Author: Eric Taylor --- Pip The Piper.
Host:  http://morrowindthieves.tripod.com/

1.0       Things you will need to raid the vaults.

                                                        Picks       Probes         Security          Sneak          Other

     Redoran and Hlaalu Vaults*:   2M/3JM/4A 1M/1JM/2A      35+              50+                        

                      Telvanni Vault:      1SM**/2M   1SM/2M           45+              50+           see 1.3

 * in succession (one after another). Not a minimum or maximum; just a recommendation.

** Secret Master's Lock Pick and Probe can be bought from Hecerinde who lives on the east side of the Odai river in Balmora.

You should also find a chameleon ring or spell of some sort that you can use repeatedly throughout your adventures in the vaults. Invisibility is useful for escape but it wears off when you try to pick something or do anything: not very stealthy.

Before we embark on this venture I strongly suggest that you explore Vivec first so that you can wade through these directions with a vague sense of familiarity. The gondolas are fast between the lower levels, and on the waistworks levels the bridges make moving from one canton to another easy (you don't have to go all the way down and back up again). Levitation is fun to fly between the upper levels but make sure the duration doesn't leave you plummeting into the water.

Now eager vault-raiders, we begin.

1.1    House Redoran Vault

WORTHWHILE FOR: The fun of raiding your first vault, glass weaponry, gold and jewels galore, and an assortment of rings and weapons that will serve you well.

There are two ways to get into the vault, depending on your security and sneak abilities.

One is to get the two keys and unlock the vaults; sounds simple and it is more or less legal as far as the guards are concerned.

The keys are located in two places: In the Redoran Plaza -- Dralor Manor (the north building of the plaza) go in the front and turn right. Go up the stairs and there is a room with a woman and a chest of drawers. The first key is in there.

The second key is in the pocket of Beldrose Dralor located in the first vault room you come across. Again sneak and pickpocket him if you so desire.

Alternatively you can use you sneak skill to probe and lockpick the vault doors, a chameleon ring/spell/scroll/potion is better than invisibility and a safer bet than just sneak on its own. If you time it right the patrol of the Ordinators allows you a few seconds to do each security breach. Just pay attention and keep cool.

Location:

Vivec, Redoran Plaza -- top of canton. Look for the Redoran Treasury.

It is the South West building next to the West exit.

Alternate route: Redoran Waistworks -- Redoran Prison cells, Redoran Treasury.

Once in treasury go downstairs to the vaults (there are 2 of them)

Unlock the doors using one of the aforementioned methods  

Once the door is open and the guards have usefully run away, as if they had been forgotten in there, you can close the door and pillage the booty, reap the benefits etc. Open the door, apply the same to the other Redoran vault then open that door and run away as fast as your laden pockets will allow.

NOW catch your breath, calm down, the adrenaline rush has just begun. That was just a taste of the fun. All this sneaking/lockpicking should increase your skills a few points so you will also get better as we go through this.

Between vault raids, depending on what you want to do, I suggest resting and gaining some levels before you tackle the harder vaults. But if you have security and sneak around the 60's and are level 6 or over I think you can do the Redoran and Hlaalu vaults in one swift visit to Vivec. To capitalize on a visit to a vault you should have at least 200 inventory SPACE (a vault itself can have about 400 - 500 weight worth of armor and weaponry alone) so bare this in mind.

There are a few crates out of site around the city in which you can store things. I use an alley next to the smith in front of the Mages Guild. Easy to get to once you use the guild guide travel method. Just empty a crate and put your stuff in it. You should do this for 2 reasons: it gives you space to steal stuff from your next vault, and if you get caught by the Ordinators they won’t take it all away. Common sense really.

1.2        House Hlaalu Vault

WORTHWILE FOR: Glass armor set, even more gold and jewels than Redoran, and a bunch of powerful weaponry (ebony and glass) and useful items.

Location:

Get to the Vivec, Hlaalu Waistworks

The door to the north of the Waistworks is the Hlaalu Treasury.

You can go through the Hlaalu Records to get to the vault and read up perhaps gaining skills and levels as you go. Or you can just go down the stairs to the Hlaalu Vault to begin filling your pockets...again.

Once into the vault area you will see Baren Alen. He has the key to the Outer Door. Sneak and pickpocket him, go on I know you want to. Or you could probe/pick the lock if you have the skill and equipment to do it. It requires a level 50 or higher for security and sneak, and any probe and pick will do depending on how rushed you feel.

The second key for the Inner Door is in the pocket of an Ordinator that I think remains stationary between the two doors. Pickpocket him and open the door. Again you could sneak/probe/pick the door.

Open them up and if you are lucky you can get all but one guard out of the room.

Sneak around and grab what u want. Remember to sneak around areas that the guard may see you.

Tip! If getting in the vaults is an effort to end dismal poverty then grab gold first so you can pay the gold if get caught. Jail is not worth it (the fighters will do horrible things to you in there)

Leave and store stuff in a crate as you did before. Or sell it as you see fit.

1.3      House Telvanni Vault.

BEWARE this is the trickiest of the three House vaults. The locks are not harder to pick, and the key is readily available BUT there are two storm atronarchs that will kill you before you can say "atro-what?" if you are low level, or just plain not ready. Here is where invisibility and chameleon and a high success level with your lockpick/probe set are the most useful in getting into somewhere that you want to get into. I recommend finding some reflect/absorb-shock/lightning/spell -- apparel/spell/scroll/potion to protect yourself if you get seen.  If you are a lower level and get discovered, you will have to act fast or perish.

WORTHWHILE FOR: Almost full set of Ebony armor, other assorted magic and rarefied items and weapons. Let us not forget the jewels and gold.

Location:

Vivec, Telvanni Plaza: Vivec, Telvanni Tower the West building with the wall around it.

Go down the longish hallway and turn right to go down to the level with the Prison Cells and Telvanni Vault. Go into the Vault room and scope out the guards and the two doors. One of the guards has the key to the door and I advise getting it because speed is essential if you aren't a combative character. The doors look normal enough but alas they aren't. Use a probe/pick to disarm and unlock the door on the left. You should only attempt using your security skills on this side of the door. Before going through engage your cloaking device...i.e. use whatever Chameleon or Invisibility capabilities you have. Go into the room and you will see two Atronarchs lumbering around. Don't waste any time go straight for the door you came through...trust me.

You will see that it has magically locked itself again. Use the key to get into the actual vault and away from the Atronarchs. Grab what you will and get out again; the Atronarchs are not a problem anymore.

Now you have all this stuff, you should find a place to put it. You can leave it in the crate but I don't think many of you would want to. Some of you may have strongholds; some may have killed someone and left an empty abode, Hlaalu manor in Balmora is a popular place to leave stuff.

This is the preliminary version of the guide to Morrowind's good thievery hotspots.

Next Version: will include a Thief’s raid on Vivec Palace, and more information on other places around the map to use your devious cloak and dagger skills.

Questions, Help, Advice, Input: e-mail-- Pip_the_Piper@hotmail.com

House of Thieves: http://morrowindthieves.tripod.com/

YES this is some of the loot you can acquire. I stress 'some' because there is a lot more but for the sake of time and file size I won't include the pics just yet. I took most of the short-blades because those are what most thieves prefer. There is a glass longsword and some ebony weapons on the table in the bottom left. I will eventually include the picture of the full glass and ebony set that sits on the table in the back of the room - about here

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Feel free to use this information for your own benefit but do not copy and paste it onto a website or write it into a book... I got this info through my own experience playing through the game.

Images & text: Copyright © The Piper.  June 17th 2002.   House of Thieves