Skyrim - Has anyone else been to Alftand?

[Frost27]

Has anyone been through Alftand yet? It is a HUGE Dwemer ruin west of Winterhold that I discovered while traveling between WH and Dawnstar on foot. It took a good bit over an hour to complete the dungeon and it was so creepy and well done it just has to be part of a quest chain somewhere, trouble is, I already completed it and I wouldn't know where to start.

For those interested, while on my arctic hike, I was in the ice covered glacial region between Sarthaal and Dawnstar when I saw something in the distance. as I approached I found a mammoth frozen into the side of the ice wall. Very cool. Following the ice wall I found a large cleft in the ice leading south so I followed it. At the end I found an entrance to a tower which was frozen into the wall of the ice canyon.

I entered the tower and found myself in a Dwemer ruin. Working my way to the top I fought my first Dwemer robot spiders and exited the tower on top of the glacier. The glacier top was littered with the top spires of buried towers jutting from the ice and a small beat down expedition encampment. Searching the camp I found frozen corpses and an expedition journal left by someone leading an expedition to the ruins, detailing the group with him, and mentioning that they were headed into the ruins because of an approaching storm. Once you follow the expeditions path inside and make your way through the HUGE buried Dwemer citadel, you find more journals, grisly leftovers of campsites, and hints as to what befell each member of the expedition. It plays out like a mystery novel and some of the things that you find in there and read in the journals are just damned creepy.

Very well done area and it didn't even need quest to be fantastic and hands down my favorite part of the game so far.

Have any of you been here yet? Do you know of any associated quests?

What is your favorite part of Skyrim so far that you stumbled across by accident?

 

[Versuvius]

Yep! And i loved it. Best bit of skyrim i have seen yet, the Dwemer ruins. Looted them for scrap for melting too...ended up with 400 bars soley out of Aftland. Now i want to go back Dwemer-delving -.-

 

[Exterminas]

Yes, I have been there.
The amazing thing is that this kind of quality is rather normal for the Dwemer-Ruins. Most of them are that fleshed out.

So far I do not know any relating quests, the Dwemer Forge needs some sort of item which I still lack, but this forge is not unique, I have seen it in other places.

 

[razor343]

There will be a quest later on for you to discover something even better within Alftand, but I shan't spoil it.

 

[imnot]

The dungeons in SKyrim are so much better than Oblivion, I didnt even bother with them in that.

I havnt found this one yet though soudns cool though.

 

[Frost27]

I really wish there had been a smelter in the place. There is so much Dwemer metal that can be melted down but the larger pieces weigh 25 lbs.

I saw a reference to a Septimus Signus' Outpost having a quest for the place but I'm not sure where that is.

 

[Virmire]

I'd check it out if it weren't for those damned saber cats. Had to sneak past them on the way to Winterhold, and JUST killed them today.

 

[Frost27]

I'd check it out if it weren't for those damned saber cats. Had to sneak past them on the way to Winterhold, and JUST killed them today.

They aren't too bad if you are either able to sidestep their initial pounce or block it with a shield. Also, I find that if I aggro one by proximity and let it begin the attack, I have a much bigger chance of taking a more damaging opening hit from the cats than if I aggro them with a bow or spell. It seems the game considers them as "already in combat" rather than "beginning combat" when they get to you.

Nothing stops the odd crit from an NPC though. I got two shotted by the swordsman near the entrance to the Ratway in Riften last night while I was in a quick kill animation finishing off his companion. Then I respawned and he hit me about 5 times before I killed him and I lost nearly no health.

 

[Wayneguard]

I found it trying to get from Winterhold to Dawnstar but for some reason it wouldn't show up as found on my map 0_o I really like how they've done the dwemer ruins in this game. Especially steam centurions holy crap those guys are badass. Kudos.

 

[Zaik]

Not yet, i've had a lot of trouble finding dwemer ruins in this game, been at it for 30 hours and only seen a tiny one or two room one with one dwemer robot in it at the end of a cave.


Definitely going to check it out though.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Yes it's an amazing place especially when you get down into Blackreach.

It is associated with a quest which is part of the main quest.

Spoiler: main quest spoiler

You go there to collect an Elder Scroll.

So far though it has easily been the most amazing place I have explored in the game. Every minute I was there my eyes were like O_O

 

[Frost27]

Definitely going to have to make some runs to and from the place to stockpile dwarven ore for resale. It might help me get the 25,000 gold to buy a house in solitude.

Of course, it would be just my luck to buy said house only to become hated in the city because of my rebellious Stormcloak ways.

 

[EHKOS]

Yes it's an amazing place especially when you get down into Blackreach.

It is associated with a quest which is part of the main quest.

Spoiler: main quest spoiler

You go there to collect an Elder Scroll.

So far though it has easily been the most amazing place I have explored in the game. Every minute I was there my eyes were like O_O

Yeah except if you go there early you can't get rid of it and it weighs twenty fucking pounds. And it's funny because the Grey Fox has you go and read one in Oblivion and it doesn't burn out your eyes.


OT:Yes I've been there and loved every fucking second. A fucking city, with that ball light source thing?! That was incredible. And at first I thought the rest of the dungeons would be spoiled because nothing could top that, it doesn't feel that way. Nothing has topped it yet, but I still don't feel like "oh blackreach was way better and this is boring". But yeah that ruin man....the quest line is even more amazing. Just wait til you have to go to Mzark.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I found this other dwemer ruin that starts with an I and is kinda long. But I couldn't find a way in. And then I found another one, but vines are covering the entrance and I cannot get it.

 

[Wieke]

I really wish there had been a smelter in the place. There is so much Dwemer metal that can be melted down but the larger pieces weigh 25 lbs.

I saw a reference to a Septimus Signus' Outpost having a quest for the place but I'm not sure where that is.

I found Alftand because the quest I found in Septimus Signus' Outpost send me there. This quest is quite interesting.

Spoiler

Septimus Signus Outpost is north of winterhold college. This outpost consist of a small cave under/in a small iceberg, the entrance is covered by some kind of trap door. Near the entrance lies a small rowing boat. I had to swim and jump from one floating piece of ice to the next in order to find it. (Well I was just exploring.)

Alftand itself? Man it is big, loving it. Quite like how it has multiple entrances/exits to the surface.