Aoth Fezim

Aoth Fezim was a war mage of Thay. In the late 14 century DR, he was the captain of the Griffon Legion of Pyarados and in the late 15 century DR he was leader of the Brotherhood of the Griffon mercenary company.

Description
He was of Mulan descent though he didn't look like it with his blunt features and short, stocky frame. His body and hands showed the intricate tattooing of a wizard. He wore badges that revealed him as a rider of the elite Griffon Legion. Since he was affected by the Spellplague, Aoth Fezim's eyes showed hints of the blue flame retained inside. In an attempt to restore his eyesight, Aoth had sigils of healing and clearvision tattooed above his eyes. He started to wear a dark bandage covering his eyes, though it was no hindrance to his flame-altered sight. Aoth was spell-touched and had not aged since the Spellplague.

Relations
Fezim was known to favor griffons as familiars. The griffon Brightwing was formerly Aoth's familiar. Through their psychic link he could use Brightwing's enhanced senses like his own. Aoth's familiar in 1479 DR was the black griffon Jet.

Personality
Aoth was easy-going by nature. Because the purity of his bloodline was suspect, none of the orders of the Red Wizards of Thay had ever thought to recruit him.

Abilities
The tattoos on his body granted him different kinds of enchantments, such as:
 * Sending warmth flowing through his body, which was particularly useful when flying on his griffon;
 * Cooling his body when needed;
 * Bestowing upon him an enchantment of accuracy; and
 * Alleviating magically provoked weakness.

He had spells to sober himself at will. Aoth was able to enhance his night vision through a spell and cast emerald darts from his fingertips. He could conjure darts of blue light from his fingertips that veered to strike even a dodging victim and seldom missed their intended target. Aoth could also conjure a crackling, forking flare of lightning.

Possessions
His primary weapon was his long spear that served as warrior's lance and wizard's staff. He often carried a sword such as a falchion as a secondary weapon. Aoth could summon a flare of silvery light from the head of his spear or a wall of violet flame.

1370s DR
Aoth and Brightwing were the sole survivors of an undead assault on Thazar Keep in the. Aoth became officer of the Griffon Legion because he survived the fall of Thazar Keep and informed his superior about the invading undead forces. When Pyarados was threatened with being overrun by an undead army, Aoth was charged with clearing the tharch of the undead, along with its tharchion Nymia Focar, a force of Red Wizards, and warrior orders of the church of Kossuth. After the victory at Dulos, a town of Pyarados, Aoth got to know the priestess Chathi Oandem and eventually became her lover. During a scouting flight over the Pass of Thazar, Aoth discovered the adventuring bard Bareris Anskuld and took him to his superior, Nymia Focar.

1380s DR
The war continued for ten years. In the, Aoth confided in Bareris that he thought of abandoning the war and Thay altogether, but Bareris used his bardic magic to persuade him to stay and fight. During the battle at the Keep of Sorrows against Szass Tam's hordes, Aoth was caught in a wave of azure fire—a result of the Spellplague—which luckily didn't kill him like many others but affected his eyes in a strange way, rendering him as good as blind, even leaving some of the blue flame behind in his eyes. The only way that Aoth could see at all was by borrowing Brightwing's senses. Soon it showed that no ordinary blindness had struck him, though opening his eyes hurt him profoundly, Aoth could still see something, even more than could be seen with normal sight. As long as he couldn't see properly, Aoth proclaimed Bareris captain of the Griffon Legion. When he looked upon Bareris the next time, Aoth saw an illusory image of Bareris dangling a marionette, twitching its strings to make it dance, a marionette resembling Aoth himself. He realized the meaning of that illusion and confronted Bareris with the truth about his decision of not leaving Thay. Aoth was so disappointed and hurt that from then on he shunned his former friend. Another vision revealed illusory knives in the hands of would-be captors sent to seize him for vivisection. Unexpectedly, it was Mirror who would relieve Aoth Fezim's pain, leaving the griffon rider with a superior ability of sight. Aoth could see in almost lightless gloom and even better than when borrowing Brightwing's superior sense of seeing. With his eyesight "healed", Aoth took back command of the Griffon Legion.

Aoth found out that Dmitra's spymaster, Malark Springhill, had switched sides to work with Szass Tam from then on. When he confronted Malark with his findings, the monk escaped. The zulkirs decided to attack Szass Tam in his bastion at the Keep of Sorrows, believing his magic as shriveled as their own. The fight proved quite disastrous, as one of Szass's conjurations, the dream vestige, just inhaled the attacking forces. The zulkirs were forced to flee to Bezantur but were further chased away by Szass. The conflict culminated in a battle at sea with undead aquatic beings fighting on Szass Tam's side. In a last attempt to finally overpower the zulkirs and their forces, Szass conjured the dream vestige again. Bareris managed to dissolve the fog-like entity with his bardic magic.

Fezim later found the bard swimming face-down in the water, believing his former friend had died during the battle with the dream vestige. As it turned out though, Bareris survived, albeit changed.

Aoth went with the zulkirs to the Wizard's Reach and decided to stay in exile, while Bareris and Mirror decided to return to Thay and resume opposing Szass Tam's regency.

Impiltur
After defeating Szass Tam, Aoth led the Brotherhood of the Griffon to Impiltur in the, where they took a contract to eliminate a cult of demon worshipers. The Brotherhood was betrayed by a noble and were unable to save a village from destruction by the cult. Because of their failure, they were dismissed from their employment in Impiltur.

Chessenta
After the disaster in Impiltur, the only employment Aoth and the Brotherhood could find was with a noble from Luthcheq in Chessenta. There had been a series of mysterious murders in the city and the noble was concerned that the city militia was unable to maintain order. Aoth and the Brotherhood tracked down and killed the murderers, finding them to be abishai disguised as dragonborn.

While Aoth and the Brotherhood were in Chessenta, two officers in the Brotherhood discovered Tchazzar imprisoned in the Shadowfell. They rescued Tchazzar and he returned to Chessenta to reclaim his throne.

Shortly after Tcahazzar's return, Threskel invaded Chessenta. Aoth and the Brotherhood lifted the siege of Soolabax and were key to defeating the Threskelan forces in two battles that ended the war and forced Threskel to become a vassal state of Chessenta.

After Alasklerbanbastos was destroyed, Aoth and Cera Eurthos, a priestess of Amaunator, took the dracolich's phylactery and resurrected his soul into the body of a young blue dragon. During questioning, Alasklerbanbastos revealed that he and Tchazzar were participants in the draconic game of Xorvintaal and that Tchazzar was attempting to conquer the human lands on the southern side of the Sea of Fallen Stars to score points. Tchazzar intended to manipulate Akanûl into joining forces with Chessenta to invade Tymanther.

In order to prevent the war, Aoth and Cera traveled to Akanûl to convince Queen Arathane not to ally with Tchazzar. At the same time another officer, Khouryn Skulldark, journeyed to High Imaskar to ask the Imaskari to ally with Tymanther. Both groups were successful in their missions but Tchazzar continued to plan his invasion of Tymanther.

Tchazzar later learned of the Brotherhood's manipulations and attacked Aoth's forces, setting off the Battle of Luthcheq. The Brotherhood of the Griffon, along with allied Akanûlan troops and Chessentans loyal to Shala Karanok, defeated Tchazzar's forces and killed Tchazzar.

Aoth and the Brotherhood's success against Tchazzar redeemed their reputation as a mercenary troop. Because of the political instability of the southern Sea of Fallen Stars, Aoth intended to keep the Brotherhood in Chessenta in the hopes of future income.

Rashemen
Late in the, Aoth traveled with Jhesrhi Coldcreek and Cera Eurthos to Rashemen with the intention of purchasing griffons from the Wychlaran. When he arrived in Immilmar, the Rashemi capital, he found several competing groups who intended to buy the griffons. In the months prior to Aoth's arrival in Rashemen, there were numerous unexplained attacks and killings. The Wychlaran tasked Aoth and the other bidders with aiding them in tracking down the person or thing responsible for the attacks. Aoth and the Brotherhood allied with a berserker lodge led by Vandar Cherlinka. Aoth was able to track a group of werewolves who were commanded by a cyclops from the Feywild. Aoth and friends followed the cyclops through a gate to the Feywild and confronted and subdued his fomorian mistress. During the attack on the giantess' stronghold, Aoth rescued a fire spirit named Zyl who took Aoth back to Rashemen and introduced him to the Stag King. Aoth was able to convince the Stag King to join forces with the berserkers and the force marched on the durthan stronghold of the Fortress of the Half-Demon.

Aoth and his allies defeated an army of humanoids and undead and drove them into the tunnels under the fortress. After the battle, Dai Shan, a Theskian noble who was attempting to buy the griffons, magically appeared in the tunnels and tricked Aoth and his friends into entering a pocket plane. Aoth was able to find an exit from the plane, but the gate in the Prime Material Plane was in Thay.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Haunted Lands: Unclean • Undead
 * Brotherhood of the Griffon: The Captive Flame • Whisper of Venom • The Spectral Blaze • The Masked Witches