Dwarven Warlocks

Warlock: Great Old Ones, Archfey, Fiend, Undying/undead, Celestial, Hexblade.
Dwarven Archfey Patron, Tuvanathil, Utta’ Sullonon.

by ilsu jang

One of the very few Archfey who find themselves at home in the Underdark, Tuvanathil is known to take Dwarven Warlocks, whether they seek her out or not. Mysterious, with inscrutable goals, she seems to want the dwarves to win their war against the Dark Elves/Drow but she never works directly with the bearded people. Rather she abducts children, and adults alike, absconding with them back to her own pocket within the The Outer Darkness. There she infuses them with some manner of fey energy, changing them forevermore. They are then deposited near a random patrol of dwarves where they are found and returned back home. Sometimes this process takes moments, other times, years, regardless of length these dwarves come back strange. They have trouble recognizing their kin and even their own face on top of struggling to recall even basic facts about the world. They are also unusually quiet, but remarkably intelligent, regardless of how smart they used to be. In addition, those with Tuvanathil as their patron vanish the moment they die, presumably being taken back by the strange fey.

Dwarven Great Old One Warlocks are rare, as the treatment of the various curses caused by the The Dark Ones are swift, and absolute. Neldrith ignores dwarves entirely, as they visit a dream realm outside of the one the rest of the mortal races go to and are thus outside of their grasp. The Void Mother's voice is strong within the deep, however, so many who seek power find themselves drawn to her service. These dwarves often embark on trips deep into the earth, reappearing years or decades later, if at all.

Fiend and Celestial warlocks are born when one makes a deal with either a renegade angel, a member of the Celestial Choir or a Demon Lord.

Dwarven Genie Pact Warlocks are not as uncommon as one may assume, for the dwarves have some experience dealing with the strange wish granters. Namely, Nazreed The Bountiful, a strange genie who set up shop in a dwarven city despite the ruling council’s wishes. After a brief standoff with the local guard, Narazeed was given a license and allowed to continue his business. This is even though one of his offered services is the granting of wizard-like power to any who pays him a great enough sum. The price for such a service changes constantly, swinging from the acquisition of an incredibly rare gem, to a pile of fresh orphan teeth. Rare is the individual who actually has what he requires, keeping the number of people he gifts power to low. Those lucky few find that they can see magic in a way that even centuries-old wizards wish they could. Manipulating it with the ease of one born of the realms of chaos, these warlocks slowly become more and more like their patron as they age.

Dwarven Warlocks who take the Undying/Undead pact may have come into their powers through a variety of avenues. The most common of which is through a deal struck with Magredelle, The Last Servant of The First King. This usually comes about due to them locating one of the hidden shrines dedicated to her worship tucked away in many cities. Though outlawed, these secret places are not destroyed out of fear of earning her wrath and suffering generations of poor luck. Magredelle is a cunning figure who supposedly survived the fall of The First City by throwing herself into Eternity Well, becoming a powerful ghost. A bodyguard of the emperor in her first life, she has taken to seeking out the lost emperor’s still-living descendants. She detests the current system of governance but still does whatever she can to protect the dwarven race. Including gifting a shred of her power to any willing to take up The Axeborn Oath.

Dwarven Hexblade warlocks are mostly the product of a cursed line of weapons forged by Naefalam Twistbeard. Though they lived a normal life for the majority of their existence, in the last few years of their life they were struck by an overwhelming strange mood. They moved as if possessed, forging weapon after weapon one after another without break or rest. At first, their family was worried but supportive however as they studied their kin’s creations they began to grow fearful. The weapons they had forged were strange, and dual-natured, taking as much from their wielder as they did those they were used against. Such as; A sword that is little more than a hilt at first glance becomes a blade upon being grabbed and having blood sucked out of the holder. An axe that seems to be weighted properly but somehow always manages to graze the wielder when swung. They attempted to destroy the weapons and stop their kin but found that the very inanimate objects they were trying to get rid of stopped them. Wielded by some unseen hand, they attacked and drove away the blacksmiths, allowing their creator to work in peace. For several years this continued, until one day the weapons vanished suddenly, revealing an empty forge that had only a single occupant, the corpse of Naefalam Twistbeard. Now, these strange weapons are found in crates alongside their seemingly normal counterparts, cropping up on shelves despite no one having put them there. Upon acquiring the weapon the wielder finds themselves empowered and cursed in equal measure.

Dwarven warlocks of the Undying Light were born, at least at first, by accident. Their creation began with the building of Crystal Dreams Sanatarium, constructed for war veterans who returned after the fourth of the Dwarven Foundings concluded. Though successful, the bullheaded and arrogant leader of said founding cared little for casualties, leading much of his army to fall prey to drow assassins and their shadow demon underlings. Intensely terrified by darkness, they were placed in a building without a roof, in a cavern that sported a large light crystal in its peak. This worked well, as a light crystal of that size left no shadows, or places for the darkness to hide. Though irritating for any worker who assisted the dwarves placed there, the veterans found peace and even wrestled back a measure of sanity. In the end, nearly everyone who worked at the facility chose to stay there, and it resembled more of a rather strange apartment block than a mental health facility. It also had the peculiar habit of giving the people who stayed there strange abilities. This was ignored until a drow raiding party attacked the facility seeking slaves and easy loot due to its out-of-the-way location. The inmates fought back far harder than anticipated, annihilating the party with conjured flames and painful amounts of light. Since then Crystal Dreams Sanatorium has taken on a much different purpose than the one it was intended to first fulfill.
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Fathomless

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Seeker