Skyrim:Goldenglow Estate

It is inaccessible until the Thieves Guild quest Loud and Clear is initiated.

The estate is owned by Aringoth. It comprises a house, an apiary, and docks, and is situated on three islands connected by footbridges. Once the related quest Loud and Clear is activated, it is heavily guarded by Mercenaries that have been hired by Aringoth.

All items in and on the estate are not marked as owned, and are therefore free to take. The mercenaries will be hostile to you at all times.
 
Residents


Related Quests
 
 

Walkthrough

Exterior
The front gate can only be unlocked with the Goldenglow Gate Key, which is carried by the mercenary watching the gate. There are many mercenaries guarding the outside of the property. Most of these are within earshot of each other, and will converge on you when you engage in battle. Near the cart to the northeast of the gate are some barrels of food. From the front gate, the path forks, with a turn to the west that leads across a wooden bridge to the pasture and the beehives. Under the bridge is a nirnroot. There are also many red, blue, and purple mountain flowers covering the islands that make up the estate. The other fork of the path continues onward to the north, crossing a stone bridge and ultimately leading to the front door of the house. This door is unlocked. Outside, in front of the house, is a wood chopping block, two chicken nests, and a large wooden platform. To the right of the front door is a grindstone and a workbench. At the rear of the property is the sewer exit. Nearby is the rear door to the house, which is locked, but leads into a deserted corridor ideal for quiet infiltration. The path continues past the house and curves around to the docks at the rear of the property. There is a second wooden bridge southwest of the house that crosses to the main pasture, where the beehives are kept. There are several wooden lookout platforms on all sides of the islands.

Goldenglow Estate Sewer
If you speak to Vex before coming to the honey farm during the related quest, she will advise you of a sewer entrance that provides a discreet method of infiltration. This will add an optional quest objective and a map marker showing the location of the sewer entrance on the western side of the main island. Upon entering, you will be in a darkened tunnel heading to the north. Following the tunnel, you will encounter two skeevers. You will then come to a small chamber, with another tunnel heading east. A short distance into the tunnel, you will see more skeevers ahead. Just in front of them are two tripwires that release an oil lantern, which will ignite a series of oil slicks along this part of the tunnel. Firing the slicks is an easy way to deal with the skeevers without the risk of contracting a disease.

Partway along the tunnel is an adept-locked gate on the right. This opens into a small room, with the skeletal remains of someone lying on a bed roll with a copy of the Pickpocketing skill book Guide to Better Thieving next to it, an apprentice-locked chest to the left, and several bottles of alto wine and wine scattered around the room. Farther along the tunnel is a circular room with a central stone pillar; the room may contain more living skeevers, and features many human and animal bones scattered on the floor. A tunnel exits the room heading east, but take care: there is another tripwire at the entrance to this tunnel that triggers a swinging mace trap. At the end of the tunnel, on the left is a ladder leading up and outside, and on the right is a hole in the ceiling serving as a shortcut exit from the house's basement.

Goldenglow Estate
Climbing the ladder brings you out beside the main house, with the farm's docks to the southeast where a large ship and a rowboat are docked. Near the docks are several food barrels under a wooden structure. To the right is the rear entrance for the house, which is locked. The first floor consists of six rooms connected by four hallways, and there are four doors that lead to other areas of the estate.

Entering this rear door leads into a deserted corridor heading southwest, with a door on your immediate right, a T-junction ahead, an adept-locked door farther along on the right, and a turning at the end to the southeast. The door on the right opens into a room with a long wooden table and chairs with an apple pie, two cheese wheels, and a cabbage in a cast iron pot on top. Against the southwest wall is a round wooden table with four pieces of bread on top. Against the northwest wall is a doorway, and to the left is a set of shelves holding two drums, a flute, and two food sacks. Against the northeast wall is a set of shelves and a long end table, both holding only clutter. The doorway at the end leads out into another corridor parallel to the first, with a turn to the southeast and an open double door ahead. The turn leads to the T-junction in the first corridor, and has two long end tables with a set of shelves between them. On the shelves is a knapsack, and on the far end table is a bottle of alto wine and two bottles of wine. Opposite the shelves is another corridor heading to the southwest, also parallel to the first.

The room ahead is a kitchen, with two long wooden tables in an L-shape holding a bottle of alto wine, a bottle of wine, a salmon steak, many pieces of cheese, and two loaves of bread. There are three sets of shelves in the room, one against the northeast wall, one against a partition wall, and the third at the rear of the room against the southwest wall. These hold a total of five bottles of alto wine, twelve bottles of wine, ten loaves of bread, and a goat cheese wheel. Hanging above the tables is a rack holding five rabbits, and to the right also hanging from the ceiling are four garlic braids, two bunches of dried elves ear, and two bunches of dried frost mirriam. There are more loaves of bread in a basket on the floor beside the tables, and another rack hanging from the ceiling towards the rear of the room holding two more rabbits and three pheasants. In the southern corner is a large vat.

Taking the corridor opposite the shelves leads to a room at the front of the building, with an exit in the middle of the southwest wall and an end table between two benches against the southeast wall. In the west corner is a food barrel. Against the northwest wall is a long wooden table with a bottle of alto wine, an apothecary's satchel, and a copy of the Life of Uriel Septim VII. Against the northeast wall is a cupboard holding clutter, with a round wooden table to the left with a pair of iron gauntlets on top. To the left is an apprentice-locked wooden door that leads into a small storeroom containing two sets of shelves and a barrel of ingredients. On the shelves is a locked strongbox, a gourd, a bulb of garlic, an iron battleaxe, and some bread and cheese. Leaning against one of the sets of shelves is a lute.

The adept-locked door in the first corridor leads to another storeroom containing three sets of shelves. One set of shelves holds many pieces of cheese and four cabbages, another holds only clutter, and the third holds a leveled potion of pickpocketing and a leveled potion of healing. There are several sacks and two barrels containing foodstuffs, as well as three baskets, one containing red and green apples, another containing potatoes, and the third containing tomatoes and carrots. Finally, there are two unlocked chests in the room.

At the end of the corridor, the hall turns to the southeast and opens into a room. At the far end of the room you can see a Mercenary sitting at a table against the far wall, facing away from you. Two long end tables are against the southwest wall, and a small end table is on your left, beside a wooden bench. To the right of the bench is a doorway into a dining room with a large elk head mounted on the opposite wall. The dining room can be used to sneak past the nearby mercenaries if your sneak skill is good enough. To the right of the doorway is a round wooden table and two chairs, and an end table beside it. On the table is a loaf of bread. At the far end of the room is an empty set of shelves facing away from you, with the table and chairs the mercenary is sitting at behind it. There are two other mercenaries at the end, one patrolling a corridor to the left, and the other sitting out of sight. The corridor to the left has a long end table against the southeast wall. To the right of the corridor is an apprentice-locked door leading to another storeroom, which contains a set of shelves holding a pair of iron boots and three common books, with an unlocked chest to the left.

Down the middle of the dining room are two long wooden tables laid end-to-end, with an iron dagger, a cabbage, a drum, two goat cheese wedges, and four loose septims on top. In the southern, western, and northern corners are sets of shelves holding clutter, with a few bowls, goblets, and a jug on top. Against the northwest and southeast walls are long end tables, with a square wooden table also against the southeast wall. In the eastern corner is another doorway. Through the doorway is yet another corridor with a flight of stairs up to the second floor to the left, while to the right is a novice-locked gate. In front of the gate is the corridor patrolled by the mercenary from the far end of the previous room. Behind the gate is a small end table and a flight of stairs descending into the basement and the shortcut back to the sewers seen from below. If you are sneaking, you will need to listen for the mercenary to start walking away from you to open the gate. It can be opened with the Goldenglow Cellar Key carried by Aringoth.

Goldenglow Estate Second Floor
The second floor consists of seven rooms, with only one long corridor and one exit back to the first floor. Through the door is a room with three sets of shelves against the walls holding a bottle of Honningbrew Mead, five bottles of Nord mead, two bottles of alto wine, and three bottles of wine. There are three round wooden tables and chairs arranged around the middle of the room, with a small coin purse and a total of ten loose septims on the tables. A woodcutter's axe is in the room's western corner. To the northwest is a doorway with a small square table to the right of it. Through the doorway is a corridor with two turns, and an open door opposite with another storeroom behind. The storeroom contains a food barrel and a set of shelves holding a woodcutter's axe, a pair of iron boots, a flute, and a bulb of garlic.

Following the turns in the corridor past two wooden benches (one of which holds an apothecary's satchel), ahead is a set of shelves holding an iron mace and a food sack. To the left the corridor continues, passing a door on the left; at the far end you can see a mercenary leaning against the wall facing away from you. If your sneak skill is high enough, you can avoid alerting him. The door on the left leads into a bedroom containing two unowned single beds coming out from the southeast wall, and a dresser between them with a flute and a common book on top. By the northeastern wall is a dresser. In the western corner is a small square table, with a set of shelves coming out from the southwest wall facing it. On the shelves is a sliced eidar cheese, three bulbs of garlic, and a cabbage. To the left of the shelves is a wardrobe containing clothes, and farther to the left is an open door back into the corridor. If you left the mercenary at the end of the previous corridor, as you leave through this door, you will need to hug this side of the corridor, as to the right is another wardrobe that will block you from view of the mercenary. If you instead opt to kill the mercenary, you will find a small square table holding bread and cheese in the corridor across from where he stood, and a wardrobe nearby. Turning left, at the end is a corridor heading northeast ending in a doorway, with a round table on the right holding a bulb of garlic and three loose septims. On your immediate right before the round table is a doorway into a room, with a mercenary sitting at a table against the southwest wall. There is an iron dagger, a baked potato, and a bunch of lavender on the table, and two wardrobes against the south wall. On the left is a novice-locked door into Aringoth's bedroom.

The doorway at the end of the previous corridor leads into another bedroom containing an unowned single bed in the western corner, a dresser by the foot of the bed containing fine clothes, and a small square table and chair against the northeast wall with a bowl of beef stew, a pheasant roast, and an eidar cheese wedge on top. Against the southeast wall is a wardrobe, with an adept-locked door to the right. Behind this door is another small storeroom, which contains a set of shelves holding a large coin purse, two loose septims, a leveled light armor helmet, and a leveled dagger hidden under the sack beside it. On top of the shelves is an apothecary's satchel. Also in this room are several food sacks and a barrel with three loose septims on top.

Aringoth's room contains a long wooden table on your left upon entering with a knapsack, a pickaxe, a purple mountain flower, and three loose septims on top. To the right of the door is a cupboard holding clutter, and a set of shelves against the southeast wall holding six bottles of alto wine and eight bottles of wine. To the north is a slightly raised section with a double bed coming out of the middle of the north wall. Aringoth will likely be crouching beside a cupboard on the left. You will need a Speech skill of 75 (53 with the Persuasion perk) to successfully persuade Aringoth to give you the safe key, or alternatively you may kill him and take it off his corpse along with the key to the novice-locked gate blocking access to the basement. The cupboard beside him holds two drums. On either side of the bed are small tables, with the one on the right having a unique Queen Bee Statue on top. This can be sold to Delvin in The Ragged Flagon for a tidy sum, and is one of several unique items found throughout Skyrim that are part of the Litany of Larceny quest that only ever appear as miscellaneous quests to return the items to him. At the foot of the bed is an apprentice-locked chest containing minor loot. To the left of the bed is a dresser with a unique Bee in a Jar on top, with a wardrobe farther to the left. To the right of the bed is a set of shelves holding a bottle of alto wine, two bottles of wine, a bunch of jazbay grapes, and a red and a blue mountain flower. Against the east wall is a round wooden table and two chairs, with a bottle of alto wine and a medium coin purse on top.

Goldenglow Estate Basement
Through the novice-locked gate on the main floor and down the stairs is a room with two sets of shelves holding a few food sacks and a door to the basement. As soon as you enter the basement, you are in a large room full of broken and disused furniture and cobwebs showing the basement isn't in regular use, with two mercenaries in the corner diagonally opposite. Both mercenaries will be carrying copies of the Goldenglow Cellar Key. In the same corner as the mercenaries is an apprentice-locked chest. Opposite the basement entrance is another door leading to a corridor heading northwest that soon ends at a T-junction. To the left is a room containing a round wooden table with a small coin purse on top, while to the right in a small alcove are two deer hides, a wolf pelt, and a bear pelt. Turning right at the junction, the corridor turns first to the northwest and then to the southwest. Ahead you can see an oil slick on the ground, which you can use to deal with a mercenary who is just around the corner out of sight. Past the mercenary is a flight of stairs descending to the southeast. At the bottom, a room on the left contains a novice-locked chest holding minor loot, with the safe to the right, and a round wooden table beside the safe. On the table is a small and a large coin purse and three loose septims. The safe is expert-locked, but can be opened using the Goldenglow Safe Key carried by Aringoth, and contains the Goldenglow bill of sale. To the southeast is an unlocked gate with a trapdoor behind leading back into the sewer. Through the trapdoor is a short twisting tunnel leading to the hole in the floor seen from below.

Notes
Before the related quest is activated, the door to Goldenglow Estate will be locked, and the whole area will be protected by invisible walls. A mercenary is guarding the main gate. However, he won't turn hostile to you unless attacked.

Maps