Dustman's Cairn Perma-Bug?

[Shadeybladey]

Am I hallucinating or is Dustman's Cairn impossible to complete without console-cheating in some major scrolls to destroy undead?

 

Shouldn't the Companion go werewolf? He did to kill three measely Silver Hand, so why not the 47-odd major Draugr?

 

It's supposed to be a low-level quest to join the Companions and prove my honour. My Khajiit Thief is level 45 with 3 decent followers, plus what's-his-face Valik or Falik the Companion. My Sneak is so high the Draugr ignore me until everyone else is bleeding on the ground (they are all marked as essential). But they basically ignore my poisoned arrows as well!

 

Then I get shouted to smithereens.

 

I very rarely bother with the Companions, but i wanted access to their trainers, but I thought the Unoffical Patch fixed this sort of thing?

 

 

Cheers!

 

[thumbincubation]

It can be done but it can be challenging if the draugr aren't killed before the next "batch" wakes up. They should come in small waves, rather than all at once. If you use destruction magic, I would suggest a dual-cast flame cloak and make use of the fire breath shout you just got from the word wall. That shout is slightly aoe, so if you move in such a way that they're all bunched up or lined up in front of you, you can damage more of them with it. Also, if you use conjuration, flame atronach, flame atronach, flame atronach. Now they're taking damage from your bow, your flame cloak, and your atronachs, at one time.

 

At a minimum, I would use a fortify health potion, regenerate health and regenerate magicka (so you can keep casting the atronachs and cloaks), as well as combat improvement potions (one handed, two handed, archery, destruction, etc., so whatever you are using is stronger. (If it helps at all, you can mix blue mountain flower & wheat for the fortify/restore health. Mix garlic, juniper berries & jazzbay grapes for a dual action potion to regenerate health and magicka. If you don't have the magicka to cast a cloak spell, there's also briar heart, dwarven oil & salmon roe, which will give you a triple action potion to increase your magicka regen, restore magicka, and give you an extreme boost in raw magicka for just a few seconds, long enough to cast something.)

[Shadeybladey]

Thanks for taking the time to reply with that. That would be a great strategy for a high level Fire Magick Mage, but I am a Thief! And my followers are two Thieves, an Assassin and the Companion, who is a Warrior.

 

It can be done but it can be challenging if the draugr aren't killed before the next "batch" wakes up.

 

LOL! "Challenging"? I think the word you are looking for is IMPOSSIBLE!

 

And I am only on Adept difficulty! :D

 

 

They should come in small waves, rather than all at once.

 

Yes, they came in waves, but only a few seconds apart. I used to use a mod for better undead, but not on this character, as Draugr kept resurrecting a ridiculous number of times.

 

The door out was locked and needed a key. Once they are all dead it's just an Adept level lock that I can pick easily. I am not sure if that is Vanilla or due to some mod hanging around.

 

 

...and make use of the fire breath shout you just got from the word wall. That shout is slightly aoe, so if you move in such a way that they're all bunched up or lined up in front of you, you can damage more of them with it.

 

Ah, that's the thing. I did not speak to the Jarl and most of my activity is in Riften, trying to join the Thieve's Guild. So I have seen no dragons and only have that one shout, but cannot use it as I have no souls to power it. I only went to Whiterun to sell loot, and joined the Companions for their One-Handed training, then met the guy wandering round who lost his father's sword, and he trained my One-Handed some more. So far I have the first Perk and some of the Dual-Wielding ones. But none in Archery.

 

 

If you don't have the magicka to cast a cloak spell, there's also briar heart, dwarven oil & salmon roe, which will give you a triple action potion to increase your magicka regen, restore magicka, and give you an extreme boost in raw magicka for just a few seconds, long enough to cast something.)

 

Ooh, the irony! I use my own Alchemy mod for Herbalists, Healers and Poisoners which allows better potions of both, and makes their strength more equal to ach other. I even have a portable pestle and mortar, so I could have made that potion in the dungeon. But I have no perks in it and didn't even think of making a useful potion. If I were an Assassin, I would have almost all the perks.

 

And I have only the one Flame Destruction spell that you start with, as Destruction is not even a Tertiary skill for me.

 

I recall doing this one time with a Ranger, who had a lot more Perk points in Archery and could sneak shoot with the Zoom-In Eagle Eye Feat. But it was still impossible, so I cheated in scrolls of Bane of Undead or something.

 

As I am playing a Thief this time, I have role-playing rules I must stick to, like AD&D classes to mimic the old Daggerfall classes. I have to take a Perk in a Primary skill if I can, before any in a Secondary Skill, and must take a Perk in a Secondary skill if I can before I take any in a Tertiary skill.

 

Thief 45

Sneak         96  All but last
Lockpick      93  All but last
Pickpockets   23  1 Feat (need to join Thieve's Guild)

Speech        77  8 Feats
One-Handed    77  5
Light Armour  91  5

Archery       94  0 feats
Alchemy       92  0
Smithing      90  0
Enchanting    35  0
Illusion      20  0
Alteration    20  0

My Khajiit can still 1-Shot a Silver Hand from stealth, though, due to Sneak perks, even with no Archery perks.

 

For a Pickpocket I would swap Lockpicking with Speech and for a Burglar I'd swap Pickpockets with Speech. Shame there's no Climbing skill no more!

 

My Ranger was much better at Archery, of course, as that was a Primary skill for him (a Bosmer) and my Assassin was much better at Alchemy.

Assassin       Ranger          Bard
Sneak          Archery         Speech
One-Handed     One-Handed      Illusion
Alchemy        Light Armour    Pickpocket

Pickpocket     Sneak           1-Handed
Archery        Smithing        Archery
Light Armour   Alchemy         Light Armour

Lockpick       Alteration      Alteration
Destruction    Conjuration     Lockpick
Smithing       Illusion        Smithing
Enchanting     Enchanting      Enchanting
Illusion       Two-Handed      Alchemy
Speech         Block           Sneak

There are other rules as well about how much Magicka, Health and Stamina they gain, which perks are disallowed, whether they can do Heavy Smithing etc. EG a Ranger can use Illusions to Calm Animals, Conjuration for Summon Animals and Elemental Atronachs, Alteration for Water Breathing, Transmute Ore and any survival things, but cannot Summon or control Undead of any sort, or take Assassin type Sneak Perks.

 

So, in the end, my Khajiit Thief was either going to have to abandon that quest for now, or cheat.

 

So I used TGM in the console and killed them all dual-wielding my Elven Sword and Dagger!

 

And it was still a hell of a battle!

 

:D

 

Next time, if I am playing a Mage, I will prepare better and use your strategy!

 

:D

[thumbincubation]

I see what you mean. That is one heck of a roleplay, though. You have me thinking, now. I never tested whether I can cast bane of the undead and a flame cloak together. I'm going to have to test that soon. Muhahaha.

[Shadeybladey]

Oh, it works if you have a lot of scrolls!

 

I use UFO for followers, and I can say

 

You Know...

...You are important

 

which tags them as essential, so they go down for a while but do not die.

 

Actually, in this play through I find that they do more than 80% of the killing for me. I spend so much time trying to avoid hitting them with an arrow! I shot Varkas or Farkas or whatever he's called in the back of the head from a balcony thinking he was a Silver Hand, and he just said:

 

"Huh? What was that?"

 

and took like 2% Max hp in damage! He does seem to wander the dungeon a lot, getting ahead or lagging behind. When I unlocked the Adept level lock, he was the other side of the door!

 

I wonder what would have happened if I'd use a silver arrow?

 

I like to make Daggerfall-type classes when I can. I made outlines for most of them, limiting the level of Perks they can get in Secondary, Tertiary and Miscellaneous skills. There has to be a difference between a Ranger, a Pickpocket, an Assassin and a Thief. A Ranger can Sneak, but not as well as an Assassin, and can do Sneak shots with a bow, but not Backstab like a Thief. A Ranger can make healng potions from things he harvests in the wilderrness, but not as well as an Assassin who specialises in poisons and venom. A Nightblade has better One-Handed and Illusion skills than a Thief, a Spellsword has better destruction magick and so on, while neither a Nightblade or a Spellsword can Block like a Sword and Shield Warrior.

 

It's a lot of fun. Skyrim was very "dumbed-down" in terms of character skills compared with Daggerfall and Morrowind, but has that perk system to make up for it.

 

All the Best!

 

:D