Bleak Falls Barrow ( Quest ) Bleak Falls Barrow is a quest available in . Farengar Secret - Fire tasks the Dragonborn to retrieve the Dragonstone inside Bleak Falls Barrow , leading to the first finding of a Word Wall . Walkthrough . Starting . In order to start this quest , the Dragonborn must speak to Farengar Secret - Fire during the previous quest " Before the Storm " inside Dragonsreach , Farengar will explain how he is looking for a map of Dragon Burial sites so he could find out where the next Dragon might rise . He will then instruct the Dragonborn to look for this Dragonstone map in Bleak Falls Barrow , starting the quest of the same name . Bleak Falls Barrow . Travel to the Ancient Nordic ruins of Bleak Falls Barrow . Outside are several bandits and after eliminating them , the Dragonborn can then find the entrance at the top of the stairs . In the first large room a couple of bandits have set up camp and are discussing when entering . When moving forward they will detect and attack on sight . Continue into the corridor and proceed until reaching a small room with a bandit , a lever and a puzzle . Watch him pull the lever setting off a trap that will kill him . Set the pillars on the left of the entrance after the tablets on the upper wall above the gate and the tablet beside the lever . The order , from left to right is : snake , snake , whale . Arvel the Swift . Travel further through the dungeon to winding stairs that go downwards . There are skeevers at the bottom , and just around the corner waits a wounded frostbite spider . Kill it and then speak to Arvel the Swift , who is trapped in a spider web . He wants to be freed , which can be done by hitting the spider web with a weapon . As soon as he ' s free , Arvel will make a run for it . Chase him down the corridor and kill him , or let the draugr do it further in . When he is released from the web , he recoils and has low health , and it is quite easy to kill him before he can escape . If he manages to slay the draugr , he may run over the pressure plate trap near the scene of the battle and get himself impaled on the swinging wall trap . However , if this happens , his body may be flung a large way away and it may be difficult to find . The Golden Claw . Arvel will have the Golden Claw with him . Continue through a hall where some draugr wake up and attack . There are pressure plate traps near the entry and stepping on it will trigger a swinging wall trap . The next obstacle will be a swinging blade trap . The blades can be stopped with a chain pull after passing them . The next room has three more draugr . Kill or avoid them and follow the path upstairs . At the room with a creek running through it go through the metal gate into the creek . The gate is opened by pulling the chain on the right side . Next there is a Nordic puzzle door with three movable rings . The Golden Claw is the key here , both literally and figuratively . Align the three rings in a specific pattern , which can be seen when zooming in on the Claw in the inventory . The correct combination is on the palm of the Golden Claw ( from top to bottom : bear , moth , owl ) . When the rings have been correctly aligned , use the Claw in the middle of the door to open it . Word Wall . Past the door lies the real treasure of the crypt : A Word Wall that teaches a word of the Dragon Shout Unrelenting Force . Afterwards , a powerful draugr ( it is normally a draugr overlord ) will emerge from the sarcophagus nearby . Kill it and get the Dragonstone off its corpse and leave the crypt through the exit nearby . If you find yourself overpowered by the draugr , to the right ( as you enter ) of the cavern on the far side of the bridge is an easily accessible area which the draugr cannot reach and which allows the Dragonborn to snipe away with arrows . Return to Dragonsreach and give the Dragonstone to Farengar , ( with a stop off at Riverwood to return the Golden Claw to Lucan ) . Irileth will run in almost immediately and ask Farengar to come quickly to speak to the Jarl , beginning the quest " Dragon Rising . "