Thieves Guild (Skyrim)

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

History
Little is known when Theives Guild was founded, but it it rumoured to have been around as long as Riften has. As the Fourth Era continued, the Thieves Guild slipped further and further into obscurity and the members and regular clients began to leave (with the exception of Maven Black-Briar). This is revealed to be a curse from Nocturnal.

Joining
To join the Thieves Guild the Dragonborn must enter Riften during the day, and speak to Brynjolf; a red-headed Nord male, who can be found in the Riften Marketplace between 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Once the player is within proximity, Brynjolf will automatically attempt to strike up a conversation in which the Thieves Guild prerequisite quest A Chance Arrangement can be started. Alternatively, in the evenings past 8:00 p.m., the player can encounter Brynjolf at The Bee and Barb inn, at which time he will tell the player to speak with him during the day at his stall in the Riften Marketplace.

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 side quest that becomes available after completing three of the City Influence quests given to you by Delvin Mallory. Upon completion, all merchants within the Khajiit Caravans will be available 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. After performing five small jobs in Whiterun, Markarth, Windhelm, Riften and Solitude, a Special Job will be unlocked for each. 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. (easiest one to complete.)



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 completing five 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. These quests can be taken in any order:

Merchants
City Influence quest will add a new merchant to the Ragged Flagon. The new merchants aren't linked to a particular quest so they will always be unlocked in the same order. These merchants are: In addition, completing all 4 City Influence quest will increase the total gold of all fences in Skyrim, up to the maximum of 4000 and also unlocks new recruits into the guild.

Conditions and tips
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.

Recruits not appearing
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. By following the questline, the items appear in the following order:
 * 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

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.
 * 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 bust in the center of the shelves upon 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 9 different fences throughout Skyrim (including each Khajiit caravan):

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)
 * Nightingale Armor (Obtained during Trinity Restored)
 * Guild Master's Armor Set (Obtained after Under New Management)
 * Linwe's Armor Set (Obtained during Summerset Shadows)

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.

Thieves

 * Mercer Frey - Guild Master
 * Brynjolf - Second-in-Command
 * Delvin Mallory - Senior Member, Gives the player Small Jobs and Special Jobs, also serves as Master Sneak Trainer
 * Vex - Senior Member, Gives the player Small Jobs, also serves as Master Lockpicking Trainer
 * Tonilia - Senior Member, Also serves as a Fence
 * Sapphire
 * Cynric Endell
 * Niruin
 * Rune
 * Thrynn
 * Vipir the Fleet - also serves as Master Pickpocket Trainer
 * Garthar - joins after completing three Special Jobs for Delvin Malory
 * Ravyn Imyan - joins after completing four Special Jobs for Delvin Malory
 * Etienne Rarnis - Only if completed the Diplomatic Immunity quest under certain circumstances
 * Molgrom Twice-Killed- Located in the Riften Jail.

Associates

 * Vekel the Man - Runs The Ragged Flagon
 * Dirge - The Ragged Flaggon's bouncer, the brother of Maul.
 * Syndus - Arrows and weapons merchant
 * Herlium Lothaire - Alchemy merchant
 * Arnskar Ember-Master - Blacksmith
 * Vanryth Gatharian - Armor and weapons merchant

Trivia

 * Unlike the Dark Brotherhood, there is no quest to destroy the Thieves Guild.
 * Occasionally a random event occurs where an unnamed Thief will attempt lockpick a door in a city. Guards will attack the theif until he's either dead or he escapes. The theif will never attack the player, but he can be killed without any repercussions.
 * Normally this random thief will have:
 * Gold (random amount)
 * Random houseware (candlesticks, platters, plates, etc.)
 * Gems (random assortment)
 * In the small training room in the Cistern, there are chests for each level of difficulty. These 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 Xbox and PS3). These chests contain leveled loot, 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 chosen 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.
 * If Dwemer Puzzle Cube is not turrned in to Delvin last out of the unique items found in the quest line, the other items will not trigger the option to sell to Delvin in his dialogue.
 * 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 Thieves Guild Hood and Gloves. You can now take these toTonilia 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 and 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.
 * 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 start attacking the other members if you stand in the water.
 * The Numbers Job: Helga's Bunkhouse points at an upstairs location, even though the books are downstairs through the doors behind the counter. Will not allow to interact with books.
 * Sometimes the earned larceny targets will not appear after the given number of jobs has been completed.