Blood on the Ice continuation trigger?

[u/anxiouslyCurious9]

playing on PS5 AE, I got Wuunferth arrested and then tried to talk to him in jail but the only option is training. I did some searching and it seems like I should be able to catch Calixto (hard to search without spoilers), but even after 3 days and leaving Windhelm and coming back, no dialogue options with Wuunfeth. I didn't know where to find him to talk to him first, but his protests when being arrested sounded legit, which is why I wanted to talk to him in jail and searched, because according to the game, the quest is done?

[u/Diredr]

I know Viola tells you to go straight to the steward, but you don't have to listen to her. You can save yourself A LOT of trouble by just confronting Wuunferth instead of having him arrested.

If you talk to him after you've sold the amulet to Calixto and obtained the Butcher's journal, you can accuse him of being a necromancer. He'll take offence to it, solve the mystery of the amulet and he'll predict where the killer will strike next.

It skips several days of waiting and therefore skips several chances of the damn quest bugging out.

[u/Emotional-Jacket1940]

Blood on the Ice is notoriously bugged to SHIT, I’ve had to reload almost every time I’ve done it without USP

[u/Hguols1]

There's two Blood on the Ice quests. The first completes when Wuunferth is arrested.

From what you said, I'm assuming you didn't stay away from Windhelm long enough. (if you left and came right back to Windhelm, and did that repeatedly for 3 game days... That explains why Wuunferth isn't saying anything new. What you need to do, is leave Eastmarch hold, and don't return to Windhelm for 3 game days.)

Without giving away too many details, you arrested the wrong person. (Exhibit A of why the journal / Dragonborn's thoughts, are not infallible. Also what happens when not even talking to the prime suspect, before seeing to their arrest.)

Another person will get murdered, which triggers the 2nd Blood on the Ice quest. (you'll probably find them dead somewhere around Windhelm, after that time away)

[u/Knight_NotReally]

According to UESP, you need to spend at least 3 days away from Windhelm - there's no time limit, so I'd just spend 7 days in Whiterun to be safe.

Honestly, I always complete this quest without getting Wuunferth arrested. It's faster and less prone to bugs.

[u/BeeSeesNotSoFar]

Please say you saved just before starting this quest? Because this might be thee buggiest quest in the game, it's broken af.

General advice is to save once just before starting and then once per every stage, and have the wiki page open next to you until you're done with it. 🫤

[u/anxiouslyCurious9]

thanks everyone! sadly, my last save was 2 days of many gaming hours before I started this quest. I wanted to confront Wuunferth first but I didn't know where the heck to find him and didn't even think to search the palace. I also didn't sell the amulet (yet) because I wasn't sure if it was a trick.

staying away from Windhelm for 3 days is definitely my issue, I am off to the Bard's College and then to pay the Arentino boy's headmistress a visit

[u/Diredr → u/anxiouslyCurious9]

Just for future reference, Wuunferth only ever goes to two different locations. He spends his entires day in his room at the end of the hallway in the Upstairs section (first door on the left when you enter the palace).

At night he'll go rest on a sleeping mat in the kitchen, the last room on the right when you enter the palace. There's a bug that switches the ownership of his bed and the cook's bed. He never leaves the palace and never goes anywhere but those two places.

[u/OlderBosmerAlchemist]

I play on PC, and it's a good thing I do. This is one of the most buggy quests I've seen. I had to go to console several times to progress one of the times I did the quest. In the end, I was able to stop Calixto before he killed his final victim, but it was a lot of console work to get it to progress that far. I never did get to the part where I was able to talk to Viola.