Amelior Amanitas

"Who I am I, you ask. Let it be known, that I am Amelior Amanitas, alchemist extraordinaire and supreme sage of the North."

- Amelior Amanitas

Amelior Amanitas was a male human wizard and the Sage of Secomber.

Description
Amelior was a tall, stocky man with a grey beard. Although he wore spectacles, he also wore a variety of eye patches over the other, each patch adorned in fanciful colors or decorations. His garb was generally that of a common craftsman.

Personality
An eccentric busy-body and an altogether nosy individual, Amelior's curiosity often rubbed folk the wrong way. Although bumbling and forgetful, he was also good-natured and straightforward with those he had dealings with.

Abilities
Despite his appearance, Amelior was a powerful wizard, learned sage, and a master alchemist. He specialized in the study of the physical universe but also had a great interest in the supernatural and bizarre phenomena. He disdained using his spells for battle but rather he preferred to rely on adventurers or bodyguards instead. Furthermore, Amelior was somewhat versed in clerical prayers, owing to his early training as a priest of Mystra.

Possessions
In his tower in Secomber, Amelior had a number of stone golems under his command. Additionally, Amelior was noted for keeping a dozen cats, each one a bright color: green, fuchsia, mint blue, flame-orange, red, sun yellow, etc.

On his person, Amelior carried a pair of metallic flasks. The first was a copper flask that could unleash a pair of fanatically loyal ogre berserkers to fight for Amelior. Even after death, these ogres would rise again as monster zombies to continue fighting. The second flask was made of gold and contained a djinn named Hasan; when opened, Hasan would appear to do Amelior's will. Additionally, Amelior wore a robe of deep pockets and bracers of defense. At one time, Amelior kept a holy symbol of Mystra around his neck.

Amelior had also created an iron golem and a number of two-headed golems to help defend the town in the event of an attack. Each of these golems appeared as enormous winged gargoyles, though their wings could not make them fly.

In the Seven-Stringed Harp in Secomber, the glowing, floating harp that played in the tavern was actually a permanent spell of Amelior's creation.

Relationships
Although his inquisitive nature made him unwelcome around many, Amelior counted High Lady Alustriel Silverhand as a close friend. Day-to-day, Amelior relied on his bodyguard Erek to keep him safe.

In his youth, Amelior was a pupil of a priest of Mystra, known as Brother Felloman.

Early Life
In his youth, Amelior studied under a priest of Mystra called Brother Felloman. During this tutelage, he encountered a ghoul for the first time, who was once the moneylender Wexelar, a man whom Amelior's father once owed much money to.

Eventually, Amelior gave up on being a priest and turned his hand to wizardry. After a few years of studying the Art, he was hired by a group of adventurers to find the golden eye of Rethekan in the ruins of Ascore. As the adventurers battled their way into the heart of the tomb, although one lost an arm to mummy rot, they soon reached the lair of the mummy, Rethekan, Avenger of Bhaal. Whilst Amelior dawdled to collect curios, the rest of the party was overwhelmed by the formidable guardian and he was forced to bargain with the creature. Amelior tricked the blind Rethekan into releasing his allies and him, in exchange for a glass eye.

Sage Supreme of the North
At some point, Amelior investigated the ancient ruins of Old Owl Well where, although his findings were inconclusive, he believed the well was in some way magical. He found that nothing he could do would lower the water level of the well, even temporarily.

On Mirtul 8, 1357 DR, Amelior Amanitas and his manservant, Erek, embarked on a journey around the North. They departed in Amelior's flying gasbag, powered by an air elemental and a fire elemental.

In Hammer, 1358 DR, Amelior returned to Secomber from his journey, along with his entourage of multicolored cats in tow.

Later that same year, Amelior discovered that Zhentarim planned to locate four magical statuettes that, together, could send monsters across the Anauroch desert. The Zhentarim kidnapped him from his room in the Vault of the Sages, took him through Everlund and Llorkh, and eventually imprisoned him in Zhentil Keep.

Broadhand, an acolyte of Bane, had intercepted one of Amelior's letters detailing the Zhentarim's plans. As the Church of Bane were enemies of the Zhentarim, he informed a group of adventurers (the future Heroes of Ascore) pretending to be Banite priests all that he knew. He then sent them to speak with Amelior themselves, believing he would know of some way to stop their plans. Tracking him down to the Vault of the Sages, they found the scene of a struggle in his room. They then went on to find and rescue his manservant Erek, who informed them of what happened. Together they set off and rescued Amelior, who explained to the heroes how to stop the Zhentarim. He was then brought by Erek back to Secomber.

The Heroes of Ascore went on to slay the Zhentarim general Vaalgamon. Armies of Zhentarim troops then charged from the east and several mercenaries moved in from the south, aiming to salvage Vaalgamon's scheme. Amelior Amanitas hurriedly cast powerful spells to magically appear before the heroes and gave instructions on how to unite the statuettes with the ring of reversal.

A few weeks later, during the time of Autumn, Amelior summoned the Heroes of Ascore and gave them a quest to eliminate the last of the Zhentarim agents that remained in the city of Llorkh.

Later that same year, a man named Lychor introduced him to the fragmented legends of Awtawmatawn, a gargantuan stone golem that was constructed and lost within the Volkumburgh Vale, as well as some fragments of it. Amelior managed to merge them back together into an arm through use of potions and after doing so they gave off a magical aura. Amelior quickly became obsessed with the legend, thinking of the fame he would receive, though he would pass it off as being for the betterment of society.

Amelior quickly set about making a workshop in the village of Volkumburgh, having a huge tower erected that was unlike any nearby building, bringing with him his manservant Erek and his colorful cats. The villagers came to refer to him as "One-Eye" and over time the topic of him, the golem, and its arm all became taboo topics.

That same year Amelior discover one of the statue's feet ( in length) in a temple in Suzail, which locals mistakenly believed to be a piece of Grumbar. In the month of Uktar, some time before the Feast of the Moon, he arranged for the foot to be shrunken down, stolen, and then delivered to him by a group of adventurers in Suzail. Estimating where the other fragments might be, he then tasked them with seeking out the rest of the fragments.

The adventurers succeeded in their quest and a few days later Amelia had the collected fragments all assembled. It was then that the golem's original creator, Valmous, along with his disciples and an army of neanderthals, attacked the village with the goal of destroying the Awtawmatawn. At the same time, Lychor unleashed a counter-force of undead in hopes of both protecting the golem and claiming it for himself. This horde of undead included a hundred skeletons, twenty zombies, and ten wights. During this siege Awtawmatawn finally awakened and began to rampage around Volkumburg, destroying Amelior's workshop in the process.

Erek shielded him with his body as the building collapsed around them, saving Amelior but killing himself in the process. The adventurers he had hired found the injured wizard, who kept mumbling, "Whatever shall we do, Erek? Whatever shall we do?" At the time he was grappling with a number of complex emotions &mdash; grief over Erek's death, embarrassed and horrified at what he had unleashed, anger towards Lychor, and most of all uncertainty. Asking for his assistance and rummaging through his clothes, the adventurers were provided with a host of magical items to help them combat the golem.

Those magical items included his ogre servants and Hasan, a brass bottle that unleashed a ballista with twenty bolts that was manned by four zombies, three potions of growth, three potions of giant strength, and a potion labeled "Drink Me If All Else Fails" that would transform the imbiber into a red dragon. Ultimately, the adventurers prevailed and the golem was destroyed. The inhabitants of Volkumburg wanted to punish Amelior for all the destruction he caused. But he had used one of his exotic one-use artifacts to travel back in time, empty his workshop of important valuables, and then after returning to the present with them he escaped on his flying gasbag alongside a revived Erek.

Elminster was kind enough to shelter them as they tried to lay low from this incident. During this time Amelior agreed to a request by Elminster, due to his generosity, to provide some author from another Material Plane the wealth of information he had regarding the the North and its history.

Between 1358 DR and 1370 DR, Amelior Amanitas was actively interested in the legends of an enchanted wood somewhere within the High Forest.

Appearances

 * Accessories
 * Lords of Darkness
 * Adventures
 * The Shattered Statue
 * Video games
 * Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Treasures of the Savage Frontier