Skyrim Secondaries- The Bards’ College: The Bard's Challenge

Before using the pull-chain to open the floor grate and the gate back to where the enchanting table is, check through the leftmost doorway of the three- this round burial chamber hosts a chest in addition to the draugr that were waiting here.  If you’re paying attention you’ll see the blood spatter on the floor or possibly the trigger rope attached to the side of the chest- a barrage of darts will fire at the area immediately in front of the chest when it’s opened.  If you’re careful, you can open the chest from maximum distance to one side or the other, and thus not be in the path of the darts when the trap triggers.

Descending the wooden stairs beneath the floor grate brings you to what initially appears to be a dead end- until you note the handle attached to the stone wall.  Pull it, and you will be admitted to a tiny rough-hewn chamber which holds only two things: a dessicated corpse, and the ghost of the bard.  Of great note is what Svaknir’s corpse is clutching- a copy of King Olaf’s verse.  Open the book and read it to gain a bit of insight into the conquering king, then take the book when you’re done.

Svaknir’s ghost vanishes after that, so head back through the ruins- and you’ll see him again, waiting for you when you near the sealed door.  Svaknir gestures to the door, breaking the seal, and then opens it to pass through, revealing a large hall with a Nordic Puzzle Door at the end.  Check the Ruby Claw you collected back at the beginning of the dungeon for the combination- wolf/hawk/wolf- and then apply it to the door that the bard’s ghost passed through.  This admits you to a small hallway/stairwell, which leads to the burial chamber of King Olaf- and apparently also of his council or guards, though at this point it would be impossible to tell which.

The room is immense, and has three layers.  The lowest layer holds two rings of seated draugr around a central depression, the middle layer has four Draugr Scourges in thrones, and the highest holds only a sarcophagus and the Word Wall behind it.  Svaknir is waiting in the middle of the waterlogged depression, and once you’ve fully entered, he calls out a challenge to King Olaf.  This causes about half of the draugr on the lowest level to arise, one by one, and attack.