Location(s): Gate of Amtar
NPCs: Ezekiel
Loot/Acquisitions: 4 sets of anti-necrotic armor (2 heavy, 2 light)
Summary:

We continue to explore the castle.

Ezekiel
We discover a short, small, draconic individual (a bit dragon, a bit kobold, and a bit something else). Light aqua blue coloration, nice but old clothes, who is selling some items. His name is Ezekiel. Cedwin doesn’t sense any malevolent intent, but he is holding something back from us - he knows something that we don’t. He says he “woke up here.” We ask him why he helps, and he describes the Brothers of Bal Shadi (2 of them) and that they were here just here the other day. He also describes 4 wood elves who angered the guest book man (possibly causing the blood spatter in the guest book). He appears to be completely corporeal and not a spirit. He warns us that there are spirits ahead that will cast necrotic damage on us, and some of his armor sets (2 heavy, 2 light) may help with that. Chimali and Neci take a heavy set (necrotic resistance), and Ta’an and Phaedra take the light sets. He charges less for the armor than we would pay elsewhere - either he isn’t accounting for inflation, or he thinks he’ll get this right back. Borem is Ezekiel’s liege lord, and he’s currently sleeping. He wants to help people get through Jathomites so that Borem can be awakened. He warns us that the spirits can be invisible and will sneak up behind you while you’re dealing with the ones in front of you. He gives us a map that’s hand-drawn, probably from a previous adventurer. It ends with a blood stain. We ask him about his previous life - he remembers his mother, a beautiful dragon who would sing to him, and would heal his cuts and scrapes. He lived by a river. There were men that came, and his mother told him to run away and that she would protect him - he tears up - and then he woke up here. He can create ice and mists and fog and things like that. Ta’an soul sights him - he does have a soul - his parents were actually high-elf and lung dragon (river guardian type). We remember that the mannequin at the Blacksmith’s in Delzimmer had a dragon soul gem, type of lung dragon). The locked room we found earlier is his own quarters.

We take a long rest.

🕱🕱🕱 Days until Teagan must fulfill his oath to Sir Revenant Elwin: 275 🕱🕱🕱

He gives us a small blessing: +16 temporary hit points for the next day.

We consult the map. We see notes in the courtyards saying there were attacks (similar to the bridge), and an attack on the entry bridge (like we had). One of the creatures had a skeleton inside - a dead adventurer? He tells us that the Jathomites don’t pay him any attention, until he tried to take the weapon, then they drove him off. He tried to leave once and ended up back here.

We ask about the party, and he said it was good until the 3 ruffians arrived, under the guise of nobles from Waterdeep.

We embark. We decide to skip the courtyards. We find 8 dead nicely dressed folks around a dining table. The goblets have dirt in them. Phaedra pokes one of the individuals to see if they have anything to loot. They do, but they spew necrotic dust on her. She learns a very important lesson. We continue to the basement where we think the spirits will be.

We walk down to a large room. Before entering, we consult the map. This one is labeled “first encounter with Jathomites - no turning back now. We can’t rest with Ezekiel now. They killed 7 spirits. One of their number is severely injured; 1 died upstairs.

Some More Backstory
Jathomites were an offshoot of the Netherese, who felt they didn’t need gods, and that they could be their own gods. Karsus’ Folly - tried to take Mystra’s power and caused the fall of Netheril in the Anauroch Desert. Before that Jathomites built a weapon that could kill a god - Jathiman Dagger. One Jathomite was a grand mage, and the other 39 were mages. 39 gave their lives for the creation of the dagger, and the 40th one could wield it. You have to be strong enough to wield it. They didn’t create it to kill a specific god - there was no connection to Borem. Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul stole it through subterfuge, then crashed this party through subterfuge, etc.

Neci finds another notebook - it appears to belong to the Brothers of Bal Shadi. It has a lot of the same information, plus their intention to retreat. It says: “Partygoers don’t want us here. Are the Jathomites uninvited too? Food for thought: can we use this to our advantage? Should have taken that necrotic damage armor!”

Imogen casts Truesight on everyone.

The partygoers looked at us without us touching them. They put their hands by their dirt-filled goblets protectively. They look down at one of the broken partygoers, and they also look at its broken goblet. They seem to be moving slightly and it even looks like they are mouthing words/talking.

Fighting ensues.

We get one of the Jathomites to break a goblet. The partygoer looks at the Jathomite, shakes his friend, and they both approach the Jathomite and attack him. He drinks what’s left in his goblet with his friend, and they continue attacking.

1 Jathomite down, only 38 to go!

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