A Chance Arrangement

A Chance Arrangement
Quest Giver	Brynjolf
Location	Riften
Next Quest	Taking Care of Business
Faction	Thieves Guild
Reward	100
Type	Thieves Guild Main quest
Quest ID	TG00

It is given by Brynjolf, at the town square in Riften or in The Bee and Barb and is the initiation quest to join the Thieves Guild.

Walkthrough

The quest begins once Brynjolf speaks to the Dragonborn, when first entering Riften, and the Dragonborn has the choice to help him. Brynjolf can initially be found during daytime or nighttime. He can be most commonly found in The Bee and Barb or walking around the marketplace.

Stealing

• When the Dragonborn tells Brynjolf they are ready to get started, Brynjolf will call everyone over to him. He starts telling people about some valuable potions he is selling for 20 septims. Wait until everyone is distracted and not moving anymore, listening to Brynjolf. The ring is found in Madesi's strongbox, located underneath his booth behind a locked sliding door. Note that this is different from the display case on his stand. The Dragonborn may choose to either pickpocket a key from Madesi or pick the lock. The sliding door and lock may be unlocked the night before when there are less people around. Steal the ring, along with any other items that you desire, then sneak over to the crates behind Brand-Shei.
• Pickpocket Brand-Shei, but instead of taking from him, plant the ring on Brand-Shei. He's sitting down watching Brynjolf talk and is easily pick-pocketed from behind the boxes with a high success rate. Brynjolf should stop the distraction once this is completed, and, after turning in the quest, Brand-Shei will be approached by a guard and arrested. Planting the ring on someone else does not get that person arrested instead.
• Talk to Brynjolf again, and he will congratulate the Dragonborn.

Not stealing or failing

Failing to complete the assignment does not prevent the Dragonborn from continuing the quest line. Brynjolf will express disappointment, but will state that he believes the Dragonborn still shows potential. It should be noted that failing to plant the ring on Brand-Shei will have the bonus of preserving him as a vendor with gold supply. This may be advantageous to a lower level character, or anyone without higher level speech perks. The following scenarios are possible:

• Getting caught stealing during the distraction will result in failing the quest. If the Dragonborn has earned the title of Thane of Riften, they can use this title to get out of being arrested for the crime, though it may not be recommended since Thanes only get one pardon.
• The Dragonborn can remove Madesi's ring from their inventory anytime after stealing it, and tell Brynjolf that it was lost. The "Plant Madesi's Ring" objective gets marked as failed, but the mission can still be completed, allowing the Dragonborn to continue and join the Thieves Guild.
• The distraction will go on for quite some time, and if the Dragonborn doesn't plant the ring on Brand-Shei before Brynjolf finishes, the group will sit in silence sometimes until the quest is completed. The quest will fail after some amount of time, however. Leaving Riften and going to the stables once and returning may still have the distraction running, but after leaving a second time the quest may end in failure. If this occurs, Brynjolf will express disappointment, as noted above, saying that he could not keep up that distraction for too long, but the quest line will still be available.
• Another way to complete this quest quickly and safely, without breaking any laws: After the distraction starts, simply wander around and go inside any door around the market. This will cause the planting assignment to fail, while strangely, the stealing assignment will still be completed. In this manner the Dragonborn can still complete the quest by talking to Brynjolf without any stealing or pick-pocketing. This will not result in breaking the questline.

In any scenario above, the Dragonborn will return to Brynjolf without getting paid and continue the quest-line while keeping Brand-Shei as a vendor. The quest "Taking Care of Business" starts immediately upon completion of this quest.

Journal

TG00 Maul Handler - TG00MaulHandler
ID	Journal Entry
10	Objective: Talk to Brynjolf about joining the Thieves Guild.
200	Quest complete: Talk to Brynjolf about joining the Thieves Guild.
A Chance Arrangement - TG00
8	Brynjolf in Riften seems to be involved in some nefarious activities and has convinced me to take part in one of his schemes. Objective: Meet Brynjolf during daytime
10	Objective: Steal Madesi's ring from his strongbox.
20	Objective: Plant Madesi's Ring
30	Reverse Pickpocket Succeeded Objective: Speak to Brynjolf
35	Reverse Pickpocket Failed Objective: Speak to Brynjolf
40	player left area/took too long Objective: Speak to Brynjolf
200	Brynjolf's scheme in Riften has ended and the promise of more coin has been made. This appears to be the beginning of profitable friendship. Quest complete

Trivia

• If the Dragonborn has a follower, the follower may mingle with the rest of the crowd. The follower will follow them again once the crowd disperses.
• If the Dragonborn completes the quest after placing the ring in Brand-Shei's pocket, a guard will approach Brand-Shei and arrest him shortly after.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to A Chance Arrangement. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

Click to show Bugs

If the Dragonborn leaves the town while Brand-Shei is being arrested, the ring will be taken from his inventory by a guard and the distraction by Brynjolf will continue on, making it impossible to join the Thieves Guild. The quest lines also change to "Taking Care of Business" with the Objective as : Locate Brynjolf at the Ragged Flagon, which makes the quest in-completable which in turn makes it unable to join the Thieves Guild. After stealing the ring and placing it on Brand-Shei's person, sometimes the distraction Brynjolf provided will not end. This can happen if the Dragonborn speaks to Brynjolf after planting the ring. To avoid this glitch, wait for Brynjolf to approach and start a dialog with the Dragonborn after planting the ring. The only way to end it and move forward is to get caught stealing something from the market. This will fail the quest, but will allow the Dragonborn to get past this glitch, just speak to Brynjolf and he will give the Dragonborn another chance to join the Thieves Guild. The Dragonborn can also fast travel to end the quest so as not to lose the player's stolen items. Joining the Guild will still be possible afterwards. Sometimes Madesi's strongbox doesn't have the ring in it. Going away and coming back should fix this issue. It's HIGHLY recommended to finish Brand-Shei's quest before this one. If the Dragonborn finishes this quest while still having Brand-Shei's quest active, it will result in not being able to finish it, due to Brand-Shei being in jail. This quest can still be completed if Brand-Shei has been jailed after completing "A Chance Arrangement." Simply make his quest the active quest, re-enter the dungeon, and speak with Brand-Shei. If this doesn't work, the quest can be completed by using console console command: open the console, target Brand-Shei (or try prid 19ddc, then type setrelationshiprank player 1 and try to speak to him again. If the Dragonborn tells Brynjolf to start the distraction at night no one will move or talk even though the quest is completed, Also when going into The Ratway, the lowlife will be fighting Brynjolf and the Dragonborn will have to wait for him, before walking into The Ragged Flagon. After accepting the quest to collect the debts, Brynjolf will be in the stalls STILL doing the distraction. This is not fixed by being caught stealing. Attacking Brynjolf and causing him to go down on one knee may fix the bug. Alternatively the Dragonborn can also steal a Silver Ring (regular) from Madesi's display case and plant that in his pocket to proceed with the quest. Whether or not the Dragonborn receives gold or not is unknown as of now.  PS3   PC   If the Dragonborn stops the conversation at the end off the quest it will be impossible to join the thieves guild,because Brynjolf only answers "Hmm?". If the Dragonborn kills Brand-Shei while he's being arrested, he will disappear, and his empty corpse will re-appear in front of the Riften Jail.  360   Sometimes, after the quest is finished, if the wooden bridge in the Ratways isn't down, Brynjolf will stand for a moment, then turn around and walk back to the marketplace in his thieves guild attire and stand in his stall indefinitely. Sometimes Brynjolf won't be in the city along with Brand-Shei. Brynyolf (along with Brand-Shei) can be seen using TOGGLE COLLISION into the city. (Note this does not fix it)