Skyrim:Ill Met By Moonlight

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Hunt in Hircine's name; choose between killing a werewolf or saving his life. Quest Giver: Mathies or Sinding Location(s): Falkreath, Bloated Man's Grotto Reward: Savior's Hide and/or Ring of Hircine (see Two Rewards) ID: DA05

Meeting Sinding at the Grotto

Quick Walkthrough

1. (Optional) Speak to Mathies, the father of the slain child in Falkreath.
2. Talk to Sinding, who is in a jail cell located in the Falkreath barracks.
3. Accept his quest and take his Cursed Ring of Hircine.
4. Kill the White Stag.
5. Accept Hircine's quest to kill Sinding.
6. Travel to Bloated Man's Grotto.
7. Speak with Sinding.
8. Defeat Sinding OR defeat Hircine's Hunters and speak with Sinding.
9. Speak with Hircine.

Detailed Walkthrough

Falkreath

In the graveyard outside of the Hall of the Dead in Falkreath, grieving parents of a recently slain child are being consoled by Runil. Mathies, the father of the child, tells you that a laborer working for him on Corpselight Farm named Sinding was the murderer and is currently locked up in Falkreath Jail.

Whether you speak to Mathies or not, upon reaching the Jail you will find there is only one prisoner. Sinding approaches the bars and speaks with you, revealing that he is a werewolf. He goes on further to explain that he stole the Ring of Hircine in an attempt to control his transformations. However, this plan backfired when Hircine, the Daedric Prince of the Hunt, then cursed the ring and now the bearer of the Cursed Ring of Hircine transforms at random, and with no control.

Sinding believes that if he hunts and kills a great beast in the form of a white stag, that he can win back Hircine's favor and uncurse the ring. If you choose to help him, he will give you the ring and task you with hunting down the white stag yourself. Once he gives you the ring, it equips itself and cannot be unequipped or dropped. Sinding then transforms into a werewolf and escapes through the top of his cell.

If you're not a werewolf yourself, the only effect of the cursed ring is to deprive you of your finger slot. If you are a werewolf, the ring will make you transform at random, just like Sinding. Although you can control your lycanthropic form as normal, an ill-timed transformation could earn you a severe bounty, or even get you killed, so plan accordingly.

Hunting the White Stag

The White Stag can be found south of Pinewatch in an unmarked clearing. Successfully hunting the White Stag in the forests east of Falkreath will cause a ghostly manifestation of Hircine to appear. He is not pleased with what he views as Sinding's betrayal, and requests that you hunt down Sinding in Bloated Man's Grotto and tear the skin from his body. He also tells you to hurry, as you are not the only hunter vying for his favor in this matter.

Bloated Man's Grotto

Upon entering Bloated Man's Grotto, you will see a small camp with several bodies and a mortally wounded hunter, who tells you that his wounds and the casualties are from battling Sinding, and warns you that "the prey is strong" before dying. Once you leave the camp and go in a bit further you will see Sinding in his werewolf form, high up on a rock above the entrance, with the Blood Moon behind him.

When you reach him he will greet you, and ask for your assistance. You then have a choice between helping him against the hunters for the Ring of Hircine or fulfilling Hircine's request which will give you the Savior's Hide. Note that it is possible to do both, see the "Two Rewards" section.

With a sufficiently powerful ranged attack, it is possible to kill Sinding before he speaks to you, successfully concluding the quest.

Note: Entering Bloated Man's Grotto at this point of the quest will always result in the time in the grotto set to 11pm upon entering, regardless of the time in Skyrim when you entered the grotto.

Hircine's Will

Be ready to fight

If you choose to fight him, he will run from the cliff towards the entrance, where there are several hunters waiting for him. None of them is any match for him and by the time you catch up to him he will most likely have killed several of them. After defeating him, his corpse will give an option to tear the skin off his body as Hircine requested. Hircine will appear again as a ghostly manifestation of Sinding and reclaim his ring while giving you the Savior's Hide as a reward.

Helping Sinding

If you choose to assist him, a stronger group of hunters will turn hostile between you and him and after battling them you will continue the same way as he would run if you chose to fight him, and simply assist him with the weaker hunters. After the remaining hunters are defeated, talk to Sinding, who will simply thank you. When you exit the cave, Hircine will again appear in the form of the ghostly white stag and reward you by removing the curse from the ring, granting you the restored Ring of Hircine. You will then be able to equip/unequip the ring.

Two Rewards

• It is entirely possible to obtain both the Ring of Hircine as well as the Savior's Hide. In order to do so;
  1. Talk to Sinding and tell him you will spare his life.
  2. Help Sinding eliminate the remaining hunters.
  3. Leave the cave, where you will meet the White Stag and receive the non-cursed version of Ring of Hircine.
  4. Return to the cave, kill Sinding and take his hide.
  5. Talk to the spectral avatar to receive the Savior's Hide.

Furthermore, Sinding (as a werewolf) may be found back at the Falkreath Barracks, and killing him and taking his skin still will trigger the aspect of Hircine to appear, allowing you to gain the Saviour's hide long after the quest in question has been completed.

• After talking with Sinding it's possible to give the Cursed Ring of Hircine to a follower and retrieve it after getting both rewards allowing you to have all three items.

Notes

• If you acquire lycanthropy before this quest, and don't want to cure it, one sure way to get out of Falkreath without a bounty is to stealthily assassinate the jailor and any other guards in the bottom level of the barracks. After getting the ring, transform at will or wait for it to happen, and as long as no one sees you, you won't get a bounty. You'll attract some attention on the way out, but as long as you can make it out of the city, you can easily outrun any pursuit. As turning into a werewolf due to the cursed ring is completely random you could also save before hand and reload.
• If you acquire both the Ring of Hircine and the Savior's Hide, both will count towards the Oblivion Walker achievement, allowing you to earn the achievement without completing one of the "required" Daedric quests. However, the "Daedric Quests Completed" statistic (in the General Stats section of your log) is only incremented once.
• It is possible to find Sinding wandering Skyrim if you should choose to let him live. He will not attack you, but cannot be interacted with in any way.
• After completing the quest and leaving the Grotto, the dead hunters will disappear, along with the loot that is on them. If you need to make more than one trip, make sure to loot everyone before leaving and place the items inside the chest.
• If you exit the dialogue with Sinding after meeting him in the Grotto, or allow it to time out, it counts as having chosen to kill Sinding.
• Be very careful if you choose to help Sinding kill the hunters, as accidentally striking Sinding three times will cause him to turn against you.
• All the hunters encountered in Bloated Man's Grotto have unique names: J'Kier, Batum gra-Bar, Ma'tasarr, Hoddreid, Rissing, Tsrasuna, Torkild the Fearsome, Yar gro-Gatuk, Eriana, Heratar, Ra'kheran, and Ahjisi.
• This quest will completely alter Bloated Man's Grotto, but it will reset to its non-quest form one in-game month after the death of Sinding if you don't enter it during that time. It's recommended to visit Bloated Man's Grotto before doing this quest if you want to loot Bolar's Oathblade without killing Sinding.
• When the Cursed Ring of Hircine equips itself, it will not unequip any ring you are currently wearing.^{[verification needed]}

Bugs

• It is possible for the White Stag to relocate to a location outside of the playable world, making it impossible for you to reach him and progress the quest.
  • Use the console command tcl to disable collision, enabling you to float towards the White Stag to kill it. Upon returning to a valid location use the same command to enable collision and resume normal gameplay.
• When leaving the jail after accepting the quest, if you don't wait for Sinding to transform and escape, he may remain there even after he is supposed to be making his way to the Grotto. ^?
  • It may be possible to complete the quest normally by moving him outside of the cell using moveto player console command and then exiting the barracks immediately.
• Casting non-offensive spells at Sinding (including healing spells) counts as striking him, therefore healing him three times will turn him hostile towards you. ^?
• Sinding may not come to the bars when you enter the jail, making it impossible to talk to him. Leaving and entering the jail a second time usually fixes this.
• If you manage to get both rewards from the quest by killing both Sinding and the hunters, Sinding may appear dead as a werewolf behind bars in the Falkreath Jail, or alive traveling the roads, or possibly back in Bloated Man's Grotto.
• If you change to beastform and then return to normal, you will be able to remove the Cursed Ring of Hircine (since transforming to a werewolf removes all items you are wearing). If you have installed Dawnguard, transforming into a Vampire Lord accomplishes the same thing. ^?
• If you are riding a horse when the cursed ring transforms you into a werewolf, the camera will stay focused on the horse, even though you are not on it. You will need to wait to turn back into your regular form, then mount the horse and dismount it to get back to a normal camera view. This will also remove the ring. ^?
• In Bloated Man's Grotto it may be possible to begin another conversation with the Aspect of Hircine after his dialog has finished, while he is in the process of vanishing. This will leave you stuck in conversation, unable to exit it. ^?
• When Sinding attempts to escape after giving you the ring, it's possible he will fail, leaving him standing in the cell. The guards will tell you he escaped, and the hunters at Bloated Man's Grotto will still die, but returning to the jail will find Sinding still in his cage. If you then kill him in his cell, there will be two of him, one with and one without the essential flag. This will make the quest impossible to complete as the one you are supposed to kill will be the one with the essential flag. ^?
• After completing the quest by letting Sinding live, there may be two copies of him in the cave, both in werewolf form. ^?
• When first encountering Sinding in the Grotto he may not engage you in conversation, but instead proceed to attack the hunters. However, he will be unable to properly engage them in combat and they will not be hostile to you either. You can attack and kill them, but you can't engage Sinding in conversation, making it impossible to complete the quest. ^?

Quest Stages

Ill Met By Moonlight (DA05)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
10		There are stories in Falkreath of a strange vagrant who savagely killed a little girl. (Objective is assigned): Speak to Sinding
20		I've met Sinding, a werewolf who the Daedric Lord Hircine has punished by preventing his transformations. He's given me the ring he stole and asked me to entreat Hircine for forgiveness. (Objective is assigned): Kill the great beast
50		I've met Sinding, a werewolf who the Daedric Lord Hircine has punished by preventing his transformations. Hircine has asked me to finish the job and gain his favor by killing Sinding. (Objective is assigned): Begin the hunt
55		(Objective is assigned): Join the hunt
60		(Objective is assigned): Kill Sinding
61		(Objective is assigned): Skin Sinding
65		(Objective is assigned): Speak with Hircine
70		I've met Sinding, a werewolf who the Daedric Lord Hircine has punished by preventing his transformations. I'm going to defend him against the hunters that Hircine has sent to end his life. (Objective is assigned): Kill the Hunters
80		(Objective is assigned): Talk to Sinding
100		I met Sinding, a werewolf who the Daedric Lord Hircine had punished by preventing his transformations. I helped kill him as a service to Hircine, and have been rewarded with the Savior's Hide.
105		I met Sinding, a werewolf who the Daedric Lord Hircine had punished by preventing his transformations. I defended him against the hunters that Hircine sent to end his life, and earned his friendship.
200
205

 

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DA05 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DA05.