Skyrim:Coming of Age

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Help a daring adventurer and her companion retrieve their riches. Quest Giver: Salma Location(s): Ironbind Barrow Reward: Leveled gold, Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls, Word for the Become Ethereal shout ID: dunIronbindQST Suggested Level: 6

Salma and Beem-Ja at the entrance to Ironbind Barrow

Quick Walkthrough

Note: This quest does not appear in your journal.

1. Meet Salma and Beem-Ja outside Ironbind Barrow and speak with Salma.
2. Escort Salma and Beem-Ja through the ruins until a fight with Warlord Gathrik begins.
3. Kill Beem-Ja and speak with Salma.

Detailed Walkthrough

The quest begins as soon as you arrive at Ironbind Barrow and witness an argument between Beem-Ja and Salma about venturing into the ruins. Speak with Salma and she will decide there's enough treasure for everyone and enter the ruins. Unfortunately, she and Beem-Ja must not really believe that there's enough to go around, because once inside they incessantly charge headlong into rooms full of leveled draugr. Although they can't actually be killed by any of the mobs in the barrow, you can accidentally kill one or both of them as they may jump in front of you during the fights; frequent game saves are strongly advised in case they are killed.

Salma and Beem-Ja will rush ahead and make short work of the spiders in the first passage whether you help or not. When you arrive in a large room with a double staircase leading up to an east-west landing with a locked gate heading north, loot the chest on the east side of the landing before pulling the handle in the alcove on the west end to open the gate.

Proceed north down the passage into a circular room with a floor grating, two leveled draugr, a chest on the west wall and some minor loot on and near the table. Salma and Beem-Ja will rush ahead. Take the exit in the northeast corner and follow the hall around and down to the west, where you will see a chest behind a pressure plate that activates a spear trap in the alcove directly ahead. You can loot both the chest and the helm next to it without crossing the pressure plate.

Go north from there to find the two friends trying to kill two more leveled draugr at the end of a short eastward-heading bridge. There's some minor loot on the floor and on the table and shelves to the south, plus an adept-locked chest in the southwest corner of the platform beside the wooden partition.

Descend the log ramp southward from the end of the bridge and chase Salma and Beem-Ja through the gate and into the next room. Defeat the two draugr there, then collect the few potions around the room and follow your charges out to the east, into a wide passage with a helmet on a pedestal in front of a closed gate. Notice the ominous black holes in the floor around the pedestal, and stand back a bit to loot the helm so that the spear trap doesn't kill you as the gate opens. Alternatively, if you stand at the pedestal, turn around so your back is to it, and look at the ceiling, there is a chain you can pull to open the gate without triggering the trap. Follow the hall to the iron doors and save your game before opening them, for the boss fight against Warlord Gathrik, at least one draugr or skeleton and possibly a frost atronach, is next.

Fight Gathrik as you would any Draugr or Dragon Priest. His tactics will vary based on his abilities.

Beem-Ja is scripted to start walking away when you open the door to Gathrik's chamber, avoiding the final fight. He will wander around a safe distance until Gathrik is killed, at which point he will run back and reveal his true colors. To prevent this, you can body-block him until the approaching minions trigger his aggression, at which point he will become an asset like Salma. After Gathrik is defeated, a script restores him to full health when he betrays you.

As soon as you defeat Gathrik, Beem-Ja thanks you for your help and asks you to hold still while he kills you for a blood sacrifice that he needs to perform in order to help him absorb Gathrik's power. Apparently, he's a necromancer. Killing him as soon as the dialogue releases you is highly recommended. Beem-Ja may reanimate Gathrik's body to fight for him.

After Beem-Ja has been defeated, Salma will express her disbelief at his treachery but adds that her father never trusted him to begin with. She says that she now wants to be alone and decides to leave the ruins on her own, explaining that she no longer wants the treasure. Among Beem-Ja's loot is a letter from Salma's father threatening to expose whatever unspecified evil Beem-Ja did back in Black Marsh if he allows any harm to come to Salma.

The word wall is behind Gathrik's throne at the north end of the upper level, and a boss-level unlocked chest is just to the west of the word wall. The exit is on the eastern side of the lower level, activated by a pull chain on the wall just to the right of the gate. Climb up the spiral stairway and exit to Ironbind Overlook, then unbar the door in front of you and exit to find an unlocked chest.

Be sure to continue past the chest around to the left and up the hill to find an unusual Dwarven monument with three pillars guarded by two Ice Wraiths; see unmarked places for full details.

Notes

• The Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls can be found mounted behind Gathrik's throne. It's the only weapon in the game that can be disenchanted to learn the Fiery Soul Trap effect.
• Beem-Ja is capable of reanimating Gathrik; if he succeeds, the battle may become much more difficult. However, if you are able to loot Gathrik before he is reanimated, he will be much easier to defeat the second time.
• Although helping Salma is a quest-like activity, it does not function as a regular quest, providing no quest updates or rewards.
• Warlord Gathrik is leveled based on your level when the quest starts, and he has a chance of spawning as a dragon priest after you reach level 40.
• If you are quick enough to loot Gathrik before Beem-Ja resurrects him, you can use one of Gathrik's black soul gems to soul trap Beem-Ja. Salma can be trapped in the other as killing her is consequence free. She disappears from the game after the quest is complete anyway.
• At very low levels Beem-Ja will not have any offensive spells and will fight only using unarmed melee attacks.
• Beem-Ja has a chance of having an enchanted circlet in his inventory. If he does, he will equip it and will be unable to wear his hooded robes. This will make him appear to be naked.
• If Salma gets disarmed, she may equip the Steel Battleaxe of Fiery Souls. If this happens, you will have to kill her to retrieve it.

Bugs

• At a certain point in Ironbind Barrow, there is a gate that must be opened by a switch. When Beem-Ja arrives at this gate, he'll comment on how there must be a way through, but if you've already opened the gate when his dialogue triggers then he and Salma may just stand there.
  • Close and open the gate again so they notice you opened it.
• Salma and Beem-Ja are marked as Protected, not Essential, meaning that you can accidentally kill either of them during combat, at which point the other will start walking back to the entrance and return to their respective position at the campfire outside Ironbind Barrow.
  • Resurrecting the killed NPC using the console does not correct this, but will result in both NPCs returning to the campfire.
  • If Beem-Ja is killed and Salma returns to the campfire, she resumes her post-quest dialogue.
  • If Salma is killed, Beem-Ja simply stays where he is. He may become hostile towards you, but will return to normal if you successfully hide from him.
• Arriving in the area may not initiate the quest, nor will speaking to either adventurer afterwards.
• Before opening the gate if you go back into the previous room and just past the short set of stairs turn to the left (would be the same side of the room as the chest is in, but back further) there is a corner in the rocks if you keep walking through it will turn light bluish and it drops you to a hall right before the chamber with the word wall.
• It appears to be possible for Salma to disappear or be lost during the quest. The quest will proceed correctly, and Beem-Ja will still attack upon reaching the Ironbind Barrow throne room.
• Salma and Beem-Ja may both disappear from the game upon entering Ironbind Barrow. Since neither of them have a permanent RefID, it will be impossible to complete the quest.

Quest Stages

Coming of Age (dunIronbindQST)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
200	Finishes quest

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 79, 80, 81, 90, 100.
  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 dunIronbindQST 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 dunIronbindQST.