Spoilers: Two game maps for the same relic hunt. No vault battle and no campaign ending.
Who he is in Total War
Thorek leads Ironbrow's Expedition. He is free content tied to Dwarf ownership, first released beside The Silence & The Fury for Warhammer II. Owning that pack's other lords, Taurox and Oxyotl, is a separate purchase. In Immortal Empires his availability follows a route into the Dwarf race: the first game, or a Dwarf lord pack. Warhammer II by itself unlocks its own base races.
Creative Assembly's 2021 introduction puts him on the Anvil of Doom, hammering runes in the middle of a battle, harsh and set on victory. The Hammers & Herdstones update gives him eight grudges at the start, one for each artefact he is there to locate. Those grudges are the expedition's list. Recovered pieces are restored through his crafting. The lord page keeps Dwarf Warriors between the enemy and the guns, and treats the anvil as support for the throng rather than a replacement for it.
Lustria, then Karak Zorn
The Vortex article starts him in the Southern Spine of Sotek, among Lizardmen, Skaven, and High Elves, ready to march on the Mine of the Bearded Skulls from the Thrice-Cursed Peak. As he gathers artefacts, Skaven armies come for them. After enough pieces, he can find a last vault beneath the jungles of Lustria. That is the Eye of the Vortex story.
The same article says his Mortal Empires start is on another continent: the Southlands stretch of the Worlds Edge Mountains, at the home of Karak Zorn, with Greenskins and undead nearby. The June 2022 Immortal Empires list places him at Karak Zorn. Three labels, two maps: Vortex in Lustria, and the Southlands start shared by Mortal Empires and the 2022 Immortal Empires list. A player's route between relic markers is the campaign in front of them.
Runes beside the other holds
The 2021 piece presents him as a runelord restoring ancestral relics, with Skaven as the rival collectors on the Vortex map. Rune magic in the Hammers update is his battle craft, kept distinct from the lores other races cast. Thorgrim's Book, Ungrim's Slayer oath, and Belegar's claim on Eight Peaks are other Dwarf duties. Grombrindal's grudge against Malekith is another again. Malakai tests new machines after a guild expulsion. Thorek's work is the old craft and the lost vaults.
Headtaker and the End Times novel about Eight Peaks name Belegar and Thorgrim. Thorek's relic hunt stays the game expedition: eight artefact grudges, the anvil, and whichever map the campaign is using.
Thorek Ironbrow: gameplay and availability · More character stories
Sources
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — SEGA — support.sega.com
- Immortal Empires starting positions, a prologue — Total War — totalwar.com
- Thorek Ironbrow brings Dwarfs to the Vortex — Total War — totalwar.com
- The Hammers & Herdstones update — Total War — totalwar.com
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — support.sega.com
- A New Player Survival Guide & FAQ — community.creative-assembly.com
- Thorek Ironbrow — store.steampowered.com
- Patch 5.2.0 — community.creative-assembly.com