Items · Books and Scrolls · Villanous
A Holy Book - 1
It appears to be a very nice holy book of the dominant good faith, the kind that his passed down from generation to generation. The binding is leather and quite plain, but the inside is nicely scribed and occasionally illuminated. A pity that it will lead you down the Path of Darkness the moment you understand its secret.
Full Item Description
It appears to be a very nice holy book of the dominant good faith, the kind that his passed down from generation to generation. The binding is leather and quite plain, but the inside is nicely scribed and occasionally illuminated.
History
See Magic Properties. If it is a family book, then someone in your family tree is not what they seem to be. If it is of someone else's family, they have the dark knot in the family tree.
Magic/Cursed Properties
However, if read under moonlight, something else appears. MoonInk is present. The Ink/Paint dries to be totally clear and almost unnoticable. Under moonlight, it comes forth as a silver ink. While used for Elven Art, it has other less pleasant purposes.
In this case, an Evil Grimoire is enscribed in the holy book. This grimoire has been passed down through several generations of apprentice and master. It has many ancient and powerful spells that have been thought lost. In addition to spells, it has information on a number of cults including contact points. The controller of this book could barter these spells and information for the services of many evil cults.
Of course, many Evil Cults, once they figure out where the book is, will do anything to get it. Anything. And remember, as the owner, you might be caught in the cross fire between these cults.
Scrolls
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Discussion
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Also in
Codex hubs that gather this piece with similar work.
- Garage Sale from Hell MoonHunter
Retellings
No Retellings yet — the best compliment on the Citadel is a Retelling.
Bonds
Curated bonds across the Citadel — sign in to bind a bond. Kindred Favors are another thread in the same weave.
Links to this article 3
- Garage Sale from Hell MoonHunter linked by MoonHunter
- Libriums D'Arcanum MoonHunter linked by MoonHunter
- MoonInk MoonHunter linked by MoonHunter
Favored by Kindred Readers 1
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I like it. I like a little more history and background but overall a decently devious device. Why more tomes and books don't use hidden script or ink to hide their knowledge is beyond me. It seems the perfect cover for a cult or evil person trying to hide information.
Toss a book of the Good Gods in with some treasure and let the groups good cleric get a hold of it. Possibly making it where even reading the written script will have some affect on the reader even reading it normally without the hidden script.
I like it.
I like it. I've seen it before a couple of different ways but the Moon Ink is a good idea.
Yes the Moon Ink should be a submission unto itself.
The book itself is a good idea. It is a generic enough bit from the Evil Bag of Tricks, simply an interesting combination of technology. And I mean that in a Clark sort of way.
I like the concept that the written script, though unseen, can still affect the reader. Add this to the memory book and things get scary.
A nice solid idea to inflict on the unwary. It could be also a book on morals and stuff that everybody knows, but doesn't read more than once... but a 'holy' book, sort of a family bible is definitely the thing to hide evil.
Only the name of this sub could be better. :)
Not bad! A potentially ugly surprise hidden in a fair packeage. Such a "holy text" might be very valuable by itself: I picture "Les Tres Rich Heures" of the Duc de Berri, a breviary decorated with masterfully-painted illumination.
The cult's diabolical information might only be written on some of the pages, to minimize the chance that someone could accidentally realize the text's true nature. If I were such a cultist, the hidden passages would also be written in cipher, to make it as difficult as possible for others to discover my secrets.
On the other hand, in a world of magic, those with powers of sight - but not of the right kind - might actually perceive what is written... subconsciously, like a subliminal message.
In that case, un-ciphered could have a much interesting effect on the reader - going back to what Mourn has suggested. An unwholesome book indeed!
I like that concept of the ink being subliminally percievable. Perhaps there needs to be another ink, a ShadowInk, which does the subliminal influence but is not visible under somewhat normal means.
Well, there doesn't _need_ to be... but of course can. :D
Sounds like an interesting option.
I like this idea - reminds me of the Moon Letters in the Hobbit.
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Moon-letters
Clever. I feel like this would be better as a stub than a full sub, since it's just sort of a single twist of an idea, but I still like it.