Lost to the Ages is a side quest from the Dawnguard add-on that has nothing to do with vampires and everything to do with Dwemer treasure hunting. It begins in the ruins of Arkngthamz in the Reach, where the ghost of the scholar Katria is still chasing the legendary Aetherium Forge she died looking for. Together you gather four Aetherium Shards scattered across Skyrim, crack open the Forge and walk away with one powerful Aetherial artifact.
How to start
- Read a copy of the book The Aetherium Wars. This adds a miscellaneous objective to investigate Arkngthamz and places a marker on the map.
- Alternatively, simply walk into Arkngthamz and speak with Katria, which skips the book step and starts the main part of the quest directly.
- If you pick up an Aetherium Shard before the ruin is done, you get an extra objective to identify the strange crystal.
Walkthrough
Meeting Katria in Arkngthamz
Arkngthamz lies in the Reach not far from Dushnikh Yal. As you arrive the ground trembles and a bodiless voice tells you to turn back. Push on and the voice gets a face: Katria, a Nord adventurer killed by an earthquake here while hunting the Forge. Her journal, on her body on a small island in the cavern, reveals that her colleague Taron Dreth stole her research to write The Aetherium Wars, but only she had the real leads.
Once you have read the journal, Katria’s ghost appears in person. After trying to talk you out of going deeper, she insists on joining you on the way to the summit.
Climbing to the summit
The route climbs through broken rock and Dwemer steam pipes, with Katria warning about ambushes. Beyond a Falmer camp with chaurus she points out the hole she fell through, ruefully noting that two feet further left would have dropped her into the water instead. On the log you can grab her bow, Zephyr, either by walking out to it or with Telekinesis. This Dwarven bow fires 30% faster than a normal bow.
The Tonal Lock
Just past Zephyr is an antechamber littered with corpses and wrecked Dwemer machines. Katria explains that the kinetic resonators here must be struck in the right order, and that getting it wrong is what brought the roof down on her. Her journal records the first two notes and a note on a dead adventurer nearby supplies the third. The working sequence is:
- Bottom left
- Bottom right
- Top left
- Top right
- Bottom center
Hit them out of order and the room fights back with four Dwarven spider workers, two Dwarven Spheres, two ceiling-mounted ballistae that keep reloading, and a Dwarven Centurion. No bow of your own? Use Zephyr, or shoot projectile spells at the resonators instead.
Behind the opened door waits the first Aetherium Shard. Katria then heads out to look for the other three and tells you to check her journal for their locations. She will turn up at each site as you find it.
Hunting the remaining shards
Markers are assigned in random order and only appear for places you have already discovered; for the rest, use the map in Katria’s Journal (an optional pickup worth taking).
- Deep Folk Crossing (site 2): a Dwemer bridge over a river northeast of Bthardamz, well north of the Reach Imperial Camp. Cross to the north side and climb the slope; the shard sits on a plinth along with a Dwarven helmet, sword and a Dwemer Convector.
- Raldbthar (site 3): a ruin on a summit east of Shearpoint. It may be partly cleared if you have started Mourning Never Comes. Fight through to Raldbthar Deep Market. In the room with four buttons, press the second from the right to lift the bars. Further in, a chamber of gears full of Falmer and chaurus needs its machinery unjammed: remove a skull, a leg bone, a human spine and a piece of Dwemer scrap metal. The scrap metal is the tricky one, stuck in a gear underwater. With power restored you can lower the bridge and face a leveled Dwarven Centurion, or raise the bridge while it stands on it and shoot it so it marches into the water and slowly dies. Katria then helps against spiders and spheres on the way to the shard, and a lift returns you to the surface.
- Mzulft (site 4): the shard is in the Dwarven Storeroom south of the Mzulft entrance in Eastmarch, directly east of Steamcrag Camp. The room has two apprentice locks and one expert lock, and opening any two of the three doors is enough to reach the shard and loot.
Whichever shard you collect last, Katria will tell you that only the Forge itself remains.
Unsealing the Aetherium Forge
The journal places the Forge west of Lake Honrich, but the real spot is further away to the southwest: the Ruins of Bthalft, south of Ivarstead in the Rift. Bandits attack when you arrive. Once they are dealt with, set the shards on the Dwemer globe Katria points out and take the Aetherium Crest when prompted. The earth starts heaving, Katria tells you to stand back on the wooden platform, and the globe launches skyward to reveal a lift.
The lift drops into a ruin Katria says has been untouched for over four thousand years. In the great antechamber, shoot the two kinetic resonators above the locked door to open the Forge room.
Guardians of the Forge
Steam rises from a grate in the middle of the room; turn the valves to shut it off and approach the Forge. Its guardians then attack in waves: first Dwemer spiders, spider guardians and warped spiders, then spheres, sphere guardians and warped spheres, at which point the steam comes back on and you can shut it off again. Fight from the upper decks near the valves, using the stairs as a choke point, and lean on Unrelenting Force, breath shouts or area Destruction spells.
Finally the Forgemaster rises from the lava behind the Forge. This Dwarven Centurion Master breathes fire rather than steam and shrugs off fire damage, so leave the flame spells at home. Katria and any other followers are genuinely useful here.
Using the Forge
With the Forgemaster down, Katria points you to a chest of crafting materials near the Forge (optional if you brought your own). Use the Forge to turn the shards into one of three Aetherial items. Katria remarks on your choice, guesses there is no Aetherium left in Skyrim, thanks you and finally finds peace, fading away to join the honored dead in Sovngarde.
Choices and consequences
You can forge only one item, so choose carefully:
- Aetherial Crown: lets you hold two Standing Stone powers at once, as long as you keep wearing it.
- Aetherial Shield: shield bashes turn enemies ethereal for 15 seconds, so they can neither hurt nor be hurt, and they flee as if feared.
- Aetherial Staff: summons a Dwemer spider or sphere for 60 seconds.
Rewards
- One Aetherial item of your choice (see above).
- Zephyr, picked up in Arkngthamz.
- The “Lost to the Ages” achievement/trophy (30 points, silver trophy).
Tips and notes
- The ruins are full of Dwemer scrap to sell or smelt into Dwarven metal ingots.
- Take the armor off Katria’s corpse and her ghost will grumble about losing her dignity.
- Before you first enter Arkngthamz with the quest active, the ground outside rumbles about once a minute.
- Extra chests sit beyond the lava around the Forge; Become Ethereal, Whirlwind Sprint and resist fire potions get you there.
- Katria is said to depart for Sovngarde, yet she is not there if you do Sovngarde afterwards.
- After the quest, Taron Dreth can ambush you on the road with three mercenaries if you carry an Aetherial item. He asks how you got it and attacks whatever you answer.
- It is the only Dawnguard achievement that does not involve the Dawnguard or the Volkihar vampires.
