So You Want To Be A Thief...

Want to steal as a career in Skyrim? This guide will tell you which places to hit and when to hit them. It also lets you know what kind of loot you'll be hauling away with and what kind of locks and security you'll have to look out for when developing your new career. Happy looting!

Quick Bit

Due to how busy my home life has ♥♥♥♥♥♥, I am no longer able to update this guide. Sorry :(

The (LVL#) markings next to any mark are the level that I completed this mark at. If you are that or higher you should have no problem breaking in and taking what you want from any of the marks listed in this guide. That is as long as you are upgrading the stealth skills as well (sneak, lockpick, pickpocket)

Recent Updates

The last five updates will be posted here when I add to this guide.

*2/13/2014-Started a new character in Skyrim. Even though there are no immeadiate changes to the guide I thought it was unfair that I was writing a guide talking about lower leveled skills when all my stealth skills are maxed out. So the rest of this guide will be completed with a character made from a newly created low-leveled character.

*6/23/2014-Added a section about Standing Stones./Added the Thief Stone to Standing Stone Section./Added a photo of Brynjolf to the Tips section./Added Madesi's Booth as a mark in The Rift/Added Brand Shei's Wines as a mark in The Rift/Added Marise Aravel's House as a mark in The Rift section/Added Romlyn Dreath as a mark in The Rift

*6/24/2014-Added Valindor as a mark in The Rift/Added Aerin's House as a mark in The Rift:Riften/ Separated The Rift and Riften into two separate sections/Added a section on lockpick sellers and skill trainers/Added Bolli as a mark in The Rift: Riften

*7/8/2014-Added Riften Fishery as a mark in The Rift: Riften section/Added Riften Stables as a mark in The Rift: Riften Continued/Added Haelga's Bunkhouse as a mark to The Rift: Riften section/Added Riften Warehouse as a mark to The Rift: Riften Continued

*7/9/2014-Added Valindor's photo to his section in The Rift:Riften Continued/Added photos for Grelka and Brand-Shei in their section for the Riften Marketplace in The Rift: Riften Continued

Tips

*Join the Thieves Guild: You can do this by talking to Brynjolf who can be found in Riften's market area in the day time. The first time you travel to Riften in the day hours, he will stop you automatically and proposition you to join. Once you have completed any quests associated with joining, the guild will grant you access to their first fence Tonillia.
*If joining the Thieves Guild isn't your style you can always level up your speech skill until you have collected the perk "Fence" which allows you to sell your stolen goods to any merchant you have invested in.
*Try owing atleast one home to store all your stolen goods until you can gain access to a fence or the fence perk. The cheapest home available is Breezehome in Whiterun but there are plenty of other guides with more info on home buying and or marrying to get a home.
*Use the standing stones to your advantage. There are numerous stones with the ability to help aid you in your stealth skills. Picking just one can make a huge difference. Also if you want even more perk from the stones get a hold of the Aetherial Crown obtained in the quest Lost to the Ages. It allows you to have two standing stones powers at the same time.
*Always leave your follower outside. They can and usually get you caught. Drop 'em at the door and pick them back up once you've finished your looting.
*If you are venturing off from the guide the best tidbit I can give you would be to scope out your marks. Check their schedules. Do test break ins to see when the house or building is least active. Check the dungeons and see if a person there owns a home or business in town. Those places will be vacant. Also try to remember if any deceased folks owned homes. If shopkeepers own residences outside their places of businesses. Farmers can have homes in the town as well leaving the farms practically vacant in the evening, save for a farmhand or two. Just do your homework and don't be afraid to get creative.
*Thief Cache- They are scattered all over Skyrim and usually hold some really nice loot inside. You can spot these ordinary looking barrels by the mark on the side.

Useful Standing Stones

There are various standing stones scattered all about Skyrim. I will only provide the locations of the ones that will help you in becoming a better thief. I'm sure there are other guides (or wiki) that can provide you the locations of all of the standing stones. As I said before, aquiring the crown in the quest "Lost to the Ages" will also allow you to have two standing stones abilities at the same time.

On your way from Helgen to Riverwood in the beginning of the game sits the Guardian Stones. One stone in particular will help you immensly right off the bat: The Thief Stone.

All stealth skills will be learned 20% faster. Your stealth skills include: sneak, lockpicking, and pickpocketing.

Lockpick Sellers/Relevant Trainers

This section will have all the lockpick sellers and any trainers that specialize in stealth skills.


1. Tonilia - Can be found in the Ragged Flagon. She is open 24hrs a day. She sells lockpicks and is also a fence for stolen goods.
2. Grelka - Can be found in the Marketplace. She is only availble during normal business hours. (8am-8pm)


1. Vex - She can be found in the Ragged Flagon in Riften. She trains lockpicking and is only available if you have joined the Thieves Guild.
2. Delvin Mallory - Can be found in the Ragged Flagon in Riften. He is a sneak trainer and is only available if you have joined the Thieves Guild.

Whiterun

Ysolda is a single woman living in Whiterun. She lives alone. This house is perfect for a beginner. Hit the house in the daytime, as she can be found wandering the marketplace at this time. It's a small home with only one floor and contains items of very little value. Below is a photo of the layout of her home.

Carlotta Valentia is the single mother who runs the little vegetable stand in the market area in Whiterun. There is a novice lock on the door and the house is a smallish size two story dwelling. There is a fair amount of loot to be found here. Her and her daughter are out of the home all day making it the perfect mark. Just be sure to watch for guards and the many passersby that are out and about running errands. Below is a photo of her home's layout.

If you haven't become Thane of Whiterun yet, hitting Dragonsreach can be a little tricky. After a certain point in the game there are only a handful of items that remain marked as stolen should you take them. Even so different parts of Dragonsreach need to be hit at different parts of the day and night to lessen the chance that you will be caught.

The main hall, kitchen, basement, military planning area, and Farengar's quarters should be hit at night. Most of the people will be asleep leaving only a spattering of guards to worry about. Everything in Farengar's quarters are marked as stolen no matter how far you get in the questline and he is packing some pretty decent respawnable loot, so you can come back every once in a while and grab it all again if your short on septims.
The Jarl's Quarters Area take a little more sneaking and finesse. There are two ways that you can enter this area. One is through the basement and brings you up in the servant's quarters and up through the stewards bedroom. The other you can enter through the military planning area and puts you right in the main hallway.
You should hit the main hallway, servant's quarters and the children's room at night. There are no servants wandering at this time and the children sleep at night. You can usually find the Jarl's three children wandering all over the castle in the day time so it's best to hit their area at night. Also at night there are only one or two gaurds on patrol. In the main hallway if you make sure to watch out for the guard that slowly patrols there you can find a number of display cases that have fairly decent items inside.
*an apprentice locked armor case
*an apprentice locked dishware case
*an apprentice locked weapons case
*a master locked weapons case

The Jarl's actual quarters should be hit in the day time. There is one guard monitoring three different areas. Just keep an eye out for him and you'll be able to take everything no problem.

The Jarl's Brother's Room should be hit in the daytime as well. You can find him in the main hall in the daylight hours, usually complaining at one of the large tables. So hitting his room in the daytime will net you some pretty nice weapons and ingots.

Finally the Steward's room should also be hit in the day time. He stands next to the Jarl all day and so his room is completely empty at this time. There is an adept jewelry case in here as well.


After a certain point in the game there are very few items you can actually steal here. Even so, if you are hitting an inn you should always steal in the day time. There are very little people drinking here in the daylight hours. You usually only have to worry about the bard, barkeep, and any mercenaries posted up here. At night it can always get tricky because any store or stand owners will show up here after business hours, so it can get pretty crowded in the evenings. Even in an inn you should still leave your follower outside if you come in for stealing.

The Bannered Mare itself is a two story inn. The strongbox is on the first floor in the kitchen area and off the kitchen stairs are the owner and barmaid's quarters. Off the main room is a staircase leading up to the only rentable room here. Stealing from this room is made easier by renting it since renting a room keeps the owner from following you up to it. There is also a backroom on the first floor and a balcony overlooking the main room from the rentable one in here as well.



Jorrvaskr is located in Whiterun. If you haven't joined the Companions yet this place can seem intimidating. Once you have joined however, most of the items available will remain marked as stolen. The main hall and the new recruits room will be unmarked as stolen but the rest of it still belongs to the rest of the Companions. Hitting this place at night though will make things much easier.

First and foremost, keep an eye out for that old woman. She wanders Jorrvaskr and doesn't seem to sleep. She can be upstairs in the main hall or downstairs in the living quarters. She likes to be a little tricky because she does like to sit at the various benches all over the building and can be hard to spot if you aren't looking for her. If you are being detected and can't figure out why..it's probably Tilma stuffed in a corner somewhere. Just move on to another area and come back when she moves on and you'll be fine.

The photo above shows you the layout of Jorrvaskr's first floor. Again keep an eye out for Tilma. Also the people who reside in Jorrvaskr don't seem to have a set sleep pattern since some can be out on missions throughout Skyrim and can come and go whenever really. Also there are two beds in a bedroom on the first floor which most likely will become occupied after midnight. I have found that these beds are usually slept in by Vignar Gray-Mane and a man named Brill. Also the red circles show you where you can find any unlocked chests on the first floor.

The above photo shows you where it can get a little tricky. New recruits and the members of the Circle wander these halls in Jorrvaskr's basement known as the living quarters. The majority of people who are home at night will be asleep. As I said, if you join the Companions you will be able to take anything from the New Recruit's Quarters. There are some small food items you will be able to pick up in the hallway as well without getting in trouble. As you go farther down towards the rest of the rooms all of it becomes marked as stolen, including any items in the hallway. The circles on the map mark the unlocked chests you can find here and the rectangles mark locked display cases. All the display cases are expert so make sure you have plently of lockpicks. If Kodlak is in his quarters than wait until he sleeps to take things from his area. There are also certain times of the day where he can be found up on the first floor having a meal making that the perfect time to toss his room.

The Rift

In the Rift near Treva's Watch you can find Froki's Shack. Inside lives Froki and his grandson Haming. Froki is also a quest giver so if you haven't stopped by, maybe you could pay him a visit. The shack is humorously small and if you have a low sneak skill it isn't even worth it. After being holed up in the shack for three in-game days I have found that the two occupants never sleep or leave the inside of the dwelling. There isn't much to take though so you aren't missing out on much. If you hop up on the one bed and edge yourself in the corner you can steal from the only chest in the room. The prime time to do this is when Froki makes his way to the tanning skin on the opposite wall. Which he does every once in a while. Waiting for an hour makes him do this action a lot more.

The Rift: Riften

(LVL4) When you first walk into Riften you can find Aerin's house. It's attached to Bolli's house and it's the second door on the left from the entrance to the city of Riften. Aerin seemingly has no job but like to walk around the Riften Marketplace with his companion Mjoll the Lioness who has seemingly friendzoned the poor sod. They live in the house together and sadly sleep in different rooms. Below you'll find pictures of what they look like.

Above is the layout of the house. Aerin and Mjoll live in a three-story dwelling. Two floors and a basement. There is an adept lock on the front door. Since Aerin and Mjoll spend their day out and about, daylight is the best time to break in. If you are a lower level and can't get to "hidden", try talking to Shadr sitting on a bench on the bridge. Accept to help him and he will head back outside to the stables. Watch for guards patrolling and swoop in when the time is right. There are normal household items/ foodstuffs/ and clothing scattered about the three floors. Some notable items include: an iron mace in first upstairs bedroom on shelf above bed/ an iron sword in the other bedroom in same place and an unlocked chest on the 3rd floor marked on the map above.


(LVL5)Bolli lives with his wife in Riften. You can find his house by looking to the left as soon as you enter the city. It's the first door on the left. This house can be tricky since it should be hit in the daytime. The house is completely empty during this time. Both Bolli and his wife shop in the Marketplace during business hours. Below you will see a ♥♥♥ of the pair.

Above is a photo of the layout of Bolli's home. Like I said, hit this in the daytime. Just watch out for the one guard standing near the city gates. Also keep an eye our for passerbyers. There is an adept lock on the front door. It is a three story home, with two floors and a basement. You'll find normal house items/food/wine/and clothing. There are no notable items except for the note on the dresser is funny and there is an unlocked chest on the third floor which is circled on the map.


(LVL8) When entering Riften through the main gate on the right hand side you'll find Haelga's Bunkhouse. This is not an inn but merely a sleeping house for the people that work in Riften. You'll find that along with Haelga the owner and Svana Far-Shield the caretaker that many of the merchants stay here. Niluva Hlaalu, Grelka, Ungrien, Tythis Ulen and Wujeeta also sleep here. If you have already completed any quests related to joining the Thieves Guild, there will be almost nothing to steal here. I will go over all stealable items below the photo of the layout of the building.

This is a three story building. A main floor, an upstairs, and a basement. You can choose to loot this place durning business hours when all it's residents are working. Doing it this way you will only have to deal with Haelga and Svana. However looting this place after midnight, everyone will be alseep. There is the Dibella Statue on the first floor near the entrance to the basement. If you had to steal the statue, it should be returned to it's location after completing the relevant quest. There are stamina potions to steal in Haelga's bedroom behind the front desk. There is also a strong box with an apprentice lock which has been circled on the map. Other than that you can take everything without having to worry about a bounty.


(LVL2)Marise Aravel lives in the canal area in the city of Riften. She owns a food cart in the Riften Marketplace in the town center. She is there everyday from 8am-8pm. She also lives alone. Below is a picture of who she is.


Above is a layout of her home. Once you are down in the canal she has an apprentice lock on the door. There is not much in the small home but basic household items, food, clothing, and some books. The most notable of the items is: a skill book "Reality & Other Falsehoods which ups your alteration skill, there is also a coin purse tucked under her bed.

The Ragged Flagon is located in Riften. If you haven't joined the Thieves Guild yet, then you should and it would grant you easier access to the area. You can enter the Flagon through the Ratway or through the secret enterance from the Cistern. Everything in the Ragged Flagon is marked as stolen and getting the low priced items can be tricky. I would recommend hitting this place with a higher level of sneak skill as the place is constantly occupied by members of the Theives Guild. This place is more about showing off than about finding anything of actual value since most of the items are foods, baskets, and buckets. Working slowly out of the lines of sight will get you all the items in the area. Just have patience. After completeling the quest lines in the Thieves Guild also brings in new merchants with higher value items.


(LVL7)Hitting this place at night is ideal. It will be completely empty after midnight. The guards don't really patrol the docks so if you go to the front of the building you can pick the lock without any worries. When leaving Riften through the door near the blacksmith, go all the way around the fishery to the otherside. There is a sign out front and that is the door you want to be at. Below you'll find a photo of the layout of the building.

There is an adept lock on the front door. Inside you won't find anything of much worth. Lot's of fish in and out of the water and hanging from the ceiling. There are also typical household items scattered about. The only notable items inside are an iron dagger on a table and a book floating in the hatchery.

The Rift: Riften Continued

(LVL1-?)
In the center of Riften sits five market stands: (If you aren't joining the Thieves guild read part two)


Above you will see the owner's of each stand: Grelka, Madesi, Brand Shei, Brynolf, and Marise Aravel
None of the owner's except for Marise own a home in town. The rest all sleep at the Bunkhouse near the front gate, except Brynolf who hangs out in the Bee and Barb and the Ragged Flagon
*Grelka's Weapons and Armor
*(LVL1)Madesi's Jewelry- It's best hit the first time you come to Riften. You'll be given orders to break into Madesi's booth and steal a ring. The sliding door has a novice lock. There is also an adept display case on top but don't hit this now. There will be a lot of people detecting you. Once you have the sliding door open, his strong box also has a novice lock. There is also a satchel with gold and a key to his booth.
*(LVL1)Brand Shei's Wines- This should also be done while you are doing your first quest to join the Thieves Guild. Everyone is distracted and it will be easy to take what little is here. There are some barrels, wine on top of the booth and a strong box that requires a key.
*Brynjolf's Falmer Blood Elixer
*Marise Aravel's Food Cart
Part 2: Hit this place at night. Your sneak skill and lockpicking skills should be pretty high up. You'll be in the line of sight of quite a few patroling guards. This can make things a bit difficult since some of the cases you need to get to are on top of the stands. Just be patient, and watch for your openings and you'll be able to snag all the items here. Also don't be afraid to take advantage of the fact that you can jump while sneaking to snatch those hard to reach items. If you're really down on your luck you can scoop up the vagrant's bucket, tankard and a few measly septims off his post near Marise's food cart as well.


(LVL8) Just outside the front gates of Riften lies the Riften Stables. Owned and operated by Hofgrir Horse-Crusher this is an easy mark. There are two ways that you can loot this place completely. One is to simply beat Hofgrir in a brawl. Once beaten, you will be able to take anything from inside freely. The other way is slightly more complicated. I will go over this way below the photo of the layout of the inside.

You can choose to go at night or in the day for this mark. Choosing the day means Shadr will be in the kitchen or bedroom during business hours and Horse-Crusher will be outside. Going at night is a little easier since Horse-Crusher will be sleeping and Shadr will be outside. Shadr doesn't always sleep in the daytime but sometimes you can catch him in bed making it easy to pick the place clean. I reccomend though going at night. You'll find normal household and food items throughout. Some notable items include: coin purses near the bed in the bedroom, some minor potions, and books. There is an empty chest in the bedroom. The strong box has an apprentice lock on it and is up on a shelf in the bedroom. Since the only chest is empty, I have instead marked the strongbox with a circle on the map.


(LVL8)Outside Riften on the docks sits the Riften Warehouse. You'll find it right next to the Riften Fishery. Entry to this building requires a key. There is a quest needed to get inside. If you can't or don't have the quest needed than talk to Wujeeta the Argonian. You can find her inside the Riften Fishery during business hours or at Haelga's Bunkhouse in the evening. Follow the questline until you gain access to the building. Below is a photo of the layout.

Since the majority of this mark is quest related I don't want to explain too much about this mark. There are men inside that you need to eliminate for the quest. Once you take care of the people inside feel free to take literally everything that isn't nailed down. There are two floors to this building. One main floor and a basement. You need to search both for the completion of the quest so simply grab any goodies you feel are worth taking. Don't worry about trespassing or getting a bounty. Simply steal anything that you want after you take care of all the people in the building and there will be no one to "rat you out". Everything in here is marked as stolen so you'll need a fence to pawn any goods you find.


(LVL2)Romlyn Dreath works at the Black Briar Meadery in Riften. He can be found there between the hours of 8am-8pm. Any time after that Romlyn can be found inside the Bee and Barb, Riften's tavern. He is gone most of the day. He also lives alone. Romlyn is a marriable character and you can gain access to his house free and clear by completing his quest. There is however, a much easier way to take from his home. Below is a photo of Romlyn.


Above is the layout of Romlyn's home, and as always any chests are marked with a red circle. There is an apprentice lock on the front door. This should be done during "business hours" (8am-8pm) as the house will be empty. There are no notable items inside. There is one unlocked chest marked with a circle in the photo above. There are typical household items, foodstuffs, and a few potions to be had here. Grab your prizes and head out.


(LVL2)Valindor is a Bosmer who lives in the canal area of Riften. He works long hours at the Riften Fishery. He lives alone as well so getting in should be no problem. Go in the day time during business hours(8am-8pm) Below is a photo of him and also the layout of his home.


There is an apprentice lock on the front door. There really isn't much here, the guy does work at the fishery. There are basic houshold and food items along with some wine and books. Above, as always, the only unlocked chest in the room is circled.

Haafingar

There are two houses on the property that can be occupied by 3 or 4 people at any given time. They bounce between the houses all hours of the day.

Hitting these houses at night would be best, as during the day the members of the stables usually like to hang out near the doorways. At night though, if your sneak skill is too low there is a chance the horses will keep you as detected.

In the Solitude Stables a novice lock bars the door. It's a two story home. There is a master lock strong box and ledger for the business. The rest of the chests are unlocked. Hit this at night as occupants are asleep.
Katla's Farm also has a novice lock on the door. The adult occupants sleep at night but the child doesn't seem to go to bed. If you have a high enough sneak you can bypass the child completely. There are no locked chests here. If you want to risk the day time all occupants are up and about in the home.

There are three floors in the Blue Palace and all should be hit at night except for the Jarl's Quarters. Everyone is alseep except for the Steward and Court Mage who seem to never require sleep. In the daytime you'll have to tend with patroling guards, servants, thanes, and other visitors to the palace. So you'll have a much easier time sneaking around after midnight. Hitting the Jarl's room at night is easiest since she is perched on the throne during business hours.

The Penitus Oculatus Outpost is an a guardpost housing the Emperor's Private Guard. Don't let that intimidate you, this is a pretty easy mark. You'll find this building in Dragonbridge just across from the inn there.

There are four beds in this bulding which means there might be four or more soldiers in here. There also could be a lot less. The guards sleep at night and the building can be empty in the daytime. My best advice for this building is to check back at night and in the day and see which time would be best suited to your skill set. The amount of people changes at any given point in your questlines but it is emptiest after you have completed the Dark Brotherhood Story. The outpost is small with only three unlocked chest in the room.


Jala lives in Solitude right across the road from The Bard's College and the player-owned house Proudspire Manor. It's a two-story home with a novice lock barring the door. Daytime is the best time to hit this home. Jala owns a foodstand in the market area and she lives with Ahtar the executioner. Ahtar wanders the dungeons in the daytime as well so the house is completely empty at this time. Ahtar usually sleeps in the home after midnight. All the chests in the home are unlocked and you can find a decent selection of pelts, iron ingots, and a small amount of armor sprinkling the home. Also don't forget the knapsack next to the front door. Sometimes they can be easy to miss when you're trying to get in and out quickly.

Winterhold

The Jarl's Longhouse can be spotted as soon as you enter the sad city of Winterhold. It is directly across the street from the Frozen Hearth and is almost completely unguarded. You should be able to slip in and out with your goodies no matter your skill level. I'll always mark any chests with red circles but for this mark they are all unlocked. Now on to the mark.

The above photo illustrates the layout of the first floor of the two story long house. The main floor is separated into three different sections: The throne room, the Jarl's quarters, and the war room. I will quickly walk you through each room separately.

The Throne Room: This room should be hit at night no matter what your sneak skill. In the day time you have just about everyone in the house converging here to chit-chat during the day and it would be pretty silly to be get locked up in that cold dark cave for some measly silver plates. So, night is a good time to hit this room. There is one guard how watches this whole longhouse, yes the entire thing. and he only ever stand in front of the door. So stay out of his line of sight and you'll be perfectly fine. There isn't a whole lot to net from the throne room anyway except for a little silver food ware and some wine.

The Jarl's Quarter's: This room really depends on what you are comfortable with. If you think your skill is high enough to sneak around with people in the next room, than I say go for it. If your skill is a little lower, no problem, just wait until after midnight and the Jarl will go to sleep and you'll be able to loot untill your pockets are full. There is plenty to take from this room too. You'll find one unlocked chest, plenty of food barrels, fine clothes, soul gems, and a staff.

The War Room: This one could be a little trickier than the rest. Some NPCs are better at detecting sneakers than others and higher up soldiers will usually do it. Legate Sevan Telendas sleeps on his cot after midnight but he has been known to go to bed at different hours. If he is staying up late just wait until the next night. He does sleep eventually. I've seen it three nights in a row I promise. Just wait until he finally falls asleep and you'll be able to take the weapons and potions scattered about the room here. Also the chest marked on the map.

There is an unlocked chest as well in an empty room above the Jarl's quarters which you can grab at anytime of the day or night. I watched that room for three days and nights and didn't see anyone come up there. The only other items of value in the Jarl's Longhouse are on the steward's side.

The steward, Thonjolf, is a tricky guy to say the least. After a certain point in the questline he will stop sleeping altogether and just kind of wander at night. So in the evening hours he stands in his quarters which are located over top of the war room. If you want to loot his area you have to wait for him to run his errands in town during the day. Thonjolf only runs errands in the morning though so if you are "waiting" you have to make sure not to wait too long or you could risk having him come back too soon and having to do it all over again. In his room is a lot of booze, some scattered coins, and a lot of fine clothes. A tip for catching his room empty: I watched him for my standard three days and I found that he usually leaves to run his errands at 8am (when business hours start) so I would "wait" until 7am game time. You want to stop waiting early because if you go right at 8 he might skip his errands because waiting sometimes makes the NPCs schedules act funny. I don't know why but it interacts with them so it's best to jump into their routines early and let them occur naturally in the game.


The Frozen Hearth is the only inn in the city of Winterhold. You can find this building directly across the road from the Jarl's Longhouse. This is a two-story inn, with the second story being a basement. As always with inns, it should be hit in the daytime. Inns are always least busy during business hours..Always. For an inn this one probably has the most constant residents wandering through it all the time. There is the owner and his bard as it is with any inn. You also have Haran his wife, Eirid their child, and Nelacar the mage who has his own inn. Also depending on which questlines you have completed there could be two or more people who are staying at the inn. The only person to really pay attention to here is Haran. She "cleans" the inn throughout the day and can be found wandering the rooms and main room. Just stay out of her room or general area and you should be able to snatch all the items without a problem.

(The above photo marks where you can find any chests.
The main room has your basic inn items: foods, drinks, the occassional coin or weapon under the bar.

The empty rooms each have more basic inn items: a chest in each (might be locked with a novice lock), clothing, food, gold, and books

Nelacar's room: If your sneak is up you can hit it while Nelacar sleeps at night. There is a small problem, however, Nelacar doesn't sleep every night. The easiest way is to hit this room any time before or after normal business hours (8am-8pm). During his off hours Nelacar makes his way out to the main room to sit at the tables and eat. His room is loaded with books, a quest item, some gold scattered, and small misc magic stuff. Hitting this room alone will make this whole mark worth it.

The basement is pretty empty save for the owner and family's living quarters. You can find a smattering of foodstuffs in the larger area around the casks and kegs. The living area has food and clothing with an unlocked chest in front of the bed. The basement is usually empty during normal business hours. Eirid sleeps in this room in the evening so it's best to hit it in the daytime. ***SPOILER***Small spoiler here if you had to turn Haran into a vampire then she will sleep down here in the morning but she usually only stays an hour or so. Just wait for her to leave.***END SPOILER***

The Pale

The Windpeak Inn can be found in Dawnstar. It is located right next to the barracks and right across from Rustlief's house. It is also generally the first building you see when entering the town from the main road.

Hitting the inn is pretty easy, even for a beginner. Again, hit the inn in the daytime and the only people you will need to look out for is Thoring the owner and his bard Karita (probably the cutest bard in my opinion). There isn't much to grab here except for the basic inn items: food, booze, clothing, books, gold and maybe a weapon stashed in the bar. You can find the any chests marked on the above photo. They might be set on a novice lock to open.

Solstheim

Glover Mallory is the blacksmith for Raven Rock. When entering Solstheim you can spot his area as soon as you move off the docks. He works on his forge outside. That means two things for you. One: hit this place in the daytime if your sneak skill is high enough to pick the novice lock on his door while he works. It might be tricky if your skill is low. There are a lot of people out there during the day making it much harder to trespass. Don't worry if you are still a beginner you can do number two. Two: Wait until just after 8pm. Mallory leaves his forge and heads over to the Retching Netch across the way with ALL the other merchants to drink until bed time. That should be your best opportunity to pick the lock on the door.

The above photo shows you the layout of Glover Mallory's three story house. This picture also illustrates where an East Empire Strong Box sits on the first floor. As always these particular strong boxes are expert locks. Nothing too interesting on the first floor. You can find various food and drink items along with a couple of books scattered about.

This above photo shows the location of an unlocked chest sitting on the second floor. To get this, simply head up the wooden staircase and you will be in a very small bedroom. In here you'll find some books, coin purses and the mentioned unlocked chest.

The third floor can only be accessed if you have completed the misc side quest to find the bonemold formula for Glover Mallory. There is nothing you can steal in this room but I HIGHLY recommend doing the quest and snatching up the huge amount of goodies that sit behind that locked door.


Tel Mithryn is located on the most south eastern point of the island of Solstheim. Serval people live in this area but it is owned by Master Neloth a very powerful Telvanni mage. The place itself is separated into four separate buildings, as shown below: The Apothecary, Tel Mithryn, Steward's House, and Kitchen. I will take you through each one step by step.


The Tel Mithryn Apothecary is locked with a novice lock on the door. Elynea Mothren sleeps here in the evening but stays inside at all times. So night makes it the perfect time to hit this building. There are loads of mushrooms to be had here, since she specializes in fungus. There is also a healthy mix of potions and poisons to take from her building. The above photo also marks where you can find the only chest in her small room. It should be unlocked.

Tel Mithryn's main house is a lot trickier to loot completely. It doesn't really matter when you choose to take from here either. The front door is never locked and the occupants of the house never sleep. They also wander all over the area. Keep an eye out for Neloth and his apprentice Talvas Fathryon when sneaking around in here. There are five separate areas to the main house.

Main Area: There are so many valuable items in here that it is completely worth the amount of sneaking you will have to go through to collect them all. Take a deep breath and truck on my friend. Just move slowly and work out of their lines of sight and you should slowly but surely snatch all the stuff in this honey pot of a room. In the main area you can find books, potions, soul gems, alchemy ingredients, poisons, booze, food, dwarven metals to smelt for ingots, and even spell scrolls. Looking at the above photo also marks any unlocked chest in Tel Mithryn's main house.

Enchanting Room: This room can only be accessed after reaching a certain point in quests dealing with Neloth himself. As for loot goes there isn't too much you're missing out on, just a few potions.

Spriggan Room: Again nothing much of note. A couple of potions and a troll skull.

Spare Room: Just wine and baskets to be taken from here

Store Room: In this room is various food stuffs and an unlocked chest.

The Steward's house depending on where your at story wise with Neloth could have one of two people in it. The steward I have is Drovas but yours might be different. Either way you can pick the novice lock at night to sneak in. There is absolutely nothing here except for one chest marked in the above photo.

The door to Tel Mithryn Kitchen should be unlocked. Ulves Romoran sleeps here at night which is also the best time to break in. There isn't much of anything here except for normal food items and an unlocked chest marked in the above photo.

[Spoomer]

Thanks

[Argos]

Ah, okay.

[Robotica]

I posted a note in the top of the guide that I can no longer update this guide. I had planned on doing most of the locations in the game. I just don't have the time any more. My home life is a lot busier than I ever expected it to be lol. Maybe someday I can start updating again.

[Argos]

Nice guide, it really helps even for a high-level thief. I once had a maxed out thief and still got caught. All of the schedules that the NPCs do are really handy. Say, are you still working on the guide? Because I see a few missing holds. Here's a list: Falkreath Hold, The Reach, Eastmarch, and Hjallmarch. At some point (If you're striving to list EVERY single location in-game, which isn't nessecary but may be useful to some folks) you may also want to include the towns like Riverwood and Rorikstead.

[Robotica]

You can take a ferry from Winterhold to get there or fast travel after you have been there already

[Robotica]

Solsthiem is in the DLC Dragonborn

[ナルト「Russian Lives Matter」言う]

Where is Solstheim?

[Valteck]

Very useful, thanks a lot.

[Great Dane]

Yeah, probably should've included that too.

[Robotica]

sure that's why you steal them back. you just need to get into the holds evidence chest. all of your stolen goods will be there including the gold septims