Merchant and Innkeeper Quests

These quests are some of the most varied in the game.  Although they are actually separate categories, there appears to be a lot of overlap and interchangability.

"...the Old Switcheroo..." (any rep):  travel to an inn, pick up one letter and drop another letter. The hitch to this quest is that the letter you need to pick up is always right on top of an item.  If you disturb the item, you blow the quest and have to fight your way out.  Save the game first, duck/squat, and turn until the letter covers the item.  The click on a CORNER of the letter to get it.

"My master asked me to find a brave adventurer..." (any rep): the "master" is a mage in disguise.  If you do not kill him quickly, you will be teleported to a random dungeon and have to fight your way out.  This is a buggy quest.  You are supposed to be able to hunt down your enemy (who moves to another location after teleporting you), but I have only been able to do this once. The merchant is appropriately apologetic if you go back and talk to him.

"My house is infested with monsters..." (any rep): usually rats or bats and there are 7 to 10 of them that will appear at intervals of a few minutes.  Just hang around and bop them as they appear and then go collect your gold.

"...Spill a little blood..." or "...kill for gold.." or "...won't faint at the sight of blood..." (any rep): simple assassination, but don't take this one if you want to maintain your rep with the Dark Brotherhood.  Successful completion will cause your rep with them to plummet.

Pick a fight (any rep): you pick a fight with someone who says to meet them at a local tavern in six hours.  It's usually a Spellsword or somesuch that shows up and is a very easy fight since they seldom sling spells at you.

"I need someone that can heal my cousin..." (any rep): ask around town (or go visit the cousin) and you'll eventually hear of a healer (alchemist) that has a cure. Pick it up (it costs 20 gold) and take it to the cousin.  This one has a tight timeframe, so it's easier to ask around town (or hit up the spymaster if you're a thief or assassin).

"Have you read <book>?" (any rep): seems a book has been stolen and you're to track down the thief. Ask around town (or hit up the spymaster) to find the name and location of the thief (usually in another town). You'll have to fight him to get it back.

"If you could see your way clear to delivering an item..." (any rep): just deliver the item.  It usually goes to someone in town and is a quick quest to complete.

"Are you passing by <town> any time soon?" (any rep): another delivery, this time to another town.  Once in a while you'll get a thief who tries to take it from you.

"Can you help me find my friend?" (any rep): someone has gone missing and you are tasked to find them.  You are given a few names to work with.  Just follow them up to find your quarry.  It could be that they got arrested, left town because of a fight with the questgiver, or got killed by a mugger (who tries to kill you, too).

"I am in need of an escort..." (any rep): escort the merchant to his destination. Several possible outcomes:

If you turn your client over, you will see a rep increase with that faction (one way to raise your rep "in the eyes of the law"), but loose rep with the Merchants. If you fight, you loose rep with the faction that comes for your client, but gain rep with the Merchants.

"...A competitor of mine has usurped a contract of mine and has entered into an illegal, or at least immoral trading relationship..." (any rep): go to the store and get the item. You may or may not have to fight a guard. If you delay in returning to your employer, you should receive a letter from the victim offering to exchange the item for a gem.

"...It would appear that one of my former associates, in an effort to make my life more hellish, has passed some counterfeit gold bricks to me..." (any rep): you are tasked to retrive up to four pieces of gold from various locations. One will be in a Palace, one in a house, one in a bank (all in different towns) and one in a dungeon. You are supposed to be paid for each gold that you retrieve, but you will only be paid for one, regardless of how many you actually get. You have 30 days to complete this quest.

"You wouldn't have any problem doing a bit of smuggling for me, would you..." or "Smuggling is a nasty word, isn't it..." (any rep): Be exceptionally cautious if you accept this quest. As soon as you do, your reputation drops to "hated" and will not rise until you successfully complete the quest. You are to deliver an item to a contact in another town. Sometimes the contact will be there and sometimes there will be a trap waiting for you. If it is a trap, you should receive a letter from someone setting up an alternate meeting place. In this instance you will get your reputation cleared, no pay and the merchant who gave you the quest will never speak to you again. Smuggling does not sit well with the Thieves Guild, either.

"I have been challenged to a duel..." or "This <person> here in <town> has sent me a challenge..." (any rep): you get to impersonate your employer in a duel. That's OK, though, because the challenger has also hired an imposter, too. You can turn the tables by going to the lover and filling her in. She will pay your fee, but dump both of them.

"I've appealed to The Fighters Guild..." or "Those infernal orcs have stolen my little cousin..." (any rep): there are two ways this one can play out. The first is that it is a legitimate rescue. The second is that the child is under the protection of the Fighters Guild. In the latter case, you will not find the child in the dungeon, but will receive a letter from a representative of the Guild when you leave the dungeon and try to fast-travel. This is the only instance where it is normal to not find your quest object in a dungeon. If the child is under the protection of the Fighters Guild and you do not interfere, you will see a 10-point boost to your rep with them after about 30 days.

"...you look like that <race>, <PC name>..." or "You're not by any chance <PC name>, are you?" or "Wait a minute. You're not <PC name>, are you?" (any rep): if you say "Yes", you are accused of stealing a gem and your rep goes down the toilet. This is a tough quest and you have to talk to a lot of people (or spend a lot of time with a spymaster) to sort it all out. What it boils down to is that you have been framed and you must not only get the evidence against the real thief, but also retrieve the stolen goods (usually in two different dungeons). It is very time-consuming, but it is also one of the two ways to boost your rep "in the eyes of the law".

"My poor darling <name> has been kidnapped by the Thieves Guild..." or "The Thieves Guild has taken my dearest <name>..." (any rep): you have two ways to pull this off. The first (and the one that helps your rep with the Guild) is to simply pay the ransom. The second is to try to rescue the victim. In order to to this, you will need to fight the contact (and friends). You will find a note giving the location of the victim (a dungeon) on the body. From there it's a standard dungeon crawl, but your rep with the Thieves Guild will take a serious hit.

"You've heard of <book>?..." or "I am looking for a very special book..." (any rep): a standard dungeon crawl with a book as your object.

"I fear for my life..." (any positive rep): show up at the appropriate house around 9 pm and wait.  You'll get to fight three or four bully boys.

"I need the services of a hunter of men..." (any positive rep): you must find the answer to a riddle by tracking down the person who asked it. You'll need to talk to two or three people before you get the location of the dungeon where the target is hiding. Clicking on him will put the answer to the riddle in your inventory and you can return to collect your reward.

"My master asked me to find a brave adventurer..." (any positive rep): the "master" is an orc shaman in disguise.  If you do not kill him quickly, you will be teleported to a random dungeon and have to fight your way out.  This is a buggy quest.  You are supposed to be able to hunt down your enemy (who moves to another location after teleporting you), but I have only been able to do this once. The merchant is appropriately apologetic if you go back and talk to him.

"My sister is having a birthday next month..." (any positive rep): pick up an item from across town and bring it back to the questgiver. Two possible outcomes: (1) it's a legitimate present; (2) it's ingredients for a poison to kill the sister. In either event, talk to the sister before delivering the item.

"Somebody has been filling the streets with lies..." (any positive rep): ask around town (or hit up the spymaster) to get the location of a house that has a letter in it. Take it back to the questgiver and you'll be sent to a dungeon to rescue the victim of one of the questgiver's plots.

"My former partner...has taken more than his fair share of our profits..." or "That damnable <name> let me trust him..." or "I am looking for a manhunter..." (any positive rep): a standard dungeon crawl, but you'll get a better reward if you can "bring 'em back alive".

"Imagine the purity of my delight when my sniveling, cheating lover of the past two years..." (any positive rep): you are to foil the ransoming of a kidnap victim by (1) killing the victim (the vitcim has a heart attack of commits suicide as soon as you click on her); (2) killing the cousin who is going to ransom the victim; or (3) stealing the gem that is going to be used for the ransom. All three options involve a standard dungeon crawl. The Thieves Guild will usually send you a letter telling you where the victim is and giving their sanction to your action (the kidnappers are freelancers).

"You're <PC name>, yes? The one who was shipwrecked?" (any positive rep): This is actually related to the Main Quest because your reward is information about how you came to be shipwrecked in Daggerfall. Don't take this quest without Mithril or better weapons because you have to fight a Daedroth to get to the quest object. If you use the quest object (as in try to read it), you will destroy the object and summon a Fire Daedra. A standard dungeon crawl, otherwise.

"Whoever brings me <item> will be rewarded with Chrysamere..." (rep between 1 and 10 only): a fake artifact quest. The item has a daedra (usually a Seducer) guarding it. You can fight the Seducer and take the item to the questgiver (an orc shaman in disguise that you'll have to fight) or doublecross the questgiver. If you opt for the doublecross, you'll gain about 10 points of rep with the Mages Guild. If you try to doublecross the Seducer, you'll lose 10 points of rep with the Mages Guild.

"I have a not uncommon situation on my hands. A nest of harpies has moved into an old property of mine..." (rep between 1 and 10): a standard dungeon crawl with a twist. Your object is a harpy with a griffon feather on its body. This will usually be the 5th or 6th harpy that you kill. The twist is that after you take care of the harpies and try to fast travel back to the merchant, you should receive a letter asking you to go back into the dungeon to rescue the mercenary previously hired to do the job. Another standard dungeon crawl, but if you rescue the mercenary, you'll get a boost to your rep with the Fighters Guild.

"The Dark Brotherhood has taken my child..." (rep 10 or more): don't take this one if you want to keep a good rep with the DB. Go to the location (usually a house) and grab the child. You'll have to fight four or five assassins (be prepared for poisoned weapons) and your rep with the DB will drop by about 20 points.

"I am betrothed to <name>..." (rep 10 or more): escort your client to the next town to pick up his beloved, then take them both the appropriate temple and report to the head priest. This quest is a little buggy because the bad guys start showing up after you have completed it.

"I loaned a certain sum of money to a noble by the name of <name>, who you may or may not have heard of..." (rep 30 or more): retrieve either the money your employer loaned (some gold), the deed to the house used as collateral for the loan, or kill the con man. It is possible to do all three in the 30 days you are allotted, but it will require a lot of hustling on your part. The gold and the deed will be in one dungeon, while the target will be in a second one. You get the locations to these by following up at the bank where the deed and gold were stolen. Except for the time you must spend chasing down rumors, this is almost a standard dungeon crawl.

"I need someone to deliver something for me, and I'm willing to pay very generously..." (rep 41 or more): the "Mummy's Finger" quest. The questgiver vanishes right after giving you the finger (that's a pun, folks). Ask around to find a sage who knows about it. Talk to the sage to get the location of the Mummy's Tomb. Kill the Mummy before the Mummy kills you. While all of this is going on, you'll be visited by the Mummy every night, about midnight.