The Whispering Reeds

This hefty tome was compiled centuries ago by an anonymous author who sought to collect all parables, myths, stories, and encounters with the Outer Goddess Nhimbaloth. According to the introduction, the author's original intent was to create a work that foes of the Empty Death could use to fight against her influence, but as one reads through the book, it becomes apparent that the opposite effect has been achieved—by compiling these stories, the author inadvertently generated a work that made it easier for Nhimbaloth to influence the world. Those who venerate the Empty Death seek copies of this book to use as a guide and religious text, while those who don't know better and peruse the book as though it were merely an anthology of stories find themselves unwittingly falling prey to Nhimbaloth's cult or agents of the entity herself. Those who study from The Whispering Reeds for too long are often cursed to rise as ghosts after death—though their existence never lasts for long, as they are inevitably consumed by Nhimbaloth.

The anonymous compiler wanted to produce an enormous print run of The Whispering Reeds, but after the initial run they realized the danger and scuttled those plans, instead attempting to destroy those copies already created. This crusade caught the attention of Nhimbaloth's cult, who swiftly assassinated the compiler. Fewer than two dozen copies of this rare tome are believed to still exist. The book's sinister nature causes all attempts to transcribe it to fail, resulting in bodies of gibberish, nonsense text.

The Whispering Reeds provides several abilities, but you can't activate any of them while you are Stupefied unless you are a follower of Nhimbaloth.