Skyrim- From Calcelmo to Nchuand-Zel: Getting Your Feet Wet

On returning to Nchuand-Zel, head into the hub room and take the spiralling ramp down that you skipped on earlier.  This will bring you to the mid-level of the main chamber, and also to the attention of a Falmer Gloomwalker, assuming you didn’t kill him from above while you had the chance on your first trip through this room.  Slay the blind creature if you haven’t already, and then poke around to discover that there’s nothing to do on this level of the room- at least, not that you can reach from here.  Two ramps lead down to the flooded area of the room.  One of these ramps is on the tower you came down to begin with, and it leads to a walkway that will bring you to a door just above the water level.  The other ramp leads into the water, which has no escapable banks, and you will want to head down this one, attached to the tower where the Falmer Gloomwalker was waiting, first.

Once in the water, check the nearby wall and you’ll find a half-submerged door that leads to a partially underwater chamber where you can collect a pair of potentially very useful potions.  Return to the ramp that submerges itself, ascend, and come down the other ramp to wind up in front of a locked Dwemer metal gate.  Open it up with a lockpick and you gain access to a metal chest with a decent value of loot inside of it.  From here you can have a look around the waterlogged area of Nchuand-Zel, which holds only one more item of interest- a door across a small stretch of water.  Hop in and swim over and you can use this door to access the Nchuand-Zel Armory.

The Armory of Nchuand-Zel begins by providing you with your choice of two different paths- a faster path is to the right, up some stairs, but using it means missing a lot- including one of the researchers you are looking for.  With that in mind, I will instead approach the section of Nchuand-Zel via the long route, describing how to complete the area, rather than pass quickly through it.

Ascend the stairs you find immediately to your right in order to face a pair of Falmer archers- one at the very top of the steps, and the other on the stone catwalk across the room.  Slay them and check the area for Dwemer scrap, but don’t go down the hallway- instead descend back down the stairs (leaping to the middle of them from the catwalk is doable and rather fun, risking only some minor injury on landing as it’s not a high enough fall to the floor to die from unless you’re exceptionally frail).  Follow the passage from here, accumulating still more Dwemer scrap as you go, and you will find yourself entering a large room where you are in a lowered area betwen two high stone platforms.  Your path ends with a locked gate at the bottom of a stairway, so break out your lockpicks and then ascend once the path is clear.