Thieves Guild (Skyrim)

The Thieves Guild is one of several factions that appear in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

History
As the Fourth Era continued on, the Thieves Guild slipped further and further into obscurity and disrepair. This is revealed to be a curse from Nocturnal.

Joining
In order to join the Thieves Guild you must first enter Riften and find Brynjolf, a red-headed Nord male who can be found in the marketplace during the day and at The Bee and Barb inn during the night. Usually he will approach the player character himself and after a short chat offer the quest A Chance Arrangement. He asks you to steal a ring from the stall of the Argonian jeweler, Madesi, then plant the ring by reverse-pickpocketing onto the Dark Elf Brand-Shei. Whether you succeed in your endeavor or fail Brynjolf will ask you to meet up with him in The Ragged Flagon, a bar located beneath the city through The Ratway, as a challege to your prowess. Either fight or sneak your way through the thugs who have been hired to defend the Theieves Guild and avoid the several traps to make it to the back entrance to The Ragged Flagon. Once inside you might overhear the tail end of a conversation between Brynjolf and the Guild leader Mercer Frey regarding the former's recruitment of the Dragonborn, then you may speak with Brynjolf to being the quest Taking Care of Business. Once you have completed this quest and returned once again to Brynjolf you will become the neweset member of the Theives Guild.

Thieves' Guild Main Questline

 * 1) A Chance Arrangement
 * 2) Taking Care of Business
 * 3) Loud and Clear
 * 4) Dampened Spirits
 * 5) Scoundrel's Folly
 * 6) Speaking With Silence
 * 7) Hard Answers
 * 8) The Pursuit
 * 9) Trinity Restored
 * 10) Blindsighted
 * 11) Darkness Returns
 * 12) Under New Management

Side Quests

 * Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'Saad
 * This is a miscellaneous quest that becomes available after completely 3 or 4 of the side jobs given to you by Delvin Mallory and is given by the fence Tonilia. Upon completion all merchants within the Khajiit Caravans will be avaliable as Fences for stolen goods.

Small Jobs
Delvin and Vex offer an unlimited number of radiant quests known as "jobs." The target item(s) and location are generated randomly. Jobs can be accepted and quit at will and it is possible (and efficient) to run a job for Delvin and one for Vex simultaneously. The reward for each mission is between 100 and 500 depending on how many main quests of the thieves guild were completed, as each quest adds 50 to the amount of the reward. A Special Job will be unlocked for each, after performing five small jobs in Whiterun, Markarth, Windhelm, and Solitude. If you kill any related people during the mission, you will not be paid and the quest will come up as failed.



Delvin Mallory's Jobs

 * The Bedlam Job - Steal enough items or gold to reach a given value within the assigned Hold. Can keep stolen items. (Can be time consuming.) scrolls or potions are easy at night.
 * A very effective method is stealing an expensive item, going to a secluded location, then dropping it and picking it up a few times. Each time you pick it up it counts as a theft.
 * ​The Fishing Job - Pickpocket an item from a given character.
 * Can be difficult, but the quest item has usually a higher success percentage for pickpocketing than its usual kind, hence it is great training for this skill.
 * Save before you pickpocket the item as you may get caught and forced to pay bounty.
 * The Numbers Job - Modify the ledger book at a given business.

Vex's Jobs

 * The Burglary Job - Steal an item from a house.
 * Can be done during the day or night easily, as the owner either sleeps or is at work
 * The best time to do this sort of job is around 7:30 PM, as there is no one at home or on the street
 * The Heist Job - Steal an item from a business.
 * If tried during the day the shopowner will most likely follow you around.
 * The Shill Job - Plant a stolen item in an NPC's home.
 * The Sweep Job - Steal three items from a house.

City Influence Quests
After performing five total Small Jobs in a city, Delvin Mallory will offer a special job to restore Thieves Guild influence in that city. The city influence quests are necessary in order to complete Under New Management and assume the title of Guildmaster. In addition, each City Influence Quest will add a new merchant to the Ragged Flagon and increase the total gold of all fences in Skyrim, up to the maximum of 4000.

Players seeking to complete these city quests as fast as possible should quick save before getting a new job and then ask for Numbers Jobs from Delvin and Heist Jobs from Vex. If it is in a city whose influence quest has already been completed, quick load and try again. Another way is to tell Delvin and/or Vex that you want to quit the job you just asked for, then asking for the job again. It will give you the same job, but in a different city. This can be repeated until the city you are after appears in one of the jobs. There are no negative repercussions for quitting jobs, excluding the multiple failed missions in your log book and the short disapproving dialogue after each time you quit.


 * Imitation Amnesty - Whiterun.
 * Summerset Shadows - Windhelm. Unlocks an additional fence.
 * Silver Lining - Markarth. Unlocks an additional fence.
 * The Dainty Sload - Solitude. Unlocks an additional fence and one new recruit.
 * Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'saad - Becomes avaliable after completing 3 side quests, by speaking to Tonilia.

Note: The new recruit(s) may not appear after you finish The Dainty Sload or any other specific special assignment, but rather after you have finished a certain number of them. Players have reported that Ravyn Imyan, the new recruit, did not show up until the third special assignment was finished.

Larceny Targets
Various unique items can be stolen during the Thieves Guild quests and sold to Delvin. As each is collected and sold to Delvin, they will be displayed on the shelves behind Mercer's Desk: As you finish the additional jobs that Vex and Delvin give you, trophies (all of which can be seen in Vex’s Burglary Jobs) begin to fill the shelves too: After completing 125 jobs, a Safe is added next to the shelves which contains random loot and potions that improves your stealth skills.
 * Queen Bee Statue in Goldenglow Estate
 * Honningbrew Decanter in Honningbrew Meadery
 * East Empire Shipping Map in East Empire Company Warehouse
 * Model Ship in Snow Veil Sanctum
 * Dwemer Puzzle Cube in Calcelmo's Laboratory in the Dwemer Museum in Markarth
 * Bust of the Gray Fox in Riftweald Manor in Riften
 * Left Eye of the Falmer in Irkngthand
 * Jeweled Candlestick appears after you complete 5 jobs.
 * Ornate Drinking Horn appears after you complete 15 jobs.
 * Golden Ship Model appears after you complete 25 jobs.
 * Golden Urn appears after you complete 35 jobs.
 * Jeweled Goblet appears after you complete 45 jobs.
 * Jeweled Pitcher appears after you complete 55 jobs.
 * Jeweled Flagon appears after you complete 75 jobs.

Also of note is the fact that the Crown of Barenziah is placed on the head in the center of the shelves after completion of the mission No Stone Unturned.

Trainers

 * Delvin Mallory: Master Sneak trainer
 * Niruin: Master Archery trainer
 * Vex: Master Lockpicking trainer
 * Vipir the Fleet: Master Pickpocket trainer

Fences
Fences will buy your stolen goods from you. There are a total of 7 different fences throughout Skyrim (more if you count each individual caravan seller as a fence. These are:
 * Tonilia (Default fence - available in the Ragged Flagon under Riften upon completion of the Taking Care of Business quest)
 * Mallus Maccius (Located at Honningbrew Meadery. Becomes available upon completion of the Dampened Spirits quest)
 * Gulum-Ei (Located in Solitude . Often in the Winking Skeever . Available upon completion of the Scoundrel's Folly quest)
 * Enthir (Located in Winterhold and the College of Winterhold . Can be found in the Hall of Attainment during the day and in The Frozen Hearth at night. Available upon completion of the Hard Answers quest)
 * Niranye - Located in Windhelm. Has a stall near The White Phial during the day. Requires special job from Delvin Mallory - Summerset Shadows)
 * Endon (Located in Markarth. Requires special job from Delvin Mallory - Silver Lining)
 * Khajiit Caravans (Located outside of cities near their stables (or near where you're dropped when you ride the carriage and/or fast travel to the area, if they don't have a stable). Requires at least 3 special jobs from Delvin Mallory to be completed, as well as the miscellaneous quest from Tonilia - Deliver Moon Sugar to Ri'Saad)

Armor Sets
When completing quests in the Thieves guild questline, the player can obtain four different armor sets.
 * Thieves Guild Armor (Obtained after Taking Care of Business)
 * Part of the main Thieves Guild questline
 * Nightingale Armor (Obtained during Trinity Restored)
 * Part of the main Thieves Guild questline
 * Guild Master's Armor Set (Obtained after Under New Management)
 * Linwe's Armor Set (Obtained during Summerset Shadows)

If you sell your Thieves Guild Armor before Tonilia gives you the option of improving it, you can find bits of Thieves Guild armor laying about random places in the Cistern area of the Ragged Flagon. However, if you sell those too, there is no way to retrieve another set, as they do not respawn. (I think, I haven't checked)

Reparations
In the event that you get caught stealing from or attacking another guild member or one of their associates, you will be removed from the guild and none of the members will speak to you. To rejoin the guild you must speak to Vex, she will then provide you with a quest called Reparations where you must pay her 1,000 Gold to rejoin the guild.

Members
Thieves Associates
 * Mercer Frey - Guild Master
 * Brynjolf - Second-in-Command
 * Delvin Mallory - Member, Gives the player Small Jobs and Special Jobs, also serves as Master Sneak Trainer
 * Vex - Member, Gives the player Small Jobs, also serves as Master Lockpicking Trainer
 * Tonilia - Member, Also serves as a Fence
 * Sapphire (Character)
 * Cynric Endell
 * Niruin
 * Rune
 * Thrynn
 * Vipir the Fleet - Member, also serves as Master Pickpocket Trainer
 * Garthar - Member, joins after completing three Special Jobs for Delvin Malory
 * Ravyn Imyan - Member, joins after completing four Special Jobs for Delvin Malory
 * Etienne Rarnis - Only if completed the Diplomatic Immunity quest under certain circumstances
 * Dragonborn - assumes guildmaster after Mercer's betrayal
 * Molgrom Twice-Killed - Located in the Riften Jail.
 * Vekel the Man - Runs The Ragged Flagon
 * Dirge - The Ragged Flaggon's bouncer, the brother of Maul.

Trivia

 * Sometimes in towns there is a random Thief trying to lockpick a door. Guards will yell "Stop Thief!". You can kill this thief and take his items without any repercussions.


 * Normally this random thief will have:
 * Gold (random amount)
 * Gold Ingot
 * Random housewares (candlesticks, platters, plates, etc.)
 * Gems (random assortment)
 * In the small room where training goes on, there are chests for each level of difficulty and can be picked without it being considered stealing. However, if other members of the Guild are also in the room, they will interrupt you on the Expert and Master level chests, as if the game considers it breaking in (Confirmed on X-Box and PS3). These chests contain decent loot, especially the Master and Expert level ones, and will respawn after a few in-game days, providing the player with a good source of money and training.
 * A book written by Delvin Mallory can be found in the Flagon, called Shadowmarks. Shadowmarks are carvings into buildings near their main doorways, and are very handy in pointing out locations around cities that have good loot.
 * If you're married to a merchant, such as Ysolda, you may get a job where you place stolen goods in their house which may be your house if you've choosen to stay in your spouse's house instead of one of your own..
 * Unlike the other factions, namely The Companions and the College of Winterhold, you cannot marry any of their members. This is also true with the Dark Brotherhood.

Bugs

 * While not game breaking, the Civil War Quests Defense of Whiterun or Liberate Whiterun can render some houses inaccessible in Whiterun for the Special Jobs. If this is the case, just quit the job and get another.
 * Sometimes Larceny Targets are impossible to turn in.
 * Selling your original Thieves Guild armor can trigger a bug later in the Thieves Guild quest tree, preventing Tonilia from upgrading your armor at the end of Scoundrel's Folly. This also prevents you from interacting with Tonilia and therefore using her services as a fence. *Fixed in patch 1.4. Go to the training room in the Cistern to find Theives Guild Hood and Gloves. You can now take these to Tonilia to get the upgrade.
 * Sometimes selling your original Thieves Guild armor can prevent you from getting the quest "Under New Managment" even after competing all 4 special jobs. *Presumably fixed under patch 1.4 (see above). Not confirmed,
 * Sometimes you will not get the quest 'Dampened Spirits' after completing the quest before that. Saving + Reloading doesn't seem to work. (PS3, Jan 8 2012.; XBOX, Jan 11, 2012) Discovered cause: not fully getting "inducted" into the guild. If this has happened to you, you will notice a few things: 1. chests in the cistern will simply be tagged as chests rather than guild chests. 2. first speech option for Tonilia will say "What can I get for these" as opposed to "What do you have for sale". All guild members will speak to you as though you are part of the guild, but for some reason you won't actually be in the guild, hence not being allowed to start the quest. No fix has been discovered yet.
 * If after finishing planting the ring for Brynjolf, there is a person who you can talk to that will reactivate the quest to talk to Brynjolf to plant the ring. But at this point, Brynjolf will stand in the market place in his armor (as if he is still distracting to people) and you will be unable to get him into the Ragged Flagon. When talking to him he will only say to talk to him in the Flaggon, but he will never appear there thus making it impossible to join the guild.
 * If you reach stage 4 vampirism while you are a member of the Thieves Guild and are seen by Maven Black Briar, you will have "assaulted a member of the Thieves Guild" and will have to pay 1000 gold to the Doyen.
 * Game Breaking bug - Brynjolf will stand on a blacony which is inaccessible through normal means. It may be possible with Whirlwind Sprint but I have not tested it yet. This is before you start the Thieves Guild Questline and you cannot start the questline.
 * If you're banned from the guild, Some fences that are not in the Cistern, will still buy stolen goods.
 * Linwe's Armor will sometimes become blurred and make the arms invisible when in first person. Nothing seems to cure this.
 * During the quest The Pursuit, your instructions say 'meet Karliah in the Ragged Flagon', but she is still standing in the cellar of the Frozen Hearth in Winterhold, with the quest arrow over her. She has no dialogue available, so cannot interact with you. Meanwhile in the Thieves' Guild HQ at Riften, everyone is awaiting her return, knives in hand, and all other conversations are suspended, rendering the rest of the Thieves' Guild mission unable to be finished.
 * If you fight Mercer Frey while he's in the Cistern after you join the Thieves Guild, he will open the vault door if you stand in the water, revealing nothing is in it.