SSE Betray the Thieves Guild

[commandermerik]

For some reason, I really don't like the Thieves' Guild in Skyrim. Is it because several of its members are overly rude and frustrating to deal with? Is it because they're all a bunch of lackeys to a corrupt businesswoman? Maybe it's because they only ever saw success because a Daedric Prince was backing them? Or perhaps it's because it pushes you into a contract with that prince and has you clean up their mess?

 

Maybe some people don't mind all that, but I for one feel like this guild needs a betrayal option or two, like how you can kill the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and have their sanctuary raided.

 

If I had the time, knowledge, and skill, I'd make a mod that allows for the following actions:

• Mjoll the Lioness offers the player a quest to help her identify and locate members of the Thieves Guild and their base of operations and allows you to turn in the quest at several points. The player can out Brynjolf to her after he gives the player the recruitment quest (regardless of if the player actually does it) for a small reward and Brynjolf turns up dead after a few in-game days and none of the guild quests can be continued thereafter. The player can instead put in the extra effort to report on the whole guild after being initiated for a more sizable reward. Doing this has Mjoll involve local authorities outside of Riften (Stormcloaks from Windhelm or Imperial Soldiers if the Rift is controlled by the Empire), leading to a raid similar to with the Dark Brotherhood, with the player having the option to take part in the assault.

 

• If the Thieves Guild is raided, its members will either be jailed or killed in the raid, except for Brynjolf and Mercer Frey who escape and cannot be killed in the raid if the player takes part. After some time, the player receives a letter from an anonymous individual who claims to know where Mercer Frey will be going to and that there is an additional reward for catching/killing him. This leads the player to Snow Veil Sanctum and plays out mostly like Speaking with Silence, except Mercer Frey isn't accompanying the player. Karliah is introduced here and essentially allows the player to complete much of the rest of the Thieves Guild questline with tweaks and alterations to take into account the Guild's destruction, such as having Karliah convince Brynjolf on her own to help her.

 

• Following the quests at this point can go normally, though some dialogue should be added or changed to match the situation and even allow the player to choose not to become a Nightingale (even if there wouldn't be any mechanical downsides to doing so). Then at the very end of Blindsighted, wherein the player receives the choice to keep the Skeleton Key as a final betrayal option. Doing so will force the player to fight and kill Brynjolf and Karliah, but in exchange they are allowed to keep the Skeleton Key (with added incentive coming from altering how the Key works). If this isn't chosen, then Darkness Returns plays mostly normally until the end where in addition to access to Nightingale powers, you are also given the equipment awards from Under New Management and a hefty monetary reward.

 

To make the Skeleton Key a more hefty reward than just a replacement for mundane lockpicks, it also actually does stuff comparable to what it has done for Mercer. To match with the idea of it allowing the user to unlock their own potential, it could either grant a bonus to all skills, grant a number of perk points, or increase the rate at which skills level up (or some combination of those), all in addition to being an unbreakable lockpick (or even just a key that unlocks any pickable lock).

 

This idea allows the player to either quickly get rid of the whole questline for a quick buck, or quickly get towards the end of it while letting you play as something other than a thief who wants to revive the guild.

 

Hopefully, someone else likes this idea, as I find it such a shame that such an interesting artifact is locked behind one of my least favorite guilds and used solely as a MacGuffin rather than a proper reward.

[Jambo11]

Try the mod, Thieves Guild For Good Guys:

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/10745/