Heart of the Blasphemer

Heart of the Blasphemer ANQSmallQuest02

Location: Shrine of Malauch just west of the town of Orcrest

Speak with Graaush Bonekeeper, priest of the Orc-god Malauch to start this quest. He can be found wandering around the open-air shrine, except during the Bone Collector quest when he is away visiting Orcrest.

Malauch is another name for the Daedric Prince Malacath. The vanilla book "The Pig Children" is sitting on one of the blocks at the shrine if you wish to learn more about him and the origin of the orcs.

Graaush asks you to go kill an orc pilgrim who visited the shrine and blasphemed their god. He gives you a magical bone claw called Death's Hand which will let you sneak up on the target from behind, reach into his chest and rip out his beating heart. The priest insists you execute him in this way to please the god.

Travel to Orcrest where you will find Bhorlarz gro-Yambuk wandering somewhere about the oasis district.

You now have a choice to make--

1. You can just sneak up behind him and rip out (pickpocket) his beating heart. This will kill him immediately and he will gasp and drop dead on the spot. (Note: sometimes removing the heart doesn't kill him, it seems to happen when you are "caught pickpocketing" and the arrest script overrides the kill script. So its best to save the game before trying just in case. Alternately if it doesn't work, you can choose one of the other options instead.)

2. You can speak to him and boast that you are here to kill him. He simply scoffs that the guards would make mince meat of you if you attacked him in the middle of the busy city.

3. You can just attack in a normal way and kill him and take his heart when he is dead. The quest updates but you are warned that the god will not be pleased because you did not follow his instructions.

4. You can warn Bhorlarz that the priest wants him dead and tell him to flee. He thanks you for the warning, gives you his magical weapons as a reward -- a Dwarven war axe called Bhorlarz's War Axe with a Damage Magicka enchantment -- and then flees, running north to the gates of Riverhold near the Cyrodiil border. At this point you can allow him to get away or sneak up behind him as he turns to run and take his heart. Warning him to flee and then backstabbing him is the only way to get both quest rewards!

After dealing with Bhorlarz you should then return to the priest to collect your reward.

If you killed the blasphemer by ripping out his heart Grauush will reward you an Orc Heart Fetish, a boiled, enchanted heart. When you have this item in your inventory it increases your strength by 2 and reduces your personality by 2. If you remove it the effects are reversed.

If you killed the orc by any other means Grauush refuses to reward you.

If you have warned Borlarzh and let him get away to safety the priest is furious and will you attack you.

After the quest is complete and Borlarzh dead you may later encounter two of his orc friends on the road south of Orcrest. They might just attack you on sight, or one will run up to you, swear at you for killing his friend and then attack.