Work and earning
The thieves' guild
Quiet hands, light feet: the guild's contracts send you after the purses of the land's folk and the strongboxes of its towns - never a player's.
Joining
Ask any innkeeper for A word about the guild. The thief is a service: it takes no place among your two trades or your professions. Once in, the guild's window opens from F2 > Work or the action wheel, wherever you are.
Contracts
The window offers three contracts at a time (drawn again every 20 minutes), more and better as you rise. Take one and you have 25 minutes to do the work and bring the prize to any innkeeper, who pays you. Sixteen contracts a day at most.
| Contract | Level | The work | Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| A commoner's purse | 1 | A mark by a market, pointed out on your compass: come up behind them and use the game's own Rob - its pickpocketing | 150 gr. |
| A townhouse chest | 1 | A chest in one of the town's houses - a home's chest, a bedside one, a small chest: pick its lock with the game's lockpicking (a lockpick in your pack). Offered the most at the start | 150 gr. |
| A storehouse strongbox | 2 | One of the town's chests: pick its lock with the game's lockpicking (a lockpick in your pack) | 190 gr. |
| A merchant's purse | 4 | A merchant walking his round | 240 gr. |
| A merchant's coffer, by night | 6 | A strongbox with a watchman pacing about it | 375 gr. |
| A heist, by night | 7 | With your crew: two strongboxes, two watchmen | about 620 gr. each |
| A nobleman's purse, or his strongbox by night | 8 | The purse comes with a bodyguard; the box with a watchman | 380 / 475 gr. |
Pay rises with your level, like every trade. Whatever else the mark's pockets held is yours: the trinkets go to the fence (the innkeeper), who buys them back - only those. A night contract can only be done by night.
Caught
The game decides if your hand is felt. Caught, the mark cries "Thief!", the townsfolk post a wanted notice (it fades after a week), the contract is lost and the guild turns its back on you for 10 minutes. A watchman sees ahead of him - less far by night, half as far if you crouch - and only what nothing hides; seen long enough, he raises the cry and comes for you. He cannot be cut down: run.
Rising in the guild
Every contract gives experience. Past levels 3, 5, 7 and 9 you go no further until you pass the guild's trial - a harder contract that pays half again: a merchant's purse by night, a merchant's coffer by night, a nobleman's purse, a nobleman's strongbox by night.
| Level | Opens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Commoners' purses and townhouse chests |
| 2 | Storehouse strongboxes |
| 4 | Merchants' purses |
| 5 | The Shadow: crouching by night, your name disappears from everyone's screen; watchmen see you a fifth less far |
| 6 | Merchants' coffers by night |
| 7 | Heists: lead the guild members of your party (within 30 m) on a two-box job; every hand within 20 m at the handing-over is paid |
| 8 | Noblemen's purses and strongboxes |
| 10 | The master's writ: once a week, for 300 gr., a day in which you may pick the lock of up to 3 house chests - never your own or your faction's. Each shows you one stack, taken or left; the owner nearby sees you, and is told by letter what went |
Lockpicks
A chest contract needs one from level 1. Smiths make them (3 from a bit of ore, coal and leather, smithing level 1). The fence sells them too, dearer (25 gr.). Merchants no longer sell them where the guild is.