The Lost Expedition is a dungeon quest under Markarth in the Reach. A team of researchers went into the Dwemer city of Nchuand-Zel and never came out, and their guard captain’s notes make it clear they were better at reading than fighting. You trace their final steps, collect their journals and finish the job they died trying to do: switching the old Dwemer defences back on.
How to start
- Get access to the Nchuand-Zel Excavation Site, either through Calcelmo‘s request to kill the frostbite spider Nimhe (Nimhe, the Poisoned One) or during the Thieves Guild quest Hard Answers.
- Just up the stairs from where you fight Nimhe, near the entrance to Nchuand-Zel, lies Alethius’ body. Read Alethius’s Notes beside him to start the quest.
- Start the quest by reading the notes before trying to pass the web wall; picking them up and starting later can leave the web impassable.
Walkthrough
Stromm’s journal
Cut through the spider web to enter Nchuand-Zel (if a blade does not work, an arrow or Destruction spell will). Follow the marker toward Nchuand-Zel Quarters, dealing with Falmer and traps. Take the first stairs down and follow the path to Stromm’s body lying by a tree. Reading his journal adds objectives for the other three: Erj, Krag and Staubin.
Erj’s journal
Return to the main cavern of Nchuand-Zel and descend to the lowest level, then swim across to the door of Nchuand-Zel Armory. Whirlwind Sprint can shorten the crossing. Inside, take the left path to a locked gate, open it and climb the stairs to Erj’s corpse, his journal and a chest of leveled loot. Keep following the path to a door back out into Nchuand-Zel.
Krag’s journal
Right outside that door is a makeshift camp with Krag’s body and journal, plus two dead guards and plenty of blood, most likely the work of a Falmer ambush. On a bench to the left is the Alteration skill book Sithis.
Staubin’s journal and the defences
From the camp, take the path on the left up to the door to Nchuand-Zel Control. Follow it to Staubin’s body and journal. The last objective is to reactivate the city’s automated defences: pull the lever at the end of the path beside Staubin. This turns the surviving Dwemer machines against any Falmer left in the ruin. (If you ran past the Dwarven Centurion on the bridge earlier, it just stands there.)
Report to Calcelmo
After the control room the marker may try to send you on a loop back through the dungeon; ignore it. You come out at the bottom of the great hall, where Falmer and machines are now fighting each other. Swim across the cavern and climb the path back up, then leave the ruin and head to Understone Keep. Calcelmo says he warned the researchers not to go, and pays you the money that was meant for them.
Rewards
- Leveled gold from Calcelmo
- Leveled loot from the chest beside Erj in the Armory
- Skill book: Sithis (Alteration)
- Lots of Dwarven scrap that can be smelted into Dwarven Metal Ingots
Tips and notes
- Pick up Stromm’s journal first; journals collected before his may not tick off their objectives (the quest can still be finished). Dropping and re-taking a journal fixes an objective that will not update.
- Opening a journal on a body adds a copy to your inventory, and taking it adds another, so do not be surprised by duplicates.
- Once the defences are active the Falmer and Dwemer constructs fight each other, which makes the trip back out much easier.
- The journal and quest text call the last researcher both Staubs and Staubin; it is the same person.
