Skyrim:The Restless

This article is about the quest. For the book, see The Restless (book).

Search for an ancient pirate ship. Quest Giver: The Restless Location(s): The Winking Skeever, Castle Dour Dungeon, Orphan's Tear, Blackbone Isle Reward: Blackwater Blade, Cyrus' Boots, Cyrus' Clothes, Cyrus' Sabre; Access to Dead Man's Dread ID: ccBGSSSE031_QUEST Added by: Dead Man's Dread

Pirate loot awaits

Quick Walkthrough

1. Read The Restless at The Winking Skeever.
2. Gain access to the cell in Castle Dour Dungeon by whatever means necessary and read Kevon's Note. Take the map.
3. Travel to Orphan's Tear and find the boat to Blackbone Isle.
4. Enter Blackbone Isle Grotto and take Cyrus' Boots, Cyrus' Clothes, and Cyrus' Sabre.
5. Fight your way back out to the boat.

Detailed Walkthrough

A Pirate's Life

To begin this quest, you will need to go to The Winking Skeever in Solitude. On one of the tables inside, you will find a book titled The Restless which describes the later life of Cyrus, the protagonist of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. It mentions Blackbone Isle, a long-lost island in the Sea of Ghosts said to house an ancient treasure. The last person to visit the island reportedly died in the nearby Castle Dour dungeons.

Head to the dungeons in order to figure out how to gain access to the cell containing the pirate's corpse. You can speak to a Solitude Guard seated outside the cell and pass an easy Persuasion skill check to convince him to open the cell for you. A starting level character of any race can pass this speech check by activating the Shrine of Dibella in the Temple of the Divines just outside. Alternatively, you can commit a crime yourself and get thrown in jail, although there are obviously some disadvantages to using this method. Once inside, you will find the skeletal corpse of Kevon next to a note you need to read. It will reveal that a map to Blackbone Isle can be found beneath a loose brick within the cell wall. Grab it and head for the coast.

Old Pirate Den

Your next destination after escaping Castle Dour is a coastal shipwreck known as Orphan's Tear. Although this location is usually inhabited by bandits, on this occasion you will encounter a gang of Blackwater Brigands led by Celeste. This encounter will actually add an unnamed miscellaenous objective to your journal directing you to kill Celeste and claim her unique sword, the Blackwater Blade. This is secondary to the current quest, but you will likely end up killing Celeste in any case as the brigands are hostile and are guarding the only boat to Blackbone Isle.

Once the threat has been neutralized, activate the small boat to sail to Blackbone Isle. The entirety of the small island consists of a shoreline crawling with undead; indeed, you will likely be attacked the minute you arrive. You may explore the island's exterior if you wish, but the quest will direct you to the entrance of Blackbone Isle Grotto located right next to the boat. The grotto is similarly filled with undead, and houses a well preserved ship named Dead Man's Dread. Fight your way through the ship's undead inhabitants until you reach the captain's quarters on the lower level. Here you will find the Captain's Journal explaining the fate of the ship, as well as Cyrus' Sabre hanging above the desk. Take the sabre, and loot the chest next to the captain's bed to obtain Cyrus' Clothes and Cyrus' Boots. All three of these relics of Cyrus need to be taken to progress the quest.

Attempting to leave the ship with your new items, you will quickly discover that angry Ghost Sailors have arisen to defend their final resting place. Fight your way back to the entrance and face the Ghost Captain out on the deck of the ship. With all the spirits defeated, you can safely make your way back to the boat and leave Blackbone Isle.

A New Player Home

Although the quest formally concludes after making your escape, you will soon receive a mysterious note from a "restless soul" via courier, advising you to convert Dead Man's Dread into a player home. Return to the ship via the boat at Orphan's Tear to complete this objective and claim the island as your own. The ship contains several crafting stations and storage containers, as well as multiple copies of the unique clothing items added by the Creation.

You will also find a map inside the ship that can be used for instant transport to Solitude, Dawnstar and Windhelm. You can also unlock the two other markers on the map to allow travel to Castle Volkihar (technically Icewater Jetty) and Raven Rock by first discovering these locations.

Notes

• Originally, this quest was automatically added to your journal upon installing the Dead Man's Dread Creation. This was updated with the release of the Anniversary Edition, and you are now required to locate the book yourself to begin the quest.
• You will only encounter undead in the exterior areas of Blackbone Isle if you have either the Bone Wolf or Plague of the Dead Creations installed. If you have neither Creation installed, the island will instead be inhabited by six harmless rabbits.
• The Ghost Captain and the other spirits will not follow you below deck. This can be exploited by running back inside the ship to heal.
• The skeleton of Kevon is in the same cell as the Crumbling Mortar and can still be used to escape if it has never been used beforehand
• Blackbone Isle has a map marker to fast travel to the location but once there you can only leave either via the rowboat or, after claiming the ship with the Pirate's Note, a map on a table aboard the ship will give an additional option to fast travel to four different ports back on Skyrim.

Bugs

• If you are arrested, the optional objective won't be marked as complete until you move further away from the door than where you start. ^?

Quest Stages

The Restless (ccBGSSSE031_QUEST)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I've heard stories of lost shipwrecks strewn across the Sea of Ghosts. If I head to the Winking Skeever in Solitude, I may be able to find more information on there [sic] whereabouts. Objective 10: Browse books at the Winking Skeever
20		I've heard stories of lost shipwrecks strewn across the Sea of Ghosts. At the Winking Skeever in Solitude, I found a lead on a ship said to have traveled to Blackbone Isle. Apparently, the last person to visit the island died in Castle Dour Dungeon. Objective 20: Find the pirate's corpse in Castle Dour Dungeon Objective 5: (Optional) Convince the guard to give you access to the jail cell Objective 15: (Optional) Get arrested and go to jail in Solitude
25		At the Winking Skeever in Solitude, I found a lead on a ship said to have traveled to Blackbone Isle. Apparently, the last person to visit the island died in Castle Dour Dungeon. I found his corpse which hinted at the location of a hidden map. Objective 25: Examine the loose brick
30		At the Winking Skeever in Solitude, I found a lead on a ship said to have traveled to Blackbone Isle. Apparently, the last person to visit the island died in Castle Dour Dungeon. I found his corpse and the map he hid under a loose brick. I'll need a boat to travel to the location, perhaps I can find a spare at the wreck near Orphan's Tear. Objective 30: Find a spare boat and travel to Blackbone Isle
40		After finding the map to Blackbone Isle, I traveled to the remote location using a boat at Orphan's Tear. Objective 40: Investigate Blackbone Isle
43		After finding the map to Blackbone Isle, I traveled to the remote location using a boat at Orphan's Tear. After entering a cave, I found Dead Man's Dread docked inside the grotto.
50		After finding the map to Blackbone Isle, I traveled to the remote location using a boat at Orphan's Tear. After entering a cave, I found Dead Man's Dread docked inside the grotto. Inside the ship were two items of note, Cyrus' Sabre and outfit. Objective 50: Escape the grotto
100	Finishes quest	After finding the map to Blackbone Isle, I traveled to the remote location using a boat at Orphan's Tear. After entering a cave, I found Dead Man's Dread docked inside the grotto. Inside the ship were two items of note, Cyrus' Sabre and outfit, which were protected by guardians of the ship. I managed to escape the grotto with both items.
(ccBGSSSE031_Blackwater)
10		Objective 10: Kill the Blackwater Brigand Boss
20		Objective 20: Retrieve the Blackwater Blade
30	Finishes quest
Restless Home Quest (ccBGSSSE031_HomeQuest)
10		Objective 10: Read the pirate's note
20		Objective 20: Claim Dead Man's Dread

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table:
  • ccBGSSSE031_QUEST: 0, 1, 4, 5, 15, 39, 44, 45, 60, 70, 80, 90, 200, 1000
  • ccBGSSSE031_HomeQuest: 5, 30.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage ccBGSSSE031_QUEST stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest ccBGSSSE031_QUEST.