Hey guys! I recently encountered an issue which may or may not have been addressed in the past but I would appreciate any help all the same.


SO, I discovered a piece of the crystal shards needed to open the Aetherium forge before activating the Quest "Lost To Ages" via reading the book or by finding Arkngthamz. I found Arkngthamz following my discovery of the shards, and Katria appeared as she normally would in the questline's normal path. However, after recovering the piece there and her departure, I went through all of Raldbthar and got the piece there. Katria did not reappear there at any point. I have all the pieces now, and have even tried placing them at the forge's entrance at the Ruins of Bthalft, but even when the prompt to activate the dwarven mechanism appears, nothing happens. Is there any possible remedy to this pickle I seem to be in? I would very much appreciate any assistance that could be given.

Are you using mods?

I do not. Just the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn DLCs.

I think the mechanism that accepts the shards is only enabled by the quest, so it does seem to be partially working.

What's your last journal entry for this?

That could quite possibly be the problem. I somehow found the pieces before ever knowing about the quest. The quest didn't even activate when I met Katria in Arkngthamz. I'm starting to think I just might be SOL unfortunately :/

I didn't even receive a journal entry upon meeting Katria.

You ought to be able to jump-start the actual quest using the console. I've never tried it because I always just read The Aetherium Wars in Farengar's study, and eventually (around level 15 or so) go to Arkngthamz. I've never got a piece before going there....

Did you read the books? I think you need to have read Katria's journal in order to "locate" the shards and forge, and get Katria to meet you there.

Tried reading the books and nothing happened. For some reason, I wasn't able to find Katria's journal. I might have to go back some but it's better than just having it sit there I suppose.

The quest (from other forums with similar issues I've read) doesn't require Katria's journal. In any case, when I searched for it on her body, it was not there. I think I just may have to accept a broken quest at this point :/ Thanks to any who offered advice tho! You guys rock!

I don't think you need to do that. The process is: read The Aetherium Wars. Eventually, find Arkngthamz. Talk to Katria. Accept her help or don't. Find her body. Pick up the journal - which has some of the info you need to solve the tonal lock, and find other pieces later, as well as the access to the Forge.

I really think it should be possible to start/advance the quest using the console....

You're right about Katria's book. It's an optional objective.

There's a bug mentioned in the UESP: "The shard in Raldbthar may be called 'Glowing Crystal Shard' instead of an Aetherium shard, and picking it up does not update the quest, making the quest impossible to complete with a 'missing' shard. Console commands to advance the DLCLD_Misc do not work either. Pick up the shard in Dwarven Storeroom last to fix this problem."

If this is what happened, the only solution is probably to reload a save from before picking up all of the shards, and to read the Aetherium Wars book first.

Ouch. I hadn't read that, since I've never needed to look at the bugs for it. I didn't even know it was added by Dawnguard for a long time. I just thought I'd missed it on however many play-throughs before (lots.... and lots.... and....) But I was in the middle of other stuff so stuck the book in a bookcase at home and went on about my business. For a while I didn't even realize I had an addition in the quest log.

When I did realize there was a quest associated, I went looking for Arkngthamz. Found it, talked to Kat, did the pieces and the forge, no issues.... I do it on every girl now, way fun! But since I've never had a problem with it, I didn't realize it could be bugged to where you couldn't fix it with the console. THAT svcks.