Talmon Bott

"The buzzing keeps my teeth on edge. It thrillllllls me" - Talmon Bott on his appreciation of locusts.

At a Glance
One of the lead necromancers of the Cult of Vecna, Talmon Bott worked tirelessly to ressurect his death-god and destroy all life in the Known Realm. With an affinity for controlling undead insects to overwhelm his foes, Talmon was adept at using distraction and stealth to trick his foes into making fatal mistakes before killing them and raising them in undeath. His mortal form would eventually be destroyed, but through his indomitable will he maintained his corporeal state by possessing swarms of undead locusts and roaches.

History
Little of Talmon Bott's early life was known. A resident of Neverwinter and a powerful sorcerer in the events leading up the the Necrotic War, some people suspected his origins to be Fey, based mainly on circumstancial evidence and incomplete city records, but it was never confirmed. Talmo rose to prominence during the Necrotic War when he served as one of the generals of Gabrielle Revvan. A faithful servant of Vecna, Talmon proved to be a valuable ally of undeath and notoriously difficult to kill as he was a clever tactician and swift killer. While he came uncomfortably close to killing King Richard Kirk XII during the Battle of the Necrotic Canyon, Talmon was rebuffed by a blow to his mask sent by broken-minded Gemma Fair of The Fate Dancers. Talmon was painstakingly fought back by the combined heroes of Pallanaise and Kirkdom who chased him into the mountains where he vanished in a tornado of flies and locusts.

With the Cult of Vecna defeated, Talmon disappeared into hiding during the twenty years after the Necrotic War and fell out of conversation -- save for the occasional campfire story to scare young travellers.

Back to Black
During the Age of Adventure the adventuring band Fortune's Triad were summoned to travel back in time to repair damage to the world's timeline caused by an unknown force. Detecting the rippling timewaves, they learnt from the Bard Bellaire that the result of the tampering was a rewritten history in which the Cult of Vecna won the Necrotic War. With Talmon's disappearance at the end of the war and his knowledge of sorcery, all signs pointed to his direct involvement.

Returning back in time, Fortune's Triad found the timeline had been accelerated and Past-Talmon had already destroyed the Elf city of Al'Vannadir. Battling with the Necromancer, the heroes were shockingly outmatched and Talmon escaped back to the forces of the Cult of Vecna in the Necrotic Canyon. Pressing onto the offensive, Fortune's Triad entered the canyon with the allied forces of Hammertask and Kirkdom where, true to history, Past-Talmon reappeared and delivered a devastating assault.

During the battle, they heroes dicovered that Talmon had physically decayed from the wanton use of his necrotic powers, losing the integrity of his mortal form. As the allied forces battered the necromancer back, they saw his body had been held together by an amalgamation of undead insects and indomidable will. Having "surpassed" the form of a living creature, the disembodied Talmon fought on but was eventually defeated, exploding into a hailstorm of carrion. While the adventurers were successful in stopping The Yellow Mask at the battle of the Necrotic Canyon, a few insects scuttled away, implying that Talmon would one day return. Returning to the future, Fortune's Triad headed to Fort Laggin to recover from their ordeal. Reuniting with Hogar's half-brother Byron Cruentus, the went about their errands leaving Byron and Hogar to their reunion. During this private meeting Hogar inexplicably became paralyzed, poisoned by his brother who began to divulge Talmon Bott's fate in the modern day...

During the twenty years after the Necrotic War, Talmon had began to reassemble himself. While his body was destroyed, he maintained his consciousness in his host of insects and by adopted the monkier of a wandering traveller. Talmon kept his new body a secret through clever dressings and would eventually cross paths with Byron, a fateful meeting in which Byron protected the frail necromancer who in return cured Byron's broken legs. In exchange for his mobility, Byron assisted Talmon in the ritual to send back an arcane-tome back to assist Gabrielle Revvan and the Cult of Vecna win theNecrotic War. Leaving Hogar to apparent doom, Byron rejoined Talmon who waited outside at the gates of the town.

Band of the Thorn


Partnering with Byron Cruentus, the pair sought out would-be allies from old Cult of Vecna contacts. Talmon led the recruits, finding an old opponent (Rotwallow), a loyalist (Tabetha Grottle), and impressionable allies (Gregory Pak and Taymor Vistan'dal) along with Byron's own contact (Moor, the Dragon of Lyne). Capitalizing on public opinion, Talmon recommended that the new cult present itself as a band of travelling adventurers, thus coming to name itself the Band of the Thorn. With the final goal of resurrecting his god Vecna, Talmon explained his impressive plan to Byron, one that would require many, many soldiers...

Arriving in the town of Peer's Point, Talmon watched Byron woo the populace as he appeared as a white knight symbolizing prosperity and strength. This deception would allow Byron to arrange a meeting with all of Peer's Point's Bannermen, a group of elite knights. Gathering them into one place, Talmon and the other cultists moved in on the unsuspecting soldiers, killing them and resurrecting them as a skilled skeletal legion of undead to serve as their private army. Successful in this usurption, Talmon and his allies once again disappeared into the wilds.

In Her Name
While passing through the Barbarian stronghold of Gulch, Talmon had the army of undead circle the city to avoid detection. Still, they were uncovered by the Barbarian's apt scouts, threatening Byron with death for consorting with necromancers. Leaping into battle, Talmon began to massacre the Barbarians with the rest of the Band of the Thorn. Slaying the stronghold's finest warriors, Talmon reveled in the carnage until a strange distraction caught his eye. A few meters away, Byron took a token from the leader of the Barbarians, the The Void Card of the Deck of Many Things. Knowing very well the chaotic nature of the cards Talmon was immediately distrustful of their appearance.

Continuing to march north across the White Wastes into the Near Reaches, Talmon walked asdride with the Barbarian and Bannermen undead.

Halruth
While preparing to execute his plan to break Vecna out of the Tomb of the Unforgiven with the army they had amassed, Talmon was shocked when he discovered Byron had sent Tabetha Grottle and their forces into The Shadowfell with to attack the tower of Halruth. Questioning Byron, the White Knight replied that the large forces of undeath would be bettered used as part of a distraction ploy against the forces of The Raven Queen. As Tabetha led the forces on Halruth (and its unbeatable guardian Oros), Talmon Bottmarched onto the City of Midnight.

Even Death Can Die


Reaching the Tomb of the Unforgiven, Talmon pressured Byron to swiftly release Vecna. Reassuring his partner that he could only do so if Talmon and the other's hold the Tomb's entrance behind him, the loyal Band agreed to guard the entrance. Using his sorcerous magics to prevent interlopers from interrupting Vecna's release, Talmon guarded the entrance with the rest of the Band of the Thorn.

No sooner than Talmon sealed the tomb Fortune's Triad arrived to put the Cult down once and for all. Engaging in a fierce battle, it appeared Talmon and the Band had the upper hand, even with the loss of Taymor. Laying waste to the heroes, Talmon was able to strike Fraseri with an infested swarm, killing her. Cackling, Talmon turned to the remaining heroes who had used the Flames Card of the Deck of Many Things to summon Halruth's guardian Oros to the battle. Oros promptly cleaved Rotwallow in half before turning his attentions to the Yellow Mask necromancer.

Dispersing into a swarm of insects, Talmon was able to evade Oros' blows until a lucky blow caught Talmon and sent him sprawling across the ground. Preparing to against disperse, Talmon was caught by a blast of shadow energy from behind, lobbed by the sorceress Ransis. Blown to pieces, Talmon's consciousness cemented in the body of one of his many cockroaches as he tried to escape. Before he could take flight, the Yellow Mask was plucked from the ground by Ransis' long talons. Lifting the necromancer up to her eye, she promised to deliver Talmon endless ages of agony and promptly placed him into one of the jars around her waist, thus ending Talmon's wanton rampage across the realm.