troik tue: Some books
I'm running out of time and ideas. This will be D66-able in the future. - 31/3/2026
Assume where no Special is given that the book can be Tested to award Advanced Skill ticks relevant to the book's contents, in addition to any diegetic uses it would have anyways.
11 The Bloody Book (50). The sentences in this rare and elusive tome are so blood-chillingly terrifying that just reading them can claim your life and (allegedly) your very soul. special: deals 2D6 damage to the reader, depleting Stat by 1 for every point inflicted.
12 The First Man (20). The single surviving account of the First Man's reign. It details the location of his tomb on Zamonia and confirms the prophecy that Zamonia will fall to Men once more when his imprisoned crown is returned to an heir.
13 Das Akrobats (17). An illuminated tome that teaches impossible feats of contortion. special: teaches the spell Akrobatik (3)1. Costs 3 Stat.
14 The Key of Sarchus (8). Its disorganized pages explore the various pseudoreligious practices of Demon Ranges' Sarchite blood cults. Agents of the Sarchites and of the Zamonian Anti-Sarchite League will both pay dearly for it.
15 Annals of a Non-Master (20). The first half of the book is a rather tired recounting of a middling alchemaster's childhood and adolescence. The second half contains recipes for a multitude of poisons and antidotes with remarkably cheap and accessible ingredients.
16 Demararan Stars. (22). Penned by Chuist Bartwin, the famed traveloguist. Sought after for its accurate recount of the true names of desert spirits. The spirits in question were aggravated by the exposition of their vulnerabilities, and so conspired to make Demararan Stars Bartwin's last book.
21 Sights of the Suri. (12) Excerpts from a merchant's diary speak of a hidden oasis in the Demerara desert. Its inhabitants, the Suri, are supposedly an enclave of Humans left behind in their great retreat during the Zamonian War of Succession. special: Test its Stat while in the Demerara Desert to successfully navigate to the lost city of Zerzura.
22 The Mountain Maggot's Song. (14) Water-damaged, charcoal-inscribed pages purport a foolproof orienteering procedure for the famously intractable tunnels of the Gloomberg Mountains. special: Use within the Gloomberg Mountains to navigate accurately. A failed roll indicates that the fragile tome has dissolved into dust or mush.
23 Norris Mahilton: A Life Fuzzily Recalled. (28) The appearance of a cheap paperback Belies detailed instructions on the procurement and synthesis of nearly every psychoactive substance on the Zamonian continent.
24 The Catacombs of Bookholm. (16) Attractively composed (pseudo?)autobiographical vignettes from the life of Colophonious Regenschein. special: when encountering wondrous phenomenae in the Catacombs, the Stat may be Tested to see if this book contains a corresponding, elucidatory passage.
25 Professor Abdullah Nightingale's Zamonian Encyclopaedia. (6) Published in thousands of miniature, pocket-sized volumes. The famed Nocturnomath has a, well, encyclopedic knowledge of nearly all extant phenomenae on this continent. The sheer number of volumes makes it even odds that the one in your hands is the one you actually need.
26 You Have Been Poisoned (12). Camouflaged sleeve resembles any other normal book. Its pages are coated with a potent paralytic that lasts for 1D66 minutes.
31 The Affair of the Poisons (8). A Bookholmian detective's case journal, mysteriously lost for decades. It contains copies of ledgers from the infamous Bookemist Johan Brunjohan, confirming the sale of untraceable poison to several individuals who are now influential Bookholmian publishers, authors, and entrepreneurs.
32 Hel: Gazetteer (10). The only attribution is a dedication to 'Gaunab, from Friftar.' A keyed map of the mythical realm of Hel, which supposedly lies deep beneath Zamonia. It suggests that there are numerous sealed portals to the surface, one of them being in the city of Wolperting, and another in the depths of the Catacombs of Bookholm.
33 Lincoll's Pocket Guide: Cave Fish. (15) Beautifully illustrated with bioluminescent ink. special: can be used in caves to bolster Fishing attempts by +1 per Stat spent, or alternatively to identify subterranean fish species.
34 How to Win Friends and Influence People. (5) The author claims to have devised a scientific method for getting on with other people. Thousands of unpurchased copies languish in the upper levels of the Catacombs.
35 The Way of the Bookhunter. (11) Ronkong Koma's magnum opus, a pamphlet-esque manual on underground navigation and combat.
36 Earglad's Marvelous Librosonograph. (9) A thousand strangely crenellated pages of iridescent alloy. Laid open in the presence of a struck tuning fork, the pages flick sonorously to a page that best describes whatever is nearby. The passages are usually somewhat vague and divinatory in style, reminiscent of tarot readings. A prize to archaeologists and architectural surveyors, as sound waves penetrate surfaces that the eye cannot.
41 Physiognomicon. (25) In the remnants of this massive, legendary tome are said to be miniatures of every face that has been and ever will be. special: learn the Mien table of any being whose face you have seen.
42 Mourris Matterley's Principles of Polite Introduction. (5) Well-thumbed, its spine broken. Its instructions have you coming off a bit stiff, but well-meaning. special: Advantage on Mien rolls.
Akrobatik (3): Ten minutes of precisely-performed stretching allow the Akrobat to briefly enter a state of physical liquidity. For 6 turns in initiative, they can flow through any space larger than their eye.↩