Tae'thelan Bloodwatcher
| Tae'thelan Bloodwatcher | |
|---|---|
| Species | |
| Gender |
Male
|
| Family |
Brother: Yriel Bloodwatcher
|
| Enemies | |
| Factions | |
| Status |
Alive
|
| Home Reality | |
High Examiner Tae'thelan Bloodwatcher was an elvish member of the Dominion's Reclamation Service who hired Tezzeret and Klak for a bogus mission to investigate the disappearance of a Dominion mining and excavation team on the planet Ulduar. In reality, the entire mission was a diversion for Tezzeret and Klak while the Dominion completed the final stages of the Ascension Project that allowed Malygos to absorb all the magic of the universe.
Description[edit | edit source]
Tae'thelan Bloodwatcher was a male elf clad in blue silk with long blond hair tied back into a ponytail. He wore a pair of nondescript goggles while working on deciphering holocrons[1] which presumably enhanced his vision when examining close objects, as he appeared to be somewhat far-sighted. This is reinforced by the fact that he once put on a pair of spectacles to more closely examine a golem on Ulduar.[2]
Tae'thelan was a skilled and duplicitous member of the Dominion, owed to the fact that he was able to fool Klak and Tezzeret for the entirety of their time on Ulduar. Because the entire mission was merely a distraction while Malygos worked on the Ascension Project, it is impossible to know whether the opinions that Tae'thelan expressed there were true, or were merely part of the act to keep Klak and Tezzeret interested in the 'mystery' of Ulduar.
History[edit | edit source]
Office Politics[edit | edit source]
In 150,083 CMT, Tae'thelan was in the process of deciphering a new shipment of ancient holocrons that had been sent to him on Dominaria when he was contacted by Figlio di Armechio,[1] who requested an audience with Malygos.[3] Tae'thelan recognized Figlio as the son of Uterio di Armechio and commented that Figlio would be fascinated at what he could find out about one's lineage from old artifacts. Tae'thelan took a moment to admire some of the artifacts scattered about his own room before he patched Figlio's transmission through to Malygos.[4]
In the middle of Malygos's talk with Figlio, Malygos opened another communication to Tae'thelan that caused Tae'thelan to appear as a hologram in Malygos's throne room. Malygos asked him to direct all information that the Dominion had on Uterio to his personal throne room console, then summoned a hologram of Aluren Drathir and asked her to do the same with all the intelligence she had gathered on Uterio before and during the Uterio War. Tae'thelan obeyed and took a moment to subtly admire Aluren's body before the holograms disappeared.[5]
Investigation of Ulduar[edit | edit source]
Later, Tae'thelan sent a message to Tezzeret, a freelance agent who he sometimes hired for assignments within the Dominion, to tell him that the Imperial Reclamation Service had run into trouble at a dig site on Ulduar. When Tezzeret's ship returned to Dominarian space and its owner hailed Tae'thelan to talk about the proposed mission, Tae'thelan clarified that the IRS had lost contact with their team on Ulduar and that he suspected that the resistance against the Dominion were responsible for the blackout. Tae'thelan added that he would accompany Tezzeret on the assignment, should he choose to accept it, because he did not think that Tezzeret would be capable of identifying the artifact that the dig team had been looking for: the Heart of the Forge. Tezzeret chose to accept the mission with Tae'thelan's conditions, so Tae'thelan stepped into a teleporter and appeared aboard Tezzeret's ship. Tae'thelan then noticed the presence of Klak aboard the ship and formally introduced himself to the Makuta of Light,[6] who Tae'thelan recognized from Klak's reputation as "the greatest hero in the sector" and the man to approach if "[one was] having issues with Blackout". Now that the three of them had been acquainted, Tae'thelan input Ulduar's coordinates into the navigation console of Tezzeret's ship and it jumped to hyperspace moments later.[7]
The ship landed on Ulduar close to the dig site, which was located at the foot of a massive complex that was partially buried under ice and snow. While Tae'thelan, Tezzeret, and Klak proceeded towards the dig site on foot,[7] Klak asked Tae'thelan about the civilization that had existed on Ulduar in ancient times.[8] Tae'thelan replied that he didn't know, but speculated that its technology predated the elven species by at least a millennium. Before Klak could respond, the three of them found their path blocked by a gigantic beast that tried to stamp on Tae'thelan, but the elf created a shield above himself just in time before he could be stamped into the ground. The beast was then shocked by Tezzeret[9] and repelled by Klak's Crast,[10] which enabled Tae'thelan to defeat it with a beam of arcane energy. Tae'thelan deduced that the beast must have been summoned by Ezuri, so he informed his allies that the rebels were responsible and ran into the complex with the intention to find him, with Tezzeret and Klak following close behind.[11]
Battle with the Rebels[edit | edit source]
In the main courtyard of the complex, Tae'thelan, Tezzeret, and Klak walked past an ancient holographic display of an elf-like humanoid and found Ezuri atop a wall. The rebel leader declared that he would never be taken by the Dominion, leaped at Tae'thelan, and slashed at him with his sword. Tae'thelan dodged the slash, punched Ezuri in the face,[12] and summoned chains of ice in an attempt to restrain him, but the rebel simply jumped out of the way of the chains and charged at Klak instead.[13] Klak tried to block the path of Ezuri's sword with the Crast,[14] much to Tae'thelan's apparent dismay, because Ezuri's sword nullified the usage of any powers around it. As Ezuri slashed into Klak, a second rebel named Mayael appeared and sent more beasts to attack the trio. Tae'thelan used ice magic to freeze one of them in its tracks, but another pinned Klak to the ground[15] and Ezuri leaped at Tae'thelan before he could help Klak. Tae'thelan tried to repel Ezuri with more magical blasts, but found that Ezuri's sword simply absorbed them. Though Tae'thelan found himself powerless and braced himself, he was saved by the sudden intervention of his brother, Yriel Bloodwatcher, who delivered a laser shot to Ezuri's head that sent the rebel flying. Tae'thelan welcomed his brother, whose presence convinced Ezuri and Mayael to retreat with their beasts.[16]
Though Klak[17] and Tezzeret were exhausted by the battle, Tae'thelan implored them to chase the fleeing rebels further into the ancient complex so that they could capture them and ensure that they would not interfere with the Dominion's affairs on Ulduar again.[18] The battle began anew when Klak opened a portal in front of the rebels that released a swarm of insects[19] and Toa Bob, who trapped Mayael inside a rock formation to buy Tae'thelan and Tezzeret time.[20] Tae'thelan summoned various fire elementals that Mayael extinguished with a water spell, but she was too distracted to notice Tezzeret, who tackled her[21] long enough for Bob to shackle her feet to the ground with restraints made of earth. Klak then launched a volley of light blasts at Ezuri,[22] which unbalanced him and enabled Yriel to force a gun to his head and pin him to the ground. Outnumbered and outgunned, the rebels surrendered to Klak,[23] who turned the rebels over to Tae'thelan.[24] Tae'thelan announced that the rebels would face judgement on Dominaria[25] and had Yriel transport them aboard his ship, which soon left Ulduar.[26]
Battle with the Golems[edit | edit source]
With the rebel threat neutralized, Tae'thelan, Tezzeret, Klak, and Bob proceeded further into the ancient complex and admired its grandiose halls of shimmering metal and pristine stone, complete with statues of long-forgotten heroes and an androgynous being with pointed ears dressed in mage's robes. Tae'thelan remarked on the similarities between the architecture of the complex and Dominion architecture,[26] though Klak did not make the connection that they were one and the same. Instead, Klak introduced Bob to a disinterested Tae'thelan.[27]
The party then encountered large golems that Tae'thelan claimed were "ancient tech" whose sensors were too slow to notice them, but he took a wrong step and was zapped by a node on the ceiling moments later. An ominous voice then announced the presence of intruders and commanded the golems to destroy them.[28] Bob asked Tae'thelan what the golems were made of,[29] so Tae'thelan cast a divination spell and replied that they were "some sort of brass-steel alloy" that he had never seen before. As the golems advanced towards the group, one tried to sneak up on Tae'thelan but he stopped it in its tracks with a lightning spell.[30] He then used impact bursts to destroy the armor of several more golems while the voice commanded the golems to continue their assault.[31] Tae'thelan speculated that the voice belonged to a sort of "Golem Supreme" with higher intelligence and he began to wonder what kind of ancient artifacts could be buried there, but his distraction earned him a punch in the face from one of the golems and he fell to the ground.[32]
Once Tae'thelan had recovered, he cast a haste spell that amplified the group's speed[33] and led a charge towards what he thought could be a control room, but found his path blocked by another, more insane automaton.[34] When Bob asked what the automaton was,[35] Tae'thelan irritably replied that he was an archaeologist, not an engineer, but he did admit that he admired the technology of ancient Ulduar. The machine then slammed its fists into the ground, creating an earthquake that knocked the party over.[2] Despite the danger the machine posed, Tae'thelan urged the others not to damage its core because it was a valuable archaeological finding,[36] but he was of course ignored.[37] Tae'thelan admitted defeat and began to overheat the machine's core with a blast of flame, but it whacked him and the others across the room before he could finish.[38] However, Tezzeret rushed forward and ripped the core of the machine out with his lightning-charged metal arm, causing it to shut down and crash into the floor while Tae'thelan mourned its loss.[39]
The Ascension Revealed[edit | edit source]
Now that all the golems had been defeated or destroyed, Tae'thelan beckoned Tezzeret, Klak, and Bob to follow him through a massive iron door that he hoped would lead them to a main control room.[40] As the adventurers followed Tae'thelan, Klak observed that the complex seemed to predate the Great Beings,[41] which Tae'thelan confirmed. The party then entered through another, bronze door and found themselves face to face with Loken, the Prime Designate of the "ancient prison" of Ulduar, who regarded them with bored nonchalance.[42]
It was at that moment that Quolas emerged from a spatial tear next to Tae'thelan and his party. Quolas approached Klak, explained that he had been following a magical trail left by Malygos (another indicator that Ulduar was not what it seemed), and stressed that he and Klak had much to discuss.[43] This prompted Klak to decide to leave with Quolas, but as he prepared to say his farewells to Tae'thelan, Tezzeret, and Bob,[44] the Ascension event occurred and Malygos absorbed all the ambient magic of the entire universe. The mage announced his ascension and declared himself Emperor of the Universe in a message that played on all channels throughout the universe, including on a screen above Tae'thelan's party on Ulduar. With Malygos's plan revealed, Tae'thelan dropped his own ruse and revealed that the entire Ulduar mission had been a distraction for Tezzeret and Klak while Malygos worked on the Ascension Project. Tae'thelan then ordered Loken to kill Tezzeret, Klak, Bob, and Quolas, and left through a portal to parts unknown.[45]
Abilities & Powers[edit | edit source]
- Ice Magic: Tae'thelan had some control over ice magic, as he used it to freeze a beast that Mayael sent to attack him.[15]
- Fire Elemental Summoning: Tae'thelan could summon fire elementals, beings made of fire, to fight for him in combat. These fire elementals could be extinguished with water spells.[21]
- Divination Magic: Tae'thelan could use divination magic to gain information about his surroundings. He used a divination spell to learn that the golems of Ulduar were made from a steel-brass alloy.[30]
- Lightning Magic: Tae'thelan once used a lightning spell to fire a blast of lightning at a golem, stopping it in its tracks.[30]
- Haste Magic: Tae'thelan once cast a haste spell that amplified the speed of his own movements and those of the other members of his party.[33]
- Portal Travel: Tae'thelan could travel from one point in space to another by creating and collapsing portals.[45]
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Tae'thelan Bloodwatcher was based on the character of the same name from World of Warcraft.
