Skyrim:Lost to the Ages

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Search for the Dwemer's Aetherium Forge. Quest Giver: Read The Aetherium Wars Location(s): Arkngthamz Reward: Aetherial Crown, Aetherial Shield, or Aetherial Staff ID: DLC1LD Suggested Level: 16

Katria at the Aetherium Forge

Quick Walkthrough

1. Read The Aetherium Wars.
2. Travel to Arkngthamz.
3. (Optional) Retrieve the unique bow Zephyr.
4. Locate and retrieve the four Aetherium Shards.
5. Locate the Aetherium Forge inside the Ruins of Bthalft.
6. Choose your reward. (Aetherial Crown, Aetherial Shield, or Aetherial Staff)

Detailed Walkthrough

Read The Aetherium Wars, and locate Arkngthamz, southeast of Markarth. When you enter the ruin, you are greeted by a disembodied voice that warns you to turn back. Entering the main chamber will again trigger the voice. Then the ghost of Katria will appear and try to dissuade you from exploring further. When you tell her you are not going to stop exploring she insists on coming with you. She explains how she found the information regarding Aetherium Forge and the ruins of Arkngthamz but it was stolen by her assistant and published without giving her any credit.

Climbing across the fallen pipes nearby will take you to her corpse, which you can search for her journal. Continue on, and you will get to a room where a gate opens and closes with the rise and fall of a device to your left. She reveals that this is a tonal resonator. There is another one in front of the next gate that you need to hit with your weapon in order to proceed. Make your way through the ruin, and Katria will eventually point out her bow, Zephyr, which you can retrieve from atop a fallen log. Continue to the last room of the ruin, where you'll need to figure out the tonal resonator puzzle to get past the doors. If you hit the wrong resonators, you'll be attacked by various Dwarven automatons (first some Spiders, then two Spheres, then one Centurion) and Dwemer Ballista (this trap resets, but if you rush to hug the building you can evade damage every time). Once you hit the right resonators, the doors will open and you can find the first Aetherium Shard. The required resonator sequence is as follows: bottom left, bottom right, top left, top right, bottom middle.

Katria will tell you to find the other shards with help from her journal, and then she'll meet you at each location. Travel to Raldbthar for the second, Mzulft for the third, and Deep Folk Crossing for the last piece (although you can collect them in a different order if you prefer).

• The shard at Raldbthar is located in a small room near the end of the ruin, right across from the elevator leading out. (For a quick run if you've cleared it, enter through the elevator.)
• The next shard in a Dwarven Storeroom directly south of Mzulft. There are a few leveled chests, and the shard directly ahead when you enter.
• The last shard is located at Deep Folk Crossing a Dwarven bridge located northeast of Markarth and slightly north of Bthardamz. Go across the bridge and up a small path to find a raised dais with the shard on the far side.

The ruins containing the Forge.

Once you obtain all four shards, make your way to the Ruins of Bthalft, located south of Ivarstead. Once there, approach the Dwemer mechanism; Katria will tell you to try putting the shards into it. The shards will come together to make the Aetherium Crest. Take it out, and the entire dais will rise out of the ground in a spectacular fashion, presenting you the entrance to the Aetherium Forge. There is a door requiring the use of a lever to the right of it, and then a very dark path. Once you reach specific points, a torch will light - although a Night Eye/Torch can be useful, as there are quite a few ledges to fall off. After a short jaunt across a dirt bridge, you come to a large staircase with a tree at the top. The door in front requires you to hit the two resonators above it to open it, leading down another path. Enter the door at the end reveals the Forge, and its event.

Once at the forge, you'll be prompted to shut off the steam. Once this has been completed, the fight begins. Two Dwarven Spiders spawn to start it, then a mixture of spiders and Spheres, ending with a swarm of Spheres. Sometime around halfway through the fight, the steam gets turned back on - and can either be avoided or turned back off. Once they are all dead, the Forgemaster walks out of the lava to the left of the forge. He functions like a Dwarven Centurion with the caveat that he breathes lava instead of steam. Once he's defeated, your objective marker will tell you to go to the right to find your crafting items. To the west, there is a chest with the quest marker over it, which contains all the required materials to make each item, as well as some various other loot.

• Shield: 1 Crest, 4 Dwarven Ingots, 2 Malachite Ingots
• Crown: 1 Crest, 2 Dwarven Ingots, 2 Gold Ingots, 2 Flawless Sapphires
• Staff: 1 Crest, 2 Dwarven Ingots, 1 Gold Ingot, 2 Ebony Ingots.

Across the room from the first chest, there is another chest with some more leveled loot in and around it.

Upon using the Forge, you are brought to a screen that allows you to make one of the items. You can enter and exit this screen freely, but once your decision is made - it can't be changed. See here for a more detailed description of each item. After you choose one, Katria will say that there isn't likely any more Aetherium in Skyrim, and that, thanks to you, she can finally rest in peace. She thanks you, and then promptly vanishes from the game.

Achievements

One achievement is unlocked when you complete this quest:

• Lost to the Ages^DG (30 points/Silver)

Notes

• Followers will sometimes fall to their deaths if you jump off the shortcut at the end of Arkngthamz, especially if you use the Become Ethereal shout to return directly to the entrance. To work around this, you can either dismiss your follower and re-recruit them once you have exited the dungeon, or simply take the long way out.
• Even if you decide to leave Katria behind at the entrance of Arkngthamz, she will reappear later on in front of the kinetic resonator puzzle.
• If you take Katria's clothes when you examine her corpse for her journal, she will comment about her lost dignity.
• A hint to the kinetic resonator puzzle at the end of Arkngthamz can be found on the body of an unfortunate victim of the traps there.
• When you are on the quest to obtain the three other shards, if you take too long reaching them, Katria will beat you there and you will then have a quest marker to it.
• After finishing the quest, you may randomly encounter Katria's apprentice who stole her work, Taron Dreth, along with his three mercenaries. He will ask about your Aetherial equipment; regardless of your answers, the conversation will end when he hears about Katria, and he will turn hostile.
• If you have already found one or more of the other shards, then there is an extra dialogue option to inform Katria of this before she heads off to find the other shards. The quest proceeds as normal otherwise.

Bugs

• Sometimes after forging either the crown, shield, or staff at the forge, the quest won't update and you will remain trapped in the room with the forge as the stairs won't come back up.
  • Use setstage DLC1LD_Bthalft 90 in the console.^{[verification needed — see talk page]}
• Sometimes activating the forge will place the Aetherium Crest in it, but will not open the forge menu. ^?
• Sometimes when speaking to Katria after discovering the entrance to the Aetherium Forge, she will disappear and you will not be able to open the first door within the Forge. ^?
• Katria's journal may be nowhere to be found, however, it is not required to complete the quest. ^?
• Reading "The Aetherium Wars" may not add the miscellaneous objective "Investigate Arkngthamz" to your quest log. Upon investigating Arkngthamz, "Lost to the Ages" may not be added to quest log either, meaning that you will be unable to complete the quest. ^?
  • A way to fix either bug above is to perform the following steps:

1. Find a save in which you have not started the Dawnguard questline.
2. Delete/uninstall Dawnguard (and any mods requiring it).
3. Load up the save and wait a few in-game days then save
4. Reinstall/re-download Dawnguard.
5. Drop the "The Atherium Wars" and any crystal shards if you have obtained any, pick the book back up and read it. The quest should start then you can pick up shard.

• Sometimes you can't place the shards in the dwemer mechanism at Bthalft. ^?

Quest Stages

Lost to the Ages (DLC1LD)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
100		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, the ghost of an adventurer who perished there. She offered to join me in my fight to the summit, and I accepted her help. (Objective is assigned): Reach the summit of Arkngthamz
110		(Objective is assigned): Solve the Tonal Lock
111		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, the ghost of an adventurer who perished there. She warned me that the Treasury of Arkngthamz was sealed by a dangerous Tonal Lock and protected by deadly traps.
112		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, the ghost of an adventurer who perished there. We made our way through the ruins and reached the summit together. There, she warned me that the Treasury of Arkngthamz was sealed by a dangerous Tonal Lock and protected by deadly traps.
120		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, the ghost of an adventurer who perished there. With her help, I solved the Tonal Lock that protected its ruined treasury. (Objective is assigned): Claim the treasure of Arkngthamz
125		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, the ghost of an adventurer who perished there. With her help, I solved the Tonal Lock that protected its ruined treasury and found a strange glowing crystal shard within. (Objective is assigned): Speak with Katria
126		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, the ghost of an adventurer who perished there. With her help, I solved the Tonal Lock that protected its ruined treasury and claimed the Aetherium Shard within.
130		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. Together, we found one of the four Aetherium Shards that make up the key to the Forge. She left to search for the other shards and the Forge itself, and urged me to do the same. (Objective is assigned): Search for the Aetherium Shards (<Global=DLC1LD_ShardsFound>/<Global=DLC1LD_ShardsTotal>)
131		(Objective is assigned): Locate the Aetherium Forge
135		(Objective is assigned): (Optional) Retrieve Katria's Journal
150		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. With her help, I found the four Aetherium Shards that make up the key to the Forge, and now seek the entrance to the Forge itself. (Objective is assigned): Locate the Aetherium Forge
160		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. With her help, I found the four Aetherium Shards that make up the key to the Forge, and met her outside its long-sealed entrance. (Objective is assigned): Speak with Katria
170		(Objective is assigned): Place the Aetherium Shards
176		(Objective is assigned): Retrieve the Aetherium Crest
181		(Objective is assigned): Stand Clear
190		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. With her help, I found the four Aetherium Shards that made up the key to the Forge, and combined them to reveal the entrance to a long-sealed ruin. (Objective is assigned): Find the Aetherium Forge
195		(Objective is assigned): Shut off the Steam
200		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. With her help, I found the four Aetherium Shards that made up the key to the Forge, then confronted its ancient guardians. (Objective is assigned): Defeat the Guardians of the Forge
205		(Objective is assigned): (Optional) Shut off the Steam
210		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. With her help, I found the four Aetherium Shards that made up the key to the Forge, then defeated its ancient guardians. (Objective is assigned): Speak with Katria
220		(Objective is assigned): (Optional) Search for Crafting Materials (Objective is assigned): Use the Aetherium Forge
225		In Arkngthamz, I met Katria, a ghost searching for the mythical Aetherium Forge. With her help, I found the four Aetherium Shards that made up the key to the Forge, defeated its ancient guardians, and forged a powerful artifact.

DLC1LD_Misc (DLC1LD_Misc)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
11		(Objective is assigned): Investigate the ruins of Arkngthamz
20		(Objective is assigned): Identify the Crystal Shard
30		(Objective is assigned): Identify the Crystal Shard
40		(Objective is assigned): Identify the Crystal Shard
50		(Objective is assigned): Identify the Crystal Shard

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the first table: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 175, 179, 180, 182, 185, 186, 187, 196, 206, 221, 255
• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the second table: 10, 12, 255

 

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DLC1LD stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DLC1LD.