Infinus Apocryphum

The Infinus Apocryphum is a legendary tome from a bygone era. Shrouded in dark rumors and wicked tales, it has had many titles, most of which were given to it out of a sense of fear and superstition, and not without good reason. It has been called The Cursed Tome, the Black Book, the Tome of the Damned, and the Book of the Dead.
Vanishingly little is known of its contents, but it is rumored to contain the instructions for every vile necromantic ritual ever conceived, every evil deed recorded, and every wicked thought by the individual known as Kusatta the Bloody Mad, the first mortal to have ever practiced Darkk Shamanism, which later evolved into the practice of Necromancy.
Kusatta was also one of the Mortal Heroes who freed humanity, dwarves, and halflings from the Ak'teshi Empire thousands of years ago during the War of Broken Chains  . Dark Shamanism was the first Magic of its kind and enabled its users to manipulate the primal forces of soul and spirit to craft devastating curses, puppet the bodies of the dead, and rend flesh asunder. The Ak'teshi empire drowned in a tide of undeath conjured by Kusatta and his rapidly growing coven within the Morbog. After many years of intense abuse of Dark Shamanism, these Human covens became ancient orcs.
Blood magic became a staple of Kusatta's practices, manipulating and draining the life energy of his foes to fuel the addiction of his coven as well as his own. He earned himself the name, Kusatta the Bloody.
After the war was won against the empire, he told others of his techniques, particularly those who followed the other Mortal Heroes. However, he was exiled by the Mortal Heroes for his grim and terrifying practices. Kusatta the Bloody took his coven with him and journeyed to the far south-eastern lands of the world.
As he traveled, he wrote every piece of his knowledge and every twisted, insane thought in a book. Over the years, this cursed tome eventually became the Infinus Apocryphum, the Tome of the Damned. Every moment he spent with the tome plunged him further into madness, and he further secluded himself. Time was his only friend—his years of consuming the life force of the living had granted him an extended life span far beyond that of any mortal. His coven grew distrustful of him and some broke away from the coven's practices, realizing the monsters they had become.
At some point after the book's completion, and after three centuries of living under the dark shaman caste's rule, Kusatta was overthrown by a rebel group under the leadership of a young Orc named Tao-Shun as it was discovered the dark shamans were feeding upon the tribe's young to fuel their magic. Tao-Shu and the rest of the orcs rebelled against the Dark Shaman caste, but before Tao-Shun dealt the killing blow to Kusatta, the Dark Shaman cast his soul into his book, forever protecting himself from death.
Many attempts were made to destroy the Infinus Apocryphum, but it was discovered that neither the magic of the book nor the book itself, could be sundered. Instead, the cursed ink of the dark tome was magically drained and channeled into three separate books so that Kusatta's spirit could not return. Thus, the true power of the tome could not be realized without the unity of all three books.
All three books were then sent to the far corners of The Known World and were either given to those most trusted to keep them safe or to be left and guarded in ancient dungeons, catacombs, or crypts, never to be found again.
All three books are said to contain topics, rituals, and long-held secrets concerning the fundamental aspects of necromancy, and many have craved these wells of untold, centuries-old knowledge, or have naively sought their outright destruction. These three books are the Infinus Maledus, the black book of diseases and curses, the Infinus Mortis, the black book of death and souls, and the Infinus Sanguis, the black book of blood and flesh.
In C. -10, the Apocryphum was reunified at the hands of Vauldis, the First Lich, after the three books were stolen away from their holds. Its unification sparked the War of the Undying  , plunging the world into a near-apocalyptic war for survival that lasted for a century. Upon the book's unification, the First Lich was infused with the soul of Kusatta, and this power only swelled as the War raged until he gained near god-like power near the end of the War. However, he was cut down at the Battle for Ruin's Peak  .
After Vauldis' defeat at the end of the war thanks to the Pact, and the secrets divulged by the immortal lich, Hephsut, of how to defeat his former master and tutor, the book was once again split by Mortaris with help from the Sun Ward, the first founders of the Sapphire Assembly, the Dragon Emperor of the Empire of the Celestial Dragon, and the mages of the Shaman's Mantle. The Infinus Mortis was sealed away by Mortaris Dredge, its location forever to remain a secret. The Infinus Maledus, while stolen away from the Sun Ward by Vauldis' Awakened, were bound by oath to give the book to Hephsut as part of a desperate deal for the lich's critical insight. The Infinus Sanguis was given to the High Chalice, who sealed it away beneath Targovia.

Infinus Apocryphum Features

The contents of this foul manuscript of ineffable wickedness are the meat and drink of those in evil's thrall. No mortal was meant to know the secrets it contains, knowledge so horrid that to even glimpse the scrawled pages invites madness.
Most believe Kusatta, the god of secrets, evil, and necromancy, authored the Infinus Apocryphum. He recorded in its pages every diseased idea, every unhinged thought, and every example of blackest magic he came across or devised. KKusatta covered every vile topic he could, making the book a gruesome catalog of all mortal wrongs.
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.
A creature attuned to the book must spend 80 hours reading and studying it to digest its contents and reap its benefits. The creature can then freely modify the book's contents, provided that those modifications advance evil and expand the lore already contained within.
Whenever a non-evil creature attunes to the Infinus Apocryphum, that creature must make a DC 17 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature's alignment changes to neutral evil.
The Infinus Apocryphum remains with you only as long as you strive to work evil in the world. If you fail to perform at least one evil act within the span of 10 days, or if you willingly perform a good act, the book disappears. If you die while attuned to the book, Kusatta claims your soul. You can't be restored to life by any means while your soul remains imprisoned.
Before using one of the artifact's properties as an action, you must use a bonus action to draw blood, either from yourself or from a willing or incapacitated creature within your reach, using a piercing or slashing melee weapon. The subject takes 1d4 damage of the appropriate type.
The Apocryphum houses the soul of Kusatta. Before using one of the artifact's properties as an action, you must use a bonus action to draw blood, either from yourself or from a willing or incapacitated creature within your reach, using a piercing or slashing melee weapon. The subject takes 1d4 damage of the appropriate type. When you do this, there is a 25 percent chance that Kusatta's soul will attempt to leave the artifact and enter your body. If you fail a DC 20 Charisma saving throw, it succeeds, and you become an NPC under the DM's control until Kusatta's soul is banished back into the book using magic such as the dispel evil and good spell. Once Kusatta's soul is banished in this way, his soul cannot enter your body again for 4d10 days.
While attuned to the book, you gain the following benefits:

• You gain a +2 bonus to your spell save DC

• Adjusted Ability Scores. Your spellcasting ability score increases by 2, to a maximum of 24. One ability score of your choice increases by 2, to a maximum of 24. Another ability score of your choice decreases by 2, to a minimum of 3. The book can't adjust your ability scores again.

• Mark of Darkness. You gain resistance to necrotic and poison damage and have immunity to the poisoned condition and exhaustion, except when the exhaustion is gained through the Blood Drinker feature of this book. You emit a rotting stench noticeable from up to 10 feet away, and you lose your sense of touch, temperature, and taste. You become skeletally thin, withered, and sallow-featured. Your skin becomes translucently pale, your teeth grow sharp, and your eyes darken to pinpoints of red light. This mark of darkness grants you advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to interact with evil creatures and Charisma (Intimidation) checks made to interact with non-evil creatures.

• Blood Drinker. While you are attuned to this book, you have an unquenchable thirst for blood and must drink at least one vial's worth of fresh humanoid once per day, regaining 2d8 hit points when you do so. If you fail to do so, you must succeed a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or gain a level of exhaustion. Exhaustion gained in this way overcomes the immunity provided by Mark Darkness.

• Cantrips. You can cast the following cantrips from this book as an action: Chill Touch, Sapping Sting, Spare the Dying, Toll the Dead.
• Spellcasting. The book has 21 charges for the following properties. The book regains 2d8 + 5 expended charges daily at dusk. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the book retains its +2 bonus to spell save DCs but loses all other properties for 10d10 years. While holding this book, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spell attack bonus: Animate Dead, Insect Swarm, Dominate Monster (Evil-aligned targets only), Vampiric Touch, Bestow Curse, Hemorrhage, Spirit Shroud.

• Dark Lore. You can reference the Infinus Apocryphum whenever you make an Intelligence check to recall information about some aspect of evil, such as lore about demons. When you do so, double your proficiency bonus on that check.

• Dark Speech. While you carry the Infinus Apocryphum and are attuned to it, you can use an action to recite word from its pages in a foul language known as Black-tongue. Each time you do so, you take 1d12 psychic damage, and each non-evil creature within 15 feet of you takes 3d6 psychic damage.

• Ritual of the Black Sun. The Infinus Apocryphum can only be destroyed by a non-evil deity while it is in its unified state. While in its unified state, the book's power can be absorbed through a ritual known as the Ritual of the Black Sun, which must be completed uninterrupted over the course of 4d10 days. The knowledge of how to enact this ritual can be bestowed upon you by an evil deity. The ritual can raise armies of the dead, sunder or raise continents, and even blacken the skies for 10 x 10d100 years. After the ritual is completed, the creature in possession of the book is transformed into a deity NPC under the DM's control. The book is destroyed for 1d4 x 100 years, after which it reforms in a dark, hidden corner of the world.

Item type

Book / Document

Creation Date

C. -3,200

Destruction Date

C. -3,000