The Legend of Red Eagle (Quest)

"Lord Red Eagle, ancient one, first and foremost among Reachmen, heed the call of your people! Still we fight for freedom! Still our blades are dark with blood! Turn your gaze upon us, and grant us your blessing anew! I renew the ancient covenant: When at last our lands are free, we shall return, your sword of victory in hand. Then arise, O great one, from your honored tomb! Reclaim thy stolen throne! Rule over us, High Lord of the Reach, forevermore!"

- Forsworn Briarheart

Overview

 * This is an infinite quest. The quest to discover the secret of Red Eagle's tomb may be completed multiple times, but the Dragonborn will only face Red Eagle himself once. Red Eagle is located south of Karthspire.

Quick walkthrough

 * 1) Fight up the mountain to get to the Red Eagle's Ascent
 * 2) Fight through the tunnel and make your way to Red Eagle Redoubt
 * 3) Defeat Forsworn Briarheart and take Red Eagle's Fury
 * 4) Make your way to Rebel's Cairn and use Red Eagle's Fury to open cave wall
 * 5) Fight Red Eagle

Get to Red Eagle's Ascent
After reaching the area the map directs you to, you will find several Forsworn in your path. Quickly defeat them and make your way to the iron doorway to Red Eagle's Ascent.

Make your way to Red Eagle Redoubt
Make your way down the cave path and take out the 3 Forsworn you find at the beginning of the cave. There may be 2 or 3 more as you go through, but not many more than that.

Once you exit the Ascent, you will be attacked by 2 more Forsworn. Once you take care of them stick to the right side of the mountain to get to Red Eagle Redoubt, if you go to the left you will encounter a Forsworn mage that is pretty tough along with 2-3 more Forsworn. If you climb the mountain (easy enough to do if you use some stamina and jump in the right spots) you will come across another Forsworn Mage in a tent that will summon a Frost Atronach that can be tough to deal with if you don't go right into the tent to take her out. 4-6 more Forsworn come out to help her, but they can be taken down easy if you have finished her off first.

Defeat Forsworn Briarheart
Make your way up the steps and fight the Forsworn Briarheart and grab Red Eagle's Fury, which you will need later. You can make your way through the tower at this point without running into anymore Forsworn.

On to Rebel's Cairn
Make your way over to Rebel's Cairn. Do this by climbing the tower, dropping the drawbridge by pulling the chain, crossing to the other tower, going down and through the iron door with the door bar, and then going across the fields. This is easiest done by following the quest marker.

Once inside use Red Eagle's Fury to open the cave wall. Make your way down the tunnel and prepare to fight Red Eagle.

Fight Red Eagle
Once you step on the seal on the floor Red Eagle will awake and summon 4 Skeleton archers when he gets out of his coffin. Fight and kill Red Eagle. The archers do not have to be killed if you do not want to, and they will automatically collapse a few seconds after Red Eagle is slain.

Before you step on the seal set out a Fire Rune spell if you have it in the center of the last set of stairs (the one Red Eagle will come down first). Then run back up to where you opened the cave wall.

If you have a follower and Barbas and can summon a Flame Atronach, the easiest way to defeat Red Eagle is to let them do all the work. Stay back where you opened the wall and watch. Your team will take out the skeletons first and then start working on Red Eagle. If your Flame Atronach dies, go back in and re-cast the spell. By this time Red Eagle should be at least half way dead, as three have been striking him if all goes well. You can finish him off if you want, and if you have a Soul Trap weapon you can even grab Red Eagle's soul if you have the Black Star.

Another way to fight Red Eagle with little risk is to have a follower good at fighting while you have high sneaking and good archery abilities. Having the Power Shot perk is useful as each shot has a 50% chance of staggering Red Eagle for a couple seconds. Sneak into the room, awaken Red Eagle, and shoot arrows at him while you pull back. Your follower will likely charge into combat, and Red Eagle and the skeletons will target the follower since they cannot find you. Shooting arrows at Red Eagle while he fights your follower. At some point, Red Eagle is likely to critically hurt your follower, who will go down to one knee. Red Eagle and the skeletons won't finish him off but instead start looking around for you. Continue shooting arrows at Red Eagle until he dies. Even if he spots you and starts toward you, he should be almost dead by this point, and using the Unrelenting Force shout will push him away.

However you choose to kill Red Eagle, once you have finished him off loot the Honed Ancient Nord Greatsword of Burning he carries. Behind his coffin there is a chest and some shelves containing loot. This chest is also one of the possible locations for the quest item needed for Shalidor's Insights.

On your way out, you can remove the Red Eagle weapon from the pedestal that opened Red Eagle's room. The weapon has transformed from Red Eagle's Fury to become Red Eagle's Bane. It is no longer a quest item, so you can take it without having it be stuck in your inventory. Use it or sell it as you wish.

Journal
Note: This quest is never actually shown completed in the journal stages.

Enemies

 * Forsworn
 * Skeleton
 * Forsworn Briarheart
 * Red Eagle