Awtawmatawn was a unique, larger than average stone golem possessed by a horned devil.[3][1]
Description[]
Awtawmatawn was said to be as large as the Statue-That-Walk of Mulhorand,[3] standing at around 30 ft (9.1 m) tall.[2] Its head alone measured 5 ft (1.5 m) tall, 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide, and weighed about 4,000 lb (1,800 kg). It was noted as displaying an evil grimace.[5] Its eyes were carved from glass.[6]
Abilities[]
Due to Rotbite's natural resistance to magic, the spell detect evil could not recognize his presence within the statue.[2] While inside the golem, he was also capable of casting fear in a 30 feet (9.1 meters) radius and slow on any creature within 1 in (0.025 m) of it.[1]
Finally, Rotbite was capable of casting the following spells through the golem while possessing it: charm person, suggestion, infravision, know alignment, animate dead, pyrotechnics, produce flame, ESP, detect magic, and wall of fire.[1]
History[]
Sometime in the mid-12th DR,[note 1] the College of Shaping Magics was tasked by King Proster Obarskyr of Cormyr with designing a new variant of stone golems to help expedite his ambitious building projects after a student at the school by the name of Valmous promised he could construct something to rival the Statues-That-Walk of Mulhorand. These projects included such things as bridges [3] castles, harbors, hospitals, and schools.[2] He carved it out from a cliff-face near the College of Shaping Magics using an enchanted carving knife.[7]
The Awtawmatawn was the first of these, its name being the term that would have been used for the golems as a whole. Just as it was in its final stages, a spell backfired on Valmous. This caused a minor devil[3] named Rotbite to be summoned to the Prime Material plane, who proceeded to possess the inert golem.[2] The possessed golem proceeded to slaughter all the residents of the College, who were unprepared for such an attack. Except for Valmous himself, who escaped in a gravely injured state to the nearby College of Rune Magics.[3]
As the Awtawmatawn made its way to the other college, it came across and destroyed the villa of Lord Volkumburgh.[8] When it finally came to confront its creator, Valmous used his intimate knowledge of the golem to help the residents of the College of Rune Magics defend against his creation. They managed to destroy the Awtawmatawn, but ultimately the college was left in ruin and only a few survived.[3]
In the aftermath of that battle, Valmous and the remaining rune magic practitioners scattered the pieces of Awtawmatawn.[3] They entrusted one of its hands with Lord Volkumburgh.[9] While Valmous himself hid its head within a volcanic vent inside the abandoned Temple of the Dragon Oracle.[5]
Sensing the aura of the horned devil still within the fragments of the golem, they knew that it could wreak havoc one day if it were to ever be re-assembled. Thus they chose to use a combination of their rune magic and the magic items of Valmous to place him into a healing stasis[3] in a cave behind the College of Rune Magics.[9] Thereby allowing him to arise in the future if ever there came a day when someone tried to reconstruct his creation.[3] As he slept, he had one of the golem's eyes clutched in his arms.[10]
Over time the golem and its creator would both become legendary, but its fiendish possession would be unknown.[2]
In 1358 DR,[note 2] a man named Lychor introduced the wizard Amelior Amanitas to the fragmented legend of this golem,[2] as well as some fragments of it[11] which he managed to merge back together into an arm through use of potions. After doing so they gave off a magical aura. He then became obsessed with the legend, thinking of the fame he would receive,[3] though he would pass it off as being for the betterment of society.[2]
Unbeknownst to Amelior, Lychor was secretly working on behalf of the Zhentarim. The organization hoped to unleash the golem's destructive capabilities upon both Cormyr and the Dalelands.[11] While living in Volkumburg's only inn, the Crimson Wyrm, to keep an eye on his efforts Lychor was also making duplicates of Amelior's plans and notes.[12]
Amelior's efforts to reconstruct the golem[3] attracted the attention of the surviving, devout followers of Valmous and their neanderthal allies, who moved to occupy the ruins and to keep anyone from entering them. With the villagers no longer able to loot the ruins as they pleased, it gradually became taboo to talk about Awtawmatawn, its arm, the ruins of the magical colleges, and Amelior Amanitas.[13]
Amelior later discovered one of the statue's feet (5 feet (1.5 meters) in length)[3] in a temple in Suzail,[2] 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.[3] During this quest the adventurers would find themselves ambushed by the followers of Valmous, who referred to them as the "evil ones" and "bringers of doom," but they managed to fend them off.[13]
The adventurers went on to recover one of the golem's lost hands, hidden beneath a fountain in the village.[9] Then with the unseen aid of Rotbite they uncovered an eye and arm of the golem within a secret cavern of the College of Rune Magics. By disturbing their rest, the adventurers awoke Valmous.[10] He confronted the adventurers and tried to convince them to abandon their quest, but it was to no avail.[9]
Finally, the adventurers retrieved two halves of his leg from the College of Shaping Magic[14] and his head from the Temple of the Dragon Oracle.[15] The awakened Valmous tried to stop them from taking the head, but Lychor managed to drive him off while hiding in the shadows.[16]
A week after the collected parts were turned in to Amelior, Valmous and his disciples attacked the village alongside an army of neanderthals, seeking to destroy 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. Though Lychor fought against both armies, making him appear to be the village's defender.[17]
During this siege the Awtawmatawn's head was lowered on to its body by means of block and tackle. Once it connected the head's eyes began to glow. After ten minute of clumsily experimenting, the demon Rotbite fully regained control of the golem and began to rampage around Volkumburg, destroying Amelior's workshop in the process. Both armies, as well as everyone else in the village, stopped to gawk as this occurred. Lychor then used the distraction to cast a deadly spell on Valmous and those around him, putting him out of action for the rest of the battle,[4] and then Lychor departed from the scene.[17]
Amelior would gift the adventurers a number of items to aid them in the battle, including brass bottles containing his two loyal ogre servants and the djinn 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,[4] 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 after it fell upon the Crimson Wyrm and down through the cavern that was hidden beneath it.[18]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Canon material does not provide a year for the events described in The Shattered Statue that take place 200 years prior to the module itself. However, it is stated on page 3 that a "King Proster" commissioned the Awtawmatawn. The only known Proster from this period of publishing was Proster Obarskyr and page 77 of the The Grand History of the Realms dates his reign as lasting from 1122 DR – 1164 DR.
- ↑ Canon material does not provide a year for the events described in The Shattered Statue, but through extensive research this wiki has estimated a date. The explanation for this date is divided into three points:
(1) Page 16 of The Shattered Statue (February, 1988) describes the destruction of Phlan by dragons as having occurred "several years ago." Since the conflict "Dragon Run" did not exist until The Moonsea, this has to be referring to the Flight of Dragons (1356 DR), which was introduced in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set.
(2) The Savage Frontier (August, 1988), is set in 1358 DR and has Amelior Amanitas refer to its events in past tense.
(3) Page 18 of The Shattered Statue describes the Cult of the Dragon as having long had no presence in Volkumburgh Vale, but TSR Jam 1999 has the cult re-establishing themselves there in 1359 DR.
(4) In conclusion, all together this info suggests that The Shattered Statue takes place in 1358 DR.
Appearances[]
Adventures
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 26. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 9. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 30. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 20. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 13, 20, 26. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 15. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 8–9. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 11. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 13. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 5. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 8. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 6–7. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 14. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 16. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 17. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 29. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 31. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.