Tessalar Hulicorm

Tessalar Hulicorm was an enterprising wizard in Waterdeep in the mid-to-late 14 century DR.

Description
Tessalar was a vain man who wore lots of costume jewelry and sported a pointy beard. He also had a high-pitched voice.

Personality
He was unwilling to trust anyone, to the point of paranoia. He either demanded full payment up front, or half in advance, for magical items he created. He would require the other half when the patron picked up the item since he would not deliver it. Tessalar had ambitions to form his own noble house.

Activities
When he wasn't attending parties, Tessalar stayed mostly in his magically fortified house, Tessalar's Tower, in the Sea Ward at Sul Street and Chasso's Trot. There he made potions, scrolls, and other magic items which he sold to fund his research.

History
Tessalar was once a mercenary mage, tutoring and casting spells in exchange for treasure, which he spend to finance his magic research.

One day, he came back from an expedition into Undermountain with so much treasure that he was richer than any man of his age. The truth was that he stole the hoard of the sleeping black dragon Vulharindauloth.

Soon Tessalar established himself as a fixture of the parties in Waterdeep's Sea Ward, often casting illusions and pyrotechnics for a sponsoring noble. As deduced by many, Tessalar wanted to use his noble connections in order to found his own noble house, but some family patriarchs knew the truth of his ambitions and easily used him to their own ends.

Tessalar once had a staring match with the mage Maaril of the Dragon Tower in the Great Library of the House of the Moon temple to Selûne. It lasted through the afternoon and evening and only ended at moonrise. The curators still talked of it by 1370 DR, and feared what devastation their magic might have wrought.

Tessalar became increasingly paranoid about Vulharindauloth, who established himself near Skullport with the objective of discovering the thief of his hoard. Circa 1372 DR, Tessalar hired dragonslayers at great expense to find and kill the wyrm, though without success.