My Stone of Barenziah walkthrough (get the stones as fast as possible)
This was being discussed on this Reddit group last week, and it got me curious. If you were to focus strictly on getting the stones first, how many levels would it take to get there? Would it be worth it?
So I took it upon myself to design my own little walkthrough to get them all as quickly as possible. I wouldn't call it a speed run as I still took the time to loot everything and probably got too many useless levels in skills I didn't have to, but overall it was a fun and different take. I played a female Dunmer named Barenziah II and it took me until Level 18 to get all of the stones, the Crown, and the Prowler's Profit ability. I also chose not to fast travel - I could use carriages though. I played on Adept difficulty.
Here is how I did it. You will need an online map of Skyrim or be really familiar with where these places are.
As soon as you leave Helgen, go to Pinewatch. A Stone is behind a locked door in the room with the dead bandit and all the draugr coffins.
From here, go to Sunderstone Gorge and get the Stone in front of the Word Wall. If you don't mind fast traveling, visit the Roadside Ruins on your way there so you can quickly get to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary later.
Now head to Hag Rock Redoubt to get to Dead Crone Rock so you can grab the Stone there by the Word Wall.
On to Markarth and go right to the Treasury House to grab the Stone there in the master bedroom.
You can then go to the Dwemer Museum and grab the last Stone in the Reach.
Now make your way to Rannveig's Fast to get the only Stone in Hjaalmarch - it's near the prison's exit gate.
You're then going to head to Solitude to grab the Stone out of Jarl Elisif's room in the Blue Palace. Start "The Man Who Cried Wolf" with Falk here.
From here head to the Dainty Sload to collect the Stone here. Go down to the bottom and across, then up to get it.
Now it's on to Reeking Cave to collect this Stone. Because you have not started "Diplomatic Immunity" yet, you can find it by the dead conjurer inside the cave.
Now head towards Dawnstar so you can then go to Hob's Fall Cave and collect the Stone by the alchemy bench.
Then go north and visit Yngvild to collect the Stone in the last room by Arondil's last journal.
Now head to the College of Winterhold to start that questline. After you finish exploring Saarthal, you now have access to the Arch-Mage Quarter's and collect the Stone here.
Windhelm is next. As soon as you get in, head directly to the Palace of the Kings to collect the Stone in Wuunferth's room.
Then go to House of Clan Shatter-Shield and collect the Stone that's in the upstairs left bedroom. Before you leave Windhelm, start "Innocence Lost" to begin the Dark Brotherhood quest line.
Leave Windhelm and head to Stony Creek Cave to collect the Stone by the alchemy lab inside.
Now on to Ansilvund to collect the Stone here. It will be by the Ghostblade reward when you finish the dungeon.
Black-Briar Lodge is next. The Stone is in the upstairs master bedroom on the left table.
Now head to Riften to collect the Stone in Mistveil Keep. I found if you immediately head right upstairs to get it while the Jarl is still talking, the guards don't even care. It's in the Jarl's bedroom. Now start the Thieve's Guild Quest but you don't have to go to the Ratway yet. Before you leave Riften, take care of Grelod the Kind and use the carriage to travel to finish "Innocence Lost" so the Dark Brotherhood can make contact with you. Take the carriage back to Riften.
Now on to Whiterun, but along the way you're stopping at Fellglow Keep to collect the Stone near the enchanter and alchemy lab inside the main area.
Once in Whiterun, head to the Hall of the Dead and collect the Stone inside there in the bottom left crypt.
Then head to Jorrvaskr and Kodlak's bedroom to collect the Stone there. He will be talking to Vilkas so just ignore them.
Report the dragon to the Jarl so you can enter his bedroom without too much trouble and collect the Stone in Dragonsreach.
By now the Brotherhood should have sent you the letter (if not, wait around until the courier visits you). Sleep, then get transported to the Abandoned Shack where you meet Astrid. Kill 1/2/3 of the people and you will gain access to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.
Finally, you will need to gain 25,000 gold to get Proudspire Manor. After finishing "The Man Who Cried Wolf" and "Elisif's Tribute", as well as selling everything you can get your hands on, I found I had just enough gold and was able to buy Proudspire Manor.
From here, I took a carriage to Riften, got into the Thieve's Guild, and showed Vex the Stones. I then had the final part of the quest, Tolvald's Cave, where I recovered the Crown of Barenziah and was awarded the Prowler's Profit ability.
Hopefully someone else finds this just as fun as I did.