Thuldram’s Story

Born into the family of Dwarves known as the Elzworths, Thuldram was the most outgoing of his small family. His family consisted of his father, Thulgarn, who Thuldram thought to be brave and knowledgeable, for he knew how to cultivate the ground and also how to interact with the fellow townsfolk without conflict. His mother, Ingnan, was a stout little woman who was gentle, yet firm when discipline was needed. Thuldram also had a younger brother by the name of Thordek. Thuldram and Thordek were close, but there was an unspoken tension between them, for Thuldram’s mother seemed to favor Thordek, and his cause him to be jealous. Being the only Dwarvish family in Dragonlance, because their hard work, they were accepted, yet they felt like outsiders in their own home. Their days were spent farming the terraces on the mountain sides and helping with the transportation of goods back and forth from the ports on the shores of Lake Hovsgol.

On a midsummers eve, during a routine trip to the docks to transport supplies, Thulgarn heard news of a great conflict that broke out between the two great cities of Wellignton Hills and The Citadel. Something about a marriage gone wrong, and a deal gone bad and this particular load of supplies would be the last, for the inlet at the mouth of Hovsgol was now under siege, and no ships would be able to make their way through. Upon hearing the news, Thulgarn went to notify his family.

As time progressed, the lack of supplies started to take a heavy toll on Dragonlance, for without them, the people started to get restless because the fertilizer needed to grow the crops stopped coming, and the crops dried up. Hunger devastated the city, and fights soon broke out amongst the people. Those willing and able had to venture forth to the great forests to the south and brave with wilds to scavenge for food and wild game. This was what gave Thuldram’s family status, for Thulgarn was a great hunter. His bowman-ship was unmatched, and soon he led bands of men into the wilds to hunt for game.

Soon, however, the game became scarce and tensions arose, as looting and murder started to ravage Dragonlance. It seemed the war between Wellington Hills and The Citadel had finally reached his home for families were being torn apart, and any able-bodied person, was forced to enlist in The Citadel’s armies. With this threat, Thuldram’s family felt they needed to flee into the wilds to escape The Citadel’s invasion. In the middle of the night Thalgarn decided to make a move, and he took his family outside the city to make way into the wilds to find a new life.

Things didn’t go as planned, for upon reaching the edge of the city, the family was set upon by the forces of The Citadel and were in danger of being killed for desertion. The men that were after them loosed creatures of war upon them, and this act resulted in Thuldram’s family to unwillingly be split up. His mother and brother raced off into the wood down the mountains to the north and his father and him raced down the mountains to the south. This would be the last Thuldram saw of his mother Ingnan or his brother Thordek, for their paths have not yet crossed again. That night seemed to last forever, as his heartbeat pounded in his ears and the branches of bushes and thorns tore the skin on his face and the clothes from his torso. His father, Thulgarn, holding his hand tightly, led Thuldram through the wilds, into the unknown. After daybreak, with barley the energy to stand, they stood in a dense forest, that even with his honed skill set, Thulgarn felt unease.

This part of the forest seemed ancient and foreboding, yet the wild game that seemed to elude the hunters outside of Dragonlance, were in abundance, which they took advantage of. After a plentiful afternoon of hunting, where Thulgarn taught his son the ways of the ranger and how to utilize the skillsets of the bow, they cooked a great feast of boar and venison.

This plentiful feast gave the two Dwarves a sense of peace and the feeling of hope, for the achievement of their hunt had proven not all was lost. This was but a fleeting moment, for the smell of cooked meat brought with it an event that would eventually be a traumatic memory that would haunt Thuldram to this day. As the the father and son sat and gorged on the days spoils from the hunt, silence made its way over the forest. The sounds of nature seemed to cease, as the ground began to tremble. Branches could be heard braking and trees being felled as something terrible moved towards them. Thulgarn readied his bow and stood between Thuldram and the incoming terror.

With a bellowing roar an immense creature emerged from the forest. Never had Thuldram seen a creature so large and he stood frozen with fear. The creature lunged forward at the two and Thulgarn readied his bow and shot a multitude of arrows into the creature. The creature then lunged at Thulgarn knocking him on his back, as he threw his bow and quiver to Thuldram. The creature began to tear into him as Thuldram screamed and shouted trying to scare off the beast. He fired a plethora of arrows at the beast, yet it seemed unphased by the barrage. Thulgarn began to scream, “Thuldram, Thuldram!” in agony and terror pleading for help, as Thuldram turned and ran in fear. As he did so, a peel of thunder and the the blinding light of lightning crashed down upon the large beast inflicting a devastating wound causing it to run deep into the forest. This made Thuldram freeze in his tracks, and slowly make his way back to his father, where he continued to mutter his name, the life slowly fading from his body.

Upon his last breath, Thuldram was left on his knees, hunched over his fathers corpse, tears streaming down his face as the rain drowned out the sound of his intense cries for his father to come back to life. Again a peel of thunder, and the light from lightining illuminated the skies. Thuldram looked up, and through the tress, in the light of the storm, swore he witnessed what could only be described as the source of the thunder and lighting. Thuldram eventually stood up, and took his fathers bow, swearing to take revenge, and find his mother and brother once he was able. He turned from his fathers dead body, and headed off into the wilds.

After a week of wondering through the wilds, starving, and weak from sleepless nights, a group of travelers found Thuldram barley holding onto his own life on a forest path. They brought to the nearby Kingdom of Lebanon, where a local priest by the name of Yab Bronzeforger took Thuldram in, tending to his wounds, and teaching him theology and of the world around him. Upon all this, as he grew into a young man, Thuldram associated the lighting strike that wounded that massive beast, as a saving grace from the deity Vahagn which made him pledge his allegiance to the god, regardless of what Yab taught him.

As Thuldram grew to be a man, he took a liking to many types of alcoholic beverages, and even began to brew his own specialty mead. Throughout Lebanon, he became known as Brewmaster, for his mead was made from a rare juniper plant, only found in a secret part of the Meridian Forest, and this gave it a very sweet and aromatic taste. Because of this newfound reputation, Thuldram took on the moniker of Brewmaster, and hid his true name, for whenever someone would call him by it, it would remind him of his fathers cries of terror.

Brewmaster’s D&D Beyond Page