This article is about the quest. For the ship, see Dainty Sload.
Frame a ship's captain to get revenge for a jilted merchant.
Talk to Delvin Mallory in Riften.
Find out the mission details from Erikur in Solitude.
Acquire Balmora Blue from Sabine Nytte.
Travel to the Dainty Sload.
Once you've completed five jobs in the city of Solitude, speak to Delvin in The Ragged Flagon to receive a special job. Delvin explains that he has received word from Solitude about an opportunity. Erikur is an influential thane and businessman in Solitude. Apparently, he is "lookin' to run some kind of a shill job". Completing this job will not only earn you a reward, it is a chance for the Guild to regain some influence in the city. Travel to Solitude and speak with Erikur, who can be found during the day at the Blue Palace.
When you speak to Erikur, he explains the story behind the job: "Nothing raises my ire more than having an agreement broken. It's bad for business and it wastes time. Captain Volf of the Dainty Sload has decided to test my patience on this matter by neglecting to honor a trade agreement we had established." Your job is to frame Volf for possession of an illicit substance by acquiring some very rare, very illegal Balmora Blue and planting it in his footlocker.
Sabine's Footlocker, hidden beneath the dock leading to the Red Wave.
Your contact for the contraband is a crew member aboard the pirate ship, the Red Wave. The Red Wave is docked outside the East Empire Company Warehouse just outside Solitude. Your contact, Sabine Nytte, will be on deck, waiting for you. Tell her what you're looking for, and she will ask for 1,500 gold for some Balmora Blue, claiming that she's the only person in Tamriel who can obtain it. If you accept her price, she gives you the key and directs you to the contraband, which is in a locked chest directly under the docks adjacent to The Red Wave. If you do not wish to pay such inflated prices, you can bypass speaking to Sabine altogether. Pickpocket her to get the key to the chest, then swim down below the docks or pick the lock to the chest and steal the Balmora Blue.
Make your way out to the Dainty Sload, anchored near Solitude's Lighthouse. There are two corsairs guarding the entrance to the interior of the ship. One remains looking out to sea, while another roams the deck. Engage them or sneak below deck through the unlocked door. Inside, there are more corsairs to deal with. Whether by sneaking or defeating the corsairs, head down the stairs into the bottom of the ship, then back up again until you reach the Captain's room.
The ship's first mate guards the area and has a high detection level. The Captain's Chest is your target and you can pick the adept lock, or you can kill the First Mate and take the key. On the table is an Unusual Gem and the Speech skill book A Dance in Fire, V6. Plant the Balmora Blue and make your way back to the entrance.
Travel back to Erikur at the Blue Palace (or at his home), who is very pleased with the fruits of your labor. He'll reward you with a random spell tome, and the assurance that he will re-open any doors in Solitude to facilitate the Guild's return.
Report back to Delvin. He'll give you your pay, and will compliment you on your actions, "Erikur assures me that Captain Volf will spend pretty much the rest of his life clapped in irons. Best of all, he's also pledged to open doors for us in Solitude and to get things rollin' again". He then points out that the added infamy you earned the guild has attracted a new merchant to The Ragged Flagon.
If the Dainty Sload has been cleared of its inhabitants prior to starting this quest, the ship and its inhabitants will be fully reset, including the First Mate.
When the quest is completed, the player can retrieve more Balmora Blue from the chest.
If you try to consume the Balmora Blue during the quest, a message will appear stating, "You can not eat quest items."
After completing this quest, three Thief Cache barrels will appear around Solitude.
Despite Erikur and Delvin mentioning that Captain Volf will spend the rest of his years in Solitude Jail, he cannot be found in any of the cells and in fact does not appear in the game at all.
You can kill the crew of the Dainty Sload, including the First Mate, without failing the mission.
Erikur may have glitched off the map. This usually occurs in games where a lot of days have passed.
Type into console: prid 000198A9 (this selects Erikur) followed by moveto player (this moves Erikur to your current location).
He can be reached by getting underneath the regular map. To do so, hop onto the Angeline's Aromatics roof and use Whirlwind Sprint to reach the lower roof of Bits and Pieces. Head west along the roof and hop into the space that joins to the roof of Radiant Raiment, then navigate to Erikur's quest marker.
Sometimes Sabine Nytte will get stuck inside the Red Wave and not come out. This is problematic as you are considered to be trespassing when inside the ship.
One way get around the bug is to type setcellownership solituderedwave into the console.
Another way to fix it is to pickpocket Sabine and get caught. She will then get up to attack you, followed by her fellow shipmates. Run outside and they will follow. Lower your weapons to surrender and she and her shipmates will stop fighting and walk towards the entrance to the ship. Before they get there, talk to Sabine and ask her about the illegal substance.
The Dainty Sload ship may not render correctly, causing you to fall through the floor and become unable to enter the ship.
Reloading a previous save fixes this.
The Balmora Blue may not drop into your inventory after you've taken it from the chest.
If you do not have a previous save available, it is impossible to complete the quest. Which makes the achievement "One With the Shadows" also impossible to obtain.
Sometimes Delvin Mallory will talk to you about starting the quest, however the quest will not start and the option about the job will not appear again in Delvin's dialogue options.
Reloading a save before speaking to Delvin about the quest may fix this.
Type into console: setstage TGTQ02 10. This will start the quest.
10 Erikur, a wealthy merchant residing in Solitude, has requested assistance from the Thieves Guild.
20 Erikur has been cheated by Volf, captain of a trading vessel named the Dainty Sload. In order to frame Volf for a crime he didn't commit, Erikur is requesting that a substance called Balmora Blue be stashed on board in the captain's footlocker.
200 Finishes quest The Balmora Blue has been stashed aboard the Dainty Sload, and the Thieves Guild can now count on Erikur as an influential ally in Solitude.
The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 25.
On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage TGTQ02 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest TGTQ02.