Event Build: The Rogue Seeker

[Aqve Teig]

The Rogue Seeker

Warlock with a Patron Questline 

Once a thief, the Rogue Seeker was taken in by Hermeus Mora to aquire knowledge. A great desire for power, raw talent and an inescapable emptiness born from boredom is something a Daedric Prince can make use of. On the other side of the coin, someone with endless curiosity and offering ample rewards is a client a Rogue always likes to run dry. There is no better servant than those who desire to take advantage of you. Such is the relation between a Patron and their Warlock.

 

 

The Rogue Seeker is a mix between a thief and a warlock. The thief is your vocation and your humble begining. As you aquire power, it will drift away as a hobby. The warlock side is handled through roleplay and metagaming. You will be able to play the role of Hermaeus Mora when you need to apply knowledge you have from the game and the lore. Fret no, this build comes with a set of quests to earn the favours of Hermaeus Mora. In turn, this will grant the character the knowledge of a tasks granting him a reward. The backstory will be written at the end of the build. For now, expect and individual blessed with raw tallent, wits, and confidence on the brink of arrogance. Arrogance that almost got himself killed. That is how he ended up with a Daedric Lord for Patron. Though he doesn't remember much of what actually transpired. We will follow the character through his transformation from a thief to a warlock. While the Seekers of Apocrypha drain the stats of their victims, he will absorb them.

 

The Build:

Race: Breton with amber eyes

Stone: Thief then Atronach

Stats (M /H /S): 20 / 20 /10

Main Skills: One Handed, Stealth, Illusion

Secondary Skills: Pickpocket, Destruction, Alteration, Light Armour, Smithing

 

Equipment: Blackwater blade, Vampire armour of Destruction, Nightingale gloves, Blackguard Hood and Boots, Diadem of the Savant, Masser's Ring, Amulet of Talos

Spell List: Flame, Touch of Death, Fire Cloak, Paralysis Rune, Ironflesh, Telekinesis, Master Transmute, Ash Atronach, Arvak, Frenzy Rune, Orum’s Aquatic Escape, Calm, Frenzy, Muffle

Abilities:  Ancient Knowledge, Blessing of Mara and Dibella, Seeker of Sorcery, Bittercup (+H/-S, wealth choice),

Powers: Dragonskin, Mora's Agony, Secret of Arcana

Shouts: : Slow Time, Dragon Aspect, Marked for Death, Whirlwind Sprint, Aura Whisper, Throw Voice, Become Ethereal

 

Particularities:

• No crafting until Ancient Knowledge is aquired
• Doesn't buy spell from court wizards. He fears to be recognized as a Daedra Worshipper
• Doesn't join the College of Winterhold until he needs to obtain an elder scroll
• No followers except goblins, riekling of undead creations. One exception is Talvas Faryon with whom he forms a friendship as both have fairly dangerous and disturbing masters. The other is Erandur, a former daedra worshiper. He will request their aid when dungeon delving in Solstheim or near Dawnstar.
• Whenever he stays somewhere, he wakes up in the middle of the night to steal something
• Lives in Shadowfoot Sanctum but construct all Hearthfire homes as Thieves Guild hideouts
• Hold of the Main quest and Dawnguard until you have unlocked the Atronach Stone

 

 

NB: To equip the Diadem of the Savant and a Hood, we use a glitch. Equip the Hooded Dunmer outfit, equip the Diadem, then equip the hood of your choice. After you can equip armour as normal. If you don't want to use this glitch, you can use the Nightingale hood alone or just forgo the diadem and its minor spell cost reduction.

 

Perks & Playstyle

In the perk spread below you'll find a suggested perk progression. As we will not have an easy acces to the muffle spell due to not buying from court wizards and avoiding the College until much later, to obtain the muffled mouvement perk early is crucial to our development as a thief. In the early levels, you will mostly be a thief with some novice magic. You will use them as diversion primarily. Diversion is the name the Rogue seeker has given to his Spectral Wolf by the way. Hermaeus Mora will guide you whenever you go to sleep in this first stage. Other than that, you are left to your own demise.

As you progress as a warlock, more spells will be available to you. When you must fight fairly or finish the remainding foes, you'll mostly strike with your sword and apply a strangulation spell to regain health and stamina. Spell and power attack combo. If you use your traps and illusion well, you should usually be in a one versus one situation. This will quickly fell any foe.

As for how you interract with Skyrim, you are a thief first and foremost. You do not crave power, wealth maybe a little, but as long as you are comfortable everyting is fine. What you crave is thrills. The world is a puzzle, and Mora gives you a toolbox to tackle it in angles you had never considered before.

 

 

Special Abilities :

Akatosh’s Paradox: Your understanding of magic, dragon language and faith as led to being able to use the slow time shout continuously. Requires Stability, amulet of Talos and praying at a shrine of Talos.

 

Blink --> Shadowstep : Move around stealthily at lighting speed by crouching and combining Quiet casting and Whirlwind Sprint. Upgrades to Shadowstep with the Shadowcloack of Nocturnal ability. Becomes the True Shadowstep once you have unlocked Shadow Warrior. This allows to use this technique mid fight. A versatile technique to reposition, escape a tough position or to set up a quick approach for a backstab.

 

Trap Master: Set up a rune or an Ash Atronach and attract enemies to it with Throw Voice. It requires Quiet casting, Rune Master, a rune Spell and Throw Voice. With Aura Whisper, keep a better track of when to use this ability. A safe usage would be to start with a Frenzy Rune and follow up with an Ash Atronach once the number of foes is reduced.

 

Touch of the Seeker: Drain the life force of any foes by combining the different sources of absorption granted to you. Start with Marked for Death, then alternate casts of Touch of Death and attack plus power attack with the Blackwater blade. Against magic caster, activate dragonskin for a full immunity to magic.

 

Abyssal Domain: Recreate a vision of Aprocrypha on the battlefield, slaying all who dare approach. Activate Secret of Arcana and then become Ethereal to prepare the spells. Then activate Mora’s Agony, last, cast from each hand Unbounded Freezing and Unbounded Storm. As long as you activate them before Secret of Arcana runs out, the spells cost will stay zero for as long as you channel them. Mora's agony will keep enemies away.

 

 

Path of adventure

 

Hermaeus Mora sets you on different quests, some given to you, some you must stumble upon. Hermaeus Mora gave you 4 quests to start your journey in Skyrim. Accomplishing those quest grants you a favour which you gain from the list below as a milestone of Favour Points (Fp) earned.  You can earn more points than there are boons. In terms of RP, the character is the warlock, you playing the game is the Patron. The Seeker can contact Mora during sleep sequences while Mora can contact the Seeker whenever it desires.

 Starting Quests:

• 4 Fp: Study the Boneforge: 1 Fp per new type of skeleton crafted. Study this altar of the Worm Cult. As you use it, I will have it's inner working transcribed.
• 2 Fp: Gain the blessings from Mara and Dibella, their temple need help. 1Fp for each. While you are aligned with me, it doesn't hurt to expand your horizon to what the Aedra have to offer.
• 1 Fp: Learn Conjure Zombie after The Rising Dead quest. It may not be a new spell in the end, but it is worth investigating. Necromancers are surprisingly creative when attempting to imitate their predecessors. 
• 1 Fp: Become a vampire and learn how Fallion of Morthal cures vampirism. You may want to head to Redwater Den, a Skooma storefront operated by vampires. You should catch the right disease there.

Quest given by Hermaeus Mora over time:

• 1 Fp: Unfathomable Depth given at lvl 15. Another Seeker failed this mission, finish it. The dwarves and their mechanism know to keep secrets well out of reach. A tactful approach may prove more succesful.
• 8 Fp: Obtain the mainland dragon-priest’s mask. Location of the closest priest revealed when you sleep . After the Way of the Voice and reaching lvl20. 1 Fp per mask. Many dragonpriests have entertwined their fate with Apocrypha. Those didn't, which make them worthy research material.
• 3 Fp: Discover the Konharik mask. It is but a last step in your quest for the masks, however it is the most secret on as no dragonpriest has been transcribed as its owner.

Quest to find yourself:

• 1 Fp:Learn the secret Bonemold recipee from Glover Mallory
• 1 Fp: Learn the Translation of Falmer Language (Thief quest Hard Answers)
• 1 Fp: Discover the powers of the Agents of Nocturnal (Final reward of Thieves Guild)
• 1 Fp: Learn Dragonrend (Main Quest)
• 1 Fp: Tending the Flame (Bard College)
• 1 Fp: Learn all 4 summon spells from the Soul Cairn
• 1 Fp: Impatience of a Saint (in Soul Cairn)
• 1 Fp: Learn the 3 Dawnguard Sun Spells
• 1 Fp: Find the 4 ancient Falmer tomes in the Forgotten Vale
• 2 Fp: Locate the Aetherium Forge
• 3 Fp: Obtain an Elder Scroll. 1Fp per scroll
• 2 Fp: Free the Oghma Infinium
• 2 Fp: Vaermina’s quest: Destroy the Staff of Vaermina

Milestones:

• 2 Fp: Reclaim the Blackwater Blade. Hints on its location can be found in the inn of Solitude.
• 4 Fp: Go to Treva’s Watch, plenty of knowledge to uncover. Even one spell that caused you a lot of grief.
• 6 Fp: Go to Hob’s fall Cave to access a library of spells to use on your journey
• 8 Fp: Take the Atronach Standing Stone I'll unlock it's abilities for you.
• 10 Fp: As the archmages of old Skyrim, solve Shalidor's maze. Take its diadem as a token of your success.
• 12 - 16 – 20 – 24 Fp: Learn of an undiscovered Black Book location (Kolbjorn Barrow, White Ridge Barrow, Benkongerike Great Hall, or Raven Rock Mine )
• 14 – 18 – 22 – 26 - 28 - 30 – 32 – 34 - 36 - 38 Fp: Learn of the location of a single unknown word of power for either Slow time, Whirlwind Sprint, Aura Whisper, Dragon Aspect, Marked for Death, Become Ethereal, or Throw Voice

 

Backstory

 

For as long as he can remember the Rogue Seeker has been alone and thieving to survive. He doesn’t remember when the need to steal turned into a thrill. Was it when he pickpocketed a coin pouch for the first time, or before that when he stole a bag full of food from the market after spending half a day planning an escape route?

No matter, his petty thievery eventually turned to daring heist. Becoming bold, he purloined stuff he didn’t even need. The new portrait ordered by the lord, a barrel of rhum from an already loaded vessel, or even the instruments from a touring band right from the stage when they were about to play for the lord. A couple time he was approached by the thieves guild of Northpoint, but each time he relucted joining them. For him who lived alone all his life, companions where at best a frivolity, at worst a hindrance.

He came to regret this decision a few times. He got caught and sent to prison 3 times. Just a few months. It was rough, but nothing to make him change his stubborn ways. One day he chewed on more than he bargained. Some knightly order was in passing to take a ship to the capital. Rumour was they had found a holy relic. He couldn’t resist trying to find out what it was. He planned his heist; the relic was to be loaded at sundown, but the boat would sail on the morrow. He got into one of the food barrels while no one was looking. Once on the ship, he waited for everyone to sleep and complete silence to leave his hiding spot. To his surprise, he was inside a cage and a grizzled old man sighted from a distance.

“I guess you didn’t know there is a spell to detect living presences. Don’t worry, I’m not a knight, and I won’t denounce you either. However, I hope you left enough food in the barrel for the voyage. I’ll see you on the high seas”. And so, the man left. The Rogue tried to pick the lock, but it had been melted. He was stuck and the knight would surely kill him dared he call for help.

Days past, perhaps more, thirst and hunger made him delirious. In a gasp of sanity, he resigned and called for help. No one came. Later, he doesn’t recall when, the old man descended to fetch him. “The time is upon us” he said. He tore open the cage in a flash of green light and brought him on deck.  He remembered some chanting, the smell of a storm and last a sword through his waist. In a thundering crash, the boat broke apart and he fell into the sea.

He awoke on the shore of Farrun. No wounds, no hunger, no thirst, just the taste of salt in his mouth. Three or four knight’s corpses were ashore amongst the many debris. As he closed his eyes to catch his breath, incomprehensible visions poured in his mind. His head about to split open, he fell on the sand.  A thief from the guild rescued and hid him from the authorities. Not within his habbit to accept help, but after all that, simpler jobs and a haven was much needed. He noticed some changes over time, his dark eyes had taken a yellow tint, but the strangest of all were his dreams. A wide green sea, tentacles writhing eerily, and a voice from the deep telling him to emerge, calling him a seeker. One drunken night, he got into a brawl, flames escaped his hand and burnt the drunkard alive. That night the Rogue left town. When he thought where to go, an otherworldly voice answered within his mind. “To Skyrim you are fated to go my Seeker”

From this day onward, the self-serving Rogue learnt of his new contractor. With a first payment of magical knowledge, he was set on a quest to unveil secrets kept from the greatest library of Aetherius.

 

 

[Mur'zik]

This is a gem! Extremely well thought build. I like the quest points idea and perkspread with colors representing lvl, might use that idea in my next build. I also like combining unique low-tier armor and appreciate yours. Thank you for the effort, you have my like.