Library of the Mists

[Enlong]

On a small island, ringed by a pine forest, lies an ancient library. The outside seems to be an ordinary building, however ornate the decorations on the wood and how large the doors are. However, the first step into the building reveals that it is much more then it seems. The first room alone is far too vast for the proportions of the outside building. That sort of dimensional manipulation is a part of the magic of the Library. The deeper within this odd place, you will find deeper and deeper mysteries, and books that people would die, or kill, for.

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The outside.

The Library sits in a circular clearing, ringed by a pine forest. Due to the surrounding climate, the clearing is almost always filled with a misty fog. The outside of the library is a circular building made of wood. The building is fairly large, and its walls give it a hexagonal shape. There are ornate designs of weird swirling patterns engraved in the wood, and there are no windows, just a large pair of double-doors. The roof is domed and shingled.


The First Room

The first room of the library is a large, circular room, with bookshelves arranged in neat rows, and ending at the wall. The room itself seems far too large for the outside, and closer inspection will prove that it is, in fact, bigger inside then outside. The center of the room is dominated by a large desk, with instructions on borrowing books, and warning you about “forbidden” books. Another sign on the front bears the ominous message “Anyone who dares to steal a book from this place, will have the wrath of the books themselves to contend with.” A red circle of light is where patrons are to place their books in order to borrow them. When a book is placed there, the light shines green, and the patron is prompted to sign his name on the desk. When he does so, the name vanishes from the desk, and an Arcane Mark is placed on the book, dictating the date when the book is to be returned. If the book placed on the spot is a book marked as forbidden, then the light flashes angrily and a siren goes off, as a warning for the person to put the book back.

There are secrets within the library, and the first step towards finding them lies within the first room. At the end of each of the hallways created by the bookshelves are paintings. Each painting is well done and depicts nature in some way, wether it is the pine forest, the island’s beaches, or the clouds. However, two of the paintings are different. One is a picture of a bookshelf. One of the bookshelves in the library, in fact, and another shows a strange surreal swirl of colors. A DC 15 Search Check will discover that the swirling painting can actually be moved. The colors can be unraveled to show an actual picture. Once the picture is revealed, it depicts a door barred by a Wall of Force. After revealing the true picture, two things happen. The painting of a bookcase reveals a red dot glowing in the location of one of the books on the shelf, and the doorway out is barred by a Wall of Force. If the painting of the barred door is swirled back, the doorway will be unbarred, and the light on the bookcase painting will go out. If someone sees the light on the bookcase painting, it takes a DC 15 Search check to find the bookcase depicted in the picture, as well as the book. If the book is pulled from the bookcase, then the entire bookcase will sink into the ground, revealing a hidden passageway and sunken stairs into a hidden basement. A switch in the top of the bookcase will cause it to rise back up, and the book can then be replaced.

Things of note in the first room

Nonmagical texts:
The Planar Journals.

Guardians:

Book Legion (described in section: Guardians)
Organization for this room: 1, with 13 HD.

If any persons in the first room attempt to steal a book (that is, taking out without checking it out), then the exit is barred by a Wall of Force and they are attacked by one Book Legion. If they give the book back, then the legion takes the book, reshelves it, and allows the almost-thief to leave. If the book legion is destroyed, then the thief is free to go, but if he returns, he finds a new legion has taken its place; one that remembers him, and attacks on sight.

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The Second Room

The second room of the Library is in stark contrast to the previous room. First, the path leads down the hidden stairway, and through a door at the end of a hallway. Then, through the door can be found a smaller room then the first, however the accommodations are better. There are fewer books here, but what can be found is a bit more interesting then what can be found upstairs. Here is where books of magic can be found.

An interesting thing of note is the chessboard in the center of the room. Each piece of the chessboard appears to be alive, and will move according to the game by verbal command. Needless to say, with living chess pieces, games are a bit more exciting then normal chess.

In addition to the books found in this room, another room can be found, if one can solve the puzzle in this room. Behind the heavy door that opened this room is a hidden switch sunken into the wall and painted over to blend in. It takes a DC 20 search check to find the switch, concealed as it is. If you push the switch, then a voice rings out a warning. It says “Warning. You are attempting to access a forbidden part of the library. Leave this room now and do not press the switch again.” If the warning is ignored, and the switch is pressed again, then 2 Book Legions are alerted and attack. If both Legions are defeated or otherwise subdued, then the wall at the back of the room parts in the middle and swings out to reveal yet another room.


Things of note in this room:

Magical Texts:
The Dimensional Index.

Other Items:
Living Chess Board

Guardians:
2 Book Legions (13 HD)

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The third room.

This is a giant, circular room, with a high domed ceiling. There are two things of note in this room. The first is a series of podiums, each with a single book. Each book bears the name of a plane, These are the Linking Books, one for each plane. However, a few of these are fakes, and are actually Trap Books.

The second thing of note is a strange pattern in the floor. A DC 20 Knowledge: Arcana check will discover it to be a powerful magical pattern, and after discovering it, a DC 30 Use Magic Device check will activate it, teleporting the user and those on the circle to the final room. Failure in the Use Magic Device check will summon 5 Book Legions. If the book legions are defeated, and Use Magic Device check is failed again, then 5 more Book Legions appear. This happens each time the check is failed.

Objects of note:

Epic Magic Texts:

Linking Books


Guardians:

Book Legion (5)

Trap Books

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Final Room:

This room is different, even by the standards set so far by the library. It appears to be an inky black void with a single, enormous, book podium, but further inspection will reveal that though it seems endless in any direction, a few steps toward the podium will always be enough to take you back to it. This room is actually a small demiplane created by the Genesis spell, and does not exist on the Prime Material Plane.

On the podium is the most powerful text in the entire library, the Descriptive Book for the Prime Material Plane. However, upon approaching it, a wizened old man steps out from apparently no-where. This is Atrus. The creator of the library and protector of the Book, and the creator of the demi-plane on which you now stand. Despite his power, Atrus is not one to fight without a reason, and will first ask what you are doing here. He will ask whether you want the book, and what you plan to do with it. He will also ask you to submit to a Modify Memory spell and leave. However, if your reasons for wanting the book are selfish or evil (and he will know) then he will fight with all of his power.

Items of note:

Artifact Text:
The Descriptive Book (Prime Material Plane)

Guardians:
Atrus

[Enlong]

Things within the Library

Nonmagical Texts:

The Planar Journals:
These books are a collection of firsthand journals of a traveller who went to many of the different planes. Each one describes in great detail the journeyour’s experiences, and about the many rules and secrets of the planes. Each one is marked with the name of one of the planes on it, and thoroughly reading one, which takes 1 day, confers a +5 bonus to any Knowledge: The Planes, Knowledge: History, or Knowledge, Geography checks made when specifically about the plane whose journal was read.

Magical Texts:

The Dimensional Index:
This is the spell book of a powerful wizard. Everything within it is about the alteration of the laws of physical space. Within this book are the spells Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion, Plane Shift, Greater Teleport, Teleport Object, Teleportation Circle, Genesis, and Dimensional Shroud

Epic Texts:

Linking Books:
These books, each one a tall and thick volume, are a series of gateways to other worlds. Each Tome is a thick, hard-covered tome that is about 8 inches tall, 5 inches wide, and 3 inches thick. Each book’s cover is simply a solid color, with the name of a plane written on the spine in an ornate hand in gold. Within the book can be found a detailed and all-encompassing description of the world named on the side. The description is flawless, and details the world’s history, from beginning to present time, including highly detailed illustrations, and perfect descriptions of all the creatures that live there. All descriptions are objective, with no political alterations to the truth, as if described by some omniscient observer who saw all the events.
Despite the wealth of knowledge that can be found in the books descriptions, the real value of the Tomes are to be found in the very back of the book. On the final page, there is a small square, about 3 inches to a side, with an animated picture of the world that the book describes. The picture is clearly magical, showing the world from a perspective that flies across the landscape, showing many of the sights described in the text, before ending with a fixed perspective on a single spot. If a creature touches the square, they are transported to the dimension shown on the square, as the Plane Shift spell, except where noted below. The creature that touches the square appears on the exact spot as shown in the final perspective of the moving picture. A creature that is transported in this way appears to become insubstantial, and then is bodily sucked into the picture, leaving no trace.
Almost invariably, another Tome can be found in any world that one Tome links to, that will take a person back to the place where they first used a Tome.

Strong Conjuration; CL 21st; weight 2 LB

Artifact Texts:

The Descriptive Book

This is a giant, leather-bound, hard-copied book, about seven inches tall, six inches wide, and four inches thick. Its cover is a rough, solid color, and its spine has the name of a plane written on it in the ornate scrawl of an unknown hand. Within the book is a description of the plane named on the spine, describing, in detail, the entire plane, from its geography, to its physics, to its magic. One page of the book holds a small panel showing a certain place in the plane that, when touched by living tissue, transports the creature that touched it to the plane, at the exact area shown in the picture.
This particular book is the most important and powerful one pertaining to the plane it describes. The Descriptive Book is linked to the plane that it describes, and in addition to allowing transport to the plane on its own, it also allows the creation of the Linking Books, lesser forms of itself which act as simple portals to the plane. The existence of the Descriptive Book is what allows the various Linking Books to function. If the Descriptive Book were to be destroyed, then all Linking Books leading to that plane would permanently cease to function.
The text of the Descriptive Book for a plane can be altered. Certain lines and passages can be erased, new ones added, or old lines altered in some way. If the alterations are done carefully and correctly, it can effect actual changes in the reality of the world it describes. In order to rewrite any part of the Book, the person who wishes to change it must first pay 10,000 XP, and then make a check in Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Geography, Knowledge: Arcana, Knowledge: The Planes, and Knowledge: History. The DC for these checks is dependent on the magnitude of the change desired, as shown on Table: The Descriptive Book, If you choose to write for a full 1D4 days before the changes occur, then the DC of the check is subtracted by 5. If he or she succeeds on all of these checks, then the changes that he or she wrote into the book become real. The person who made the changes must then write their own personal history into a blank page in the end of the book. This act takes 1D4 days to complete. The character’s history can be altered by anyone who chooses to, causing in immediate changes to the character; his or her death can even be written in to their history, and if their own personal page is ever destroyed, then all the effects of their alterations are undone. Any further alterations must wait 1D4 days, whereupon you pay the XP attempt the checks again; however, if you have already done it once, then you do not need to rerecord your history.
If he or she fails any one of the knowledge checks, then it is assumed that he or she wrote accidental contradictions into the world. In this case, the Book, unable to maintain its link with the plane due to the paradoxical changes, shifts to a link with another plane which is parallel to the plane it originally linked with, but accommodates all the changes that were made. Any Linking Books similarly shift their destination. In this case, the person must study the Book for 1D4 days, and then pay the XP again, and remake the checks in an attempt to remove their original mistakes. Failing forces the person to have to reattempt the checks once again, while succeeding returns the Book's link back to its original plane.
In any case, it is up to the DM’s discretion on how the changes effect the rest of the world; however, the person who altered the book is rendered immune to the reality-altering effects of their own meddling, and will retain their own memory and possessions, due to their own history having been written in the book. Because of this, the person who writes in the book is forbidden from directly altering their own self.

Overwhelming Transmutation

{table="The Descriptive Book"]Check DC|Example of changes
30| Instantly teleport everything within 5,000 square feet of a point of your choosing, to a point of your choosing, without error; create up to 5,000 gold pieces in any location you choose,
40| Change one axis of a character's alignment. Resurrect a creature as True Ressurrection, cast a spell you are capable of casting anywhere on the plane. Any effect as wish.
50|Create, destroy, or alter any part of the landscape of the plane. Create a cohort from thin air with alignment, statistics, and levels of your choosing, alter the memories of up to 10 people / level, create any amount of matter in any location, with a cost of up to 50,000 Gold Pieces.[/table]



Guardians:

The thief snuck silently through the library. He knew what he was looking for and where he could find it. Eventually he came to the right shelf, and grabbed a copy of the spell book. The wizard who had come to him had offered a great amount of coin for this book, and anyone who knew him knew he loved money. As he made his way to the door, he almost felt that this was far too easy. There weren’t any guards on duty, no doors had been locked, and the book was just sitting out there in the open. It was as if the person who owned this library didn’t even think it was necessary to keep his possessions protected. “Ah well, not my fault if they can’t properly guard their books”. As he was about to cross to the door outside, his body froze. Unable to move, he could only hear it at first, a large fluttering noise, as if from a large flock of birds. Only as he was surrounded did he realize that these were no birds.
These were books.

Book Leigon
Small Construct (Swarm)
HD 13D10 (81 HP)
Speed: Fly 60 Ft (Good) (12 squares)
Init: +2
AC 12; touch 12; flat-footed 10
BAB/Grapple: +9/-
Attack: Swarm (3D6)
Full-Attack: Swarm (3D6)
Space: 10 ft.; Reach: 0 ft.
Special Attacks: Imprison; Group Imprison; Hold Monster Spell-like Ability
Special Qualities: Damage Resistance 5/Slashing Piercing Fire Acid Electricity
Saves: Fort +4 Ref +7 Will +8
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 13
Skills: +10 Hide, +20 Listen, +20 Spot
Feats: Hover, Wingover, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell-like Ability
Environment: Houses, typically houses full of books.
Organization: Single (1), Pair (2), Collection (3-4)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure:
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Advancement: 12-15 Small

Description:
You hear a fluttering noise and turn around. Hovering in the air is a large number of books. They are all open halfway and are flapping their covers as if they were wings. Though they are devoid of eyes and ears, it could not be plainer that they can see and hear you, as you continue to stare at them. They remain fixed on you, and begin to float toward you, and it is obvious from their motions that they are angry at you.


A Book Legion is a group of sentient books that protect other books from theft. They can be found in the private libraries of the wizards who created them, finding a certain irony in a book thief being punished by books. They hide among the other books, and while they are not fighting, appear to be absolutely nothing more then blank hard-covered tomes. When they see that someone is trying to steal something, the books collectively leave their shelves and attempt to punish the thief.

Combat:
A Book Legion will try its hardest to retrieve any stolen items from its opponent before Imprisoning it. Generally, they will attempt to pinpoint the person who has the stolen goods (if there are multiple targets) and use its Hold Monster Spell-like ability to keep it from moving. It will then inhabit the space it is in and attempt to take back the stolen goods before using its Imprison ability.

Imprison: One of the books in a Legion will open to a page with a square picture of swirling blackness. The swarm will then attempt to touch the page to some area of exposed living tissue on the target. This is a regular attack at full BAB, and can be used as a full-round action. If it succeeds, then the subject must make a Fortitude save, with a DC of 16. If the subject fails his save, then the subject appears to be pulled into the square and vanishes. The creature affected by this finds itself trapped in a demiplane that appears to be nothing but a field of utter darkness. Within this space, the creature does not age, nor does it require food or water, however, it cannot harm the Book Legion from that area, and cannot make use of any abilities that would take it out of that plane. If the Book Legion is defeated, then any creatures that were trapped by Imprison appear in the area where the Book Legion was upon defeat.

Group Imprison: If multiple Book legions are adjacent to one that attempts to use Imprison, then the save DC for Imprison raises by 3 for each adjacent Book Legion.

Hold Monster: As the spell. The save DC for this is Wisdom-based (19)

Trap Books:

A Trap Book appears to be exactly the same as a Linking Book, and works exactly the same, with a few exceptions.
A Trap Book is actually a trap for greedy or evil visitors. Each one describes and shows a truly fantastic location, either a mound of riches, an ancient and long thought lost civilization of great power, or any other locale that tempts the reader to Link into it. However, upon placing their hand on the page, the subject finds themselves in a pool of inky blackness. Within this space, the creature does not age, nor does it require food or water, however, it cannot make use of any abilities that would take it out of that plane.
Only one being can be trapped. If another person places their hand on the square, then the two switch places. It would take the aid of the Trap Book’s creator to escape it. If the Trap Book is destroyed, then any persons trapped in it die, and their bodies are destroyed.


Atrus:
Atrus is the creator and guardian of the Library. He uses the library as a series of defenses for the Descriptive Book of the Prime Material Plane, which he has sworn to defend after learning of its world-changing power, and fearing its capacity for evil. He will go to any lengths to protect the book, no matter what it entails. If he discovers anyone trapped within the Book Legions or Trap Books, his first method is to erase their memories and eject them from the Library.

30th Level Wizard. No specialization, has access to all nonepic spells, as well as Ruin and Damnation.


Spells:
Dimensional Shroud
Abjuration
Level: Sorc/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, M,
Casting Time: 3 rounds
Range: Self
Target: Self
Duration: 1 Min/Level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell folds physical space-time into a pocket around the caster. The caster is completely hidden, because no sound or image escapes the fold. The caster, however, can see and hear as normal until the spell ends. Attacking while within a dimensional Shroud is impossible, as until the spell is dropped, attacks cannot leave the pocket.


Living Chess Board:

This is an ordinary chess set, except for the fact that all of the chess pieces are alive. When instructed by players, they will play out the game, and will fight seemingly to the death with each capture. Needless to say, the game is much more exciting when played with this set.

Caster level: 10