March of the Dead

Background
''I've stumbled across a dark elf in combat for his life with strange, ashen beings at the Attius Farm outside Raven Rock. He appears outnumbered, and he's requested I lend him a helping hand.''

Walkthrough
To start this quest, head south from the Bulwark in Raven Rock. Head straight ahead to find Old Attius Farm and a dark elf, Captain Veleth, fighting several ash spawn. Help him him defeat the creatures.

He will say that the ash spawn have been attacking more frequently and, peculiarly, seem to be becoming organized. Offer him help, and he will ask the Dragonborn to look for clues as to why the ash spawn are attacking Raven Rock. Search the ash piles left by the dead ash spawn, and there will be a note in one of them called Declaration of War. Pick it up and give it to Veleth. During the conversation, Veleth will mention it comes from General Falx Carius, which cannot be true, since he died 200 years ago. Veleth suspects foul play at work, and will ask the Dragonborn to find the general at Fort Frostmoth and kill him.

Fort Frostmoth is located directly east of Old Attius Farm, on the map it shows as five white circles (those are the ash-topped towers) on the south coast of Solstheim. The main entrance is from the south, and there are several ash spawn inside.

When the courtyard is entered, an alarm will be raised that there is an intruder in the fort. This raises some ash spawn from the ground. Carius is located downstairs in a locked room in the western building (on the left as the courtyard is entered). Facing the locked door on the left is a short corridor that leads to a room filled with coffins. In middle room two coffins are stacked on top of each other with a knapsack in front of them. Search the knapsack for the "Fort Frostmoth Key", it will open the locked room as well as the cellar. Open the door with the key and defeat him and his attendant ash spawn. Search his corpse for the Champion's Cudgel and a Letter to Imperial City. Deliver the note to Captain Veleth who will then give thanks and a reward (even if the Letter to Imperial City is not in his corpse, you can just go to Captain Veleth in Raven Rock and tell him you killed the general).

It turns out that a necromancer named Ildari had found a way to animate the General's body from (his first) death; this is learned from reading a journal left in the crypt underneath Fort Frostmoth.

Reward
Captain Veleth will give a leveled reward amount of gold. (Possibly the largest, except for Hail Sithis!)
 * Level 1-29: 1500
 * Level 30-39: 2500
 * Level 40-49: 5000
 * Level 50-59: 7500
 * Level 60+: 10,000

Trivia

 * Fort Frostmoth can be entered and cleared of ash spawn, and General Carius killed without having met Captain Veleth. When the Letter to Imperial City is found on Carius' body, the journal will instruct that it be taken to a guard in Raven Rock. When given to a guard, the guard will ask that it be taken to Veleth. When the letter is given to the captain, the quest will complete.
 * If General Carius is killed while undetected, the Ash Spawn in the final room will not be triggered, unless attacked while in the ground.
 * The three Ash Spawn may all be killed near each other so the ash they drop may all be on top of each other, leading to the possibility that you may not get the Declaration Of War. To fix this, when Veleth asks you to look for clues on the farm, go to straight to Fort Frostmoth and kill Carius. This will advance the quest past that point.

Bugs

 * The three ash spawn encountered at Old Attius Farm may be invincible; it will be impossible to damage them.
 * To get around this, go to a previous save and go directly to Fort Frostmoth, bypassing Veleth and the ash spawn. Clear the fort, kill General Carius, take the letter from his corpse to a guard in Raven Rock and then to Captain Veleth. The quest will then finish.
 * Sometimes, if the game lags, the Ash Spawn may become invincible. To fix this, avoid moving until the lag stops and the Ash Spawn will lose their immortality.
 * Even if all three ash spawn are killed, next stage of the quest may not be triggered and therefore Veleth may not have the necessary dialogue.
 * Sometimes after entering Fort Frostmoth and killing the ash spawn the key can not be found in the knapsack, this can be resolved by simply exiting and re-entering the fort.

Марш мертвецов