Well I just discovered if you ignore Bryneolf and go down to the Ragged Flagon you can get the other guild members to tell you about Esbern. You don't have to join the thieves guild after all. I know some were complaining about having to be a thief. I am actually pleasantly surprised myself, I hate the thieves guild and Nocturnal.

Like I know there's a tavern beneath Riften the first time I go there?

Quite immersive and RP friendly.

There are plenty of npcs in Riften complaining about the thieves guild in the ratway. You can just ask the argonian girl in the Bee and Barb for example.

Is there anyone in Riften that doesn't tell you that's where they are? It have to be the worst kept secret in the world.

If anyone is interested, I think you can bypass the whole thing entirely, thieves guild and college of winterhold. Just head straight for the guy who helps you get the Elder scroll. You can start his quest since for some reason it has no pre-requisites.

The funny part is that you even ask for the Elder Scroll even if you don't know that you need it yet. I found this out because I wanted to get a character into blackreach without doing the MQ.

if you are such a role player you would have said no to bryn and started doing something else.

i ignored him, because my char is not a thieve. well after walking a bit around it was late, so i went to the tavern to rent me a room to sleep. there i saw the possibility to ask her about him...

The catch is you don't know Brynjolf is a thieves guild member, or that other members would know.

I did the same thing. I didn't even know he was part of the main quest. I just read that you needed to get the key to access Blackreach from him.

When Delphine sends you to Riften she mentions that he's probably hidden in the Ratway. I did need to challenge one of the people at the bar to a fistfight to get the assistance I needed, but I didn't need to aid the guild in any way.

When I saw the topic I thought you would talk about how to avoid Bryneolf's other scheme.
The one involving that nice Australian Dunmer. Bryneolf won't stop bringing it up, so he is ignored in my game.

Good to know, though I'll probably do the guild eventually.