The Whispering Tome
This long lost tome has a cover of smooth steel. On its surface a single glowing rune: Aphkwash - A Rune that translates as "Life". The tome whispers whenever someone comes close. The whispers are those of a soft, sensual male. It promises riches. It promises power. It promises eternal life.
If the tome is attacked:
If the tome is attacked, it will conjure up a guardian spirit; a wraith that is seen like a dark haze with blazing red eyes. This wraith is formidable and will attack the PCs with its withering touch that goes straight through normal shields and armor.
Page 1:
Once the PCs open the book, they find an image of the guardian wraith. A feeling of horror and dread grips them and fantasies of their impending doom starts haunting them. (If the PC is unable to resist this spell he will be faced with the wraith again once he has gone to bed and has slept for a couple of hours. The wraith will be within his dreams and cannot be seen by the others. This time the PC has to face the wraith alone, naked and afraid).
Page 2:
On this page the dark drawing of a clawed hand can be seen. Unless the PC resists the spell, a spectral hand bursts through the paper, locking his neck in a chilling grip.
Page 3-12:
On these pages the spell "Detect undead" is described in great detail.
Page 13-40:
On these pages the ritual spell "Create zombie" is described with words and disgusting images.
Page 41:
On this page a dark cage has been painted. If the PC is unable to resist, he will be trapped inside the cage. The other PCs will not see him anymore, until they look at the cage, they will see the PC frozen inside the cage, anguish in his eyes as he grips the bars of his cage.
If the PCs want to release him they will need to either dispel the magic or cut a human's hand and let droplets of blod drip on the page.
The cage can only imprison one person at a time.
After releasing a captive the cage spell takes 6 hours to recharge.
Page 42-43:
On this page a moving painting of an ancient, withered vampire can be seen. He stands in the night with his cloak wrapped around him. At his feet: A wolf with glowing eyes. In the sky: A full moon and bats filling the sky.
While this page is shown other vampires can get no closer than 5 meters as they will hiss and scream and be repulsed by the magics of Dannadoor.
Page 44:
The mark of judgment. There is a glowing rune drawn on this page. It is not a common rune, and only spells identifying magic will reveal what it stands for: Dannadoor the Great. A vampire lord described as the villain in some ancient myths. If the PC is unable to resist the glowing rune will be burned into the forehead of the PC. Other PCs watching the page will also get the rune if they are unable to resist. Once the glowing rune is burning in their foreheads, they will come to realize the secrets of the tome better, including how to free anyone trapped in the cage.
The PCs bearing the judgment of Dannadoor on their forehead will also feel a cold shiver down their spine as their eyes gets covered by a milky surface and they get a vision of the lid of a sarcophagus sliding sideways in a crypt in a faraway land. They know Dannadoor has awakened for the first time in millennia, and he can sense their presence. (Plot device for a hunted by a master vampire plotline)
Page 45-102:
On these pages the ritual "Become one with the night" is described. It is a ritual explaining how the PCs can perform a ritual turning them into children of the night (vampires).
Page 103-120:
On this page the spell "Touch of the Vampire" is described in great detail.
Page 121:
Dannadoor's Astral Tower. By spending 4 hours reciting a mantra written on this page over and over, the reader can summon the door into a lighthouse on the astral plane. This is Dannadoor's long lost study and as such it contains guardians and loot and is a pocket dimension of sorts as they can see the astral plane, even study parts of it through an observatory or the wide glass panels in the main study, but there is no exit into the astral plane itself. The only way into and out of the lighthouse is through the door created by the book. The pocket dimension has food and water for 7 days and then it has to be recharged through the reciting of the mantra over again.
Page 122-133:
The ritual spell: "Summon soul servant" is described on these pages. It is a lengthy ritual summoning a soul servant to live within the soul and skin of the mage. The power and abilities of the soul servant varies, as does their intellect. They range from feral and wild things, to passionate spirits full of consummate desires to cunning and Machiavellian beings. The soul servant boosts the magical abilities of the mage considerably (increased mana in mana based systems and bound spells in spell slot systems). They also boost resistances to possession and magic.
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? Responses (3)
Cool! I like the feeling/flavor and the mechanics.
This would be a great opportunity for the DM to prepare with some page drawings :D
This book has a very wide range of powers. I guess I caution that this feels like a fairly high-level item.
If the tome is attacked: - does this refer to if its hit or is the tome aware enough to sense someone preparing to hit it?
In my campaign the "if the tome is attacked" sequence happened after the group enchanter attempted to identify it with a spell, just after the spell had been cast. I guess that qualifies as "when it is hit", though the definition of "hit" is very broad.
This one just kept getting more fun as you read. I especially enjoyed the forehead rune that allows better understanding. I was wondering, up to then, how they would know to drop blood from a cut hand for the cage escape. Enjoyed the give and take of dangers and information.