Sorex had packed a lot more supplies than I expected. Specially since we didn't travel super far from Solitude. Though it seemed fine since Sorex had rented a small boat.
Viree was looking at the water with some worry. "What scared of a few fish?"
Sorex laughed at my joke, he had a fishing rod trying to catch something as I row the boat. Sorex smirked, "You know I heard of a few stories about sea monsters. Things like the Emperor Crab or the Gagrim Slaughterfish."
I raised my eye to that one, "Gagrim Slaughterfish?"
Sorex laughed, "What you never heard about that one?"
Viree frowned, "It better not be a giant slaughterfish."
Sorex laughed, "Nah, it isn't actually a slaughterfish. It is just called that. It is some kind of shark leviathan that lives in the sea of ghosts. Truth be told it is likely just some kind of sailors tale."
A shark leviathan, eh? Wouldn't it be a wonder to hunt that thing. Sorex continued talking, "Basically the beast has iridescent scales and only appears at dawn. Swallowing trade ships whole! However that is what makes me doubt the story. The only time sailors disappear in the sea of ghosts is due to pirates. Which makes me all the more excited about this ship!"
I pointed at an iceberg, "Is that the island?"
Sorex looked up, and pulled up his fishing line. "Yeah, that looks like the island."
Viree shook her head, "It looks like the whole place froze over."
I nodded, that looked exactly what happened. However I can recognize the shape of the area. "The iceberg seems to be man-made. This is a Lagoon. The rocks there would've blocked the lagoon, hiding the pirates. They had to have docked inside the lagoon and preceded to fuck with some kind of ice magic. At least that is what I am guessing."
Sorex nodded, "Seems about right. Dock over there. We can tie the boat to the tree."
I nodded and docked the ship. Viree helped pull it onto the shore. I paused, "Viree stay out here, we have no clue what could happen here."
She sneered, "I am sworn to protect you."
I knew what she was referring to. "We won't be fighting anything, just set up camp."
She clicked her tongue and I looked at Sorex wandering off. He stopped at a small opening. Sorex looked at me and explained, "As far as I can tell this is the only opening. Unless we walk around the rest of the island."
I shook my head, "Nah, I doubt there is another entrance." I pointed into the passage way. "The ice froze around an arch of some kind. It is likely a shipping bay made by the pirates."
Sorex nodded, "How do we get in? That is a tight fit in."
Sorex likely was small enough to slip in. However I think me and Viree would be stuck if we tried. "We melt the entrance."
Sorex looked at me, "Won't that take a while?"
I shook my head. "Did you pack any salt with you?"
He nodded, "I only brought 2 sacks of salt. I doubt we can melt the ice with salt. Besides I brought it for the boat if it freezes."
I smirked, "I have some vinegar and alcohol. If we mix all three it should create a solution to melt the ice."
Sorex blinked, "How does that work?"
I began walking back to Viree and her makeshift camp. I explained the plan to Sorex, "Basically vinegar and alcohol freeze at different points than water. Combine that with salt, it can melt through the ice. We just have to pour the mixture around the entrance."
Sorex nodded, "Let's get mixing then."
Viree looked at us, "So you figured out a way in? The ice isn't solid?"
We nodded, "Yup." I continued, "The passage is small, so we plan on melting the entrance."
Sorex took out his sack of salt. While I pulled out the wine and vinegar I had. Viree started a fire while I mixed everything together. I looked over at Sorex, "So wanna explain a bit more about this quest?"
Sorex nodded, "So I got that note I showed you right? However odd thing is, I think it a page torn out of a journal."
He took the note out again, "See this side of the paper?"
Viree rolled her eyes, "We can see it was torn."
Sorex frowned slightly, "She isn't any fun. Anyway, the question become who tore it out, why send it to me? Finally what happened here?"
I agreed, "The combination is certainly odd." I smirked, "We will find out though. I got the stuff ready."
This time all three of us went to the entrance.
Viree gasped, "That is small."
Me and Sorex laughed, Viree looked at us, "What?"
I moved forward and started getting to work. "Wow, that is working pretty well." Sorex was looking over my shoulder and it wasn't long until he tried slipping through the entrance. It barely took him a second until he was on the other side.
I called out, "What do you see?"
Sorex called out, "All good!" Viree slipped through next. Once they were through and slid through the opening. It was still a tight fit in places. However I got through easily enough.
I gasped, "Woah! That is a big ship."
Sorex nodded, "I think it is bigger than everything in the Solitude docks."
Viree pointed, "Is that your Journal?"
I walked over and picked up a leather bound book next to an extinguished campfire. This small little area was where someone had their last days at. A slightly mummified skeleton was wrapped in a makeshift sleeping bag.
I picked up the book, and opened it. However before I got the chance to read a ghost figure rose from the sleeping bag. "Who disturbs the dead?"
I slammed the book into the ghosts head and it turned into a pile of ghostly goo. "Huh. So ghosts on the pirate ship. Should've seen that coming."
Sorex laughed, "Wow you reacted fast on that."
I shrugged and reopened the book. Viree looked at me, "Really? You are gonna read that now?"
I shrugged, "Why not? It might have clues!"
Viree rolled her eyes and Sorex started searching inside the broken down crates and barrels. I look through the book. It basically could be shortened to the skeleton's final days. It seems a curse has been placed on the pirates. However a name caught my name.
I smirked, "Guess who found a clue."
Viree sighed, "What did you find?"
I explained, "Basically it is the pirate's final days. You see the whole ship was cursed. To explain, they raided a ship that was transporting some sort of artifact. The first person to touch the artifact was slowly encased in ice. However seeing the potential profit they kept the thing and brought it to the lagoon."
Sorex and Viree were listening closely and I smiled, "Now here where it gets interesting. The artifact went missing when they docked. They started looking for it, but a blizzard occurred and you guessed it. The Lagoon froze over! It gets more complicated. When they were frozen in, they were slowly all encased in ice just like the first victim. That's when the ghosts started appearing. This guy and his buddy escaped off the ship and set up camp here. This guy however was injured by one of the ghosts and was bleeding out. His buddy however..."
Sorex jumped in, "He escaped!"
I tossed the journal to Sorex, "The name of that person is in the book. As this guy wrote a farewell to him."
Sorex looked confused, but then his eyes bugged out. "By the Divines!"
Sorex took the book and read out the farewell, "I hope you can achieve your goals my friend. I'll miss you, my best friend Corpulus." She paused and looked up, "Who's Corpulus?"
I smirked, "Corpulus Vinius is Sorex's father. Who runs the Winking Skeever."
Sorex laughed, "Well that sure explains a lot! Why would he send me here however?"
I paused rubbing my chin. "Perhaps he knew you would invite me? Better to have a party in a situation like this. Not to mention you wanted adventure. This gives perspective about your father, and so on."
Sorex nodded, "Maybe. Nonetheless we are here now. Perhaps we should figure out what this artifact is for it to encase people in ice, cause blizzards, and summon ghosts."
I nodded, but raised a point. "The artifact likely doesn't actually summon ghosts. The ghosts were likely caused due to resentment and strong emotions. If the pirates were encased in ice. There is a good chance they were still alive while being encased in ice. However they died due to starvation."
Viree frowned with a look of terror, "Oh, that's terrible." She would've shared a similar fate under Solitude Sewers eventually. Either starving or dying by her father's hands.
I pulled out Bolar's Oath Blade. "Draw your weapons, time to fight some ghosts."
The three of us made our way onto the ship. When we first stepped onto the deck nothing happened. Sorex broke the silence, "These skeletons are likely the crew that ran or fought the ghosts."
I opened a door leading into the ship. "You hear that?" I looked at Viree and she continued, "I can hear foot steps."
Sorex nodded, "We better be careful then."
We inched into the ship. It wasn't long until we were found by ghostly pirates. "You cannot hide from the dead!"
They swung their swords in large power attacks. Viree blocked it and Sorex dodged. I slashed through another ghost that didn't preform a power attack. Making our way through the ship was a similair routine of this. The ghosts awakened. One of us attacked, one of us dodged, and one of us blocked.
I broke the routine, "Something is strange about this. How did some of them die by the ghosts?"
Sorex shrugged, "Should we check some of the rooms?"
Viree pushed opened a cabin door. "Found some icicle people."
Sorex opened another door, "Same."
I slashed into a ghost as I opened a cabin of my own. My eyes went wide however, "This isn't Ice!"
They both looked at me in question, "This is Stalhrim! This stuff is as strong as ebony armor! This is a fucking treasure trove!"
Sorex paused, "Wait... I think I hear about Stalhrim before. I just can't remember where."
I smirked, "The only known location of Stalhrim now a days is on the island of Solstheim and Atmora!"
Suddenly though the sound of dozens of footsteps could be heard. Viree clicked her tongue. "Bastard! You just woke up the whole god damn ship."
I defend myself, "You'd be excited too! Get back to back!"
We got into a triangle and sure enough ghosts came from all directions except the cabins we just cleared out. The fight was no different then running through a whole dungeon and getting chased down by all the enemies. I made a note to myself to be more careful about noises in the future.
{One-hand 37}
{Light Armor 29}
{Level up available during next restful sleep.}
Huh, I never paid attention to that notification before. I wiped my forehead. Sorex was breathing heavy, I asked "Hey, are you guys okay?"
Viree collapsed, "Oh, I need a shield."
Sorex held up a finger, "Just tired."
I tossed a health potion to both of them and drank one myself. Sorex raised a question, "Do we search the sludge?"
I shook my head, "Not unless you want ectoplasm." I had already tried checking if I could search them. All they gave was ectoplasm which was useless. "On the bright side, we don't need to worry as much about ghosts. Keep your guard up still. We can liekly split up to search now though."
Sorex sat on a barrel, "I'll search up on the deck."
Viree sighed, "I'll search the rest of the cabins."
I nodded, "I guess I got the rest. Count the stalhrim deposits and grab any books, journals or notes you see."
They nodded and we split up. I found the stairs that lead down. This level was a combination of a bar, kitchen and what looks to be crafting stations. Behind the bar was a bunch of rotten food and broken bottles. Entering the forge area I noticed most of the stuff is rusted. The ingots were fine, but I didn't want to put them into my inventory.
My eyes perked up though and I picked up a black pickaxe. Sure enough this was an ancient nord pickaxe. The handle was stuck in a deposit of Stalhrim. I guess someone froze into stalhrim while holding the pick axe. On the workbench was a journal. I picked it up and read through it. Sure enough it seemed whoever froze here was testing using the pickaxe to free one of the other victims. According to the journal, it stated that they looted a frozen nord ruin.
It didn't explain much besides that. I closed the book and check the the room across from this one. Inside was an alchemy table and enchanting table. Two stalhrim deposits too. Potions and glass were scattered on the ground. The potions that were still good I picked up. I picked up a book from the alchemy table. It was just a skill book, but I was still happy to see it.
The last door in this area was a metal door and another stair case. Further down was the cargo hold. So I assume the metal door was the captains room. Pushing the door open I looked at the room. A stalhrim deposit was formed on the bed. The rest of the room however was organized.
I picked up a journal from a table. Sorex called out, "Vek! You find anything?"
I raised my head, "I'm in the captains room!"
It wasn't long until Viree and Sorex walked over. "No more ghosts so that's good." I paused and realized Sorex was right.
Viree pointed at the stairs going down. "You check the cargo yet?"
I shook my head, "No was about to read the captains journal."
Viree nodded, "Let's take a break then."
Sorex agreed, "The ship seems safe now. Besides we need to eat and get some rest."
I nodded, "Let's get out of here for now then."