How to Infiltrate Mercer's House in Skyrim

Last Updated: January 25, 2023

During the Thieves’ Guild storyline in Riften, you’ll be asked to complete a quest called “The Pursuit.” In this mission, you’ll be asked to get inside the house of Mercer Frey, the leader of the guild, to look for any clues about his whereabouts and proof of his betrayal. Infiltrating Mercer’s Frey house is pretty easy, provided that you know where to enter. This wikiHow teaches you how to infiltrate Mercer's house in Skyrim.

Steps

1
Go to the gate behind Riftweald Manor. Riftweald Manor in Riften is Mercer Frey's house. When you first fast-travel to Riften, Riftweald Manor is the fourth door on the left from the main gates. Use the following directions to get to the gate behind Riftweald Manor:
- Continue past Riftweald Manor until you reach the opening in the wall to the left that leads to the Temple of Mara.
- Enter the courtyard in front of the Temple of Mara
- Go through the archway to the right of the Temple that leads to the cemetery.
- Go through the cemetery and follow the path to the left that leads behind the temple.
- The first gate on your left after you pass the temple is the gate to Riftweald Manor.
2
Pick the lock to the manor gates. There’s a small steel gate in the back of the manor. Approach the gate and press the interact button that is displayed on the screen to enter lock-picking mode. This is an expert lock, so make sure you have plenty of lock picks.
- To initiate lock-picking, press E on PC, "X" on Playstation, and A on Xbox and Nintendo Switch.^{[1]
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- To pick the lock on game consoles, press left and right on the left stick to adjust the position of the lock pick. Press left or right on the right stick to turn the lock. On PC, use the mouse the adjust the position of the pock pick and press "W" to turn the lock. Once the lock pick is in the correct position and the lock is able to turn all the way, you will have successfully picked the lock.
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3
Get Mercer's House Key from Vlad. Vlad patrols the property. If he sees you breaking in, he will attack you. If you have high enough speech skills (and you've paid off his debt from Maven Black-Briar), you can persuade him to hand over the key. If you have high enough pickpocket skills, you can sneak up behind him and steal the key. Otherwise, you can defeat him in combat and loot the key from his corpse.^{[2]
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4
Shoot down the balcony ramp. An arrow pointer can be seen on the underside of the wooden balcony, on the second floor. You can shoot it down using an arrow, or the Unrelenting Force shout.
5
Go up the wooden ramp. Once the ramp is down, climb the stone staircase on the left side to reach the bottom of the ramp. Climb the wooden ramp to get to the door that leads inside the house.
6
Enter the doorway. Now that you have the key to Mercer's house, you can use it to enter the door at the top of the wooden ramps. This leads inside the house.
- There you go! You’ve just infiltrated Mercer Frey’s house!

Community Q&A

Question

What do I do if the mechanism won't lower when I try to get into the house? I have the key from Vald and can't get up to the second level.

Community Answer

This definitely isn't supposed to work like this, but here's how I did it. I jumped on the fire posts out in front of the Temple, jumped onto the roof, and shimmied my way up as high as I could go. (A tip for this part: strafe around the corner of the roof, spamming space bar. You should slowly be able to get high enough.) Then, I positioned myself to face the porch of the Manor, and used Whirlwind Sprint to cross the gap. I'd recommend dropping a quicksave in case you miss; it saves you having to go through the trouble of climbing the roof again.
Question

How do I get his house key?

Community Answer

To get his house key, you need to kill or pickpocket Vald, Mercer's house guard in the courtyard of Riftweald Manor. Vald has the key in his inventory, which will allow you to open the manor door after shooting down the staircase (the manor door at ground level is blocked off and cannot be opened).
Question

How do I get evidence of Mercer Frey's betrayal in Skyrim?

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Top Answerer

Presumably, you're in the quest "The Pursuit". In your Quests tab, set this quest as a priority, which will give you a compass for direction. Once you break into Mercer's house, the compass will guide you to a room behind a "Suspicious Cupboard/Dresser". You will then steal Mercer's personal notes and then go back to the Thieves Guild, where you will meet with Karliah and Brynjolf. These notes prove Mercer's betrayal. They will go through some dialogue, the rest of the guild will turn against Mercer, and a new quest to become a Nightingale (after which is a quest to defeat Mercer) will start.