Biography of Thulk, Arcane Tower Warden (With focus on the Spriggan War)

Interview recorded on the 2nd of Flamerule, 143 Arelith Reckoning.

Interview conducted and transcribed by Garrett Kelson.

Transcription reviewed and approved by Thulk for publishing.

Thulk was born in Thay, bred as a slave and raised in a gladiator school. His first master died, leaving him to be sold from master to master. Upon the death of his final master, Thulk escaped rather than allow the dead mans caravan guards to sell him to a gallery. He boarded the first ship he could and ultimately ended up on the island of Arelith. He became a Warden for the Arcane Tower, and has served them for around ten years.

Three experiences stand out the most in his memory: The Spriggan War, the Destruction of Wharftown, and halting a failing ritual within the Arcane Tower.

Thulk was mainly a defender during the Spriggan War. One of the Arcane Tower mages, Lyssa Whitehorn (who would eventually become an Archmage) was the centre of focus for one of the spriggan forces' leaders, a gnome called the Engineer.

The Tower came under attack, the spriggans' fey magic allowed them to breach the Spellhold. This was before the Magelift was installed, so stairs allowed for easy access to the upper floors of the Tower. This went on for months, with Thulk and others defending on the front line, warded to the teeth. Cordor and Guldorand were slow to respond to the threat, the attacks were focused on the Tower and Bendir and didn't impact other parts of the island. The Archmages grew tired of waiting and led an initiative against the spriggan forces, supported by both Bendir and Myon.

During one of the attacks, a group of spriggans and drow mercenaries managed to capture Lyssa. The front lines fought through them and managed to rescue her, only to find it was a diversion for a second team of spriggans to break into the Spellhold and steal kobold-crafted cannons the Tower confiscated long ago from a plot to try and blow holes through to the surface from the Underdark. Soon after, the Tower learned the spriggans were planning to collapse the surface into the underdark, starting with Bendir.

The mages of the tower were furious and began to plan their next move. The situation was serious enough for the Archmage of Necromancy, Jacob Swift, to consider violating his vow of never animating undead, viewing saving Bendir from destruction as being far more important.

Fortunately, before it came to that the Tower learned information regarding the Engineer. She was related to Lyssa (possibly her aunt). The Engineer swore herself to Urdlen (gnomish deity of destruction) under the belief her daughter died, which was likely not the case. The mages figured she was tricked and set out to find the location of her daughter, to see if rescuing her would encourage the Engineer to betray the spriggans. Thulk wasn't part of most of the planning, he was patrolling the battlefields and helping defend while the tacticians decided their next actions.

The Tower discovered the Engineer's daughter was being held in magical stasis so she couldn't be scried, and sent a team to go and break her out, with a second group using magic to set up a secret meeting with the Engineer. At the meeting they brought her daughter back to her, only to be interrupted by shadow mole servants of Urdlen. Thulk fought against them while the others created portals to escape, his role as Warden being to make sure he is the last one out so everyone else can escape safely. Fortunately he adhered to it, the Engineer's daughter was new to the island and not attuned to any leylines and couldn't use the portal to escape with the others. She and Thulk stood alone, trapped in the meeting place. A giant white mole appeared before them, an avatar of Urdlen. Thulk struck at it fiercely with his double axe, shouting war cries all the while. Just as it looked like it was about to die, it overtook his mind with a domination spell.

Firstly, the avatar infused Thulk's mind with the ability to speak and understand Gnomish so he could understand its instructions, an ability that remains with him to this day. Next, the avatar instructed him to take the daughter to the Arcane Tower and slay her in front of her mother and say "this is what happens when you betray Urdlen." And if the daughter told anyone or tried to escape, Thulk was to kill her instantly. She had just seen what he could do with his axe and was terrified, powerless to do anything but follow along.

The two made it back to the tower, the grisly plan unfolding as Urdlen intended after the Engineer entered the room. However, the daughter was quick on her feet and dodged the axe strike, and the Tower Archmage Angela Armana quickly subdued Thulk with a hold person spell.

The domination put Thulk in a murderous rage, held back only by Angela's magic. Outsiders present in the Tower wanted Thulk to be killed for the daughter's safety. The Archmages, even without knowing he was dominated, sensed something was wrong and threatened to blast anyone who dared harm Thulk with the most powerful magic they could muster.

The Archmages had the paralyzed Thulk carted to the Spellhold, and magus Veritas spoke to him under the guise of wanting to help him, biding for time while the other mages worked on a solution. Eventually Thulk realized Veritas was stalling and began to lash out, trying to escape the cell. He was the Head Warden at the time and was able to bypass all of the Tower's locks and wards, meaning only physical barricades prevented his escape. Thulk beat against them fiercely, the barricades could hold for only so long against the muscular half orc's rage before breaking and allowing him to return to Urdlen's task.

Fortunately the amount of time Veritas was able to afford the others allowed Lyssa to disguise herself as the Engineer's daughter, and then project an illusion of herself for Thulk to strike out against. He "killed" the illusion and said his line, then collapsed as the domination spell lifted.

The war ended with the Engineer returning to the camp, pretending to be devastated by her daughter's bloody death right in front of her. The spriggan forces then assaulted Bendir, giving the Engineer time to sabotage the stolen cannons. It came time for the cannons to be fired and they exploded in a massive blast of energy, taking out the spriggan army.

Thulk downplays his knowledge about Wharftown's destruction, seeing himself as just a background figure that had little to do with it. But as such, his observations represent a different kind of truth. He doesn't have the same stakes as a negotiator or front line fighter, he is an outlier observer.

His account begins with how Wharftown was threatened that if they didn't surrender unconditionally, they would be destroyed. At the time, the leadership of Wharftown was involved in all sorts of criminal activity, including hiring underdarkers to help them fight and letting them have free roam through the town. Thulk can't remember the name of the mayor at the time, the only detail sticking with him being that he was a warlock.

Thulk stayed out of Wharftown's dealings throughout his time on Arelith. He ran into some orogs in Wharftown before he joined the Tower. Cordor was going through a big "Humanity First" thing at the time, so he stayed out of there. But the orogs in Wharftown just called him a half man who should have been strangled at birth, so he stayed out of there as well.

Thulk was in the Tower when Jacob came back from peace talks he set up at the last minute to try and stop the burning, after most of the common folk had already fled Wharftown under the protection of various other settlements and the Tower. The meeting included the mayor of Wharftown, the Chancellor of Cordor, and the King of Cordor, with Jacob and Angela and a few others present to guarantee the neutrality of the meeting by promising to blast the first side to attack the other. The intent of the meeting was for some sort of agreement to be made. Instead, the mayor of Wharftown marched in carrying an urn. He set it down and said it was full of the ashes of all of the prisoners Wharftown had taken in the war, because ashes for ashes. The archmage and the others pleaded for them to give peace a chance, both sides said no. Thulk also cannot recall seeing the mayor again after the incident.

Thulk was sent back to the Tower, the archmages not wanting him to be around the impending battlefield lest he be hurt, while they saw to the evacuation of the rest of the civilians. Jacob also remained to help in the hospital, being a talented surgeon. Back at the Tower, Thulk sat on the roof and watched through a telescope. He saw the Amnian fleet come in and raze the town. And watched as a lone ship from Wharftown sailed towards them, managing to sink the Cordor flagship before the Amnian vessels sank theirs.

After the attack was over and the fires died down, Jacob returned with the Cordorian second in command and told him that the king of Cordor had been injured by an attack from Malarite archers, organized by Wharftown defender Khabul. Thulk, Jacob, and many others left for the Malarite temple, searching it until they found the venom that had coated the arrows. Jacob took the venom and produced a cure from it, saving the King's life.

Lastly is a shorter tale that represents Thulk's contributions to the Arcane Tower. At the time, he was a Senior Warden. He woke up in the morning and heard screaming about a portal to the Hells in the Tower's library, and rushed to investigate. Inexperienced magicians held an experiment in the library, a reverse summoning circle of sorts, but failed to consider that the latent magical energy in the library's books would interfere with the ritual, which caused a portal to Baator to appear. Another Senior Warden, Stellen Varg, rushed to the library, both of them fighting off the devils that came through the portal as the mages tried to close it. Thulk ended up closing the portal himself, bringing an axe down on the runes and breaking the circle. A large burst of magic pulsed from the disruption, damaging the immediate area and injuring Thulk, but it instantly solved the problem.

The mages involved were reprimanded for not following the proper procedures with rituals, including not having a failsafe prepared, and not performing the ritual within a location more ideal for it. Thulk received commendations for his quick thinking, and now having an axe or sharp weapon handy to break rune circles is included with instruction on ritual formation.

Thulk's time with the Arcane Tower has been purposeful. The Tower gave him trust and a home, and in return he gives his utmost loyalty and diligence in protecting them. In his time with them, he has experienced many large events the Tower has ended up involved in, having an opportunity to be involved in the world. And, in his time with the Tower, he has been able to meaningfully improve the way students go about practicing magic. As time goes on and trouble strikes once more, Thulk will be there for the Arcane Tower. Out of honour, friendship, and oath.