This game is severely broken, so of course I can't progress through a quest without having to jump through hoops. Anyway, I question all of the witnesses and talk to the guard, he tells me to talk to Jorlief, so I do, then I get the "Completed: Talk to Jorlief" message, then it tells me to ask him for help, which there's not option to, and to go check out the crime scene, which just leads to to a marker pointing at a coffin that the body has disappeared from and I can't do anything there.

Is there any way to fix this and if not then does anyone know how to use the console to complete these parts?

Oh, nevermind, turns out it wanted me to talk to the guard. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between bad design choices and glitches in this game.

This should be in the spoiler section.

The quest marker stays on Jorleif because he's sort of a constant go-to, even if he has no new information. So that is confusing, yes. The guard should have told you where to go next.

This quest gave me a lot of trouble too :/

fyi talk to the wizard
this should be moved to spoilers

Make sure you follow the trail when you're given the objective to investigate the crime scene. Yeah the arrrow points at the coffin, but that just lets you know where to start sniffing.

Please do not post Spoilers in General.

People come to General to learn about the game without learning about what happens in the game. If they want to know about what happens, that is what the Cheats, Hints and Spoilers section is for.

Do not use quest details or location specific details related to quests/puzzles/NPCs in your posts in this section. General is for discussing gameplay and mechanics. General topics about the the game include but are not limited to races, items and their use, magic, enchanting, skills, character builds, criticism, praise, funny random things that happen, places from an esthetic standpoint and and other general topics.

Use the Spoilers Section if you have to post quest details or other spoilers or a thread about the same. This also includes console commands, and character build exploits.

I will move this now.

It was the butler.

It was the butler all along.



I liked that quest very much! Actually just solved it only a few days back.

Yeah, I had a little trouble with the "investigate the crime scene part." The quest marker was right there, so I approach it, and it just shifted, then I looked at the ground a little closer.

...Or did you? (BWAHAHAAAAAA!)

This quest is nice in that if you act on the clues instead of blindly following the quest arrow, you can get a different outcome.

Yes. I did. I bit my tongue not to write anything like that in.

This quest still seems bugged for me? Even using the console commands will not trigger it. I tried loading an old save from before I had the pamphlets and my current save in which I do have the pamphlets, but neither seem to work. Anyone else still having any issues? :/

spoilers on the quest resolution

I just did this yesterday on my latest char. The very first time I did this quest it was night, so I didn't see the blood trail.

1. Talk to the guard at the scene of the crime. Do as he says, then report back to him. Follow the trail of blood to Hjerim. This starts the next step:
2. Talk to Jorlief about investigating the crime and again about access to Hjerim.
3. Find Tova Shatter-spear. Try the market or her house (next door to Hjerim). Tell her you have authority and need the key.
4. Enter Hjerim and investigate everything, taking the two journals and at least one of the butcher fliers. This triggers the next step:
5. Find Viola Giordano and talk to her. Mention the journal. She sends you to...
6. Talk to Jorlief. Strangely, you will say you found an amulet, though that isn't the case.
7. That's it: case closed. You don't need to talk to anybody else, see the wizard, or do anything further.

I really don't see how stating vague quest details is spoiling anything. Especially when it's at the very beginning of the quest; and if you don't want anything spoiled, then don't click on a topic for a quest you haven't done.

case is NOT closed if you put the wizard in jail
wrong person
instead of talking to jorleif
7: talk to the wizard
you will finish the quest correctly
or the murders will continue
[and the murderer can get stuck in your house
until the patch come out]

The amulet is in the lair under some of the butcher fliers on the shelf near the secret room.

Also...you're not done.