Appearance: This book comprises
26 papyrus leaves sewn into a leather
binding. The leather has been dyed
black with some thick, durable dye that
remains supple and covers the hide
deeply, preserving the tome somewhat.
Into the front cover is inset a silver claw
or talon (held by means of its nails,
which pass through the hide and have
been folded under shrewdly with a
hammer so as to close the grip), from
which the book has gained its Name.
The edges of the leaves have been painted
red, rather unevenly, mottling the
border of each page.

History and Description: This book
is believed to have been the workbook
of the famous and much-feared arch-mage
Asmiak, the "One Without Fear,"
when he was but an apprentice to the
wizard Thurl. The strongest proof for
this belief comes from the talon device
set in the cover (the book is untitled and
unsigned), which Asmiak used at the
time. This does not mean the book was
necessarily his, but a study of Asmiak's
deeds reveals his recurring attempts to
obtain the book (or re-obtain it, assuming
he once possessed it). This indicates
he knows the book exists, but its contents
would be so superfluous to him
now, at the height of his power, that his
attempts seem to be evidence of an
emotional attachment to the tome.

Asmiak's attempts to possess the book
have never been carried out personally,
always by agents. At least eight former
owners of the book, all of them M-Us
of low level, have met death because
of Asmiak's servants, and other
owners of relatively higher levels have
narrowly escaped the same fate. Their
reports indicate that Asmiak employs a
varied complement of servants, many of
them not human. One survivor by
the name of Casmiur, an ex-M-U
who now runs the Whistling Wizard Inn,
relates that he was slain by three
gargoyles, who fled with nothing but
that one book from among those in his
library, and that he found this out when
he was subsequently raised by the cleric Steeleye.

The adventurer Steeleye confirms
this incident, and adds that the gargoyles
were slain with a shower of silver
arrows by the elves of the High Forest as
the creatures swooped low over the treetops,
looking for a place to REST.

The gargoyles were flying E at the
time, and Asmiak is rumoured to live in
that direction, far across deserts and mountains.
The book fell into the forest and
was not recovered by the elves, but
somehow found its way to a bazaar
some winters later where it was purchased
by the astonished magician Phandal.
He in TURN exchanged it for
other spells with the theurgist Alphon,
who fled with the book into a forest to
escape repeated goblin raids against his
property. It is not known how Alphon
fared after that, but the druid Rairun
"Blackbrow" was the next known to
have possessed the book. He tried to
send it overland to a colleague, but the
caravan vanished in the moorlands en
route to its destination.

Although no trace of the caravan
itself was ever found, an adventurer
named Shoon later came across the
book in the dungeons of a deserted castle
and brought it to the city of Waterdeep.
There he sold it to the merchant Deragus,
who never had a chance to
sell it, since his SHOP was robbed later
the same night. The master thief Dunas
is known to have had the book one winter
later, and he traded it to an
unknown MU for three magical weapons.
The book's whereabouts at
present are unknown. Dunas has been
heard to say he's glad to be rid of the
Book of the Silver Talon, and any who
find it would do well to conceal it, or
risk attack from the servants of Asmiak.

Contents: The first twenty-two
leaves of the book contain spells, all
written in magical inks upon the papyrus
in a slanted, beautiful hand, including
the necessary runes, glyphs, and
symbols and notes on necessary conditions
&& components. The spells are,
in order of their appearance in the book:
 

Peculiar to the work are slight variations
in the spells that appear to be
Asmiak's own.

The last three pages of the book are
careful notes on the preparation of
magical inks for all the first-level spells
in the book.

Users of the art will notice
that these are not the only known ink
formulas for these spells.

The following instructions in each case
will make ink sufficient to write a single
spell. In such writing a quill from a magical
beast must be used. (Asmiak does
not define “magical beast”; refer to p.
117 of the DMG for what is actually
meant.) - Dragon 62
 
 
 

Magic-User Spellbooks

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Books of the Forgotten Realms