I'm trying to do the Molag Bal Daedric quest but am stuck. I get to the grave but am unable to drop the cursed mace. Every time I try to drop it I get a message telling me I'm not allowed to drop quest items. Am I doing something wrong or is this a glitch? Help!

Thanks Merroe

You have to be in a particular place so that it can be picked up by the guy later. Check out the UESP wiki, it gives a lot of info.

Go to Petellius' home early in the AM. Around 10 AM, you'll see him leave his home & walk over to his wife's grave. Go over & stand next to him, drop the mace there, & punch him in the face. He'll pick up the mace & proceed to beat the stuffing out of you.

Be sure & remove all your armor to make it go faster. Remove anything that has a "reflect damage" enchantment, because Petellius can die while he's kicking your rear end. If he dies before you do, then that ends the quest & you don't get Molag's reward.

Hey, I also have a problem with the Molag Bal quest - the thing is, I can drop the mace, but the guy just won't pick it up. He continues to attack me with his fist. I have tried several times, and every time he just punches me. Any help?

Thanks

You have to wait until he's meditating at the grave, but you can drop the mace prior. Then you talk to him, going through the conversation topics (forgot which one, just do them all to be safe). Then you rock his jawbone. He doesn't like getting popped in the face very much.

But then again, in your case, there could be other possibilities. On PC? If so, patched with the UOP (3.0.0 + 3.0.1 Hotfix)? 1.2.0416 official patch? Too many mods w/conflicts?

Nope, the patches didn't work either. And I am doing it while he's praying at the grave, he just punches me though. He doesn't pick up the Cursed Mace that I drop near him.

Did you talk to him BEFORE you punched him? You're game is buggy. I would suggest loading in a save before you got the quest, and start over. You can go ahead and finish it, but you won't get the Daedric Artifact.

per wiki:
In this quest, Petilius is not actually supposed to kill you. The game just waits for your Health to drop below 20 and then teleports you back to the shrine. As long as Petilius is doing "normal" amounts of damage, your health should never fall below 0. But if Petilius deals more than 20 damage in a single hit, it is possible for you to die and be resurrected. Petilius will only do more than 11 points of damage per hit when he does a power attack or if the game's difficulty is higher than the default value.

Which of these entries (give numbers) do you have in your Journal?

10 Molag Bal's follower has told me that, in order to summon the Daedra, I must present an offering of a lion pelt to the statue. [You must be level 17 to begin this quest.]
20 Molag Bal has spoken to me, and wishes me to help him corrupt Melus Petilius, by forcing him to kill me with the Cursed Mace. I should travel to Brindle Home and see what I can find.
30 I have spoken to a resident of Brindle Home, who tells me that Petilius has lived in a small house outside of town since the death of his wife.
40 I have learned that Petilius visits the grave of his wife every day.

I have "I have learned that Petilius visits the grave of his wife every day."

Any prior to that? If you click it, all of the others come up.

Edit - If you have tried to load in a save before you started Molag Bal, and the replay doesn't work, then you have another choice. Finish the quest. Open up the Console, then enter "player.additem 27117 1" (without quotation marks). That will add the Mace of Molag Bal into your Inventory.

Whoa, thanks man! I'll just do that instead of going through all the hassle

You're welcome. Glad I could help. I wish the quest would have worked right, but at least now you've got the Mace.