge, and go right to take the path down, fighting Silver Hand and Draugr as make your way through the crypt, but if done right you can kill the draugrs laying down before they even get up to fight you, leaving only the Silver Hand to deal with. You will come to a large room with a chest containing Dustman’s Cairn Key to the left as you enter; this opens the iron door ahead. There are several Skeevers as you continue down the path. The path will narrow and you will be attacked by some Skeevers; the next room contains two Frostbite Spiders followed by several Draugr.

The next iron door leads to a larger room; on the altar at the center are several potions, soul gems, and the fragment you seek. Behind the altar is a word wall; approach it to learn a new word of power for Fire Breath. After retrieving the fragment you will be attacked by several waves of leveled Draugrs. At higher levels most of the enemies are Draugr Deathlords, and up to and possibly exceeding 12 Draugr Deathlords. When facing higher level enemies Farkas will be of little help, and his heavy armor will destroy any attempts at sneaking. 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 meets you at the door and asks you to follow him. Follow him to the courtyard, where Farkas vouches for you and you are formally inducted into the Companions through a cut scene. {C After you have completed the quest, you have the option to have a weapon forged for you by Eorlund at the Skyforge, right behind the Jorrvaskr. The weapons available for him to forge are the: Dagger, Sword, Greatsword, War Axe, or Battle Axe. The one you choose will be in Steel, and will have the name Skyforge preceding the name of the weapon.

Bugs
-Farkas will repeatedly talk to you throughout quest, haven't found fix and makes very hard to finish quest.

-Glitch encountered where the door was inaccessible, though the quest icon was hovering there; saving, exiting, and relaunching the game worked to allow access. this dungeon is on the dungeon lock outs list unless you have started this quest it will not be avaliable to you to explore also you can not get in to if you have not started the quest on the list of (Dungeon Lock Outs)

-Fast-travel sometimes did NOT allow Vilkas to meet on the steps. You walk into Jorrvaskr, Skjor takes the fragment and says that you must speak with the leaders to recieve work. Nobody had an option for work. Quest became unfinishable. I suggest you save before you leave the Cairn. Also try fast travelling somewhere like the whiterun stables, then walking up to Jorrvaskar.

-A workaround for the bug above is to type "setstage C02 0" in the console. I did it while standing in the Courtyard behind Jorrvaskr and it initiated the brief ceremony where Farkas vouches for you and you get inducted into the Compansions. After this, you can once again recieve work from the Companion leaders, get the special forged weapon from Eorland, and proceed with the Companions storyline.