The Ill Met by Moonlight quest in Skyrim has great rewards for the players who take the time to complete it, either the Ring of Hircine or or Savior’s Hide Daedric Artifact. We’ll go over how to get either in this guide, as well as an old method for you to get and keep both in a single playthrough that may or may not work on newer editions of Skyrim.
How to complete the Ill Met by Moonlight quest in Skyrim
A Meeting with Sinding
In any case, to start the Ill Met by Moonlight quest in Skyrim, simply go to Falkreath Barracks and, once inside, enter the door to Falkreath Jail. To your left, you’ll find a man named Sinding. He tells you that he murdered an innocent child while he was under the effects of bloodlust.
If you choose to help him, he’ll hand you the Cursed Ring of Hircine. This will get automatically equipped and you’d have no way to get rid of it until you finish the quest. Its perk causes you to randomly turn into a werewolf if you’re already afflicted with Lycanthropy. As for Sinding, he transforms into a beast before escaping the prison.
The White Stag
Sinding’s last clue before leaving tells you of a White Stag, an animal blessed by the Daedric God of the Hunt. If you’re tracking the quest, then you should find it east of Falkreath.
Be forewarned that it’ll run away when it spots you, and you need to chase it down.
Ideally, you’ll want to use powerful bows with your leveled Archery skill or Destruction spells. The White Stag has high regeneration, which means it’s imperative that you take it out quickly. In our case, it ran off to Helgen before it got stuck inside a ruined house.
Once the White Stag has been killed, the Aspect of Hircine will appear. You’ll then be asked to hunt Sinding in the Bloated Man’s Grotto. Your answer here won’t matter, so just make your way to the location.
The Hunt in Bloated Man’s Grotto
Bloated Man’s Grotto is north of Falkreath, well beyond the lake. If you weren’t exploring this region beforehand, then our suggestion would be to fast travel to any of the locations in Whiterun as those might be closer. Inside, you’ll see several dead hunters. One is still alive, warning you about Sinding.
Important: There’s a unique weapon, the Bolar’s Oathblade, found at the Shrine of Talos inside the cavern. The weapon deals 25 points of stamina damage and causes creatures and people up to level 12 to flee from combat for 30 seconds.
However, this weapon can only be obtained if you go to this location before starting the Ill Met by Moonlight quest. Otherwise, the Shrine of Talos will be destroyed once you arrive and the weapon will disappear.
Killing or Sparing Sinding
When you approach the cliffside path, you’ll see the werewolf Sinding watching over you, with the Bloodmoon in the sky as a backdrop. You’re presented two choices:
Kill Sinding: Sinding will flee along the pathway. He’ll attack and kill several hunters, but you should be able to corner him and take him out. When you’re done, you can interact with his corpse to skin it. The Aspect of Hircine will appear, removing the Cursed Ring of Hircine and rewarding you with the Savior’s Hide.
Spare Sinding: Alternatively, you can decide to let Sinding live. He’ll ally with you, and you’ll have to eliminate the remaining hunters along the pathways. Once that’s done, you’re prompted to talk to Sinding, who’ll make the Bloated Man’s Grotto his home to avoid harming innocent people. When you go outside, the Aspect of Hircine will be there. The Cursed Ring of Hircine will be removed, and you’ll receive the real Ring of Hircine instead.
Should You Pick the Ring of Hircine or the Savior’s Hide?
Both the Ring of Hircine and Savior’s Hide are considered Daedric Artifacts, and either one counts toward the Oblivion Walker achievement tally in Skyrim. Here are their effects:
- Ring of Hircine – This allows for unlimited transformations as a werewolf.
- Savior’s Hide – This light armor has +15% magic resistance and +50% poison resistance.
Needless to say, the Ring of Hircine sounds a lot cooler. The Beast Form power, obtained during The Silver Hand quest for the Companions, only lets you turn into a werewolf once per day.
However, the Ring of Hircine can be re-equipped even after the effects have elapsed. The power can be reused repeatedly as often as you want.
Of course, if you’re not planning to become a werewolf, then it’s totally useless and the Savior’s Hide becomes more viable.
Can You Get Both the Ring of Hircine and Savior’s Hide?
Many moons ago (pun intended), there used to be a glitch that allowed you to obtain both the Ring of Hircine and Savior’s Hide in Skyrim. Unfortunately, we’ve tried various methods, and none of them seemed to work. Still, you’re free to try and see if you can get the glitch to work in your favor. Here are the steps:
- Save your game when you enter Bloated Man’s Grotto.
- When you encounter Sinding, tell him that you’ll spare his life.
- Kill all the hunters. You should then get prompted to talk to Sinding. Create a separate save here so you can test other methods.
- Talk to Sinding to complete the Ill Met by Moonlight quest in Skyrim. This lets you give the Cursed Ring of Hircine to a companion (it’s no longer soulbound to your character).
- Go outside the cave. The Aspect of Hircine will greet you. Say that you “failed,” and you’ll be given the Ring of Hircine. Give this to your companion, too.
- Run back inside the cave and kill Sinding. Interact with his corpse to skin it, which will cause another Aspect of Hircine to appear. The Daedric God’s manifestation will give you the Savior’s Hide. Now, you’ve got both Daedric Artifacts.
- An alternative is to talk to Sinding and go outside. However, you should cancel your conversation here with Hircine. Quickly run back inside, then kill and skin Sinding to get the Savior’s Hide. Give it to your companion, then head outside and claim the Ring of Hircine from the aspect there.
That’s it for our guide to Ill Met by Moonlight. If you it helpful, check out some of our other Skyrim guides here on GameSkinny.
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- Skyrim Enchanting Guide
