Aldill's Book of Forbidden Knowledge
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| Discovered By | Luc Tancred de Bardt |
| Discovery Date | 16 January 2009 |
| Discovery Location | Ansopen, Far East |
| Abilities | Prestige +4 |
| Current Owner | Sir Rauffe de Grenefeld |
Contents
Aldill's Book of Forbidden Knowledge
Item was crafted by a sage. The location was Ansopen. Item was commissioned by Luc Tancred de Bardt (Freeman). Item gives +3 prestige. Condition was 97% when created.
The History Behind the Book
After many years of living in the forests of Ansopen, Luc Tancred was quite familiar with the hermit Aldill who sometimes lived in the cave by the Cold River Falls. Sometimes, when the old man's wanderings brought him to stay, Luc would go visit and show him recent trophies from his adventurers. It was during one such visit that the old man's eyes lit upon the heretic's staff, griffon egg, and giant ruby that Luc had found... with a greedy gaze, the old man kept asking and wheedling Luc to give those items. Finally realizing that they would not be his for free, the sage got a shrewd look in his eye and offered his very own book of arcane research.
The Book
Bound in aged black leather purported to be werewolf skin, Aldill's Book of Forbidden Knowledge contains a sage's lifetime accumulation of lore and dark arts. The heavy cold iron locks that bind the pages shut are secured with a silver key, ensuring that none of the fey folk or daemons would dare touch or unlock the lore hidden therein.
Anyone seeing the book was made to feel uneasy by its presence, perhaps wary that Aldill was once one of the exiled cabalists of the The Blackest Cult.
Adventures with Adlil's Book of Forbidden Knowledge
Upon acquiring this rare item, Luc Tancred immediately knew that Duke Valgar of the Kingdom of Cathay would be interested in it -- the High General was reputed to be a very learned scholar of the arcane. This proved to be true, as the duke rewarded Luc with the unheard of princely sum of 70 gold for the rare tome.
After the battle of Topenah, Duke Valgar asked Luc to see if old Aldill would be able to repair the tome -- it had been drenched in blood during the battle and the ink was illegible in places. When Luc was finally able to find the old man, his eyes lit up with excitement as he saw his old spellbook. Observing that it was drenched in blood only seemed to further inflame the old man. He demanded a small ruby, which he ran over the pages with quivering fingers and miraculously siphoned all of the bloodstains into the gem. An evil glint in his eye, Aldill the Sage winked and swallowed the gem whole (OOC: condition improved from 35% to 103%).
After repairing the tome multiple times for Duke Valgar, the duke frantically asked Luc to take all of his items and repair them at once. It had been some time and several of the items were in such shabby condition that they were only a day or two from complete disintegration. Luc Tancred took the items and began the laborious process of repair, informing Duke Valgar of his progress. In time, however, the Duke's responses came fewer and farther in between, until he no longer answered messages. Left with a cornucopia of items, Luc continued to wander the land.
