The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Walkthrough

Elder Knowledge

Alftand is southwest of Signus' Oupost. You can get there a little bit faster by fast traveling back to Winterhold. Along the way expect to fight mostly Ice Wraiths and maybe a Bear or Troll. Either way you'll eventually reach the mountain's ridge. The entrance to the glacial ruins is down the stairs and across a few bridges. Once inside head north and you should hear two Khajiit talking to one another. Don't worry it seems they are passed a blocked off wall, so they won't actual attack. Continue ahead to loot some broken Dwarven Spiders. They run on Soul Gems so if you're looking for more feel free to raid the broken machines. The gate to the north is jammed, so go around the western route.

It seems that not all of the robots are disabled and a few will spring to life. Don't worry, the spiders are essentially the robotic version of wolves: complete fodder that dies easily. Once the spiders are destroyed keep going west. You'll notice a torch on the ground. Shortly after this marker you will come across one of the Khajiit, J'darr. He's killed the other catman and is looking to take you down too. He is poorly armored and only has a woodcutter's axe so not much of a threat. Take the healing potions off his body after the encounter. As for the dead J'zhar, he has a lockpick to add to your collection.

Once ready, keep going north and you'll face a new enemy: Dwarven Spheres. These things are really fast and will often get right in your face. Your follower equipped with a ranged weapon or spell will help immensely here. You'll also want to have your shield and healing spell ready to recover whatever damage you take. We perfered to use ice as a means to slow down the machines, but mostly stuck with melee attacks as the opponent would not backdown. Once the Spheres are dead, keep going north and you should see some rising platforms on the left side. Jump across theses and you can gain acess to a few treasures: a flawless emerald, draught of strength, some soul gems, and gold.

Drop back down and continue your way down the halls. In the next room will be a gate with a novice lock. Passed this is an Apprentice locked chest with an Elven Shield of Waning Frost and a Potion of Stamina. There is also an Adept locked chest, but we only received junk inside. Once done here, exit out and take the stairs to the west. Fight a few more Dwarven Spiders and loot the side rooms for potions. Heading east will take you to the upper level where pistons will be jutting back and forth out of the walls. These are easy to avoid, but you can also use them to push down any more spiders you come across. Once the enemies are dead, continue east to enter the Animonculory.

In here head north and grab the Falmer Shield, Falmer Helmet, and more potions. Head east, kill a few more spider and you'll come across the corpse of Endrast. There isn't much on his person, but you can read his hournal and grab some nearby lockpicks. Now return west to battle a lone Dwarven Sphere. Continue ahead and you may notice the floor is covered with oil. As before you can use your flame spells to ignite the area and harm anything that passes by. But at this point most likely all threats will be cleared. Up the next ramp will be a trap triggered by pressure points. Walk on the far sides of the ramp or jump over the tiles to avoid springing the trap. However, any follower might spring it anyway after you've passed it.

Continue north, destroy another spider, and open a novice chest to gain a Ring of the Minor Knight, which will help with heavy armor skills. Now backtrack out of this nook and walk down the spiral pathway. There will be an Apprentice locked door to the east. Passed this are more spiders and several chests. We looted a Iron Battleaxe of Diminishing, Dawrven Helmet, Stamina potion, and draught of resist Shock. Exit out the room and leap down west to find the body of Yag gra-Gortwog. She has nothing of real intrest on her, but has dropped a potion and has some arrows and a Falmer axe in her.

Further to the west is another spider and chest where we gained gold, a Petty Soul Gem, Reverent Steel Sword, Ruby, and Scroll of Bane of the Undead. Trun back east and you'll do battle with feral elves: the Falmer. They strike fast and have access to some pretty potent magic. However, their defenses are power. You'll want to get the rush on them quickly with your strongest weapon, spell and shout. We liked using our Fire Breath to damage several enemies at once. rying to parry or be otherwise defensive is not ideal when fighting these Mer. Continue down into the next room to find an alchemy station. Use this to build more potions or simply use up all those materials you've collected. Further down will be three more Falmer and several open jets of fire. If you position yourself right, the Falmer will stand in the fire while you bash them to death. Once they are dead, head east and through the next door.

You'll start by facing off against three more Falmer and a frostbite spider. Due to the large numbers, try to lure out the enemies one at a time. As always take out the spell casters first followed by the slower melee using enemies. Through the next room will be two more Falmer: let your followr take one while you kill the other. Head up the stairs on the left to find a switch what will open the gate to the southwest.

Passed this gate you will now face a Dwarven Centurion. He has a good amount of health, but his melee attacks aren't that bad when blocked with a shield. What can be a problem is his steam blast, which can penetrate your defense and cause huge damage. The tactic we stuck with was to hit the Centurion with fire breath before retreating and quickly healing up. Once at max health we'd charge in and hit it while having our shield on the ready. Be sure to check the chests to the west for more gear, such as a Steel Warhammer of Dismay.

Move west and you'll meet to spite filled warriors: Sulla Trebatius and Umana. They will try and kill one another, and you should use this time help out both in their efforts. Umana has a nice set of Steel Plate Armor, so if you have none or want a second set, pry it from her cold dead hands. Once both enemies are dead, activate the mechanism in the center to form a new stair case leading down to Blackreach. As you neter, off in the distance will be a Dwarven Shpere, and if you are fast enough it can be sniped with the ballista you start near. What's nice in this area is that you can let the Dwarven machines fight it out with the native Falmers. This will distract all of your enemies and allow you to easily sweep up the weakened survivors.

To the southwest will be a building housing a few Falmer archers. If you can, peck them off from afar with a bow or spell. Alternatl, have your follower distract the enemy while you sneak or barge up to the top. You'll want to get to the top of the building anyway, as you will be able to loot a Tome of Frostbite, Necklace of Major Wielding, and Imperial Bow of Embers. After collecting these, head southwest and enter the Tower of Mzark.

At the very top place thebalnk lexicon cub inside the Lexicon Receptacle. Tap the second button four times so that the lexicon opens, the third button twice, and the far left fourth button once. Take both the Elder Scrolls and Runed Lexicon. The exit out to Skyrim is below. With the Elder Scroll recovered, head back to Paarthurnax at High Hrothgar.

If you want, you can stop by and give Signus the Runed Lexicon. This will give you a side objective to take blood samples from every type of elf, including wild ones and the mutated Orcs. You'll most likely find each elf to kill by continuing the main store instead of hunting randomly.