Bloodmoon:The Castle Karstaag

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Investigate the ominous signs which have foretold the Bloodmoon Prophecy by investigating Castle Karstaag. Quest Giver: Korst Wind-Eye in the Skaal Village Location(s): Castle Karstaag Prerequisite Quest: The Ristaag Next Quest: Hircine's Hunt Reward: Stalhrim Longsword of Flame ID: BM_FrostGiant1 Suggested Items: Lockpick/Open spell (65) Suggested Level: 30 Difficulty: Medium

Castle Karstaag: Throne Room

Quick Walkthrough

1. Speak to Korst Wind-Eye again about the ominous signs and he'll tell you to travel to Castle Karstaag to investigate the matter.
2. Travel West and enter the underwater entrance to the castle near the shoreline.
3. Encounter the Riekling named Krish and agree to help him in exchange for access to the castle.
4. Kill all the grahls in the area.
5. Escort Krish and enter to the Banquet Room.
6. Continue to the Throne Room and speak with the Riekling leader Dulk to learn that werewolves have taken the frost giant Karstaag.
7. Return to Korst in the village with the new information.

Detailed Walkthrough

The dead horkers along the northern coast

Return to Skaal Village

Talk to shaman Korst Wind-Eye who will tell you about some ominous signs that have been appearing lately, such as the fire on the lake and, most lately, a horker massacre on the northern shores of Solstheim. Such things are suggested by the Bloodmoon Prophecy. Korst asks you to travel to Castle Karstaag to investigate the matter, as he suspects its denizens of the massacre. Karstaag is an ice castle to the northwest which is home to the frost giant Karstaag and the Rieklings who serve him. The Skaal have lived in peace with Karstaag for some time but they have not heard from the giant recently.

Castle Karstaag

Travel to the castle which is at the far north of the island near the shore. It can be easily missed since it is an ice castle and looks like part of the landscape. Look for a tall pillar of ice near the shore and check your local map for the entrance locations. You can also follow the trail of dead horker carcasses along the shoreline. There are two entrances on the land (to the tower and to the throne room) and one underneath the water (to the Caverns of Karstaag). The underwater entrance was blocked previous to this quest. The tower entrance is accessible only with a levitation spell or equivalent (and does not provide access to the rest of the castle, but you can find the only piece of Daedric Right Pauldron), and the throne room entrance is blocked, so the underwater entrance is your only way in, as Korst suggested.

Caverns of Karstaag

You enter the underwater entrance to the caverns which, fortunately, is short enough that you don't need any form of water breathing. Shortly inside you'll encounter a non-hostile Riekling named Krish who speaks to you. He says that the horker massacre is not their doing, and that Karstaag has disappeared. A Riekling named Dulk has been running the place since. Krish has been trying to take over, with some Riekling allies and some hired grahls, but the latter turned and ate most of them, with Krish being the last of the rebels left. The path upstairs has since been blocked. Krish makes a deal with you to help him get back upstairs. He knows the way and he figures that you can take care of the grahls for him.

Exploring the Caverns

You are now exploring the caverns along with Krish. There are a number of grahls patrolling the place and, fortunately, they are less powerful than the one you met on The Skaal Test of Loyalty quest to restore the Gift of Sun. Be warned that although Krish is relatively fast, he will not last particularly long in a fight, so guard him well. Like all companions, Krish has no sense of self-preservation - he will happily run in front of your ranged weapons and area-effect magic, take "friendly fire", and die. Unlike most other companions, though, you cannot tell him to wait in a safe place while you attack. It may be helpful to equip yourself with a standard or custom Restore Health on touch spell so you can keep him alive. Alternatively, you can close the dialogue box as soon as you meet him and go kill the grahls on your own.

Once all the grahls are dead, return to Krish and you can then go directly to the Banquet Hall. Once you've killed all eight grahls, Krish will speak to you again, saying it is safe to enter. Continue into the Banquet Hall of the castle. It's important to keep Krish alive up to this point, as if he dies you will be unable to complete the quest normally.

Exploring the Castle

Castle Karstaag: Banquet Hall

The Banquet Hall has a number of regular Rieklings in it, which can be confusing to fight since they look exactly like Krish (though his death at this point is of no consequence). Continue on to the Throne Room where you'll meet Dulk, another vocal non-hostile. Speak to him to learn that werewolves took Karstaag several days ago, and that the castle's residents had nothing to do with the horker massacre. Dulk seems unintelligent, but adamant that they know nothing of the horkers. Dulk dislikes Krish, and vice-versa, and Dulk even calls Krish evil. Dulk may be left alive, or not, after you've obtained this information from him, but it must be obtained before killing him or the quest will not be completable.

There are other rooms you can enter and loot without opposition; you'll find items laying around, in containers, and on skeletons of deceased Nords.

Return to Korst

Tell Korst Wind-Eye in Skaal Village the information you've discovered. He will thank you, but is perturbed. He will give you the powerful but heavy Stalhrim Longsword of Flame, which he says will be useful when fighting grahls.

Notes

• If Krish has died early, you can use the Console command CenterOnCell "Solstheim, Castle Karstaag, Banquet Hall" to teleport straight to that room. If you've killed Dulk early, you will need to set quest stage 90 manually with the Console (see below).
• For roleplay purposes, you can keep Krish alive and kill Dulk after extracting information from him, since you agreed to help Krish in his coup. Doing so or not has no effect on quest outcome.
• If you play as a werewolf, your relationship to Krish and Dulk is reversed; you are tasked by Hircine to help Dulk put down Krish's rebellion.

Bugs

• Krish may become stuck or frozen once the last grahl has been killed.
  • This can be fixed with the Console commands BM_riekling_Krish_UNIQU->SetPos, x, 370 then BM_riekling_Krish_UNIQU->SetPos, y, -178 then BM_riekling_Krish_UNIQU->SetPos, z, -117 (on separate lines), or the equivalent one-line PositionCell command. Krish is sent just in front of the door.
• The deaths of all eight grahls may not advance the quest, in which case Krish will still demand you help him kill the grahls, and will not open the Banquet Hall door. This problem is triggered by it being Krish who lands the death blow against one or more of the grahls, so it is best to fight them alone, or to run ahead of Krish if he is already following you.
  • This can be fixed with the command Set trollsdead to 8 in the Console.

Quest Stages

The following Journal ID and Index codes can be used with the Journal console command to manually update the quest to a certain point.

The Castle Karstaag (BM_FrostGiant1)
Index	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		The Ristaag is completed, but Wind-Eye has been getting reports from his sentries of ominous signs. He tells me that the shores are filled with dead horkers, and he knows of no reason why this would happen.
20		Wind-Eye has told me more about the Bloodmoon Prophecy, an ancient Skall [sic] legend that tells of the signs that appear before a demon god begins to stalk the land. He fears now that these signs have begun to appear, but he would like me to investigate further.
30		At the northwest end of the island stands an enormous castle of ice, home of the frost giant Karstaag. Wind-Eye tells me that he and the Skaal have lived in peace, but that this slaughter of the horkers could be the work of the Rieklings under his control. I should investigate Castle Karstaag and see what I can find out. Though I cannot go in the front door, there is an entrance under the water north of the castle that has recently been discovered.
40		I have entered the Caverns of Karstaag, a network of caves that run below the castle.
50		Inside the caverns I was greeted by a Riekling named Krish. He tells me that he knows nothing of the dead horkers, but he may know how I can find out more information.
60		The master of the castle, Karstaag has been missing for days. While he has been gone, Krish and his band have attempted to wrest control of the castle from Dulk, another Riekling loyal to the giant Karstaag.
70		Krish had entered into a pact with a band of grahl to help him secure the castle. The grahl however, have turned on the Riekling, slaughtered his troops, and now block the entrance to the castle above.
75		The magic surrounding the castle allows none to enter without Karstaag's blessing. Krish will allow me to enter with him, if I am willing to help him fight his way past these trolls. Once inside, I will be able to question Dulk about the dead horkers.
80		The ice-trolls are defeated. I should now be able to enter the castle with Krish.
81		None may enter the castle itself without the giant Karstaag's blessing. However, since I killed the trolls, Krish will accompany me to the door and upstairs. There I can speak with Dulk.
85	Fails quest	Krish has been killed.[*]
90	Finishes quest	Dulk knows nothing about the dead horkers. He tells me that his master Karstaag disappeared days ago, after werewolves appeared at his door. The rest of the giant's minions have been involved in the rebellion at the castle, and could not have caused the deaths of the horkers. I should report these findings to Wind-Eye.
100	Finishes quest	I've reported my findings to Wind-Eye, who did not seem surprised that the slaughter wasn't performed by the Rieklings. He fears that there are terrible times ahead for Solstheim, and gave me sword that casts magical fire as a means to protect myself against the coming storm.

* Quest stage 85 is only a quest failure if Krish dies before opening the door to the Banquet Hall. If it occurs later, his demise has no effect on the quest.

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