Necromancer's Journal

A dangerous book recovered from beneath the Great Tree, bound in chains that were symbolic rather than physical. The locks were woven directly into the journal's binding - to open it required negotiation, not force.

The Spirit Within: The journal houses Trogeth, a Shadar-kai necromancer now bound as a spectral presence within his own tome. Through riddles and trials, the party drew him forth and learned of the Shadar-kai's tragic curse, the Raven Queen's exile, and the locations of two other failed portal attempts (the Great Pine and Great Mushroom).

The Tests:

• Test of the Arm (riddles) - passed
• Test of Strength (combat against summoned nightmares including a Death Slaad) - passed
• Test of the Heart (choice to save fallen companions) - passed

Rewards: Two scrolls of Revivify that persist only as potential - limited, fragile, finite. The Shadowfell does not give gifts without expecting a reckoning.

Warning: The journal interferes with planar transit. During the party's attempt to travel through the Feywild, it writhed violently in Kouzlo's pack. He suppressed Trogeth's influence through sheer arcane will, but the party was still expelled near the Great Mushroom.

By the time the party reached the Great Mushroom's portal room, he understood the book well enough to suppress Trogeth's interference entirely. The return transit through the portal was simply a step — no violence, no expulsion, no cackling.