How many ways can this quest get busted? My first character had the [Unspecified quest item] never turn into its later counterpart. Second character, Calixto talked to then went to his house, locked the door, and never came out. Subsequent quest events never triggered...and once again the quest is bugged. Third character, same exact thing as the second. The most annoying thing is that if you never do the quest, you can't buy the house in Windhelm.

Really sloppy execution on this quest in particular...for such a prominent questline, it is very disappointing.

I just finished it on my first attempt 15 minutes ago. I had no idea it was bugged. It took some time to figure out where to go because the journal is not very good. If you think it's bugged, are you sure you aren't just tarded?

edit: sorry for the accusation... basically what I mean is... are you SURE it's bugged? Have you talked to EVERYONE involved? The Journal may not point you to the exact person.

If you don't sell the amulet to Calixto in the first half of the quest it NEVER turns into the Necromancer's amulet, and you are stuck with it being a useless item that you can never remove from your inventory FOREVER.

It's actually one of the most bugged quests in the game. So many ways to [censored] it up.

I finished the quest without any troubles, though I didn't sold the amulet when I had the chance. I'm now stuck with it, but considering it doesn't weighs anything, it's nothing serious.

The quest surely IS bugged it won't even start for my main char. because I visited Windhelm a few times but not at the right time and place (the player did not know about because he can't foresee the future)...
SPOILERS:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Blood_on_the_Ice#Bugs
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_talk:Blood_on_the_Ice

lol I had no clue it was bugged. I got through it just fine.
You sure you didn't do anything too wierd like throwing forks at Calixto while dragonshouting or something?

It's bugged dude, trust me. If you don't sell the amulet it remains stuck in your inventory and you lose an enchanted item. Sometimes a murder won't happen. Sometimes a murder WILL happen but you can't start the quest. It also can [censored] up and not clean up the blood in the home you can buy.

Massively bugged, never started for me, despite everyone talking about the murders. Beth screwed up massively with this one. Totally farcical.

1. Fast travel in and out of windhelm from a far away place

2. Find the murder scene and talk to guards then people standing around.. Then go to the steward

3. Go back to the guard and talk to him.. Follow the blood

4. Jo to Steward for key to Hjerim

5. Enter house investigate everything and have Butcher journal 1 and 2 and wanted butcher paper in pocket.. Also get the necklace

6. Go to steward and ask about necklace and Wanted Butcher Paper

7. Go to Calixto and SELL him necklace

8. Go to the person who was putting up the wanted posters and ask about posters..

9. Go to the Court-Mage and say you heard he was a necromancer

10. Go to the stone quarter and just wait.. It's the one with all the shops and the next victim is an elf.. Possibly Altmer

11. Go to steward with info

I sold the amulet. It tells me to talk with Jaufre (SP?) but he doesn't advance the quest. I went back and retraced everything in case I would "awaken" the quest again or do something I missed to make it move to the next part. Nothing. I gave up, falling alseep running all over town, talking to everyone and clicking ever square inch of the house the bodies were in including the hidden room... nada.

i had to look online to fix it... i dont even care that it is bugged, but who in their right mind decided to make completing it NECESSARY to upgrading your house? why does it have to take place in MY freakin house at all?!

It's a pretty buggy quest. I had problems with it on my first playthrough.

I didn't count how many times I tried that but I have six savegames named: 02WindhelmMurder{1-6} it is rumored there is a visit city count and if that goes beyond four without triggering the scene no murder will happen and thus the quest breaks.

I rolled a character just to check that quest and it did work for me (first and only thing that char. has done) but as I said it won't work for my main char. who visited Windhelm often to speak to Ulrfric while doing the Civil War questline after I done that I tried to trigger the murder scene but to no avail...

Sorry guys... I sold it. I just figured i'd take the take cash now that I got the info.

I didn't even pick up the amulet, yet it let the quest continue and the mage is in jail... Is the amulet worth it?

Somehow the quest started for me -after- I bought my house in Windhelm! Well I'd heard of "the butcher" previously and had seen the dead body in the graveyard but I'd paid it no mind as I had way too many concurrent quests going on at the time. After I bought my house I found I couldn't decorate it, so I dropped by and got the quest started. I looked at the clues in the house, but never got around to talking to Calixto at all. Instead, my character seemed to instinctively "know" the City wizard was involved, mostly due to the discovery of a couple of journals and the weird amulet, and so I went to the Steward and got him thrown in the clink. As far as I could tell the quest was over, I mean I didn't really know any better did I? After that I found I could buy upgrades for my house but -not- the 500 gold one to clean things up.

Later I learned there was a second part of the quest involving another murder while the Wizard was in jail, I never saw or heard of a second murder until I went and spoke to the Wizard myself, after which a body appeared, oddly enough, and the quest effectively started over. The quest indicated I needed to patrol the stone district at night, I did that and eventually ran into Calixto (who's connection to all this I of course could not be aware) standing motionless next to an argonian female citizen with his blade drawn. Some 10-15 seconds later he kills her and I kill him. I talk to the Steward again and it seems I found "the real killer." None of this made any sense to me as it progressed and now I have a house that's a crime scene and there's nothing I can do about it (apparently). In my experience this quest is quite broken, I don't really know (honestly) how it's supposed to work and like others here I'm stuck with a quest item I can never be rid of. What a disaster indeed.

So what I'm hearing is...I'm probably stuck with this necklace? I went in the house, got everything, talked to that chick, and went to the palace. I didn't know there was another step.

it's amazing how badly a single quest can be bugged

Yeah, I facedesked many times because of this bugged quest.

The problem is, if you do things even slightly out of sequence with how the devs apparently assumed you'd do them, it becomes bugged to hell and unfinishable. My problem was that I didn't wait to sell Calixto the Strange Amulet before I accused Wuunferth of the killings. I had no idea the Strange Amulet was important, and I didn't need the gold; as far as I knew at that point, the Amulet was just a random nothing. It seemed a BIT more important to apprehend the apparent suspect of the murders. But because I didn't sell the Amulet in that first part of the quest, the whole thing bugged out. Now I am stuck with this strange amulet, Wuunferth in jail, and an invincible, eternally hostile Calixto squatting in Hjerim. *facedesk*

Ended up just using the console commands to force-complete the quest, since there was NOTHING else I could do.



Tobias, I didn't even get that far. As soon as I got the objective to patrol the gray quarter, as soon as I stepped out the palace door it automatically updated to "find the killer" before I took one step. It was 10 in the morning, and Calixto was nowhere in sight. But somehow my journal thought that I had seen Calixto. I just shrugged and followed the marker to Hjerim. I went in, and Calixto attacks me on sight. I bring him to 0 health, but he doesn't die. He gets back up, just stands there, and I can't kill him or talk to him. End of line. Nothing else I can do...

Another good example of Bethesda shipping a 'tested' product.

It's pretty bugged, I'm stuck with the useless amulet too. I never found Calixto and the quest marker kept telling me to see the steward anyway. On top of that, after I bought Hjerim, I permanently have blood stains on my floor and had to use the console to get rid of the corpse.

Blood on the ice?
Thats a quest right?

Should be as easy to start as being in a place at a time?

200 hours in and I have never even heard of it except on this board.

I didn't know the quest was so notoriously bugged. I completed it the other day, though now I'm stuck with that useless amulet in my inventory and can't get rid of it via console (because, ironically, I play on a console). Sigh.

It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't PREVENTING ME FROM BECOMING THANE OF WINDHELM...

jeez louise you would think that beth would at least playtest their games.

I found this out after 2 days of "testing"...