Xbox 360 Blood on the Ice will not start...

[Jess]

Okay, so the reason why I'm doing this quest is because I want to buy Hjerim at the end and put my armor on the stands there (Until now I've just been stuffing them all in dressers). I have the Skyrim guide, and it says to enter the city, go somewhere else, and then come back a total of four times... I've probably done it 20 times. Still no graveyard murder scene. I don't know if it is just this character glitching out, because my first character, now a lvl 40, finished this quest without any issues very early in the game. I know some patches have been released to fix certain bugs in the game, and I have been researching, looking for answers to this, but everyone says the same things. Is there any way to get this mission to start? REMEMBER: I am on Xbox 360, and can't use console commands like players on the PC can to fix glitches. I'd appreciate any helpful feedback!

 

[Duon]

I had this happen on a account and ended up retiring the character because of it, the murder scene wouldn't appear no matter what I did... it's by far the most glitched house in the game.


Taken from UESPwiki Skyrim:Blood on the Ice

Bugs

• A few bugs may prevent the quest from initiating properly: although most of the NPCs needed for the quest to initiate are marked as essential, another quest, namely the Dark Brotherhood quest Mourning Never Comes will encourage you to kill Nilsine Shatter-Shield. Even though she is not related to this quest, her mother, Tova Shatter-Shield, will commit suicide if Nilsine is killed, and will therefore render this quest impossible to initiate. Additionally, stable hand Arivanya is also needed for this quest to trigger, but is not marked as essential.

• When you are told to question the witnesses, stay away from Hjerim. Approaching the front door will trigger the 'Gain access to Hjerim' update and clear the graveyard. This will leave you with no witnesses or map markers for the remainder of the quest.

• Selling Calixto the strange amulet is the only way to turn it into the Necromancer's Amulet. If you reject his offer, the strange amulet will remain a quest item and be stuck in your inventory indefinitely.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.0 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.

• The "Get Assistance from Jorleif" objective will never register as completed.

• Even before the quest is initiated, speaking to Calixto outside his store will cause him to close it permanently. Do not attempt to pick the lock, as he will become hostile. Instead, if you want information about the Amulet, find him at Candlehearth Hall between 5pm and 7pm.

• If you take the first journal to Viola, she will direct you to talk to Jorleif whether or not you have found the amulet. The quest will proceed as though you had found the amulet when talking to Jorleif and Wuunferth, even though you do not.

• If you capture Windhelmfor the Imperials before triggering the graveyard scene, the witnesses and the corpse will still show up, but the guard may not be (since the Windhelm guards have been replaced by Imperial Legion soldiers), making it impossible to start the quest.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.4 of the Official Skyrim Patch. - note that the fix ONLY works if you have not yet triggered the graveyard sequence when attacking Windhelm.

• If Viola has died for some reason the quest may not start or will be impossible to finish.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.5 of the Official Skyrim Patch.

• If the quest is started and the player waits too long before continuing it, the blood splatters leading to Hjerim can disappear.

• Sometimes, if you convict Wuunferth, when you return to Windhelm, Arivanya will have been killed, but no guard is stood by the body to re-activate the quest, rendering it unfinished.

• Sometimes, on completion of this quest, the message that the quest is completed will be displayed twice.

• Although this quest is categorized as a Side Quest in your journal, it does not count towards the "Side Quests Completed" statistic in your General Stats, nor does it count towards the Sideways achievement.

• If you speak to Wuunferth directly, instead of Jorleif, then Calixto will attempt to murder Arivanya in the Stone Quarter. If you choose to have Wuunferth arrested, then Arivanya will be found murdered. For the final showdown, a random, female NPC will be chosen as the market victim. If the game runs out of potential victims, one of two bugs will trigger:

• Calixto will stay inside his House of Curiosities and will never attempt his last kill.

• After speaking to Wuunferth, the journal will immediately update to stage 130. After chasing Calixto into Hjerim, he cannot be killed. He then will not leave Hjerim and becomes hostile when you enter.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.4 of the Official Skyrim Patch.

 

[Jess]

I haven't started the Dark Brotherhood at all, so Nilsine is still alive... in my first play-through, the mission worked, however it wouldn't let me clean the bloody mess, so I never used the house. The house in Solitude has space for armor stands, but only two... how many does Hjerim have? Four?

 

[Duon]

Three

 

[Jess]

By the way, did they ever fix that guard glitch in Markarth, after the Forsworn conspiracy? I saw patches were released but I don't know if it is fixed, and I haven't done that mission yet just in case it is still broken.

 

[Duon]

The hostile ones in the Shrine of Talos?

 

[Jess]

No, the glitch after you beat the Forsworn Conspiracy and the guards would arrest you and say you're going to jail, but it never sends you there?

 

[Duon]

I'm not sure; never experienced that one myself, it might be listed in the Bugs section of the wiki article.

Taken from UESPwiki Skyrim:The Foresworn Conspiracy

Bugs

• If you are having trouble starting the next quest No One Escapes Cidhna Mine after this quest is completed and submit to go to jail, with no reason, even if you complete this quest before starting one of two civil quest, try this solution. proceed this quest as normal. and when you are at the end of the quest and you are in Talos' Shrine, You'll see Markarth Guards waiting for you. One of the guards will initiate a dialogue with you. You've got three option whether you go to jail, pay the gold, or refuse submission. At this time, don't close the dialogue menu, open the console menu right now, and type setstage ms02 10. And the next quest will start with no problem.

• If you enter Markarth for the first time while completing the A Night to Remember quest and it is nighttime, the incident in the marketplace which initiates this quest will not have happened. If you then proceed to pickpocket Thonar's Journal before morning and then enter the Shrine of Talos, you will find Eltrys's dead body and three guards who will arrest you for his murder as well as the other murders around the city (even though no one else has died), thus completing a quest which never started. This also prevents the deaths of Margret, Betrid, Nana and Donnel.

• If you become a Thane of the Reach before starting or completing this quest, you will not be arrested when you return to the Shrine of Talos, making you unable to complete the quest. Even if you murder a guard and submit to arrest, you still will not be able to complete the quest. Note that this bug appears to be fixed in v1.5

• Followers may get permanently stuck in the Shrine of Talos, regardless of if the quest is completed and you escaped from Cidhna Mine. If this happens, the follower will not leave even after you tell them to go home, and if they are moved elsewhere via console, they will walk back to the Shrine of Talos, no matter where in Skyrim they are.

• If the Markarth Guards do not warn you off after having investigated the Inn for Eltrys and you get stuck (Guards won't arrest you) when returning to him after finding out all you can about the Conspiracy, if you wander the streets and do meet the Guard who warns you off and then returning to the Temple, you will still get arrested (or attempted to get arrested).

• It is possible for two guards and an Imperial soldier to spawn at the Shrine of Talos instead of three guards, with the middle guard being replaced by the Imperial soldier. The Imperial soldier will not give dialog options that allow the completion of the quest, instead preferring to talk about the war. The other guards will not initiate dialog. This will leave the quest stuck at this stage, since you cannot be framed and sent to prison for Eltrys' murder.
  • If you use the console command setstage ms02 10, then go commit a crime, get yourself arrested, and thrown in jail, the quest will proceed as normal.

• If you give Margret's journal to Eltrys before leaving the Shrine of Talos and immediately after taking the quest, it will be bugged when re-entering the temple of talos to return the clues you found. There will only be two guards and if you talk to the one on the right, he talks as if he is guarding a dwemer museum and will not initiate any conversation about the murder.

• Even if you prevent Weylin from killing Margret, the journal update will say he killed her.

• The player may freeze after submitting to the guards to complete the quest. The freeze appears to be caused by the removeallitems console command, and thus allows the player to test if they are a victim of this particular bug by using it on themselves. Simply storing your items into a container and taking them out fixes the bug, allowing you to continue.

• If the player pickpockets Nepos's Journal and only reads it after going outside, the quest will update and tell you to go meet Eltrys, but when you do, only two guards are waiting next to Eltrys's body and won't initiate dialogue. This can be fixed by going back to Nepos's house and killing everyone there.

• If the player is wanted in Markarth for a separate reason, you have to deal with the guards first, then leave the Shrine of Talos and come back.