Skyrim:Bounty Quests

These bounty quests can be given to you by any innkeeper in any hold, or you can receive them directly from the hold's steward. They are called bounty quests because, upon completion, you are given a bounty, or reward. Once you have taken care of the requested target, you can return to the hold's jarl or steward for a reward. Bounty quests can be repeated indefinitely, up to a point: you can have 1 each of the quests below active at the same time (for a total of 4 concurrently running bounty quests), which must also originate in separate holds. And when one is completed, it cannot be replaced by the same one in the same hold. But sometimes they may bug and don't show at all despite having no other bounty quest. No solution is known.

Bounty quests, when acquired, may send you to a previously "Cleared" location, even if there has not normally been the requisite 30 days for respawning. The monster(s) in the zone should respawn at once.

• Bounty: Bandit Boss: Eliminate a bandit leader for a bounty reward. (radiant)
• Bounty: Dragon: Kill a dragon in its lair. (radiant)
• Bounty: Forsworn: Kill a Forsworn leader for a bounty reward. (radiant)
• Bounty: Giant: Kill a problematic giant for a bounty reward. (radiant)

Notes

• It has been reported that it is possible to have a second Bandit Leader quest active instead of the Forsworn quest.
• A random Forsworn bounty quest can run concurrently with the non-repeating quest from Jarl Igmund, Kill the Forsworn Leader (Jarl), which is part of the process of earning the title of Thane. The two quests appear very similar in the journal, but completing the wrong one will of course not give any progression towards Thaneship, nor will it unlock Igmund's second quest to find Hrolfdir's Shield: the quest given by Jarl Igmund directly is the one in the Thane sequence, whereas the one given in an inn or by the steward is the random one.
• If no eligible bounty is available, there will be no bounty rumors in the inns or given by the steward or jarl. For instance, if you have a Bandit, Forsworn and Giant quest active while finishing off the Dragon bounty in Eastmarch (at the only possible eligible location, Bonestrewn Crest), then no bounty quests will be available in either Eastmarch (since the Dragon quest cannot be repeated there until it has been done somewhere else, and all the other types are already spoken for) or Haafingar or Whiterun (which both have no Dragon bounty quests at all, and all the other types are already spoken for): you will have to travel to another hold, or complete one of the other existing bounty quests to free up another space.
• If you are offered a particular bounty, and reload from a prior save, there is a chance that the same innkeeper or steward will have no bounty-related dialogue. There is also a chance that they may offer you a different bounty.
• If you exile the Jarl who issued the bounty before turning it in, you will need to visit them or their steward in exile to complete the quest.

Bugs

• Objectives to collect the bounty in Dawnstar may not finish properly if you collect the reward directly from the Jarl.
  • The Official Skyrim Patch, version 1.9, fixes this bug.