~ HoD Summary: The Book of Infinite Souls

The 5th Editon playtest campaign.
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EvilGenius
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~ HoD Summary: The Book of Infinite Souls

Post by EvilGenius »

This thread will be updated to document all of the information you have learned about The Book of Infinite Souls.

The Book of Infinite Souls

The tome of collected lore about the Book of Infinite Souls is an old book, written in several languages over the course of centuries. There are many sheets of notes or relevant information from other sources that are loosely tucked in between various pages. It appears that some effort was made more recently to summarize and codify the many scraps of information, written in a neat hand in the Infernal language.

A reading of the summary reveals the following information:
The Book of Infinite Souls was created on Oerth thousands of years ago during the Sueloise Imperium. The Book granted tremendous magical power to those who owned it, so long as they kept powering it with souls or other magical items. In time, though, the Sueloise god of Death and Magic, Wee Jas, took note of the Book's destruction of the souls of her flock. Angered by the affront to her spheres of influence, Wee Jas worked with a Power little known to the Suel, Celestian, The Far Wanderer, to hide away the Book.

Together the gods created The Donjon, a trapped demi-plane, in which they could hide the Book. The gods placed many protections on the Donjon, both mighty and subtle, then they tricked the owner of the Book into accessing the demi-plane, and when he fell prey to the magical protections, his own soul was devoured by the Book, leaving the Book trapped and unclaimed.

But the gods were not done yet. They sent their followers to track down the three items tied to the Book: a Helm, a Sword and a Spear. Each of them had the ability to drain souls and feed them to the Book. One by one the items were collected and destroyed, leaving the Book completely cut off from ownership and power sources.

Over the many centuries since, others have learned of the Book and sought to claim its power. None have yet succeeded and the Book lies inert in it's celestial donjon.
At this point, there are some new notes in a different hand, revealing the following information.
The dragon Valos has been seeking the Book for some time. It is thought that he has created at least one item that can directly feed the Book, as the Sword, Helm and Spear did, long ago. Another item has been recovered by Lord Eezamm, a helm of telepathy, which is also tied to the Book. It is not known if the dragon has found a way to breach The Donjon or bypass the defenses.
Another note is scrawled in the margin next to this. The dragon is in the Donjon! We do not know how but he was able to enter safely. However, he appears to be trapped there. This is a mixed success, for the dragon has claimed the Book and is able to use its power to influence the world outside of The Donjon, but he cannot leave. It is unknown how long the dragon can exist in The Donjon but potentially forever?
Last edited by EvilGenius on Sun Nov 01, 2020 2:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Another daring escape for the intrepid Spaceman Spiff!
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EvilGenius
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Re: HoD Summary: The Book of Infinite Souls

Post by EvilGenius »

Brigga takes some time studying the tome and the various notes and learns the following.

The Book of Infinite Souls

DC 15 Investigation Check:
A book of Infinite Spells that devours souls or magical items in order to power itself.
1. Devouring souls could fill it with spells? Or maybe just powers pre-existing spells?
....a. All spells have a certain number of uses and then fade from the book
2. The book requires two attunement slots
....a. If you die while attuned to the book, your soul is devoured by the book, creating new spells
....b. An attuned wielder has to make a saving throw to un-attune from book

DC 20 Investigation Check:
1. The Book is only semi-intelligent.
2. A soul is the books preferred power source, but magical items will also work to power the book, albeit less efficiently (it seems that Uncommon or better magical items would be required, and such items would not charge the Book as much as a living soul).
3. The spell abilities have been known to change. It is not known if the spell selection changes at the will of the wielder, or according to what is used to power the Book, or if it is random.
4. The Book has had up to 3 items tied to it that funnel souls to the book. By using the items to power the Book, the wielder can use the Book safely (unless he dies).
5. The three items used to be a Sword, a Staff and a Helm, however, they were all though destroyed long ago.
....a. New items could be crafted, in theory.
....b. The Book is fickle, like a hungry beast. It tends to go to whomever feeds it the most, at least for a time. In that way, it may be possible to temporarily wrest control away from the attuned wielder.

The Donjon

DC 15 Investigation Check:
1. The location of the demi-plane actually changes everytime someone tries to access it, causing most methods of inter-planar travel to fail.
2. Even if someone does successfully access the demi-plane, the act of breaching the planar barrier surrounding The Donjon causes the instant death of the planar traveler and their soul is fed to The Book.

DC 20 Investigation Check:
1. It is said that only way to breach the barrier was to have the ability to travel the infinite planes at will, so that you could bend the travelling ability to find the demi-plane and to adjust to the active defenses that move the demi-plane about.
2. But breaching the planar barrier requires the sacrifice of a soul of sufficient power.
3. The Planar Barrier around the demi-plane acts as a special feeding device for the Book, as the Sword, Helm and Spear did.
3. This was supposed to make The Donjon impenetrable since the 3 items associated with the Book had been destroyed, so the only way to breach was to sacrifice one’s own soul to the Book by breaching the planar barrier.
Another daring escape for the intrepid Spaceman Spiff!
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EvilGenius
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Re: HoD Summary: The Book of Infinite Souls

Post by EvilGenius »

Now that Thulik has joined the party, he is able to delve deeper into the collections of legends and lore regarding the Book of Infinite Spells. He discovers the following information.

The Book of Infinite Souls

DC 22 Investigation Check
1. The Book has 3 associated items that also steal souls to power spell abilities. In this way an attuned user can use the book safely.
2. The associated items used to be a Sword, a Staff and a Helm. However, they were all thought destroyed when the Book was imprisoned.

DC 25 Investigation Check
1. New items can be crafted and linked to the Book to feed it souls. There are hints about the process here. A skilled wizard could use this information to create the new items.
.... This also reveals details on how to create items with the new Master/Slave attunement type.
2. The Book is only semi-sentient. It tends to go to the one who feeds it. It is possible to temporarily wrest control of the Book away from the one attuned to it by feeding the Book magic or souls, either in greater quantity or greater power.

DC 30 Investigation Check
1. It seems that the Book can only devour so much energy at one time. That's why there were only 3 feeder items, originally. The actual number of feedings possible at once is thought to be 6. That suggests that the original items may have had the ability to devour a soul and a magical item simultaneously.
2. It's not known what would happen if more than 6 feedings were attempted simultaneously. The extra feedings may simply fail. Or it might cause some sort of magical feedback, potentially to disastrous effect.

The Donjon

DC 22 Investigation Check
1. Regular planar travel out of the Donjon either doesn't work at all or as soon as a creature crosses the barrier of the demi-plane, it is slain and the creatures soul feeds the Book instead. It is unclear which of those two options is correct.


DC 25 Investigation Check
1. Someone attuned to the Book could theoretically exert control over the physical properties of the Donjon. So the demi-plane could conceivably look like anything the attuned creature willed (Although changes would take time and effort).

DC 30 Investigation Check
1. The Barrier to the Donjon is actually one huge feeder effect for the Book. That's why crossing into the Donjon kills you.
2. That suggests a loophole to accessing the demi-plane. The Book can only devour so many souls or magical items simultaneously. If the Book is feeding at capacity, then it may be possible to breach the barrier without being killed and devoured.
Another daring escape for the intrepid Spaceman Spiff!
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