Book of Vile Darkness

The Book of Vile Darkness is a foul manuscript containing the darkest of the countless dark secrets found across the realms. No mortal was meant to know the secrets it contains, knowledge so horrid that to even glimpse the scrawled pages invites madness. It is said that the original copy was penned by Vecna, the lich-god of Evil Secrets, who filled the tome with every diseased idea, unhinged thought, and example of blackest magic he came across or devised himself.
There exist several copies of the Book of Vile Darkness today, though their exact number is unknown. Many practitioners of the dark arts have held them over the ages, adding their own input to increase the books vile knowledge. Sometimes this information is entirely new and other times it merely adds additional details to what was already there. Though there are places where pages are missing, torn, or covered so completely with ink, blood, and scratches that the original text can't be read, it is said that none of the books dark secrets can be truly removed and that anything written in one copy will soon appear in the others.
Nature can't abide the book's presence. Ordinary plants wither in its presence, animals are unwilling to approach it, and the book gradually destroys whatever it touches. Even stone cracks and turns to powder if the book rests on it long enough. Though there have been those who have tried to destroy Book of Vile Darkness, none of these attempts have been permanently rid the multiverse of the book's evil. While historical records do confirm that one or more of the books have been destroyed on multiple occasions, the always seem to crop up again somewhere. Whether these are the same copies preserved by some form of magic or entirely new copies produced by unknown methods remains uncertain.

Dark Lore in the Book

While the Book of Vile Darkness has several practical purposes for black-hearted individuals, such as the casting powerful necromancy spells or enchanting wicked creatures to do their bidding, it also contains large sections with more complex information on vile spells, rituals, and pieces of arcane history.

1. The book contains information on the proper casting of the ritual to transform one's own self into a lich, including the process of crafting a phylactery, and the best ways to conceal it to ensure your continued survival.
2. The book contains a cook-book style guide on how to craft the best flesh golems, including what meaty bits of what creatures to use, a precise measurement on how much arcane energy should be pumped into the body, and exactly where to connect each piece.
3. The book contains the true names of a vast array of devils, yugoloths, fey, and other creatures with the belief that knowing a being's true name gives you power over it.
4. The book contains a section which acts as a zoological research guide regarding various eldritch horrors from the Far Realm. There is a clear purpose, intelligence, and intent to the writing, but 90% of it is just nonsense, buzz words, and technical jargon indecipherable to anyone who doesn't already have a grasp of the field.
5. The book contains one of the last remaining guides to casting Twilight Veil, a 10th level spell, a class of magic forbidden from being cast by the gods. The spell requires vigorous preparation to cast, an exorbitant casting time, and an incredible toll on the caster's body, but the end results can be absolutely devastating should it be properly performed.
6. The book contains a slew of curses crafted from a slurry of words in infernal, abyssal, and sylvan dialects, with a range of effects bordering on cruel pranks to serious disfiguration of your enemies, and everything in between.
7. The book contains the means to traverse and map out the Domains of Dread within the Shadowfell, revealing clear-cut pathways connecting the domains together which otherwise would be impossible to identify.
8. The book contains the means to craft a tincture which acts as a love potion, though less in the vein of "true love and happiness" and more the in the vein of "obsessive devotion bordering on ritualistic worship".
9. The book contains a section that magically writes and rewrites itself with the passage of time, containing an innumerable number of long lists detailing every single immoral, unscrupulous, and downright vile thing each high ranking political figure globally has done over the course of their entire lives, with timestamps.
10. The book contains a detailed, extensive, and convincing philosophical dialogue asserting the moral superiority of self-interest, might-makes-right, and willingness to disregard societal norms to pursue one’s goals. This is often one of the first passages the book’s infinite pages show to a new holder, and the author of the dialogue is listed only as “Myself”.
11. The book contains an entire section devoted to cannibalism, giving information on how to properly prepare the meat of your own species for consumption. It looks like it was initially a small section devoted solely to humans, but has slowly evolved over many hundreds of years to include a vast selection of recipes and notes critiquing past authors, going through nearly all the various sentient races of the multiverse.
12. The book contains a guide, complete with diagrams, on creating an innumerable amount of torture devices, each more devastating than the last. Devices include (but are not limited to) nerve pullers, barbed nerve extractors, trepans (skull drills), dermatomes (designed to harvest sheets of skin), etc. The majority of these devices include side sections detailing how to infuse them with restorative magics, healing or reviving the victims to artificially extend the torture duration.
13. The book contains a discussion piece weighing the pros and cons of various soul trapping methods, reading like a well-written review judging and evaluating several products made for the same purpose. Methods include but are not limited to soul dissection, a night hag's soul bag, infernal soul coins, etc.
14. The book contains sheet music for a song called the "Caelum Dolor Maximus" (Heaven's Greatest Sorrow). The song is beautiful, and automatically corrects itself on the page to be readable by any musician for their preferred instrument. The song was written by an imprisoned fallen angel, and details their fall from grace. Performing the song requires a DC 25 Performance check to play, and forces all who can hear it to make a DC 25 Charisma saving throw. Failure of this saving throw drives people into deep states of depression, eventually leading to suicidal ideations.
15. The book contains various scientific articles from different time periods and geographic regions postulating on the most effective means of eliminating all life in the multiverse in the shortest amount of time possible while also expending the fewest resources.
16. The book contains a scrawled out note, in big letters, sort of a reminder for some malicious mage who held this tome previously. In hastily scribbled text, it reads "DON'T FORGET: HEALING SPELLS CAN BE COUNTERED". Directly under it, in smaller text, it says "that means revivify too!!!". Both notes are underlined several times.
17. The book contains a detailed guide to psychological manipulation. The earlier portions of this section are effectively a textbook description of malignant narcissism rephrased into a how-to manual, but later on it gets more extreme, explaining how to trigger Stockholm syndrome with 98% effectiveness, how to break a servant’s self esteem and ambition without hamstringing their capabilities, and even an algorithm to determine whether a given atrocity is more likely to break the spirits of the oppressed masses or trigger a revolt.
18. The book contains an incredibly vast list of baby names with the most rude, cruel nicknames for each name listed beneath each one. If you look up your own name, you must succeed on a DC 25 Wisdom save or become stunned as you are wracked with childhood trauma. You make remake this save every minute, ending the effect on yourself on a successful save.
19. The book contains a massive ink blot, similar to a Rorschach test. Gazing upon it and attempting to discern it's shape brings up traumatic memories repressed throughout your life. Attempting your first long rest after gazing upon the Rorschach test fills your dreams with nightmares of the aforementioned traumatic events, preventing you from receiving the benefits of a long rest for that night and giving a point of exhaustion to yourself.
20. The book contains what is, more than likely, the largest repository of knowledge on poison crafting in existence. It lists out materials, costs, where to find each ingredient, and of course how to combine these ingredients for the most potent effect possible.
21. The book contains scientific research on what is, in most societies within the realms, considered the ultimate sin: the killing and dissection of celestial beings. Inside you find information detailing the various organs, body composition, and a complete anatomical map of an angel's muscular and bone structure. It further goes into information regarding "scientific tests" on various celestial's resilience and regeneration levels when exposed to certain negative stimuli, to include blunt force trauma, the flaying and removal of flesh and organs, and the effects of poisons or diseases on their bodies.
22. The book contains several advanced versions of certain enchantment spells, namely those with the ability to impose dominating effects. The upcast versions of these spells are indeed more powerful and potent than their typical sibling spells, but take a greater toll on the caster than just a spell slot; they slowly carve away pieces of the caster's empathy and morality.
23. The book contains a slurry of arcane runes of infernal and, interestingly enough, giant origin, which can be inscribed into the deceased bodies of your foes. This serves a number of uses, to include preventing revival or resurrection, binding the soul of another creature to the body, or turning the decaying cadaver into a ticking time bomb.
24. The book contains a cookbook of feasts made to impress extraplanar visitors whom travel to your abode. While it starts harmless, detailing the best ores to bring for dao to snack on or how to properly prepare sushi for a marid, it quickly devolves into controlled mania, detailing how much infant blood to pour for each glass at a feast for devils, the exact temperature your home should be at before you host an ifrit (spoiler: it'll kill you!), and eventually just random eldritch psychobabble for the section of slaadi.
25. The book contains information on how to create summoning circles, not for extraplanar beasts or eldritch powers, but for people on the Material Plane. With this, you could kidnap any person from anywhere, regardless of how well defended they are. There are additional runes which can be placed into the summoning circle to generate additional effects. It warns not to go too crazy on the runes; if they conflict, it could have gruesome results... for the person you're summoning.
26. The book contains a built in defense, a trap composed of a blot of ink which threatens to suck those into it who do not have pure evil in their hearts. It is unclear how to remove those who are absorbed into the blot from the book, or even where it is they go.
27. Similarly to the prior notation, the book contains another trap, though this one is specifically designed to inhibit inhabitants of Mechanus who may seek to destroy the book. It reads like gibberish, equal parts Shakespearean writing piece and insanely elaborate mathematical equation. This has absolutely no effect on flesh and blood beings, but constructs who read it lose control of their logic core, delving into a state akin to madness before finally suffering the effects of what is essentially a Power Word: Kill spell.
28. The book contains many dark spells lost to time, the vast majority of which have had sections of them worn away to the point they'd be impossible to replicate, though some do still remain. The Veins of Tar spell is a 4th level transmutation spell available to sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards, which (as an action) instantly transforms the blood of your target to hot molten tar. The spell forces a target to make a Constitution saving throw, or begin taking 1d12 fire damage as well as having their movement speed halved. This spell requires concentration.
29. The book contains a live devil of decent renown and power trapped within ink. The devil has been there for centuries and is desperate to get out, though his tricksy and malicious nature has been accentuated by the dark dealings of those he has been forced to interact with each time the book is opened. Perhaps finally dealing with a kinder soul will soften his heart?
30. The book contains a disjointed collection of pages scattered throughout. Each page is arcanely enhanced with divination magic and precise geolocation capabilities, revealing to the reader every single awful, inhumane thing that has happened in the particular regions it correlates to in the last year in vivid detail, including specific names.
31. The book contains a large number of pages which appear to be a diary. At some point in the book's seasoned history it seems a demon got a hold of it. The demon is of no real renown or significance to the world, and how it got access to the book is a mystery. The sadistic abyssal ramblings go into excruciating detail about various murders and atrocities and tortures the demon had committed over it's life.
32. The book contains many dark spells lost to time, the vast majority of which have had sections of them worn away to the point they'd be impossible to replicate, though some do still remain. The Malignant Light spell is a 5th level evocation spell available to clerics and paladins. This spell can be cast as a reaction to a creature casting a healing spell on a target, transforming the total amount of healing done into necrotic damage. The healing spell initially cast can be of a level no greater than 6th.
33. The book contains information on performing a ritual which the world largely believes to be impossible, allowing you to artificially create the magic needed to convert creatures into vampires. What makes this so interesting is it does not require the presence of another vampire, and there is no thrall period; the ritual is perfected in such a way that allows for immediate high-grade vampirism instantaneously.
34. The book contains research on various elder evils, primordial beings of pure entropy which threaten the existence of the multiverse at large. It seems like the original researcher went a step beyond this however... it seems they were postulating and hypothesizing on means to bring the ones identified to be closest to our plane of existence here, either to extract their power for themselves, or to commit mass genocide on a planar scale. Elder evils include Atropus, Hadar, Father Llymic, and Pandorym.
35. The book contains (what seems to be) the true story of Graz'zt, Demon Prince of Indulgence. Starting from his life prior to his death and rebirth in Hell, it appears to be a rather well detailed biography of his early days as a devil, his true reasons for defecting to the Abyss, and his true thoughts and feelings regarding Iggwilv, the witch-queen who bound him to her service and with whom he sired children. Such information could be damning to him and his conspirators within the hells who actively plot against Asmodeus.
36. The book contains a very large chunk of pages that have been cleanly removed from within. This would not be strange, if not for the fact that pages which are removed are immediately replaced by new pages, showing the book's infinite nature. From what little remains of these pages, you can see detailing regarding the Abyss and it's inhabitants. Perhaps information on a demon lord, or a hidden layer Demogorgon or Orcus wish to remain that way? Regardless, the pages appear singed by arcane fire, slowing their regeneration immensely.
37. The book contains a beautiful poem, a soliloquy commemorating the rise of Asmodeus, the Horned King, into the realm of divinity. Reading the poem aloud causes one to witness that very event, in all it's infernal glory. Perhaps coincidentally, one of the book's previous owners was found dead, eyes burned out of his sockets, with the book opened to this page.
38. The book contains a yugoloth's bounty list. It appears that the majority of creatures on this list are warlocks who broke their infernal pacts or devils whom those same warlocks are looking to be freed from. The prices listed by many of them are enticingly large, and all list "DEAD" as the broker's preferred end status. Each time a creature on the 100-name-long list perishes, a new contract soon takes it's place. Killing a creature on the list immediately transfers the funds to you directly.
39. The book contains an entire section devoted to a former author's ridiculously bad fan fiction, detailing a high fantasy erotic romance plot between in which the reader is in a love triangle with Asmodeus and Ygorl, Lord of Entropy. The fan fiction, regardless of it's atrocious subject matter, has innumerable misspellings, is grammatically incorrect, and contains several glaringly obvious plot holes.
40. The book contains, stitched into it's flesh-colored pages, an immaculate treatise writ onto parchment crafted from the golden trees of Mount Celestia. The treatise details numerous things, chiefly among them the good aligned deities list of conditions that would need to be met before Asmodeus would be allowed to to call upon them to aid in ending the Blood War. Someone with a good deal of knowledge regarding the Blood War will be among the first to realize that the the conditions have all been met, many many centuries ago. The treatise has been hidden here, lost to time, in an effort to prevent Asmodeus from receiving aid. This could change everything.
41. The book contains what appears to be a treasure map writ upon tanned human flesh and nailed through several pages in the book. The map seems to lead to some ancient lost treasure hidden by an infamous dreadpirate decades ago. The lands depicted on the map appear strange, with odd topography and naming conventions. A character who succeeds on a DC 25 Arcana check is able to properly identify that the map depict a section of the planar cosmology unfamiliar to most, up to the DM's discretion: either the Nine Hells, the Abyss, Gehenna, Limbo, or the Far Realm.
42. The book contains a lengthy passage written in an archaic and lesser spoken dialect of Infernal, barely legible to most modern speakers. A literate speaker of Infernal who succeeds on a DC 25 History check can discern, with some difficulty, that this is an ancient manuscript detailing to new archdevils the process of writing powerful binding contracts facilitating and governing the exchange of souls. Given enough time, there is potential you could transcribe this into a more standard format, allowing you to craft your own soul contracts.
43. The book contains many dark spells lost to time, the vast majority of which have had sections of them worn away to the point they'd be impossible to replicate, though some do still remain. The Soul Grinder spell is a 9th level necromancy spell with the potential to completely destroy a creature's soul, annihilating them on a level thought impossible by most scholars. This spell is available to clerics and warlocks. As a reaction to a creature you can see within 50 ft. of yourself perishing, you may cast this spell. Successfully completing the casting of this spell immediately destroys the target's soul, preventing resurrection, reincarnation, and ascension to the higher and lower planes. Casting this spell has a steep cost; an emerald worth at least 1000gp, and a fragment of your own soul. You can cast this spell up to three times in your life, and upon completing your third casting you die instantly, unable to be resurrected as your soul is destroyed entirely.
44. The spell contains a list of dark rituals crafted by an author who claims to be Iggwilv, the Witch Queen. The rituals are extensive and strange, all written in a dialect of Sylvan primarily spoken by hags, and are absolutely vile. Some of the more interesting rituals within this section include a curse to spread painful misfortune across an entire bloodline, a ritual to convert someone the caster loves into pure arcane energy and use it to boost their own magical potential, and a ritual to summon some far realm horror referred to both as a Dros'khanar and a "Void Dreadnought", described as a terrible amalgam of broken bone, twisted flesh and shadow from the space between worlds.
45. The book contains a single question on a page, with two checkboxes beneath saying "yes" and "no" respectively. The question asks "Do you wish to know what more you could be?". If answered yes, visions of every possible life better than your own you could have lived floods your mind in less than a second, before immediately leaving. Though not physically damaged, such visions destroy any joy you may have had, leaving you to realize how cruelly unfair reality is that you could not be the best version of yourself. You gain the flaw "Life is unfair, so why try? Nothing I do is right anyways.". This flaw is removed upon being targeted by a Greater Restoration spell.
46. The book contains a subsection that looks like it was, at least at one point, connected to the flesh golem section, before more and more pages filled the space between the two. The subsection contains the precise surgical practices required to extract an intact nervous system from a living humanoid, or rather extricate that humanoids flesh, bones, and viscera. The subsection then explains, in gruesome detail, the science behind how the incredible pain an exposed nervous system is constantly in can be used to power enchantments that animate golems, greatly increasing their ferocity as well as their durability.
47. The book contains a chapter discussing the metamorphoses from good to evil as a graph theory problem, where each node on the graph represents a moral dilemma, paradox or compromise that tests the subject's morals (with test results shown from previous tests). The chapter ends with a theorem postulating that a path from absolute good to absolute evil exists for any subject, but the parts with the formal proof have been scratched out. Perhaps someone with good in their heart previously found and attempted to remove this horrid manuscript?
48. The book contains instructions and research on what seems to be attempted improvement on the classic chimera creation process, including a ritual that can surgically and conceptually combine two beings into a single creature under the caster's control regardless of creature type. The minds of both creatures are kept entirely intact inside of the bodies while a gestalt enslaved consciousness pilots it at the casters will. The experiments of what happens when two diametrically opposed beings are combined, such as celestials and fiends, are truly maddening.
49. The book contains many dark spells lost to time, the vast majority of which have had sections of them worn away to the point they'd be impossible to replicate, though some do still remain. The Temporal Loop spell is a 9th level transmutation spell with the capacity to turn even the most beautiful moment into a prison. This spell is available to sorcerers and wizards. Over the course of 24 hours, you can cast this spell to create a time loop in a selected area no larger than 5 miles. Over the course of these 24 hours you forge a diadem of pure temporal energy, using a casing crafted from pure sapphire worth no less than 3000gp. The diadem is diamond shaped, and about as large as a fist. The time loop ranges from 12am on the day the diadem is hidden within the 5 mile area, going up until 11:59pm the following night. Each day when creatures within the area awake, they perform the same duties they did the day prior, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. If a creature chooses to make a check to attempt to identify the effects, they must instead succeed on a Wisdom saving throw. A success on this save allows the creature to properly identify they are in a time loop and that they must break free to continue unto the next day. A creature who fails cannot realize this (even if informed by another creature who did succeed), though they can remake the save each following loop until they do. To end this spell, a creature must destroy the diadem, which has an AC of 18 and 50 hit points. The diadem is immune to divination magic used to determine it's location. Creatures which leave the time loop before the diadem is destroyed are returned to their same position in the time loop the following day.
50. The book contains a detailed list of the spellcasting components and magical ingredients that can be collected from slain celestials, as well as the uses for each one. It seems to indicate that torturing a celestial both physically and psychologically will increase the usefulness of the components and includes a helpful list of suggestions on how to do so, such as ensuring that you have a myriad of innocent mortals who are all psychically hurt when the celestial disobeys a direct order, and all killed if the celestial escapes.
51. The book contains a section detailing the lycanthropy, from the different types that exist to the differing benefits of each. The author of this section makes lycanthropy sound like a REALLY good idea.
52. The book contains the account of a powerful ancient druid that went mad, angered by civilization and its disrespect of nature. It contains dozens of powerful rituals for summoning deadly natural disasters, including plagues, earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes.
53. The book contains a story bound in the skin of the author, the angel Hazeomeel. It describes the Hazeomeel's fall from grace because he used prophecy to try and sort which humanoids could be killed to prevent evil from occurring and his subsequent rise as a member of the Dark Eight.
54. The book contains a section dedicated to using brains in various magical applications, mainly detailing Golemancy and Alchemy. It details using various necromancy spells to resurrect just the brain, and incorporating it into creating golems. Depending on the spells used the golem could be smarter and more autonomous, even in some cases having the capacity to grow a personality. Or you can create a golem that acts just like a feral undead, killing any living thing it comes across.
55. The book contains medical information roughly translated from Undercommon, which details a biological and highly racist work depicting the anatomy of humans through the lens of a drow who has an ever-specific repulsion against all life that willfully exposes itself to the sun. The translation was made by an aspiring doctor, who has taken the liberty to add his own lecture notes and oddly enough defend the drow biologist's profane hostility. He keeps reminding the reader that cultural differences are not to be judged, that he wished that he had been there and that he quite enjoys the fantasy of being dissected alive by a drow.
56. The book contains a section featuring the complete works of the work of Amnu Ad'Dharr; the Perverter of Form. This section is a collection of the numerous experiments carried out by Ab'Dharr. The author, an uncredited fanatic of the material, interlaces the original work with handwritten historical accounts of applications and results of the work. The original material takes the form of scientific essays or experiment logs, where a problem will be proposed and a full catalog of the steps taken to try to create a workable solution. The problems presented as such as 'Can the deficit in cognitive function of necromantic flesh constructs be circumnavigated?'. To which the paper goes onto outline creating a 'spiritual hivemind' which links the limited functions of all individuals; including 'properly fashioned intellectual stock'. Other such problems proposed are 'Lycan vulnerability to Silver', 'Can a brain be shaped physically to prevent mind-reading or similar arcane effects?' or 'The optimal method to create liquid suffering from limited breeding stock'.
57. The book contains an annotated spellbook, compiled by educated lady wizard Lady Althenea Von Blecher, cataloging the malevolent magics of an infamous hedge witch. Early entries include counterfeit love potions, minor curses, and surprisingly effective remedies for women's troubles; later entries include spells that will turn a man inside out or transform all his blood into acid. Each spell is powered through the sacrifice of a bit of the caster's sanity.
58. The book contains a biography about the serial killer Lowstride, written by the killer herself. She explains how she sacrificed people to an unspecified evil God for magic. The God sometimes lets her become a new person, and so she has lived for hundreds of years with many different identities.
59. The book contains details on how to make a highly addictive potion that possesses no benefits other than addiction. Small villages have been wiped out as every resource is pooled into acquiring the materials needed to produce more.
60. The book contains a highly controversial exploration of power and hierarchy, heavy with economics and philosophy. The book posits that the contemporary societal structure of roving adventurers questing for artifacts, slaying everything in their path, is a degenerate state that perpetuates an unfair system of oppression. It urges monsters, brigands, and all creators of loot to rise up, move beyond boundaries of species, and present a unified front against those that wish to plunder their lairs.
61. The book contains a guide filled with firsthand accounts of successful high profile assassinations. Each entry places heavy focus on preparation and planning, and was written by the assassin who did the deed. There are numerous blank pages at the end of the book, and a note demanding that the reader must write down their own story if they succeed in assassinating someone. The first several entries were written by the same person using the pen name 'Splattershrike', whose name appears again from time to time as the entries move closer to the present day.
62. The book contains an account by an author calling himself The Wizeruidicard (a mage who knew wizardry, sorcery, druidic magic, clerical spells, and was a bard). In it he describes how to use illusion and trickery to boost your defenses, mimic physical weapons with magic and magic use, and most importantly: how to win and NOT get caught when using 'magical' techniques. It ends with the story of The Wizeruidicard raising a small army of mages, parading them into a nearby kingdom and successfully tricking them into thinking they had no mages, before brutality destroying and looting the entire metropolis.
63. The book contains an unfinished but pretty much updated list of apocalyptic prophecies made during history with detailed plans on how to make them come true. It seems like many different evil minds during the time have added to this list, maybe recommending improved ways to destroy the world, or took inspiration from it. It feels like reading a lab report from the most evil people in history for the most nefarious experiments.
64. The book contains a series of pages where each corner is marked by an Elder Seal. Letters and illustrations emanate otherworldly light and dance before readers eyes, trying to share more secrets of the Far Realm than they should. Studying the book allows the reader to gain basic information on any aberrations, Great Old Ones, nature of the Far Realms (which is unimaginable, but makes sense, when you tilt your logic a bit to the left). Studying the book for 1d8 hours allows to gain basic theory of psionics and Far Realm magic, or detailed knowledge of one specific aberration and requires a Wisdom saving throw (DC 20). On a failure, you gain one short term madness. Studying the book for 1d8 days allows to gain knowledge about a single forbidden ritual, knowledge on how to gain a connection to a Great Old One and one indefinite madness.
65. The book contains the journal of a very famous paladin of a major faith, long since covered up by the church he once served. The titular Arch-Paladin was one of the most accomplished monster hunters in the land, and their recorded notes are one of the finest primary sources on how to identify and terminate things that go bump in the night. But the writer suffered an extreme crisis of faith less than halfway through their career; they never lost the drive to protect the innocent, but they did lose their faith in their god. Maintaining the pretext of serving the church so they could continue their work, the evidence of their crisis and eventual abandonment of their faith is written all over the pages. Any paladin or cleric of the same faith who reads this book in unredacted form is in danger of either losing their faith or turning oathbreaker.
66. The book contains a manual on improving one's quality of sleep, with instructions for ways to construct finer bedding out of commonly available materials, how to heat/ventilate a sleeping area for maximum comfort, ways to improve quality of sleep in rough/field conditions and meditations to ease the transition to sleep. If followed, practitioners have an easier time getting to sleep, suffer fewer penalties if sleep is interrupted, and have dreams which would be disturbing to an outside observer, but strike them as normal. Dreams of ever growing malice towards mankind, which grow more detailed, more specific, until eventually the practitioner dreams a Beholder into existence, which typically kills the dreamer first before moving on to a life of destruction and chaos.
67. The book contains the script for a wonderful play about seven women who were transformed into horrid beasts, but rescued a dashing hero. If the play is performed, and a single detail is off, then the play begins to warp the reality of the theater. This typically results in injuries, as well as a few casualties or fates worse than death. The more errors, the stranger the play gets.
68. The book contains a chapter about divinity. It begins with numerical values on how much divine power is gained from every possible religious or cultist action, from short prayers and simple household habits to willing sapient blood sacrifices and ritual mass murder. Later sections include the way a domain is formed, how pantheons group together, how being a god actually feels, and painfully rationalized answers to why gods allow suffering in the world to exist. The chapter eventually leads to how to found and manage a cult, along with profiles of patrons and spirits including ways to gain their favor along with advice on which to choose.
69. The book contains a series of dissertations by Archimenies, the Nihilist. A great philosopher from the golden age of academia, his words were so powerful he could break the mind of almost anyone with his pessimistic philosophical views (nihilism, immoralism, determinism, materialism, etc.) using logical and scholastic arguments. Those who came to listen that he didn't persuade to kill themselves often went out into the world to spread his destructive ideas.
70. The book contains a guide on how to corrupt a pegasus into a nightmare. A pegasus, preferably an adult, must be captured and restrained for a week without sun or starlight. Wild pegasus may do, but one who served as the mount of a noble rider (such as a paladin) will do best in making the most wicked and strongest of nightmares. The beast should be given enough sustenance and care to survive but be weakened. As the night begins on the new moon, the ritual may begin. A fiend capable of telepathy must be summoned to begin influencing the creature by offering escape - for a price. Then the pegasus's wings must slowly be torn off. The rate should be slow enough that by dawn the wings barely cling to the creature. Those that do not succumb to the fiend by that point should be abandoned and a new pegasus chosen for the ritual.
71. The book contains instructions on how to contact the manufacturer of steel predators. It shows the current location of the shop of the maker, a rogue hexton. A mage or item capable of casting the plane shift spell is necessary to get to Sigil, where the shop is located. The hexton accepts a payment of 160,000 GP and needs a lock of hair or other sufficient body part to make the construct recognize the owner. They obey their owners but ultimately wish to slay and destroy who they are commanded to, and will often fight to the death to do so.

Item type

Magical

Item Stats
Book of Vile Darkness