Alftand Alftand is an ancient Dwemer Ruin located in . The quests " Elder Knowledge " and " Discerning the Transmundane " concurrently unfold here . Upon entering the ruins for the first time a team of trapped archaeologists is discovered ; the story of their fate , disrupted by a snowstorm and the Falmer also plays out within . The location has three sublocations , including the Alftand Glacial Ruins , the Alftand Animunculory , and the Alftand Cathedral . There are approximately two - hundred ingots worth of Dwarven scrap metal , ideal for advancing the Smithing skill and earning gold . Sub - locations . Alftand Glacial Ruins . Upon entering Alftand , you will find scattered rubble , bedrolls and tools leftover by the expedition members , along with clues of what happened to the expedition itself . Continuing further , you will hear J ' darr , one of the workers who survived , arguing with and J ' zhar , his brother , about stealing his Skooma . This can be heard when you come close to a crevice boarded up by planks , with barrels and crates behind . Moving on you will find a room containing a stone table that was used to study disabled Dwarven Spiders . To the right of the table is a lift to the " Alftand Animonculory " , but it is sealed off and can only be opened from inside . Beware from this point , as you will begin encountering Dwarven automaton s coming out of pipes . On your way you will encounter the Khajiit brothers again . This time it will be revealed that J ' zhar is actually dead on his bedroll and J ' darr has gone insane , most likely due to the abstinence effect of not consuming skooma for so long . He will turn hostile and you will be forced to kill him . Follow down the path , on a raised area with oil spills on the floor , you will be ambushed by two Dwarven Spheres . An interesting feature in that room are the three pistons behind a table , that thrust up vertically , that can be used to gain access to a ledge hidden loot . In the next room , there are various Dwemer metal parts along with four Dwarven Spiders ; two dead and two hidden in pipes . There is also a forge in the room . Through the door to the next area you will find an unlocked chest behind a pressure plate . To the right is a dead end with a Dwarven Spider and another chest in the rubble . To the west are more enemies along the path to the door to " Alftand Animonculory " . Be wary of the five , horizontally thrusting , pistons that can push you off into the ledge below if you ’ re not careful . Alftand Animonculory . Continue down the hallway to a set of stairs leading up to an area covered in oil , along with a Dwarven Sphere and a Dwarven Spider . Before climbing up , there is a gap between metal bars underneath the stairs leading to the body of Endrast with an Falmer arrow in his shoulder . An adept - locked chest can be found next to him . Past the stairs is a ramp with several pressure plates to the sides . Triggering them will activate the spinning blades that will go down along the in the middle . The path will be blocked , but can be opened by one of the levers . Continuing downwards , you will come across a ledge that you must jump off of . But before doing so , there is a locked door to a room with various loot , including a skill book . Once you jumped down , you will find the body of Yag gra - Gortwog , riddled with arrows . That path upwards leads to a dead end with a chest and a Dwarven Spider hiding in a pipe , while the path down leads to several Falmer guarding the path . Past them will lead into a series of rooms filled with Falmer . Various types of loot can be found like ores , ingredients and everything found in chests . A few things of interest are an Alchemy Lab in the first room and a workbench along with an anvil in the other room . In the final room lies the Falmer boss along with 2 more . The room holds an assortment of items scavenged from the expedition members , like Sulla Trebatius ' s knapsack . Valie ' s body can be found on a table with shackles . Next to her lies a lift that leads back to the Alftand Glacial Ruins . Further down , past a dead Falmer riddled with Iron Arrows , lies the door to " Alftand Cathedral " . Be careful of the claw trap before the door . Alftand Cathedral . In the final area , you will encounter a Falmer guarding the door to your path . Watch out for the three pressure plates on your way . Climb the stairs and you will run into two more Falmer patrolling the area , along with possibly another creature ( either a Frostbite Spider , a Skeever or a Chaurus ) . The path to the exit is blocked and can only be opened by the lever on a platform at the top of the stairs with two chests next to it . Around the area are several Falmer tents containing various Falmer equipment and ingredients . Past the gate , up the stairs , are two Dwarven Centurions . One dead and the other remains dormant until you approach it . After defeating it , climb the next set of stairs leading up to the lift to outside . Behind some pillars , Umana and Sulla Trebatius , the two last expedition members , will show themselves . Umana tries to convince Sulla to abort the expedition , but Sulla refuses to give up . At this point both will become hostile to each other and to you , so you can either kill them both or stay hidden and let them fight out until one stands victorious and then kill the winner . In the center of this area is a Dwarven mechanism , that can be opened with an Attunement Sphere , to gain access to Blackreach . The exit is behind a master - locked gate that can either be picklocked or unlocked with the Alftand Lift Key that can be found on the Dwarven Centurion you fought earlier . The lift will take you outside to a gatehouse that could only be opened from the inside . Alftand Ruined Tower . Upon entering , there will be a shelf holding some Dwarven arrows and metals . Beside the shelf is a spiral staircase leading down , deeper into the tower . At the end of the staircase one Dwarven Spider Worker will spawn out of the wall directly in front of the Dragonborn and another one behind more shelves . There are several iron and silver ore and ingots scattered throughout the room and more dwarven metal . Proceeding further shows two buttons against a wall . Pressing them will activate ceiling spike traps on the other side of the wall for purposes unknown . One will eventually arrive at the spike trap ' s location but first encounter a Dwarven Sphere . The spike traps can also be activated by pressure plates directly below them . Beyond the traps is a door and a button before it . Pressing the button is the only way to open the door as there is no option to open or unlock it . Doing so will activate a relatively harmless fire trap . Sprinting or rolling can allow one to avoid taking any damage at all . Then , in front of the Dragonborn will be a desk with another button that , if pressed , will close the door and disable the trap . Going further will lead to a small ice cave where two final Dwarven Spider Workers will spawn . At the end of the cave will be a door exiting far under the wooden bridges leading to Alftand . The Ruined Tower is an ideal source of Dwarven scrap to smelt into Dwarven metal ingot s . The following is an approximate amount of the Dwarven scrap , not accounting for the random loot found within Animunculi : For an approximate total of a possible 88 Dwemer metal ingots . There is an exit at the top of the tower , but the ruin does not connect with the other Alftand sections . Quests . Elder Knowledge . The Dragonborn must venture into the ruins of Alftand in order to find out what happened to a group of archaeologists that went exploring in the ruins . The Dragonborn finds various clues along the way as to what happened to them , including finding two Khajiit brothers , one alive and one dead , as well as other dead members of the expedition in various other places . Discerning the Transmundane . The Dragonborn met Septimus Signus , a brilliant but mad scholar living in the northern ice fields . They are then directed to a Dwarven observatory that supposedly houses an Elder Scroll . Septimus doesn ' t care about the Scroll itself , but wants the Dragonborn to use some kind of machine there to inscribe a Dwarven lexicon with the Scroll ' s knowledge and bring it to him . Ancient Technology . Sorine Jurard will explain that she has located a schematic that can provide a new upgrade or ammunition type for the crossbow . She asks the Dragonborn to retrieve it from a radiant location , typically a Dwemer Ruin or bandit stronghold , the chosen location can also be a part of another DLC .