Shivering:The Fork of Horripilation

Find the Fork of Horripilation for Big Head! Quest Giver: Big Head in Bliss Location(s): Bliss in New Sheoth Reward: Blade, Sneak or Alchemy skill increase ID: SE45

The Fork of Horripilation

Quick Walkthrough

1. Speak with Big Head.
2. Retrieve the Fork of Horripilation and give it to Big Head.
3. Receive your reward.

Detailed Walkthrough

Big Head

Big Head, a male Argonian living in Bliss, New Sheoth, is obsessed with The Fork of Horripilation. It would be the crowning jewel of his collection; his home is full of silverware and pitchforks, and not much else. He tells you that it is near, and asks that you find it, saying that he would be happy to reward you.

"The Fork! The precious, precious fork! Hear how it sings to Big-Head! Beautiful, perfect Fork of Horripilation! But it is gone. Gone, gone, gone. No more singing. No more ringing. Taken from Big-Head, never returned."

When asked about how he lost the Fork, he will tell you

"It went away. But it will come back! It always comes back! It is close. Big-Head can hear it! The Fork of Horripilation!"

He also says that Bolwing can help you find the Fork.

"Talk to the beggar! Talk to Bolwing! He knows secrets, but no one can hear them. No one but Big Head. Take Big Head's charm! Listen to Bolwing! His tongue is tied, but his mind is unraveled! He'll tell you the secret."

The Fork of Horripilation

If you haven't already found the fork in your travels, make your way to Longtooth Camp. If you wish, speak with Bolwing in Crucible for the camp's objective marker; thanks to the fork Big Head gave you, you can actually understand him. He will tell you,

"Ah, yes. The Fork of Horripilation. I have heard rumors about it. It appears that Lord Sheogorath has returned it to the Isles. Not surprising, I suppose. He does enjoy his toys. Last I heard, some Heretics had gotten hold of the item in question. Unfortunately, it seems to be an item of great importance for some of the Zealots as well. They've been fighting over it for some time now."

The Fork's actual location is dependent on the result of the struggle between the Zealots and the Heretics. It is initially located on a table in the tent, but it may have been moved to another location. If neither the Zealot Crusader nor the Heretic Crusader have it, it may either be in a jewelry box at Longtooth Camp or in a jewelry box at Hardscrabble Camp. The quest arrow will point you to the right location.

If you return to Big Head at night, you must break into his house. You may notice a shrine dedicated to forks; Plain Forks, Pewter Forks, Silver Forks, and Pitchforks.

If you lie and tell Big Head that you don't have the fork, he says

"You have the Fork? I hear it singing so close? Songs of such closeness! Songs of almostness!"

If you give the Fork of Horripilation to him, he responds

"You bring the Fork! Happy day! The blind shall see! The lame shall walk! The short shall tall! Forks for all!"

Reward

Big Head then asks you whether you would like to learn a Blade secret, a Sneak secret, or an Alchemy secret. He gives you a witty remark on the subject, along with a skill increase in whichever you choose.

• Blade

"Big Head knows a secret about blades. Point them out, never in. Blade is out - poke, poke, poke! Kill the grandpa netch!"

• Sneak

"The secret to sneaking is not to be seen. Empty rooms. Empty tombs! Sneak in the dark, though the blind man can see you."

• Alchemy

"'Poison' is 'potion' spelled differently. Both come in bottles, but one is good to drink! Singing potions! Ringing potions!"

Notes

• You can use the Fork of Horripilation as a weapon, but it has a Stunted Magicka scripted effect while equipped.
• Big Head has a habit of attempting to steal forks for his collection, making it likely that Golden Saints will attack and kill him at any point during gameplay.
  • Conversely, if you have the CS you can prevent his death; find Big Head under the NPC category and select his name, which will open a settings box. From there, select the "essential" tick box and save, OR just open the console and type setessential 1207D 1 and he'll remain alive.
  • If Big Head dies before giving the quest, the Fork of Horripilation will no longer be a quest item. Picking it up will trigger a journal entry suggesting you give it to him, the quest will be marked as complete. The fork will be a normal (non-quest) item, with the Stunted Magicka scripted effect. The skill increase reward will be unattainable.
  • If Big Head dies after giving the quest but before receiving the fork, his death will trigger a journal entry informing you that he is dead and therefore cannot receive the fork, which completes the quest. The fork will be a normal (non-quest) item. The skill increase reward will be unattainable.

For these reasons, if you would like Big Head to live to a specific point in the quest, it should be either begun or completed as early as possible to avoid his untimely death.

• If the fork is enchanted and the name changed, the Stunted Magicka scripted effect will vanish.
• The phrase "Kill the grandpa netch!" is a reference to Sheogorath's Quest in Morrowind. This quest required you to use the Fork of Horripilation to kill a Bull netch that Big Head called grandpa netch.
• It is possible to raise either Alchemy, Blade, or Sneak above 100 with the reward from this quest.
• After finishing the quest, it is possible to take the Fork of Horripilation from Big Head for you to keep. Either pickpocket it or kill him, as he isn't connected to any more quests. Note that the fork is not weightless since the quest is finished, therefore it is not a quest item.
• Big Head's Charm is taken away from you at the end of the quest, making you once again unable to understand Bolwing. It cannot be pickpocketed afterwards from Big Head, either.
  • PC players can re-add it to their inventory with the console command player.additem 83f60 1. As long as it is in your inventory, you remain capable of understanding Bolwing.

Bugs

• Big Head is often caught stealing forks and summarily executed before you can get or complete his quest. This happens because Rendil Drarara carries a pewter fork in his inventory and will be on the streets at 2pm on his way to the chapel, or 4pm on his way home when Big Head is searching for a fork. If you want to keep Big Head alive, simply pickpocket the fork from Rendil. The fork will not respawn so you only need to worry about pickpocketing it once.
  • The Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch, version 1.1.0, fixes this bug.
• Bolwing may not be found. The green marker may point to Sickly Bernice's Taphouse, but he is neither found inside nor on top of the building.
• After you complete the quest, the fork will remain a quest item if you give it to Big Head, meaning it will remain in your inventory if you steal it back or kill him and take it from his corpse. If you kill Big Head before starting the quest and encounter the fork, it will no longer be a quest item and will be able to be picked up. This will, however, lock you out of Big Head's quest rewards.
  • The Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch, version 1.5.0, fixes this bug.

Journal Entries

The Fork of Horripilation (SE45)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
5		Because Bolwing is dead, I have no way to get more information about the Fork of Horripilation. Maybe I'll get lucky and find it during my travels in the Shivering Isles. Sadly, that is the best the I can hope for now.
10		Big-Head has asked me to find the Fork of Horripilation. It's obviously important to him, and he has offered me a reward for its return. Big-Head has given me a charm that should allow me to speak with the beggar Bolwing.
20		I've spoken to the beggar Bolwing. He tells me that the Fork of Horripilation is being fought over by groups of Heretics and Zealots. I'll have to get it from them.
50		I have found the Fork of Horripilation. I should return it to Big-Head.
200	Finishes quest	I have returned the Fork of Horripilation to Big-Head. He has told me a secret as a reward.
205	Finishes quest	Big Head is dead. I can never return the Fork of Horripilation to him.

Notes

• 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 random order.
• 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.
• It is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage SE45 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. See SetStage for more information.