Shade — a Tamriel Rebuilt Nightblade

Dunmer Nightblade, sworn to the Thieves Guild and the Morag Tong. A running log of one fragile assassin's education.

The Character

Shade — Dunmer Nightblade (custom "BOH" class), sign The Lover. Built specifically for the Thieves Guild + Morag Tong questlines.
Majors: Illusion, Sneak, Short Blade, Light Armor, Alteration. Started level 3 → now level 6, 22 deaths (and counting).
Running Tamriel Rebuilt (Grasping Fortune, 25.08.12) on a heavily-modded OpenMW overhaul with NCG (Natural Character Growth) leveling.

Home base: Narsis — the only mainland city with full Thieves Guild and Morag Tong questlines (Thorleif Stage-Hand + Myaru Sareleth); Old Ebonheart as the flagship-TG runner-up.
Join House Hlaalu despite the friction (the TG and MT both target Hlaalu) — banking Hlaalu rep along the way.
Faction picks: keep Mages Guild (services), add East Empire Company, maybe Imperial Cult; avoid Dark Brotherhood (not joinable), Camonna Tong, Ja-Natta.
Lockpicking solved via Open spells (Alteration major), not Security.

Root cause of squishiness: Endurance stalled (33→39) while everything else climbed. Under NCG, HP = (END×4 + STR×2 + WIL)/7, not retroactive — and nothing in the natural playstyle feeds Endurance.
Speechcraft-spam (Admire) inflated the level (Personality 66) ahead of toughness.
The fix: grind the only two Endurance-governed skills available — Block (4→20) and Armorer (5→8 via repairs). Misc-growth factor bumped to 75%.
Block-training wrinkle: Agility 76 means mudcrabs can't hit Shade, and Block only trains on landed hits → plan to temporarily Drain/Damage own Agility, train, then Almsivi → Temple shrine "Restore Attributes" to reset.
Dark Brotherhood armor = Light (fits the Light major) — grab the set.

Old Ebonheart — walked the river instead of fast-travelling.
Dondril (Indoril farming village).
Roa Dyr (Indoril chapel; Black Hand Hall MT tower; bounties).
Almas Thirr (Temple city — TG den at the Limping Scrib/Gordol, MT hall on the west side/Hlenil, Mages Guild/Dalyne).
Idathren ("Caught in a Net" — exposed Indoril spy Boderi Ulen; solved the slave-key mystery).
Hlan Oek (Menas Rivul got ganked by a guard before Shade could finish him).
Side trip: Bal Foyen (the Llirala writ).
Vvardenfell run (joined Morag Tong via Eno Hlaalu; bought Telekinesis + Detect Key).
Ghostgate (glass heist failed — overhaul guards need high Chameleon — but lifted 55k in ebony).

Dreugh Spear — skipped the 65 lock (bought the spear / used the neighbour's key).
Find Flavius Celto — waterwalked to the wreck.
Stolen Punavit — grotto cleared with Invisibility + a Calm scroll + grab-and-run.
Caught in a Net (Idathren spy).
MT Writ: Llirala Arys — disastrous (fleeing noble + whole-manor aggro) → shelved as over-level.
Vivec writ vs. a Daedric Bite caster → also shelved as over-level.

Morag Tong writs make the target kill bounty-free; self-defence kills carry no bounty either — isolate the target, one-shot from stealth, lock the door behind a fleeing mark.
Faction rep banks before membership (the +2 Hlaalu is waiting).
Resist Magicka reduces Damage Health but not elemental damage.
Command is Conjuration (which Shade doesn't have) — the manipulation tools are Illusion (Calm/Demoralize/Frenzy/Paralyze/Chameleon).
Chameleon path: grind Illusion with cheap spam → cast-when-used item → eventual constant-effect item (needs a Golden Saint / 400 soul, deferred).
Restore Health + Fatigue recipe: Marshmerrow + Saltrice + Crab Meat.
Grandmaster Retort from Daynali Dren (Tel Mora).
Telekinesis = primary theft tool (turns guarded loot into a geometry problem).
Selling 55k: Creeper (5k, Caldera) + Mudcrab Merchant (10k) pay full value regardless of Mercantile; floor-stash the overflow (Morrowind never despawns it).

Headed to Caldera → Creeper to start cashing out the ebony (then the "Creeper shuffle" / floor-stash over multiple restocks).
Once solvent: Ald'ruhn (Orrent Geontene) for Drain Agility + a stronger Telekinesis; finish Gordol's TG line; keep feeding Endurance; brew Restore Health/Fatigue potions.
Long game: reach Narsis, join House Hlaalu, run the Narsis TG + Morag Tong arcs; raise Chameleon enough to crack the overhaul's guarded glass.

A Tamriel Rebuilt playthrough log. Companion to Squix plays in Vvardenfell.