So... encountered something I never have before. Neloth asked me to go find his steward Varona who went to Raven Rock and has not returned. And poor Neloth is more troubled by the lack of tea in his hands then his missing steward. So I offered to help. I had other things in my quest log so I attended those first. (meaning I have no saves from before taking this quest.) Anyway. I can't find her.

The usual place has no body but I was attacked by 3 ash spawn. To add to the issue, no quest marker either to show that I have gone to the right place. I can find her ID through the console which is 0401777C. So I thought I'd try moving to her. So I entered player. moveto 0401777c and it said no such action could be taken. So I tried prid 0401777c also said that could not work.

I've never been able to get prid commands to work. people say "Oh just type in prid 0401777c" but never have I been able to get prid to work. maybe the ID# is wrong? not sure how.

So I entered. player. placeatme 0401777c 1 and there she was alive and well, muttering about having to return to Neloth. I thought about killing her but she now had a new ID # when I checked.

Anyone got any thoughts? I've done this quest before without any issues. But its like this time she hasn't spawned or something.

Look around Tel Mithryn. I once found her body in the exact same place she stands when you first visit Tel Mithryn

Did you have a quest marker?

I looked all up and down the stream near there thinking maybe the body rolled down the hill. Apart from going over the area with a fine toothed comb, Neloth can just make his own damn tea.

Try prid 0401777C, immediately followed by moveto player. In your post you mention that you put player first in the command...this is incorrect.

how do you enter the prid?

When I bring up the console command window and type (without quotes) "prid 0401777C" I get a message saying I entered a wrong parameter or something.

How many expansions do you have? The first two digits of the ID are relative, that could be causing problems.

Does it give you the same error if you try, say, "prid 04038565" (Teldryn Sero's, which I've never had issues with), or "prid 000198BA" (General Tullius's, first two numbers will ALWAYS be constant in this case)?

I have all three so it lists as 04 when I enter "help varona" in the console command to find her ID#

I've NEVER been able to get prid to work. Not even with other ID numbers.

What load order position is Dragonborn in?

Do you have the Unofficial Patches? The Varona bug is fixed by the UDBP if I recall. Not sure if it's retroactive or not.

I'll have to check and see if I am on the latest patch for Dragonborn. But my load order is Skyrim-Update-Dawnguard-Hearthfire-Dragon Born. Then I have a few other mods installed. Then under those, as high up the list as I could move them I have the unofficial patches loaded in the same order as the main files. Skyrim-Dawnguard-Hearthfire-Dragon Born.

I think your load order is wrong.

Use BOSS or LOOT to sort it.