Scoundrel's Folly

Scoundrel's Folly is a quest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is part of the Thieves Guild questline.

Overview

 * Prerequisite: Dampened Spirits
 * Quest Giver: Mercer Frey
 * Reward: See rewards section
 * Reputation Gain: N/A

Objectives

 * Speak to Mercer Frey
 * (Optional) Speak to Brynjolf
 * Speak to Gulum-Ei
 * Shadow Gulum-Ei
 * Confront Gulum-Ei
 * Return to Mercer Frey

Walkthrough

 * 1) Speak to Mercer Frey
 * 2) *Mercer thinks he may have finally caught the Guild's anonymous adversary slipping up. From the note you provide, he deduces that they are likely using an old Guild contact at the East Empire Trading Company in Solitude as a go between. He fingers Gulum-Ei and wants you to confront him and shake him down for information.
 * 3) *If you chose to speak to Brynjolf before you leave he'll give you more details of who Gulum-Ei is and his involvement with the Guild. He tells you that Gulum-Ei has no honor and in order to gain any useful information from him, you will need to either buy him off or follow him in order to gain information that could be used as leverage against him. Either way, Brynjolf makes it clear... Do Not Kill Gulum-Ei.
 * 4) Speak to Gulum-Ei
 * 5) *Gulum-Ei will most likely be in the Winking Skeever in Solitude.
 * 6) *Using the Amulet of Dibella and a potion to increase speech, persuade will work if you have a high enough Speech skill.
 * 7) *He plays stupid for at first, seems that bribing him is the only way to get information. He want's you to steal a case of Firebrand Wine from the Blue Palace.
 * 8) *Getting the wine is easy enough, just head over to the Blue Palace and pick it up. It's pretty close to the entrance.
 * 9) *He claims to not know anything other than the woman in question has a grudge against Mercer Frey.
 * 10) Shadow Gulum-Ei
 * 11) *He heads out of Solitude down towards the docks and into the East Empire Company Warehouse. You may pickpocket Gulum-Ei for the key to the warehouse.
 * 12) *For this you may find it's easier to stay on top of the shelves to follow him since the guards are always patrolling, there's a ramp just behind the small hut as you walk in. Or remaining in the water below the docks is equally effective.
 * 13) *When you get to the end of the shelves go up the stairs and straight on, theres a small ledge you can walk across then drop down onto the walkway. At this stage the easiest way to follow him is just to drop into the water and move as slowly and quietly as possible. Follow him out of the water, up a ramp through a hidden door.
 * 14) *At the farthest northern point is an elevated building. To get to the building there is another ramp leading up to the left of the one to the hidden door. Inside the building on a table is the East Empire shipping map, which can be sold to Delvin.
 * 15) Confront Gulum-Ei
 * 16) *You find yourself in Brinewater Grotto which has several hostile bandits, you have two choices here, sneak past (Rather difficult) or eliminate them. If you chose to sneak, beware of a bandit swimming in the water. There is a way to get by the bandit in the water and the one on top, After seeing the two bandits on the dock talking to each other and right before going up those stairs look to your right and you will see a spider web. Cut it down with you weapon and continue through. You will have to fight three Frostbite Spiders.
 * 17) *When you get to the end of the line and confront him he tells you the person you are after's name is Karliah rather quickly. You're apparently supposed to know who she is, she murdered the last Guild Master and is now after Mercer. Gulum-Ei pleads innocent though you're free to kill him if you choose to do so. If spared, he becomes available as a fence. Killing him will also forfeit your reward from Mercer.
 * 18) Return to Mercer Frey
 * 19) *Return to Mercer with the location Gulum-Ei said she was headed 'Where the End Began.'

Rewards

 * Three Soul Gems (randomly generated)
 * Deed to Goldenglow Estate
 * Able to upgrade one piece of your Thieves Guild Armor:
 * 1) Hood - Prices are 15% better. (up from 10%).
 * 2) Cuirass - Carrying capacity increased by 35 points. (up from 20).
 * 3) Gloves - Lockpicking is 25% easier. (up from 15%).
 * 4) Boots - Pickpocket success is 25% better. (up from 15%).

Bugs
(XBOX ,PS3 and PC) This quest is currently bugged on Xbox. When you are supposed to shadow Gulum-Ei, after he leaves the Winking Skeever, he disappears from the game. Looking at the map shows you he is in the Solitude game cell, yet it shows him outside the city walls. If this happens, the quest cannot be completed unless reverting to a previous save.

(XBOX) A second bug on the Xbox can occur right when you exit Solitude and enter Skyrim. Gulum-Ei can sometimes not move at all and simply stand at the front gates. To fix this you need to kill him and then reload the last Auto save.

(XBOX) A bug similar to the first also occurs after Gulum-Ei enters the East Empire Company Warehouse. He remains in the EECW cell but is outside the walls.to fix this bug, when you must shadow gulum-Ei, instead of shadow him, travel to east empire company warehouse and enter. if you wait 1 or 2 minutes, you'll see gulum-Ei near you that is entered. 100% fix verified

(XBOX) Possible fix for the XBOX 360 bug: If you lose track of Gulum-Ei after he leaves the Winking Skeever, and his quest marker shows that he is in Solitude, you may be able to reach him by activating a texture glitch in Solitude that allows you to drop down onto the terrain that the city is generated on. To do this, start by going outside the Fletcher shop, from the door looking southwest, and jump over the small wall to land on the roof of Angeline's Aromatics. Jumpclimb to the small ledge on the south side of the roof, and face south. Use Whirlwind Sprint to cross the street onto the roof of Bits and Pieces. Go west to the edge of the roof, and look south to the roof of Raidiant Raiment. Walk onto the section of roof where Bits and Pieces and Raidiant Raiment meet (facing south), and you will drop down below the city. Gulum-Ei has been reported to be in many different places under the city, but you should be able to walk to his location following his quest marker. However, if you do find him under the city, he will not be able to move, so your only solution at this point is to kill him or so that you may finish the quest. alternatively, if you want to keep Gulum-Ei alive you should go to the East Empire company wharehouse and find the enterance to Brinewater Grotto (BEFORE using the glitch) this will activate the 'Confront Gulum-Ei' part of the quest you can then leave the grotto and use the glitch to reach Gulum-Ei. (EDIT) - This worked for me! Thanks a hell of a lot! Really was bugging me. (Climbing the tower by Radiant Raiment and using Whirlwind Shout is much easier!)

(XBOX) If Gulum-Ei doesn't move when you enter the Warehouse, and stops by the hut, simply wait outside the warehouse until about 8 o'clock or later and he should continue moving as normal.

(PC) If this happens on PC, one option is to switch to 'no clip' (~tcl) mode and find Gulum-Ei located on the side of the mountain in continous mid-fall. Kill him, and then return to Solitude and turn 'no clip' back on. The quest should now say that you need to find another source of information. Continue to the quest marker as normal. The only downside is that the rewards of keeping Gulum-Ei alive are forfeited. If however he is standing and can be spoken to then proceed with the quest and after clearing the Brinewater Grotto do into no clip nad speak to him, this should finish the quest.

(PC) You can also first go to Brinewater Grotto without seeing him. Once you are there, you will receive the instructions to confront him and you can come back to Solitude and perform the previous trick to confront him.

Possible bug on consoles. You have to go to Tonilia to upgrade your armor. If you don't have any of the pieces, she tells you to come back. The problem arises if you sold your armor to her. She keeps asking if you have the armor and turning you away if you don't, meaning you can't buy it back from her even if she has it (I don't think she does). This results in losing Tonilia as a fence.