Nchardak, the “City of a Hundred Towers”, is a Dwemer ruin on Solstheim, added with the Dragonborn expansion. It lies north-east of Tel Mithryn, slightly north-east of the Sun Stone. Once the largest and perhaps most advanced of the great Dwemer archives, it’s now a flooded shell – and the place to go if you want a Black Book, a Resonance Gem and a lesson in water management.
What you’ll find
- Dwemer guardians: Dwarven Ballistas, Dwarven Spheres, Dwarven Spiders and a Dwarven Centurion.
- Flooded lower levels controlled by cubes and boiler switches. Moving the cubes raises and lowers the water, opening up the Great Chamber, the Workshop and the Aqueduct.
- Great Chamber: a hidden chest under the ramp in front of the lift, a temporary cube receptacle that opens a door to another chest, a small chest around a column base and four malachite veins on the floor.
- Workshop: tables of Dwemer bits, weapons and armor on the bottom floor once the water is fully drained.
- Aqueduct: reached through a locked door at the north end of the Great Chamber, opened with a control cube.
- A chest with 500 gold around the entrance, and at least three more chests scattered around the outer city.
Quests
The Path of Knowledge brings you here with Neloth, who has opinions about everything, including the city’s legends. Ancient Technology also involves the ruin.
Notable items
- Black Book: Epistolary Acumen.
- A Kagrumez Resonance Gem for Kagrumez, on a table in the upper north-east room of the Aqueduct, guarded by a Dwarven Ballista Master. Reach it by hopping from the ledge in front of the eastern Control Pedestal to a small ledge to the north, then up the rocks.
- Plenty of Dwemer scrap for smelting into Dwarven metal ingots.
Tips
Grab the Resonance Gem during The Path of Knowledge. Once that quest is done, Nchardak can lock you out unless you pocketed a Control Cube before leaving – though fast travelling away and returning reportedly reopens the gate too. Bring several cubes on a return visit and you can drain everything at once.
Good to know
Legend says the Dwemer sank the whole city beneath the sea to wait out a Nord invasion. Its workshops could reputedly build a complete automaton in a single day, and much of the Dwemer army at the Battle of Red Mountain may have come from here. It was underwater during Bloodmoon, which is why it never showed up then. The Dwemeris ring around the Black Book repeats “ENKAGR BCHARN” – “Bcharn” means machine; “Enkagr” is still a mystery.
Nearby
Closest places on Solstheim covered on TamrielSaga: Sun Stone, Vahlok’s Tomb, Ashfallow Citadel, Bujold’s Retreat, Tel Mithryn.
Map position and editor ID read from the Dragonborn game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.
