In the icy waters northeast of Arthetine lies the remote and near inhospitable Glacier Isle. Arthetine native Mathias tasks Lost Ark players, after having progressed far enough through Vern to earn an ice-resistant Sturmbrecher ship, to explore this presumably uncharted hunk of ice.
Iceberg Inquiry
Having arrived on Glacier Isle, players soon come in contact with Orazio, a seemingly out-of-place pianist. Orazio is keeping watch over a forlorn-looking polar bear, Samly, who seems to be suffering from starvation.
Silent Prelude
Orazio mentions that Samly hasn’t eaten since the loss of its mother. To find out what happened to the mother, players must first find Samly some food, working to befriend a colony of local penguins by applauding them and dancing with them.
The penguins will then offer the player their reserves of Glacier Salmon, but something is amiss — all of the Salmon seem poisoned by toxic waste, and not many appear healthy enough to eat. Discussing the discovery of seaborne waste with Orazio, he claims that the waste had floated north from Arthetine and that Stern’s governing bodies refused to change their waste disposal practices.
The player then agrees to discuss the matter with Stern’s administrators, sailing back to Arthetine to speak with Bastian, who vows to look further into the issue. This involves the player in a string of Arthetine-based quests — Dastardly Disease, A Nose for News, and The Sickly Sea — that gradually uncovers a conspiracy of bribery and negligence within the city of Stern’s technology branch.
This story isn’t lost on Mathias, the reporter for Stern’s Hoyte News who first tipped the player off to Glacier Isle’s existence. He joins them on the voyage back to the glacier to document the technology branch’s pollution.
Rhapsody of Renewal
After recounting the tale of Arthetine’s corruption to Orazio, the player takes Mathias’ camera and travels north across a floating iceberg to the isolated stretch of Glacier Isle. In support of Mathias’ scoop, they photograph the glacier’s endangered polar bears and penguins, defeating a hostile Glacier Guardian along the way.
After fully crossing the island, the player discovers an illegal dumping ground polluting both the island and its resident Polluted Glacier Guardian, which must also be defeated. The Glacier Essence taken from this defeated boss can temporarily revive Samly from its weakened state.
With Mathias’ story completed, the player returns their findings to Arthetine for publication. With enough evidence to convict Dewight, Stern’s acting technologist, of fraud, the publication of Mathias’ story halts the city’s illegal dumping, preserving life on Glacier Isle.
Elegy of Serenity
While the player had been busy unraveling Arthetine’s municipal corruption, Orazio revealed that he was actually Vern’s famous, long-lost pianist, Rubenstein del Orazio. He plans to host his return concert on Glacier Isle to raise awareness of the dangers of its pollution, and tasks the player with advertising this to his homeland.
Sailing to North Vern and venturing to the business district of Vern Castle, the player alerts the Vern locals of Orazio’s return, then returns to Glacier Isle. There, Orazio delivers his performance before thanking the player for their help, rewarding them with the Elegy of Serenity.
