The Temple of Dibella in Markarth, the Reach, guards its Inner Sanctum jealously. Get caught inside and Mother Hamal offers a penance instead of punishment: their visions show the next Sybil of Dibella living in a village to the north, and you are going to fetch her. The girl, Fjotra, has unfortunately been carried off by the Forsworn.
How to start
The quest starts when Hamal or her priestesses catch you in the locked Inner Sanctum and you accept the penance. There are two ways to get there:
- Via Degaine: the beggar Degaine, usually at the market by Markarth’s main gate or in the Warrens, asks you to steal a Statue of Dibella from the temple. Talk to him before you get caught; once the priestesses have caught you, his dialogue no longer appears.
- On your own: pick the Inner Sanctum lock while sneaking and undetected, slip inside, then let Hamal catch you (be spotted, or stand up and walk over to her).
If you are seen picking the lock (for example without sneaking or the Quick Hands perk), the priestesses turn hostile. Calm them with Calm, Pacify or Harmony, or an Imperial’s Voice of the Emperor, and then talk to Hamal.
Walkthrough
1. Optional: Degaine’s statue
To collect from Degaine, steal the statue in the sanctuary without being caught (invisibility helps), sell it to him, and only then go back in and get caught to start the main quest. If you accept Hamal’s penance first, the statue objective fails and Degaine will no longer buy one. Other Statues of Dibella exist elsewhere, for instance in Broken Tower Redoubt (upstairs, in a dark corner behind rubble between two barrels), at Hela’s Folly, Brinewater Grotto, the East Empire Company Warehouse, Black-Briar Manor, Riftweald Manor and Haelga’s Bunkhouse in Riften; any fence will buy them. The source contradicts itself on whether Degaine can still be paid after the penance, so the safe order is: sell first, get caught second.
2. Find the future Sybil
Travel north to Karthwasten and ask anyone about a little girl. You will be sent to her father, Enmon, who tells you the Forsworn took Fjotra to Broken Tower Redoubt. He offers to come along. Bringing him gives a couple of extra lines when you find his daughter but no reward, and he dies easily, with no consequences if he does.
3. Rescue Fjotra
Fight or sneak your way up through Broken Tower Redoubt. At the top, in a small tower, a Forsworn Briarheart guards Fjotra’s cell. Kill him and take the cell key from his body. Tell Fjotra she is to be the Sybil of Dibella; she is thrilled to be chosen and follows you. If you swing by her home, Enmon gives her a brief farewell.
Shortcut: approach the redoubt from the hill behind it and drop onto the ledge. You then only fight the Forsworn on the ledge on the way in and a few more on the way out.
4. Pray at Dibella’s Altar
Lead Fjotra back to the temple. Hamal tells you to pray at the Altar of Dibella – the font-like object in the centre of the temple’s upper floor, not the regular shrine beside it.
Choices and consequences
- Accepting Hamal’s penance fails Degaine’s statue job if it is still open.
- Refusing the penance turns the priestesses hostile and the quest does not start.
- Bringing Enmon is optional and changes only some dialogue.
Rewards
- Agent of Dibella: a permanent effect that increases the damage you deal to the opposite sex.
- Hamal becomes available as an Enchanting trainer.
- Senna becomes available for marriage.
- Optional: payment from Degaine for the statue.
Tips and notes
- Hamal’s lines change with your character’s sex, both when catching you (servitude for women, death for men) and when granting the blessing.
- If The House of Horrors is active, Logrolf the Willful may share Fjotra’s cell, letting you free both at once.
- Entering the sanctuary with a key pickpocketed from Senna, instead of picking the lock, is a known way around the bug where the priestesses suddenly attack.
