I began the 2nd part of the White Phial quest (after you get the courier note): got powdered mammoth tusk and unmelting snow, then killed the Forsworn dude with the arrow above his head for the "Forsworn Heart." he had a "briar heart" on him, I took it. Quest didn't complete, and you can't drop the Briar heart either, since it's now locked as a "quest item." I then looked up the bug online: turns out many others are having the same problem, see http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_talk:Repairing_the_Phial http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Repairing_the_Phial http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111126154611AAMlE5p

I used the codes recommended "setobjectivecompleted MS12b 50 1," quest updated normally. I went back to Quintus, and I could ask him about the three components, but couldn't hand in the quest (even though the journal had updated acknowledging I had the "Forsworn Heart," and that I should speak to Quintus. Annoyed, I ate one of the two briar hearts, then used "player.drop 0003AD61 001" (I had one Briar heart at the time) to drop the remaining one which was locked by the quest. Still won't let me complete. I realize now that I should have saved this "debug" experiment at each stage of the quest, but it's too late now. My last save where I didn't have this quest picked up was near the early stage of the game, and there's no way I am going back to that load just to make this quest work properly.

Help? Is there any console command to fix this quest? I wish that Bethesda would patch this specific quest, but they haven't done so.

Not sure. Please add it to the bug list thread if it's not there already.

It just happened to me yesterday, I figured it was because I already had a briar heart in my inventory that it locked up on me...I ate all but the one and it didn't make a difference...I tried putting the three ingredients in my safe, and powdered mammoth tusk was the only one that worked...I took it back out, and it didn't activate any prompts onscreen to turn in...I did the go back thing, and went through all the fight again, even killed the dude in a different place...same thing...Oh well...the phial is just gonna stay broke!

So there's no solution? T_T

there's a "bugs and issues" section in this forum, why spamming here?

If your quest status indicates you have the briar heart you should be able to take all the ingredients back and have the phial repaired. I've collected around 4 or 5 briar hearts and they are all considered quest items so they can't be dropped but they also don't weigh anything, as far as the quest the game doesn't recognize any of them and i can't have the phial repaired.

It may be that you need to use the briar heart indicated on the quest map and not one you already have in your inventory. I had a couple but I still went ahead and followed the map marker and repaired the white phial with no problem.

I've read further and must add that the other briar hearts were stored away at home not on me at the time of doing the quest.

I didn't use the Birarhart pointed by the quest compass. I had a few at home, from my past dealing with these nasty monsters. I collected one from my alchemy chest, went back to Windhelm and the quest proceeded.

Try finding another Forsworn camp. The boss at the end is always a Briarheart.