I did something like this once. This guy had 5 beehives and they were built to be near indestructible except for burning them of course. I wanted to send a message to this guy because my boss ran a mead production company which had had an exclusive deal for these bees honey, but the beekeeper sold his estate (and hives), leaving my boss without a sustainable source of honey, so she sent me to torch three hives to send a message but keep two alive to keep producing honey. You’d think they’d just let the dragonborn into the thieves guild but they make me do this dumb ass quest  first.