My character is in the high 50s now and I was doing some exploring and found Mistwatch Tower. Regular place until I began the side quest giving by Chrisher (spell?). Most of the mobs were buggy and pathing wrong, and when I reached the end boss I killed her. Talked to Chris-guy again, he began attacking me, but I refused to kill him because it was not his fault his wife was a murdering nutcase (aka the End Boss of Mistwatch). So then the game looped me back to talking to Chris. I gave him his wife's wedding ring. Then the stupid quest told me to go talk to a still-very-dead Fioja (boss). Chris guy was no where to be seen, so I could not unbug the quest by simply killing him.

All in all, as side quests go this one was pretty buggy. Please fix. And anyone else experience this?

It wasn't buggy at all for me because I followed what was in the log. You weren't supposed to kill her. Players who kill everyone they can are causing their own problems & then complain the game is buggy. Yes it's buggy but more for some people as the consequence for their own decisions.

That quest works better when you are given it rather than stumbling upon it. Its one of the possible quest options given by the Jarls as I understand it. At least that how I got the quest.

Now the problem for me is that I had actually entered Mistwatch from the mountains and thus actually worked my way down rather than up. Now if I remember correctly, Fjola offered me the Ring, so I took it and kindly got the fella to leave. Broken hearted but then I know from personal experience that scum such as her are very welcome in the jungle, so be it if she won't listen to reason. This is not an uncommon story in real life, afterall. Anyway I digress. I then went up to report to her and the quest finished. Then for some reason I heard her draw so I turned around and showed her the true value of a husband Horrible I know, but such is the moral quandry is it not?

So what i suggest you do is roll back to a save before you enter Mistwatch and do it again. I did actually try other ways all resulted in having to report to a dead Fjola which I obviously cannot do. Hope this helps.

Did you really do the quest? one of the possible options is that you kill her and then have to subdue the husband. Its called yeilding but it means you sheathe the sword and go at him fist-to-cuffs. Problem is that the quest using this option does not update properly and and results in having to go back and report to Fjola.

I think that in my own experience, I was ordered by the Jarl to rid the Tower and keep of bandits. For some reason soon as I turned my back she drew blade. I just took it as that she was the last bandit and thus attacked me. Considering that I had just allowed the wretch to live, albeit in a manner I didn't agree with, she had promised that she would make it up to me. However drawing blade is not what I had in mind. Especially with my back turned. So I walked over and decapitated her. The entire quest is thus two parts. One part fulfilling the Jarls edict. Second part a moral quandry. I am quite clear about what I would do should someone raise arms against me with my back turned.

Yup, I did the quest. I still have the ring in Breezehome. I didn't think she was scum, she just wanted a more exciting life. She asked me to be kind to her sad husband so I lied that she was dead & he refused the ring & left. I then reported back to her & she did not draw on me but she did wonder who killed all her bandit clan & vowed revenge. She's also not too bright.

Okay, so basically the quest does not update properly. Figures. And I personally think she is scum. Who in their right mind would completely ditch the person they married for a more exciting life? If she became a bandit, I really doubt she brought the subject up with her husband. Instead, choosing to brood and brood some more and then finally up and leave because she was fed up with her "slow" life.

Because her husband crossed the world for her. That seems pretty adventurous to me. He was willing to face a more "exciting" lifestyle to get his wife back. And she just couldn't put her pride down long enough to find that out about him. Plus she turned to thieving and murdering. She is dead in my book.

But gah! Why the quest could not update properly....grrrrr.

Yeah, I didn't experience that. Like, I've had it happen both ways as in, finding the straggler woman who escaped from there and gives you the quest and just walking in on my own accord. If you get up to the top of the tower the bandit leader talks to you and tells you that she is Fjola and that she left the guy that asks you to find her because he was a simpleton that was smothering her or whatever and she just wanted to go back home to Skyrim or blah, blah, blah... In any case, she gives you the wedding ring, tells you to keep it as a means of paying you because it's worth a few coins and then you show the guy, he gets all butt-hurt that his wife is "dead" and leaves. Typically, even on the "Speak to Fjola" part of it after he leaves, she is walking down the steps by where you meet him. So, you don't have to go very far to complete that part either.

Yup, what Drinniam said. The upshot is, don't kill the NPC you needed to update the quest.

Except that Skyrim is supposed to be open and allow you to choose your own actions. I killed Fjola because she was scum, and had some nice loot on her. There was nothing in the quest that even remotely suggested I wasn't allowed to kill her. The quest is buggy and broken, simple as that.