At last, the final piece of the Dark Treasury, the Book of Keeping....

At one point there were four Books of Keeping, but it is believed that only one complete copy remains.  The work is a comprehensive and ever changing manual of lore on the denizens of the Infernus.  It contains all manner of spells pertaining to summoning and control of infernal beings, including quite a few unique spells concerning daemons.  But most significantly, it contains a large number of true names of powerful, unique fiends including dukes and lords of Hell and demon princes.  The originals were compiled by a coven of night hags who used the knowledge therein to barter for souls and larvae.  Over the centuries they were stolen and scattered.  At times one or more volumes would briefly re-surface, only to disappear once it attracted too much attention.  At these times it is believed that other works were incorporated into the Books of Keeping, one such text being the infamous Demonicum of Iggwilv.  At least one of these copies was destroyed by a band of mortal heroes led by a paladin named Merlon, but the means of its destruction is not recorded.

The sole remaining copy is bound in the leathery skin of nycadaemon.  Its cover is decorated with askeletal hand, that appears to have been from a human.  This copy of the book once belonged to the mighty lich Vecna.  His followers kept it for some time after the lich's disappearance but its present whereabouts is unclear.  One persistent rumor puts it in the mysterious floating dungeon of Highfell. 

As indicated above, The Book of Keeping contains detailed information on the Infernus and its denizens, including sections on geography, personalities, factions, and strengths and weaknesses of powerful personages.  It is most accurate in its coverage of daemons.  In game terms this means that anyone reading the book will have the basic information on such entities covered in the standard rulebooks.  As might be expected, virtually any fiend would kill to get the information in this book.  So would most night hags.  The language of the Book of Keeping is High Infernal.  It is neutral evil in alignment and any mortal that reads the book must make a wisdom check each month or be afflicted with a randomly determined form of insanity.  Evil readers gain 1 level of experience and +5 to any proficiency or skill checks related to Infernal Lore.

 

Spider of Leng wrote:

As promised, I'm going to start uploading my write-ups on the Dark Treasury.  Feel free to crib/steal whatever you'd like. 

Hi Spider!  I'm late to the game, but found your work very inspiring -- i.e. I might just crib a thing or two!   And in the interest of open discussion, I hope you don't mind if I share a few thoughts of my own.

Spider of Leng wrote:

The Seven Cryptic Scrolls of Shan 

I noticed your change to the traditional spelling of "Hsan" to "Shan" and wondered, is there any connection to that other Shan, aka the insects from Shaggai?  Many works of art and writing could actually be the product of Shan infesting the human authors, particuarly works that celebrate chaos, depravity, suffering, Azathoth, or the pursuit of extreme sensation/hedonism.  But the Seven Cryptical Scrolls seem to be more on the systematic and comprehensive end of the scale, so perhaps they don't fall into this category. 

I do enjoy your correlation between the men of Leng and Tibetan mystics, who by some accounts have a powerful connection (or opposition) to Mythos forces. 

Brock Savage wrote:

I'd like to suggest another classic volume.

The King in Yellow. A thin black volume with a large Yellow Sign embossed across the cover. The text is an ambiguous, dream-like play in three parts describing the succession of royalty in an alien city. It reveals truth as a phantom and the essential hopelessness of man's search for meaning in a cold and dispassionate universe, exposing readers to madness. Spells: The Yellow Sign.

The Library of Khromarium will pay handsomely for its return.

Hey Brock--

I've decided to make this volume, or a modified version of it, the hook to the whole campaign.  At the beginning of the campaign, the party attends a birthday party for a famous magician named Uriah.  One of the gifts he receives is a copy of The King in Yellow.  This historical piece details the rise and fall of the aforementioned king, also known as the Yellow Emperor of ancient Leng.  His use of the Dark Treasury resulted in the destruction of his kingdom, but the power of the works nonetheless holds great attraction for certain evil individuals and factions.  Shortly after the birthday party the book will be stolen and the magician will be assassinated.  Thus will begin a series of fetch quests in a sandbox style of sorts to gather the Dark Treasury or thwart others from doing so.  In fact, one group is going to try and resurrect the King in Yellow, whose trap-laden tomb is hidden somewhere in the environs of the ruined city of Sarkomand.

Thanks for the inspiration!
 

Yes, quite the inspiration.

Thanks, I literally have three different campaign notebooks I'm using now to jot down ideas and keep track of all the threads and permutations emerging.  Fortunately, both the character parties I'm running are still low to mid levels (3-6) so they won't be high enough to go through this projected campaign for awhile.  But many seeds are already being planted.

These are awesome, some of these will be finding their way into some of my games.