Tulles

Tulles is the current oracle of The Bishop of the Consumed Kingdom and a current member of the player party.

## Overview

Tulles is a human warlock, and is part of a pact of the great old one. It is thought that the Bishop is his patron. He has remarkably pale skin, and keeps his face hidden under a hood.

Tulles wears leather armour under what rags remain of his vestments.

He carries around many books at all times, which are affixed to his person and bag as opposed to being stowed. On display are a bardic ritual book, a book of lore, a prayer book, and a grimoire of shadows. He also carries a scholar's pack, which also contains some spiritually significant items.

### Alignment

Formerly an evil cultist, Tulles has been trying to turn to good and re-integrate with society. However, he has been tempted on multiple occasions to regress to evil. The consequences of the battle with Scirheard convinced him that perhaps he had gone too far, but he has not yet committed to either good or evil.

### Trivia

* Tulles has had remarkably low success rates casting spells since joining the party, but has found that when he succeeds, the results are devastating (see: *The Kobold Cave).*
* On multiple occasions Tulles has expressed discomfort with the barbaric acts of the party.
* Despite having poor social skills, Tulles likes people and tries his best to be kind.
* The back cover of Tulles' book of lore contains a charcoal doodle of his family.
* Tulles' favourite food is raw potato.

### Quotes

* *"Common Tulles L."* -Francis after Tulles missed an eldritch blast
* *"**PEONS!** Your oracle returns!" -*Tulles, freeing some Bishop's cultists

## Significant Possessions

This is a list of notable possessions which Tulles carries.

* The Bishop's Will (Oathsword of the Oracle)
* The Bishop's Voice (arcane focus staff)
* Grimoire of Shadows
* An aberrant tome (*see Bishop's involvement with the party)*
* The Stylus of Brisecret
* *Dev's Histories of Vulcan* (*see Bishop)*
* Sonata's spellbook
* The Mask of the Redwood Spirits

## Backstory

Tulles was born to a tavernkeep mother and a knight father, whom he trained under alongside his brother. Following a training accident caused by his father, he ran away from home into the ruins, and was indoctrinated into a cult, who tended to him and welcomed him in.

Years later, Tulles was forced to play a part in a horrific ritual that he saw as unnecessarily barbaric and a step too far. He abandoned his cult and reported them to the town guard, and joined them in wiping out the cult.

Seeing the atrocities within the ruins, the townsfolk turned on Tulles, and hanged him in the town square. As Tulles' vision faded, he felt himself become more significant in some way. His body crackled with green energy, and an explosion centred on him broke him free and scattered the townsfolk. He felt a great rage rise within him. He saw the mayor on his balcony, and pointed at him. An unseen but deafeningly loud bell tolled as the mayor grew old, withered, and then rotten, all in the space of a few seconds.

He began making his way to his old home, destroying everyone in his path with his new powers. He destroyed the door to his house, finding it empty and abandoned. It seemed his family had moved on.

With nowhere else to go, he returned to the ruins and made his way to the ritual chamber, where the cult leader was lying, bloody-mouthed and mortally wounded. Upon seeing Tulles, a pained smile came across his face and he coughed, "Just as I foresaw." He pulled Tulles closer, placed his oathsword in his hand, and died.

Tulles also took the ritual book from the altar, and headed into the reliquary. He gathered some items of spiritual significance, removed the arcane focus staff from its mount in the wall, and bundled everything into a scholar's pack. On his way out he gathered some small weapons and equipment.

With nobody and nothing left, Tulles ventured out into the world haunted by horrific visions and nightmares. He seeks to learn what lies beyond the mystery of death.

He found himself on board a ship with the player party, and has been travelling with them since.

## Time with the Party

### The Kobold Cave

Tulles joined the party in their quest to exterminate some kobolds who were menacing a village, instigating the non-lethal capture and subsequent capture of *Easy* the kobold, whom Sonata quipped would be "easy to kill."

After the party sending Easy in to confront Yarrock, the leader, in disguise, they heard a gunshot and peered in to see Easy, seemingly dead. The party rushed in to fight Yarrock and many were gravely injured. Tulles and Ardith stabilised everyone before Tulles hit Yarrock with a critically powerful eldritch blast, creating a large hole in Yarrock's torso.

In a confrontation with Yarrock, leader of the kobolds, Tulles watched as his new acquaintances were shot down. He and Ardith worked to save them, before Tulles rushed into the room and blew a hole in Yarrock's torso. Searching the body, Tulles found the hammer of Aldwulf "Smith," heavily modified, which he slipped into his bag.

The party returned to town, returning a stolen hammer to Aldwulf "Smith," and donating a kobold heard to Lord Snaroc

### The Hunt for Kehl

On the way to Thrilingas, the party saw some tribespeople on the riverbanks in the forest. Tulles could only stare at them in wonder. They proceeded to the town where they met Vellig's father.

Vellig's father related to the party a murder that had happened, asking the party to get to the bottom of it discretely due to a scandal. Tulles insisted that they be informed of the scandal due to their involvement, and they were told of Vellig's father's previous relations.

Upon entering the crime scene, Tulles was driven mad by what he saw, seeing visions of his past, he and could only scream. Once he had calmed down, the party followed a trail into the woods, where they saw a man in a mask. Tulles wanted to call out to him, but as the party was arguing about what to do, the man vanished.

The party returned to the town to seek help from the court wizard. On the way, Lamius set a trap at the door of the murder scene. Tulles wanted to warn Alfred, a guard whom they had met earlier, of this, but decided it was not very well hidden and Alfred would see it easily.

After meeting the court wizard (who was of little help), they returned to the murder scene to find Alfred dead in the trap, missing his fingers. Tulles felt guilty for not warning him, but was eased when Lamius pointed out that he had clearly been murdered. Tulles searched Alfred's body for clues, but found only gold pieces, which he took. He was going to take Alfred's armour, but the party stopped him. Tulles didn't understand why, but he felt that the others would not appreciate it. So he settled for taking Alfred's severed fingers instead.

The party tracked the murderer to a small settlement, and heard the voice of Alfred calling from a tower. Tulles called back to him, but the voice only responded "help me!" Tulles decided it was an illusion of some sort.

Ascending the tower, the party heard a crash and rushed upstairs to find the man in the mask stood under a hole in the roof, staring up at a flying Aurea. Sonata then charged the man through a hole in the thatch.

Peering over the edge, Tulles saw Sonata slowly falling to the ground, while the man was lying motionless on the floor. Tulles attempted to cast an eldritch blast, and failed. Frustrated, he descended the stairs.

Hearing another crash, he rushed outside to find Aurea had divebombed the man, killing him and almost dying herself.

The party wanted to behead the man, stating it was the only way to be sure he was dead. Tulles thought this was barbaric. He tried to convince them not to do it, but they insisted. Tulles turned his back as Vellig beheaded the corpse. Turning back, Tulles saw madness in Vellig's eyes as he brought his greataxe into Tulles' shoulder. Collapsing, Tulles reached his finger out at Vellig who burst into flames. The party then subdued Vellig and stabilised Tulles.

On the walk back to the town, Tulles demanded that they put the severed head back inside the mask to better understand it, but the party refused. Tulles decided to take matters into his own hands and tried to wrench the head from Vellig's hands. Unable to do so, he spent the rest of the journey home irritatingly asking the party to put the head in the mask to "see what it does."

### A bit of 'Downtime'

After returning to Thrilingas, Tulles and Sonata wished to acquire some new spells from the court wizard. He had nothing that Tulles could afford, but Tulles was able to convince the court bard to transcribe their understanding of a few spells in exchange for his hand in a performance. Tulles was meant to be making the "oooo" and "ahhh" sound to encourage the audience, but he made those noises anyway as he was genuinely impressed.

With Sonata still looking for spells, the party set out to acquire some from a wizarding black market. In a deal gone South, Tulles came face to face with a town guard, and tried to resolve the situation rationally by confessing to vigilante justice for the greater good. Following a truly moving speech (uncharacteristic for Tulles), the guard was unconvinced, and the party fled.

While waiting for Aurea's attendants to arrive, Tulles explored the city in an effort to find a cult of the Bishop. He succeeded, and after a shaky introduction, was able to convince the cult that he was, in fact, the true oracle. In doing so, he gained a favour with the cults and became recognised as the oracle.

### *Kehlp Me*

While Vellig was in town, Tulles and Lamius decided to experiment with the Mask of the Redwood Spirits and Kehl's head back on the ship. Tulles placed the disembodied head in the mask and watched in horror as a new, twisted body grew from its neck. The creature threw Tulles and Lamius aside, jumped overboard, and sank. Tulles stared down into the water, and saw the newly termed "Kehlp Me" staring up at him as it sank out of view.

### The Monastery of Eallsmyth

#### The Reliquary

Joining the party in their counter-siege of the monastery, Tulles spoke with a clay gladiator, Drithelm in the reliquary, who offered the party a variety of relics to support them. Drithelm explained, in general terms, the magical properties of all the items, except for a small metal stylus. Tulles took it, and asked what it did, but Drithelm claimed that it had never seen it before, and it was not a part of the reliquary, Taking this, Tulles meditated on it and learned of its magical properties. He then noticed a tome on a pedestal which looked out of place, and seemed to go unnoticed by everyone around him. Tulles took the book and flipped through it: it was all blank. Curiously, he stowed it away. He then proceeded to identify the magical properties of all the magic items, and relayed them to the party, having a brief argument with Sonata about who should keep the stylus. Tulles claimed it was seemingly part of a set that seemed 'meant for him,' and kept the stylus.

Proceeding into the caves from the reliquary, Tulles noticed several unconscious monks in pain engines, and seemed determined to free them. He inspected the engines as Sonata snuck into the next room. Then, a monk awoke, as a voice in the next room screamed, "Intruders!" Tulles briefly tried to reason with the monk but was struck with mighty force by the pain engine's hammer.

With a grave look of abandoned hope, Tulles cast *dissonant whispers* on the monk, which began to flee, before it was cut down by the party. Tulles briefly considered murdering the remaining monks, just in case they also awoke but decided against it.

In the next room, Tulles came across an unconscious monk. He touched his stylus to the monk's temple and uttered *"awaken,"* and the monk sat upright. Tulles explained to him what was happening, and told him of the monks being kept in the pain engines, assuring him they would send help later, and the monks would be safe for now. He told the monk to go back to the reliquary and hide under the protection of Drithelm until the siege ended. Vellig began escorting the monk, but they were stopped in their tracks by a druegar general, whom they then slew.

#### Wyrmtoth Returns

Proceeding into the monastery proper, the party emerged through a hole in the floor and saw a figure reading a book with his back turned. Tulles took all his own books into his hands, and approached the figure, trying to convince it that he was a fellow appreciator of the arts. Tulles looked over the figure's shoulder and recognised the symbols in the book from a dream he had. He looked up at the his face and recognised them as Wyrmtoth, who initially sent for the party.

Wyrmtoth then proceeded to start eating the flesh of a dead monk on the ground. Tulles placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to communicate with him, explaining that they were here to help. When Wyrmtoth didn't respond, Tulles cast *detect thoughts* on him. Initially, Tulles detected that Wyrmtoth was collecting blood. Probing deeper, he found that it was for 'the master.' He asked Wyrmtoth who the master was. Wyrmtoth then turned to look at Tulles, and Tulles saw visions of monks being skinned, and being put back together like jigsaws. He then realised that this thing was no longer Wyrmtoth, and fled in a panic.

Failing to convince the party to flee with him, Tulles ran. He regained his composure, and rejoined the party as they were engaging the creature in combat. He shouted to them that this was not Wyrmtoth, and the party killed it.

#### Windansmithe

Tulles joined the party when they acquired Windansmithe, and summoned an unseen servant to carry it around.

After this, the party engaged with a sorcerer goblin and were able to kill it. When they approached the battle line, Tulles brought forward his unseen servant to negotiate with a monastic warrior to grant them passage.

#### Eligius' Chambers

In Eligius' chambers, Tulles was suspicious of Eligius but couldn't quite bring up a single coherent question.

As he peered down the hole in the chambers, preparing to drop a luminous coin down to see how deep it went, he heard Lamius charging Eligius. He turned around and attempted to stop her, but could not. Eligius fell down the hole, and Aurea flew after him.

As Aurea ignited her wings, Tulles saw a large figure in the hole, which then emerged and commanded its armour, Linocorpus to "kill those fated to kill" it. Tulles argued that the party were not, in fact, fated to kill it, but a fight ensued anyway.

As his party engaged with Linocorpus, Tulles took Eligius hostage and threatened to have Windansmithe sent down the hole by his servant unless answers were given. Eligius did not care, but hearing the pleas of Windsmithe not to be dropped, Tulles pulled it back, and continued to hold onto Eligius as a 'human' shield, until Eligius teleported away with a 'pop.'

Tulles looked out of the great hole in the wall that had been created and saw Eligius crest a hill. He looked frantically around for a way to reengage him, but found nothing.

#### Leaving the Island

Washed away by the demi-god blood, Tulles head was filled with visions that drove him to paranoia. Washing up from the blood, he believed that the party had been sabotaged. Finding Vellig, Tulles accused him of betraying the party, but was convinced otherwise. Joining more of the party in the library ruins, Tulles became convinced that Sonata was the one to have betrayed the party by bringing them here, as they were the only absent member. At that moment, Sonata's familiar entered the library and was destroyed instantly by an eldritch blast. Sonata emerged and calmed Tulles, but Tulles remained suspicious for some time.

Tulles convinced the party to remain at Hamofarne to search for Eligius, but they found no trace of him, save for a spot on the grass where he may have sat. It was then that Tulles realised that Windansmithe had been lost in the flood. He wanted to stay and search for it, but was informed by a surviving warrior that there would be no way to retrieve it from Eligius' tunnel.

With the ship's crew eager to leave, Tulles yielded and agreed to head home.

### The Curious Case of Scirheard

Having returned to the city, Tulles and Americk were pulled aside by the court jester in the mead hall. She tasked them with secretly investigating Scirheard as he had been acting very strange, and was convincing Winebald of going to war. Meanwhile, the party were talking to Scirheard, and had noticed he was behaving strangely. With the party becoming increasingly wary of Scirheard, and expressing a desire to kill him for fear he had been replaced, Tulles and Americk disclosed their task. Later, Tulles called in a favour with the Cult of the Bishop and tasked some followers with investigating Scirheard. Half of them did not return.

The party hatched a plan whereby Tulles and Ardith would approach Scirheard with Tulles' aberrant tome and ask for a translation, and Ardith would sense if Scirheard was evil. Meanwhile, Vellig would distract Winebald with a fake message from his father, and Americk would disguise herself as Winebald, approaching Scirheard to talk to him once Tulles and Ardith had left.

However, the plan went poorly when Vellig could not come up with a message for Winebald, and Americk tried to detect his thoughts, leading to the pair to be arrested. Lamius intervened and explained what they were doing, but was also arrested.

The rest of the party continued their investigation and uncovered a secret door in Scirheard's chambers. Showing this to Winebald, they were able to convince him to free the rest of the party to investigate, with the company of a guard.

In the secret tunnel, Sonata instructed the guard to bring more men as things were not looking right. Tulles then received a psychic message from "Scirheard" promising great power if the party followed him into the woods and allowed the city to be destroyed. Tulles wanted to keep the power to himself, but shared it with the party when Scirheard said he would give the offer to everyone if Tulles did not. Sonata then detected Scirheard in the corner of the room, revealing him.

Scirheard spoke of Saint Kehl, and Tulles was suddenly filled with a sort of fatherly pride, recognising that he had created whatever Kehl now was. Tulles was convinced to join Scirheard, wanting to see what power and wisdom lay in the woods and with Kehl. Lamius sided with them, seeking new power to defeat her enemies, alongside Ardith, who sought to use any powers for good.

#### The Battle for Forest Knowledge

As a fight broke out in the chamber, Tulles ran to a side room to release his cultists whom Scirheard claimed were in there. He released them from the cage, using his staff as a pry bar to break the lock. Several tribespeople were in the cage, too, and fled. Some marikon remained.

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>  "PEONS! Your oracle returns!" -Tulles
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Returning to the chamber, Tulles saw that Aurea was engaged in combat with Scirheard, Vellig had mortally wounded Lamius, and Ardith was dying on the ground. Tulles commanded his followers to save Lamius while he cast *spare the dying* on Ardith. Looking up, after having cast the spell, Tulles saw Sonata lying on the ground surrounded by a cloud of daggers summoned by Americk as she attempted to stop them from inadvertently destroying the party. As Tulles looked up, he witnessed a final flurry of daggers tear through Sonata, turning them to shreds of dreams which then dissipated into nothing.

Watching as perhaps his most sane, perhaps closest friend among the party (should he allow himself to consider any of the party friends), disappeared from the world, Tulles felt that the whole thing had gone too far, and Scirheard's offer came with too great a price. He told his followers to grab the unconscious Lamius and Ardith, swiped Sonata's pack, and began to leave the room, telling everyone it was time to go.

As he reached the stairs, the ceiling began to cave in. Tulles turned to see Aurea still engaged in combat, while Americk and Vellig ran towards the stairs. Americk was crushed by the falling earth, but was pulled out of the rubble by Tulles. A brief argument ensued with Vellig and Tulles, when Aurea crawled out of the rubble with Scirheard's body over shoulder. The party then ascended the stairs.

That evening, Tulles was questioned by Vellig about his motivations and loyalties. Tulles claimed he did not know how to feel about Kehl, feeling somewhat attached and repulsed by him. Hearing Lamius outside his room, he waited for Vellig to leave before opening the door to Lamius.

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>  "I'm going to become *god.* You in?" -Tulles, to Lamius
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Tulles told Lamius she would know when the time is right, and shut the door. He then began studying a copy of *Dev's Histories of Vulcan* which he found in Sonata's pack. He saw that it contained great secrets of the universe which he could only begin to decipher. He became very attached to the book, with the intention of deciphering it and spreading its message.

Winebald assigned Elliot to join the party following the loss of Sonata.

### The Journey to the Cloning Facility

When collecting Lamius' custom whip, the party were approached by cenobites whom Lamius made a pact with in exchange for having the soul of her late lover returned to her in the whip. Tulles sensed an opportunity to gain new wisdom, and also entered a pact in exchange for some information on *Dev's Histories of Vulcan.*

Tulles spent the next week studying the text while Elliot searched around for information on a cloning facility that had been spoken of by Mildgith. When he found a lead, the party set out.

On the way to the supposed location, the party encountered the yuan-ti Suumo'guerrero, who was on a pilgrimage searching for purpose. Tulles persuaded him to join the party by suggesting that joining their quest could be his new purpose. Sumo joined the party.

Encountering a chasm, the party sent Ardith ahead to scout below. She reported that several tribespeople were hiding in a small cave and became aggressive towards her. Tulles asked to be carried down to negotiate with them. Mid negotiation, the walls began speaking to the party and a turret fired on the tribespeople, vapourising two of them. Tulles blasted one while Elliot fired on the other very effectively, destroying it immediately. Tulles then threw himself behind a rock and captured a tribesperson, threatening him to allow the party safe passage.

Once the second turret was destroyed, Lamius approached Tulles and the tribesperson, whom she decapitated with her whip. Tulles argued with Lamius and came between her and the unconscious surviving one. A small fight broke out, followed by an argument. Eventually, Lamius broke past Tulles but saw that the survivor had long-since come to and fled, much to Tulles' relief.

The party proceeded into the facility.

## Images

Tulles casting Eldritch BlastTulles and his equipment

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