Avenge the Ironhands: How do I get this quest? I might have locked myself

[A]

So in Act 3 when crossing the southspan bridge, you start the quest sequence I believe (as per fextralife). I opted to brute force my way into getting inside by killing the checkpoint.

How do I trigger this quest then?

[Classy Striker]

Im having issues with this quest too. When I go into the cave to follow them, they are all hostile.

[mandicat77]

I was also having trouble with this quest, you might need to go to a save prior to you speaking to the guard. In my case: I talked to the guards to get through the checkpoint by paying 200 gold. The steel watcher scanned me and I agreed to be taken to jail. Then a gnome ran up and threw a bomb at the steel watcher. The guard accused me of attacking and I persuaded them to let me go. That's when the quest unlocks, telling you to follow the gnome. I went to the spot on my map and went into the cave, and the gnomes were instantly hostile, not even giving me a chance to talk to the leader (Wulbren for me).

This happened even after closing the game and entering the cave again. I'm thinking this might be a bug, but I haven't seen any other people saying the quest is progressing incorrectly.

I was able to get around it by going to a save from before I talked to the guards so the gnome never threw the bomb. I just went straight to the cave and they talked to me instead of attacking.

OP: you still might be able to trigger the quest if you find the cave nearby, but if everyone is instantly hostile when you do so, then going to an older save might help.