Bowgentle's Book (Magic Book)

This slim, black volume is most expertly bound in glossy, tooled, black leather—the best yoxen-hide, from the yoke-oxen, or “yoxen” of the plains of Amn. This has been stitched into a full-fitted cover encasing two slabs of slate, and worked on the outside into a repeating pattern of a human and a dragon confronting each other, each spouting flame at the other. Within are 53 sheets of the finest white vellum, all sewn to a spine-cord strip of black leather with spun silk thread, the whole being of the most delicate workmanship. (Several additional pages seem to have been torn out.) The pattern of the covers extends without a break over front, back, and spine, leaving only a lip or border around the edges of the tome, and an oval plate or raised area in the center of the front cover, which bears the character known as “Bowgentle’s Rune,” thus:
Bowgentle of Silverymoon was a wizard of gentle speech and manners, loved and revered in the North and the Sword Coast cities in his day, for he believed that magic belonged to all, and all should benefit from it. Many good works were ascribed to his name over the years he wandered the Realms, and legend has rounded out his deeds. Bowgentle continually sought new spells—and he embarked on reckless ventures to gain them, such as the plundering of Raurgoch the black dragon's hoard (slaying that monster with the very magic found in its treasure) and the breaking open of the mage-king’s tomb, where the legendary mage, now living in lichdom, guarded his spellbooks as fervently as the crumbling bones of his mistresses and his dogs.
And ever did Bowgentle give of his knowledge to all who had the ability, and wrote out spells tirelessly for those who were too young, too sick, or yet unborn. He paid for the hospitality given him on his travels with spells, cast for good ends, and his name is yet remembered with affection and awe. It is often said of a gentle, shy, and well-favored babe that it “has Bowgentle’s eyes,” and an act of selfless kindness is oftentimes agreed to be properly “of Bowgentle's way.”
When he grew old, Bowgentle came to the School of Wonder, founded some years earlier by the wizards Myrdon and Salasker, and wrote down his spells for the apprentices there. He passed on his way, and, when word came shortly after that of his death in a snowstorm in the high forests, the Masters commanded that Bowgentle’s written spells be collected from the apprentices and closely-guarded in the library there, for all to see and use. This was done, the book being constructed by elven craftsmen, and the cover depicting a famous scene of Bowgentle’s youth: his fiery battle with a red dragon, whom he teased (and enraged) by gouting flame back at it, before he vanquished the beast.
The book did not remain at the school for long, however—fiends slew its masters and most of the apprentices, and set the towers ablaze one crisp winter night (fiends, some whispered, summoned by careless or jealous and vengeful novices who lost control of their Tanar'ri servitors). The school was no more. Thieves were the first bold enough to venture into the smoking ruin, and one must have found and safely taken away Bowgentle's Book, for it surfaced some years later in Scornubel, identified by the sage Laertilus as among the treasures he appraised for Vaerum, the Master Thief. Vaerum, head of a local thieves’ guild, soon fell victim to a “gray war” (one of the oft-occurring skirmishes between rival guilds), and the book vanished. Its present fate and whereabouts are unknown, but it is thought by most sages to still exist.
The book's contents are all spells and cantrips in standard form (per the rules in the PHB) set down one to a page, save for two unique spells. They appear in the following order: the cantrips clean, dry, and bluelight, and the spells affect normal fires, hold portal, identify, mending, push, read magic, sleep, continual light, darkness 15’ radius, detect evil, detect invisibility, dispel silence (unique spell), ESP, forget, knock, levitate, locate object, magic mouth, rope trick, strength, wizard lock, blink, dispel magic, fireball, fly, hold person, infravision, Leomund's tiny hut, lightning bolt, protection from evil 10' radius, protection from normal missiles, slow, tongues, water breathing, Bowgentle's fleeting journey (unique spell), charm monster, confusion, dimension door, enchanted weapon, fire shield (both versions), minor globe of invulnerability, polymorph other, polymorph self, remove curse, wizard eye, Bigby's interposing hand, cone of cold, hold monster, passwall, and wall of force.
Category:Magic Items
Category:Magic Books
Category:Encyclopedia Magica