My buddy was playing, and he's almost done with all the thieves guild quest's (not just the main quest, but all side quest's) and he was telling me that you get 3 or 4 NEW vendors after you do so many side jobs, and also he randomly saw a new recruit join, and mention to him he "heard the guild was up and running smoothly again" and decided to join.

I had no idea these things happened, it makes me want to re-do the thieves guild (I had it glitch before I could go into the nightengale place on my first play through, and havent even started it on my 2nd character @ lvl 43)

I heard so many people complain that the Thieves guild, I wonder if anyone knew stuff like that happens?

I did. I don't care. It's not my sort of thing. I played through it once. That's it.

Yeah, they keep mentioning that. Where are they? Are they like stalls in The Ratway or just people milling around the the Ragged Flagon or Cistern?

Um. Buncha fences - one in each major hold I believe....

At least try it out. If you don't like it, you don't like it, if you do like it, then have fun.

Try turning around -- they line the opposite wall in the Ragged Flagon.

You can get fences in all the major city's,if you play your cards right.
Also you get merchants inside the ragged flaggen.
The merchants are a blacksmith,alchemist,fletcher,and something else I can't remember right now.

Are they in stalls or just people milling around? I rarely go back there since I completed the TG questline and when I do go in I enter through the cemetery and run straight to Tonilia.

Hmm. Only time I did the questline, I think I remember a bunch of people mutzing around in there. I didn't want to be there, didn't want to talk to anyone, wanted to finish the absolute MINIMUM to get it done and get the toon deleted. So no clue if they were fences. Regardless, you have to get fully into the questline to get fences - and there aren't any without starting the TG questline, which is what the OP asked.

Oh, I see them. They're in the little alcoves around the wall along the entrance from The Ratway.

The fences with 4k each in each major hold cone in handy when trying to sell crafted deadric, ebony and dragon armor...

The vendors in the Ragged flagon don't count as fences and will not buy stolen goods unless you have the speech perk for it. They also only have 750-1100-ish gold. But in addition to some good gear they sell, valuable items spawn at most of the shops that you can steal and sell to the fence for quick and easy money.

At the light armor guy, after a certain level, glass armor spawns at his shop.

At the fletcher/bow guys shop, daedric bows eventually start spawning and a bonus ebony bow.

At the Alchemist shop a bunch of ingredients/potions spawn.

Smith shop only iron junk spawns, sadly.


You can check the wiki for all the city fences and their locations.

They're in the ragged flagon, and they fill the empty spaces at the entrance of the bar once you restore influence to the 4 places mentioned.

One of the four merchants also has a full smithing setup, forge, weapon grindstone, armor table. In addition to whatever else they sell all four also sell smithing materials. And the alchemy merchant also has an alchemy table.

There is a lot more to gain by completing all the Thieves Guild quests. Not just the 4 vendors. On top of that you also get:

15 Thieves Caches - These are storage barrels with shadow marks on them and are labeled "Thief Cache". After doing the 4 City influence quests, you get 3 in each of the cities including Riften. They respawn regularly and usually have some good random loot including deadric arrows, deadly poisons, gems, Blacksmith Elixir's etc.

Guild Leaders Tribute chest - Respawns loot left for you by the guild. Sits right in front of Mercers old desk.

7 fences that you can sell your stolen items to who carry up to 4000GP each. (Except for Thaldir (sp) at the college)

Prowlers Profit - A cool perk you get for finding all 24 stones of Barenziah and the crown (No Stone Unturned quest). This perk allows you to find like 4 times the amount of gems you would normally find. ( I got 38 flawless diamonds alone in the very 1st dungeon I did after getting this perk).

If you continue to do jobs for Delvin and Vex (up to 125 jobs total) you'll also get trophies displayed on the shelves behind Mercer's old desk. Each one shows up after doing a certain amount of jobs. You get one at 5 jobs, then 10 jobs, then 25 jobs, then 50 jobs, etc. Once you hit 125 jobs, you recieve a safe full of gems just to the right of the shelves. (Like the one you get in your bedroom of Proudspire Manor).

And don't forget the influence the Guild has over the city guards in each city. Once you become the Guild leader you can pretty much get away with anything.

And you can get training for a bunch of skills from various guild members. You can also practice lockpicking in the training room with the training chests. One of each Apprentice through Master.

Oh, and lets not forget what you get from Nocturnal with a little help from Karliah!!

To me, anyone who skips the Thieves Guild in this game is giving up quite a bit of cool stuff that makes the rest of your Skyrim experience that much better. I think it's the best questline in the game. The most rewarding anyway. There is simply too much to lose by avoiding it.

Edit: I forgot about the Kahjit fence with the Caravan. He also has up to 4000GP That makes 7!

I've never had my Thieves Guild quests bug in three times of playing through it entirely, and it is too good to let down. The Ragged Flagon will get four new merchants, fences will appear in all major cities, and you get some nifty items along the way (Thieves Guild Armor, Nightingale Armor, etc.)

Seems a lot of people hate the Thieves guild on these forums. I found the benefits to be to good to pass on with any of my characters.

I know right? People complain about how much they spent on a messed up game, yet they're willing to skip half of the questlines in it because of morals (Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Deadric Quests)? It's a friggin video game people.

The Thieves Guild is the bomb. If you find all of the Stones of Barenziah, you get a real cool perk that is sure to make you all kinds of loot. In addition to the armor that you get as the Guild Master, plus on top of that you get access to a chest where the other thieves in the guild place tribute for you the Guild Master. It is toitally worth it to play through and finish the Guild's quest line. And I believe you get access to a big giant Queen or King Size bed there also. I just wish there was a way to keep the Skeleton Key...

Its nice restoring the Thieves Guild and getting all the vendors back, but the TG quest is something that I can only do once. Wasnt fun enough to do again, although, I may just try it to see what the Nightingale Armor looks like on my SMOKIN' HOT Female Bretan character. TG was just toooooo long and not as interesting as the D.B. questline. A big plus is all the $$ the vendors carry though. Would be easy to break 100,000 in septims though.

You should at least have done something yourself before claiming that you get something that doesn't exist.
I've finished all of the Thieves Guild quests. And I've also done over 130 jobs for Vex and Delvin. I assure you that there is absolutely no bed updates. You get a twin bed just like all the other members of the Guild.

No bed upgrade? Well I guess I won't be bothering with this quest line!

Seriously though - I have not yet touched the TG quests. But after reading about all of the benefits, I think I will be digging into it this evening on my relatively new female orc skull smasher.

It's well worth it! Good luck.

i didnt noe gulem jei of solitude(that argonian) was a fence...
so i killed him
Mercer is pretty angry when i get back.

Other than this case, i have no issues of the thieves guild. i encourage everyone to do one playthrough of this faction quest, pretty worth it.

Yeah, and you can pick and choose your small jobs to target less-than-nice or lesser-nice people.