Mystery at Harlun's Watch

Description
Burz gro-Khash in the Cheydinhal Fighter's Guild wants you to travel to the village of Harlun's Watch and find out more about some mysterious disappearances among the townsfolk there.

Overview
Faction: Fighters Guild Prerequisites: The Noble's Daughter Next Quests: Information Gathering (with The Stone of St. Alessia) Quest giver: Burz gro-Khash in the Cheydinhal Fighters Guild Reward: Gold (see link), Mind and Body Ring, one point fame

Walkthrough
This quest seems simple enough. Talk to Burz gro-Khash in Cheydinhal and he will direct you to Harlun's Watch. Talk to Drarana Thelis and then head down to Swampy Cave. Make sure you equip your Daedric, Enchanted or Silver Weapons for this part. You get to take on three Will-o-the-Wisps. After you kill them head into the cave.

From the cave entrance, the left passage leads to a chest which contains a leveled heavy armor helmet with leveled Detect Life. The cave is populated with trolls so stay on your toes. After you find the body of Eduard Denile, clear the rest of the cave of trolls. Outside the back entrance there is a Nirnroot immediately to your right. Return to the village and speak to Drarana Thelis, then report to Burz to complete the quest.

Bug Note
There is a common bug with this mission. If you have previously cleared out the Swampy Cave, the body of Eduard Denile will not appear at the quest marker, and you will be stuck. One way around this is to go to Chorrol and talk to Modryn Oreyn and continue with the next quests, Information Gathering and Infiltration. However, you will never complete this quest, and you will skip this advancement. So you will eventually complete the Fighter's Guild questline without ever obtaining the Champion rank. The other method is applicable on the PC version only, which is by using the console to advance the quest to the next stage (see Console Commands) Retail Patch 1.1 should fix this bug. You can also use the cheat code "player.placeatme 00034597". That way, Eduard will be placed near you and you will still be able to finish the quest on a reasonably normal way.

Journal Entries
Once you receive this quest:
 * ''Burz gro-Khash has given me a contract to go to Harlun's Watch, near Cheydinhal, and investigate the disappearances of some of the local populace. I should speak to Drarana Thelis.

After you have spoken with Drarana Thelis:
 * ''I have spoken to Drarana Thelis in Harlun's Watch. She tells me that folks have been seeing strange lights in the swamps, and when they've gone to investigate, none have returned.

Once you have located the source of the lights as will-o-wisps:
 * ''It seems that the strange lights people were seeing over the swamp are will-o-the-wisps. But, there don't seem to be any signs of the townsfolk who disappeared. The Will-o-the-wisps were surrounding a cave, though. I should investigate.

If you kill all of the trolls and then find the bodies:
 * ''I've killed all of the trolls in Swampy Cave. I should look for evidence that these were the creatures responsible for the disappearances at Harlun's Watch.


 * ''Inside the Swampy Cave, I've found the corpses of the townsfolk that are missing. It looks like trolls have been feeding on the people weakened by the will-o-the-wisps. I should report this to Drarana Thelis.

If you find the bodies before you finish off all the trolls:
 * ''Inside the Swampy Cave, I've found the corpses of the townsfolk that are missing. It looks like trolls have been feeding on the people weakened by the will-o-the-wisps. I should make sure to clear out all the remaining trolls from the cave complex.


 * ''I've killed all of the trolls in Swampy Cave. I should report what I've found to Drarana Thelis.

Once you have reported back to Thelis:
 * ''Drarana Thelis was saddened at the fates of the townsfolk, but has rewarded me for my efforts. I should report to Burz gro-Khash for payment of the contract.

When you report back to Burz:
 * ''Burz gro-Khash has paid me the balance of the contract. He tells me that he has no further contracts to offer.

or if you haven't finished the Stone of St. Alessia quest yet:


 * ''Burz gro-Khash has paid me the balance of the contract. He tells me that he has no further contracts to offer, but I should speak with Azzan in Sutch, if I have not already.

Trivia
In various European mythologies Will-o-the-Wisps were known to lure travelers off roads to their doom. It is likely that this provided an inspiration to developers of this quest.