Expanded Spell List
The Accursed Archive lets you choose from an expanded list of
spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are
added to the warlock spell list for you.
|
Accursed Archive Expanded Spells |
| Spell Level |
Spells |
| 1st |
detect evil and good, inflict wounds |
| 2nd |
accursed wish*, dark secret* |
| 3rd |
blackened heart*, blasphemy* |
| 4th |
black tentacles, forbidden obelisk* |
| 5th |
dispel evil and good, legend lore |
Tainted Knowledge
At 1st level, you have feasted your eyes upon the books of the
Archive, and your mind has both withered and grown. Choose
two of the following: Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion.
Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you
make that uses a chosen skill if you are proficient in that skill,
and you gain proficiency in any one skill of your choosing.
You can use an action to enter the Accursed Archive along
with up to ten willing companions of your choosing that you
can see. Time does not pass outside the Archive while you are
within, and you cannot rest, recover hit points, or maintain
concentration while inside. For more information on the
Archive, see the ”Inside the Archive” section. When you choose
to depart, you and your companions return instantly to the
point from which you entered.
Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you
finish a long rest.
Written in Blood
At 6th level, you’ve learned to read your servants and
adversaries as easily as the scrolls located within the darkest
places of the Accursed Archive and can twist them to serve
your cruel whims.
As an action, touch a creature within reach. The target
must make a Charisma saving throw with a DC equal to your
warlock spell save DC. If they fail, they are paralyzed until the of a book bound underneath their skin. The words within describe who they are and what they have done, and you can read up to six different sentences from them, prioritizing details you wish to learn. While the creature is paralyzed, you have advantage on Charisma and Intelligence checks relating to the creature and it has disadvantage on Charisma and Wisdom checks.
Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Vile Heresies
At 10th level, you uncover secrets that could shatter the balance of the heavens and hells. Choose any spell of 4th level or lower that is not a cantrip. You can cast this spell once using a warlock spell slot.
Once you do so, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Whenever you are within the Archive, you can exchange this spell for a different one, but cannot use it until you finish a long rest. Whenever you cast your chosen spell, you gain immunity to the frightened condition. This immunity lasts until you finish a short or long rest.
Unspeakable Truths
At 14th level, you discover the real purpose of the Accursed Archive – the spread of information that will bring ruin to the world. As an action, you can share an unspeakable truth with all creatures that can hear you within 60 feet of you.
All hostile creatures who can hear and understand your words must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. If they fail, they are driven mad and suffer confusion as though affected by the confusion spell for one minute. They can repeat this saving throw each time they suffer damage, ending the effect on a success.
When you do this, choose up to four creatures within 60 feet of you that you can see. These creatures are infused with dark power that distorts the fabric of reality. Choose one spell you can cast of 2nd level or lower that inflicts damage and has a casting time of one action or bonus action. Each infused creature can use their reaction to cast this spell immediately without using verbal, somatic, or material components. Charisma is their spellcasting modifier for this spell.
Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Quirks of the Archivist
When creating a warlock or after spending time researching in the Archive, consider adding one or more of the following quirks to your character.
| d20 |
Trait |
| 1 |
You always hold books as far away from you as possible. |
| 2 |
You’re uncomfortable in open spaces. |
| 3 |
You compulsively hush other people. |
| 4 |
You’re convinced your shadow is alive and plotting against you. You might be correct. |
| 5 |
You can’t stand to see others handle books in your presence and take them away immediately. |
| 6 |
You curse quietly when you think others aren’t listening. |
| 7 |
You constantly chant a single phrase under your breath in a language you don’t understand. |
| 8 |
You avoid looking people in the eye. |
| 9 |
Whenever you hear a secret, you write it down. |
| 10 |
You keep a record of the events of each day and store it within a tome you allow no others to see. |
| 11 |
An eye has grown on the back of one of your hands. You can’t see from it, but something can. |
| 12 |
Your skin becomes pale like parchment. |
| 13 |
Thick black veins run through your arms and legs. Occasionally, they twitch. |
| 14 |
Blood placed on your skin appears to form runic sigils. You’re not certain what they mean. |
| 15 |
Your tears are black like ink and stain heavily. |
| 16 |
Your tongue becomes black and eerily long. |
| 17 |
Your irises become red with black veins running through them. Sometimes others can see the veins form words. |
| 18 |
Your posture degrades and your back stoops heavily. |
| 19 |
Your hands are always stained with ink. |
| 20 |
Scars you can’t explain appear and vanish at random. |
Inside the Archive
While few venture into the Accursed Archive, those who do cannot help but be drawn through the great hall to gaze upon the tome in the center of the room – the Index Incarnatus, a singular, endless book that contains the location and description of every single scrap of forbidden lore within the Archive. Even gazing upon it for mere moments can cause discomfort, and reading from it can cause agony to both the body and the soul.
Any creature that attempts to read from the Index must make a Charisma saving throw with a DC equal to the skill check DC that would be required to gain the knowledge they seek through ordinary means. If they fail, they gain a level of exhaustion, but might still find the location of the correct tome or scroll at the discretion of the Index.
All levels of exhaustion gained while within the Archive are removed whenever the subject finishes a long rest.
The Silent One
Each time a person speaks or makes noise within the Archive, roll a d20. If the result is a 1, the person has attracted the attention of the Silent One: a terrifying, tentacled nightmare of unspeakable strength that exists with the sole purpose of curating and protecting the knowledge hidden here. The Silent One is blind, but has keen hearing and long tendrils that cannot be truly harmed by ordinary magic or metal, only driven back for mere moments.
Hunting Methods
Each turn this creature is hunting the party, randomly choose one target, prioritizing those who have spoken loudly or who have damaged writings within the Archive.
The target must make an appropriate saving throw or ability check with a DC equal to 10 plus the character’s proficiency bonus. If they succeed, they manage to flee, quiet themselves sufficiently, or fend off the monstrosity for a moment, buying time for the rest of the party to complete their work.
If they fail, the dark tendrils of the creature corrupt the flesh of the target, inflicting one level of exhaustion. If a member of the party gains six levels of exhaustion, they are seized by the horror and dragged into the depths of the Archive to meet a dark and twisted fate.
Fighting the Silent One
If the party somehow gains the knowledge and skill required to face the Silent One in open combat, the fight will not be an easy task. The creature will make multiple attacks using its tentacles, each one inflicting a level of exhaustion to any creature struck by these eerie tendrils.
The horror may resort to hit-and-run tactics, concealing itself within the endless and shadowed alcoves of the Archive before lashing out in a vicious barrage of attacks. The Silent One may also grapple and abduct any spellcasters within the party who use spells that require verbal components, seeking to choke the life from them.
The Silent One is deliberately left without a defined statistics block in this document. It is up to you to define the form of the Silent One and the statistics it will use, though in all cases it should be all but impossible to fight with conventional means.
A Nightmarish Visage
While no two accounts of the Silent One are the same, all describe it as large, powerful, and extremely dangerous.
Some claim it looks similar to a hound, blind and eyeless, with massive teeth and an eerie walk that conceals its speed. They say tendrils spiral from its back, laying around the hallways waiting to ensnare someone walking without sufficient caution.
Others claim it looks like a bat, with large wings and ears that twitch atop a mass of tentacles. Those who have seen this incarnation claim it swoops down from the highest bookshelves, crashing into unfortunate souls before pinning them beneath its unholy mass and devouring them alive.
Few see it as a serpent, silently flickering a tongue-like tendril that enables it to seek out those who are quiet enough to hide from it. A rare number call it a spider, sitting within a web of limbs and tentacles, waiting for a fly to stumble upon it. Those who have fallen to madness after seeing the beast multiple times claim all of these answers are wrong, and put forth an even more disturbing hypothesis: There is not merely a single Silent One, but many. Each that greets the next unfortunate soul is one of the previous victims of the horrors, transformed into their worst nightmare by the unspeakable powers that dwell within the darkest depths of the Archive.
Few believe these tales, of course, but those who have attempted to resurrect individuals who’ve fallen to the beast have failed, even when using the most powerful of magic.
Leaving the Archive
The party can depart from the Archive by returning to the great hall and striking the small bell located beside the Index as an action. Each person striking the bell instantly departs and returns to the location from which they entered the Archive, with no time having passed from the moment they left.
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