[Draconic Armoury] Emerald Archive (Patreon)

Wondrous item, rare (optional attunement)

This heavy tome is expertly bound in fine leather, crafted using viridescent enamel to resemble the scales of the emerald dragon. Its pages of thick vellum wait to be filled with precious knowledge. The gem at the centre of the cover can project beautiful illusionary illustrations of the book’s contents, enhancing the reading experience, and causing Humperdink to label it a ‘fancy pop-up book’.

Tales of the Past. The book holds information on up to 3 unique areas. Whenever you make an Intelligence check to recall or learn information about one of the recorded areas, you gain advantage on that check if you take 10 minutes to consult the book.

Optional Attunement. While you are attuned to this book you can use the Write & Record and Glimpse of the Past properties.

OA: Write & Record. While holding the book, you can take 1 hour to attune your senses to the land within 1 mile of you, concentrating on this process as if you were concentrating on a spell. At the end of the duration, a portion of the book’s pages are filled with fragments of information regarding the area’s flora, fauna, geography, history, customs, and folklore. This area becomes one of the areas described in the Tales of the Past property; if recording a new area would put the book over its limit, you choose an older location to be erased from the book.

OA: Glimpse of the Past. While holding the book, you can cast the hallucinatory terrain spell from it, but only to create an illusion of a portion of one of the areas recorded in the book’s Tales of the Past property. The spell lasts 1 hour and requires your concentration when cast in this way. Choose a timeframe within the last 5 days and make an Intelligence check. The resulting illusion replicates the state of the area at the time of your choice, even showing creatures and events that took place in it, with a level of detail dependent on the result of your check, as indicated by the table below. Once this property of the book has been used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Intelligence Check

<10

Creatures appear as hazy blobs. Movement is staggered and erratic. All sound is white noise.

10-14

Creatures are defined enough to make out details such as race, build, age, and clothing, but faces are still blurry. Movement is smooth, but imprecise. It’s possible to make a distinction between types of sounds (speaking, music, ambient noise, etc.), but words are indiscernible.

15-19

Faces are visible, and details such as eye and hair colour, and the rough shape of facial features, are discernible. Movement is precise, but smaller details such as facial expressions or subtle gestures are not captured. Words are understandable, but voices are difficult to identify.

≥20

Creatures are perfectly represented, down to the smallest facial detail. Subtle expressions and fine gestures are meticulously displayed. All sound is crisp and clear.

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Uncommon variant. The book can record 1 area. When using the Glimpse of the Past property, you must select a timeframe within the last 24 hours.

Very Rare variant. The book can record up to 5 areas. When using the Glimpse of the Past property, you can select a timeframe within the last 10 days.

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