Bug with fighting Ahzidal in Unearthed Quest

[Okami]

Forgive my grammar btw... So this is my first ever playthrough of Skyrim and I've never really had any issues that I wasn't able to figure out but I was doing the Unearthed quest because I want to get every single achievement so I needed the black book from the quest. I was near the end of the quest I walked in the room and tried talking to Ralis who was summoning Ahizidal he succeded and got blown away and it didn't let me ever complete the "find Ralis" objective that happens before the kill Ahzidal. I thought that wasn't a big deal so I loaded back a save because after defeating Ahzidal it didn't think I defeated him for some reason even though he was clearly dead, after loading back more saves and killing him 3 more times, I loaded back an even further save before I entered the barrow and it still didn't work, a few times it actually accepted it and said I found Ralis, and a few times it actually accepted that I killed Ahzidal, but after that it wouldn't let me do anything else it was just marked off that I killed him but it wouldn't let me do anything more for the quest. I tried reloading and restarting my pc so I don't know. The only thing I can think of that could have caused it to be buggy is that I used a cheat to speed up time while I was waiting for a courier to tell me to come back to Ralis, but idk why that would cause it cause I also used the cheat to speed up time a long time ago when waiting 30 days for the gold veins in a mine to replenish and nothing glitched at all, I really want to get every achievement so help? again I apologize for my terrible grammar.

[alexander_dougherty]

Used a cheat to speed up time?
given the game allows you to wait, why would you use a cheat?

Reload a save from before you used that cheat and see if that solves it.

[Okami]

Yea I didn't want to have to figure out what save was before that but it's looking like I'll have to. Also I used one because I was being lazy honestly

[marstinson]

Back up to one of those earlier known-good saves, preferably before you got the last message to return to the camp. The quest progresses through a few stages once you get to the camp:

"Locate Ralis" (stage 410) appears after you find the camp massacre (I don't think reading Ralis' journal is the trigger, but it might be). It advances to 449 when you find Ralis in the ritual chamber and then it immediately bumps to "Defeat Ahzidal" (stage 450) after Ahzidal's animation completes, but there is a blank stage 440 that triggers at some point after entering the barrow. This is where you might be stuck since you're still showing your objective as "Locate Ralis."

Your best bet is probably to back up to a save just before you enter the barrow. Open the console and type: "setstage DLC2dunKolbjornQST 410" (no quotes). You'll have "Locate Ralis" as your objective, so go work your way through the barrow until you get to the ritual chamber.
Just before you get to the ritual chamber, make a hard save, open the console, and type "getstage DLC2dunKolbjornQST" (no quotes). It should return either 410 or 440 (hopefully 440).

Entering the ritual chamber should trigger the bump to stage 449 (no objective change). Letting Ahzidal complete his animation should advance it to 450 ("Defeat Ahzidal"). Once that's done you'll advance to stage 475 ("Confront Ralis") and can deal with Ralis as you see fit. The quest terminates when you either kill him (stage 480 followed by 485) or let him live (stage 490). If you let him go, he'll end up in the Retching Netch in Raven Rock. If you don't, you get some minor loot (most of the money you gave him is spent).

Ralis is essential until you get the notice to return to the barrow.

[Okami]

Originally posted by marstinson:

Back up to one of those earlier known-good saves, preferably before you got the last message to return to the camp. The quest progresses through a few stages once you get to the camp:

"Locate Ralis" (stage 410) appears after you find the camp massacre (I don't think reading Ralis' journal is the trigger, but it might be). It advances to 449 when you find Ralis in the ritual chamber and then it immediately bumps to "Defeat Ahzidal" (stage 450) after Ahzidal's animation completes, but there is a blank stage 440 that triggers at some point after entering the barrow. This is where you might be stuck since you're still showing your objective as "Locate Ralis."

Your best bet is probably to back up to a save just before you enter the barrow. Open the console and type: "setstage DLC2dunKolbjornQST 410" (no quotes). You'll have "Locate Ralis" as your objective, so go work your way through the barrow until you get to the ritual chamber.
Just before you get to the ritual chamber, make a hard save, open the console, and type "getstage DLC2dunKolbjornQST" (no quotes). It should return either 410 or 440 (hopefully 440).

Entering the ritual chamber should trigger the bump to stage 449 (no objective change). Letting Ahzidal complete his animation should advance it to 450 ("Defeat Ahzidal"). Once that's done you'll advance to stage 475 ("Confront Ralis") and can deal with Ralis as you see fit. The quest terminates when you either kill him (stage 480 followed by 485) or let him live (stage 490). If you let him go, he'll end up in the Retching Netch in Raven Rock. If you don't, you get some minor loot (most of the money you gave him is spent).

Ralis is essential until you get the notice to return to the barrow.

Thank you so so much! I did exactly what you said and I was a little nervous because after I defeated him again it still didn't want to complete the quest but I tried typing in "getstage DLC2dunKolbjornQST" just to see what would happen and it let me talk to him and finish the quest. I really appreciate it because I was about to give up and make a whole new character just for the black book achievement, but I should be able to finish it now! Thanks!