Search for Esbern

[Adipose]

Ya know, the search for Esbern is a real pain in the backside, particularly if you're seriously role playing a so-called good guy. I wanted nothing to do with the thieves guild. I already knew how to find Esbern. But the AI programming forces the player to deal with Brynjolf, who's a real sleaze. I even paid Vekel to tell me how to find him. Still couldn't talk to Esbern. Oh, I got in the room, but he still wouldn't talk to me. Is the game bugged on that quest, or is it just you either play it their way or the quest stops?

[7531Leonidas]

There is also some kind of prompt to ask Keerava about Esbern. To check for solutions to a bugged quest, you can try (https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:A_Cornered_Rat), which discusses that the quest can hang up when talking to Esbern, but it also has a lot of spoilers. If you are running on a system that allows mods, you should be running the Unofficial Patch (https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_Mod:Unofficial_Skyrim_Patch), which squashes many of the bugs in standard quests.

[Gorgopis]

It's been a while, but we (two of us) recall "humoring" Brynjolf, by starting his idiotic "plant-a-ring" mission, and then bailing out of that mission, by going in and out of the Bee-n-Barb instead, to get his reluctant "per-mission" to go see him and enter the Thieves Guild.

 

Then we recall accessing the Ratway to find Esbern, without all the TG Criminal Missions, but it has been awhile, so may be we misremember all this. ?

 

We did it without UESP. How'd all those Thalmor get in there without the TG's knowledge?

 

Skyrim Excelsior!

[Gorgopis]

SOLVED. SPOILERS.

 

After reading @adipose's email, we decided to run through a test, with one of our no-mods save games.

 

Spoilers:

So, with no mods, we (two of us) were able to bypass the Thieves Guild Quests on our Search for Esbern, using a high Speech Perk in Persuasion. Fun!

Brynjolf had a reply option which "let us in" to the Ratway, no intimidation or quests required. We did have to manage the lowlifes in there.

Later, the Thieves in the Cistern did not bother us once we entered, on our way to the warrens. Nor did they bother Esbern and us on the way out.

Spoiler: we still had to combat the Thalmor.

We could have also tried maxing out one of our favorite Illusion spells, Harmony, and using it in the Thieves Guild, probably, to at least reach the Ratway, and find Esbern, and avoiding Brynjolf altogether.

We recall that Harmony did work on the Thalmor, on one play-through. That spell also good for pickpocketing or else resetting NPC's while pickpocketing.

But, very likely, many of the thieves level with the player.