Thonk

Early Life
Life used to be easy for Th'onk Eaglecrusher. Born to the goliath Munakiala tribe in the cliffs surrounding Mt. Delthon, Th'onk grew up as the youngest son of Pumak Truthcaller and Koraroth Wildchaser. He matched his two older siblings Korarian Dayguard and Ag'ham Flowertwister in strength and athleticism and displayed proficiency as a hunter and a warrior. He and his siblings would often join the hunting parties, and Th'onk would feel a welcoming embrace both as the party left and as it later returned, victorious. On the other hand, non-physical skills were very clearly better suited to Korarian and Ag'ham, as they were not Th'onk's forte.

Regardless, as long as he adhered to a few simple rules, Th'onk's life was set. The needs of the tribe come first. Hold your own in combat and in the hunt. Beware the golems of the forest and the giant eagles of the valley. And something about safeguarding the barrier's threshold. Or was it the berries' fresh hole?

Tragedy
The half-elf cleric Thalia Liasatra had stopped in his village a few weeks prior to offer her healing services. She decided to extend her visit to tutor some of his tribe in the clerical ways, including his siblings. The village elders tasked Th'onk as her personal guardian during her stay, and the two spent many nights together gathering ingredients and components in the nearby forest. Each trip he would comment to Thalia about the nostalgic sensation of warmth as they went out. He would cherish their intimate conversations on those moonlit evenings for years to come.

Th'onk arrived at Thalia's lodging one day to discover that she had suddenly cleared out. Nobody in the village saw her leave or knew why she left so abruptly. Th'onk became distraught, desperately wishing to know what had happened to his dear friend. He enlisted the assistance of his siblings to use their new skills to divine Thalia's whereabouts.

While gathering materials to facilitate their rituals, Th'onk encountered a robed man in the forest. Upon pressing the man for any information that would lead to locating his friend, the man offered Th'onk a smooth stone the size of his palm, claiming that it would give Th'onk the guidance to acquire what he seeks. In exchange, the man asked Th'onk to direct him to "exactly where the shroud begins". After receiving a painfully long, puzzled stare from Th'onnk, the man reworded his request, asking Th'onk to direct him to where if felt like magical energy intensified.

Eager to obtain the mythical stone, Th'onk led the figure towards his village, stopping as he felt the familiar surge of energy washing over him. The man handed over the stone as agreed, and the two parted ways, with Th'onk resuming his task of harvesting supplies.

It must have been around midnight when Th'onk returned back to his village. Normally most lights in the village would have been put out, but as Th'onk approached it looked like the whole village was glowing, with wispy black trails floating into the sky.

As he reached the village center, Th'onk was engulfed in the chaos of his panicked tribe. Desperate screams from families seeking missing members. Battle cries of the tribe's warriors as they rallied. He found the charred remains of several of his tribesmen strewn about the buildings. As he glanced toward his home, he spotted the unmistakable figures of Korarian and Ag'ham, seated in meditation in preparation for a ritual. Or at least what was left of them.

Th'onk's vision went red, and then black. When he regained consciousness some of his tribesmen were digging him out from under a pile of rubble. As they assisted him, Th'onk recounted aloud the events that transpired, and told the others of the man who gave him the stone. Their worried expressions and heartfelt condolences soured into looks of disgust. One of them ran off, and returned half an hour later with several of the village elders as well as Th'onk's parents.

They pressed Th'onk to retell his story, and once he finished, they asked him to leave the village.

Present Day
The next 3 years were mostly a blur for Th'onk. He wandered aimlessly from the outskirts of one town to the next, with fits of blind fury sprinkled in between. Near the coast, weary and broken, Th'onk was ambushed and subsequently captured by a scruffy group of slavers. He vaguely recalled being transported and loaded onto a ship bound for Atria. Once outside a city that sounded like "crown", he was freed from captivity by a ragtag group of warriors.

It was not long before Th'onk was captured once again, this time by a particularly fierce group of kobolds. One of their heavily armored members was assigned as his guard. As they spent the next few weeks traveling between mining camps together, Th'onk found some comfort in having someone to talk to again. During one of their trips, his captor appeared to have a moment of compassion and released him.

As Th'onk sprinted away, he wondered if this was the moment when his luck would finally get better.