Dampened Spirits

A Plan Is Brewing

You begin this quest with the previous objective already active. Leave the Ragged Flagon and find Maven. You can be as flippant or sycophantic as you like in your responses to this ale baroness; she still has a particular role for you to undertake once you agree to it. This involves her only real competition in Skyrim: the Honningbrew Meadery located close to Whiterun. With the mead production of the Goldenglow Farm being interrupted, this has a knock-on effect with her production too. Her rival, a Nord named Sabjorn who owns the Honningbrew Meadery, cannot be allowed to up his production and cut into her profits. You’re to head to Whiterun and seek out Mallus Maccius, Sabjorn’s disgruntled assistant (and unofficial contact for Maven), and hatch a plan to bring Sabjorn down. Maven is also keen to learn who backed Sabjorn financially.

Enter Whiterun and the Bannered Mare, before locating the weasel-like Mallus Maccius. He has already formulated a plan to bring Sabjorn down: The Honningbrew Meadery has a well-known Skeever infestation (partly because he told the townsfolk about it). The vermin are interfering with Sabjorn’s latest batch of “Honningbrew Reserve,” which is being readied for Whiterun’s Captain of the Guard. A tasting ceremony cannot be held until the meadery is cleared of Skeevers. This is where you come in. You’re to pose as a helper, ready to poison the rodents, but you’ll also sabotage the brewing vats too.

Sabjorn’s Subjugation

You can ask Mallus further questions to gain more understanding of the situation if you wish. Then travel a short distance to the meadery and enter the main building. Sabjorn is just inside, worried about his Skeever problem and annoyed that his no-good assistant Mallus isn’t around to help. After agreeing to help, you can:

• (Persuade) Request payment in advance.
• (Intimidate) Threaten him to obtain a payment in advance.
• Agree to receive the payment once the job is done. This isn’t the most prudent of options.

If you’re successful in your Persuasion or Intimidation, Sabjorn agrees to pay you half your reward (500 gold pieces) now.

• Honningbrew Meadery Key
• Pest Poison
• 500 gold pieces

Head into the barrel storage room and venture into Honningbrew Basement. The door is only accessible once Sabjorn gives you the key. Watch for bear traps and a Venomfang Skeever scurrying out of a small fissure at the cellar’s far (south) end. The fissure opens up into underground warrens. Bring down any Venomfang Skeevers and a small family of Frostbite Spiders as you continue south. Locate the mound of straw and the chest. Poison this nest.

During this frenzied clearing, you should begin to uncover the source of the Venomfang Skeever infestation: It didn’t begin by accident but rather is the result of a series of macabre experiments undertaken by a mad mage named Hamelyn. He had constructed a makeshift laboratory at the nest site, where he has been creating these fiends. If you slay him, you can read his journal, which speaks of his exile from Winterhold and his strange notion of being a “parent” to his army of Skeever. However, to defeat him, you’ll need to attack with cunning, as he’s tough. Check any nearby chests for some particularly satisfying loot.

Continue farther into the warrens and up into a second cellar. Open the door in the eastern wall leading into the Honningbrew Boilery. Step up to the Honningbrew Reserve vat and poison it. You need poison only one vat. Then leave via the door leading outside.

Back in the meadery tasting room, inform Sabjorn that the job is finished, and claim the rest (or all) of your reward. Alas, Sabjorn isn’t prepared to pay you until after the tasting ceremony.

Step back and watch the Captain of the Guards—Commander Caius (if Whiterun is under Imperial rule) or Commander Sinmir (if Whiterun is under Stormcloak control during the Civil War)—as he impatiently asks for a flagon of Sabjorn’s latest reserve. After Sabjorn proudly plonks it down, the Commander drinks from the poisoned reserve and certainly finds the taste not to his liking. He escorts a bewildered Sabjorn out of the building, with the intention of imprisoning him in Whiterun’s Dragonsreach prison for almost poisoning him, and temporarily puts Mallus in charge of the meadery!

Keeping the Mead Flowing

Find Mallus Maccius skulking around the meadery. He can’t believe how well the plan went. Tell him you need to look at Sabjorn’s books. He hands you a key and tells you to look upstairs, in Sabjorn’s desk:

• Sabjorn’s Dresser Key

After speaking to Mallus about future operations for this meadery (it is now effectively in Black-Briar hands), head upstairs from the barrel storage room and use the Honningbrew Meadery Key to open the bedroom door (which is otherwise [Adept] level to unlock). Now open the dresser with Sabjorn’s Dresser Key. There’s a Promissory Note inside.

• Promissory Note

• Honningbrew Decanter

Quest Conclusion

Head back to Riften and seek out Maven, handing over the Promissory Note when she asks. The strange marking (a dagger symbol) you saw on the Goldenglow Estate deed is also on this note. Maven wants you to bring this information to the Thieves Guild immediately. Then you’re given your payment.

• Leveled Enchanted Weapon

Locate Brynjolf (either in the Ragged Flagon or the adjacent Cistern). He already knows about the fate of Sabjorn; in fact, he thinks this is a good example of how the Thieves Guild’s system works. But there is something else; the strange symbol is beyond coincidence. Brynjolf believes someone is trying to drive a wedge between Maven and the Guild. A furious Mercer believes he’s figured out how to reveal this new thorn in the Guild’s side and wants to meet you right away.

Postquest Activities

Thieves Guild Quests: Scoundrel’s Folly is now active. Optionally speak to Vex and Delvin Mallory and continue Thieves Guild Quests: Additional Jobs. Optionally visit Mallus at the Honningbrew Meadery; he is now the bartender and a Fence, allowing you to sell him stolen goods. The first time you return to the meadery, all of the external signs have been changed to “Black-Briar” and all the Honningbrew Mead is gone, replaced by Black-Briar Mead. Maven works with a swiftness that matches her machinations and cunning!

• Mallus: Fence