The Jathiman Dagger was a minor artifact created by the Cult of Jathiman to slay the gods themselves.[1][2]
Description[]
It took the form of an ordinary iron blade, weighing 1 pound (0.45 kilograms).[1][2] It was said to ripple with arcane energy.[2]
Powers[]
It was a +5 unholy dagger. Moreover, it bestowed on the wielder a particular power over the fates of divine beings, and penetrated all protections a target being had by virtue of the divine.[1]
History[]
Of Netherese origin, the ancient Jathimites despised deities and all aspects of the divine. They believed that, through sheer brute force, mortals could even bring down and kill the gods. Thus, by weaving arcane magic through violent self-destruction—in the actual self-sacrifice of thirty-nine Jathimites—they manifested these forces in physical form, crafting the Jathiman Dagger.[1]
They would not get to savor their creation for long. The god Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything, caused the slaughter of the whole surviving sect in grisly fashion: trapping them in a great coliseum where he slowly imploded and then reanimated them as ghouls who would devour the others, and forcing them to watch each other's fates in horror and hunger. Afterward, he took the Jathiman Dagger for himself.[1]
But, rather than use it, Jergal ultimately let the Jathiman Dagger come into the possession of Bane whilst he was still a mortal. The three adventurers Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul would go on to use the Jathiman Dagger in their unholy quest.[1]
In the Year of Boiling Moats, −359 DR, they used it to slay the god-like being Borem, at the Lake of Boiling Mud in Rezamark, and with that act attained a measure of divinity themselves.[1][2]
Later, in the Year of Craven Words, −350 DR, they surprised Haask, priest-king of Grong-Haap, in his throne-room in Ironfang Keep. Bhaal thrust the Jathiman Dagger into the back and heart of Haask, draining his life energy and revealing the greathorn minotaur to be truly a batrachi-doppelganger.[3][note 1]
They left the Jathiman Dagger piercing Borem's Quagheart, which was still slowly beating, in order to prevent the reforming of the Lake of Boiling Mud and the potential return of Borem. They buried the two artifacts in a 3-foot-wide (1 meter) spherical chamber, buried some 35 feet (11 meters) deep on Mezeketh Isle off the coast of Sembia, at a site marked by a certain menhir inscribed in an ancient Jhaamdathan script. There it still lay, unknown to all mortals, by 1372 DR.[1]
Notable Owners[]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The history here seems contradictory, as the dates imply the three slew Borem before Haask, yet left the dagger in Borem's heart, suggesting he was slain last. It may be that they stuck the dagger back in Borem's Quagheart after slaying Haask, perhaps to prevent the Lake of Boiling Mud reforming.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Edited by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 169, 170. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Brian R. James (November 2007). “Realmslore: Ironfang Keep”. In Chris Youngs ed. Dragon #361 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 49–51.