Forelhost (Skyrim)

Forelhost is the place where Captain Valmir gives the player the Siege on the Dragon Cult Quest. Forelhost Stronghold has several Dragon Cultists both in ghost form and physical form. This place is not recommended for lower level players, for the monsters in there can be tough; there are dozens of Draugrs to wade through.

Forelhost is directly South-East of Riften on the nearby Mountain. Can find a pathway on the east side of the mountain.

Walkthrough
From the moment you enter Forelhost you know that this is going to be no picnic. As you walkthrough the first section the first ghost will appear and attack you. While not particularly difficult with the right equipment they will keep popping up.

You'll continue heading through the first section meeting ghosts. There is nothing particularly special but do remember to check the urns for health potions for at the end of your quest lies a Dragon Priest with mask and unlike other Dragon Priest missions you'll have no help from NPC's.

The next stage of Forelhost is the crypts. A descent in to traps, madness and lots of Draugr. You'll be heading down into the depths of the Crypts unless you possess Master lockpick skills, then you can skip the entirety of the crypts by heading left in the first room and going down into the well. For others you'll descend through darkness and be met at every chamber and turn with draugr scourges and deathlords as well as normal draugr. In one particular area you can cheat a little the Draugr will set off their own traps causing a spiked gate to slam them into the wall weakening them a lot.

As you get to the bottom of the crypts you'll enter a room with an ornate chest to your right as you enter you'll trigger a high powered lord draugr to rise from his coffin as well as have other draugr wraiths come to attack. Defeat them and check the chest you'll find the Forelhost Well Key.

Now head back up by quick route which is up through the chamber and through the barred door. Watch out for the swinging axes as you go to the well as they wil cause your companion to disappear (rectified by waiting a few hours confirmed xbox 360). Now its time to go through the last sections.

Undead
Once inside Forelhost, the player will encounter many undead dragon cultists Draugr. Some are Draugr ghosts, and they are invisible until they attack. One point of interest is that a player can sneak around, and as long as they don't attack, the ghosts will "detect" the player character, but they won't attack. The "hidden" and "detected" indicator would change back and forth as the ghost moved around, which increases the sneak skill fairly quickly (This will only work when venturing alone, any companion other than a member of the Theves Guild or Dark Brotherhood will cause the ghosts to target your companion). Only after attacking, do the spirit remain in ghost form (opaque with a blue hue) until struck either, with a spell or weapon, which would make them appear in physical form.

The undead at the entrance aren't that difficult, but as you get deeper into the dungeon, you will encounter melee and mage undead, as well as ones that can actually do dragon shouts (Draugr Scourge, possibly Draugr Deathlord). These are pretty hard, and are usually accompanied by a few friends (some of them even summon a Frost Atronach). Must be careful when using favorite weapons as they can shout Disarm, making difficult or even impossible finding it.

The actual area is teeming with traps designed to screw up your dealings with the Draugr, you will encounter in the crypts and depths of the dungeon hordes of draugr normally championed by a Draugr Scourge. Alongside many 3-5 enemies attacking you they will set off traps that not only hurt them but send you (and your comapnion if you have one) flying into walls, being spiked in the head and shot with poison arrows. Make sure that you go through the loot and recover as many phials of health potions as possible because when it comes to the final battle your going to need it. Remember that the leveling up engine is different in Skyrim so the bosses and dungeons for lower levels will be very difficult in Forelhost.

Traps
There are a lot of traps in this dungeon. There are floor plates that trigger various traps. Some of the chests are trapped. There are swinging axes in slim hallways. There are mage runes in random spots that blast you if you get too close. There are trigger plates that lift when you take an item that is sitting on them. There are soul gems that are rigged to shoot lightning or frost at you (high damage) if you get in line of sight with it (these are wicked and will drop you fast). There is a trapped room where the floor raises up as you step on it and impales the character with spikes in the ceiling. Be cautious!

Misc Materials
There are quite a bit of misc items and materials in this dungeon. In the room with the dead spider, there is one gold ore vein, one quicksliver vein, and a lot of glowing mushrooms. There are a lot of alchemy materials in a few rooms since some of the undead are/were alchemists. There are a few alchemy tables. There is also an enchantment table right before entering the final room. There are some rooms with smithing materials and forge/grindstone/work bench. There are a LOT of other random things in here, if you want to load up, make sure you are really light before entering (or do multiple trips back to a merchant).

The Cultists are also a rich source of arrows - the archer variants will drop up to 110 Ancient Nord Arrows which have a damage value of ten - Going through the dungeon using other arrows, it's very possible to come out with upwards of six hundred new arrows.

One thing you will not find much of are populated soul gems. If you need these to keep your weapons charged, bring a good supply with you.

The door code is: Fox, Owl, Snake

Glitches
In the hallways with the swinging axes, companions might get hit with the axe. As the axe hit them, they might get pushed into the wall and disappear (with a loud, disgusting sounding "squish" sound). (If you use the "Wait" option when they get stuck in the wall your companion will usually reappear next to you, Confimed ps3)

If you pick the well lock instead of retrieving the key normaly the Glass Claw door will not allow you to spin the rings. The Answer to this door is Fox, Owl, Snake. (PC)

For those of you that know about the jump glitch commonly found within the game, you can use this to travel up the stone that houses the entrance to Forelhost ( just behind the large arch ). This will alow you to climb up to the upper walkway, and immediately get the Shout.