Main Quest: The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller

Underground in Ustengrav

Once Arngeir gives you this quest, you may ask him about the Greybeards, why dragons are returning, who Jurgen Windcaller is, and other conversation topics. Turn to your world map and locate Ustengrav on the eastern edge of the great marsh, northeast of Morthal in Hjaalmarch Hold. Your first task is to descend from High Hrothgar.

When you finally reach Ustengrav, you may find a small campfire and lean-to by the circular barrow entrance. Expect a confrontation with bandits and a necromancer. Then descend the barrow steps and open the door to Ustengrav.

Heading down the wide steps, into the gloom of the ancient temple, you stumble upon a group of mages and conjurers picking clean the remains of a thwarted bandit attack. You can slink by using Sneak or engage the magicians in combat.

Locate the opening in the northeast wall of the temple entrance, and follow the trail of lanterns down the steps. This soon becomes a trail of mage corpses, as you watch a group of Draugr demolish the wizards and make a run at you. Cut down the Draugr, or use whatever cunning magic or sneaking you wish, before continuing into the first burial crypt. Scavenge whatever you wish, then head east and turn south, down a passage lit by candles.

There are steps down to your right (west), leading to a small crypt. Grab the items and yank the pull-chain. A section of wall rumbles open, leading you down a cramped tunnel to a secret dead-end chamber and a treasure chest. Retrace your steps. Enter the great hall, with a stone bridge ahead of and above you. Fend off the Draugr that clamber out of their vertical tombs. Then climb the interior stairwell, and cross the bridge you just passed under. Locate the iron door and enter the Ustengrav Depths.

Head down the winding tunnel until it opens into a gigantic, multilevel grotto. It is immense enough to have trees, a waterfall, and a Word Wall! Continue down the tree-root ledge and tunnel, heading south and then east. You appear on a bridge overlooking an ancient banqueting hall. Follow the steps down, eliminating Draugr as you go. To the east are the remains of a food-preparation area running parallel to the hall. Head south, up more stairs, and cross a second bridge to exit the hall.

The tunnel to the southwest widens into an entrance room with a middle pillar. To the left is a double portcullis (open it with two wall handles; one is farther along the southwest wall) behind which is a small room with treasure. Take this and optionally shoot the lamp down onto the oil below to burn any Draugr that come to investigate you. Head west through a gap in the wall. Here, there are steps up to a small preparation alcove, and more importantly, an earthen and rock corridor that leads into the gigantic grotto.

Follow the collapsed bridge down to the massive pillars under the chamber, where parts of an ancient fire trap still burn and skeletons roam. Cut down all the bony fiends in this two-floor area, inspect the throne area (with another skeleton to slaughter), and then run northeast around the perimeter wall ledge, down to the rocky base of the grotto. Moments later, you learn a word from the Become Ethereal Shout. Afterward, you fight with a Draugr over a treasure chest behind the waterfall. Before you leave, try your Whirlwind Sprint Shout and traverse the collapsed bridges in this area, leading to a small chamber you can loot.

• Word of Power: Become Ethereal

The Tomb Raider

Backtrack to the throne area where you fought the skeletons, and look to your east. Cross the large natural bridge that spans the grotto, to a second two-floor underchamber on the eastern side. First, clear out the skeletons from the balcony above, and then inspect a set of three strange stones back on the lower underchamber area.

Puzzle Solution: If you stand close to each one of the three stones, they pulse with an eerie, magical glow. This has the added effect of opening one of three portcullises in the tunnel to the east. However, after a second or two, the light switches off, blocking your path. This is the only way the portcullises open. If you get through one or two of them, you must turn back; all three must be raised for you to continue. The trick here is to line yourself up on the western side of the stones, as shown in the preceding picture with the stones between you and the portcullises. Then execute a Whirlwind Sprint Shout, followed by another to make sure you dash past the stones and the opening portcullises immediately.

Continue east, jumping to the natural rock on either side of the circular floor tiles, as they blast gouts of fire when you stand on them. This can prove handy when you reach the raised section of floor in the room of alcoves—a pack of Frostbite Spiders descends from the ceiling to attack. Optionally back up so the spiders scuttle onto the floor tiles and are burned along with your own attacks. Exit by hacking the cobwebs from the doorway to the east. Then open the wooden door.

Pull the chain to raise the portcullis that leads into the final resting place of Jurgen Windcaller. As you step forward, four dragon statue heads rumble up from the water. Continue across the bridge over the flooded lower floor and approach the ornate tomb. The horn should be still clutched by the carved arm of Jurgen in his sarcophagus...but it isn’t! Instead, there’s a small piece of paper. Take and read it. The damned thief who took the horn has left you a note; it requests that you rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, and it is signed “A friend.”

• Mysterious Note

A Mysterious Stranger

You’d think “a friend” wouldn’t want you risking your life in a Draugr dungeon! Stifle any indignant rage you may be experiencing, and console yourself with any treasure you find through the wooden door behind the sarcophagus. There is an exit tunnel in the left (north) wall, offering a shortcut to an iron door, and a lever that lowers a section of stone wall, allowing you to step into the initial crypt, up into the temple entrance, and out of Ustengrav.

Fast-Travel (or trek back) to Riverwood, and follow the instructions of the Mysterious Note. Locate the Sleeping Giant Inn, enter, and locate Delphine, who owns the place with her slightly dense friend Orgnar. Step up to Delphine and ask to rent the attic room for 10 gold. After the money changes hands, she tells you the Sleeping Giant doesn’t have an attic room, but you can take the room on the left. Enter the room, and after a few moments, Delphine joins you. Apparently you’re the Dragonborn she’s been hearing so much about. As a way of a peace offering, she hands you the horn that you seek.

• Horn of Jurgen Windcaller

Quest Conclusion

Enter High Hrothgar, and head through the monastery until you spot Arngeir. He already knows you have returned with the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller and remarks that the time has come for the Greybeards to recognize you formally as Dragonborn.

Return to the central chamber inside High Hrothgar as the Greybeards assemble. Master Wulfgar approaches the center of the floor and bellows the word Dah (“Push”) into the granite. Step onto the glowing runes and absorb the Word of Power. You can now utilize the Shout Unrelenting Force with maximum potency! Absorb the learning from Wulfgar as well.

• Word of Power: Push, Unrelenting Force

Remain in the center of the room. The Greybeards stand at each point of the diamond paving, and Arngeir greets you with a ferocious chant in dragon tongue. You withstand the blast, which pleases and impresses Arngeir. You’ve tasted the Voice of the Greybeards and passed through unscathed. High Hrothgar is now open to you!

Postquest Activities

There are two tasks you can attempt with the Greybeards from this point on. Also remember that Main Quest: A Blade in the Dark is already under way!

Return to Ustengrav and activate Jurgen Windcaller’s tomb. The horn returns to its rightful resting place, and you receive a bonus Dragon Soul.

• Dragon Soul