Skyrim: No Stone Unturned / Stone of Barenziah Locations

When you talk to Vex in the Ragged Flagon about the unusual gem you found, she tells you that they are stones from the crown of Queen Barenziah. The crown was stolen, but was clearly dismantled and the gems are scattered all over the place. There are 24 total and on their own they are basically worthless, but if all 24 are found, they could be incredibly valuable. This conversation starts ends the miscellaneous quest to bring the unusual gem to an appraiser and begins the No Stone Unturned quest.

These Stones fo Barenziah really are scattered all over the place, but are mainly concentrated in places you need to visit for various semi-major quests. Quests like the Dark Brotherhood, Theives Guild, College of Winterhold, Stormcloaks/Legion, etc. often bring you within reach of these objects. However, for your convenience, I have put together a list of exactly where each of them is. I'll be updating the details as I go back through the game for a second time.

Location	Notes
Whiterun	Halls of the Dead Catacombs (in the first room, go down the left stairs and it will be to your left)
Whiterun	Dragonsreach (Jarl's room)
Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary	Astrid's room. Still accessible after the Death Incarnate quest.
Whiterun	Jorrvaskr (Kodlak's room)
Solitude	Blue Palace (Jarl's room)
Thalmor Embassy	Elenwen's Solar on the second floor.
College of Winterhold	Arch-Mage's Quarters
Black-Briar Lodge	East of Riften (second floor bedroom, next to bed)
Riften	Mistveil Keep (Jarl's room)
Markarth	The Treasury House (end table in Thonar's bedroom, which is the left from the front door)
Windhelm	Palace of the Kings Upstairs (Wuunferth's Room)
Markarth	Understone Keep - Dwemer Museum (on a table in the first room to the left)
Fellglow Keep	Northeast of Whiterun (straight up the stairs and to the right)
Stony Creek Cave	Just North of the Ansilvund Burial Chambers (last room on the table)
Windhelm	House of Clan Shatter-Shield
Solitude	Proudspire Manor (must be purchased for 25 000 gold)
Pinewatch	In a house west of Helgen there is a secret hideout accessible from the basement.
Yngvild	The island northeast of Dawnstar (bedroom behind the throne in Yngvild Throne room)
Dainty Sload	Ship along the coast southwest of the Solitude Lighthouse (last room on the table)
Sunderstone Gorge	On the table with two bodies in front of the Dragon Word Wall.
Dead Crone Rock	On the stone table opposite dragon word wall.
Ansilvund Burial Chambers	Northeast of Shor's Stone and due north of Riften.
Rannveig's Fast	After falling down the trapdoor in front of the chest and Dragon Word Wall)
Hob's Fall Cave	On the northern coast, directly between Dawnstar and Winterhold. Near the alchemy set.

If you have any trouble finding any of these Stone of Barenziah locations, please let me know. As I said, I'll be updating as I go through the game again, so if I need to revisit any particular part sooner rather than later, I can do that.

Skyrim Walkthrough: A Chance Arrangement / Unusual Gem / Join Thieves Guild

There are a few places in Skyrim that you can pick up what is called an Unusual Gem. It is a red gem that rotates inside a golden box. The first time you find one you unlock a Miscellaneous Quest with the objective, "Bring the Unusual Gem to an appraiser." If you activate this quest, you can follow the quest marker to a guy down at the Riften docks named Maul. If you are not already part of the Thieves Guild, all he will say is "Get in good with Brynjolf, then we'll talk."

This is mostly useless unless you've already done a lot of exploring around Riften without joining the Thieves Guild. Brynjolf is a guy who can be found in the Riften market selling a red elixer. If you talk to him he will offer you the opportunity to meet him during the daytime for some undisclosed (but shady sounding) activity. What he wants you to do is to steal a ring from a person named Madesi's stall at the market. Apparently these two people have some kind of feud going because of the elixer that Brynjolf sells.

As it turns out this quest is what is needed to get in Brynjolf's good graces as well as what is needed to join the Thieves Guild. When you talk to Brynjolf again in the day-time, he tells you that he is going to make a distraction and then you can steal the ring. It is relatively easy to do, but if you mess it up there is another chance to join the guild and to get on his good side. Skip to the bottom to see that if you mess it up.

Once Brynjolf starts distracting people, you just need to get behind Madesi's stall, pick the lock to get into the stall and then pick the lock to get into the box within the stall. If you just leave your lockpick straight upright on both, you will open them right away. Take Madesi's Silver Ring from the box (and everything else while you're at it) and exit the screen. Then head over in front of Brynjolf and go into sneak mode. You need to put the ring into Brand-Shei's pocket without him knowing it so you need to get into sneak and pickpocket him in order to add the ring to his pocket. Once you've done that, Brynjolf will disperse everyone and your quest log will be updated to tell you to return to speak with Brynjolf.

When you go back and talk to him, he will pay you for your help and will suggest that if you want to do more of this sneaky type of work, you could probably make good money at it. This finishes the A Chance Arrangement quest. If you investigate further he tells you that his "organization" is having some difficulties and could do with some help. If you think you're up to it, you should go for it. If you say that you can handle it, he'll tell you about the Ragged Flagon which begins a new quest called Taking Care of Business.

If you messed up something with the original plan with the ring, you can still go back and talk to Brynjolf and it will jump straight to giving you the Taking Care of Business quest.

Once you are into the Ragged Flagon, you can go ahead and talk to Vex about the Unusual Gem you found. She will tell you all about them. This conversation will begin the No Stone Unturned quest - SPOILER ALERT: my No Stone Unturned quest walkthrough has locations of the stones you need to find.