I must forewarn... this is a highly involved task. If you're still quite a newbie to the game I suggest continuing on with the walkthrough and getting to know the game a little better before you attempt this. Its not as difficult as it is precise and involved.
Alright lets look at an overview. In the city of Vivec, the three great house (Hlaalu, Telvanni, and Redoran) each have a vault hidden within their canton. Each of the big square sections connected by bridges is called a Canton if you didn't already know this. Each of these vaults is patrolled constant by quite a few Ordinators, and have level 90, 95, and 100 locks on them. This pretty much rules out lock picking unless you have a Security Skill of somewhere around 75+. For those that are following the walkthrough, OBVIOUSLY this is not the case. This leaves us with one option, a magic spell to open the lock.
Since I seem to do most of my work in Balmora, I bought "Ondusi's Open Door" from one of the Mage's downstairs in the guild buliding (Marayn Dren). If you run short on cash at any point during this, see "Alchemy Trick 1" under the Easy Money category in the navigation panel.
Next, Goto Estirdalin and goto "spell making." From the Magic effects list select "Open," Configure the stats such that it is "Touch" --> 100 to 100 Magnitude --> Area doesnt matter but leaving it at 0 will making the spell easiest to cast
You'll notice that the chance to cast is rediculously pathetic, and that the magicka cost is also quite extensive. The next step will be to work on this...
Go around to the different mage's in the basement and level up "Altercation" as high as possible. You may need to level up your character and then place points in Willpower in order to continue levling it. Depending on your character level, getting a decent percent to cast the spell could be quite hard. With my demo character I'm up to 49% chance to cast (screenshot above is b4 I did some training) - Altercation level is now 43. If you can get to 50-75% you should be in great shape.
In order to compenste for our inability to cast these spells effectively we're going to have to be able to restore magicka on the spot. The only convenient person I've found that restocks the necceseary ingredients is Craetia Jullalian in the Vivec Guild of Mages. When you take the transport to the Guild of Mage's in Vivec, take a left turn and goto the end of the hall. Follow the same procedure as shown in "Alchemy Trick 1" in order to get the vender to restock higher numbers of ingredients (buy/sell back). Except we will be using Daedra's Heart and Frost Salts instead of Kwama Cuttles and Scales. The percent chance that you have casting your unlock spell should determine the number that you get (the loewr the chance the more ingredients). To be on the extra safe side I'm going to buy 32 of each. Use up all of these ingredients making potions.
Repeat the same potion process above back at Nalcarya in Balmora, but with Daedra Skin and Vampire Dust. This will give us fortify strength. With all the loot you'll be carrying out, you will want to get MUCH MUCH higher strength.
Something that can be incredibly helpful are the Mark and Recall spells. There might be some easier locations to find this, but the first person I spotted with the spells was Sirilonwe in the Vivec Guild of Mages.
She is on the second floor, near Craetia Jullalian through a door.
What is mark/recall and what does it do?
They are more or less a teleport spell. You have to cast the Mark spell at a point in which you wish to recall to. Therefore in this case we will cast Mark in a house where we can store our things, and then use Recall once in the vaults. Personally I think the easiest house to get is Dura Gra-Bol's house in Balmora.
There are basically two courses of action.
1) You go into the house, kill Dura Gra-Bol (who I might add is a wimp). Presumably the crime will be reported, in Which case you goto the South Wall corner Club. (If not dont bother going to South Wall)
Once inside, go walk around the hall and go down the stairs, talk to the man behind the table/bar and select "Price on your head." If you pay him approximately 50% of your bounty he "takes care of it."
The second option would be to progress through the Fighters Guild's orders given by Eldifire at Balmora Fightres Guild until you get to the quest where you have to kill her. In either case it gets the job done.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Any Items you have stolen (AKA our alchemy equipment) you will want to store in your house before you leave for Vivec. Reason being, when we try to break into the vaults the ordinators will report our crime. We can simply pay a 5 gold fine and "surrender any stolen goods" while trying to get in. Thus if we have nothing illegal on us, who cares about 5 gold?
A few last minute shopping items:
1) Find a merchant that sells security equipment (Lockpicks/probes) and pick up a few. You'll want the probes to disable the traps on the doors (which are quite strong if you get hit by them). Checkout The Lucky Lockup in Balmora if you don't have em.
2) Some Feather Potions wouldnt hurt, but you should have plenty of Fortify strength to get you through this (I'm taking about 32 with me).
3) To get some additional training in security, see Madrale Thirith on the very bottom floor of the Balmora Council Club. (Trains up to level 4
4) Either make a spell that will give you a high % Cameleon, or buy lots of invisibilty potions. I highly suggest going out and getting the Amulet of Shadows, otherwise it can be a huge pain to grab the stuff once you get inside the vaults without being seen.
Now that you have your "mark" in the house (quite coincidental isn't it), its time to head to Vivec. You can travel by either silt strider or Mage's Guild Transport, whatever floats your boat.
Now lets FINALY!! get started with these vaults.
House Hlaalu Vault
Once you get to the Hlaalu canton, enter the Hlaalu Waistworks (1 level above Canalworks). Once inside, you will notice it is actualy two floors, remain on the upper floor. In the central area (where there is sort of a balcony looking down on the lower floor) there are two shorter hallways opposite each other. One of these is Edryna Arethi's house, and the other is the Hlaalu Treasury (well this is a no-brainer isnt it). Enter the treasury door.
Once you enter the door, go down the stairs almost directly in front of you and go into the "Hlaalu Vaults" door. You'll then see a trapped level 90 lock door, with alooooooot of people watching you. Who cares! Try to cast your lockpicking spell and the ordinators will rush up to you, Simply pay the fine, restore your magicka with a potion and try again. Once its unlocked use the probes to detrap it. Close the gate behind you if no ordinators are in the hallway. Then theres another door, open this one as well.
Success!
Now comes the tricky part. We need the ordinators to leave the room so that they dont see us stealing the goods. Unforunately there is one Ordinator who does not move, no matter how long you "rest." The best approach would to have a really high level of sneak, and a high % cameleon spell. An alternate appraoch is towalk around behind him, such that he turns around to look at you. Csat invisibility and walk away. Hopefully he will remain looking the other way. This will only buy you a limited amount of time, so grab stuff quickly, however do not run around or it will draw his attention quicker. Sneaking is your best option.
Althought its a pretty good amount of work, if you can go find the "amulet of shadows" it will make this process much easier. See Amulet of Shadows
Before you grab an item make sure hes still turned around, and save frequently so that u can revert if you get caught. The glass armor should be fairly easy to steal because the wall blocks off his vision. The chests on the other end however are more difficult.
An interesting tidbit:
There is one chest that has a randomly generating weapon that can be very good. Luckily for us, this randomizes everytime you load your game. Therefore you can just keep reloading until you get the weapon you want. Myself I always go for the Daedric Katana or Dai-katana. Other options include the Daedric Claymore, Warhammer, Broadsword, short sword, ebony weapons, and even crappy dwemer weapons.
Now that you've made out with your loot, recall back to your house and drop the loot, its time to move on to the next vault!
Redoran Vault
Head back to Vivec and visit the Redoran canton. The Redoran Canton is directly south of the Foriegn Quarter canton. The vaults are in a different spot in each of the 3 house cantons. In the Redoran Vault you must go to the upper level (Redoran Plaza). In there you will find the Redoran Treasury:
Enter the Treasury and proceed down the stairs to your right, then enter the vaults. Proceedure for breaking into the vaults is the same as that of Hlaalu. Its actualy easier here, because if you keep using the rest command you can wait till all of the ordinators leave the vaults, close the doors, and then take everything without being caught. Note that there are two seperate vaults.
Strategy:
In order to make it much easier to steal the items, what you want to do is open the gates, and wait in approximately 3-4 hour incriments. The ordinators patrol, and you can therefore manage to get all of them out of the vault. When this happens, close the gate. Although it doesnt seem to happen often, sometiems they will come back through the gates. To solve this I simply cast my Fenrick's Doorjam spell on the gate, which puts a lock level of 10 on the gate. Albeit redicously weak, the ordinators cannot open it. Now you're free to take what you want without too much concern (unless they are staring right at you through the gate). Amulet of Shadows will of course solve this problem.
Vault 1:
This is a level 95 lock, trapped with a fire damage of approximately 60. It contains roughly 3000 loose dollars, some gems, a few ebony swords, ebony darts, a few nifty rings.
Vault 2:
In my takeover of the second vault (one downstairs), I came out with a few ebony swords, ebony cuirass, towershield, some glass greaves, around 5000 loose gold, etc, etc.
Store the loot in your house via the recall and its time for the Telvanni Vault.
Telvanni Vault
Last but not least... Telvanni Vault. Since this house centers itself on magic, there are a few twists in this vault.
Once you're at the Telvanni canton, goto the upper level (Telvanni Plaza). This time we will be going into the Telvanni Tower. The treasury seems to be hid much better in this house.
Once you get inside the Telvanni Tower turn left, you should see something like the picture below. Follow the path around the curve until you get to a redish light. Turn left and go down the stairs, walk to the end of the hall and the Vault door will be on your right.
As I started before, the Telvanni vaults have a few surprises. If you go through the first wooden door (with no lock) and take a left, you will find a trapped level 75 lock level door. Nothing out of the ordinary for a vault... except... Theres a Storm Atronach waiting for you on the other side of the door. Common sense tells us to go visit the other door but ironically it doesn't make any difference. Herein lies the Telvanni spin on things. No matter which door you go in, you will be teleported into the room with the two storm atronachs. In there you will find 2 chests with a total of 25 gold... whoopie. Here lies probably the biggest problem, you will quickly get killed by these things if your character isn't strong. The fact that all my good weapons so far are stolen, and the fact that I have left them behind at my house so that they cannot be taken by the gaurds makes it even more interesting.
I use my shadow amulet as quickly as possible, this makes it so that the storm atronachs cannot see you. If they are blocking the door you need to either kill them, or try to lure them away and then cast the chamleon. Now activate one of your restore magicka potions and try casting your lock picking spell. The trap isnt all that strong but its still a good idea to detrap it, not to mention that fact that it helps you level your security skill. When you proceed through this door, you will strangely end up in the vault.
It may be somewhat difficult to steal the items, considering there are 2 ordinators in the room that you cannot get rid of by waiting. Thus you have to either work around them, or kill them. Unless your character is currently quite strong, I suggest working aruond them. Typically the ordinators are facing away from the items, staring at the door. If the ordinators are in the room and are not moving, you may have to exit the room, and then reenter it from the other door (again going through the room with the storm atronachs). They (ordinators) should be a in different posistion when you return. When you get them facing away from the vaults, you'll prolly want to make sure you save so you can revert if you get caught.
Cast your shadow amulet (if you have it) and then use sneak to grab the items (personally I was saving after every good items I snagged). Most of the little chests on the table are fairly worthless, just some gems and gold. I grabbed the ebony items on the back bookshelf, the daedric claymore, and recalled back to base camp.
By sk8er1414