Lost to the Ages

Part of the quest requires searching for four pieces of a key made out of solid Aetherium. The quest can be started by locating and taking a copy of the book "The Aetherium Wars."

Background
After taking a copy of "The Aetherium Wars" and reading it, the player receives the miscellaneous task of travelling to Arkngthamz in The Reach, which is directly southeast of Dushnikh Yal and west of the ruin Valthume.

Upon arriving at Arkngthamz, a disembodied voice can be heard warning the player to turn back. When the player continues, the disembodied voice will be given a name — a female Nord explorer named Katria who will reveal that she is on the quest to find the mythical Aetherium Forge. She reveals that she died during an earthquake in the Dwemer ruin.

Katria's Journal can be found on her body. In it she expresses her displeasure that her former colleague, Taron Dreth (the author of "The Aetherium Wars") stole her research to publish the book, but she says that she has the leads for the locations of Aetherium and possibly where the Forge may be located.

In her ghostly form Katria aids the player in retrieving the first four Aetherium Shards needed to unlock the Forge, and thus the quest, "Lost to the Ages," begins, and the player is tasked with finding the remaining shards.

1. Arkngthamz
After reading "The Aetherium Wars" the player is directed to the Dwemer ruin of Arkngthamz located in The Reach near Dushnikh Yal and Valthume. There the player encounters the corpse of a female Nord named Katria and finds a journal on her body that illustrates her findings regarding the Aetherium Forge and the ruins of Arkngthamz.

After reading the jounrnal, the ghost of Katria appears and explains that she wishes to complete her research and find the Forge. She attempts to discourage the player from venturing farther into the ruin and insists on accompanying the player through the ruin to reach the Summit.

The player traverses up several levels of shattered earth and Dwemer steam pipelines, fighting through Dwemer Spiders, Spheres, and Falmer. Along the way Katria will comment on various enemies and will eventually comment on the spot where she fell through the ground. In dialouge she reveals that had she fallen two feet more to the left she would've landed in the water and survived.

Nearing the area where she fell through Katria comments on a log overhanging where her bow, Zephyr, is. Retrieving the bow, either by walking across or using Telekinesis, reveals that it is a Dwarven Bow but with an inherent enchantment allowing it to fire 30% faster.

2. Arkngthamz - Tonal Lock
The player arrives at a large antechamber and enters to discover several Falmer corpses, skeletons, and destroyed Dwemer Spheres and Spiders that lay strewn about with Dwarven Arrows. Katria explains that the Kinetic Resonators have to be hit in a specific order to unlock the door. Katia has the first two sucessfully numbered in her book. Clues found on a nearby skeleton reveals the third. Katia advises you that they all have a certain pattern.

The pattern in this room is to shoot the first on the bottom left, then the one on the bottom right, then shoot the one on the top left, then the top right, then the bottom center, and the door will unlock. Shooting in the wrong order will spawn Dwemer Spiders, Spheres, Crossbow traps, and even a leveled Centurion.

Retrieve the Aetherium Shard in the unlocked room. Katria will say that she will go out into the world searching for the remaining three and tells the player to regard her journal to see where the others are located. Note that the map arrows pointing to the shard locations are selected at random, so the order in which the hero locates each shard can change from what appears below (but the locations themselves are constant).

3. Raldbthar
The second Shard is located in Raldbthar. If you started the quest, Mourning Never Comes, for the Dark Brotherhood, then the ruin should be partly cleared. If not, the player can find the ruin by heading to Windhelm and searching on a summit located east of the Dragon Nest Shearpoint, northwest of Gallows Rock, and southwest of Anga's Mill.

After fighting through the ruin, the second main area reached is called Raldbthar Deep Market. A little deeper in the player finds a room filled with Dwemer gears, Falmer, and Chaurus. The player needs to clear this area by removing the blockages (skull, leg bone, human spine, and dwemer scrap metal) from the different gears. The hardest to find is the dwemer scrap metal as it is located under the water near the bridge. When all blockages are cleared, then power should return to the button that lowers the bridge, and the player can cross the bridge to fight a leveled Dwemer Centurion.

After the Centurion is defeated, the player can continue into a series of rooms where Katria will join in fighting some leveled Spiders and Spheres and locating the second Shard. The player can then take the lift across from the room back up to Skryim to continue the quest.

4. Mzulft
The third Shard is located in the Dwemer Storeroom right before the entrance into Mzulft.

If the player hasn't cleared this room previously, it's just a room with two Apprentice locks and one Expert lock filled with Dwemer metals, scraps, cogs, gyros and Dwarven Metal Ingots.

The player only needs to unlock the doors to retrieve the third Shard

5. Deep Folk Crossing
Katria's Journal mentions a Bthar-zel, which is north/northwest of Bthardamz. It is a landmark that is located slightly northwest of Bthardamz, west of Druadach Redoubt, and southwest of Mor Khazgur; it is located far to the direct west of the Reach Stormcloak Camp.

Deep Folk Crossing is a Dwemer bridge going over the river. The player needs to locate this landmark and venture across it to retrieve the last Shard atop a plinth (along with a dwarven helmet, dwarven sword, and an empty dwarven chest). Upon doing so, Katria will tell the player that all that is left to do is find the Forge.

6. Aetherium Forge
Upon consulting Katria's Journal, the player finds the 5th point showing the Forge to be west of the Riften Lake. In reality, it is slightly southwest and much further. It is the Ruins of Bthalft, which is located southeast of Ivarstead and east of the Riften Imperial Camp.

Upon arriving at the Forge location, the player will be attacked by bandits. After dispatching with them, Katria will direct the player towards a Dwemer globe with an arrow through it and direct the player to place the Aetherium Shards on it. The ground starts shaking violently, and Katria tells the player to stand back on a wooden platform where she will join the player, and the globe will shoot up into the sky and reveal a lift underneath.

(Note: at this point, Katria may become delayed on the site, the player must wait for her; do not revert to another save, the player can sprint into her to move her)

The player will take the lift down into the abandoned Dwemer ruin and find the way through where Katria will remark that no one has set foot there in over four thousand years. Torches and beacons automatically light the way.

At the main antechamber before the Forge, a massive locked door will be in the way. Above the door are two Kinetic Resonators. The player will need to shoot them both, and the Forge Room will be opened.

7. The Forge Room
Upon entering, steam will be rising from a grate in the center, the player must use the valves to shut off the steam and approach the Forge. As the player approaches, a new objective becomes evident: defeat the Forge's Guardians, who will appear and immediatly attack. The player must fight off Dwemer Spiders, Dwemer Spider Guardians, and Warped Dwemer Spiders (whose approximate strength are a cross between a run-of-the-mill Spiders and Guardians)

After defeating the Spiders, Dwemer Spheres, Sphere Guardians, and Warped Spheres will join the fray, and the steam will turn back on. Using the pipes the player must turn it off again and return to the fight.

It is recommended that the player fight on the top decks near the valves and use the steps as a funnel. Katria will either dual wield daggers or use Zephyr. A good tactic for the player is to make use of the Unrelenting Force, Fire Breath or Frost Breath, and area of effect Destruction magic to whittle down the Animunculus strength.

After defeating these, The Forgemaster will appear out of the lava behind the Forge. He is the most powerful Dwemer Centurion Master, who can breathe fire (instead of steam from other centurion) and is resistant to fire damage.

After defeating the Forgemaster, Katria tells the player to get some supplies from the chest right near the Forge (unless the player brought some), and the player can use the Aetherium Forge to craft one item from the Aetherium Shards

There are also, on either side of the forge, two gates that seem to just lead into the lava. If you use Become Ethereal you can swim in it.

Using the Become Ethereal shout, you can take the left path up to a small chest and another on the right. These paths do lead to an overlook position of the forge so once the enemies start pouring in, it's a good place to shoot them from.

8. The Aetherial Equipment
The player can choose from three pieces of equipment. Beware you Can only choose ONE, choose wisely.


 * Aetherial Crown, which allows the Dragonborn to have two Standing Stones powers (the crown must be worn to keep the previous standing stone power)


 * Aetherial Shield, which turns enemies ethereal for 15 seconds when bashed so they cannot be harmed or harm the Dragonborn


 * Aetherial Staff, which spawns a Dwemer Spider or Sphere for 60 seconds.

After forging the selected item, Katria comments that there most likely isn't anymore Aetherium in Skyrim and that she is finally at rest, thus completing the quest, gaining the Achievement, Lost to the Ages (30 Gamerscore)

Post-Quest Activities

 * After the player completes Lost to the Ages, Taron Dreth can appear as a Random Encounter along the roads with three mercenaries in tow. If the Dragonborn has one the items forged out of Aetherium (the Aetherium Crown, Shield or Staff ) in their possession, Dreth will ask the Dragonborn how he aqcuired this item. He will initiate combat with the Dragonborn no matter which dialogue option is chosen.

Bugs

 * When traveling to the locations of the other 3 Shards, their quest markers might not show at first.
 * Fix: Read Katria's journal again, and/or fast traveling to a location may activate/reactivate the quest markers. (Confirmed)
 * After defeating the bandits outside the Forge's location, Katria might become stuck or delayed after the entrance has appeared.
 * Fix: Running into Katria, or using the first word of Unrelenting Force may displace her and fix the issue. (Confirmation needed)
 * The quest may not start, and Katria's journal may not show up on her dead body.