Can't do Firebeard's questline in Solitude

[Munky27]

I have checked everywhere, and apparently there are no prerequisites for this questline. You simply walk into the Blue Palace, and the Jarl should be holding court, when Varnius Junius is supposed to speak to the court regarding strange noises coming from the caves yadda yadda. After which, you should be able to speak to Falk Firebeard about this, and he will ask you to investigate. For me however, it never gets this far. I can talk to Firebeard, but only ask him about mundane, useless topics, again and again and again. Varnius just stands by the top of the staircase, and never moves, day or night. He never addresses the court and therefore I can never receive the quest. I have tried everything, including spawning several more Varnius's to see if any one of them would address the court, but they all wander off and do their own thing, and I wind up losing them. I have the money to buy this house and I want to very badly, plus I'm a level 30ish and I really do not feel like restarting my character... Can anyone please tell me what I can do?

[neok182]

EXACT same thing happening to me. i've sat there waiting for days and nothing happens. the quest simply dosn't start.

 

name of the quest is The Man Who Cried Wolf BTW.

 

i even tried just going to the cave but that can't start it.

 

hope someone here can help.

[neok182]

hey man i found a fix, go to the blue palace and walk up the stairs so you can see everyone, then go to the console and type: "setstage MS06Start 5"

 

fixed it for me.

[Offkorn]

I was having this issue as well. Then, just as I was going to use your fix... it played out naturally.

 

It may be time-of-day based. As in this instance I had waited outside the palace until 8:30 AM (I arrived at 8PM), then when I entered to use the console command the event turned out to have fired on its own.

[Gorears]

Bugs

 

For unknown reasons, it is possible for the quest not to advance to stage 15 when you enter the court. This will be the case if you see Varnius Junius just standing around doing nothing. This may be related to the Bard's College quest Tending the Flames; if you haven't completed the quest, Varnius Junius may not begin speaking until you have burned the effigy of King Olaf. It is also possible that simply attempting to speak with him or physically pushing him (by walking into him) will make him begin his conversation.

 

This quest fails to begin during some parts of the main quest. Varnius Junius will not approach the Jarl and it will be impossible to begin The Man Who Cried Wolf. To fix this issue, either complete the civil war quests, or finish the main quest (if you choose to hold a peace negotiation).

 

PC Note You can use the console command setstage MS06Start 15 to force this step to initiate.

 

This quest changes the contents of Wolfskull Cave while it is active. This makes it impossible to clear Wolfskull Cave, and can also cause conflicts with any radiant quests that happen to send you to the cave, making it impossible to complete those quests. Therefore it is best to complete this quest as quickly as possible after triggering it.

For unknown reasons, sometime the marker for miscellaneous quest "Head to the Solitude Court" doesn't remove when you talk with Falk Firebeard or complete "The Man Who Cried Wolf".

 

PC Note You can use the console command setstage MS06Start 10 to deactivate the marker from miscellaneous quest.

 

>>source: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Man_Who_Cried_Wolf#Bugs

 

I'll be testing soon. same problem here guys