Picking the unusual gem up immediately

Posted by sarahbulaiman on January 10th, 2014

It was all such an unforgettable experience. If you read some of the Final Fantasy Gold on those Youtube videos I posted when talking about the music you'll see that most people that played the game seriously feel the same way about it as I do; it was just that good. I just want to thank Square-Enix for making the game and supporting it the way they have during these ten years and for allowing me to meet so many great people, many of which I'm still in contact with years later.P

This has a moral element. Or rather, it has an amoral element. Skyrim's arrow will force you to be an asshole. This is most apparent when you go to Riften, the town in the far southeast of Skyrim where the Thieves' Guild is headquartered. The first quest that points you to Riften will probably occur if you pick an "unusual gem", possibly in the temple crypts of the first major city you visit.

Picking the unusual gem up immediately triggers a quest to find an appraiser. That appraiser – the only appraiser in the entirety of the province of Skyrim, apparently – lives in Riften. So, heading there and asking questions of the right people (whom you can distinguish because of, yes, the magical arrow pointing at them) leads to the quest to join the Thieves' Guild. Which involves framing someone for a theft that sends them to prison, and then extorting a bunch of local merchants for protection money.