__________________________________________________________
The Inquisition.
The residents of Tamriel, especially Skyrim, have come to fear this shadowy faction.
It presents an incredible diversity of members. Sometimes even wolves or spriggans are seen, fighting among other members. Magick blue light glows from their veins and their eyes.
Even with this variety, one person remains constant. The true power behind the name.
The Inquisitor.
__________________________________________________________
A group of men trudged through the snow, with heavy fur-lined armor and large, bulging packs strapped to their backs. Ahead of them lay the Stormcloak capital- Windhelm. These men journeyed to join the Stormcloak Rebellion. A while back on their path, bloodied snow and the bodies of frozen horses lay. They had literally frozen on the journey, and their riders were forced to put them down.
“How far ahead is it?” ask one man, the straggler of the group, elderly and generally irritable. “The snow has blinded me.”
“Not long, friend.” responded a young, blond-haired and blue-eyed man. He was too aware that too many words would easily cause him to succumb to the cold. The elder grunted, not entirely satisfied with the answer. A shorter figure to his left- a boy, barely a teenager.
“Aye…” he murmured, eyes glancing at the city on the horizon. He noticed something, contrasting the pale snow on the path ahead. It looked like a series of black smudges. “Hey. Look, ahead.” He raised a hand as a visor. “Stormcloaks?” he asked, his voice holding a note of hope. The other mens’ heads straighted up, peering to get a glance at the arriving group.
“Eh… perhaps.”
“It must be! They can get us safe passage.”
“If only.”
The other group came closer, and it became apparent that they were actually Stormcloaks. There were around 4 men, all striding forth, lead by a man clad in strange black armor. It almost looked like ebony.
“Ebony armor. By Ysmir, ‘tis a wondrous sight.” breathed one man, a former hold guard. “But… what a strange hood. Like forged midnight.”
The Stormcloak group was now but a few paces away. They halted, the traditionally dressed soldiers watching them, as if some type of guarding atronach. The ebony clad man strode forth, halting right in front of the group’s leader.
“Well met, men! You must seek the one and only Stormcloak Rebellion, yes?” All heads nodded. “Yes! Yes. Yes indeed.” the ebony man proclaimed, spreading his arms wide. “You have the gods smiling upon you, men. Talos looks with pride!” The travellers cheered weakly. “Ah, you must seek shelter. Shelter. Warmth, mead and a boiling soup. Worry not, I will take you to a place with all great things. I must first discuss with my soldiers. Wait for just one moment more, I ask.”
He turned, talking to his men in hushed tones. The travellers, weak as they were, could not help but be filled with hope and excitement. Their journey was worth it. They would become heroes of the people of Skyrim!
The man turned back again, and they could each feel the man’s eyes probing them from the shadows of the hood.
“I will bring you warmth. I will bring you joy and new life.” he spoke in a grand tone, exciting the travellers even more. They cheered at his words.
“Just one moment of piercing cold is all you must endure.” The man finished.
He then slid out his strange, twisted sword from a sheath on his belt, pointing it directly at the men.
“End them.” he instructed.
The travellers could do nought to protect themselves. The soldiers rushed forth, sending swords through lungs, axes through throats and maces into bone.
The Dark Inquisitor took a single step forward, thrusting his strange blade through the chest of the travellers’ young leader. A sheer cold spread throughout him, centered around the Inquisitor’s blade. The Nord’s fading eyes, looked into the shadows beneath the hood, and saw nothing. His breath left him in a final sigh, as his body slumped onto the Inquisitor.
“Do not worry. I will keep my word. You will be my new soldiers.” the Inquisitor whispered. He thrust his free hand, his left, to the man’s gut, a sinister blue orb being absorbed into the corpse. It jerked back, falling to the ground. Yet it floated. It floated, the sinister blue light circling the body. It raised upwards, before coming to stand on two feet, speaking a lifeless moan. The Inquisitor pointed to a steel war axe, which lay next to a pile of ashes. The Stormcloak Soldiers seemed to have vanished.
“Take up a weapon. You will fight for me.”
He looked to the sky, throwing his arms up. A maniacal grin cracked his stony face beneath the mask, and a hollow laugh echoed through the air.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Race: Any race is acceptable, really. If you’re more into actual combat and less roleplay, being an Altmer or Breton would work. If you like roleplay a little more, I would suggest Imperial. If you love pleasing aesthetics, Dunmer is the way to go.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Sneak, Conjuration and Enchanting.
Minor Skills: Speechcraft and Heavy Armor.
Optional Skills: Alchemy.
Spells: Command Daedra, Conjure Mistman, Conjure Boneman, Conjure Wrathman, Dead Thrall, Dread Zombie, Expel Daedra, Soul Trap and Summon Arvak.
Optional Spells: Frenzy, Invisibility, Pacify, Rally and Rout.
Dragon Shouts: Become Ethereal, Whirlwind Sprint and Ice Form.
Powers: Beast Form, Secret Servant and any Nightingale power.
Standing Stone: For the beginning of this build, the Lover Stone. Later on, the Atronach Stone. If you'd like a cool glitch, get the Aetherial Crown and the Ritual Stone. I'm sure you know how this glitch- the infinite stone uses one.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
The Dark Inquisitor is, by himself, decently capable of fighting. He simply chooses not to get his hands too dirty. As soon as one person is dispatched, he will raise them. This process continues, with him raising any other corpse that is more powerful than the last. If he finds one corpse that is particularly powerful, he will take time to cast Dead Thrall.
If there are no corpses, he can summon Mistmen, Bonemen or Wrathmen, depending on the situation. Mistmen and Bonemen are no good if you’re being swarmed up close. They are really only good for ranged support, as the Mistmen are ice mages and the Bonemen are archers. If you are really in trouble and are taking heavy amounts of damage, use either Become Ethereal or Whirlwind Sprint. Either one will give you time to cast a reanimation or summoning spell. Ice Form is to use against enemies that are mages or archers and are out of reach from your blade. Ice Form will, of course, paralyse them, and give you time so that either you or your thralls can move and finish them off.
As The Dark Inquisitor, you need to be able to take a decent amount of damage so your thralls can move in and aid you. This is where the Atronach stone comes in. It, as I’m sure you know increases spell absorption. This, along with your heavy armor, allows you to soak up a little damage- just enough to last.
Without enchantments, this build wouldn’t function very well. The Nightingale Hood is unable to be enchanted, with a cost reduction to Illusion. Admittedly, I mainly chose this just for the aesthetics, but sneaking is a decent part of this build. Casting Muffle (an illusion spell) is a good way to level up Illusion itself, yes, but also makes it easier to perform stealth tasks, levelling up Sneak too. This, however, is up to you. I personally think the aesthetic is too good to pass up, but if you’re more of a functions guy, feel free to swap it out for the Ebony Helmet or whatever you’d like. The chestpiece of choice is the Ebony Mail and this is not able to be enchanted either. This comes pre-enchanted with the Muffle enchant, nullifying the aforementioned spell and making levelling Sneak better. It also includes a very unique enchantment, which is a sort of ‘poison cloak’. This means that if enemies get too close, they will take 5 points of poison damage per second. While this is a useful enchantment, allowing you to deal damage without doing a thing, but it also layers the aesthetic very well. It turns your character into a figure of solid shadow, sending smoky plumes of darkness drifting from your armor.
The ebony gauntlets should be enchanted with fortify heavy armor and one-handed. This will increase your resistance to melee attacks as well as increasing your output of melee damage. The ebony boots should be enchanted with Fortify One-Handed and Resist Frost. The frost resistance doesn’t serve any particular purpose, other than the fact that ice magic, in a land like Skyrim, is pretty common. Thus it is good to be protected from it.
Now, let’s veer away from the statistics.
Special Tactics
I found it very fun to conjure a couple Mistmen or whatever you choose and simply watch the fight take place. With your levelled Sneak, this tactic becomes viable. Note, I tested this on Master difficulty. I didn’t fight the extremely hard enemies, but I think it’ll work alright there too. You can summon things to take the attention of your enemies while you simply sneak around and attack from behind. When they discover you, simply rinse and repeat.
Another aspect of this build I’ve left entirely unmentioned for now, please excuse me for that, is lycanthropy. This is rarely used, as this is more of a ‘sit back and relax’ build, but it does come in handy. If you ever feel like you really wanted to bloody your hands, this is the way to go.
Now, before I talk about this, I have to first speak about the Nethermancer build. I absolutely love that build- having recently discovered it- and I saw the Nether Beast special ability that Alastor had created. I found out the same thing- the equipping of the Ebony Mail- entirely by accident. Therefore, I think that all credit is still due to Alastor for finding out this glitch. I’d like to clear up that while I did know about the Secret Servant glitch to equip armor, I was not aware about the Ebony Mail variant. I discovered it by accident, and while looking to gain inspiration for this build, I chanced upon the Nethermancer.
I’ll give credit where it is due- Alastor’s Nethermancer is a brilliant build, and one I draw plenty inspiration from. Please do visit it here.
http://tamrielvault.com/groups/topic/view/group_id/3/topic_id/3375
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
I have left unspecified Dawnguard or Volkihar because the Dark Inquisitor, while evil, would love the vampire's powers but despise the constant fear of the sun. The Dawnguard are viable for him because if he joined them, that would raise his status among the people of Skyrim.
It should also be noted that the Dark Inquisitor has dark tendencies when roleplaying. He tends to kill whoever disobeys him and then resurrect them so they are forced to perform his will. Going on murder sprees in town when bored is also a fun way to pass time. Whenever you meet someone, ways to kill them and reanimate their corpses is the first thing you think of.
Please note that this is my version of this build. You can change anything, really.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Conjured Distraction
Using summoned creatures as distractions, you slip into the shadows and strike at your enemies from behind.
Conjure Mistman/Boneman/Wrathman + Sneak + Attack
The Inquisition
You reanimate all the corpses you can and attack full force.
Dread Zombie/Dead Thrall/Ritual Stone + Attack
Lycanquisitor (primarily known as the Nether Beast)
You completely shroud yourself in darkness, turning yourself into a beast of raw melee power.
Secret Servant + Beast Form + Equip Armor + Attack
Again, all credit for the Lycanquisitor (primarily known as the Nether Beast) goes to Alastor’s Nethermancer build. Please visit it here.
http://tamrielvault.com/groups/topic/view/group_id/3/topic_id/3375
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
That was my next build, The Dark Inquisitor. Even if this isn’t my greatest build, it’s the one I incidentally played on my first Skyrim playthrough. I really do like it.
I really want to make the point clear that I do not intend to plagarise Alastor’s Nether Beast Idea. I really, really don’t want to. That being said, if it is asked to be removed, it will be. The Nethermancer can be found here.
http://tamrielvault.com/groups/topic/view/group_id/3/topic_id/3375
Anyways, all criticism welcome.
__________________________________________________________
The Inquisition.
The residents of Tamriel, especially Skyrim, have come to fear this shadowy faction.
It presents an incredible diversity of members. Sometimes even wolves or spriggans are seen, fighting among other members. Magick blue light glows from their veins and their eyes.
Even with this variety, one person remains constant. The true power behind the name.
The Inquisitor.
__________________________________________________________
A group of men trudged through the snow, with heavy fur-lined armor and large, bulging packs strapped to their backs. Ahead of them lay the Stormcloak capital- Windhelm. These men journeyed to join the Stormcloak Rebellion. A while back on their path, bloodied snow and the bodies of frozen horses lay. They had literally frozen on the journey, and their riders were forced to put them down.
“How far ahead is it?” ask one man, the straggler of the group, elderly and generally irritable. “The snow has blinded me.”
“Not long, friend.” responded a young, blond-haired and blue-eyed man. He was too aware that too many words would easily cause him to succumb to the cold. The elder grunted, not entirely satisfied with the answer. A shorter figure to his left- a boy, barely a teenager.
“Aye…” he murmured, eyes glancing at the city on the horizon. He noticed something, contrasting the pale snow on the path ahead. It looked like a series of black smudges. “Hey. Look, ahead.” He raised a hand as a visor. “Stormcloaks?” he asked, his voice holding a note of hope. The other mens’ heads straighted up, peering to get a glance at the arriving group.
“Eh… perhaps.”
“It must be! They can get us safe passage.”
“If only.”
The other group came closer, and it became apparent that they were actually Stormcloaks. There were around 4 men, all striding forth, lead by a man clad in strange black armor. It almost looked like ebony.
“Ebony armor. By Ysmir, ‘tis a wondrous sight.” breathed one man, a former hold guard. “But… what a strange hood. Like forged midnight.”
The Stormcloak group was now but a few paces away. They halted, the traditionally dressed soldiers watching them, as if some type of guarding atronach. The ebony clad man strode forth, halting right in front of the group’s leader.
“Well met, men! You must seek the one and only Stormcloak Rebellion, yes?” All heads nodded. “Yes! Yes. Yes indeed.” the ebony man proclaimed, spreading his arms wide. “You have the gods smiling upon you, men. Talos looks with pride!” The travellers cheered weakly. “Ah, you must seek shelter. Shelter. Warmth, mead and a boiling soup. Worry not, I will take you to a place with all great things. I must first discuss with my soldiers. Wait for just one moment more, I ask.”
He turned, talking to his men in hushed tones. The travellers, weak as they were, could not help but be filled with hope and excitement. Their journey was worth it. They would become heroes of the people of Skyrim!
The man turned back again, and they could each feel the man’s eyes probing them from the shadows of the hood.
“I will bring you warmth. I will bring you joy and new life.” he spoke in a grand tone, exciting the travellers even more. They cheered at his words.
“Just one moment of piercing cold is all you must endure.” The man finished.
He then slid out his strange, twisted sword from a sheath on his belt, pointing it directly at the men.
“End them.” he instructed.
The travellers could do nought to protect themselves. The soldiers rushed forth, sending swords through lungs, axes through throats and maces into bone.
The Dark Inquisitor took a single step forward, thrusting his strange blade through the chest of the travellers’ young leader. A sheer cold spread throughout him, centered around the Inquisitor’s blade. The Nord’s fading eyes, looked into the shadows beneath the hood, and saw nothing. His breath left him in a final sigh, as his body slumped onto the Inquisitor.
“Do not worry. I will keep my word. You will be my new soldiers.” the Inquisitor whispered. He thrust his free hand, his left, to the man’s gut, a sinister blue orb being absorbed into the corpse. It jerked back, falling to the ground. Yet it floated. It floated, the sinister blue light circling the body. It raised upwards, before coming to stand on two feet, speaking a lifeless moan. The Inquisitor pointed to a steel war axe, which lay next to a pile of ashes. The Stormcloak Soldiers seemed to have vanished.
“Take up a weapon. You will fight for me.”
He looked to the sky, throwing his arms up. A maniacal grin cracked his stony face beneath the mask, and a hollow laugh echoed through the air.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Race: Any race is acceptable, really. If you’re more into actual combat and less roleplay, being an Altmer or Breton would work. If you like roleplay a little more, I would suggest Imperial. If you love pleasing aesthetics, Dunmer is the way to go.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Sneak, Conjuration and Enchanting.
Minor Skills: Speechcraft and Heavy Armor.
Optional Skills: Alchemy.
Spells: Command Daedra, Conjure Mistman, Conjure Boneman, Conjure Wrathman, Dead Thrall, Dread Zombie, Expel Daedra, Soul Trap and Summon Arvak.
Optional Spells: Frenzy, Invisibility, Pacify, Rally and Rout.
Dragon Shouts: Become Ethereal, Whirlwind Sprint and Ice Form.
Powers: Beast Form, Secret Servant and any Nightingale power.
Standing Stone: For the beginning of this build, the Lover Stone. Later on, the Atronach Stone. If you'd like a cool glitch, get the Aetherial Crown and the Ritual Stone. I'm sure you know how this glitch- the infinite stone uses one.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
The Dark Inquisitor is, by himself, decently capable of fighting. He simply chooses not to get his hands too dirty. As soon as one person is dispatched, he will raise them. This process continues, with him raising any other corpse that is more powerful than the last. If he finds one corpse that is particularly powerful, he will take time to cast Dead Thrall.
If there are no corpses, he can summon Mistmen, Bonemen or Wrathmen, depending on the situation. Mistmen and Bonemen are no good if you’re being swarmed up close. They are really only good for ranged support, as the Mistmen are ice mages and the Bonemen are archers. If you are really in trouble and are taking heavy amounts of damage, use either Become Ethereal or Whirlwind Sprint. Either one will give you time to cast a reanimation or summoning spell. Ice Form is to use against enemies that are mages or archers and are out of reach from your blade. Ice Form will, of course, paralyse them, and give you time so that either you or your thralls can move and finish them off.
As The Dark Inquisitor, you need to be able to take a decent amount of damage so your thralls can move in and aid you. This is where the Atronach stone comes in. It, as I’m sure you know increases spell absorption. This, along with your heavy armor, allows you to soak up a little damage- just enough to last.
Without enchantments, this build wouldn’t function very well. The Nightingale Hood is unable to be enchanted, with a cost reduction to Illusion. Admittedly, I mainly chose this just for the aesthetics, but sneaking is a decent part of this build. Casting Muffle (an illusion spell) is a good way to level up Illusion itself, yes, but also makes it easier to perform stealth tasks, levelling up Sneak too. This, however, is up to you. I personally think the aesthetic is too good to pass up, but if you’re more of a functions guy, feel free to swap it out for the Ebony Helmet or whatever you’d like. The chestpiece of choice is the Ebony Mail and this is not able to be enchanted either. This comes pre-enchanted with the Muffle enchant, nullifying the aforementioned spell and making levelling Sneak better. It also includes a very unique enchantment, which is a sort of ‘poison cloak’. This means that if enemies get too close, they will take 5 points of poison damage per second. While this is a useful enchantment, allowing you to deal damage without doing a thing, but it also layers the aesthetic very well. It turns your character into a figure of solid shadow, sending smoky plumes of darkness drifting from your armor.
The ebony gauntlets should be enchanted with fortify heavy armor and one-handed. This will increase your resistance to melee attacks as well as increasing your output of melee damage. The ebony boots should be enchanted with Fortify One-Handed and Resist Frost. The frost resistance doesn’t serve any particular purpose, other than the fact that ice magic, in a land like Skyrim, is pretty common. Thus it is good to be protected from it.
Now, let’s veer away from the statistics.
Special Tactics
I found it very fun to conjure a couple Mistmen or whatever you choose and simply watch the fight take place. With your levelled Sneak, this tactic becomes viable. Note, I tested this on Master difficulty. I didn’t fight the extremely hard enemies, but I think it’ll work alright there too. You can summon things to take the attention of your enemies while you simply sneak around and attack from behind. When they discover you, simply rinse and repeat.
Another aspect of this build I’ve left entirely unmentioned for now, please excuse me for that, is lycanthropy. This is rarely used, as this is more of a ‘sit back and relax’ build, but it does come in handy. If you ever feel like you really wanted to bloody your hands, this is the way to go.
Now, before I talk about this, I have to first speak about the Nethermancer build. I absolutely love that build- having recently discovered it- and I saw the Nether Beast special ability that Alastor had created. I found out the same thing- the equipping of the Ebony Mail- entirely by accident. Therefore, I think that all credit is still due to Alastor for finding out this glitch. I’d like to clear up that while I did know about the Secret Servant glitch to equip armor, I was not aware about the Ebony Mail variant. I discovered it by accident, and while looking to gain inspiration for this build, I chanced upon the Nethermancer.
I’ll give credit where it is due- Alastor’s Nethermancer is a brilliant build, and one I draw plenty inspiration from. Please do visit it here.
http://tamrielvault.com/groups/topic/view/group_id/3/topic_id/3375
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
I have left unspecified Dawnguard or Volkihar because the Dark Inquisitor, while evil, would love the vampire's powers but despise the constant fear of the sun. The Dawnguard are viable for him because if he joined them, that would raise his status among the people of Skyrim.
It should also be noted that the Dark Inquisitor has dark tendencies when roleplaying. He tends to kill whoever disobeys him and then resurrect them so they are forced to perform his will. Going on murder sprees in town when bored is also a fun way to pass time. Whenever you meet someone, ways to kill them and reanimate their corpses is the first thing you think of.
Please note that this is my version of this build. You can change anything, really.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Conjured Distraction
Using summoned creatures as distractions, you slip into the shadows and strike at your enemies from behind.
Conjure Mistman/Boneman/Wrathman + Sneak + Attack
The Inquisition
You reanimate all the corpses you can and attack full force.
Dread Zombie/Dead Thrall/Ritual Stone + Attack
Lycanquisitor (primarily known as the Nether Beast)
You completely shroud yourself in darkness, turning yourself into a beast of raw melee power.
Secret Servant + Beast Form + Equip Armor + Attack
Again, all credit for the Lycanquisitor (primarily known as the Nether Beast) goes to Alastor’s Nethermancer build. Please visit it here.
http://tamrielvault.com/groups/topic/view/group_id/3/topic_id/3375
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
That was my next build, The Dark Inquisitor. Even if this isn’t my greatest build, it’s the one I incidentally played on my first Skyrim playthrough. I really do like it.
I really want to make the point clear that I do not intend to plagarise Alastor’s Nether Beast Idea. I really, really don’t want to. That being said, if it is asked to be removed, it will be. The Nethermancer can be found here.
http://tamrielvault.com/groups/topic/view/group_id/3/topic_id/3375
Anyways, all criticism welcome.
