Daedric Quest: Ill Met By Moonlight

Prerequisites: None

Reward: Ring of Hircine (allows one more werewolf transformation a day, and is needed for an achievement) or Savior’s Hide

Intersecting Quests: None

The Curse on Falkreath

For such a modest town, Falkreath has a sizeable cemetery. As you enter this location, a burial ceremony is under way for a young girl. Instead of marching right in and interrogating everyone, you should talk to the townsfolk for some info. You can speak to the child’s parents (Indara Caerelia or Mathies). Either will tell you that their daughter was ripped apart by a man named Sinding and that he’s located in the Falkreath Barracks. If you miss the funeral, visit the parents on their farm.

Visit the Falkreath Barracks and find Sinding. He tells you he is a werewolf and was given a cursed ring. He says he honestly feels bad about the girl, too. He asks you to help him appease Hircine, Daedric Lord of the Hunt (who owns the cursed ring) by slaying a White Stag in the woods nearby.

WARNING!! When you have this ring in your inventory, it can’t be removed until the quest is over. This is bad because if you are already a werewolf, every minute that you are in a town, you have a 10% chance of transforming suddenly (this gives you an insta-bounty of 1000 Gold every time you change forms)

The Lord of the Hunt Smiles on You

The great White Stag is usually around the path by Peak’s Shade Tower, but it’s always moving. Long range weapons (magic and bows) are probably preferred here. Kill the Stag and a ghost-Hircine appears (ironically as a stag). He tells you that Sinding has escaped and gone into hiding and that the Great Hunt has been called on him (meaning you gotta kill him). Hircine tells you to bring him Sinding’s skin…literally.

Sinding has fled to Bloated Man’s Grotto, which is just north of Lake Ilinalta, on the southern rim of the Tundra. You’ll notice as you enter that the sky is blood red and full of swirly clouds. The Bloodmoon looms overhead (*cue evil music*). As the entrance cave opens up (by the way? The sky is red because Hircine has focused his powers here by calling the Great Hunt on Sinding, apparently), you spot a campsite where a bunch of dead, icky hunters lie. Yum. No, ew, gross! You can talk to a khajit, who’s on his deadbed. He can only tell you that Sinding is strong (oooh, scary) and that more hunters have been called in (backup).

The path to the left has been blocked by fallen trees, so you’re gonna wanna take door number two (path past the pond). You hear a roar (Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!) and turn around to see Sinding (standing epically on a rocky outcrop). Time to CHARGE IN AND BASH BRAINSSS! Ohhwait! Before I forget, there iiiis another option. There are two ways to complete this quest, starting now.

Path 1 involves attacking Sinding or telling him he has to die. This makes him sad and he dashes off. You’ve got to give (annoying) chase and will probably require the use of Whirlwind Sprint or Slow Time Shouts to catch up to him. Sinding will run into the first clearing, kill two hunters, flee into the second, kill three hunters, and finally run into the last clearing to begin fighting 3 more hunters. Here, Sinding will stand his ground and fight. If you’re dying, it’s helpful to know that Sinding has no ranged attacks, so if you’re hurting, back up and start spewing fire or arrow-spamming. After killing Sinding, skin him and give his skin to Hircine, who appears. He rewards you with Savior’s Hide. This is armor which is slightly weaker than Elven Armor at 28 base protection. However, the armor has strong poison and magic resistance. If you wear this armor while playing as a Redguard or Wood Elf, you should have 100% Poison resistance (perfect for vampire and falmer dens)

Path 2 involves talking to Sinding and telling him that you’ve been told to kill him, or that you’ve decided to spare him. Sinding is grateful and the two of you gang up on the hunters.  There are two hunters in the first clearing and three in each of the next two clearings. After this, you can speak with Sinding and leave the grotto. In Path 2, Hircine appears outside of the cave and tells you that regardless of the outcome, he was satisfied by the hunt. He removed the curse on the ring and it grants you one extra werewolf transformation a day as well as counting toward your daedric artifact collection.

Bonus! I’ve heard that it’s possible to get both the hide and the ring. To do this, you have to side with Sinding, kill all the hunters, and then kill and skin Sinding. Hircine will appear, take the skin, give you the armor, and when you leave the cave, he will remove the ring’s curse instead of taking it. I don’t yet know if this is true.