Daggerfall:The Thieves Gang

Quick Walkthrough
# Talk to a Noble.
# Head to the town named by the Noble and locate the contact.
# Give the gold brick to the noble's contact and receive a magical item.
# Head back to the noble, fend of an attack on the way.
# Read the letter found on the corpses.
# Travel to the town the thief is staying.
# Confront the thief and take the magical item from his body.
# Return the magical item to the noble within the time limit for your reward.

Detailed Walkthrough
thumb|right|The Noble's contact
No Simple Delivery
Speak to a noble, who says:

:"I need someone to bring a certain item to a contact of mine in (town). You will receive an item in return. If you bring that item back to me, I will happy to reward you with (random gold) gold pieces. Do you agree?"

Accept
The noble goes on:

:''"Very good. Take this bar of gold and bring it to a certain (contact's description) called (contact's name) in a place called (building) in (town). You will need to move quickly. (Contact's name) isn't in the habit of waiting around for laggard couriers. Very well, good luck to you, (player's first name). I will expect you back in (time limit) days."

Decline
The noble answers:

:"No? What a shame. I was prepared to be quite generous."

Unexpected Developments
thumb|right|The mysterious leader of the gang of thieves
thumb|right|The gang will not be happy if you decide to steal the item back
Travel to the town the noble mentioned and meet your contact there. The building may be locked depending on what type it is and the time, so plan accordingly. Find the contact inside and hand over the gold bar. The contact will say:

:"Marvelous, (player's first name). I do adore gold, don't you? Well, you'll get your share once you've returned this particular (magical item) to (noble's name). I hope you remember the way back to (noble's town)."

Receive a magical item in exchange and make your way back to the noble. Shortly after you have obtained the item, you will be attacked by some nightblades. As you strike the first opponent, a message appears:

:As you fend off your assailant, you feel something brush against you from behind. You glimpse a figure running away before your attention is forcibly returned to keeping yourself alive.

Deal with any attacking nightblades and search the corpses until you find one carrying the following note:

:(Thief's name),

::''The mark is a (player's race) named (player's name),
::who will pick up a (magical item) from
::(building). Bring the (magical item)
::to me. The courier is of no importance,
::dead or alive.
::::(Ringleader's name)

Ask around about the name on the note until you are given the name of a town. Travel there and obtain the location of the building where the ringleader of the gang is staying. Gain entrance to the locked building and confront the thief within, who says:

:"(Oath), who are you and how did you get in here?! You must be that damned courier of (quest giver)'s! I knew I should have had (thief's name) kill you.  My soft heart, always getting me in trouble ... Guards! Kill this intruder!!"''

A group of rogues will appear for reinforcement once you attack their leader. Take care of your opponents and loot the ringleader's corpse for the stolen item. Additionally, there is a 25% chance the ringleader carries a parchment (see bugs); reading this gives the message:

:The parchment describes the location of the Coven of the Tide in Totambu, whatever that is. 

Return the stolen magical item to the Noble to receive a generous reward including another magical item.

Reward
If you bring back the magical item in time, the noble will be pleased and say:

:''"Excellent, (player's first name), you've returned with my enchanted (magical item) as promised. I heard that you ran into some trouble on the road, and I was beginning to worry that you were lost to us. As a token of my appreciation for a job well done, I am adding a magic (another magical item) to the (random gold) gold I originally promised. I am sure we will make use of your services again in the near future. Thank you."

Reputation Gain/Loss
 

Additional Reputation
If you attack the thief in his hideout you will lose reputation as seen below.


Enemies
3x Two Nightblades every ten in-game minutes as soon as you get the magical item from the noble's contact
One Thief
6x One Rogue every two in-game minutes (50% chance) as soon as you attack the Thief

Notes
When offered this quest, it may at first appear to be Gold Smuggling, as both have the same basic objectives and almost identical dialogue in the beginning. The differences become readily apparent when you deliver the gold.
If you keep the gold brick or the magical item given to you by the noble's contact, it will remain in your inventory and won't vanish once the quest is over, unlike most quest items.

Bugs
Due to a bug in the questfile, the map to the Coven of the Tide will not reveal the location of the coven on your map.
Additionally, while the dialogue says the coven is in Totambu, it is actually located in Myrkwasa.
There is third-party patch which fixes these issues. It is part of Donald Tipton's patched quests and can be found within the QUESTPAK.ZIP file.

Additional Dialogue
After you have accepted this quest, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
''"There was this (contact's description) here recently asking if I'd seen a (player's race)."'
''"Some (contact's description) was looking for a (player's race) with a (bar of gold) a while back."
If you fail the quest, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
"Well, (noble's name) is, I've heard, furious at some (player's race) mercenary."
"(Noble's name) is still relying on mercenaries and I've heard (he/she)'s been burned."
If you successfully complete the quest, NPCs may say when asked for any news:
"I hear that (noble's name) finally got some (magical item) (he/she) needed."
"(Noble's name) has been singing the praises of a certain (player's race) mercenary.
If you successfully complete the quest, the quest giver may later greet you with:
"And what can I do for you, my brave young courier?"
''"I'd be happy to help out my favorite courier any way I can."
If you failed the quest, the quest giver will greet you with:
"The delivery was obviously too ... complex, eh? Ah, the vapidity of (player's race) youth. Leave me now, (player's first name)."''

Quest Log