The Book of the Dead

*"All of them are clean shaven and bald, wearing pure white robes and expressions of intense severity. The six men are working. They cut, they apply salve, and they wrap. Bandages and knives are passed from one set of hands to the other. The man at the head of the table speaks, in a voice so deep and steadfast in could only contain truth.*

*'They may live for millennia, but the after-world is the domain of man alone,' as he pours a handful of cool water, ritualistically, over your face.*

*'We wield the power of death, and through that power, our enemy shall know fear, and vengeance.'*

*He lifts a heavy golden mask in his hands, styled like the Pharaohs of old. He slowly and deliberately lowers it onto your face, until darkness envelops you."*

- Vision of the Creation of the First Mummy experienced by Ducane's Adventuring Guild.

## Overview

The Book of the Dead is an ancient, holy artifact of the Valucian Empire.

If the holder of the book can speak Primordial, then the process outlined in the book of the dead will allow for the creation of the famous undead guardians of the Valucian Peninsula- the Mummies.

## Mechanics

### As an Item

*Wondrous Item, Legendary (requires attunement by a creature that speaks primordial)*

This book has a cover made of leather dyed the darkest, blackest, black. On the cover inscribed a golden Ankh, the symbol of Kor-Anu. The inside is inscribed with hieroglyphics and strange symbols, detailing ancient rituals and strange magics, known only to the ancient high priests of Bal-Agra. Even if one can read the hieroglyphs (Language: Primordial), to the average person the text is gibberish, referencing places and names lost to the current era.

Once a day, the book allows you to cast *Animate Dead,* though the raised creature uses the *Mumm*y statblock.

If you are a Cleric or Warlock of the Mummy King or The Undead, you can use the book as a focus, and you gain a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls while you wear or hold it.

## History

Legend has it that the first Pharaoh, Moha-Agra, journeyed into the desert, and wrestled the god of the grave, Kor-Anu. In exchange for besting him, Kor-Anu granted Moha-Agra mastery over death, on the condition that Kor-Anu would forever be worshiped as the principle deity of the Valucian people.

He returned, and spent forty days and forty nights in seclusion, writing the Book of the Dead.

For 500 years, during the height of the Agra-Re Dynasty, the Book of the Dead was used by the high priests of Kor-Anu to prepare the bodies of the nobles and warriors for afterlife.

### Description of the Creation of the Book

The following description was translated by Ravi of Ducane's Adventuring Guild from hieroglyphs found in the ancient plateau:

> It was here that Moha-Agra, first of all Pharaohs, did battle with death. For three days, atop these sacred Plateaus, did Moha-Agra wrestle the secrets of the underworld from the dark one's mirage. He returned to Bal-Agra, and locked himself away for forty days and forty nights, with the finest leather-workers, scribes, and priests of the city. When he emerged, all except him had died, and in his arms he carried the Book.
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> With this knowledge, he taught us, his devoted, the secrets of the afterlife. He spoke:
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> *We, the Bal people, will build our walls on the tombs of our sacred dead, and we will call this city Bal-Agra.*
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> *Every warrior that falls in battle will rise again to defend our children.And as we die, our army of the dead shall grow in number, until the very walls of our holy city will rise in our defense.*
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> *It shall be our greatest honor, to have our bodies embalmed, to fight for all eternity, as...*
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> The final symbol, apparently, is one that is unchanged from the Primordial script. From context a better translation might be "Sacred Guardian," but in Primordial, the symbol has one district meaning:
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> *Mummy*
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For those millenia, the book’s magic was used to prepare Pharaohs for the afterlife, and preserve and protect Bal-Agra and the Valucian Empire.

### Bal-Agra: The Occult side of Valucitology

Another mention of the Book of the Dead is found in the slightly bombastic introduction of Professor Foxfit’s *Legends of Bal-Agra: The Occult side of Valucitology:*

> The Valucian empire today stands as a mighty power amongst the known world- a rich center of trade and commerce which commands many armies and a powerful navy.
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> But even today the power of Bal-Agra is a shadow of what it was in the past. In truth, not until the rise of the Shahs did the Valucian Empire stop conquering, as they had since their unification and their victory in the Elven Wars. The shattered chain to the southeast, the Guardian Range and the Ervian Plains to the Northwest, and the land of Adji to the east- once all these lands belonged to the Sandstone Throne in Bal-Agra.
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> At the height of the Power of Valucian Empire, there was a Pharaoh so mighty and terrible that it was a crime to speak his name throughout the Valucian Realm. So great was his power that it was believed to invoke his name would summon the Valucian armies to your door. So it follows that there are a series of legends about the final Pharaoh, all of which go something like:
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> Even the Pharaohs of the Valucia cannot escape time, and when this ruler believed his death was approaching, he ordered the construction of the greatest and finest pyramid the world had ever seen. He built it in the ancient city of Moha-Agra, the jewel of the desert, the ancient city built around an oasis in the deep desert. He ordered his generals to ravage and sack the farthest reaches of the world to fill his tomb with the most fantastic treasures known to man. And he ordered his priests to prepare with the greatest caution the ceremony of the dead, to ensure his passage to the underworld and eternal reward.
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> Still, as his death grew closer, madness and fear seized this Pharaoh, and he ordered his most loyal general to journey across the sea to Gaogui, the land of ghosts, and find the most powerful mage of undead magics. When his general returned with a strange creature in tow, the Pharaoh allowed the mage to do something blasphemous and unthinkable- to alter **the Book of the Dead**, the greatest treasure of Moha-Agra. Moha-Agra, the first and greatest of Pharaohs, who had wrestled its secrets from the god of death. He touched the ancient relic, wove his own magics into it, and tied his life force and power to the tome itself.
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> So disgusted were the priests of Kor-Anu at this act that when the Pharaoh passed, they enacted their own ritual. Once the pyramid was sealed with the mummified body of the Pharaoh, a sandstorm took Bal-Agra, which lasted 40 days and 40 nights, blocking out the sun.
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> When the sandstorm dissipated, the resplendent pyramid which had dominated the horizon for miles in the desert was gone, nowhere to be seen, including some of the city that surrounded it. To speak the Pharaoh's name was made a crime punishable by death, and so to this day the name of the Pharaoh has been forgotten, lost to the sands of the Scintali desert, much like his final resting place.
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> (N.B. This legend also coincides the rise of the Shahs, who's draconian laws prohibiting ancient practices and talk of the Pharaohs may have accelerated this cultural mind-wipe.)
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> But there are still those who say that the final evil magics worked into the book of the dead will allow this ancient king of Bal-Agra to return. And when he does, it is spoken, those who opposed him in life and death will know true fear.
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### Previous Owners

For some time, since the Shah's took power, the location of the book disappears from knowledge. However, in recent years, the book was discovered, and utilized in the Redpowder plot by Blaine Dirk. Dirk someone obtained, and utilized the book of the dead, after learning of its existence in the Elvish Archives.

Upon his death, the book was claimed by Ege of Geoff, who, unaware of its power, locked it in a chest in the guild's temporary guild-house in the northern Merchant's Sector in Bal-Agra. A few weeks after Ege had claimed ownership of the book, the following names, written in blood appeared on the Wall of the Shah’s palace. These are understood now to be the previous owners of the Book of the Dead:

> FEAR ME FALSE RULER OF VALUCIA. I AM KING OF KINGS.
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> WHEN MY TOME IS RETURNED, AND MY NAME THE LAST ON THE LIST, ALL SHALL LOOK ON MY WORKS AND DESPAIR.
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> Below is a list of names:
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> Sezer Nanod
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> Zibein Punno
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> Stukrel Clifftide
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> Nizen Din
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> Hel Boran
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> Stulberth Dirgejumper
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> Brarth Havenbow
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> Teuren-vus Cihkuthom
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> Dohvueth Zunthekt
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> Gemzetvalv Runutraka
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> Venkel the Camel
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> Bodid Velzevye
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> Luiy Zia
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> Jeng Hung
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> Grarfescis Bascenun
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> Uzis Porgurnus
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> Zandyer of Illonia
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> Eroan Xilrie
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> Blaine Dirk
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> Eğe of Geoff
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Since then, there have been the following owners of the Book of the Dead

> Foxfit Fitfox
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