The Spellbook of Daimos

The Spellbook of Daimos

Appearance: This tome bears no
title or inscription, and is fashioned of
fine, heavy parchment pages sewn to a
waxed cord binding, which is stretched
and nailed to an oaken spine, to which
in turn are bolted covers of fine bronze,
the whole covered with stretched silver
"dragonscale." The Spellbook weighs
heavily and is three hand-lengths broad
by four in height. It is as thick as two
fingers, bearing within thirty-six pages.
A permanent magic mouth has been
cast upon it; whenever the tome is first
touched by any (and every) creature,
the mouth will appear on the front cover,
and a cold, level male voice will
speak in Common: "Put me down, or
die." There are presently no magical
safeguards on the volume to back up
this threat, however. The book shows
no signs of age or ill use.

History and Description: This volume
first comes to light in Realmslore
some three hundred winters ago, when
the caravan-master Muirhar "Duskbrow,"
an Easterner, crossed Anauroch (The
Great Desert) at the head of a caravan
sixty-seven wagons long. The perilous
crossing was made safely, but gnoll bands
raided the caravan in Bleached Bones
Pass. Many were slain before Muirhar's
guards overcame the attackers. The gnoll
corpses were stripped of weapons and
goods before the caravan moved on, and
strapped to one such corpse was found a
battered leather satchel, obviously looted
from an earlier victim. Within it was a
note written in Common that said simply,
"I have no further use for this or other
things of this world. You are my most able
apprentice, so it is yours. Use the Shout
only in last resort. Daimos."

Muirhar took book and note to the
mage Ulthorn of Waterdeep, who kept
the tome secret for many years and
apparently never used its powers until
the night of his death. His apprentice,
Rendergallis, who studied the tome
under Ulthorn's tutelage, reports that
Ulthorn died in a sorcerous duel with a
vastly more powerful foe, the Archmage
Ahrabose, but, in defeat, slew his
enemy by bringing the Tower of Yintros
down upon them both with a great
shout. Rendergallis and many other
young apprentices and prestidigitators
of Waterdeep searched the wreckage of
the Tower that night, seeking items of
power and written spells. The blasted
corpse of Ulthorn was found, with his
shattered staff and emerald sigil ring,
but the Spellbook was gone. In the
ashes that had been Ulthorn, some
being had scratched in Common:
"Daimos reclaims his own."

The whereabouts of the tome thereafter
are uncertain, but confused tales
have come to the northern Realms from
Ankhapur far to the south, and from
Twostars, a trailsmeet and well-stop on
the Golden Way trade road east of the
Inner Sea, of two separate skirmishes in
which magic-users have employed
great shouts. One of these two is known
to a sage, Thantos of Selgaunt, who
states that she is too young to have
known the spell before, or immediately
after, the death of Ulthorn in Waterdeep
and, thus, must have learned it
since. Perhaps she gleaned it from
another source, but Thantos, the aged
Rendergallis, and Elminster all agree
that the Spellbook of Daimos is the only
known source. Who or what "Daimos"
is and the present location, aims, and
powers (or even existence) of such a
being are presently unknown.