ok so i attempted to do the forgemasters fingers quest tonight that would allow me entry into the orc strongholds. i did find the fingers just fine. but when i got to the orc stronghold to turn them in, the orc greeted me and told me to go in immediately and talk to the chief. i had fast traveled there and ended up there at night. i dont think the chief was outside at the time. the problem is that as soon as i fast traveled i was right at the gate and the orc immediately began quest dialogue. but quest was interrupted by the immediate appearance of not one but 2 dragons which i had to kill before attempting to complete the quest because they were both targeting me. so i killed them but they had also already killed the quest orc who talked to me. so i waited till daylight when all orce were outside and tried to talk to the chief. i still possess the fingers but they wont acknowledge me at all other than to tell me to leave.

You're best bet is to load a save (assuming you have one) prior to approaching the stronghold when the dragons attacked and killed the chief and hope the dragons don't attack again next time. Unfortunately, sometimes dragon attacks will happen at a given location no matter what. You might try not fast travelling directly to the stronghold next time too, sometimes fast traveling is more likely to trigger a dragon attack. Try walking from a nearby town (or location instead). Several of the orc strongholds are located near random encounter spawn points, which occasionally will cause a dragon attack. If you don't already have the latest patch (1.9) from xbox live, download that too, it was supposed to lower the chance/frequency of getting a dragon attack.