OK - I have lvl 95 sneak and Legendary Dragon Plate Armor. I use a Daedric Bow and Ebony Arrow. I'm lvl 38.

WTF is up with Dead Crone Rock? There are Forsworn there and this place makes NO sense.

I'm getting one shotted - something that NEVER happens, by Forsworn Briarhearts. I'm getting caught sneaking around from enemies SO far away. My sneak and perks are so high I can stand to the side of anyone and they don't notice me.

Arrows are do devastating damage to me. My x3 Bow sneak attack doesn't even kill enemies in one hit. (almost always it does, and if it doesn't, they are usually some hooked up guys that still lose a lot of health).

I also have a staff that summons a Daedric Warrior who owns. This guy is getting killed like nothing too.

I'm not complaining about difficulty. I love a challenge, and it's been some time since I've seen one in this game.

I am, however, confused as [snip]!

I have no curses or negative status effects. Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanks for looking.

Briarhearts are ridiculously tough for undead zombies. They have ridiculously high hearing and eagle vision. They can and will own a Dremora Lord like nothing espeically if you get unlucky to come across more than one of them. If you are super lucky and manage to SOMEHOW sneak up on them and pickpocket their heart, they will die instantaneously.

Thanks for the info. I did manage to sneak up on one and backstab him (x30 bonus w/ dagger) but didn't know about the pickpocketing the heart. I will have to try that. Also didn't know about the eagle vision. Where do you find that sort of info?

Thanks again.

im actually getting more interested in pickpocketing now and im leveling it up more so I will defenitely try to pickpocket a Briarhearts' briarheart.

The lore and the guide book together. Besides they always seem to know when I'm in the vincinty and If I don't prepare myself for them they usually kill me. Strangely they do run away if I jump into deep enough water and submerge myself, but they seem to know.

Hagravens make them. Here http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Forsworn_Briarheart

For some reason all enemies run away when you go into water. I have used that tactic on giants, bears, bandits, guards, and sabreteeth.

Interesting. I got attacked by a bear once that was already in the water, thought the red dot on my radar was a slaughterfish. Was wrong. But that was the only time something attacked me in the water that wasn't a slaughterfish.

You can one-hit Briarhearts no matter how low your weapon damage; steal their Briar Heart and they will collapse, dead.
Also, in my experience anyway, Briarheart Forsworn are ridiculously skilled with both magic and weapons. Being Breton wildmen, it fits. Their uncanny ability to detect you may be a bug. I experienced a bug (not with Forsworn) where my sneak level, despite being level 100 and with the Muffled perk and Ebony Mail (which muffles you further), I was detected in darkness. Took a few saves and reloads to fix that problem.