Appearance: This tome is thin but
heavy, comprised of twelve sheets of vellum
sewn to a binding of silk and preserved
with wax. It is said that the reddish
hue of the wax is due to dragon’s
blood, and this preserves the binding.
The truth of this rumor and the effectiveness
of the ingredient are unknown. The
binding is secured by silken cords to two
pieces of oiled wood which have been
covered entirely with stretched wyvern
hide, held in place by small triangular
wedges of silver. Thus far, the wood has
not warped or broken, although curious,
finger-shaped scorch marks on the hide
attest to the heat the volume has endured.
The book is not locked or bound,
and has no known traps. It is signed with
the sigil of Mhzentul:

History: Mhzentul was a powerful, respected
mage. His end, men say, came at
the battle of the River Rising, where he
became a pillar of living flame and burned
his way across the field, doing great
harm to the hosts of his army, and blazed
straight away out into the sea, where his
flame was lost to view far out on the
waves. Mhzentul is remembered among
mages for his works, the “Seven Lost
Rings of Mhzentul,” and the book that
has come to be known as “Mhzentul’s
Runes.”

After Mhzentul’s death, a party of treasure
seekers, with utmost care and at
great risk to themselves, overcame the
traps and magicks of Mhzentul’s mountain
abode and penetrated its innermost
rooms, but found neither the rings nor
the book on the premises. Rumors of the
location of these treasures surfaced, citing
such a profusion of sources and alleged
whereabouts that the items became
legendary, but their true resting
place remains a mystery. Some six winters
after the battle of the River Rising,
the book is known to have come into the
grasp of the adventurer Uthmang, a halforc
thief. He was immediately slain by
the Red Wizard of Alail Thong, who in
turn was defeated at Greenstone Keep
by the priests of that place. It is not
known what happened to the book then,
but some two winters later it is said to
have passed into the hands of Lhegrand
the Sage, and it is from his catalogue we
obtain the detailed description aforementioned.
Lhegrand held the book only
briefly before he was waylaid and enslaved
by orcs out of Darkhold, and here
we lose track of both book and rings for
‘some seven winters, throughout which
the treasures presumably remained in
evil hands. The evil mage Whisper is
known to have found the rings, and is
suspected to have had the book also, or
at least access to it, but the whereabouts
of both since his rumored death are not
known.

Contents: The first four leaves of the
book contain a detailed, exacting, and
correct description — as attested to by
the sage Lhegrand, an expert on the
storage of spells within physical objects
and substances — of the process of
creating a Ring of Spell Storing. (The
DMG briefly outlines
this process.) It is known that at least
four of the seven lost rings were of this
type.

The five leaves that follow describe the
process involved in creating rings that
would, upon command, become guardian
creatures under the control of the
creator, but Lhegrand believes that some
portions of the process have been (deliberately?)
omitted. “I have not the skill
nor the necessary components to enact
the process,” Lhegrand writes, “but herein
I see no manner nor means for imbuing
the creature with any animation, nor
can I find any dweomercraft written for
controlling the creature.” Even if this
section of the work is indeed incomplete,
it is still of immeasurable value, and
would bring a high price from most
mages.

The third and final section of the work
is more informal than the other two, consisting
of Mhzentul’s notes on his research
in fire magic. Lhegrand reports
that many runes, glyphs, and symbols
are written in special inks upon these
pages, and a mage of sufficient level
could with diligence glean the complete
spells

from Mhzentul’s notes. The scope and thoroughness of
Mhzentul’s understanding of magic concerned
with fire, however, is such that
careful study of the book will decrease
the time needed to research any firerelated
spell by as much as two weeks,
Lhegrand estimates.

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Magic-User Spellbooks

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Books of the Forgotten Realms