Book of Worlds

Description

This ancient tome is wrapped in a parchment binding. The parchment is dyed a pitch black, as though covered in countless layers of ink. The cover feels rough to the touch, like sandpaper. The book is three inches thick and weighs two pounds.

The pages of the Book are made of seemingly ordinary parchment. Letters are constantly moving across the pages as the reader flips through the pages. When looking at a page, letters will come together to form words, and will disperse as soon as the word is read, another word forming in its stead. In this way, no sentence can be reread once it has already been looked at. The book tells stories of other worlds, with the tale lasting exactly as long as the reader has time for. There is a seemingly endless number of tales to be told by the book.

Those with high intelligence feel equally drawn to the Book and repulsed by it. Those who are introverted are especially drawn to the book on seeing it. As such, it is especially tempting towards wizards, and others of their ilk.

Artifact of Blurthrus

The Book of Worlds is an artifact created by Blurthrus, god of misinformation, deceit, and secrecy. Because of this, the Book of Worlds is considered a lawful evil artifact. The artifact is generally ignored by its creator, but if someone attempts to damage the Book, they will invoke his interest at best, and his anger at worst.

The reading of the book causes changes within the Astral Plane under the domain of Blurthrus. The story crafted by the story immediately begins happening on the Astral Plane, with the appropriate settings and materials materializing out of nothingness. This causes parts of Blurthrus' domain to be in a state of flux whenever the Book is being read.

Due to the nature of the book, it has a high risk of people obsessing over it, seeking out more stories that it holds.

It is not known why Blurthrus created this artifact, but it is believed that he enjoys watching the effects the book has on people and how it effects those who become obsessed with the book. Perhaps he simply enjoyed the endless variability of the stories the book provided, and wished to have actors to perform these stories. To do so, he made the book a source of Obsession.

Obsession

Every time the Book of Worlds is read, the reader must make a Wisdom Save

DC = Intelligence Score +1

On a failed Wisdom Saving Throw, the player received one point of Obsession. The Wisdom Save DC increases by one per point of Obsession. When a person has five or more points of Obsession, they are instantly transported to Blurthrus' domain in the astral plane. From then on, the person is one of the actors that live out the stories read in the Book of Worlds.

While in the Astral Plane under the effects of obsession, the prisoners have no free will, though they can think and wish to act against the actions they are forced to undertake by the story being read. In addition, they feel no effects of time, and are essentially immortal, albeit trapped and without free will.

Obsession points can be lost by being away from the Book. For every two weeks away from the book, Obsession decreases by one point. Obsession can also be removed by spells and items that remove curses.

Inspiring Tales

The tales within the Book of Worlds can give the reader wonderful confidence in their abilities, and in many cases increases their ability to perform.

When the Book is read from roll a d20. Use the table below to identify what skill proficiency is gained in for one use

Skill Proficiency Roll