History: Born in the year of Cold Flame, 894 DR, in the Mulhorandi city of Sultim, Yarnix
Coldfire was a the child of a noble family. His father was a mage on no little repute in the
employ of non other then the earthly incarnation of Thoth, Lord of Magic. Yarnix’s childhood
was a happy one. But at the age of 20, while finishing work under his father’s tutelage in magic,
Yarnix’s father was found guilty of treason against the god kings and punishment was swift. In
an instant Yarnix’s world had collapsed. His family sold into slavery, his father slain by
Thoth’s hand, all his families magic and wealth gone, Yarnix had no choice but to flee the god
kings wrath. For years he traveled from local to local on the Mulhorandi country side, avoiding
the cities and studying what magic he could in an endless effort to master magics to defeat
the god kings and their agents. Finally in the Year of Winding Road, 917 DR, while exploring a
ruin in the desert of Rurin, Yarnix came upon a small group of red robed wizards searching
for much the same prize he was in search of, magic from the Imaskari empire powerful enough to
challenge gods. It was the leader of this group of "Red Wizards" that truly caught Yarnix’s
attention. A powerful spell caster by the name of Ythazz Buvaar. Ythazz Buvaar and Yarnix shared
the same hatred of the god kings and their treatment of the lands non-priest spell casters.
And so it was that Yarnix, although by now, much the superior of Ythazz in his mastery of magic,
became second in command of the fast growing renegade band of spell casters who called themselves
the "Red Wizards". Five years after this fateful meeting Yarnix participated in the summoning
of the tanar’ri lord, Eltab, and the over taking of northern Mulhorand and sacking of Delhumide
in the Year of Spouting Fish, 922 DR. It was also he who helped devised the great magics used
to capture that same tanar’ri ally one year later and imprison him under what is now the city
of Eltabbar in Thay.
Yarnix’s carrier continued for many years and it is suspected he
was one of those who devised many of the unique fire magics of Thay said to have been put down in
the year of Smoldering Spells, 1020 DR. Yarnix was last seen fighting his former ally, Buvaar while
vying for the position of zulkir in the year 1030 DR, the Year of Warlords. The Tome of Flames
was first found in the Year of Bane’s Brood, four years after Yarnix’s suspected demise.
(His true fate was never determined as his remains were never found after his battle with
Ythazz. Ythazz Buvaar, even after long years of magical divination and communing was never able
to divine his foes final fate and it was suspected to this day that Yarnix might still survive
as a powerful form of undead or other planer creature. It was this unknown fate that was the
inspiration for the tale "The Lost Zulkir". A story still common in Thay, used to scare little
children before they go to sleep.) It was taken from a Yarnix’s last apprentice when he was
agonizingly slain by Buvaar in an effort to lay Yarnix’s legacy to dust. Buvaar would have
loved to study the tome and gain the secrets within but he never got to as it was stolen from
his tower soon after he found it and long before he could discover how to read it. It is unknown
who stole the tome and to this day the demilich that is Ythazz Buvaar, first zulkir, sends agents
from his home in the crypts of Bezantur to seek the tome in addition to any ongoing schemes to
find a fresh host for his soul. The tome’s next appearance is over two centuries later in the
year 1280 DR, Year of the Manticore. A red wizard of the school of Invocation/Evocation used
the tome to teach his two apprentices several of the fire magics within which the three later
put to use in a circle in the battle against Mulhorand that took place that same year. The entire
circle was shattered by a powerful scrivener, one Thebes Tholaunt. Thebes removed the, remarkably
unscathed, tome from the smoldering remains of the wizards body, who must not have divined the
tome’s true value otherwise he would not have been slain so swiftly. Thebes then bore the tome
to the great library at the Arcanum of Magic in Gheldaneth. Here he studied the tome in length.
It can be assumed that Thebes discovered the Yarnix’s mantle spell, as the legend of his passing
tells of his standing in the face of a score of warriors with magical blades completely unscathed
and hurling spells at no less then three red mages while he ignores their furious fiery attacks.
Although all his foes perished, so did he, and when his chambers were emptied no trace of the tome
was found. The tome was next rumored to have been seen in the possession of the Halruaan mage,
Thaintar Wandstar who left that land to wonder the lands of the shining sands in the Year of the
Wanderer, 1338 DR. How it came to be in his possession is unknown though it is suspected he bought
it from a Mulhorand thief in a bid to gain access to the secret of the southern magic script. It
is safe to assume that Thaintar was never able to pursue the tome as he most probably never
gained access to the read southern magic spell. Thaintar was seen in Calimport for a short while
but vanished soon after. Thaintar’s true fate and that of the tome are unknown. Nether have been
seen since the Year of the Behir, 1342 DR.
Description: The Tome of Flames is a simple bronze bound tome, five handwidths high by three
wide and three inches thick. The tome’s covers are of smooth tanar’ri hide and the sheets within
are of papyrus. The tome is magically protected from damage by all natural and magical flames
and from any attempts to scry its location. In addition the tomes magical construction lends it
a +2 bonus to any other saving throws it might have to make. Platinum filigree on the tome’s
cover identifies it as the Tome of Flames and a wizard mark in center of the tome’s cover
of a flame encircled ankh identifies it as the work of the wizard Yarnix. The tome has no well
known traps related to it. It has had many traps laid over it over the years by its former owners.
The last defense laid on the tome was that of Thaintar’s, a Xult’s Magical Doom cupped with a
Trap Spellbook spell that causes 5d6 points of damage to any unauthorized persons opening it
(see spell descriptions for their effects). All 41 of the sheets within the tome are blank when
first viewed except the first which reads only "By the flames we are made and by time undone,
Yarnix.". Only when the sheets are applied to any sort of magical flame do the words upon them
come into view.
The spells upon the tome’s sheets remain visible for 1 hour before magical flame must once again
be applied to them to view them. The spells within the tome are written in the southern mage
script used in Mulhorand and can only be read with the read southern magic spell or a limited
wish or more powerful spell. The tome contains several rare fire related magics, believed to be
Yarnix’s work or spells he found in his travels to the ruins of Netheril and the Imaskari Empire.
Some of these spells can be found in other spellbooks in Thay as he shared many of then in the
year 1020 DR but some are truly unique. The tome’s true value however lies not in the fire
spells laid therein but in its deeper secret. Beneath the writing of the spells on the last three
pages of the tome lies Yarnix’s version of a Mantle spell he himself developed off the copy of
the spell he found in Raurin. This unique Mantle spell can only be seen if the blood of a true
tanar’ri is smeared on the pages prior to applying magical flame to the pages and the caster
has a detect invisibility active while he uses read southern magic to read the spell.
Contents: The Tome of Flames contains the following spells in the listed order: Trap Spellbook,
Fireball, Great Balls of Fire, Flaming Sphere, Fire Wave, Fire Gate, Fire Sheet, Fire Wall,
Fire Lance, Fire Chain, Teleport Fireball, Fire Mine, Fire Charm, Blood Fire and Delayed Blast
Fireball. The unique spells found in the tome and the variations made to the mantle that
can be found in the tome are described bellow.
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