Skyrim:Rjorn's Drum

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Retrieve a drum for Giraud Gemane. Quest Giver: Giraud Gemane Location(s): Bards College, Halldir's Cairn Prerequisite Quest: Tending the Flames Reward: +1 to all Combat skills Disposition: =1 (Giraud Gemane) ID: BardsCollegeDrum Suggested Level: 6

The powerful draugr, Halldir

Quick Walkthrough

1. Speak to Giraud Gemane.
2. Travel to Halldir's Cairn.
3. Retrieve Rjorn's Drum.
4. Return to Giraud Gemane.

Detailed Walkthrough

Missing History

To receive this quest, one must have already completed Tending the Flames. When that quest is completed and you are a full member of the Bards College, you can speak to Giraud Gemane, who is usually found in the Bards College, and he will ask you to retrieve Rjorn's Drum in Halldir's Cairn. Halldir's Cairn is a cave located southwest of Falkreath.

Halldir's Cairn

A beam of energy in Halldir's Cairn

Travel to Halldir's Cairn and enter it. In this room, there will be a rather noticeable pillar of energy. Next to it are strewn several bodies, and on a nearby pedestal lies a journal detailing their demise and a key to the locked door ahead. Go through the door and up the stairs and you will be confronted by several ghost enemies. Continue, and go through the closed door. At the intersection you can go right, but watch out for the plate which activates a swinging spike wall. Behind it there may be a Potion of Extreme Healing. To continue towards the drum take a left at the intersection and follow the hallway, fighting ghosts. You will come upon a throne with a seated draugr, which will then proceed to attack you. Defeat it and activate the lever behind the throne to open the iron gate. Go through and fight the assorted ghosts and draugr. When you come to another gate and lever, look around the rooms on the walls to find a pillar puzzle. The pillar should match the two pictures on the ceiling opposite it. Pull the lever to open the gate. There is also a locked door with a locked chest behind it in these rooms.

Halldir and the Drum

Halldir emerging from the energy beam

Continue and take a right at the next turn, fighting two more ghosts. Going straight will yield a chest and some burial urns. Follow the corridor until you come to a large room with a blue energy pillar in the center similar to the one near the entrance. A powerful draugr (Halldir) will be immersed in it. He is a leveled draugr caster with several Destruction spells. He'll begin to speak in an ancient Nordic tongue as you start to take away his health. At about 66% health, he will disappear and split into three different elemental versions of himself. All three are casters and are spread out enough to make this part rather difficult; as such, magic resistance is recommended. The cold and fire casters are close to the room's entrance, while the lightning version sits apart. Focus on taking out the fire one first as his fire spells will cause massive burst damage. The cold one should be next, as he can severely reduce your movement speed. Finally, take out the lightning version of Halldir, and his ghost should materialize back in the room, ready to be killed.

Rjorn's Drum

It is possible to sneak in slowly and kill Halldir using a sufficiently powerful bow attack just as the draugr-form appears. This will bypass the fight with Halldir and his clones.

The drum, and other loot, are in the chest next to the throne. You can also pick up Halldir's unique staff. For a quick exit simply open the trap door in the middle of the room and you will find you are right over the entrance room, and that was the same energy pillar. Use the three ledges to break your fall. Exit the cave and head back to the Bards College in Solitude.

Return with the Drum

Find Giraud Gemane, most likely in the Bards College, and give him back the drum. He will thank you and raise all your Combat skills by one point in return. This includes Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handed, Smithing, and Two-handed.

Notes

• Two copies of Halldir's staff can be obtained by using a bow attack to knock the staff out of his hands on death. Pick up this staff first and then loot his ash pile for a second one.

Bugs

• After you turn in the quest, the drum will remain in your inventory, still marked as a quest item.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.4 of the Official Skyrim Patch.
  • PC players can remove the quest item using the console and the following console code: player.removeitem 000DABA9 1
• If you find the drum before activating the quest, it will not be marked as completed even after returning the drum. ^?
• After killing Halldir, if he dropped his staff, you can get two copies by looting his remains and picking it up off the floor (either order). ^?
• On the 360, the pillars may not move. If this happens just leave and return to the dungeon. ^?
• On the PC, the quest may become stuck at stage 20 if you get the drum before you start the quest. ^?
  • Use the console command player.drop 000DABA9 1, then pick the item up again to advance the quest.
• When trying to return the drum, Giraud may not be present in the Bards College or anywhere in Solitude, thus making it impossible to complete the quest. The problem is not solved by waiting or reloading. ^?

Quest Stages

Rjorn's Drum (BardsCollegeDrum)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
15
20		Giraud Gemane of the Bards College has found a clue to the location of the legendary drum of Rjorn. He's asked me to go to Halldir's Cairn and retrieve it. (Objective is assigned): Find Rjorn's Drum
40		(Objective is assigned): Give Rjorn's Drum to Giraud
200

 

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage BardsCollegeDrum stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest BardsCollegeDrum.