Skyrim- From Calcelmo to Nchuand-Zel: Taking a Staubin the Dark

The end of the hallway holds a table of some note- in addition to a pile of more smeltable Dwemer scrap on it, there is also a weapon of some value and a full apothecary’s satchel, a nice treat for any alchemist.  Beside the table sits a small stone chest whose contents will have a high value as well.  On top of all of this, a look down the left turn of the hallway will yield the corpse of Staubin, the last of the expedition into Nchuand-Zel, and a Dwarven Spider Worker.  Destroy the worker and you can check Staubin’s body for his journal and thus retrieve the last of the notes Calcelmo seeks.

According to Staubin’s journal, after all of the other discoveries the man came to the conclusion that the spiders inhabiting the digsite were the only thing preventing the Falmer from boiling out of the depths of the ruin and invading Markarth itself.  In order to make up for the loss of the accidental guardians, he decided to try to reactivate the Dwemer automata as a way of keeping the Falmer in the depths of the rock.  He was forced to use the placement of his subordinates as bait to try and delay the Falmer until he could reach the activation lever in Nchuand-Zel Control, but was unable to reach it before he was slain.  This means that you, as the only non-Falmrer still alive in the ruins, will need to re-activate the guardians of the ancient Dwemer city in order to save Markath from an invasion of blind, deranged cannibals.

Enter the area beyond Staubin’s corpse and start ascending the stairs, and you will come under attack by a pair of Dwarven Spiders- one Worker and one Guardian.  If you can hold out briefly, they will attract a Falmer Gloomwalker from further ahead, who decides that it hates the Dwemer constructs considerably more than it hates you, and will thus attack them and leave you be until they are destroyed.  Use this opportunity to rid yourself of the constructs and then slay the weakened Falmer and you can continue to the top of the stairs and then along the stone platforms.

This will lead you to an area with two destroyed Dwemer Guardian Spheres and a load of even more Dwemer scrap.  Loot what you like, then move through the open gate into an ascending loop of stairs that passes several Dwarven Spider disgorging pipes and a Guardian Sphere launch location.  If you are loud and clanky, expect to have several more fights here, but if you are able to stay quiet and go unnoticed you can make it the rest of the way to the control panel without facing any more foes.