Bursar of Tributes and Covetous Countess

FrancisCrawford · April 2018

For starters:

The quests given by the Bursar of Tributes are among the easiest for the current anniversary event.
The quests given by the Covetous Countess do not count for the current event, but are related anyway.
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Bursar_of_Tributes is a solid guide to the Bursar of Tribute quests.
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:The_Covetous_Countess is a solid guide to the Covetous Countess quests.

Bursar of Tributes quests fit the pattern:

You go to the quest giver (near the Brass Fortress wayshrine in Clockwork City).
He asks for items.
You already have them in inventory or in your bank.
You give them to him.
You're done. You get a standard kind of DLC daily reward bag (and this week also an Anniversary Box), along with standard gold and XP.

Complications on that include:

Quest prerequisites include a few of the Clockwork City main regional quests.
If you don't already have the items, it's a pain.

By the way -- the Bursar of Tributes is a crow. (A real crow, not the Jon Snow kind.)

Covetous Countess quests fit the pattern:

You get the quest from the Tip Board in the Thieves Den.
It asks for items.
You take the items to the Countess in or outside the main tavern in the main city in one of your five home alliance zones.
You return back to the Thieves Den.
Kari gives you a Thieves Guild "Laundered Items" bag, along with standard gold and XP.

Complications include:

Quest prerequisites for the tip board include some Thieves Guild quests, whose own prerequisites may include some Thieves Guild rank.
You can examine and reject quests from the Tip Board. Sometimes it takes 10-20 tries to get what you want. (A Covetous Countess quest will start with the words "Esteemed thieves".)
If you don't already have the items, it's a pain.

All the items the Countess wants and half the items the crow wants are stolen goods of specific types. Notes on that start:

The Countess requires the goods to be laundered; the crow does not.
You can actually steal and if needed launder them, but that is slow and tedious.
You can also get them -- laundered -- from rewards for Thieves Guild repeatable quests -- specifically from the Tip Board (Covetous Countess or otherwise) or from heists. That's the best way, but there's of course RNG as to what types of goods you get.
These goods are listed as "Junk" in your inventory. So you may sell them to the merchant by mistake. I did this a few days ago, and it was a huge setback to my repeatable-quests machine.
A bag of laundered goods contains 10 identical items or 2 sets of 5 identical itms, only some kinds of which will ever be useful for turning in for quests.
The Covetous Countess wants 3 items at a time.
The Bursar of Tributes wants 5 items at a time.
The list of item types requested via the quest dialog or quest log may not be precisely accurate.

That last point is a big part of why I'm making this thread. Please see the next post.

FrancisCrawford · April 2018

Per the link above, the items the Countess wants come from 1 of 5 lists:

Games, Dolls, and Statues. I'm not sure "statues" is in the quest dialog, but statues work anyway.
Ritual Objects and Oddities.
Writings, Maps and Scrivener Supplies. The last one is not in the quest dialog, but it works.
Cosmetics, Linens and Wardrobe Accessories.
Drinkware, Utensils and Dishes.

An item typically has 1 or 2 types. As long as at least 1 type matches the list, you're fine.

Question: Do any other item types work for the Covetous Countess quests???

Per the other link above, the similar items the Bursar of Tributes wants come from 1 of 3 lists.

Cosmetics and Grooming items.
Cookware, Drinkware, Dishes and Utensils.
Toys and Games.

Question: Are the lists above perfectly accurate, or do other items work for (those particular) Bursar of Tributes quests as well?

FrancisCrawford · April 2018

Otherwise, the crow wants:

6 different kinds of body part trash drops -- carapaces and so on. It's easy to keep stacks of these in the bank.
Ornate items (apparel). You get lots of these if you do writs in the equipment crafts. I'm doing such writs for low-level crafters this week, and the ornate items that come back for tier 1 are a lot less valuable than those that come back for tier 10, so I'm saving some of those for the crow.

FrancisCrawford · April 2018

And by the way -- if anybody on PC/NA has some spare Cosmetics/Grooming items, I need some to pass along to a crow.

FrancisCrawford · November 2018

Bumping this because:

1. It's relevant to the Clockwork City event.
2. I had neglected to note a good source of items -- Thieves Troves. You do, alas, have to pay to launder them, but at least they're showing up 10 identical items at a time. (That means instead of selling them for 40-44 gold apiece to the fence, you have to pay 40 gold each, for a true cost of 80-84 gold per item. The Covetous Countess wants 3 items per quest; the crow wants 5.)
3. I just tested whether utensils work for the crow quest that asks for cookware/drinkware. They do. I just gave the crow 5 wooden letter openers in fulfillment of his request for "cookware and dishes".

zaria · November 2018

Utensils and drink ware is very common loot while stealing, toys far less so an cosmetic is pretty rare, note that medical supplies don't count.
The creature parts are pretty common if you collect them.

FrancisCrawford · November 2018

It turns out that one does NOT need to launder stolen items before turning them in to the Bursar of Tributes. This is one way in which he is different from the Countess.

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO · January 2019

Is "The Covetous Countess" still a thing?

I've been taking my new main through the Thieves' Guild dailies and I haven't had this one pop yet, even after turning in 21 of them.

FrancisCrawford · January 2019

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO wrote: »

Is "The Covetous Countess" still a thing?

I've been taking my new main through the Thieves' Guild dailies and I haven't had this one pop yet, even after turning in 21 of them.

I haven't checked for a while. But sometimes I've had to accept/cancel 15 or more quests from the tip board before getting a Covetous Countess one.

Also, the first time I ever got one I was pretty deep into the Thieves Guild story line. Perhaps one doesn't get them until one's a certain level in the skill line, has done certain prerequisites, or something like that.

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO · January 2019

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

I haven't checked for a while. But sometimes I've had to accept/cancel 15 or more quests from the tip board before getting a Covetous Countess one.

Also, the first time I ever got one I was pretty deep into the Thieves Guild story line. Perhaps one doesn't get them until one's a certain level in the skill line, has done certain prerequisites, or something like that.

Yeah, I've finished the TG quest line. I guess RNGesus knows I kept all of my laundered goods in case one of these quests pops, and is just being mean. LOL!

FrancisCrawford · March 2019

I made a small error, I think, or else there's been a slight change -- Dishes and Cookware looks to be one category, not two.

Does anybody see anything else I got wrong?

FrancisCrawford · March 2019

Another small correction to the above: You don't need to accept a tip board quest that isn't Covetous Countess. Just escape out and use the board again. You're looking for quest descriptions that start "Esteemed thieves: ..."

FrancisCrawford · March 2019

Dolls count as "Toys and Games" for the crow.

FrancisCrawford · March 2020

The Jesters Festival fairly often gives toys/games as rewards.

FrancisCrawford · May 2020

(Bumping my own thread. It is NOT obsolete.)

I thought Artwork counted for the Countess' Writings category. Was I wrong?

FrancisCrawford · May 2020

By the way -- what made me think about restarting the Covetous Countess engine were the bonus items that show up in Antiquities digs. Also, the changes to vampire cause my thief to have a few new skills to level up with easy quest XP.

FrancisCrawford · June 2020

I just tested a couple of examples, and "Dry Goods" commonly count as Wardrobe Accessories for the Covetous Countess.

Feral · June 2020

I would reply, but, "I have very little time for chatter"

FrancisCrawford · July 2020

Bumping this old and still accurate thread to add some new tips.

Some of the tougher items to find are:

Games/Toys (for the crow; the countess will also take statues, which makes it easier).
Cosmetics/Grooming items (for the crow and countess alike).

Well, these now also drop from holiday events and antiquities digs. The vendor trash rewards from those sources are types just as stolen items or Thieves Guild quest laundered item rewards are, and the otherwise rare types often show up. In particular, games/toys show up a LOT in Jester Festival rewards. But I've also satisifed the crow and countess with some antiquities finds, and I just set aside one of my first Summerset event reward items for them too.

FrancisCrawford · February 2021

Bumping this because it may be helpful for the Tribunal Event, and also to check whether anybody has noticed any changes.

jle30303 · February 2021

What nobody has done, yet, in this thread, is post actual, practical ways of improving your chances of stealing the items you want - like FROM WHOM or IN WHAT AREAS the items might be found.

It's like all the Thieves Guild "Steal 3 of item type X, or 10 items generally, from a particular province" - I always easily find the 10 long before I am ever close to finding the 3, even if stealing from what are supposed to be the right people or in the right areas.

FrancisCrawford · February 2021

jle30303 wrote: »

What nobody has done, yet, in this thread, is post actual, practical ways of improving your chances of stealing the items you want - like FROM WHOM or IN WHAT AREAS the items might be found.

It's like all the Thieves Guild "Steal 3 of item type X, or 10 items generally, from a particular province" - I always easily find the 10 long before I am ever close to finding the 3, even if stealing from what are supposed to be the right people or in the right areas.

I don't steal them these days, with the rarest of exceptions. Instead, I get them:
-- As rewards from Thieves Guild quests, 10 at a time.
-- As rewards from festival quests, 1 at a time.
-- As rewards from antiquities digs, 1 at a time.
-- From Thieves Troves, 10 at a time. (I guess technically that's stealing.)

For example, if you have writings or artwork or scrivener supplies, there's a Covetous Countess quest for those. And in return you'll likely get 10 of something else, which might or might not be useful for a Countess or Bursar quest.

Also, please note that half the Bursar of Tributes quests have nothing to do with the kinds of items that you steal.

All that said -- if I get a crow quest for toys and games, I'm not always able to do it. Sometimes I just have to abandon it and get another quest the next day.

FrancisCrawford · February 2021

On the first day of the event, I got a crow quest for toys/games/dolls. I also got two coffers in which one of the rewards was a doll or toy.