Bloodmoon:The Castle Karstaag

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Quest Giver: Korst Wind-Eye at 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

[edit] Quick Walkthrough

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

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] 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 Nothern shores of Solstheim. Such things are suggested by the Bloodmoon Prophecy and Korst asks you to travel to Castle Karstaag to investigate the matter. Karstaag is an ice castle to the northwest which is home to the frost giant Karstaag and the rieklings that serve him. The Skaal have lived in peace with Karstaag for some time but they have not heard from the giant recently.

[edit] Castle Karstaag

Travel to the castle which is at the top 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 Throne Room) and one underneath the water (to the Caverns of Karstaag). Note that the underwater entrance was blocked previous to this quest. The Tower entrance is accessible only with a Levitation spell and the Throne Room entrance appears to be blocked, so the underwater entrance is the most obvious way in, as Korst suggested.

[edit] 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 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, at least until some grahls (ice-trolls) they 'hired' turned and ate most of them, with poor old Krish being the last one 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.

[edit] 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 grahl 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. 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 the eight grahls Krish will speak to you again saying it is safe to enter the castle. Continue on and enter to the Banquet Hall of the castle.

[edit] Exploring the Castle

Castle Karstaag: Banquet Hall

The Banquet Hall is small and has a number of rieklings in it, which can be confusing to fight since they look exactly like poor old Krish. Continue onto the Throne Room where you'll meet Dulk, the leader of the castle since Karstaag's disappearance. Speak to him to learn that the werewolves took the master several days ago and that they had nothing to do with the horkers. Dulk seems unintelligent, but adamant that they know nothing of the horkers. Note that Dulk dislikes Krish, and vice-versa, and Dulk even calls Krish evil.

[edit] Return to Korst

Return with the information you've discovered to Korst back in the village. He will thank you and reward you with the Stalhrim Longsword of Flame which he says will be useful when fighting grahls.

[edit] Bugs

If, for some reason, Krish becomes stuck or frozen once the last grahl has been killed, you cannot enter the Banquet Hall, and thus can't continue. You can use the console to summon Krish to your location in order to continue. Open the console and click on Krish and then travel to the entrance of the Banquet Hall and enter the following three commands:

SetPos, x, 370
SetPos, y, -178
SetPos, z, -117

Several people have reported encountering this problem. It may be related to the game thinking that the fight with the last grahl is not over, even though the grahl is dead. A quicker fix is to attempt to rest (press the 'T' button) and then cancel it, or even to rest for a bit. Krish should become unstuck once you do this without having to reposition him manually.

Alternatively, a somewhat similar problem may occur when you have killed all eight trolls, but for some reason, it doesn't register with Krish. In this case, you have to tweak the script. Open the console and type in the following:

Set trollsdead to 8

As soon as you enter this command, the dialogue with Krish will open, saying you can move on to the Banquet Hall.

An alternative fix for both (or if Krish dies) is to teleport yourself to the next room,

CenterOnCell "Solstheim, Castle Karstaag, Banquet Hall"

[edit] Notes

It's very important to keep Krish alive, as if he dies you will be unable to complete the quest, except by the workaround detailed above.
While you are still at Castle Karstaag, you might as well visit the Tower to retrieve the last missing piece of Daedric Armor: the Daedric Right Pauldron. It is hidden among the ice, but once you look into the crevases, it stands out pretty well as the rest of the room is light blue. Access to the tower is by levitation, from outside the castle, not inside.

[edit] Quest Stages

These Codes can be used along with the Journal Console Command and Quest ID given within the chart to 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 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		Krish has been killed.
90		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		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.