Briarheart Necropsy is a Dragonborn side quest that sends you off Solstheim and back to the mainland in the name of science. Neloth at Tel Mithryn wants to know how the Forsworn Briarhearts survive with a briar seed where their heart should be, and naturally he would rather you did the travelling and the stabbing. The hunt takes place in the Reach.
How to start
Finish Heart Stones first. When you next walk into Tel Mithryn, Neloth will be loudly cursing his heart stones. Ask him what is wrong and he explains his plan.
Walkthrough
Neloth’s theory
Briarhearts are elite Forsworn warriors who cut out their own hearts and replace them with large briar seeds, tying their life force directly to the forces of nature. Neloth hopes to do something similar with the power of Red Mountain, but his test subjects keep turning out too fragile. He places a memory-recording spell on you so you do not have to take notes (he doubts you would know what to write anyway) and points you vaguely at the hills of western Skyrim.
Find and examine a Briarheart
Travel to Skyrim, kill a Forsworn Briarheart at one of their camps and examine the corpse, removing the heart. Known Briarheart locations include:
- Bard’s Leap Summit
- Bruca’s Leap Redoubt
- Druadach Redoubt
- Hag’s End
- Karthspire
- Kolskeggr Mine
- Lost Valley Redoubt
- Sundered Towers
- Serpent’s Bluff Redoubt
How you kill the Briarheart matters. A corpse is useless for the quest if:
- you killed him by pickpocketing his heart,
- a disintegrating spell turned him into a pile of ash, or
- he was raised again with Conjuration magic.
A plain weapon or ordinary spell kill is the safe option.
Report to Neloth
Head back to Tel Mithryn and tell Neloth you have done the examination. He pulls the memories out of your head, promises (more or less convincingly) to keep anything unrelated to himself, and pays you for the long trip. That completes the quest.
Rewards
- 250 gold
- Progress in the Neloth storyline: this is a prerequisite for Old Friends
Tips and notes
- Ask Neloth afterwards what he learned. He describes a soul thread knotted three times, once for the heart, once for the spirit and once for the body, and thinks that knot may be the strength he has been looking for. It foreshadows the botched surgery revealed in Old Friends.
- Briarhearts are among the toughest Forsworn, so come prepared.
- If you are already clearing Forsworn camps for other quests, this one can be wrapped up along the way.
- Neloth’s reasoning for not going himself: long voyages and dangerous risks are exactly what people like you are for.
