Perhaps it’s the effects of that patch, but I just had the most epic dragon fight, well, ever. It’s not really spoilerish, so pardon me as I share the story…
I popped into Whiterun to throw some stuff in my house chest and to check up on my wife (she gives me cash, it’s a good relationship.) But for the first time ever when in a town, I see a dragon circling overhead as soon as I go in. Not good. People were screaming and running around, guards were trying to get into position to shoot the thing.
Because I didn’t want to put the town in danger (why does this game even make me feel for them,) I zoned outside. I also ran away from the gate, and over toward some farms. Seeing me run, the dragon immediately went for me, he had my name and was in it for the kill, for sure.
As I’m running out of the way of the town, he made his first strafe run. The farmer nearby exclaimed, “we have to get out of here!” No joke, the understatement of the year. That strafe run took half my health and it didn’t even hit me directly. Thinking I would probably be okay, I quaffed an ultimate health potion, refilling my bar, but not efficiently. I glanced at the few potions I had available and decided I could probably take this guy, but I needed to be careful. So at this point I was no longer running, but sprinting for any cover I could see. The first try at that was a small storage area for the farmers, with nothing more than a roof, and wide open on the sides. The dragon landed with a huge thump about 20 feet away. It was an ancient dragon, sparkling gold in color with red highlights on his scales, and one mean looking son of a bitch. He peered at me for a second, then thankfully fixated on a guard who was slinging arrows nearby. As he turned his flank to me I started riddling him with arrows. The guard lasted for all of a single dragon breath attack, crumpling quickly afterward. The dragon then turned back toward me and I immediately felt the pucker factor building. Blaaaaaaaast, in came the fire, and OH MY GOD my health dropped quick. Four self-made health potions later, I realized that was not a good place to fling arrows from, indeed, it might have just been a bad idea to fight the guy … at all. Nearby I saw cover in the form of a farmer’s house, but it was a good hundred yards away. So instead, I made for the nearby windmill, and I liberally used the sprint button the entire way.
As I broke off, I could see debris flying up on either side of me. I heard him flapping, I could feel it even, THUMP … THUMP … THUMP. I made it to the windmill just as he hovered and breathed out more flame. As I wound around the back of the actual grain mill, the flames were flaring on both sides of me. I was hit slightly, and quaffed another potion. But I was amazed that the cover actually worked, and amazed that, holy cow, the flames were actually flying on both sides of me, AROUND the grinding mill. I realized also, though, that I was temporarily blind, the after effects of the flame attack. As I barely started to see again, I felt a monstrous crash. He had landed outside. Further, he was poking his head, INTO THE WINDMILL DOOR. I nearly wet myself. I started sliding out as I could, trying to fling, seemingly puny, ebony arrows at him. He was trying to chomp me as I did this, and nicked me more than once, forcing yet another quaffed potion. Then he backed up, and made another breath attack. And then with more wing flapping, he had decided to take off.
I thought he was trying to pull back a bit, so I stepped out of the windmill. As it turned out, he was just playing with me, circling around overhead, waiting for me to be stupid and step outside. At that point another guard ran up and started flinging arrows at him. What a brave but stupid thing to do. It’s no wonder so many guards take an arrow to the knee. But seeing an opening, I took the opportunity to do the same, and again riddled the side of the dragon with more ebony arrows.
The dragon, however, was having none of that, so he landed and picked up the poor guard, slinging him to and fro in his maw. Flinging the now dead guard aside, the dragon turned back to me and I had that sinking feeling that I forgot I was out in the open again. Blaaaaaaaaast, in came another breath attack, and directly at me this time. Not one, but two ultimate healing potions later, I was still burning as I sprinted back to the windmill, thoughts of “holy hell that hurt,” in my head.
The dragon crawled a bit toward me and tried to take a bite at me, but seeing me start to sprint, he then took flight and chased me back, breathing from above as he neared the door. This was a tactical mistake, in that dragons pause ever so slightly after a breath, and since he had missed me, and my back was turned, I had full vision, and was able to turn around and hit him a few more times. Thankfully, the steady hand perk helped me aim and shoot a few extra times as he paused after the breath. I started to feel like the tide of the battle was turning my way. Still, I ran into the mill.
But the dragon saw his mistake, and decided to land again right outside the windmill, shouting at me, “YOL!” I’m not sure if that’s dragon for, “LOL,” or perhaps “SUP,” but either way, I did not for a second think it meant, “let’s be friends!” From that point, the fight broke down into a back and forth of me avoiding his fire breath, while stepping out as I could to sling one, or maybe two arrows his way. The dragon caught me several times with his breath, and I was down to about 3 health potions and had gone through, easily, 50 or more arrows, some of which had never found their mark. My daedric arrows, all 20 of them, were sadly sitting in my chest in my nice warm house in town. Still, I was firing ebony arrows from my Nightingale bow, upgraded to legendary status from my smithing skill. Coupled with my skills as an archer, that many arrows slung at this beast was no small amount of damage.
With maybe a fifth of his life left, clearly hurt and bleeding, the dragon backed up and took flight. What the heck? A dragon run? They don’t do that! So I tried to step out of the windmill to finish him. Another mistake, it was again a ruse, the dragon was trying to lure me out, simply circling overhead, and strafed me as he passed above the windmill. With another 2 potions gone I suddenly felt I wasn’t going to make it here.
I stepped back into the windmill, praying that he would land again and I could do my strafing tap dance for another shot or two. Most thankfully, that is exactly what happened, he again landed outside the door, but this time tried to bite me again as I ran from side to side around the grain mill. Boom, an arrow landed, and thwack, yet another. He was at a sliver of life, but again decided to breathe on me. This time though, he got me with the last half of the breath attack, and out went my last health potion. My heart was beating out of my chest at that point, and my hand was clammy against the mouse. I was absolutely glued to my monitor.
He breathed again, but thankfully, I was behind the grain mill. Thinking it might be my shot, I stepped out, still half blind from the intensity of the fire breath, and took two shots where I thought he would be, not even drawing completely since I thought I had no time before he wound up for another breath. I heard an awesome shudder and a huge crash, and as my vision slowly cleared, I was staring at the dead head of a dragon, poking through the small opening in the windmill.
Hell … fucking … yes. That big guy was dead. I returned to the scene after a very well deserved nights rest. The bones of the dragon were still present, and I tried to take a shot of that small enclosed space from a distance away. Such a great fight.
And THAT is why I’m absolutely floored by this game. At 150+ hours played, it still blows me away. Whomever programmed the dragon AI, and animated the same … I salute you, a thousand times.
TL;DR: An amazing fight, and just another jaw dropping intense moment in a game absolutely full of them.
