The first tip I have is, by far, the most important. Make sure you learn it
if you haven't already. Save, Save, SAVE! This means save frequently, and
save using more than 1 file!
First look around for posters of Garyfox to start the quest. There's a few
ways to start out, you can either go straight to the Garden of Dareloth at
midnight, or you can treat it as an actual quest and read the next paragraph.
Once you enter the Imperial City, you'll notice a wanted poster near any of the
gates. Once you click on that poster, you can then ask any of the beggars
around town about the Gray Fox. They'll ask why you want to know, just give
them the acceptable answer "Yes, I want to work with him." The beggar will
refer to Garden of Dareloth, and tell you to be there at midnight.
The garden is located in the Waterfront district, you can either run through
the whole city to get there, or bring up your map and click on the Waterfront
District inside the Imperial City.
So, now you're in the Waterfront district. Dareloth Garden is in the western
part of the Waterfront district, near several shacks on the other side of the
wall. If you try to go there before midnight, you won't
find anything there. About the time it starts to hit 12:00AM
you'll notice an Argonian named Amusei, a female named Methredhel, and a male
(with torch) named Armand Christophe approach the garden.
Talk to Armand, and he should have a topic for the Gray Fox. He'll see that
you contacted a beggar about the Thieves Guild, and says that's fine because
beggars are the eyes and the ears of the Gray Fox. You'll do well to
remember that in the future, because you'll be relying on beggars in all towns
for information. After you ask Armand about the Gray Fox, he'll have a topic
about "Joining the Thieves Guild." He'll go on to say that its unusual to have
three potential recruits, so he's going to make it a contest. The rules are you
must steal Amantius Alectus's diary. You cannot kill him, and you cannot kill
any of the other recruits (Although I have heard you can kill one and still
pass the test, but its risky and you will receive quests for both later, so try
to avoid it, eh?). Methredhel will say something about the garden by sunrise,
but disregard this. You need to return at midnight once again. At this
time you can talk to Armand if you wish and buy lock picks from him for 5g each.
Now we're off to steal the diary. If you need directions to Amantius's house,
you can ask any beggar in the area. If you head north along the wall from the
garden, you should find one sleeping on a bedroll. Ask him about Amantius and
he'll provide directions to the Temple district (South-western Imperial
City). Click on the Temple district on your map, or simply run through the
city to get there. I'm going to tell you right now, unless you have a decent
speed rating and know exactly where you're going to begin with, you probably
aren't going to beat Methredhel there. That's ok though, just skip to the next
paragraph. In the event you do beat her there, just pick the lock on
the front of Amantius's door, head to the right when you enter his house, and
take the diary from the desk. If you follow Methredhel as soon as the quest begins, you can follow her all the way to the house, let her open the door for you, then head in right after and beat her to the desk on the right side of the room.
In the event Methredhel does beat you there, and more than likely she will You can either wait a few days and speak to Armand again for a new quest, or you can try to take the diary off of Methredhel's hands, I prefer the latter. If you would rather do the other quest, scroll to the bottom of this section. Leave the house after she finishes gloating to you, and look to see where she goes. There has been a few occasions when I've seen her actually go into Amantius's basement, which I think may be a bug. In that case, just pick the lock and follow her down there. When you begin to follow Methredhel, your quest info will update, saying you need to get the diary back by stealing if off her. There's no easy way to do this, especially if your sneak level is low. You may want to quick save first, if your theft happens to goes wrong. Hit the Space key to attempt to pickpocket the
diary. If you don't mind waiting, you can head to Methredhel's house in the Waterfront district, and I've noticed just as the sun begins to come up she likes to head back there and go to bed. If you pick the lock on her door, you'll find a chest locked in there. If you open it while she sleeps, you can take the diary back. Be careful, as there's usually another lady in the room with you, be sure to Sneak if you try this.
