The Totems of Hircine quests are available after becoming Harbinger of The Companions. The questline revolves around recovering three distinct totems from three different dungeons. The quests are available through Aela the Huntress.
Praying to one of the totems in the Underforge will grant a unique power that can be activated while in Beast Form. These are considered lesser powers and thus can be used multiple times per day.
The locations of the Totems are not fixed. Each totem can be found in a small dungeon/cave with a few enemies (ranging from trolls or bears to draugr) to defeat. The Totems can be found within chests with some loot also inside.
Aela has tracked one of the Totems of Hircine to <radiant location>, and has come with me to retrieve it.
Objective: Retrieve the Totem of Hircine
Aela and I have retrieved a Totem of Hircine from <radiant location>.
Objective: Take the Totem to the Underforge
Quest complete
Trivia
In between each Totem retrieval, you may be given a few side missions before Aela asks for your assistance again. normal amount = 4 lowest = 2 = highest = 10(Reports of as many as 4, or even upwards of 7) - if you specifically want this side mission and she gives you another, back out of the conversation and leave the area you're currently in and then reenter. Doing this will reset the task she has for you. It's a random chance each time of what job you get.
The above applies to starting the quest line as well.
The Totem of Fear is the default power of Beast Form.
If Aela has the dialogue option "Is there any work to be done?" this means she will give a Totem quest.
This quest may be impossible to start as Aela will constantly give the player Animal Extermination quests. This is possibly caused by marrying her(living at her house helps with this.). This may also be caused by being cured of Lycanthropy. This quest will not start if the Dawnguard DLC questline has been played through up to the point Serana becomes your companion (she cannot be dismissed until the end of the questline) this makes it impossible to get the Totem quests from Aela, because the quest automatically turns Aela into your companion, so if you have a companion with you, she simply will give Animal Extermination quests, until your companion is dismissed. Again Serana is not dismissable until the end of the Dawnguard questline. Possible solutions are below.
Have all the remaining witches heads in your inventory and not stored in one of your houses (Tested on 360). For PC - You might also have to drop all the remaining heads and then pick them back up to register reobtaining them, you will then be able to initiate the quest.
If having married Aela. Ask her to return to live in her house "Jorrvaskr." Gather all leftover witch's heads and then talk to her in Jorrvaskr.
Console command: Setstage cr12 10 will kick start the quest however there will be no quest marker indicating where the totem is when entering Southfringe Sanctum, unknown with other radiant locations.
Console command: /resetquest Cr12/ then complete a hunting job. Before she leaves the area, ask her for work and the dialog option may come up for the totem quest.
Finish or do not start the Dawnguard quests until you complete the totem quests. The fact that the Werewof perks and talent tree are new with the Dawnguard DLC, makes it easy to start the Dawnguard questline but then seek out the totems and find that it is impossible. This makes almost half of the Werewolf perks useless until the Dawnguard Questline is complete.
After resetting the quest (like mentioned above) the 2.Totem might still be unavailable. Doing Dragon Seekers quests for Vilkas might help unblocking it. Possible causes for the Totem 1 marked completed glitch: storing the Glenmoril Witch Heads, taking Aela as a follower and marrying her. Best to avoid all three.
Using Aela as a companion may stop her from giving this quest. This may be because the quest auto-assigns her to be a "temporary companion" and it gets confused (you'll notice you can't trade equipment with her during this time). Dismissing her as a companion, leaving the area, then waiting for 3 in-game days may be enough to clear up this problem. Don't ask her to follow you until you've acquired all the totems.
If married to Aela, while traveling to Harmugstahl to get the werewolf totem, she may disappear and you will not be able to complete this quest. It is possible to fix this bug by waiting in Dragonsreach for 24 hours, but it does not always work.
PC Solution: this can be resolved by manually advancing the quest with the console command "setstage cr12 20".
360 Solution: One possible way would be to stop following the Totems of Hiricine quest and follow a quest that leads the Dragonborn to an area that Aela cannot follow you into, thereby forcing her to leave your side and put the quest on hold. Afterward, find her and (SAVE FIRST) start the quest again and see if the Totem will be at a different location, or get her to follow into Haemar's Shame, THEN start the quest again
When visiting the Underforge to place a totem in the correct place, Aela will be running on the spot or into objects. This will continue when you leave causing Aela to slowly slide down the side of Jorrvaskar and into Whiterun. It seems to stop when you leave Whiterun and repeats everyime you bring a totem back. A way to prevent this, is to go into Sneak mode before entering the Underforge, making sure Aela is also in Sneak mode. When inside the Underforge, you can leave Sneak mode, and Aela should resume walking normally.
PC Template:360 If you have completed "A Night to Remember" and Morvunskar is the location of the Totem, then Sanguine may be there fighting mages. When you defeat the mages, Sanguine will wander about saying random dialogue such as, "I don't owe you money do I?" However, if you attack him he cannot be killed, meaning that eventually you will die in a fight with him.
Solution: If this happens reload the save and be careful not to hit him next time.
Solution: leave area and return, if Aela is still attacking him paralyzing her will stop her attacks, letting you continue.
PS3 If you have completed "A Night to Remember", the game may crash when you try to enter Morvunskar.
The game may crash after you have received the quest to find a totem and attempt to zone out of Jorrvaskr. In this event, you will be stuck within the building unless you reload another save. This can be fixed on PC by player.moveto [any character outside of Jorrvaskr].
360 If the player cures themselves of Lycanthropy after beginning a Totem of Hircine mission, while Aela is following them, the door to the Underforge will become inoperable, and the quest will be impossible to finish. In addition, Aela will not leave your side. (Confirmed even in PS3).
360 If any of the Companions died (apart from Kodlak) before this quest, Aela will constantly talk to you when she gets close enough. This also makes her follow you everywhere and counts her as a pursuing enemy.
Solution: Pay all bounties in all nine holds, but do not go to jail.
PC The game may crash at Cragwallow Slope while entering into the cave for the 3rd Totem.
PC 360 Aela may disappear in one of the totem quests. If she does then continue through the 'dungeon' then just go to the Underforge, wait 24 hours, enter the bottom floor of Jorrvaskr, and she should then reappear.
PC 360 PS3 When going to Brood Cavern, you may lose vision.
Solution: Try and exit the cave and re-enter.
After picking up the totem from a chest, if you do not speak to Aela and tell her that you have found the werewolf totem before leaving the cave or dungeon, she will disappear and you will not be able to place the totem in the Underforge.
Go back to Jorrvaskr and stay outside. Wait 24 hours, then enter Jorrvaskr. She will either be inside, or outside in the back patio area. Approach her and she should initiate a conversation prompting you about the totem.
