Sunday, March 5, 2017

Lost Tomes 5

....wherein we find more books to seek, stumble upon, or suppress....

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Funerary of Ildar:  A hide-bound book of resurrection of the dead.  The book contains powerful texts for the retrieval of the soul from beyond, and re-securing it to the mortal body.  However, the subject of the resurrection must now permanently keep the book in their possession to maintain their revivified status.  Physical separation from the book will sever the person's hold on life, rendering them permanently dead.  The book will be found with a decayed corpse a few feet away, in the attitude of crawling toward the volume.

The Mortuaria of Radow: A clandestine directory of maps to a dynasty's King-barrows.  It was compiled by generations of tomb-builders (and grave-robbers) in deepest secrecy.  If the map-book's unique cipher can be broken, the directory shows the locations, contents, and hazards of dozens of tombs.  Map fragments secreted in the book's cover consist of partial information, requiring a complicated sequence of overlays and foldings to depict the barrow locations. There is a likelihood that a number of these tombs may remain undefiled. If found on a person by the Dynasty's forces, the copy will be immediately destroyed, and the person and their companions buried alive in punishment.  Two copies are rumored to exist.

Worm-caller's Scrolls:  Stinking, fetid skins wrap parchment written in the runes of a mysterious subterranean cult.  The cult claims to speak the languages of and communes with various monstrous burrowing annelids.  The bearers of the scrolls may pass through giant worm-burrows without harm.  The odor of the scrolls identifies the bearers as 'worm-talkers,' causing generally negative reactions from other subterranean dwellers.  Mastering any of the associated worm-cants will allow communication with a number of species of giant hell-worms known or rumored in the land.

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Onieromancers' Somnambularium: A spellbook of an Onieromancer - an arcane practitioner and manipulator of sleep and the night.  The book contains numerous spells associated with the discipline,  including various 'dreamwalking' spells for the viewing and manipulation of dreams (and dreamers...).  The book's deep black cover imitates a moonless night sky. Any non-onieromancer handling the book must save vs spells or fall into a deep trance, simply staring at the book's cover until the book is removed or covered.

Gnoll-codex:  A discredited sage's study of the matrilineal lines and mating habits of the gnoll clans of the Outer Plains.  The illustrations are exceptionally detailed and hint at quite personalized research in the matter.

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The Cog-Rhack: Developed by secret castes of dwarven majicker-smiths, this iron-bound manual secured with complicated clockwork specifies the creation and operation of mobile automatons for the transport of ore and other heavy hauling.

Songbooks of Ghamoskel: A collection of chants and psalters of marginalized non-human gods.  The texts include:

  1. Fungus Lord Hymnal  - Songs of hallucination and decay in dedication to the spore-gods. 
  2. Insect Anthiem - Trilling songs of the hive and communal goals.  Certain phrases within the verses allow a disorienting gateway to the compound visions of the hive minds.
  3. Labyrinthinos - Paeans to the minotaur-gods of the mazes and lost twisted places. The supplicant, while keeping up the songs, will not be misdirected in a maze.
  4. The Yiap - Calls to an alien, one-legged saltating god of the plains.  With great leaping bounds it attempts to stomp out the unworthy...
  5. Oestern Ent-songs - Sonorous, ponderous chants of the tree folk - takes days to complete a single verse.  Full choral symphonies in the language can outlast a human lifetime.
  6. The Torhoninahin -  Subsonic moans and meditations of the near-immortal god-mammoth that tracks among the frozen northern wastes and is worshiped by the Hatgarrak Wanderers as the Tundra-lord.


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