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Hey, this is Fenrir.  I've been on a real Dwemer knowledge kick recently.  Val and I stormed through a recently-uncovered Aetherium mine and I got new armor. 

 

Then I got wind of an ancient dwemer university called Kagrenfahlz, built by Kagrenac's buddy Ludz.  Damien and I have been doggedly searching through ancient tomes, playing fetch for various people, and getting into lots of scrapes along the way.  Speaking of scrapes, I stopped by a town on the way back from the Bandit Tower, I slept in an Inn in one of the new small towns, Ebonheart.  This one wasn't an old town rebuilt, but a completely new one!  I sampled the local goods (hired myself a prostitute) and the innkeeper charged me an exorbitant amount for it.

 

 

 

And a couple of thugs ambushed me as I came out in the morning.  Of course, I'm no legendary badass, but they still didn't know who they were dealing with.

 

 

After that I recalled to Winterhold, and went into the Inn to look for some elf.  The priestess of Azura hadn't been very specific.  But, I found Nelacar.  He seemed to be an expert on stars and soulgems.  

"Gods!  Did the Jarl send you?"

"No, a priestess of Azura."

He went on to explain that Azura's Star, a daedric artifact, was essentially a neverending soulgem.  Which I already knew.  It turns up in history every so often.  Malyn Veren, his old master, tried to alter the star to make himself immortal.  They exiled him when students started dying.  

"He took a few loyal disciples to Illinalta's Deep and vanished."

 

 

I jotted the into down in my journal for later.  For now, I collected Damien and gave Hannah back her necklace.  

 

Then I used my intuition to lead me to Ludz's academy in the Sea of Ghosts. 

 

 

It was really just one big circle.  With the key we'd gotten from High Hrothgar we were able to get into the recesses of it, and recover more information about Kagrenfahlz.  I circumvented a puzzle with my amazing jumping skills and hookshot.

"Dude, you are such a cheater," Damien said.

"You know you'd be flying over this junk," I smirked.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he smiled back, floating over them.

 

 

I'm going to gloss over a bit of the story here, since there's already been quite a lot of me traveling back and forth across Skyrim.

We talked to Michael Sebastian again, since everybody was sending us there, who pointed us to Duns Scotus, who pointed us to a small nordic ruin named Hypokeimenon.   He said we needed four keys, which should be there.

 

We took a side trek to Illinalta's Deep to secure Azura's Star.  Pretty much blasted our way through.  Then we saw the airship overhead.

 

"Valiana's here!" Damien yelled.

"Hey boys!" She yelled down, hopping down with us, "Need a ride?"

"You're a sight for sore eyes.  How'd you find us?" I asked.

"I asked at the college.  They knew where Damien was going," she replied.  Very practical.

 

 

We cleared the bandits above in the Silent Moons Camp, then entered Hypokeimenon.  After a weird conversation with a man claiming I had met him infinite times before, we found a room with a ghost standing on a platform with three thrones.

 

"You're a ghost.  Crazy," I said.

"You could say that.  What brings you here in my house?" He responded.

"I'm looking for the four keys of Kagrenfahlz."

"You might be heading towards a disappointment."

"What do you mean?"

"Open the chest and you'll find out yourself," he said.

 

 

"Are you the soul of a nordic philosopher?"

"Parmenides.  I might be his soul.  Maybe I'm his consciousness or maybe I'm just a bundle of some lost memories. But, why should i care?  All that matters is devoting one's life in understanding it."

 

"Did you come to a closer understanding of life?" I asked.

"To be honest, no.  That's why i refuse to pass over to the afterlife.  Sovngarde can wait.  Maybe it is an exchange that can freshen my ideas.  So i ask you, curious one:  what do you think?  What is nothing?" Parmenides asked.

"Nothing is just nothing the lack of anything," I shrugged.

"But if it is a lack of any substance, property or state how could we talk about it?"

"I don't know everything's something man," I shrugged, "Maybe... we really can't talk about it and we're just uttering nonsense."

 

"Then the philosopher is not so different from the common man.  But it does seem that we use it often to describe states of affairs.  Men of courage tend to exclaim that nothing can put them down.  That sentence clearly has meaning."

 

I'm reminded of a story about a giant being blinded and the man telling him his name was 'nobody.'

 

"Maybe it just begs the question where meaning comes from," I said.

 

"Aaahhh.  That is a question worthy of quiet reflection. Thank you for the brief exchange," he nodded.

 

I grabbed the key from the chest, and there was only one.  I sighed.  

"I guess let's return to Duns Scotus," I said to my companions, "You in for now, Val?"

"Sure.  The seas are clear," she replied.

 

We flew back to Riverwood through rain now, and I found Duns on the road leading into town, just talking a walk.

 

 

"I found the key of justice but that's all."

"That is both wonderful and regrettable news!" He exclaimed, "Wonderful since it clearly proves the existence of Kagrenfahlz.  Regrettable because I've no idea where the other keys are."  

"So what do we do now?" I asked

"My former students Hannah and Martina were both deeply interested in the matter of Kagrenfahlz.  During their study they investigated the matter excessively.  At a certain point they even started to correct me!  When we talked about they believed they had found the actual names of the archdeacons.  I never took that seriously but maybe I should."

"Guess I'll go back and talk to Hannah," I said.

"That sounds like the wise thing to do.  Good fortune on your travels.  We will meet again," Duns said.

 

We three paused, then Val said, "Well, c'mon, let's go see this Hannah person."

 

 

I shook my head, "Sorry, this is just getting tiresome.  You're right, of course."

 

We ported back to the College... again.  And we approached Hannah.  She's changed clothes to a similar set of robes, but less revealing.  She pretty much just laid out the information we needed - Martina and her had done a lot of research on the other deans complete with the locations of their labs.  She handed me her papers with a smile.

 

 

"Thanks," I said.

"No worries.  I am more than willing to help you," she replied, "Agrippa lived in Solstheim.  Posidonius had a residence in Nchuand-Zel.  You might have to talk with Cancelmo."

"Calcelmo?" Damien and I asked simultaneously.

"Yeah... that," she looked up, only stopping her writing for a second.

"Aristorch lived in the Sea of Ghosts.  It might be difficult."

Damien and I smirked for different reasons.  I had an old Dwemer Helm of Waterbreathing.  He had both his necklace from Daggerfall, and a spell to do the same.

 

"Duns Scotus believed the entrance to Kagrenfahlz is in Mzulft," I said.

"Close.  Martina went to great lengths to discover the actual entrance.  I know it's in the Velothi Mountains.  It's connected to Kagrenzel, ruins north of Mzulft."

 

I pretty much just jumped off the back of Winterhold tower and sailed over to the location marked on my map.  I put on the helmet, went down and got it.  EASY.

 

 

I'm guessing Hannah and friend had actually pinpointed the locations but weren't really combatants or adventurers like us, so they didn't have the grit to actually go get the keys.

 

I recalled back to the library (still soaking wet) and Damien ported us to Markarth.  We walked into Nchuand-Zel.  I did not need to talk to Calcelmo - I can pick locks VERY well.

 

 

Anyway, it was in a chest behind a locked door.

"Anybody here ever been to Solstheim?" I asked.

"Yep.  Been there.  If we take the airship it won't be that bad a trip.  Probably a couple hours," Valiana said.

"Perfect," I replied.  We got in and went.  It was late afternoon when I finished crossing over Solstheim and the others were sleeping, so I figured I'd just pop down (jump down with cusioned boots) and grab the key.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.  Another locked vault, another easy grab.  I'd left the airship a couple thousand feet up (out of grapple or ladder range).  I Levitated back up.

 

I found Val and Damien standing on the deck.  

 

 

 

"Look at the plume from Red Mountain," Damien said, staring into the distance.

"Yeah man, that is insane.  Should come back here sometime and sightsee," I said back.

"Really makes you wonder how bad Morrowind is doing nowadays," Valiana commented.

"Pretty bad from what mom said.  She went there for her arena tour," I said, stepping back up the wheel.

With a, "Let's go, bitches!" We were off.

 

When we got back to Skyrim and found Kagrenzel, it was dark with both beautiful moons out.  This time I'd slept on the deck while Valiana drove.  As I woke up, catching a glimpse of the moons glinting off Val's eyes, I smiled at her.

"Beautiful," I said.

She smiled back, "Thinking of Valenwood?"

 

 

"Yeah, a little," I said.  She kissed me just as Damien arrived on deck.  

"Let's go," Damien rolled his eyes, "The whole reason we slept in shifts was so we could get down in there right away."

I smiled at Valiana and we slid down the rope ladder.

 

 

We ran past the obvious glowing orb trap leading into Kagrenzel to a side door and through a lock doors (openable with any of the keys we'd gotten recently).

Then rode an elevator down.

I smiled, "Well, we did it!  We're in Kagrenfahlz!"

 

It was a wide, open area (though not as open as the Aetherium mine) with several sitting areas.  There was a large inactive dwemer construct on a pedestal.  A display.

 

 

We walked around the plaza for a while before we found an orc with a dog - Verulam.

"Ah, hello stranger.  Forgive me for not noticing you later.  Just like the Falmer, I lost my sight."

"Sorry to hear," I said back.

"It's okay.  I'll die here anyway," he said.

I blinked, "Wow.  Why?"

"Oh, you'll probably die here too.  This place is locked like the Dwemer puzzle box it is."

"I'm sure there's a way out of here.  There's always a way out," I said.

"You're definitely your mother's son," Val whispered in my ear.

"Not to mention we can just teleport or recall out of here if we need to," Damien whispered in my other ear.

I chuckled, "Let's play along and figure this out though.  I like a good challenge."

The orc continued, "You came through the door in the cave of reflection.  That door locks from the outside when you enter.  The only way out is the opposite door, also locked by mechanism.  I think the secret to opening these two doors lies in the faculty areas.  But they're also locked.  I thought the university key opened them.  I was wrong.  You need the special keys for each faculty to get in."

 

 

"You mean..." I pulled out the four keys, "These?!"

"By Malacath!" He exclaimed, "At last!  Hope!  Listen.  Use the keys to enter the faculties and find a way to open the gate.  If you need information or insight, I'm at your disposal.  Good luck, my friend!"

"For now, I'm going to try it on my own.  We're in our element, guy!" I shouted.  Then we headed to the Ethics Faculty.  A straight upward path with side rooms, all locked, with a snow elf statue beckoning us to venture upward.  I could hear the sounds of Falmer growling and chittering in the depths of the section.  Seemed like the Dwemer may be straining the limits of the ethical here.  

 

 

I read the inscription, "Every Dwemer must ask him or herself whether our answer to the Snow Elf Problem was justified."

I paused for a second, looking at my companions, then said, "What the fuck?"

The snow elf problem?  The problem was they needed help and the dwemer destroyed them.  Worse than killing them.  Mom had met real Snow Elves.

 

We continued on and came to a room lined with dwemer-forged bars.  On the right were constructs, on the left, falmer.  But they hadn't seen us.  I pulled out my single-shot.  I'd replaced my semi-auto dwemer crossbow with an enhanced daedric crossbow recently.  It had slow reload, but the single shot was for long distances.  I'd still use the autofire for midrange.

 

Seriously though, falmer were beyond saving.  I plugged one in the throat and he went down.  His friends were unsure where the clicking of my crossbow came from before I loaded a fire bolt and blasted a second one in the side.  

 

 

"We doing this?" Damien smirked.  He loaded up Elemental Bolt.

"Try to keep hidden.  They are still blind," I replied, shooting another.  By this point they'd pinpointed me and were firing arrows.  Damien and I retorted with actual fire.  Me - my hand cannon and Damien with Elemental Bolts.  Valiana charged down the ramp to the right to meet the constructs headed for us.  I jumped down to file in behind her with my sword and shield.  The falmer, still trapped behind the bars, attempted to blast Damien with lightning bolts, but he was ready with Shalidor's Mirror.  He followed us.

 

By the time I got there, Valiana'd already flattened a couple constructs.  I ducked behind one and flicked out my locksmith's tools.

"What're you going?" Val asked.

"Trust me," I said, and with a quick click, the sphere shut down.  I thumbed my nose, chuckling.

 

 

More constructs filed in the open door, and I blasted their ranks with a firebomb.  Val dropped down to engage, and the one who'd slipped by to me got an Elemental Bolt to the face courtesy of Damien.

 

 

 

I swapped back to my sword and jumped down to aid Val.

 

 

"Lotta these boys!" I yelled.

"No kidding!" She yelled back.

Then Damien said from above, "Good thing the door's locked, or we'd have the Falmer to fight too!"

He blasted one between us, while Val finished her third off, and I bashed then finished off the last sphere.

 

"EASY!" I shouted.

Val chuckled.

 

The three of us got in front of the door, Damien throwing down a heal as I worked on the lock.

"Alright, everybody ready?" I asked.

"Born ready," Val gripped her greatspear, licking her lips.

The Falmer were clawing at the doors, trying to get at us.  I took half a step back and stabbed the one in front of me through the bars, then I kicked the gates open.

 

 

The few remaining Falmer, ravenous no doubt after being trapped in here so long, surged forward.  Or atleast, they tried.  Valiana charged past me, barreling into them, knocking half of them over.  I blinked.  Their hunger knew no bounds, and they soon piled onto her.  Even Val's immense strength wasn't enough and they knocked her unconscious.  Strong Falmer!  I took out my cannon, standing shoulder to shoulder with Damien.

 

 

He backed into the previous room and I backed off to the right, like we'd practiced this or something.

I grinned devilishly, throwing down my new and IMPROVED Autocannon.  As Damien unloaded a storm of fire, my cannon split off into two cannons, both spinning up and dealing enough damage to melt flesh from bone. 

 

 

 

WIthin seconds they were decimated.  I fed Valiana a potion and she snapped back to consciousness.

"Wha..?"

"Looks like I finally have a chance to rescue you for once," I smirked, holding her steady. 

She patted me on the head, "You've come a long way, kid."

I shut my eyes, smiling and shaking my head, "Been a while since you called me that."

Damien laughed out loud.

 

We continued through the area, finding the path back (through several door bars) to the entrance.  Eventually we came to a room with many levers and spinning blades.  I played with them for a little while, but found no use in them.  The next room had more falmer locked behind bars, and I noted the lever by my feet and the spinning blade traps in their cage.  I pulled the lever and removed the problem.

 

"Geez, they call this an Ethics facility?" Damien threw his arms up.

"I know, right?  Sheesh," I shook my head.

 

We kept going and found another switchback, with a basement-type area.  Falmer heard us coming and swarmed us en force.  Val and I held them off for a few seconds before I heard Damien say, "Fuck this."

I looked at him to find frost swirling around his form, and I knew what was coming. 

 

 

He took a step in front of us into melee and blasted the Falmer with Black Winter, turning them into frozen body parts strewn about the floor.

 

He dusted his hands off, signifying he was done with the exercise.

I laughed, "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

"I have a lot of spells, you know.  Options paralysis.  Also Magicka is a limited resource.  And Elemental Bolt is free."

I shrugged.

 

We cleared out the rest of the area, got some treasure, and found a small sleeping area.  Seeing as it was now about midnight, we decided we'd get some actual sleep.

 

On stone beds, which were murder on the back.

Valiana slept first while Damien took the first watch and I took the second.  We only really got four hours, seeing as how we'd already slept a few hours each on the airship trip.