Skooma Barrel?

[MissingNo]

So on Tirdas around 8PM I got the 10 skooma from the locked barrel in the waterfront district and sold them. Next week at 8PM on Tirdas? NOTHING. Hard to make money when the re-spawning barrel doesn't respawn. Any ideas why this happens?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

You are sure the barrel is a respawning one?

The only thing I can think of is that because you re-entered the cell where the barrel is located that the respawn timer starts over, but I can't recall if respawn works that way in Oblivion or if that was more of a Skyrim thing.

[MissingNo]

It definitely respawns according to google but I can't find any reason why it isn't, it's supposed to every Tirdas

[EolSunder]

it does respawn, but it won't respawn the Skooma. The 10 Skooma you get the first time are only for that first time, after that its just a regular spawning item barrel like any other container. The 10 Skooma are "unique" items found in the barrel only the first time.

[Classified: TS/BBR]

If you really want to make money by abusing a respawning loot barrel, don't forget the Poison Apples in Lucien's apartment.

But personally I prefer to abuse Alchemy (I usually raid Fathis Aren's tower early, from the lake entrance, for his apprentice alchemy kit) [of course I also use a mod to make "Fortify Alchemy" spells/enchants effective, though that has the side effect that comes of being implemented the same way as the boost in Frostcrag, meaning if I fortify to 100+ I can make single-ingredient potions).

Or level up enough to get Azura's star (if you're intentionally underlevelling) then farm souls from your summoned creatures & enchant everything you can lug to an altar.

[ed]

Originally posted by EolSunder:

it does respawn, but it won't respawn the Skooma. The 10 Skooma you get the first time are only for that first time, after that its just a regular spawning item barrel like any other container. The 10 Skooma are "unique" items found in the barrel only the first time.

It IS supposed to respawn and is part of a weirdly complex NPC skooma smuggling ring that the vast majority of players will probably never notice lol. But OP, it has always seemed a bit buggy and apparently relies upon the NPCs doing their thing correctly which I think we know is not always reliable.

I would assume you either need to wait longer or the relevant smuggler already came by and took the drugs. That or it's just glitched out (or someone got killed) and who even knows when or if the cartel will get back to work.

EDIT: Apparently if you miss the barrel you can also raid a hollowed-out rock just north of Kingscrest Cavern, which is the next proper stash point for drugs after they've changed hands among the smugglers. The container is emptied once a week though so sadly you can't show up and find months of accumulated skooma.