The Bones Below: install Hotfix 9 before retrying.

The Bones Below current fix order

Hotfix 9 clarified The Bones Below directions and updated its logic. Because the official note changes both directions and logic, install Hotfix 9 or later before following launch-day advice or repeatedly retrying the same objective.

1. Update to Hotfix 9 or a later build.
2. Re-open the quest log and map to read the revised direction.
3. Return to the affected conversation only after the newer quest logic is installed.
4. In co-op, compare progress with the host because client quest tracking follows the host's quest state.

This is a current bug-and-directions path, not a fabricated full walkthrough. The patch notes do not identify every objective, reward or branch outcome.

Match your symptom before retrying

• The directions no longer matchHotfix 9 rewrote the directions, so use the current quest text rather than a launch-day route.
• Dialogue ended but progress did not changeUpdate 8 targets an event-order problem in The Bones Below and three other named quests.
• The map area is missing or differentUpdate 7 changed quest areas to the current TES3-style map marking.

Dialogue finished, but the quest did not update

A dialogue event-order fix targets The Bones Below, Charcoal Grilled, Jumping Off and Locked Out.

• The Bones BelowCovered by the Update 8 dialogue fix and then changed again in Hotfix 9.
• Charcoal GrilledCovered by the Update 8 dialogue-event order fix.
• Jumping OffCovered by the same Update 8 fix.
• Locked OutCovered by the same Update 8 fix.

Update the game before replaying the affected conversation. The patch note confirms the repaired event order, but it does not promise that every unrelated quest blocker has the same cause.

Quest marker or objective area is missing

Quests now mark areas correctly on the map in a TES3-style way. If a guide written for the launch build expects different map behavior, check the current quest area rather than assuming the objective has disappeared.

Learn how current POI travel and custom waypoints work.

Bartolomaeus is not at the new tower

Bartolomaeus uses the new tower only in saves where the player had not already met him. If you met him before the tower change, the old save is expected to keep his earlier spawn rather than move him into the new location.

Two earlier quest fixes

• Weeler With PrejudiceThe Weeler With Prejudice quest was fixed in Update 7.
• BanchaThe Bancha quest was made harder to break in Update 7.

These official notes confirm the fixes but do not describe the exact trigger that broke each older save. Use the current version before deciding that the remaining problem is the same launch bug.

Current walkthrough and missing-NPC paths

• Moon in the ManFollow the route from Hyrum's locked house to Voice of Reason, Chi'Alani and Detta's journal.
• An NPC or all of Magdal's Rest vanishedMatch the co-op reload case, moved merchants, old-save locations and companion markers.

If the problem remains after updating

1. Confirm the installed build includes the update named above.
2. Re-open the quest log and map before replaying the objective.
3. In co-op, remember that client quest tracking follows the host.
4. Separate a missing marker, a dialogue that did not advance and an NPC at an old-save location when describing the problem.

Check current host tracking and save behavior for co-op quests.