I want to buy a home/become Thane of Markarth. So I went there,talked to the Jarl about it and I was given the mission to kill the leader at Red Eagle Redoubt. Looking on my map (and also from memory) I realized I'd already killed quite a few Forsworn there before. So I go up there and was relieved that the Forsworn had respawned and were as angry as ever. So I cleared the place out again; at the towers as well as in the dungeon.

The thing is, I found the leader in one of the towers that I'd already killed before. He/She was still the same glowing pile of ash. However, the ash pile contained two of Red Eagle's swords, another quest I'd already done. I didn't get a prompt to return to Markarth but did get one to learn the secret of Red Eagle (again). So I thought, Okay, I'll do that again and see if it prompts to return to Markarth to report that the Forsworn leader at Red Eagle redoubt was dead. So I go unlock the cave where I'd killed Red Eagle before. He was as dead as the last time I saw him.

So then I went back to Markarth to see if everything was in order. It wasn't.

So now what? Do I just have to wait it out for X amount of time for the Forsworn leader at Red Eagle Redoubt to respawn or is the quest broken due to the fact that I'd already killed him? Or is there some other feature that I'm missing. The problem with the last idea is that the ash pile is where my arrow prompted me to look.

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. I play on XBOX 360 if that makes a difference.

AFAIK, if you clear places like that prior the quest, you will never get it to normalize. You should reload to prior receiving the quest from the Jarl - hopefully he will give you a different area to clear, and hopefully you won't have already cleared it.

I've killed the leader more than once (Briarheart freak, right?). I know this because I made the mistake of picking up that damn sword again. I'll never touch that sword (it's in one of my containers) or that damn book again.

I'm on PS3.

Yah, briarheart freak.... up on top beneath the arches. And yeah, he's the one with the sword. I've never had any issues getting rid of it if I wind up with it more than once - I just sell it (but I'm on pc.... so maybe that's the dif....)

I know that quest repeats itself I made the mistake of picking up that book again and you don't get anything when complete the quest again.

I think the difference is that I'm a little anol retentive about quests in my journal so I'm afraid to touch the sword or the book ever again.

Sure you do: you get a lesson to never touch the f-ing book ever again!

You could wait an in-game month and go back to see if they respawn. This happened to me on the quest from the Riften jarl. I had already cleared out the cave and had to wait two months for enough people to respawn that the quest finally completed.

Hmm... reload or just do something else for a while. I think I'll just have to reload. If I wait and it doesn't give me a different quest, then I'll have to back a long ways in order to reload it. I haven't really gained all that much treasure much less leveled up, so... I'll reload and see what happens. If it doesn't give me a different quest then I'll head over to that rundown dump, Windhelm and do those quests. That'll take up some in-game time and possibly by then the place will have completely respawned. If not, bummer. Maybe next time.

But thanks everyone for the advice. I appreciate it.

NP. Just remember: don't ever touch the book or sword ever again.

i was under the impression that if u went to lets say riften or what not and go into ur home like on the other side of the word, u wait or sleep for 30 days and i thought the cell would be respawned.

whenever i cleared out a dugeon and then right after received a bounty to kill the dude that still lying dead, i do that and it works for me. dunno if it work on something other than radient.

Yes, normally. But the issue is that the enemy in question is not a corpse, he's a pile of ash and thus won't respawn.