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Flash Event Build: The Wolf that Stalks the Night

Tags: #Character Build Barbarian  #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build Werewolf  #Race:Bosmer  #Dragonborn1721  #SE Rank:Apprentice  #Flash Event 1 
  • January 20, 2018

    Prowling, the wolf stalks the night, her fur shining as Lorkhan's gaze beams down upon her from the heavens. He whispers in her ear, constantly, quietly, softly. Like the voice of a loved one, leaning in to whisper, breath tickling her ear as the words pour through her.

    "Slaughter. Slaughter. Slaughter. Slaughter. Slaughter"

    The words echo, each word echoing for a hundred nights before the next word comes. Then it echoes for another hundred nights, and then again, and again, and again, and again. Constantly, each time a different word, but the message clear. Her purpose clear. To slaughter, to rend, to kill, to create carnage, to bring destruction, to create death, to create...create a paradise, free of others, free of those who would judge or hate. It's a good thing. Yes, people hate other people, hate other things, so killing them removes hate from the world. Hate is bad, yes very bad, and removing hate...that makes Levi good. And if she's good, then that means she doesn't need to worry about killing. 

    At day, she tricks the stupid people. Her form false bound as a teeny tiny Bosmer, but at night she is true. She is her real form, let loose to kill, to slaughter, to destroy, to create a world without hate. The stupid people thinks that she is the Bosmer, but Lorkhan, the Doom Drum beats to her true nature, tells her the truth, that her silly elven form is false, stupid, fake, a trick.

    But it changed, at night it's different now. Lorkhan does not whisper in her ear, not like he does in the day. Because truly, Levi knows that Levi is being good at night, and doesn't need Lorkhan to tell her that. She'd really be like the others if she needed God to tell her that she was being good, stupid and false and silly. But at night, another voice comes to her. It isn't like Lorkhan. It doesn't whisper, it doesn't tell her things that she doesn't know. It just comforts her, being with her at all times. 

    "Hunt my youngling, hunt and let your heart be filled with peace!" 

    It's voice yells, it screams, it shouts. It pushes through the night with each roar, and it's a lovely sound. It doesn't need to be soft, because it is RIGHT, and it is me. But I know it isn't me. It's Hircine, guiding me, telling me how to live as one of his Wolves. It's a little silly that he thinks he needs to tell me, but I think he just loves me, wants to look after me even when he doesn't need to. Or he just talks to all Wolves at the same time, telling us how to act, helping us as much as he can. All I know is that the whispers are gone when he's howling in her ear.

     

     

    Race: Bosmer Werewolf

    Stats: 0 Magicka, 1 Health, 2 Stamina

    Standing Stone: Warrior (Possibly change to Lord or Apprentice later on)

    Equipment: Leather Armour + Steel Battleaxe ----- Saviour's Hide, Scaled Bracers and Boots + Rueful Axe

    Quests: Companion's Questline (don't become Harbinger), Ill Met by Moonlight (Kill Sinding), A Daedra's Best Friend (Kill Barbas)

    So let's get down to the meat of the build. How does combat function when playing as Levi? Well, base combat is simplistic, almost to the point of being too simple. Only having a limited skill set means that your only real option for combat is to plow into enemies and dish out as much damage as possible, and Two-Handed is what makes that possible. Dealing out damage with relatively manageable Power Attacks and finishing enemies off with regular sweeps of her Battleaxe.

    But that's only the human side of the gameplay. Werewolf gameplay was far more important to me, and generally a lot harder so it's something I'd actually like to explain. First is that I loved focusing on the basic gameplay, ripping things apart and fighting from close range against enemies that mostly fell like rabbits to her claws. Levi is pretty overpowered considering she never hits Level 20, and nothing really levels up enough to be much of a threat to her. That said, there's something really interesting about needing to fight in such a unique way. Not being able to dodge or block effectively makes the Wolf Form a lot trickier to get right if your fighting some of the actually powerful enemies, but Bestial Strength 4/4, means you'll be doing plenty of damage.

    So let's talk Totems really quick. I'll be honest, I didn't want to take more than one, and I barely focused on it. I chose Howl of Terror, because I think it was the most fitting, and arguably the easiest to work into the build itself thematically, but it wasn't a huge choice for me. Totem of Ice Brothers/The Moon works relatively well from when I've used it before, and of course Predator...has it's own uses? Not sure, but Terror was my way.

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    Lorkhan's whispers have returned, they're much, much louder now. Almost shouting but still, just whispers that only Levi can hear. They last into the night now, Hircine's shouts are there, but they can't push away the whispers. He needs to pause, when he does the whispers are there, drilling into Levi all night long. The Wolf...no Levi, not The Wolf, Levi is a wolf. The wolf has been quiet now for two nights, Levi just doesn't understand it anymore. She could hear Hircine in her True Form, but now that Lorkhan's Whispers are sounding, and the Doom Drum's beat can be heard, she cannot hear Hircine anymore. 

    "Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill"

    It's all Levi hears at day and night, the roars of Hircine yelling

    "FEED"

    They are all gone now, only leaving Lorkhan's Whispers. Why does Levi have to live without Hircine's Roars, it isn't fair. She can't be her real form, only this false Elven Form that is wrong and bad. Is it something that Levi did? She hasnt' done much bad, killed the silly humans, killed lots of silly animals that ran from her. Wait, she killed the annoying doggie that one time. The voice in the statue...was that? NO. It must, no it just. That wasn't Hircine, that wasn't Lorkhan, but his whispers were so similar. They were just like Lorkhan's and Levi didn't think twice about killing the doggie and getting the axe. Is...Is the Hunter mad at Levi, is Hircine mad because she didn't ignore the statue, is it because she took the axe and used it to split so many people in half?

    "Levi is bad. She is Stupid. Falls for Vile's vile tricks like a silly elf instead of being a strong wolf"

    No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not true. Lorkhan's Whispers are wrong, Levi is good. She will prove it. The Axe, Vile's Axe kills wolves and since Levi is a wolf, it will kill her too. And then she will be with Hircine, she will roam the moonlight forever, killing stupid elves, and being a good wolf. 

    ------------------------------------------


    Heh, I'd never really thought I'd need something like this for a build, but since this ended up being a strange one with a weird theme, I felt it was required here. Normally I'd let people jump to their own conclusions but yeah. So

    So lets look at Trickery in-depth because I'll be honest, Creation, Hunting, and Lycanthropy are all minor or easily explained., but Trickery is something that I tried to form in an incredibly interesting manner. First, Levi herself is interestingly enough tricking both herself and others into believing what her 'True Form' is. To normal people, she's trying to trick them into thinking that she's Elven, while she's tricking herself (very successfully I'll add) into thinking that her Elven form is false and that she's actually a Werewolf. Now if this was all that I've done with the theme, I'd bore myself and wouldn't try and add it to an explanation. No, you've got two other interesting factors, with both Clavicus Vile and Lorkhan tricking her to certain extents. Vile tricks her into thinking that he's Lorkhan, and thus gets her wrapped up in his questline, and in contact with the Rueful Axe, which let's remember, is designed to kill Werewolves. Lorkhan...let me leave that for the last segment, but the basic idea is that he's the one tricking Levi into thinking she's a Wolf.

    Hircine is interesting here because I saw him as the 'Hero' or 'Good Guy' in this situation. He's the one that's essentially guiding her to a simple act, hunting (primarily animals but men as well) rather than anything truly chaotic or dark. At best he's neutral but genuinely wants what's best for Levi, even if that's only because he eventually wants her to join his Hunt, and become one with him for eternity. He doesn't have good intentions or at least not 'traditionally good' intentions, but they still are aimed mostly at benefiting Levi (just not anyone else). 

    Lorkhan fittingly enough is the Snake in the Bushes, a hidden foe that tricks her into thinking and doing things that she normally wouldn't. Lorkhan's Whispers are the first form of this, encouraging her by day to grow more and more chaotic, killing people randomly rather than only hunting at night and he's responsible for Levi's mindset throughout her life, changing her to think that she's a Wolf, and changing her thoughts on people and elves. The Doom Drum here (Lorkhan's nickname of sorts) is an actual phenomenon that Lorkhan can conjure, a mental 'drumbeat' of sorts that encourages his followers to follow his words even more. The drums beat, driving her further and further into the madness that he wants. So why? Well simply put, it's Lorkhan's unique way of causing pain to an elf, screwing with her so monumentally that she eventually kills herself with the Rueful Axe. 


    There we go, build complete, looking pretty good, a bit strange, played with some new ideas, worked in some older ones. Kept it genuinely interesting to make because I got to fiddle with some ideas without stepping outside of my comfort zone. But it was fun, both to play the build and to write it and do the artwork and all. Bit strange, but still that's the fun of the Flash Event I think :D I get to experiment a little on builds that don't take me 1-3 months to playtest. 

    Let me know what you think if you've got any corrections (mostly grammar related) to drop in about, or just anything else. Also, check out the other Flash Event builds, and (if it's still running when your reading this) give it a shot, because the first one was really fun.

  • January 20, 2018

    Hah, the title fit :D I'm happy now. Anyway, will jump back on in the morning, but for now I'm off. 

  • Member
    January 21, 2018

    Nice build, Deebs. That first image looks amazing, it really reminds me of the images Noodles used in his Shao'Kai build. Great work!

  • January 21, 2018

    Nice build, Deebs. That first image looks amazing, it really reminds me of the images Noodles used in his Shao'Kai build. Great work!

    Might've been inspired by that really, can't tell because I wasn't thinking of it at the time, but your definitely right, they look similar. Ah, glad you enjoyed it Aysleph and thanks for dropping in with the comment and like :D

     

  • Member
    January 26, 2018

    Oooh, I'm a fan Db. I especially like the explanation and internal conflict going on with all the daedric princes/aedra influencing Levi. "good guy" Hircine was interesting :P

  • Member
    January 26, 2018
    Once I get back from Japan I can’t wait to properly jump into this mini building event!
  • January 27, 2018

    Sorry guys, bit late in the response.

    Oooh, I'm a fan Db. I especially like the explanation and internal conflict going on with all the daedric princes/aedra influencing Levi. "good guy" Hircine was interesting :P

    Ah, I'm glad that was my favourite part of the build too :D Trying to figure out how to work both Lorkhan and Hircine into the build was pretty tough, and I only made it worse by really wanting to use the Rueful Axe for some reason... But yeah 'good' Hircine was tough, but fun.

    Once I get back from Japan I can’t wait to properly jump into this mini building event!

    Ah, this particular one will be over by then Wulf (ends tomorrow) but there will be another one starting up on the 1st of Feb (then again on the 14th), so plenty of time to join in :D Hope your trips going well by the way, I think you mentioned the reason to me at one point but I can't recall right now.

  • Member
    January 29, 2018

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    Like the voice of a loved one, leaning in to whisper, breath tickling her ear as the words pour through her.

    "Slaughter. Slaughter. Slaughter. Slaughter. Slaughter"

    You had me right there! xD

    I somehow missed all of these Flash Event 1 builds... gonna have to do me some reading this week... but if they're all this good, it should be a pretty enjoyable task ;D

    BTW, this build is currently being featured on the the TV Twitter and Facebook pages :D