Background
Once the Dragonborn is a member of the Bard's College, faculty members offer quests. Giraud Gemane will ask the hero to track down Rjorn's Drum, which is in Halldir's Cairn, just southwest of Falkreath. The Drum is found in a chest in the final room.
Walkthrough
Upon entering the Cairn, a strange pillar of damaging energy will be seen with a few corpses around it. Nearby is a small pedestal with Agrius's Journal and a key to a nearby door. The journal simply tells of the fate of the three bandits.
Going through the (Adept) locked door, one enters the Cairn proper. The Cairn is pretty standard, full of sleeping Draugr and ghosts. Part way through is a Draugr sitting on a throne near a blocked door; the lever for the door is behind the throne.
This eventually leads to another burial chamber with a pillar puzzle. The proper glyphs for each pillar is on the wall facing it. After lining up the three pillars, the nearby lever will open the sealed door (as opposed to triggering an arrow trap).
Eventually, the player will reach the final room and face Halldir himself. Halldir has the annoying habit of summoning clones of himself which must be put down. He'll stop summoning clones once he runs out of magicka. Be sure to grab his unique staff before opening the nearby chest and grabbing Rjorn's Drum along with some leveled loot.
Finally, open the trap door in the middle of the room and drop down (using the staggered wooden platforms) to reach the entry chamber to the Cairn. Take the drum back to Giraud to collect your reward.
Reward:+1 to all warrior skills
Bugs
- PC 360 PS3 After completing the quest, the item may be stuck in the inventory.
- PC Solution: remove item by using the console code: player.removeitem 000DABA9 1
- 360 The quest is impossible to complete if the drum is found before starting the quest. The reward can still be collected, but the quest will not be marked off in the journal.
- PS3 Finding Rjorn´s drum before the quest renders the quest impossible to complete. No rewards are given.
- 360 Occasionally the pillars in the puzzle room will be stuck in their position and incapable of moving, despite having option to activate them. To fix this, simply reload the most recent save game and the pillars should work as normal.
- PC 360 PS3 Halldir's Staff can be obtained twice if Halldir's remains are looted and his staff is picked up from the ground.