Hec’tumel Codex

A dozen green copper plates bound with reddish wire, crowded with strange images, arcane diagrams, and a forgotten script. Touch the inscriptions and your dreams fill with Hec’tumel — a pale reptilian being with skulls for eyes — who brands an alien incantation into your mind and offers, night by night, to teach you more.

Its spells answer to a sharp wit but exact a price: drawn attention, mounting error, and a slow reshaping of the flesh toward something cold and serpentine. The codex promises power without limit through Darksome Vessel, but every lesson learned is one more thing Hec’tumel sees through your eyes.

Tags · crude · slow · magical

A dozen green copper plates bound with reddish wire show strange images, arcane diagrams, and a forgotten script. Touching the inscriptions fills your dreams with Hec’tumel, a pale reptilian being with skulls for eyes, and leaves an alien incantation branded in your mind. You can Cast a Codex Spell with +INT. On a 10+, it works; on a 7-9, it works but draws attention or leaves a cumulative casting penalty until Hec’tumel corrects you; on a 6-, mark a consequence. You initially know Call the Pale Lizard, which manifests Hec’tumel in shadows at night: knowledgeable, unable to lie, but not obliged to answer fully. If Hec’tumel spends a night teaching you, mark progress and choose spells such as Call Up the Dead, Serpentine, Snuff the Spirit, or Torpor. Unlocking Darksome Vessel lets 12+ results empower Codex spells, or lets you mark a consequence before casting to get that empowered result.