Deepest-Fathoms - The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP) (2024)

From-Deepest-Fathoms is a disturbed Argonian citizen who can be found wandering around the docks outside Riften Fishery. She's in possession of a particular item she would like to see returned to its place of origin, due to it carrying too many bad memories for her.

She wears a set of hide armor, including the helmet, bracers, and the boots. She wields an iron dagger and carries a belted tunic along with a selection of common loot and gold.

Related Quests[edit]

• Unfathomable Depths: Uncover the memories of the Dwemer.
• Spread the Love: Distribute religious literature to the citizens of Riften.

Dialogue[edit]

Once she gets enabled at level 14, Fathoms will be wandering around the dockside, spouting out disturbing warnings to anyone that comes close to her:

"It is done. I won't go back to Avanchnzel. I won't."

"I could have left it behind. I could have put it back where it came from."

Quest-Related Dialogue[edit]

Unfathomable Depths[edit]

If you speak to the disturbed Argonian wandering around the docks, she will insistently tell you:

"You. You must take the Lexicon. Free me of my burden."

Lexicon? Burden? What are you talking about?

"The memories. I cannot stand them. You must take them away, return them to Avanchnzel. You must take the Lexicon from me. Please... take it now."

It's okay. I'll take the Lexicon.

"You must bring it to Avanchnzel, in the west. Return it to them. It must go back."

I don't want the Lexicon.

"I won't be the one to go back there. I won't return to Avanchnzel. You can't make me do it."

If you decide to exit dialogue at any point before accepting to return the Lexicon, she will plead:

"Please don't leave. You must help me."

Once you have accepted, attempting to speak with her further will just result in more cryptic speech:

"Please take the Lexicon."

"It's yours now. I won't take it back. I won't."

"Avanchnzel. Take it to Avanchnzel. You must take it back."

As you first enter Avanchnzel you will see a ghostly vision of the past. It shows a group consisting of Fathoms, as well as three other party members: Drennen, Breya, and the apparent leader, Watches-The-Roots:

Drennen: "I don't like this place. It feels like we're being... watched."

Breya: "It's a simple job, Drennen. We get in, we steal the Lexicon, we leave. Don't get jumpy."

Fathoms: "If you two cannot handle this, we can find others to hire."

Roots: "Enough. Their services will be more than adequate. Let us continue."

In the first chamber of the Animoncultory, you will yet again encounter the ghosts, this time trying to break into one of the many hidden chambers of Avanchnzel. At this point, it is clear the place is starting to get to them:

Breya: "I told you we should have hired a thief."

Fathoms: "We are thieves, you fool. We're stealing the cube."

Breya: "And yet none of us can pick a damned lock."

While the apparitions will continue recalling their journey alongside you, Fathoms appears at several points, but doesn't speak. This goes until you reach a campsite in Avanchnzel Animoncultory:

Drennen: "This place is huge."

Roots: "It is large, indeed. I did not anticipate Avanchnzel's size or the time needed to uncover the entrance. A few hours sleep and we should be ready to continue through."

Drennen: "Maybe we should turn back. I don't want to sleep here."

Roots: "Drennen, you do understand that the Lexicon at the bottom of this place holds the accumulated memories of centuries of Dwemer."

Breya: "Not to mention our pay."

Drennen: "So?"

Fathoms: "So we're not turning back, you fool."

Breya: "Besides, you're not afraid of a few sleeping metal men. Are you, Drennen?"

Just before the doors to the Avanchnzel Boilery, Fathoms will give her final thoughts on Drennen:

Drennen: "I can't do this. We shouldn't be here. I'm sorry."

Breya: "Drennen!"

Fathoms: "Let the field mouse run. Your pay will be double."

Breya: "My pay will be nothing if we die in here!"

Roots: "Calm yourself, Breya. We are closing in on the Lexicon. I can feel it calling. We'll continue without Drennen."

As you enter the Boilery:

Roots: "We are close now. Can you feel the Lexicon calling out?"

Fathoms: "Sure."

Breya: "So we get it and get out, right?"

Roots: "Once we have the Lexicon, we'll need to take it to its podium. I know what to do from there. Soon the Lexicon's knowledge will be mine."

Fathoms: "Ours. Soon the Lexicon's knowledge will be ours."

Roots: "Of course."

After you have witnessed this scene, the vision Fathoms will no longer appear, but she was meant to make one more appearance, explaining how she ended up in Riften, but this scene can't play due to a bug. Once the quest is finished, you can return to Fathoms in Riften, but she will make no mention of the events transpired and will not offer you any unique dialogue at all.

Spread The Love[edit]

Despite not appearing to be in the right headspace, you can still offer Fathoms a religious pamphlet from the Temple. While she isn't exactly appreciative, she still seems uncharacteristically level-headed:

Here, brother[sic]. Blessings of Mara upon you.

"I have no desire to seek religion."

Notes[edit]

• From-Deepest-Fathoms will only get enabled once you reach level 14. While her AI immediately makes her move to the docks, she actually gets enabled inside of Haelga's Bunkhouse. She also in the faction for the patrons of this establishment, although she can never be found there once she leaves to go wander at the docks.
• Fathoms does not need to be alive in order to start the quest. You only need to receive the Lexicon. This can also be accomplished by pickpocketing it off of her, or looting it off her corpse, or from her coffin in the Hall of the Dead, in case her body has been removed. The quest stages will still state you received the Lexicon from her, however.
• From-Deepest-Fathoms has a ghostly form that you encounter while inside Avanchnzel, which uses her second form ID and ref ID and is in the Dwarven Automaton Faction.
• Unlike most Argonians with hyphenated names, Fathoms does not use the last part of her name as her "short name" in the subtitles. Instead, her short name is set as "Fathom", which is likely the result of a typo.
• There are 13 different dialogue scenes set up for the quest Unfathomable Depths, but not all of them contain dialogue. The first scene MS04Vision01Scene, appears to have been a conversation between Fathoms and Breya, but its contents are unknown.
• Unused scripting in the quest Unfathomable Depths would've given every member of the party a full set of Dwarven armor, although this never happens, and it's unknown what purpose this would've served.

Bugs[edit]

• She is incorrectly referred to as "brother" when handing her a flier during Spread The Love.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.3.2, fixes this bug.
• A scene near the giant Dwemer factory may be missing, since the trigger for it is located outside of the map: ^?

Fathoms: "The Lexicon had better be worth all this trouble."

Roots: "I assure you, it is. The knowledge contained in the Lexicon created everything you see around you. Properly controlled, it has knowledge enough to turn paupers into kings."

Drennen: "You sure that's power we're meant to have?"

Roots: "Absolutely."

• Due to a spelling error in the game code, the final scene near the Centurion will never play as intended. It was meant to describe the death of Breya and how Fathoms escaped:

Fathoms: "I have the Lexicon! Where's the podium?"

Breya: "I can't hold these things! We need to leave!"

Fathoms:"I did not come all the way here just to walk out empty-handed."

Breya:"The way out is right there! Run, damn it!"

• This scene was originally fixed by version 1.3.3. of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch, however, this was reverted by version 2.0.0., due to the changes actually breaking the scene further.