Now that I have my two-handed weapon, I am ready to go kill the ice wraith.
So the first thing that I’m going to do is open up the Skyrim map. You’re going to see that the quest is located east of Winterhold, an immense city in Skyrim.
So my fastest route is going to be leaving Windhelm Capital, going west towards the bronze water cave.
I’m going to fast travel to the bronze water cave and from there I’m going to journey across the mountains in between Winterhold and Windhelm cities.
I’m going to cut right in between the mountain and go straight towards the quest aim.
While I was traveling to kill the ice wraith, a new quest appeared. The Balance of Power quest wants me to defeat the seducers bandit leader in a nearby camp.
This is a bandit camp and there are more the two people there. I could see their camp to the right of the path. I’m going to defeat all the enemies there.
Be prepared to Die in Skyrim
So I went to the camp, and I got my butt beaten by the enemies there. They are three members and one is the enemy boss.
I will come back next time when I level up. While traveling, two vampires ambushed me. I easily took one out, but the other one was tough.
I had to use two health potions and then I had to use my racial ability berserker rage. Once I got into berserker rage, I struck the vampire with one fatal blow and killed him.
I found a new cave called Stillborn Cave through my path. I am going to see what’s inside. Going into that cave was a bad idea. The monsters inside are way too tough for my character.
So I ran out of the cave as fast as I came in. It’s time to level up to level three.
I am going to raise my health attribute to make it even with my stamina. For my next perk, I am going to increase my heavy armor skill.
What are Skyrim mercenary Followers?
My next task is to go to Solitude capital, which is a big city to hire a mercenary. The mercenary‘s name is Belrand, and he is in the city of Solitude.
Before you can hire a Skyrim mercenary, you need to pay 500 gold pieces. Skyrim mercenary followers are your combat friends, lending you a hand in battle.
It’s important to note, your follower can die if he or she receives too much damage. If you don’t need your mercenary’s help, you can dismiss them.
However, you have to pay them again for their service. Having a mercenary is important at the beginning of the game. Since I am a level three character, I need extra support.
My first stop is going to be Dawnstar city. It is located west of Winterhold. So I’m going to fast travel to the bronze water cave.
And from there I will make my way to Dawnstar. Once I’m in Dawnstar, I can get some sleep and replenish my supplies.
So after traveling and fighting a few enemies, I am ready to level up to level four. My next attribute is going to be stamina.
For this orc warrior build, I am going to choose alchemy as my perk skill to increase. I want to make powerful potions for protection and for extra damage.
How to find The Lord Stone in Skyrim?
To find The Lord Stone in Skyrim, you need to travel north, heading towards Dawnstar city.
The Lord Stone is between Morthal city to the west and Fort Dunstad to the east. I accidentally found the Lord Stone while heading north to Dawnstar capitol.
Be ready to fight three enemies that are guarding The Lord Stone. I was a level four orc warrior and could defeat all three enemies.
So now that I found the stone location, I am going to activate it and remove the Warrior Stone benefits.
The Lord Stone benefits include 50 points of damage resistance and 25% magic resistance. This is going to make my two handed warrior more resistant to magic and regular damage.
So now I’m in Dawnstar city and I am going to travel west to Solitude city. This is where I am going to hire my mercenary Belrand. I reached level five. My next attribute to increase is the health bar.
And for my skill tree I’m going to choose the Block skill for protection. Blocking is going to reduce damage and also staggering from physical attacks.
You can block with a shield or with a weapon. Since I have a two-handed weapon, I can use the benefits of the blocking perk. The first perk in the Block tree is called Shield Wall.
So once you arrive at Solitude capitol, go to The Winking Skeever and you will find Belrand the mercenary. He is seated by the tables in the Inn's rear.
Now that I have a mercenary by my side, I am going to fast travel to Stillborn cave. This will get me closer to the quest aim called Kill the Ice Wraith.
Once you get to Serpentstone Isle, you’ll see the monster there. The ice wraith is powerful, so make sure you use the potions Galmar Stone-Fist gave you.
Once you kill the monster, you have completed the quest. Now return to Galmar for your reward. When you return to Windhelm, Galmar will issue your rewards.
After that, you need to take an oath to join the Stormcloaks. Welcome brother, now you are one of us, the true children of Skyrim. Go forth to victory!
How to find The Serpent Stone?
The Serpent Stone is located east of Winterhold city, in between blocks of ice and water. The Serpent Stone is right in the middle of Serpentstone Isle, on top of an icy hill.
Fight a deadly monster that lives there to activate the stone. Once activated, you will paralyze your target for 5 seconds and deal 25 points of damage.
I will not activate the serpent stone because I’m happy with The Lord Stone.
Meet Galmar outside Korvanjund Quest
After talking to Galmar, he is going to give you another quest. Meet Galmar outside Korvanjund.
I am going to pass by the Candlehearth hall in Windhelm to pick up a bounty or a miscellaneous quest. The new quest is called the missing merchant quest.
The Skyrim Missing Merchant Quest
Elda Early-Dawn from the Candlehearth hall in Windhelm gave me the quest and a note to read. This note said read the missing merchant note. After reading the note, a new quest came out. The quest is called investigate traders’ post.
Investigate Traders’ Post Quest
I am on my way to see what happened to the missing merchant at this post. Now I’m on my way to investigate this quest. The traders post is located east of Windhelm.
Why is The Missing Merchant in Skyrim quest popular?
The Skyrim missing merchant quest is good because if you complete it, you get valuable items for your character.
The best part about this quest is that you can complete it early in the game.
Be prepared before you go investigate the traders’ post. There are about four bandits hiding in an abandoned house. One bandit's name is Erwan, she is tough to beat.
If you can defeat all the bandits, make sure you loot their bodies. Pick up the Ring of Masser from the boss and you will trade the ring for a special armor set.
This armor set is good for a light armored and heavy armored warriors. Now I’m going to fast travel to Solitude city, and sell my goods.
After selling my goods, I am going to head east to trade the ring for a secret armor set (No Spoilers). However, you can keep the ring. It has Illusion spell enchantments.
The merchant is tricky to find; they travel all over Skyrim. Once you find the merchant and you trade the Ring of Masser, you will get an exceptional armor set that is super cool.
Wow, the armor looks super amazing on my level 5 orc warrior. Plus, it has one piece of heavy armor that benefits this orc warrior build.
Summary
Although, I took Belrand my mercenary hireling with me to kill the ice wraith, he never showed up. He probably got stuck around the icebergs that surrounded Serperstone Isle.
(Shame on you Belrand ha-ha ha!) That's just a reminder that Skyrim still has bugs up to this date. But the most valuable task was the missing merchant quest.
The armor set that I got blew my mind. Now I'm ready to meet Galmar Stone-Fist outside Korvanjund for an epic adventure.