Dramatis personae
Muthnar: Tollman by royal appointment. Obvious suspect but actually (mostly) honest, just badly underfunded.
Trusty Tormolf: Proprietor of the dockside warehouse. Obvious suspect and is in fact as shady as he seems.
Drynghest: Captain of the city guard. Trying to catch the smugglers.
Aelfbrand Long-Tooth: Royal steward. Was the one who noticed the revenue discrepancy and is the ultimate authority in dealing with the smugglers.
Grom Gold-Loved: Clan leader of the Dragon-Hearts. Suspiciously gruff.
Lissold Mist-Drinker: Clan leader of the Silver-Bloods. Soothingly reasonable.
Vadas Marvani: Redoran merchant. Honest broker and a victim of racial profiling.
Lokka the Weary*: Old and jaded guardsman, not as lazy as you might expect but a real ACAB kind of fetcher. Assigned to investigate the smuggling ring.
Sjolve Serpent-Runner*: A trading captain in employ of the Silver-Blood clan, she runs their shipping operation. Currently loitering at the Water’s Edge Tavern.
Gjeri*: A clerk overseeing the marketplace warehouse. Harried and disinterested in the case.
*character original to quest
Captain Drynghest has been informed by Aelfbrand, the royal steward, that customs revenues – comprising both river tolls and import duties – are significantly down, and he thus believes a major smuggling ring has begun operating in the city. He wants the player to investigate and bring him the identity of the ringleader. He has already assigned a guardsman to the matter and suggests you get briefed by them.
Part 1
Lokka the Weary, the guard in question, is bumming drinks in Shor’s Hearth Tavern but has done a surprising amount of groundwork. She identifies four points of investigation:
- Muthnar the tollman. Since collecting tariffs and authorising imports is his job, he is the most obvious vector for smuggling.
- The marketplace warehouse. Searching for goods that aren't logged in the warehouse accounts but still entering circulation.
- Water's Edge Tavern. Since most goods arrive in Markarth by ship, at least one ship's crew are likely involved and this is where they gather.
- Lucky Wolf Tavern. The Thieves Guild are, for fairly obvious reasons, suspected of criminal involvement and are known to frequent this establishment.
- Muthnar is uninvolved and begs for more support from the guard. He will state that due to his own oversight, some goods did enter the city without paying the appropriate duties, but he found them in the marketplace warehouse and recouped the missing revenue from the merchant in question.
- Gjeri, the clerk in the marketplace warehouse, has already run an inventory of the goods and all of them are accounted for. However, he noticed Muthnar nosing around there recently and suggests you follow up your inquiry with him, since he was seen snooping through the warehouse ledgers and it’s possible his intentions were shady.
- The ships’ crews at the Water’s Edge Tavern are tight lipped yet all of them are suspicious. None of them admit to smuggling or possess any evidence, however. One, if pressed, will state that Tormolf paid them well for goods that were misplaced in his warehouse. Sjolve Serpent-Runner, the Silver-Blood captain, will make an appearance and avert suspicion by revealing they don't pay tolls on their cargo.
- The Thieves Guild will flatly deny all involvement with the smuggling ring. With some persuading they will admit that they tried to become involved but were pushed out quite forcefully. It's an operation with muscle and willing to kill. They name Tormolf as the person they approached.
- Wenda, clerk of the Dragon-Heart Clan, will deny you an appointment to see Grom Gold-Loved. Talking to him anyway will net a suspiciously forceful denial of any involvement in smuggling operations, and a suggestion that you leave immediately. There is nothing more to learn here (this is also a red herring).
- Lissold Mist-Drinker, the clan leader of the Silver-Bloods, is much more reasonable. She too will deny involvement but explains that they have a royal charter, which exempts them from tolls on Fenbru grain. As a clan that makes its income from grain exports, they would therefore not benefit from a smuggling ring. She is distressed that Tormolf has seemingly involved himself in unscrupulous business, however.
- Vadas Marvani is offended at the suggestion but at pains to show that his dealings are honest. He points out that he often pays more than the legal import duty in “special taxes” to the guards, for fear of losing his stock to some “bureaucratic inquiry”. He has no further information to offer.
Confronting Tormolf will have him reveal that he has been circumventing import duties by "losing" goods stored in the warehouse, paying off the captains, and then using a forged customs stamp to move them into the city. Thus they appeared legitimate yet no one but his crew knew.
Good work! Return to Lokka, who will send you to Captain Dryngest, who will send you to Aelfbrand. Tormolf definitely seems guilty, and this explains the loss of import duty revenue. But the loss of tolls – the larger shortfall – still isn't accounted for.
Part 2
The player is ordered back to Lokka, who’s sent a message asking you to meet her by the docks. Tormolf’s body has been fished out of the water – maybe killed by the smugglers, or maybe killed by the Dark Brotherhood (if you incurred their ire on Tormolf’s behalf). Lokka says she’s been approached by the Thieves Guild, who remain salty about being pushed out of the smuggling operation and concerned about its violent reprisals.
Among the possessions they had “borrowed” from a thug in town, they found a note mentioning “the hermit”. Lokka knows of a supposed hermit living in a cave outside of town, and thinks it’s worth following up on. Exploring the cave reveals an extensive smuggling operation, filled with hostile smugglers.
Clearing out the smugglers and killing Sjolve Serpent-Runner, revealed to be their leader, yields information on the structure of the operation. The merchant captains, bringing their goods up the river from Karthwasten, would sell off their most valuable wares at the cave before rounding the cape and submitting to customs. Sjolve’s crew, using the Silver-Bloods’ royal charter to avoid customs scrutiny, would be the ones to sell these valuables further north at Dragonbridge and Haafingar, avoiding the king’s high tolls and making themselves a tidy profit.
As the player returns to Lokka, one question remains: did the Silver-Blood Clan know about this smuggling operation and abuse of their royal charter? Lokka is ready with the answer, however: don’t ask. They are too powerful and too integrated into the kingdom's functioning to face any real repercussions, but you should be happy enough to have utterly wrecked their operation and restored crown revenues for the moment. She will also reach into a noticeably well-laden coinpurse and throw you a few drakes to buy a drink.
Return to Drynghest and receive your reward + faction reputation.