I went ahead and after killing Bassilus, I came across the guy that mentions the talking chicken, so I saved the chicken from the wolf and took him to his master Thalantyr. I went ahead and talked to him and found out why his apprentice was transformed, then proceeded through the conversation as normal, in which case he told me I needed to get a skeleton head for a concoction that may undo the spell. I went ahead and grabbed a skull from a dead skeleton I killed on my way to the tower, but when I get back the Thalantyr, he doesn't seem to recognize that I have one in my inventory. I reloaded a save several times to try it again, but he still doesn't think I have it with me, he just gives his normal dialogue. I tried dropping it out of my inventory next to him and still no go. Put it back in my inventory and still no go.

Is this a glitch, or do I have to go back to a previous save to do it all over again? Any info would be appreciated.

or having the skull on the party leader? (the one thats doing the talking)

I've had it on the party leader everytime I've talked to him. I'll try going ahead and killing a fresh batch of skeletons and see if that does the trick with a new skull.

Alright, I was finally able to complete the quest. I tried doing it several times again before going back to a previous save and making sure I had a skull in my inventory before bringing the chicken apprentice to Thalantyr. Thanks for the replies.