Shroud Hearth Barrow (Skyrim)

It's located just outside of the town of Ivarstead. After speaking to the Innkeeper, Wilhelm, the Dragonborn learns that the town believes the barrow is haunted and is asked to investigate these claims further.

Walkthrough
The player will gain the Sapphire Dragon Claw as a reward for completing the quest Wilhelm's Spectre. Until then, apart from the first few rooms of the tomb, your way will be blocked by a puzzle door. Check the Sapphire Dragon Claw for the answer to the puzzle.

The first room will hold a spell tome on a pedestal and a few angry leveled Draugr which will awaken from their eternal slumber when you pass by. The lever in the small side room will open the portcullis which lock you in.

The room leads to a stairwell with a trap door in the bottom. Take a dive to retrieve some goods from the bottom (a random weapon and some gold) and pull the chain on the wall to get some steady ground under your feet. On the very top of the stairwell, is a master-level locked door. The room beyond holds an expert-level chest and a level-dependent soul gem. If you don't want to waste your lockpicks, wait. You will receive a key later.

Enter carefully the door in the middle of the stairwell, as the following hallway is trapped with a couple of pressure plates; one of them just behind the door. The following room will hold a horde of skeletons, tight packed group clattering their bones in the bottom. See the reddish liquid on the ground and explosive containers high up? A well-placed arrow will turn their ghostly get-together to a storm of flying bones and fire. Before going down the stairs, take a note of the room to your right and the chest against the furthest wall. To enter this room, you will need to activate the handle next to the lone coffin on the right hand wall, facing the ramp leading down to where the skeletons were.

The Whirlwind Sprint Shout is an easy way to get past the swinging blades, but watch out for a couple of sleepy Draugr and a pressure plate which will activate a trap. Loot the Shroud Hearth Barrows key from one of them.

You will enter a cavern-like hall with a waterfall. There's a hidden sword behind the waterfall. The portcullis to your left will open when pulling the chain next to it. That way is a dead end, but still take the opportunity to practice your swimming skills and to find some gold under the water. Up the stairs, you'll face another one of the Barrow's puzzles. The room behind these will hold a lone Draugr and a pressure plate. Stand on the pressure plate to see the correct sequence behind the turning wallpanels, or drag the dead Draugr to the plate to make your work even easier. Stepping on the other pressure plate will lower down the bridge and open the portcullis which was blocking your way until now.

There is another pressure plate just behind the portcullis, so enter with care. To your right will be a bookshelf which holds a soul gem and a dagger. Behind those is an apprentice-level door and small room in which you will spot a gold ingot on a pedestal. Be quick to get away from the room after moving the shiny metal to your backbag, as a nasty fiery trap will activate. An easy way to get past the lone Draugr in the hallway to your front is to activate the tripwire on the ground just prior to the hallway. Some rolling stones will quickly end his watch. Enter the Shroud Hearth Depths.

Upon entering, the portcullis behind you will close and you will be greeted by the clanking sounds of quite a few opening coffins. A horde of skeletons and Draugrs will try to make your progress harder at this point, the ambush ending with a higher-level Draugr boss. A couple of skeletons will stand on platforms and try to shower you with arrows. Luckily all the coffins do not open at once and you will be able to hack your way through them in smaller numbers. Only when the last one of them is down (possibly a Dragon Priest at higher levels), is your way opened again.

At last - the reward for your efforts. You will enter a large chamber and the welcome sight of a large (but trapped) chest just in front of you. Far away behind the chest you will see a word wall. You will learn a word of the shout Kyne's Peace. But the treasures do not end there. From the word wall platform, by utilizing the extra momentum gained from the Whirlwind Sprint shout, you will be able to take a leap to a small platform which holds some extra loot. Also, in the water, there is an alcove and a chest (adept lock) containing more loot. Continue to the right from the word wall and enter the Barrow yet again to leave the area.

Related quests

 * Wilhelm's Spectre

Puzzles

 * In the first room with the levers, the two closest to the door are up, the two farthest away are down. Flick the farthest left then second from right to open the trap door. Incorrect combinations activate traps or lock the room temporarily.
 * Top - Moth; Mid - Owl; Bottom - Wolf is the answer to the first door. This solution can also be found on the palm of the Sapphire Claw key when zooming in on the item in the inventory.
 * When arriving at the drawbridge, the answer to the puzzle from left to right is Whale, Hawk, Snake, Whale. The combination is obtained by walking through the door to the adjacent room. Stepping on the plate will rotate 4 rock doorways slowly revealing the lock combination.

Dragon Wall
The writing on the Dragon Wall transcribes to this:


 * HET NOK KOPRaaN DO HELG


 * FahDON Wah Pah SIVaaS


 * aaR DO KaaN aaL REK SiiV UNahZaaL


 * PRaaN KO FeyKRO DO HahNU

Translation:
 * Here lies the body of Helg,


 * friend to all beasts,


 * servant of Kyne, may she find eternal


 * rest in the forest of dreams.

Enemies

 * Draugr
 * Draugr Deathlord
 * Draugr Death Overlord
 * Draugr Scourge
 * Draugr Wight
 * Restless Draugr
 * Skeleton
 * Dragon priest

Traps

 * One of the lever puzzle levers releases a spray of poison darts.
 * The locked room on the right after the first lever puzzle has a trap on the floor behind the door and the chest is booby trapped. Lockpicking the booby trap can prevent it from going off.
 * The corridor opposite is also booby trapped. Pull the chain and wait a few seconds to avoid the spikes.
 * The door leading to the claw lock room is booby trapped (bottom right).
 * The final chest before the Word Wall is booby trapped.

Noteable Items

 * Skill Book Before the Ages of Man opposite to the levers in the first room.

Bugs

 * If the player has completed Innocence Lost, sleeping in Shroud Hearth Barrow after killing Wyndelius Gatharian will cause the player to be transported to an abandoned shack and as a result the area is reset and provides no way to reach the word of power.


 * After reaching the drawbridge room and learning the correct sequence for the pillars, they would not activate.


 * If the "Sapphire Claw" door is not opening, insert the code: Owl-Owl-Owl, then the right code. [Tested]. If this still does not work then there is no know way to get by this bug.
 * If the "Sapphire Claw" door is not opening a fix is to reload from a previous save point and when you get there change the top one once and the bottom one twice.


 * Upon reaching the room where a copy of Before the Ages of Man lies on a pedestal in front of several draugr coffins, it is possible that the draugr will stay in their coffins and not attack the player as they should. To fix this, use Unrelenting Force on the coffins. The draugr will break free afterward, allowing the player to attack and loot them.
 * It is possible to get trapped in the barrow by activating the first switch on the left then whirlwind sprinting out which will make it impossible to enter the room again or exit the barrow.
 * Sometimes, after turning in the journal and receiving the Sapphire Claw, it is impossible to re-enter the dungeon due to the game crashing. The only fix to this is that, before you leave with the journal, use the player.additem command to put the Sapphire Dragon Claw into your inventory, clear the dungeon, then turn in the journal. To add the claw manually, type help "Sapphire Dragon Claw", get the item id then type player.additem id 1
 * PS3 The porcullis, opened with a chain in the waterfall room can be unenterable due to freezing of the ps3.