Book of Vile Darkness

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 the book was transcribed from Asmodeus' dark magic, carved into the walls of his castle in the deepest layer of the Seven Hells hell, Superbia. The book was made in the early days of bookmaking with peculiar elements such as metal and stones. The ornate cover for the book also featured an obscure illustration of The outer planes.   Through time, those who have held have added their own input to its catalog of vile knowledge. Their additions are clear, for the writers of later works stitched whatever they were writing into the tome or, in some cases, made notations and additions to existing text. There are places where pages are missing, torn, or covered so completely with ink, blood, and scratches that the original text can’t be guessed.   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 Book of Vile Darkness, that creature must make a DC 17 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature’s alignment changes to evil.   The secondary ability of the book is to corrupt the reader's mind and create a dangerous obsession over the Book of Vile Darkness. A person who has used the Book of Vile Darkness for a long time may not want others to even touch it. Even a brief skim through the book can corrupt the reader's mind.  

Destroying the Book

As the book is only a transcript of Asmodeus dark magic, it can never be fully destroyed until Asmodeus' castle is also destroyed. the book can be torn, burnt and destroyed, but a new one will always appear sooner or later as long as Asmodeus' castle stand.  

Vile Lore

The Book of Vile Darkness contains infinite knowledge. While most of the time, its pages are blank, there have been certain occasions when the reader had immediate access to its content. When the pages are blank they can be read when they enter in contact with the reader, the dark book reads the readers and adapts to them showing them the information they look for, featuring instructions to make their desires come true, written in the language the reader would fully understand.   The Book of Vile Darkness touches on every evil in the cosmos. A character can use the lore the book contains to unearth terrible secrets no mortal should know.  

Dark Magic

Spells. Several spells of horrific evil are in the books, a list of every necromancy spells of all levels is held in the book.   Curses. A list of every Curses is held within the book.  

Lichdom

A method to ascend to lichdom is described within the book: The Ritual of Dread. The process of this ritual is a well-guarded secret, entrusted to only a handful of mortals at any one time. The process of the ritual involves several despicable acts including murder, the brewing of a vile concoction, and even one’s own death.   Spirit Jar. The first step if to construct a spirit jar to entrap the character's soul. If a character fail to do so, their souls will be whisked away to the the outer planes to face judgement. As part of its construction, you will decide what form your spirit jar takes. Containers, talismans, and gemstones are common spirit jars for liches and dracoliches.   Whether it’s a cursed gold locket or an old boot, the spirit jar you construct must have an interior space where you can inscribe arcane sigils with silver. These are sigils of “naming, binding, immortality, and dark magic”.   Brewing a Potion of Transformation. The concoction is poisonous, and it is mixed with the blood of a sentient creature whose soul will be the first sacrificed to your new spirit jar. Ingredients for the potion include the blood of a celestial being, a highly potent poison or venom, and an organ or two to be simmered in your concoction.   Tearing one's soul. It is the process of tearing one’s soul from the body that is most despised, for this process involves the sacrifice of something truly dear to a mortal, and no substitute will be accepted. For some, it is the death of a cherished loved one. For others it is a family legacy. Regardless of the sacrifice, unless deemed worthy, Lichdom will not be granted.   Ritual failure. If your body is too weak or you don’t have the necessary arcane talents to move your soul into your spirit jar, your ritual to become a lich will fail.   When this occurs, your soul binds itself to an evil person within a few miles and you emerge as a boneclaw under their servitude. You are immortal, yes, but only so long as your master lives and they remain evil.  

Lichen Lich

Variation of the Ritual of dread are described in the book, to achieve various kind of lichdom, include the Ritual of Saprophytication allowing one to become a lichen lich with a living phylactery.   This ritual lead to the mergence of a plague infecting every humanoid and beasts. THe creature first experiences aches, nausea, slurred speech and uncontrollable drooling. after a 24 hours, the infected creatures behave like a zombie and seems barely aware of its surroundings, as fungal growths sprout from its head, body, and limbs. It feels an overriding urge to be around groups of uninfected creatures so that it can spread the contagion. This is the time when infected humanoids begin speaking the name of the creature who attempt the Ritual of Saprophytication over and over, with no understanding of what the word means. This behavior is the result of a mycelial network of spores that forms a tenuous connection between the futur lich and humanoids that become infected by the plague.   The zombies die in the following days, transformed into lifeless magenta ooze.   This part of the book often reference Tal Iss, Demonlord of fungi, as it was written by a druid hoping to protect its forest from an undead invasion who turned to Tal Iss in a desperate attempt to fight the invasion.  

True Names

The true names of all fiends except Asmodeus is in the book.   Elise's name: Elise Kythera Zaavan, Fury's name: Feth'razaal Goldenhide,Lazivos's name: Minto Abi, Nymue Loth's name: Nymue Loth, Pale Man' name: Merodach.