Skyrim:The Ragged Flagon - Cistern

It is connected to the Ragged Flagon, but also has its own secret entrance in Riften's cemetery. This secret entrance is located beneath a tomb that dominates the small graveyard to the east of Riften's Hall of the Dead. The secret entrance can be accessed once you join the Thieves Guild. To open the entrance, press a small button inside the diamond symbol in the center of the tomb. The tomb should slide back to reveal a stone staircase. Descend it and open the sewer covering to access the Cistern.

The Ragged Flagon - Cistern is inaccessible by either entrance until you have joined the Thieves Guild.

 
Residents


Related Quests(†)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(†) Other Thieves Guild quests exist, but do not require you to enter the Cistern.

Walkthrough
The Ragged Flagon - Cistern
You will initially be taken to the Cistern by Brynjolf. After you meet him in the Ragged Flagon, he will lead you to a storage cabinet with a false back. Behind the cabinet is a passage with a small bedroom on the right. The bedroom contains two owned beds with an end table between them, two cupboards, a round table with a bottle of wine, and an unlocked chest. All items in the Ragged Flagon are flagged as owned, but are easy pickings. The passage behind the cabinet ends at a door that opens into the main headquarters for the Guild, the Cistern.

When you first enter the Cistern, Mercer Frey will be awaiting you in the center of the room, with five other thieves present round the room: Cynric Endell, Niruin, Rune, Thrynn, and Vipir the Fleet. Other thieves return or arrive as you complete specific quests. Sapphire returns once you have completed the Stabilized quest for Shadr. Etienne Rarnis moves here once released from the Thalmor Embassy during Diplomatic Immunity. Finally, two new thieves, Garthar and Ravyn Imyan, join the guild once you have started to return the Guild to its former glory.

The Cistern consists of a large circular chamber with two storm drains emptying from the ceiling high overhead, with waterfalls cascading into a pool under a cross-shaped stone walkway. There are wooden suspension bridges linking each quadrant around the outside. All containers, excluding barrels and the chests within the training room used for practicing lockpicking, are safe for storage. There is a pair of cupboards containing clutter flanking the tunnel leading into the room from the Ragged Flagon. Nine single owned beds, in addition to your bed, come out from the outer walls; seven of the ten beds have unlocked guild chests at the foot of them, all containing minor loot. There are several end tables beside the beds around the room. The first bed on the right when entering from the Ragged Flagon is assigned to you. There are additional pairs of thieves guild gloves and boots on the floor on either side of your bed. Around the room are several bottles of alto wine, wine, and Nord mead, along with a few common books and three copies of Shadowmarks, which explains the meaning of the different symbols scattered across Skyrim. Several notes can be found around the room, including ones titled East Empire Connection, Eyes Open, and No Word Yet, all of which give insights into the Guild and/or some of its members.

Opposite the entrance, in an alcove to the southeast, is a pair of double metal doors guarding the Guild's treasure room which require two keys, with a table and a barrel to the left and another cupboard containing clutter to the right. There is a desk farther to the left of the alcove, where Mercer Frey is normally found. On the desk is the business ledger and two lockpicks. Behind the desk are two sets of shelves; as you acquire certain unique items as part of The Litany of Larceny quest and sell them to Delvin Mallory, they will appear on the shelves or desk. Also, as you complete more side jobs for Vex and Delvin, certain other trophies will begin to fill the shelves. Between the sets of shelves is a blank bust, which is used to display Barenziahs Crown once you collect all twenty-four of the unusual gems and recover the crown as part of the No Stone Unturned quest. To the right of the alcove is a grindstone and a barrel in front of a row of four weapon racks, which hold an iron and a steel dagger and an iron and a steel sword. To the right of the rack are three archery dummies, where Cynric, Thrynn, and Ravyn Imyan (after he joins) spend hours each day honing their archery skills.

In the alcove to the southwest is a ladder leading to the concealed cemetery entrance to Riften. To the left of the ladder is a long wooden table with a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, and a goat cheese wheel on top, and to the right is a cupboard containing clutter. In front of the cupboard is a cooking pot on a stand, beside another cupboard holding two red apples and a green apple, four tomatoes, a bottle of alto wine, and several pieces of cheese. On the opposite side of the Cistern to the northeast is a passage with a long wooden table on the right laid with a bottle of alto wine, a horker loaf, two pieces of cooked beef, two loaves of bread, a cabbage, and an eidar cheese wheel. Beside the table is a cupboard holding two boiled creme treats, a bottle of alto wine, and some bread and cheese. To the left of the passage is an alchemy lab. The passage takes two turns before entering a training room - see below for details.

During the Thieves Guild quest The Pursuit, when you enter the Cistern from the Ragged Flagon, Vex, Delvin, and Brynjolf will be standing by the entrance with their weapons drawn. By the alternative entrance will be Vipir the Fleet and Sapphire, by the passage leading to the training room will be Niriun and Cynric Endell with Rune a short distance behind them, and Thrynn will be in the training room. After both you and Karliah explain yourselves, Brynjolf asks Delvin to unlock the treasure room. Once both Delvin and Brynjolf have unlocked the door, you are all able to enter, and find Mercer has emptied all seven treasure chests within. There are a couple small wooden tables in the room with a selection of steel weapons on top, and a food barrel in the corner. The locked vault door remains unlocked, unless you stay away from the Cistern long enough for it to reset, which will reset the doors to locked.

Upgrades
As you complete the Thieves Guild reputation quests for Delvin Mallory, the beds are upgraded, while several screens and upgrades around the Cistern are added:

Completing the first reputation quest adds two new Thieves Guild banners high on the walls on either side of the treasury room. The table to the southwest is laid with two bottles of alto wine, a baked potato, a pheasant roast, a raw rabbit leg, two potatoes, a salmon steak, a seared slaughterfish steak, and several more loaves of bread and pieces of cheese. Hanging above the table from racks are four rabbits, four pheasants, and two whole salmon. A shield plaque is installed above the weapon racks to the right of the treasury room, with a banded iron shield and crossed iron greatswords.
Completing the second reputation quest adds two extra cupboards on either side of the ladder leading to the concealed entrance from the graveyard. Rugs are added throughout the zone, and two more banners are hung from the walls above the passage to the training room.
Completing the third reputation quest makes a new thief, Garthar, join the Guild. Two more banners are hung from the walls above the concealed entrance.
Completing the fourth and final reputation quest makes a new thief, Ravyn Imyan, join the Guild. Two final banners are added high above the entrance to the Ragged Flagon.
After you complete the quest Darkness Returns, a shrine to Nocturnal is installed in the water between the entrance to the Ragged Flagon and the training room. When activated, you will be granted the Blessing of Nocturnal, a 10-point boost to your Sneak skill, and will be cured of any diseases you may have contracted.
After completing the Thieves Guild questline, a long guild tribute chest appears before the desk. You can unlock this chest with a key given to you by Brynjolf and claim the items left as tribute for you.
Upon completing 125 side quests for Vex and/or Delvin, a safe is also added.

Training Room
The training room contains several archery targets (both at ground level and in alcoves high on the walls), practice dummies, many more food barrels, and five different locked chests, each with a different leveled lock from novice through master. There is a note on the ground in front of the chests, which explains they are for practice use and they reset after a short amount of time. There is also an unlocked guild chest, two cupboards, a table, and an end table against the walls. On these are an iron greatsword, a steel greatsword, an iron dagger, a complete set of thieves guild armor including the hood, gloves, boots, and cuirass, a pickaxe, and a copy of the Lockpicking skill book Advances in Lockpicking.

Notes
There is a "Guild" Shadowmark to the left of the door to the Ratway Vaults.

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