The Spell Keepers of Odin guarded a powerful book with all their power. Shortly after Ragnarok, they hid it in Muspelheim? using a portal in an abandoned mine. We wish to find this portal and recover the book.
The party's knowledge of this book stems from the following letter fragment, recovered from a frost salamander's body near Novgorod.
It was written by Ingmar of Rzhev and addressed to Sigurd the Wise. While the party knows very little about Ingmar, Rzhev? is a town located about a week east of Novgorod that contains a copper mine that ran dry several decades ago.
Progress
- Surmising that the mine in question was the abandoned copper mine in Rzhev, the party traveled there and investigated. The party discovered a shaft that had been sealed by stone shape, and the lingering presence of what might have been a rift. Realizing that reopening the rift required more magic than they had (plane shift), the party resolved to return one day.
- The fire weird reconstructed the letter for us. Here is what it said:
Respected Sigurd, Eldest and Wise;
I have done as you asked. I read from the scroll
which you sent me; it worked as you predicted. Like an old wound, not
quite healed, the rift was still there. A tear appeared in the fabric of
Midgard; then a passageway; a portal to the Realms Below - to
Muspellheim. I took the journey myself. I confess to you, Eldest One,
that as I descended into the pit, carrying with me that exalted tome -
what was to have been the key to all our knowledge, all that we have
been - I felt, more painfully than ever, the absence of the All-Father's
watchful eye upon me. I am lost, Eldest One, as are we all. I fear it
will be our lot to bear witness to the death of knowledge, for without
the All-Father to guide us, our order cannot hold.
I had prepared myself with all the useful wands I
could gather, and I used them to fortify and ward myself for the
journey. I walked through those unimaginably twisting tunnels until I
found a suitable spot, a cavern that no one would chance to find. The
tome is in a hidden place now, Eldest One, as you have asked. I took
great care that no one here, not even the younger priests, have any
knowledge of my mission. The mine is long abandoned. Not even the bearer
of this letter knows its contents.
The rift should close in several days, as it did the
first time. I will have the mine closed off and marked as unsafe; I have
used the last power of my stone shape wand to seal the deepest passages,
around the rift. No one in this world will ever learn of the tome's
fate, and the danger that it represents will trouble us no more.
Your humble servant,
Ingmar of Rzhev,
Order of the Spell Keepers of Odin
March 23rd, 1241
- Additionally the weird said this:
Fire Weird: Your questions are answered therein. I add only that in this, as in all his endeavors, Sigurd the Wise acted to preserve his order... yet in this, he suffered twofold failure. Fire Weird: Once, in the tome's creation; again, in its destruction.
- The party travelled to Muspellheim, and was able to recover the Spellkeeper's Tome
Description
This is a thick tome, with covers of sturdy darkwood framed in mithril. Hinged covers protect the sides of the book, and there is a lock, with no obvious key hole or moving parts, holding it closed. There is no title or any markings whatsoever except one, glowing and silver, dominating the front cover: The Eye of Odin.
The book radiates strong auras of all schools; when viewed with detect magic, it glows brilliantly, being almost painful to look at, and shimmers with every imaginable color. Barely discernible in the brilliant aura is a separate aura, faint abjuration, which seems to radiate from the lock. A knock spell opens it; the lock silently releases its hold and the hinged side covers swing down.
When you first crack open the cover, the book flips open; pages, apparently empty pages, flip by; finally the book settles down, having opened to what looks like the middle. The two-page spread that the tome has opened to has the following text on the left page, written in Varangian, in the characteristically practiced, steady hand of a Spellkeeper scribe.
Herein is contained a link to the sacred vaults and libraries of our order. If you who hold this tome are entrusted with our knowledge and power, use it wisely, remembering our purpose and the legacy of the All-Father. iIf you have gained access to it by force or guile, then may your actions be on your conscience, as this tome represents the last remnant of our ability to enforce our will.
Potent magic is bound up in these pages. Neither the binding nor the pages themselves are easily damaged, but beware; the tome is not invulnerable, and its destruction would have consequences beyond our ability to foresee. Do not be deceived by the tome's appearance; it is not mere sheets of parchment bound in wood and leather. What you see before you is a window into our vast collection, shaped with magic, imbued into a semblance of this physical form.
Observe the glowing runes on the opposite page: each grants access to the spell named beside it. Simply touch a rune to turn to a spell, and from that moment the spell is at your disposal. The knowledge of its magic will enter your mind, and remain there until you close the book or choose another spell.
The opposite page is a strange sight. A list of spell names, each with runes next to them - some glowing, some glowing sporadically, some not at all - moves up and down the page, scrolling past the paper's borders; new spell names appear and disappear, sometimes slowly, sometimes more quickly than you can read them.
Looking back on the left page, there is more text; also in Varangian, but the handwriting is slightly different, unsteady, as if written by someone nervous or quite old, someone whose hand trembled as he held his quill to the parchment. It reads thusly:
You who hold this tome in your hands, beware! The potential for great danger lies within. The magic imbued into these pages did not weather the death of the gods well; our intent, of which is written above, does not reflect the reality of the tome's nature.
The list of spells on the facing page is useless. We do not know for certain what will follow if you try to use the tome as it was meant to be used. Know only that as we have determined, its magic has unpredictable consequences. It is possible that it may still be used to access our collection, but do so at your own peril - and at ours.
If the tome has been found, then the efforts we will take to safeguard it from the hands of mortals are for naught. Whatever follows, remember that we, the Order of the Spell Keepers of Odin, greatest mortal guardians of knowledge in all Midgard, have made the greatest efforts to safeguard and secret away what you now hold. Take what action you may with that knowledge in mind.