Oblivion:Roleplaying/Guerrilla Rebel

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This article provides one suggestion for character-type roleplaying. Please see the main Roleplaying article for contribution guidelines.

This roleplay is where you gather up followers, set up a base and plan out the 'elimination' of the key elements and influential figures of the Imperial Empire. This roleplay is primarily Stealth, Chameleon and precise timing. You should be able to fight normally but you are trying to make a shadowy figure that is sabotaging the empire from within so kill/assassinate all those who know your identity as the mastermind of the guerrillas, excluding your comrades of course.

Plan out assaults on enemies and hit the empire where it hurts. Instead of creating a large army and wiping out the cities completely and exiling every essential to dive rock, do something more subtle and take out the main elements of the empire. You are NOT trying to provoke an all out war with the Imperial Empire! This roleplay is meant for you to try to take out your targets as quickly as possible, with as much stealth as you can, your tiny little band of rebels does not have the manpower launch an all out assault on the cities! Use your small numbers and your status of incognito against the empire. To begin your vendetta towards the Imperial Empire, launch small unexpected assassinations/assaults on small-time noblemen and minor guards. Escalate your attacks during every determined time interval. Once your plans are successful, fall back, gather supplies and more equipment to prepare for your next strike. Take the eliminations to the extremes, try to keep the deaths to a minimum, as you will need the support of the commoners for future guerrilla tactics.

Definition: Guerrilla tactics is based on spying, intelligence, deception, ambush, and sabotage. Also, guerrilla warfare is the extreme warfare and combat when a smaller group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes, raids, etc.) to combat a larger, less mobile formal army. The guerrilla army uses ambush (draw enemy forces to terrain unsuited to them) and mobility (advantage and surprise) in attacking vulnerable targets in enemy territory.

Note: You are a criminal mastermind. Masterminds do not get caught, but if you do get caught you should escape from the jail and disappear without killing many people. You are the figure behind the guerrilla tactics that a small, unknown band has been repeatedly provoking the empire to counterattack before your group disappears into thin air.

Note: The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal is practically a must for this roleplay, but getting this item requires sacrificing Amusei as a follower. Of course if you can have an alter ego to quickly infiltrate and take out the key elements that keep the Imperial Empire together among many needed requirements. It's nice to be able to show yourself in public without the guards chasing you. It is partly a stealth roleplay after all.

Note: This roleplay doesn't have to start at the beginning of the game. It is highly recommended you begin roleplaying this after you have pretty much beaten the game with some uncompleted quests for followers if you want. Plus if you start roleplaying this later in the game, there will be fewer essentials, and your risk of failing quests will be reduced.

Note: Many 'control' Spells are essential for this roleplay:

• Command Humanoid: you will be able to command a humanoid to do your bidding, a very good tool for temporary allies and to capture hostages for protection and to 'interrogate' influential figures
• Frenzy: helps you with diversion so you can focus on your operation at hand while the guards and citizens are busy trying to kill each other. Provides good distractions for obstacles such as guards. Plus you can get the distinct pleasure of watching the guards die by the hand of a "rebellion" of the people of the city...
• Calm: Isn't used that much but can be a good spell to stop guards attacking you for no reason among other things.
• Paralyze: Should be used to cease enemies from attacking you briefly, not as useful as calm but it is fun to watch an angry guard trip over his own feet again and again and again and again...
• Summon: Is very useful for distractions and an extra temporary subordinate, beware though... They are more aggressive than your humanoid comrades...
• Demoralize: Forces your enemies to run for the hills and thus leaves you to work quietly (or loudly) with your sabotaging.
• Chameleon: A very good spell, or better yet get 100% chameleon on your armor and then you can easily infiltrate the empire.
• Invisibility: same as chameleon but expires once you activate something, good replacement for 100% chameleon that helps balance gameplay for extremists.
• Night Eye: May help you see in the dark, you might want to make sure who you're assassinating in the dark.
• Water Walking: Will help you if you would like to sneak around on water, since you are more noticeable when swimming rather than sneaking.
• Detect Life: Helps you greatly by telling you where the guard patrols are allowing you to avoid them easier.

Alchemy May help you since it offers poison making, helping you eliminate targets quicker.

Remember, you aren't leading an army of men wearing the same outfit wiping out every living being you see and becoming the overlord of the new empire, you are the mastermind behind the guerrilla assaults on the empire. Do not dress your followers in exotic and rich equipment because guerrillas are usually poor. Get a whole lot of mage's hoods, enchant them with shield of fortify health enchantments and reverse-pickpocket them to all the members off your 'squad'. Duplicate many enchanted permanent bound armor and weapons and reverse pickpocket the armor for your followers. Let's say you equip your Dark Brotherhood archer with 100% chameleon and something like fortify strength armor for Jauffre and 100% immunity to magic for your Mages Guild Scholar. Make the armor fit the character of your subordinate. Don't give the Jemane brothers 100% immunity to magic, it'd be pointless, instead give them a good set of armor with shield enchantments. Keep their behavior in battle in mind. Again, remember you are the guerrilla genius, making up tactics, eliminating (or adding) key figures for your own gain or another goal you might like to roleplay, say you think the empire is too tight and you might want to 'loosen' the law.

You should start out with Dunbarrow Cove as your base. Begin your operations in Anvil. Maybe "interrogate" the countess then and begin spreading out to other cities, making more bases and getting more subordinates. Your final city/goal should be the Imperial Palace.

Don't simply focus on the cities! Expand your guerrilla tactics to the county. Take out the Imperial Guards patrolling the roads. Capture passers-by via command humanoid and interrogate them! Perhaps they are undercover soldiers. Befriend highwaymen via pay 100 gold then pickpocket back if you want and join his attacks on the patrols. Maybe your band of guerrillas are moving the base from the Thieves Den to Battlehorn. Assault bandit camps and spend the night there or travel through the night until you find an inn you can sleep in. If you spend the night at the inn, kill the residents since they found out that you were the guerrillas. Kill the imperial foresters if you like, they are in the dark on the underground guerrilla operations in the wild.

You could also live off the land once in a while, maybe for a month since the cities are too hot for you, and the guards are searching for your guerrilla army. Maybe when you're living off the land, you watch a wolf cleverly 'assassinate' a deer (its roleplay) and gives you an new idea on guerrilla tactics?

Once you're ready to move up to the next stage of your rebellion, capture the Captain of the Guard via command humanoid and take him to your base and interrogate him. Maybe pretend he told your guerrillas some unexpected element of the Imperial Empire. Maybe he hints a small clue about a great treasure that all the city guard captains have hidden and that you need to capture them all to receive the secret to bring down the empire. You could capture the Counts and Countesses instead of Guard Captains however the Count(esse)s may be part of important quests such as Skingrad, Leyawiin and Anvil's Counts and countesses.

Plus, as your guerrilla rebellion gets larger, perhaps you could set up other bases of operations depending on your followers. You could for example place all your mage followers in the town with the best mages guild.

Gather your Followers and make a base somewhere. Some recommended bases:

• Smuggler's Cave south of Anvil (practically under), very good place to begin your guerrilla operations with suppliers for weapons, armor and enchanted items. Plus you get three 'pirates' to go out and 'scout' the county and to fund your movement.

Ideal Subordinates for Dunbarrow Cove- Dark Brotherhood murderer, Amusei.

• Battlehorn Castle south-west of Chorrol, has its own personal trainer that cannot die (a trainer that can help your subordinates improve their fighting skills), food and drink suppliers, more guards, its own Dwemer forge to help repair items, its own front gate for any attacks from the empire in case the 'found you out' you practically own a small army with your followers and the guards combined. It also has a small quest not mentioned in the journal where you get a powerful Dragonsword of Lainlyn.

Ideal Subordinates for Battlehorn Castle- Knight of the Nine, Jemane Brothers, Mazoga the Orc, Battlehorn Man-at-Arms, Jauffre, Viranus Donton.

• Cloud Ruler Temple is north of Bruma, sacrificing Martin and Jauffre as followers with an exchange of another well defended fortress thats even better than the Battlehorn Castle and comes with its own complimentary armor.

Ideal Subordinates for Cloud Ruler Temple- Knight of the Nine, Jemane Brothers, Mazoga the Orc, Battlehorn Man-at-Arms, Viranus Donton.

• Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Cheydinhal, a good place for planning out operations since you have the help of your fellow Dark Brother murderers

Ideal Subordinates for the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary- DB murderer, Amusei.

• Frostcrag Spire east of Bruma also helps you with your operations against the empire, a large tower with a large storage room, many alchemical ingredients and an interesting ring, coming with a complimentary atronach familiar which adds to your gang of guerrillas and enchanting/spellmaking altars.

Ideal Subordinates for Frostcrag Spire- Brother Martin, Mages Guild Apprentice, Erthor, Atronach Familiar.

• The very city of Bravil can be a hideout as long as you haven't been identified as the guerrilla mastermind, since you have the night mother's statue to guide you with your plans, a skooma den where you can hideout as well, along with many Thieves Guild operatives where they will be able to get you out of any minor trouble easily. Also the count isn't essential maybe his guards have been cracking down hard on your operations that has to stop.

Ideal Subordinates for Bravil- Amusei, DB murderer, Jemane Brothers, Erthor

• Deepscorn Hollow southeast of Leyawiin may count as a base of operations, however this is pretty much for all those sinister characters around, it has many good features with your own bed and a subordinate who goes out and assassinates someone for some loot.

Ideal Subordinates for Deepscorn Hollow- DB murderer, Amusei, Atronach Familiar (fire)

• The Fighters Guild in Chorrol may be used as a base since you have protection from your fighters and loot/cash coming in every month if you are the head of the fighters guild.

Ideal Subordinates for FG in Chorrol- Battlehorn Man-at-Arms, Jemane Brothers, Atronach Familiar, Erthor, Jauffre, Knight of the Nine, Mazoga the Orc, Viranus Donton

• The Imperial Waterfront District is also recommended since it is the Gray Fox's base of operations and has many thieves guild members who will help you out of any problems, bring some coin to 'tip' off the beggars for info, via bribe and ask for rumors, pretend they give you info related to whatever youre doing.

Ideal Subordinates for Imperial Waterfront- Amusei, Mage Apprentice

• Also, the sewers underneath the Imperial city make a great base. You can take out their forces right under their noses. Sneak into shops to get supplies or break into important peoples houses and take them out.There are straw mats placed in certain parts of the sewers so you can level up if need be. The sewers themselves can also serve as a convenient escape route.

Ideal Subordinates for Sewers- Amusei, Erthor, DB murderer

The bases could be occupied by any of your subordinates. It is not required to place your subordinates where they fit their character!

• You should also consider downloading the Official Mods if you haven't already for those cool bases you could roleplay with.

[edit] Strategies/Ideas

You're a Guerrilla fighter not an almighty lord of every living thing, you can't take on army by yourself. Pretend you used to be an imperial legion general framed for something you didn't do and you are out for revenge. Be ruthless, shoot some guard with an arrow and run off. Steal the legion's armor and sell it or use it to "infiltrate" their base. Never pay your bounty or if you go to jail break out and steal all their armor, then sneak in later and kill them with your followers.

For example, take say, two companions- DB murderer and a Mages guild apprentice (for less attention) and once the it gets dark, infiltrate the city's barracks and take them out quickly and quietly (sneak attack while they are sleeping of course). Once the guards are dead, loot the barracks, and since you have less resistance against your guerrillas, you can practically do anything you want without any hassle for a couple days, or at least until the guards respawn.

I thought up a little 'quest' to hit the empire so hard it would take them so long to get back up- Pretend the city watch has blockaded the main entrance to Chancellor Ocato, so take the old way with your guerrillas after you have beaten the Thieves Guild and hit the city watch where it hurts and capture Ocato via command humanoid. Since you have the most influential leader of all Cyrodiil, the entire country is after your head, so quickly interrogate him and leave him where the guard can find him, say in the elven gardens district, or if you can take it to the extremes, take him all the way back to the chamber in the white gold tower.

You could also pretend that your comrade got captured and is being held in prison. Since s/he is a well known guerrilla, she/he will be heavily guarded and you must devise a plan to sneak in and out with minimal casualties on both sides. do not simply walk in and out rescuing your comrade in front of the guards with your cowl off, in real life, if anyone did that then they'd arrest you whether you were involved with him or not, sneak in and out without being seen. say if someone saw you, roleplay that they run up to you and say that you shouldn't be here and have to go back. or you could attack him if you prefer...

Alternatively, you could go under siege! Maybe you made a mistake in your plans to take over Chorrol and there are more guards than you expected and they begin attacking you and your comrades. Retreat back to Battlehorn and wait for the Chorrol attack to come (attack all the guards in the city and run back to Battlehorn) and perhaps you could throw in goblins (goblin totem staff), daedra from nearby gates and bandits from camps.

Try to take out as many guards as possible anyway you can. Stock their pantries with poison apples then watch them die. Steal horses from imperial legion soldiers and stash them somewhere. Hit them with poisons to make them weak then hack them to pieces.

The possibilities are endless, make up your own rules if you want, attack the empire, tweak the roleplay, do whatever you want it's your game.

Remember: Hit the empire where it hurts is your motto.

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