Mala'thazus¶
"This dagger is linked to Malathar. He let the players have it to keep tabs on them." — Session 4 notes (S060)
Contested
This page is named in the open question Marcella or Marcayllis at Urdhar; Malathar and the Circle. Two Fifth Age session notes differ on who gave Argo the dagger, a member of the Circle (S060) or Marcella (S061); since S061 makes Marcella a spy within the Circle, the page gives both.
Mala'thazus is an elvish dagger of adamantine alloy, one of a pair, carried in the Proturan campaign by the High Elf Argo. Through it Malathar the Pestilent drained Argo's life to rise from his tomb, and it binds the two still: it pains Argo, and messages pass along it. Its sibling blade is Etha'zurias.
Nature¶
"Daggers: Mala'thazus - Elvish Name: These are an Adamantine Alloy" of exceptional quality (S058, S060). The name is elvish; the notes do not translate it.
The waking of Malathar¶
The dagger was a trap. Argo was given it "by Marcella" for numerous reasons: the warlock Kael'dras had pointed him out as a former member and rival, Marcella hoped to make him an ally, and "Marcella needed a High Elf to revive Malathar" (S061). Marcella was "a spy for Eksuru within the circle" (S061), and the later notes say only that "one of their members", of the Circle of Eternity, "was responsible for giving Argo his dagger" (S060).
Malathar's return "was orchestrated by main Antagonist. They sent the expedition to get the items and open the tomb and provide fodder for Malathar. They allowed the players to find out about it to finalize the awakening (with a High Elf and the Dagger)" (S058). In the Tomb of Malathar the Pestilent, an old iron mine, Argo "will feel tremendous pain ... He will know his lifeforce has been drained and the source was the Dagger. Malathar is now soul-linked with Argo" (S058). Argo had to live, "as Malathar will be feeding off him for a while" (S058).
The link¶
Afterwards the dagger "is linked to Malathar. He let the players have it to keep tabs on them. It will occasionally cause Argo pain" (S060). Marcella too could look through it (S061). The link ran both ways: Argo's reports to the party come headed "From the Dagger", telling them that Malathar was sending people to the Etterwood to dig at the ruins of Kae'Ferrel, where "there is something important beneath it related to a Dragon" (S051). The story is told in the Proturan Campaign chronicle.
Etha'zurias¶
The second dagger of the pair, Etha'zurias, was carried by another member of the party (S058, S060). The notes name it and nothing more.
Gap
No source says who made the daggers, what the elvish names mean, whether Etha'zurias carries a link of its own, or whether Argo was ever freed of Malathar's.