Tulgord Vise was the Mortal Sword of the Sisters (Soliel and Poliel) and one of the Nehemothanai, the avowed hunters of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach.[1]
A proud and righteous man, he had a narrow, scarred face with black close-set eyes. His thin and ragged voice was said to have been the result of a failed D'rek assassination attempt.[2]
- "Tulgord Vise has announced himself the Mortal Sword of the Sisters, and he is purity in all but name. His cloak is lined in white fur downy as a maiden's scented garden. The bold enameled helm covering his stentorian skull gleams like egg-white on a skillet. His coat of polished mail smiles in rippling rows of silver teeth. The pommel of his proud sword is an opal stone any woman could not help but reach out and touch—were she so brave, so bold.
His visage glows with revelation, his eyes are the nuggets of a man with a secret hoard none could hope to find. All evil he has seen has died by his hand. All nobility he has granted by his presence he has sired in nine months' time. This is Tulgord Vise, knight and champion of truth in the holy light of the Sisters." - ―The Travellers Are Described
In Blood Follows[]
After a string of grisly murders shocked the city of Lamentable Moll, Tulgord vowed to track down and slay the killer.[3] On the last night of the killings he swore a blood-vow and was consecrated by the High Priestess of the Sisters, filling him with formidable power. He tracked the killer to Fishermonger's Round and burst through the necromancer Bauchelain's wards. Unfortunately for Tulgard, his horse had not been blessed. Bauchelain caused the horse to fall sending the Mortal Sword head first into a stone barrow where he lay trapped and unconscious.[4]
In Crack'd Pot Trail[]
Tulgord and the other Nehemothanai joined a caravan following in the footsteps of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach on the Cracked Pot Trail across the Great Dry. Halfway across the desolate plateau the group ran out of food. The armed contingent of the caravan, which included Tulgord, decided that the group's "useless" artists would better serve as meals for the rest. Tulgord beheaded a sensible poet who recommended they instead eat the knights' horses beginning the process.[5] When it was decided that the artists would perform in competition to see which would be chosen for the day's meal, Tulgord suffered through innumerable confusing songs and tales. Famed poet Nifty Gum broke down at the site of his dead, reanimated follower Sellup and asked for someone to "end it", Tulgord Vise mistook it for a plea to end Nifty's own life and so he stabbed him through the chest.[6]
As the caravan came to the end of the Great Dry, the poet Avas Didion Flicker told a story to the already agitated group of Nehemothanai and Chanters that hinted that their quarry, the necromancers, were the true passengers in the reclusive Dantoc Calmpositis' carriage. Violence ensued and the carriage collided with the horse of Steck Marynd causing his crossbow to misfire into Tulgord's mount. The horse threw off the Mortal Sword directly into the path of the mule drawn carriage. Tulgord was crushed under the wheels before his weapon belt caught on the carriage's underside and he was dragged over a three hundred foot cliff. Afterwards there was no sign of his body amidst the wreckage below.[7]
In The Fiends of Nightmaria[]
Tulgord Vise ultimately survived the dire events of the Cracked Pot Trail and arrived safely at the city of Farrog. Sometime near the conclusion of the 'Festival of Flowers and Sunny Days', the Mortal Sword was arrested on the orders of the new King of Farrog, the usurper, regicide, and necromancer, Bauchelain the First. Tulgord (together with six other Cracked Pot Trail survivors - i.e., Apto Canavalian, Brash Phluster, Tiny Chanter, Flea Chanter, Midge Chanter, and Steck Marynd) was taken to a torture chamber in the crypts of the Royal Palace of Farrog. There, the seven survivors were tortured in rotation on the rack by the Royal Torturer, Binfun, in preparation for their execution.[8] Ultimately, the prisoners were able to escape with the aid of Seneschal Shartorial Infelance, who was smitten with Steck Marynd.[9][10] She returned their weapons and they were soon wandering the dungeon tunnels.[11]
At one point, Tulgord and the others had a mayhem-filled encounter with a group of thieves--the 'Party of Five'--who were searching the tunnels for their imprisoned Guild Mistress, Dam Loudly Heer.[12] The Mortal Sword's legs were both broken in the brawl and Steck Marynd was forced to carry him until the Seneschal brought them to the Royal Apothecary for some badly-needed healing. But they were ambushed there by thirty-two of Bauchelain's demons.[13] Apto fled and did not return.[14] After surviving the melee, healing vials returned Tulgord to his feet. The group moved on to confront Bauchelain and Korbal Broach in their throne room while Brash Phluster lingered behind to leave the palace on his own.[15]
Tulgord and the five others found their way to the throne room of the Royal Palace where the Mortal Sword kicked in the doors, breaking the nose of the room's sole occupant, Demon Prince Flail Their Limbs. The irritated demon informed the Nehemothanai that they were too late--Bauchelain and Korbal Broach had already fled before the oncoming Nightmarian army, which planned to sack the city. Before leaving the room, the prince warned the group that Bauchelain had left behind a dangerous demonic mouse on the throne as his heir. Determined to destroy any minion of the necromancer, the skeptical Nehemothanai ignored the advice and prepared to rush the mouse. When the doors to the throne room slammed all around them, a startled Steck Marynd accidentally loosed his quarrel at the mouse and unleashed mayhem.[16] From the street outside, Brash saw the Royal Palace collapse.[17] The ultimate fate of Tulgord and the others was not given.
Quotes[]
- Nifty Gum: "Then came the night--"
- Tulgord Vise: "What knight?"
- Nifty Gum: "No, night, as in the sun's drowning in darkness."
- Tulgord Vise: "The knight drowned the sun?"
- Nifty Gum: "No, fair moon's golden rise--"
- Tulgord Vise: "He's mooning the sun?"
- Nifty Gum: "Excuse me, what?"
- Tulgord Vise: "What's the knight doing, damn you? Cracking that egg in half, I wager!"
- Nifty Gum: "The sun went down--that kind of night!"
- Tulgord Vise: "Why didn't you say so?"
- ―Tulgord Vise and Nifty Gum[src]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 2
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 9
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 9
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 19
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 3
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 4
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 11
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 14
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 17
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 20
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 23
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 24
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 27
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 28