It was just after midnight when I walked into the castle.
The fact that the previous owner died under mysterious circumstances didn't deter me from exploring this huge place. I had high hopes of living here. After 50 years in a dungeon, this would be a refreshing change of pace.
The entrance was pretty grand, with a nice, warm fireplace ready the greet me at the entrance.
Inside, I found a huge dining room, ready for a very large party. Obviously, the previous owner liked putting on a good table for his guests.
The tapestry had to be seen to be truly appreciated.
A very pleasant Kajjit, Jsmin, approached me, recognzing me as the new owner of the castle. "Purrrrr. You wish for me to draw a nice, warm bath for you, maybe?" I replied that I would really appreciate if she would do so. Jsmin scampered upstairs and said it would be ready for me in a few minutes.
I decided to warm myself by the fireplace in the dining room while I was waiting for my bath.
After a few minutes, I went upstairs and found the bath. This was perfect; Waterfalls on either side of the entrace, and scented candles everywhere, providing a pleasant, and healing experience.
Along with having a master's and lady's chambers, and a very peaceful greenhouse, it also had a very sophisticated lab, complete with books, most excellent alchemy equipment, a few dwemer machines that someone had experimented with, and a summoning room to practice magic in. One thing puzzled me. Aegir Brondolf didn't strike me as the kind of person who would go to such lengths to study alchemy.
He was a warrior of the first order, and obviously used brute strength rather than the arcane arts to defeat anything or anyone he was to do battle with. That, coupled with the fact that he died under mysterious circumstances, caused me to wonder just who's lab this actually was. Not that I was complaining, mind you, but it just added to the mystery of this place.
I decided that I would continue this mystery in the morning, as it was already very late. I entered the master's chambers, climbed into a very, very soft, canopy bed, and slept until 9am the next morning.
The next morning, I continued exploring the castle. There was a huge library downstairs, and next to it was a ballroom. Across from the study was an armory. I concluded that I would be using this quite a lot, since there was a lot of storage space in it. Attached to the armory was a weapons display room. One of the first things I did was give Aegir's mighty broadsword a place
on honor. I then continued into the next room from the armory, which had a huge trophy room in it.
One of the creatures in the trophy room was something I had never seen or heard of before, and I gave it a closer inspection. The label said "Rickling". Obviously a Solstheim native, they were supposed to be pretty common, raiding anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. The creature didn't look too tough, but the fact that it was here in a trophy room, I had to give the matter some thought. This might be a creature that bears closer examination.
Next to that was a huge menagerie, containing many of the creatures from the island of Solstheim in it. Wolfs, bears, even rabbits were there, all live, and none of them trying to each each other. Obviously, some sort of calming spell.
"Ah," I thought to myself, "if only that were possible in the rest of the world."
In the next room was a huge swimming pool, that even included several species of fish, as well as a sea turtle. The water was warm, so I decided to jump in for a swim. It was most refreshing. I truly felt at home, here. Yet, there was still the mystery of Aegir's death, and who's lab that really was.
I went to the summoning room and practiced a number of my magical skills in several of the schools I knew of. My skills in the school of illusion and restoration needed work, and I spent hours working on them.
I also decided to make use of the trainer in the armory, and get some of my weapon skills up. I was still weak from my change from a vampire to a human, and needed to build myself back up. I tried for several hours, with short blades, long blades, blunt weapons and spears. I improved myself on many of these skills, but it's when I took the weapons to the smith across the castle courtyard for repair that the mystery of Solstheim Castle suddenly got very, very deep.