Oblivion:The Unfortunate Shopkeeper

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[edit] Quick Walkthrough

Speak with Azzan; a shop owner has asked for the Guild's help in stopping a repeat of burglaries.
Head over to Lelles' Quality Merchandise, after a brief talk with Lelles you will be left in charge of the shop.
Sometime during the night the burglars will show up as if on cue.
Once they notice you they will come at you full force, deal your justice as you see fit.
Locate Lelles next door to be rewarded with a level-dependent amount of gold.

[edit] Detailed Walkthrough

[edit] Quality Burglaries

Azzan asks you to speak to Norbert Lelles, at Lelles' Quality "Mercandise". The shop is outside of Anvil in the harbor district, along the dock. Ask Norbert about Break-Ins to learn he's lost a great deal of merchandise over the past month. The thieves always come at night after he has gone to sleep. Norbert gives you permission to stay overnight to guard the place and mentions he'll be staying next door at the Flowing Bowl Inn until you resolve the matter.

[edit] Good Help is Hard to Find

Wait around inside the store, as the thieves may appear anytime during the night; however, they will generally appear around the 11pm-1am mark. Three intruders (Aenvir, Dranas Lerano and Storn the Burly) will appear in the store. Kill them, and then head next door to the The Flowing Bowl and tell Norbert the news. It seems all three men had worked for Norbert in the past. Norbert will give you a standard level-dependent gold reward; your Fame will also increase by one point.

If you have not yet been to Cheydinhal to do Burz gro-Khash's quest, you need to head there next to do the quest The Desolate Mine. If you have already done that quest, Azzan will promote you to the rank of Journeyman and send you to Chorrol to talk to Vilena Donton and Modryn Oreyn for your next quest, Unfinished Business.

The three criminals waiting outside their target

[edit] Notes

Fighting three heavily armed men inside the cramped shop can get a bit hairy. So just make for the exit and let them chase you into the street. The guards and other people nearby will help you, making it possible to focus on one attacker at a time.
All three men have the store key. You can pickpocket the keys when they are standing outside the store but they still manage to enter the store without any key or lockpicks.
Talk to each thief and get their disposition up to 100. Equip a frenzy spell and then cast it on one of the thieves. The other two thieves will attack the frenzied person. If the frenzy wears off then they will continue fighting. This method reduces the last standing person to a low health and makes him easy to pick off.
Some people may find, however, that when attempting the above "Frenzy" technique, that the frenzied enemy may start attacking citizens instead of his other two companions. This need not be a bad thing though, as the enemy is still busy trying to defeat the citizen. This gives you opportune time to pick him and / or his two companions off.
Command Humanoid works well here, as it levels the playing field.
Stay in sneak mode and don't attack them; wait until one notices you and attacks. Sometimes you can fight one-on-one while the others continue looking at the shop's goods!
If you want to, you can use the time alone in the shop to steal some of the valuables from the shop.
The bodies of the dead thieves will remain in the shop indefinitely. You can remove all their weapons and armor to sell to Norbert for some extra cash.
Solve two quests in one go. Visit the shop in the morning, get the quest and leave. The three thieves will be standing outside waiting. Now go and do The Ghost Ship of Anvil quest, and get the Spectral Sailors to follow you out onto the dock. They will attack the three thieves and other NPC's. You mop up and claim the glory.
It is also possible to simply kill the thieves as they loiter outside the shop; you will not get a bounty.
Avoid entering Flowing Bowl Inn while being chased by the thieves as Lelles might leave and never be seen again.

[edit] Journal Entries

The Unfortunate Shopkeeper (FGC02Protect)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		Azzan has told me about a contract in Anvil, at Norbert Lelles store, Lelles' Quality Merchandise.
20		I've spoken to Norbert Lelles, who says he has had break-ins at his store almost nightly. He would like someone to stay in the store tonight and catch the crooks in the act.
30		I have taken care of the crooks breaking into Norbert Lelles' store. I should speak with the shopkeeper himself.
100		Norbert Lelles was surprised to learn that the men breaking in were all former employees, though none had been with him long. He was glad that the problem was taken care of, though.

Notes

Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in random order.
If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage FGC02Protect 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. See SetStage for more information.