Thieves Guild

Ah, the Thieves Guild. As you might expect, your objectives here will require the utmost skills in the art of Sneaking and Security, so if you're not playing a pure thief character, you might want to wait until you're level 10 before joining. At level 10, you'll be able to get the Ring of Khajiiti from the Shrine of Meridia and the Skeleton Key from the Shrine of Nocturnal, both of which will make your progress here much, much easier. If worst comes to worst, you can also contract vampirism, which will eventually add 20 points to your Sneak ability, as well as most of your other abilities, in addition to giving you a reusable 120-second invisibility power.

Joining The Thieves Guild

The Thieves Guild is a bit more difficult to join than the Mages Guild or the Fighters Guild. Unlike those guilds, there aren't any fancy recruitment centers, and you won't get any directions from the guards on how to join. Instead, you'll just have stick your nose in the dirt and find them yourselves.

There are a couple of ways to earn the invite into the Thieves Guild. The first is fairly simple: get caught stealing something and go to jail. This isn't difficult, obviously; just walk into a shop and pick something up while the storekeeper can see you. Make it something cheap, preferably, and be sure that you don't have any other stolen items on your person when the guards come looking for you, as they'll be confiscated. Choose to go to jail to serve out your sentence, then sleep the night away. When you pop out, you'll be contacted by a Thieves Guild member who'll clue you in to a secret meeting in the Imperial City's Waterfront District at midnight. (It's best to commit your crime in the Imperial City, or it can take the thief a good bit of time to find you.)

Thanks for the tip, granny.

Alternately, you can let it be known in certain circles that yes, you want to make more money - sure, we all do! Read one of the Wanted: Grey Fox posters that are scattered around the city, usually near one of the entrances to each zone. If you then speak to any beggar (who wander the streets during the days and curl up on bedrolls at night), you can bribe or Speechcraft them above 70 Disposition, they'll also tell you of their adherence to the Gray Fox, and let you know about the meet in the Waterfront District.

If you head to the Waterfront at midnight, you should be able to find Armand Christophe, one of the Thieves Guild mucky-mucks, standing in the gardeb behind an abandoned shack in the slum section of the zone, starting around 11:30 PM. A couple of other wannabe thieves will also be nearby. Note that Armand will need a decent level of Disposition before he'll agree to give you a chance to join the guild.

Armand Christophe's Quests

May The Best Thief Win

Armand's first task for you can be difficult to complete, unless you know precisely what to do. You and the two other prospective thieves are told to seek out and steal the diary of one Amantius Allectus and get it back to him, without killing him or either of the other prospective thieves. He tells you that the beggars might be able to spur you on the correct path to Amantius.

Grabbing The Diary If you intend to complete the quest correctly, follow the green arrow on your compass to Puny Ancus, a sleeping beggar on a bedroll just to the north of the garden. If you speak to him about Amantius, and offer him five gold, he'll tell you where Amantius lives: on the eastern side of the Temple District!

If you fast-travel to the Temple district and follow the markers on your compass, you should be able to find Amantius' house near the exit to the Arboretum. If you want the diary, pick the lock on the door, then find the wooden desk (it'll be called "Desk" when you move your crosshairs over it) in the main room of the house, which you should be in. Inside is the diary.

Stealing from Methredhel Now, note that Methredhel seems to know precisely where the diary is located as soon as Armand gives out the quest, and it's quite possible that she'll beat you to Amantius' house before you can make your way there yourself, and if she does, she won't hesitate to nab the diary and keep it for herself. This will take no more than an hour or so of gametime.

He who steals last, steals best. Or something like that.

If this occurs, then your next objective will be to steal the diary back from Methredhel's house. You can bribe a beggar to get the location, or you can just check your map: it's right next to the garden where you're meeting with Armand. You can probably sneak in and steal the diary in the middle of the night, when the inhabitants are sleeping (it's in the chest inside), or you can just wait until Methredhel is out and about in the afternoon and steal it then. Either way, you'll have the diary and will be able to turn it in to Armand to finish the quest.

In terms of time and effort, this is probably the easiest way to complete the quest. When Armand tells you to get the diary, simply wait for two hours, and you'll get the popup telling you that Methredhel has stolen the diary. You can then enter her home (she shouldn't be inside yet), pop the chest, grab the diary, and finish the quest, all within a few minutes of playtime.

Last But Not Least If you manage to really screw up and let Methredhel not only steal the diary, but also turn it in, then Armand will give you one last shot at getting into the guild. You need to head to the A Fighting Chance shop in the Market District and steal a special sword from the proprietor. When that's done, you can bring it to Armand and finally join the Thieves Guild.