It took no time at all for them to return to Windhelm, where the group used a couple of Gates to return to Markarth, but instead of tracking down Muiri, and let Midnight tell her that she had completed her contract, they headed outside while Capper pulled out his map.

"According to Mora's map one of the remaining Aetherium Shards is to the north of us, and there's a path on the map that should lead us to our destination." Capper commented, allowing the carriage to appear nearby as everyone climbed into it, where he showed La'nari where to take them and she nodded without delay, even though he did note that there just so happened to be a nordic ruin on the road they were following, something for later he guessed, "The path will bring us close to Bthardamz, the actual ruin that's in the area, but we won't be heading there... apparently there's a crossing that holds the third shard. I find it odd that no one's taken the shard, since it's out in the open, but it should be easy to head over, claim it, and then be on our way to where the last one is located, then we'll have to look into where the Forge is located, though right now Mora has no idea where that might be."

"That doesn't fill me with hope, darling... something the Prince of Knowledge doesn't know about could mean bad news for us." Rarity pointed out, which was true, if Mora couldn't warn them about something, and claimed that she had no idea what was lurking in the area they were heading towards, it worried her that they were going to stumble onto something bad, or something that not even her group could deal with, "Especially since this is the dwarves we're talking about... there's no telling what they've done to secure the third shard from looters."

Capper had to agree with that comment, because the second shard had been secured by an entire ruin, though it did make him wonder why the first one they had found had been secured in a storeroom outside the main structure, and it made him take a moment to think about the dangers guarding the final shard. As he thought about that La'nari brought them up onto the hillside path that would bring them to the area near Bthardamz, where everyone focused and made sure their weapons were at the ready, since the Forsworn could be in the area. They were annoying warriors, some of them seemed to be even stronger than some of the normal foes they had faced, and Capper wanted to be sure they were ready in case a group just so happened to cross paths with them while they were looking for the shard. In addition to that he was keeping an eye out for more dragons, since the knowledge would be beneficial to Sharva, the bones and scales would be nice with his collection, and the souls would be nice to make more dracthyr, especially with how good Vulnilah with her new skills.

As it turned out there was nothing for them to worry about, there were travelers bathing in a small body of water, he found a few pillars for another Prince outside Bthardamz, which seemed to be Peryite's followers, before La'nari pointed out what appeared to be a dwemer bridge, two points that connected two sides of the river.

"What in the world is that?" Azure asked, as there appeared to be some sort of bowl shaped area on the other side of the river, to the right of where they were headed, and it seemed to be connected to the raised platform they could see, though he could see that there was nothing special about the area, save for the odd structure.

"I had no idea." a voice said, where Mora moved out of Capper's private Gate and looked at the area for a time, because this seemed different than what she was expecting, though they did climb off the carriage and used the smooth stone bridge to cross over to the other side of the river, causing her to point out the area at the top of the hill, "That's where my information said that the shard would be located... and yet, when we investigate, it's not here."

Capper could see that fact, there was an area like what was in the last two areas, the areas that he had found the shards in, and yet there was no shard resting in the slot, meaning either someone had taken it and it would take a long time to figure out where it was, or this was a decoy. As he thought about that he walked up the stairs that were connected to the raised platform and found that it had one of the dwarven control terminals, a square device of sorts that looked like it might need something to be inserted into the center. In the next few seconds he found a pedestal that had a brass cube of sorts on it, a device that had a small piece of aetherium resting inside the center of the device, which Capper picked up and studied for a few seconds, before finding that the console's insert point opened as he moved the device near it. With that in mind he just lowered it into the device and heard a whirl as the others joined him, to see what he was doing, as a bright light appeared in the air above them, like a miniature maelstrom of energy, as lightning flashed and struck the ground around them.

Following that a large spherical device, that was easily as tall as the Blue Palace, phased into existence above their heads, all made out of brass, made in the style of the dwemer that meant something to it's makers, before five devices were shot out of the bowl area and pulled it down to where they were standing.

"...it's a ship..." Capper said, as he recognized what they were seeing, to a degree, as the underside of the sphere had what appeared to be landing gear and even a fuel source that allowed it to move through the air, and the spherical gate that was in front of him opened as he approached it, revealing a spacious interior, "It's a freaking dwemer ship! MINE!"

Capper and Mora were the first ones to enter through the opening, where they found that there was a floor for them to walk on and explore, complete with a work area, a device on their left that seemed like a stone chair and a device mixed into one, and a bathing area to their right. There was a floor above them that appeared to have some work spaces, such as alchemy, enchanting, and even a food cooking area, before noticing that the floor below them had a smithy area that covered each type of station that one might need for making weapons and armor. He also noticed that there were three portals, one went to the upper level, one went to the lower level, and one went to a storage area, brass frames that seemed to be like what a centurion would be dispensed from with an orange magic of sorts. It was like a mobile home, in fact Capper was sure that if one messed with this place they could get the portals to lead to whole new areas that they couldn't see, before he spotted what they were looking for, there was a globe with the moons and planets around it, Nirn and the other celestial bodies, and inside the main globe was a familiar item.

He floated up to the globe and found that it stopped for a short time, allowing him to withdraw the Aetherium Shard that had been inside it, before he floated down to the others who were looking at both the ship and him with interest on their faces, causing him to piece together what this place might have been.

"The dwemer must have been using this place as a sort of research station and containment area... I think the cube that let me summon this place only appeared for a reason." Capper said, which was either because he had two of the other shards or it was designed to appear when the Dragonborn arrived, though he found that it was hard to tell for sure and decided not to question it too much as he slipped the shard into the Vault, "I wonder... it had a unique Gate formation, so I'm curious as to whether or not I can use the main terminal to move it, but instead of to one of the other ruins, like it might be designed, I'm wondering if I can move it to the Opulent Lands. Mora, what do you say?"

"I want to research this place!" Mora exclaimed, as this was unheard of, the vast information she had on the dwemer didn't go into stuff like this, because she knew the race was advanced enough to make all sorts of things, even a giant that went on to be a disaster for everyone involved, and a second one as well, but not a ship like this, which make her wonder if there might be more of them somewhere, before she regained herself, "I mean... if that's all right with you, my Lord."

Capper nodded as he slipped the cube onto the main terminal, as it appeared that it came out once the ship was locked in the dock, where he found that the aetherium fragment wanted his input on where to go, though he simply commanded it to blast off, sealing the door behind them as the floor shook. Sure enough he felt the power of the miniature maelstrom open once more, though this time he connected his magic to it and directed it into the air above the water near the coast of his realm, directly above the water based on what he could tell. With that in mind he found that the ship registered a new area to move to, even though it seemed confused on what to do next, where he directed it to warp back to Nirn and focused on the area they had found the cube at, and it wasn't long before it returned to where he had first summoned it. After that he and the others disembarked from the ship and he smiled as he stared at the ship, accessing the console near the crossing to send it back to where it had been resting for all this time, a temporary thing in his mind, and assured Mora that they would summon it once they were good and ready to do so.

With the cube stored away for the time being, placed in the Vault with the shards, Capper and the others returned to where they left the carriage, turned around without wasting time, and started to make their way back to the main road, because there was a path connected to it that would bring them near a orc settlement, which was near the last ruin. The plan was rather simple, they were going to use the main road to reach the path that would bring them to where the stronghold was located, and from there it would be a simple matter to locate Arkngthamz. After reaching the ruin it would be a rather simple task to track down the final shard and hopefully gain some information on where they could find the Aetherium Forge, the only place to work aetherium into items of power, which he intended on moving to his realm once they found it. He really had no idea if such a thing would work or not, this was uncharted territory since the dwemer were a strange people, but he was willing to put in the work to make sure his ideas could work, and he knew Mora would appreciate such a thing since it would open new things for her to learn about.

Once again Capper found that there was nothing on the road for them to worry about, save for dead Stormcloaks and dead Forsworn, as it looked like Ulfric's army was trying to gain intelligence on the area and the Forsworn, who seemed to simply hate everyone, killed them and themselves in battle.

With that in mind they were able to reach the area that Arkngthamz was located, heading up the side path that brought the carriage to where the orc stronghold was located, though it was accompanied by the ground shaking a little, where both they and the orcs were surprised by the sudden movement. Once they were sure that nothing was happening Capper made sure the orcs were fine, they had sustained no injuries, before continuing into the mountains, where it was easy to spot the ruin they were looking for, where a few saber cats seemed to be hanging out. Azure, Midnight, and La'nari put them down with ease, since the shaking of the earth of spooked them a little, though this time around the group decided to go in together, causing Capper to dismiss the carriage this time around as they headed inside the ruin. The strange thing they discovered was that the ruin seemed to be in the middle of falling apart, some of the walls were cracked, stones were falling, and there was a sense of dread that came from knowing that something was amiss.

"You know what, screw sneaking around." Capper said, where he summoned the Collectors from his realm, leaving the rest of the crew, the sneaky ones, behind for the time being as he faced everyone, which allowed him to see that most of them were worried about the state of the ruin, not that he blamed them, "Collectors, do your thing and take everything of value. Everyone else, just kill everything that moves and leave the gathering of items and loot to the kobolds. I don't like the looks of this place, so let's make our way through this place and get out of here before the entire ruin collapses."

Rarity and the others nodded as Capper drew his own swords, showing them that he was being serious, before they moved down the path that was in front of them, finding more fallen rocks and crushed dwarven constructs, only to reach what had to be the main chamber, a collapsing and broken area. It was sad to Capper, as he was sure that this place had been grand before the earthquake happened, though he did locate a dead woman on a pillar of rock, wearing normal steel armor, but in her possession they found a copy of the Aetherium Wars book, along with a journal that detailed where the four shards of aetherium were located. Sure enough the soul of the woman tracked them down and told them to flee, especially since this place was collapsing all around them, though Capper swiftly informed her that they weren't about to leave, not without the Aetherium Shard, causing the others to cross the collapsed pipes as they found a way to progress. This did mean they had to fight off the constructs that were still active, so Capper allowed Rarity and the others to move forward as he found that the soul continued to follow them, no doubt because they were about to steal her thunder.

The book contains my life's work, you know, until my own apprentice stole it... I can't rest until I prove that the theories are my own. the soul, Katria, stated, though at the same time she found that he was staring at the page with the map on the locations of the other Aetherium Shards, likely focused on where he would need to go after this, if they survived, something he didn't seem to be worried about right now, telling her that he was foolish, What are you looking at? I've been unable to determine where the fifth site is located.

"It's on the road leading to Riften... in fact, I'm sure I've seen it." Capper commented, as he recalled seeing an odd device of dwarven make while on the way towards the home of the Thieves Guild, something that wasn't connected to the ruin that was resting near it, and now he had an idea as to where he could find the Forge, causing him to put the journal away before he started following the others once more, "Looks like our quest might be over sooner, rather than later."

Katria, of course, wanted clarification on what he meant, though he ignored her for the time being as he followed the others to a area that had what the soul called 'kinetic resonators', which when hit would be locked in one position and opened the doors in front of them. Following that they found a bunch of falmer and their chaurus, which was common inside these types of ruins, so he drew his swords and rushed at some of them, slashing through the blind elves as the others engaged their enemies as well, Rarity freezing them, Azure and Sharva cutting their foes down, Midnight stabbing them and La'nari putting an arrow into their heads. While they did that the Collectors went to work without wasting time, where Katria found that they really tore into the weakened ruin while keeping their safety in mind, looting anything and everything that was of value before vanishing once they had a full bag, only returning as soon as their bags were empty again.

This was a shocker to Katria, that she had tried to stop people that were working so well as a group, making sure no one was alone when they fought the falmer, and she found that the kobolds, as they were called, also unlocked anything they passed by, be they locked doors or chests, leaving nothing behind. Not even the collapsing nature of the ruin seemed to slow them down in the slightest, rather it was like they were a seasoned band of adventurers and this was second nature to them, while at the same time it seemed like the one called 'Capper' was the leader. He was the one that did the least amount of fighting, rather it looked like he was studying her journal in great detail, especially the last page that contained her information on the tonal lock that was standing between them and the Aetherium Shard that was in this place. With their power it didn't take them long to track down where Katria had fallen to her death, where she lost her bow, and a single kobold rushed over to the fallen tree to acquire it, which did put a smile on her face since this meant it would see the light of day again, instead of being trapped in this collapsing place.

As she thought about that that they reached the final area, the large tonal lock that had five resonators, two on top while three were on the bottom, where Capper gathered five of the scattered arrows and sent them flying, hitting the bottom left, then the bottom right, following by the top left, top right, and then bottom middle, opening the doors to where their prize was resting.

And there it is, an Aetherium Shard...precisely cut, so that if you had another of equal size they'd snap together. Katria said, staring at the glowing blue piece of aetherium that Capper picked up, where she noted that he seemed to have noted the same thing, though this was good news for her, because with this group there was a chance she could track down the remaining three pieces and then track down the device she had sketched in her journal.

"Fascinating, the four pieces seem to lock into place together." Capper commented, just as the kobolds looted the chests that were resting in the final chamber, where he withdrew the other three shards for a moment and found that he was right, all four were the same size, with identical cuts, that appeared to make a key made of pure aetherium, before he set them back to his realm, "Well then, let's get the show on the road. We have a Forge to find."

Katria found that the group was able to disappear by using some sort of magic that she couldn't see, yet Capper did bring her into it with them and she found herself in what appeared to be a Plane of Oblivion, and before she could even marvel at what she was seeing they moved through a 'Gate' and stepped out into Riften. Following that Capper quickly summoned the carriage once more and everyone climbed aboard it, where La'nari took them out through the southern gate and quickly put them on the path that would bring them to the location Capper pointed out. Once more they found that there was a giant outside the orc stronghold that was along the path, being brought down by the orcs, and it wasn't long before they found their way to where the dwarven device was located, complete with three bandits setting up a camp near it. Sure enough the bandits attacked them without wasting time, they really never stopped to see if people were too much for them since Katria found that the group slaughtered them without wasting time, allowing the 'Collectors' to grab their loot.

Following that Capper approached the device, an astrolabe he noted, before finding a slot that the shards could fit into, to which he slipped the four shards into the center of the device and watched as it turned with each one he added, and once all four were added they were brought up into the center of the gear shaped device, creating a crest of aetherium.

When he removed the crest, however, the ground shook a little and everyone backed up, allowing them to observe as the platform rose into the air, revealing a hidden lift under it once everything was said and done, therefore allowing the group to stand on it before Capper brought them down into the earth with some kobolds watching guard to make sure no one found their way to this place. It took some time for them to reach the bottom of the shaft, which ended up bringing them to what appeared to be a massive underground chamber with water around the bottom of the cavern, with a single path leading to an older dwarven area, based on the weathered carvings. The face happened to have two more resonators, which Capper was able to activate with two minor bolts of magic, that went even deeper into the earth, revealing a path that brought them to a final chamber, one that was impressive, had a large pool of magma on the other end of it, and had a dwemer looking forge that was connected to everything. It was obvious that this was the Aetherium Forge, there was nothing else it could be, and that the dwarves had used the heat of magma to alter the material into whatever they wanted, though there were also some steam valves that were turned to cut down on the steam.

Such a thing prompted the Forge's defenses to become active once more, dispensing spiders and spheres to attack them, but those foes really weren't a challenge for the group, as Katria found that the others smashed the constructs without even wasting time, and the Collectors picked up whatever loot they could find. The main threat ended up being a large centurion that rose from the lava that was behind the forge, like it was coated to resist such a thing, and Capper found out why as he pointed out the couple plates of aetherium that were on the construct's body. Azure and Sharva stepped up to face it, where they rushed around the area and slashed at the weaker looking sections of the centurion's body, weakening the figure while it tried, in vain, to hit them, eventually allowing them to bring it down, much to Katria's amazement. Capper approached the downed construct and smiled as he extracted the aetherium plates that were attached to the figure, before walking up to where the Forge was located and found that it definitely responded to the aetherium he was carrying.

Katria found that he didn't make anything right away, even though she would have used the crest to do so, rather three new figures stepped out from the private Gate he seemed to possess and she had the feeling she was about to witness an event that no one else would be able to see. Together the four of them seemed to surround the enter cavern that the Forge was in and, in the blink of an eye, they were warped into the strange realm that Capper had brought them to earlier, only this time they were out in the sea, far from the Golden City. Before the molten material even had a chance to hit the water she found that the water shook, Capper terraforming the area with his power as she found an island taking shape around them, only it was far beyond what she was expecting, because the area immediately around them seemed to match the area they had found the Forge in, before finding room more for devices and even stations for workers to live and rest in. In the next instant she noticed that the rest of the island seemed to be made out of aetherium, as in the island was a massive aetherium mine, yet was set up so that the area would be totally safe for workers to work in, making this an island of innovation that would no doubt appease the dwarves.

There was even a bowl shaped area as part of the normal dwarven area, a large zone she noticed, that caused Capper to just vanish for a time, before a mini maelstrom of energy appeared above the bowl and a dwemer ship landed in the bowl, with the khajiit inside it, before he used the aetherium plates, some brass, and a few other materials to make something with the power of the Forge.

"Is that... an aetherium pickaxe?" Rarity asked, as that was what it looked like, it was like a dwaven weapon and yet seemed more suited for mining, where Capper walked out into the mining area and swung it, allowing them to watch as he extracted a piece of the blue stone with ease.

"Yes, and it's the start of something wonderful. Katria, will you join us in studying and working this material?" Capper asked, as he knew that she had devoted her life to learning about aetherium and even went out of her way to prove it existed, and died because of it no less, where he found that the soul nodded her head, causing him to expand his magic towards her and created a new form for her, a human sized kobold with dwarven boots and gloves, outfitted with small aetherium gems in them, plus a normal smithy attire.

Capper smiled as he set up a portal frame as well, connecting the Aetherium Island to the main continent, that way anyone could warp between the two easily, before he stored the crest in his Vault, because this had been a good day for him, he had lots of new items to look over and more items were being made, and it made him eager to see what the future had in store for him, his friends, and his growing Plane of Oblivion.

Author's Note

For those curious the dwemer ship is from a mod, AHO Dwemer Ship, that I repurposed a little for this chapter.