S'Krivva's Quests

Ahdarji's Heirloom

Fencing Requirement: 200 Gold

A widow of a Thieves Guild member has had an item stolen from her, and S'Krivva wishes you to travel to Leyawiin and retrieve the item for the woman. Sounds simple enough!

If you travel to Leyawiin, you can either find Ahdarji's house on your own, or ask a beggar for the info. Speak to the widow, and she'll tell you who you're looking for...and ask that you make him suffer for his crime. Speak to a beggar again to learn that Amusei has been arrested, and is currently rotting away in the Leyawiin jail. You'll need to bribe a jailor if you wish to speak with him.

A little bribery goes a long way in Leyawiin.

Head into Castle Leyawiin and find the Dungeon within. If you spot a Jailor, stop him or her and bribe them with 20 gold coins; that'll refresh their memory as to Amusei's whereabouts. Head down and speak to him. You'll need to bribe Amusei, as well, before he'll tell you about the ring. Hand over a single lockpick, and he'll tell you that the ring that Ahdarji's husband gave her must've originally been stolen from the Countess of Leyawiin, who has reclaimed it as her own! Things aren't so simple after all.

If you speak to a beggar, Ahdarji, or bribe one of the castle guards up above 70 disposition, you'll be referred to Hlidara Mothril, the Countess' attendant. She'll tell you what you've probably been suspecting thus far: the Countess wears the ring constantly, except when she sleeps. (Note that it's impossible to pickpocket the ring off of the Countess, so don't even try.) It's probably going to be necessary to sneak into her rooms in the middle of the night and take the ring from the jewelry box.

Avoid this one guard, and you should be able to steal the ring without a problem.

Wait around until one or two in the morning, then save your game and enter the Lords' Manor Private Quarters section of the castle. There should only be one guard on patrol, who'll walk a route leading from the Countess' room to the entrance to the Private Quarters. Now, if you're really unlucky, you'll enter the Private Quarters just as the guard is walking up to the door, meaning that you'll instantly be caught. If he's on patrol, though, head down the hallway past the door leading to the Countess' chambers, wait for him to pass, then sneak around to the Count's room. Bust open the jewelry box and grab the ring, then read the Warrior book on one of the nearby bookshelves to increase your Block skill. With that done, all you have to do is avoid the guard and make your way out of the castle to collect your reward.

When speaking to Ahdarji, tell her that Amusei attempted to sell the ring back to the Count, and she'll let slip what her own uses for it are, as well as double the payment offer that she made earlier. Give the ring back to her, and head back to S'Krivva for your next assignment.

Misdirection

Fencing Requirement: 300 Gold

Apparently Hieronymous Lex and the Imperial Watch are rousting the inhabitants of the Waterfront District, one of Gray Fox's bases. It's up to you and Methredhel to coordinate the Thieves Guild's response to this infraction.

Your first goal here is to just find Methredhel, who's hiding away somewhere in the Imperial City. Head there and speak to a beggar to learn that Methredhel is hiding in Dynari Amnis' house in the Talos Plaza district. Head over there to speak to her. Her plot? You need to take part in a high-profile heist, one of five that will be carried out simultaneously. If all goes as planned, the concurrent thefts will draw Lex away from the waterfront as he scrambles to catch the thieves, one of whom will be you. Crystal Meth here wants you to invade the Arcane University and steal Hrormir's Staff from the Archmage, who sleeps from one until seven in the morning, every morning. Sounds like a plan.

Off To See The Wizard Actually stealing Hrormir's Staff isn't all that difficult. Just wait until one in the morning, then enter the bottom level of the Arcane University. You're not considered to be tresspassing - yet. Wait for a few moments until any residents of the room leave, then step on the platform nearby to reach the Arch-Mage's Tower Council Chambers.

At this point, if you're detected, then you might want to reload your last autosave, since you're technically tresspassing and whomever caught you will likely follow you up to the Arch-Mage's Quarters. You may be able to warp ahead of them and quickly grab Hrormir's Staff before they follow you, but still - it's probably not worth the risk.

When you're alone with the sleeping Archmage, grab the staff off of his chest of drawers, then sneak the note you were given into his nightstand. If you want to poke around a bit in the room, feel free to do so. The nightstand itself can't be opened without a key, and the only way to obtain the key is to pickpocket the Archmage himself, but there isn't anything of worth in the nightstand. Regardless of what you do, take the Staff and return to Methredhel.

Spying on Lex Now that you've returned the Staff, Methredhel has a new task for you. Since when did she become your commanding officer, anyway? In all likelihood, you managed to steal that dude's diary out from under her nose and got into the Thieves Guild first. Saucy wench, bossing you around...

Even the Mages Guild summon Dremora when it suits them.

Anyway, she wants you to spy on Lex, staying close enough to overhear his conversations, but far enough to not be detected. She's sure he'll eventually be ordered to return the guards to their normal postings, and wants to know the moment it occurs.

Head back to the Waterfront District and hop up onto one of the houses near where Heironymous has stationed himself. You don't necessarily need to remain hidden during this little stakeout; just don't get in Lex's face is all. Within minutes, a Dremora will appear bearing a note for Lex, ordering him to move off of the Waterfront. Wait for him to walk away, then grab the note off of the ground and return to Crystal Meth.

Returning the Staff To stay in the good graces of the Mages Guild, Meth wants you to return Hrormir's Staff to them, but not to where you stole it - far too dangerous, that. Instead, you're to take it to Ontus Vanin's home and put it into one of his chests, where he'll find it before too long.

Ontus' home is elsewhere in the Talos Plaza district, so you shouldn't have a problem finding it. This should be the easiest part of the entire quest: just pick the lock on Ontus' home, sneak up to his living quarters, find the chest, and drop the staff inside. With that, you're done. We went in at eight AM to find that he wasn't present, but you can likely also enter in the middle of the night to catch him sleeping.