Skyrim:Escaped Criminal

Fulfill a contract given to the Companions to hunt down an escaped criminal. Quest Giver: Skjor or Vilkas Location(s): Jorrvaskr, random hold Prerequisite Quest: Take Up Arms Reward: Leveled Gold ID: CR07

An escaped criminal in the Reach

Quick Walkthrough

1. Track down the criminal.
2. Kill the criminal.
3. Return to the quest giver for your reward.

Detailed Walkthrough

Another Escapee

Speak to Skjor (or Vilkas if you have completed The Silver Hand) in Jorrvaskr, who will give you a quest to kill an escaped criminal in any of the nine holds.

The table below displays the different job descriptions for each possible hold:

Hold	Job Description
Eastmarch	"It sounds like Eastmarch is too busy with their war to keep their own prisoners in line. One of them's escaped, and you're going to find that coward."
The Reach	"The braggarts in the Reach always claim that no prisoner escapes their mine. What you don't hear about are the ones who break off from escorts on the way to Markarth."
Haafingar	"Haafingar seems to have trouble keeping their prisoners in line. One of them's escaped, and you're going to find that coward."
Hjaalmarch	"I'm sorry to have to send you to Hjaalmarch. I can't stand the smell of it myself. But it seems their criminals can't either and just want to get out. One of them's escaped, and you're going to find that coward."
The Pale	"It seems that law-breakers in the Pale have no desire to stay there. I don't blame them. One of them's escaped, and you're going to find that coward."
Falkreath	"The idiots in Falkreath still think the best place for prisoners is that hole in the ground. No surprise, but one of them's gotten out. Again."
The Rift	"The so-called prison in Riften leaks like one of their fishnets. This is what happens when you let thieves run your town. The prisoners just walk right out. One of them's escaped, and you're going to find that coward."
Whiterun	"One of the guards from Dragonsreach came to me, worried about a prisoner who's escaped. The Jarl has too much on his mind right now, we won't be troubling him with this."
Winterhold	"The snowberries up in Winterhold have lowered themselves to ask for our help. For some reason they just throw their lawbreakers out into the sea and think that ends the problem. But every now and then, one swims back."

Find that Coward

You will have to travel to the hold and search for the criminal (your quest marker will point to them). The criminal is constantly moving which will make it harder to fast travel to them. You can engage in dialogue with the criminal but after doing so they will become hostile. At this point, you can kill them without incurring a bounty. After this has been completed, return to the quest giver, who will give you a reward and comment, "Bit by bit, we bring honor to this land. And you've brought honor to the Companions. More importantly, some gold."

Reward

Levels	Reward	USLEEP Reward
1–9	100	100
10–19	150	150
20–29	300	200
30–39	300	250
40+	300	300

†Level is based on when the player completed the previous quest (or level one for the first quest), not the player's level when receiving the quest or its reward.

‡The reward amounts for radiant Companions quests do not progress as intended.

• The Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch, version 3.0.3, fixes this bug. (details)

Notes

• Once you have completed Glory of the Dead, this quest is available indefinitely.
• The line for Eastmarch, which references the civil war, doesn't change if you complete the civil war storyline.

Bugs

• Sometimes, the escaped criminal will be under the map and the quest will be impossible to finish. The quest will fail soon after, but the companions will think the quest is still active. ^?
• If the quest giver dies, the quest will be failed and the Companions will think the quest is still active. ^?

Quest Stages

Escaped Criminal (CR07)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		There is an escaped criminal wandering <Alias=LocationHold>. I'm supposed to track <Alias.PronounObj=Criminal> down and kill <Alias.PronounObj=Criminal>. Objective 10: Kill the escaped criminal
20		I killed an escaped criminal in <Alias=LocationHold>. Objective 20: Speak to <Alias=Questgiver>
200	Finishes quest
250	Fails quest

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 1, 100.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage CR07 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest CR07.