Odahviing drops me at Skuldafn, almost but not quite at Alduin's portal. I can see it, just over there, but in typical Skyrim-inhabitant fashion, that last little bit that somebody else cant be bothered doing requires an enormous amount of effort on my behalf.
Odahviing did warn me that there'd be a lot of trouble guarding the entrance and he wasn't wrong. Fortunately I just mastered the art of fooling the undead, so things are going to get fun around here. I take a deep breath and just run in. No point hanging back, right.
There's a thunderous roar and a rush of wings but I just keep running. Flinging fury spells to either side I send the Draugr into a frenzy. They're attacking each other, they're attacking the dragon, this is awesome!
Things start to get really interesting when another dragon shows up...
I do a quick assessment of the situation and come to the logical conclusion. There are not enough enemies running around.
It sounds crazy, but I actually need more Draugr to fight these dragons for me. I sprint through the temple, casting spells at every Draugr I see and before you can say Dovahkiin the temple is a rush of activity. There's arrows and ice spikes and dragon breath flying through the air and all I have to do is keep the party going with my spells. And also not die...
The Draugr actually do an excellent job. There's certainly enough of them, and for the most part they seem happy to team up against the dragons instead of each other. My concern was that they'd slaughter each other and leave me to deal with two dragons (something decidedly beyond my abilities) but once the first dragon is grounded he falls to their ancient axes pretty quickly.
The second dragon is a little harder, as he seem to simply refuse to land, and these Draugr aren't the most accurate with their projectiles. It's at this point I realise the power I've been neglecting, my own ability to force these beasts onto the ground. The Draugr are all dead so I have to be clever. Where all the corpses are there's no room for the dragon to land, so I drag one with a heavy axe off the edge and let him fall to the open space below. Then I get the dragon's attention and use my shout. As he comes to earth I reanimate my undead ally and then just concentrate on keeping the dragon on the ground. Who would have thought! Strategy amidst this madness.
With both dragons (and all the draugr) dead, I pause for a moment to admire my handiwork and then head through the heavy doors into the temple. Inside there are lots of draugr, but I just leave them to fight amongst themselves while I solve the Nordic puzzle doors and progress through the dark corridors.
There is a slight problem at one point. There's a puzzle door that requires a dragon claw, and I'm quite confident that the Draugr guarding the door is in possession of said claw. I calm him and try to pickpocket, but it's a no go. Apparently Draugr don't have pockets. Instead I have to lure him back down the corridor to where I have some corpses handy and then it's a Draugr Wight showdown.
Back outside, the dung gets real again as a few Draugr appear round the corners and two dragons swoop down. At the top of the stairs is a Dragon Priest, Nahrkiin, whose staff apparently controls the portal I need to enter. The dragons and the draugr are fighting away but really I need them attacking the priest.
I fling a fury spell his way to try to get him involved, but all it does is making him angry and I get a lightning bolt to the face. Just about singed off my mohawk!
A draugr runs up to fight him but gets fried. This isn't going to be enough. Putting everything I have behind my Fury spell, I give him a two-handed faceful of the stuff and it works! In a frenzy, he turns on his own dragons and sure enough they retaliate.
After that it's over quickly. The dragons aren't taking much damage, but after the Nahkriin crumbles to dust (no resurrecting that guy!) they fall back, apparently respecting my power for killing him. They seem to fail to notice that they killed him... Maybe Illusion does work on dragons after all.
With Nahkriin's staff in hand I reopen the portal. The ground heaves and breaks away, revealing a swirling vortex and a bright light.
Here goes. I'm off to the after-life...
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