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Character Build: The Morag Tong Assassin

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  • Member
    March 31, 2016

    Hello, and Welcome to another Buffalo Build! This is the first build in my upcoming series, the Servants of the Daedra.This particular build follows the teachings of Mephala. A few months ago, I was looking through Elder Scrolls Lore. I came across the mysterious Morag Tong Guild, a shadowy cult of assassins that worship the Daedra Mephala. I read more and more Lore about them, and became inspired to make a character as a member. I learned that the faction dissolved after the Eruption of the Red Mountain. I thought that I could make a powerful female assassin that is attempting to re-establish the guild. She is an expert at using Two-Handed Swords, and also Adept at a bow. She also has some minor knowledge in the use of Destruction and Alteration. All in All, I found her a very interesting character to play, and I hope you enjoy it too. I am proud to present:

                      The Morag Tong Assassin

    Lore:

    "The Morag Tong is a group that has pledged itself to the service of Mephala, Daedric Prince of lies, deception, and murder. In Morrowind, the guild is led by a Grandmaster, who usually serves for life until killed. Each guild hall is run by a Master, who has a high level of authority with regards to accepting writs and issuing assignments. Individual members, however, cannot accept writs without the approval of the Tong, or else they face punishment, like hanging.

    The Morag Tong fills a vital role in Dark-Elf politics by preventing all-out war between the Great Houses. During elections they publicly kill off the ones with darker hopes for Morrowind. Rather, they follow Mephala's advice to "kill them with secret murder" by employing Tong assassins in targeted strikes to accomplish political goals. To achieve this, the Tong maintain a strict policy of secrecy, accepting any job provided it is proposed in the correct way and with the proper payment. Because of its official status, the guild has the authority to print legal bills known as Honorable Writs of Execution, which excuse a Tong agent of all legal misgiving associated with any Tong related business. As such, Morag Tong executioners are expected to give themselves up immediately following an execution even if the death itself would have remained a mystery, in order to legally absolve themselves and avert any possible long-term ramifications. Tong executioners who fail to do so are considered suspect by their order and may be subject to major internal investigations, as the Tong does not harbor criminals."

    Backstory: The Morag Tong Assassin was born in Balmora, Morrowind. From an early age she had always had an obsession for reading; one day she stumbled across one of her father's books called "Secrets of Morrowind Revealed". She decided to try her hand at reading it. She was most deeply interested in chapter 14: "Morrowind's Morag Tong". She grew more and more obsessed with the cult, which ultimately led to her joining of the group in the 4th era. Months after her joining, the Red Mountain exploded, and the group mysteriously disbanded. The Assassin was upset at this, and to show her love of the guild she set off to complete her last contract: To kill a wealthy woman living in solitude by the name of Taarie. Halfway there she was ambushed at the border, beaten unconscious by armored men and thrown into a carriage. She was taken to Helgen for her decapitation, and if you've played Skyrim at all, you'll know the rest.

    Gameplay and Skills

    This character is all about stealth. She utilities the Ebony Blade in combat, which in turn is assisted by flesh spells and cloaks. From range, she favors the bow. As she is hoping to create a new Morag Tong of which she is the Grandmaster, she will use any equipment necessary. She has, of course, great proficiency in the skills of Sneak, Two-Handed, Light Armor, and Destruction.

    Major Skills

    Two-Handed. This skill is the Morag Tong's main damage output, so this skill is essential if you want to get anywhere with this build. It might just be me, but I don't see too many Two-Handed assassins out there.

    Archery. The skill the Morag Tong uses at far range. Though not a master, she is still hugely adept in wielding bows. Crossbows, however, confuse and annoy her.

    Sneak. What kind of Professional Assassin are you without sneak? The Morag Tong uses it to still be able to hide even in the brightest light.

    Alteration. The Morag Tong uses this skill for just that bit extra protection before wading into a battle. Notable Spells: Ironflesh

    Minor Skills

    Light Armor. The Morag Tong uses this skill to effectively use her armor. Without this skill, she would die in seconds.

    Destruction. This skill is used to conjure burning cyclones around the Morag Tong in melee situations. Notable Spells: Flame Cloak

    Illusion. This skill is the least important of all, and is used only for the Quiet Casting perk. However, it can be used for muffle is wanted. Notable Spells: Muffle
                                                                                     

                                                         Bestiary

    Below is some tactics you can use when fighting enemies of a certain class. Remember though, these are the tactics I used. Feel free to come up with your own.

    Tanks:Tanks are basically big muscly bandits or trolls wearing full heavy armor or with a huge health pool. They can take lots of damage, so obviously to deal more damage is the solution. I advise opening combat with the "Blessing of Mephala" ability (Listed below) and then, if you have one, let your follower soak up the damage while you hit from behind with a bow. However, if you are in a tight situation, and you do not have a follower or are already seen, then activate a flesh spell, get up a cloak, and back up as much as you can while letting fly dozens of arrows. its all you can really do.

    Mages: Mages are easy for this build to defeat. They most of the time have very low HP, though their summoned creatures can be troublesome. Most of the time a sneak attack will kill them instantly. Necromancers and Cyromancers can be annoying due to their ability to slow you to a crawl. This build relies heavily on speed and timing.

    Archers: Archers are commonly lightly equipped armor wise, so their HP isn't much of a problem. Just fight fire with fire and take out your bow and start firing. However, if you come across a particularly tanky archer then get up close and personal with them, which should hopefully force them to take out their weaker melee weapons. Sometimes this can be bad though. Sometimes their even better with melee weapons than ranged!

    Dragons and Dragon Priests:

    First and foremost, we'll go quickly over dragon tactics. Dragons aren't that hard for this build to defeat, but there is some strategies I used nonetheless. Grounded dragons are a simple matter: Simply activate a flesh spell if you haven't already and start hacking. The huge absorb health effect on the Ebony Blade should keep you alive. Airborne dragons, however, pose more of a threat. I advise using dragonrend and then use the Grounded Dragons tactic above. However, if you do not have dragonrend or simply can't be bothered to do it, then activate a flesh spell, and take out your bow. You can't do much else, though using "Marked for Death" might help.

    Now onto Dragon Priests. I am afraid I can't offer much advice here, as what I did for the few Dragon Priest fights I did was pretty much run around screaming like a baby while hitting them with my sword every now and again. Frost priests are particularly troublesome, as they slow you terribly and also summon huge tanky atronachs which refuse to stop following you. They also do decent damage.Fire Priests,however, are laughably easy to defeat. As a Dark Elf wearing Azidal, you have 85% resistance to fire, so they do hardly any damage to you. Dragon Priests are deadly foes both from range and melee (Due to cloaks and atronachs) so keep away from them when you can.

    Abilities

    Blessing of Mephala

    Requirements: Muffle, Silent Roll, Power Attack

    Description: The Morag Tong, using her training from her days in the original Tong, silently rolls forward and swiftly plunges her blade into the enemies back. Only works when behind an enemy.

    Assassin's Wit

    Requirements: Sneak Mode,Eagle Eye, Steady Hand, Slow Time, Paralysis Poison

    Description: The Assassin hides in the shadows, shouts loudly behind the unknowing foe, commanding time itself to slow, allowing for dozens of shots in the space of a few seconds, paralyzing the unfortunate victim with fear of the unknown.

    Rage of the Assassin

    Requirements: Flame Cloak, Marked for Death, Blessing of Mephala

    Description: The Morag Tong, using her natural Pyromancy Prowess, conjures a tongue of flame that dances around her. Her voice shatters the will to live of nearby enemies, and she grants them their wish with one, swift, strike.

    Other Information

    Race: Female Dunmer. I chose this race because ALL Morag Tong Assassins were Dunmer, too.

    Stone: The Thief (Early Game) The Shadow. (Mid-Late Game) This stone is my first choice because it grants the ability to become invisible. Very useful for an assassin!

    Stats Distribution: 1/2/2.

    Shouts: Marked for Death, Slow Time, Elemental Fury, Soul Tear, Dragonrend, Become Ethereal, Whirlwind Sprint, Dismay

    Equipment:

    Quests and Roleplay

    Quests:

    Destroy the Dark Brotherhood is the first obvious choice here. The Morag Tong and the Brotherhood have always been fierce rivals, so why not take the chance and stamp out the remnants of your enemy?

    Dawnguard: Dawnguard Side is another useful choice. It gives access to Auriel's bow which can be useful before you get a Daedric one. It also lets you do the quest-line without becoming a vampire, which ruins your near-immunity to fire. If you really want the bonuses to Sneak, Frost Resistance, and Disease and Poison, then Volkihar is the way to go.

    Served Cold is another essential quest. It grants easy access to the Morag Tong Armor, and also for Roleplay purposes (Below). This build seeks to re-create the Morag Tong entirely, so for that to happen the remaining members need to be stamped out.

    Thieves Guild is an optional choice. It is good for leveling sneak and other useful skills for this build. It also allows you to Roleplay "Gaining Trust and Allies," something important to anyone attempting to found a new guild.

    The Whispering Door. This quest involves your unholy mistress, Mephala. You obey her orders and gain her artifact and this builds main weapon: The Ebony Blade.

    Civil War, Imperial Side. The Stormcloaks are reasonably well-known for racism against Dark-Elves, which rules joining the Stormcloaks out. The Morag Tong were well known for assisting the Empire in certain events, most of them being elections.

    Another few optional quests are The Main Quest, Dragonborn, The College of Winterhold and The Companions.

    Roleplaying this Character

    This character's ultimate goal is to re-found the Morag Tong. you must find a base of operations (The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary after Destroy the Dark Brotherhood is good for this) and begin recruiting members into your new faction. Some recommended candidates are:

    Brelyna Maryon

    Athis

    Jenassa

    Teldryn Sero

    Aranea Ienith

    Ralis Sedaris

    Talvas Fathyron

    Erandur is also possible, but as a priest of Mara, is not great for Roleplay.

    When you gain the people above as a follower, give them a set of Morag Tong Armor. Most of them are mages, so they automatically equip it. Athis should, as his default armor is terrible. Teldryn Sero, on the other hand, I like to Roleplay as him being my "Second in Command" as he by default has chitin armor. He is also as skilled as the Second in Command of a Professional assassin cult would be.

    The only people I am not sure about would be Ralis and Jenassa, as they have leather. They did not equip it on my test playthrough for some reason. Maybe enchanting or upgrading the armor at a workbench would work.

    Anyway, once they have the armor, you want to start rebuilding the Morag Tong.

    You can, if you play on PC, get the "Guild Starter" mod which would be very useful in this case, and all your members could live in any hideout you wish.

    However, if you are a console user like me, then you will have to pretend that when you dismiss your followers they go "Undercover" off on some contract somewhere to get around them returning to their default armor and walking off to some Tavern.

    Also, on PC, you could spawn non-hostile Morag Tong Assassins from Solstheim in your hideout as guards. Sort of.

    Contracts

    I have given you also a list of targets for you to test your skill. You can ignore them if you want, though!

    Jofthor, Nord, Male, Lives in Fellstar Farm, Ivarstead. Very Easy.

    Your target is Jofthor, some poor wretch living in Fellstar Farm with his witch of a wife. Not a particularly glamorous contract, but he apparently killed some mad old woman's cat, and she wants revenge. If you fail, you die. But I doubt you will.

    Abelone, Nord, Female, Lives in Windpeak Inn, Dawnstar. Medium.

    Alright, time to really test your skill. Some robed man approached me today, saying he wanted his ex-wife killed. Easy enough. But be warned, she is in the middle of the most populated building in Dawnstar. Stealth is the only way.

    Aerin, Imperial, Male, Lives in Aerin's House, Riften. Hard.

    Your next contract is a young warrior by the name Aerin. Probably- no defiantly the hardest kill so far. He is with another young woman by the name Mjoll 24/7/ . She too is a skilled warrior. Oh, and one last thing. He is in the middle of Riften, one of the highest security cities in Skyrim. Good luck.

    Borkul the Beast, Orc, Male, Lives in the Cidhna Mine. Medium.

    I've heard bad things about your next target. Murderer, thief, drug-dealer, that sort of thing. An orc by the name of Borkul. Currently in the Markarth mines serving his time in jail. I heard he's quite bulked up: Be careful.

    Erdi, Nord, Female, Lives in the Blue Palace. Very Hard.

    This is quite possibly your most difficult contract ever. a servant names Erdi, who is currently living a happy life in the Blue Palace, a top security building in the biggest, securest city in Skyrim. failure is not an option.

    Mathies, Nord, Male, Lives in Corpselight Farm. Very Easy.

    This contract is, to me, pointless. Some little argonian girl slipped me five hundred gold and a note as I walked through Whiterun. The note said that somebody wants a man names Mathias dead. Living in corpselight farm, I heard. Stupidly easy. If you dare fail, then we will be a laughing stock. All are hard work, pointless. Do not fail.

    Gorm, Nord, Male, Lives in Highmoon Hall. Medium - Hard.

    This guy, Gorm, is your next contract. The Jarl of Mortal's personal bodyguard. He needs to die. You should be able to get him in his sleep with no-one noticing. Or poison his mead, the filthy Nord drunk. He won't be able to resist.

    Closing Notes

    Overall, this build was great fun making, testing, and typing (Well, not that last part). Thanks for reading, any advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks and Goodbye!

    Other Builds by Me:  Character Build: Mannimarco, King of Worms

                                           Character Build: The Last Dragon Priest

    If you do decide to give these builds a go at reading I hope you enjoy them.

  • Member
    March 31, 2016
    Great Build
  • March 31, 2016
    Great build very unique the morag tong we're a very mysterious guild so I love thatyour kinda "exposing them" . And the idea to give dark elf followers a set of the armor is a great idea
  • Member
    March 31, 2016

    Thanks!

  • Member
    March 31, 2016

    Thanks so much!

  • Member
    March 31, 2016

    Good build!

    I like the contracts because nazeem isn't on it. (I hate nazeem too but he is an obvious choice).

  • Member
    March 31, 2016

    Good job, man. You're improving with each build, that's great! +1

  • Member
    April 1, 2016

    Thanks!

    Yeah, I was going to go for Nazeem but then I realized loads of other assassin builds had him as a target.

  • Member
    April 1, 2016

    Thanks, Mort! (Iferous)

  • Member
    April 3, 2016

    In case anyone is wondering, the vote for Clavicus Vile is mine.