How did Buffy manage to kill Earana in Chorrol? In my game she is still marked essential even after finishing both parts of the Mages' Guild recommendation quest.
Hi, My Cat! I just went to UESP wiki and pulled the following quote regarding Earana:
Essential Until the end of Fingers of the Mountain, Part II Here's the page it came from: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Earana
Then I started up Buffy's game and looked waaayy back in her 'completed quests' log. She completed part one of the Chorrol recommendation by delivering the book to Teekeus. She then started part two by telling Earana she had given the book to Teekeus and naturally Earana told her to steal it back. Buffy completed part two of the quest by telling Earana to get stuffed. That of course resulted in a very scary tirade from Earana, earning her a top spot on the list of those who had violated the 'Buffy Doctrine'. It was quite some time later that Buffy returned to Chorrol to kill Earana and did so just as described in her journal. It was not necessary to change Earana to 'non essential'. She died just fine.
I know you said you finished both parts, but check your quest log again to make sure it says they are complete. You can complete part two by either stealing back the book and giving it to the witch, or telling the witch to get stuffed like Buffy did. Either way should give you a 'quest complete' pop up.
If you are on PC and wanted to make Earana non essential, this should do it: ~setessential 224E2 0
Buffy and I are not above maniuplating the game a bit to support our story, but it was not necessary in this case.
I hope that answers your question and I thank you so much for reading Buffy. It is the wonderful support of readers such as yourself that inspired us to resume Buffy's story anew.