With the Silver-Blood matter settled, I headed to the Jarl's hall. In Markarth, the Jarl's Great Hall is a complex carved into the cliff face of the city. In truth, much of the interior of the hall is repurposed from the palace of the Reachmen, who in turn had used the Dwemer ruins deeper in Markarth for materiel and inspiration.
This all makes it the perfect place to study the lost Dwemer culture, and the foremost researcher in that field, Calcelmo, takes residence in the palace as well. He seemed to have forgotten about the matter with the Nightingales. Instead, Calcelmo tells me of a different problem - he can't enter the ruins of Nchuand-Zel recently because the entrance has a major spider infestation.
Guards sent to deal with the problem did not return. Worse yet - an imperial expedition of scholars also entered the ruins previously and someone needed to head into the ruins to find out if they're still alive.
The problem seems dire - so I decided to help. The spider problem is a minor one and easily dealt with. Beyond that, I find traces of the expedition - including an abandoned camp. The journals left behind describes the scholars' plan to split up so that each can research the places they think is most promising. Uh oh.
The imperial guards the scholars brought with them were unaccustomed to the darkness, and are simply sitting ducks against the hunting methods of the Falmer. I find the scholars and their escorts soon enough - all murdered by Falmer stalkers. Their journals show their folly - each man truly thought they were smarter than the other, and thus had not considered the real danger they've thrust themselves into.
My heart heavy with the news of their deaths, I returned to Calcelmo to report my findings. At least the way to the ruins is clear again.
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