Emerald golem

Emerald golems were beautiful gemstone golems made from emeralds.^[3]^[4]

Description[]

A typical emerald golem resembled a heavily muscled human standing 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall and could easily weigh thousands of pounds. Their surface glittered when light hit the emeralds used for their construction.^[3] Their faces were stoic and expressionless.^[5]

As of 1372 DR, emerald golems were observed to slowly transform into the shape of a female human wearing ancient dress and headpiece no matter what their original appearance was. Some wizards, as a result, began to build them in that shape, while some others would use the transformation to track the time and make guesses as to their reason.^[1]

Combat[]

Magical weapons were needed to cause harm to an emerald golem. They possessed considerable immunity to any nature-based magic, making them particularly dangerous when facing witches of Rashemen. Emerald golems were completely immune to harm from acid or heat-based attacks and were partially resistant to electricity.^[3]

Emerald golems attacked with their fists, striking with the force of a fire giant.^[3]

Several times per day an emerald golem could release a green lightning bolt at enemies. The golem could also release a cloud of gas similar to the cloudkill spell once per day.^[3]

A shatter spell cast upon an emerald golem caused them physical harm. Crystalbrittle removed their resistance to magic and allowed weaker magical weapons to penetrate their gemstone hide. A mending spell would partially heal an emerald golem while a glassteel spell would fully heal them.^[3]

Emerald golems were formidable opponents in battle. The easiest way to combat them was to disrupt the circle of wizards that controlled them. Any disruption to the circle caused the emerald golem to wander aimlessly.^[3] As of 1372 DR, emerald golems were more likely to be free-willed.^[1]

Society[]

Emerald golems were used by the Red Wizards of Thay. A circle of at least a dozen wizards, led by a superior, was needed to control them.^[3] By 1372 DR adventurers were more likely to encounter an emerald golem operating without such direct control; these constructs were more likely to be operating on their own initiative and on some interpretation of ancient orders than they were to actually fulfill their creators' orders.^[1]

Creating an emerald golem did not require enough emerald to craft the entire construct, but rather an emerald of no less than ten thousand gold pieces which served as the golem's "heart." The rest of the body could be made of other materials, predominantly semi-precious stones, totaling at least sixty thousand gold pieces. The magic of the golem's creation would transform these stones into emerald.^[1]

Ecology[]

These golems had the ability to create a special teleportation circle known as an emerald gate up to twice a day. Such gates often lasted 30 seconds or less, but some gates endured six hours, curiously. An emerald golem could create a gate to anywhere any other emerald golem had ever been. Though the gates tended not to lead to hazardous locations, safe endpoints were not guaranteed.^[1] When an emerald golem used its teleportation abilities, this was accompanied by bright flashes of light.^[5]

An emerald golem would collapse into a pile of rough cut emeralds and powder when slain. The gems were quite valuable, and the powder could be used by wizards for spell components^[3] although it was otherwise worthless, with most of the golem's creation material having been destroyed. The golem's "heart" would also be left behind.^[1]

History[]

Like all gemstone golems, the secret to creating ruby golems was devised by practitioners of gem magic in ancient Mulhorand. The secret was rediscovered by the Red Wizard Aznar Thrul in 1368 DR, who sought to use the golems to conquer Rashemen.^[1]^[6] However, by 1372 DR he had lost control of his golems, who went rogue and spread out across the continent using the emerald gates to pursue misremembered or gargled directives.^[1]

Sometime during the reign of Nasher Alagondar of Neverwinter, a Red Wizard integrated an emerald golem into a magical box which he was contracted to create by the government of Neverwinter.^[7]^[8] The box was intended to magically summon the Crown of Neverwinter from any place it might be hidden, and was commissioned in response to concerns that Nasher might be slain and his succession could be put into question without the Crown.^[7] When the box was activated, it summoned the emerald golem—which appeared as a tall woman wearing a vest and trousers—who could then be commanded to teleport to the exact location of the Crown, retrieve it, and return with it.^[5] The Red Wizard conspired to use the box to steal the Crown for himself, but was thwarted and killed.^[7] The box was subsequently lost but recovered in 1478 DR, and used by Rucas Sarfael, Elyne Tschavarz, and Montimort to obtain the Crown.^[5] Although the box was then destroyed, the golem was recovered by Valindra Shadowmantle, who was able to learn of the Crown's location from the construct.^[8]