Yornar's Trail Companion

Yornar's Trail Companion, or simply the Companion, was a holy spellbook of the Church of Mielikki that had been granted to the legendary ranger Yornar the Tracker by the Lady of the Forest herself, then passed from ranger to priest and priest to ranger down through the centuries. It was thought Mielikki sent the book around the Realms to inspire and encourage her faithful and to strengthen the magic of her priests.

Description
The book had an unusual crescent shape, resembling the lunar phase. For a spine, it had a single, sturdy scrollwork hinge that curved along the middle part of the crescent's outer curve. It had ironwood covers bound in leather, which had been replaced multiple times, with one bearer, Rhighaermon, replacing it no less than four times, and the crescent's horns were sometimes seen with protective metal caps and sometimes without. The whole book appeared well-used and worn by time and the elements. It was roughly tall, as measured straight from horn to horn.

Within the covers, the book had many pages apparently made from the mineral mica. These sheets were cut to the thickness of a hair and polished smooth.

Contents
Each page of Yornar's Trail Companion displayed a single divine spell. As documented by Rhighaermon O'Antlers, these spells were known to be:
 * accelerate healing • age creature • age plant • animal friendship • animal growth • animate rock • anti-vermin barrier • anti-animal shell • anti-plant shell • banish blight • barkskin • breath of life • call woodland beings • circle of privacy • clear path • conjure animals • control temperature, 10' radius • control winds • create campsite • create food & water • create treant • create water • cure blindness or deafness • cure disease • detect snares and pits • dispel magic • efficacious monster ward • endure heat/endure cold • entangle • faerie fire • find drinkable water • find the path • fire purge • free action • giant insect • ground trace • hallucinatory forest • heroes' feast • hold animal • hold plant • invisibility purge • invisibility to animals • invisibility to undead • know age • know alignment • know direction • know time • land of stability • liveoak • locate animals or plants • locate object • log of everburning • lower water • monster mount • nap • neutralize poison • part water • pass plant • pass without trace • plant door • plant growth • protection from fire • purify food & drink • reflecting pool • reincarnate • repel insects • resist fire/resist cold • slow poison • snake charm • snare • speak with monsters • speak with plants • spike growth • stalk • tongues • transmute rock to mud • transport via plants • tree healing • tree steed • tree • turn wood • unceasing vigilance of the holy sentinel • undead ward • unicorn steed • wall of thorns • warp wood • water breathing • water walk • weather stasis • weather summoning • wolf spirits • wood sword • zone of sweet air

Powers
In addition, the book itself possessed a number of magical powers and properties. The mica pages were utterly unbreakable, apparently due to a magical treatment. Moreover, the covers bore numerous item enchantments, rendering them invulnerable to fire, physical damage, and all known spells, even dispel magic and disintegrate.

The Companion could also glow faintly, similar to a faerie fire spell, when touched and willed to do so. Its light could be quietly dimmed in the same way. The light was a pale fire, similar to moonlight. Thus, the book could be used as a handy source of light, and was frequently used in just this way by the countless rangers who carried it through the woodlands at night.

In addition, it had the odd property that, when the book contacted any substance that was poisonous or corrosive to humans, elves, and half-elves, it became oddly prickly to the touch of bare skin. This had the practical benefit of allowing the bearer to detect poisons by dipping the book in a liquid or touching it to food, or waving it through the air when toxic gases were feared.

Clerics who possessed the Companion received the understanding that a Mielikkian priest might be permitted to use the Companion a second time after giving it away, but only if the need was great.

History
According to Mielikkian legend, one dark night some time in the 10 century DR, Yornar the Tracker was lost in the forest and harried by bugbears when he glanced up at the crescent moon and muttered "Oh, that the moon itself would come down and light the way for my sword." And to his surprise, it did, with a small glowing crescent descending from the heavens and illuminating the forest. As the bugbears cowered, Yornar could see clearly enough to overcome them. Afterward, he gazed up at the crescent and prayed to Mielikki to give thanks, when it floated down into his hand and was revealed to be a book of spells.

As he could not understand, let alone cast, the spells himself, Yornar prayed ardently to Mielikki for guidance on what to do with it. One night, he was awoken by low, rich voice in his ear, saying "Keep it with you and give it to one who will serve me. You will know when the time is right to bestow it." He even felt a kiss on his cheek, with a touch of fire yet as cool as spring water. However, when Yornar sat up and look into the forest, he found he was alone. The Lady of the Forest had been with him. Church lore held that Yornar was the first to carry the book, and so it was named for him thereafter—Yornar's Trail Companion.

Eventually, in the, Yornar the Tracker dutifully gave the book to a Mielikkian priestess named Emthreena Gulkryn. She was combating the creeping evil of Hellgate Keep in the eastern High Forest. Emthreena made good use of it for much of a season until Mielikki sent her dream visions telling her it was time to pass it on, and to give it to a passing ranger who seemed worthy.

Emthreena duly did as she was bid, giving the Companion to a travelling ranger who carried it across Faerûn and gave it up to a Mielikkian priest. This established 'the Rightful Cycle' of the Companion changing hands from priest to ranger, ranger to priest, where the ranger would transport it and the priest would use it. This cycle continued through the centuries without disruption, with the Companion changing hands hundreds of times and moving erratically all around the Realms, with the Mielikkian priests studying it in peace. According to researcher Sambranna Highstar, there was "little of interest to recount of its endless journeys, nor in the studies of the quietly diligent Mielikkian holy folk."

One remarkable ranger was Rhighaermon O'Antlers, a Waterdhavian noble who gave up his wealth, his family, and his surname in order that he might wander the untouched wildernesses of Faerûn. In the, a thief stole the Companion from Rhighaermon and sold it to Lord Lathamp of Elupar in the Vilhon Reach. In response, Rhighaermon assembled some half-dozen other followers of Mielikki and mounted a daring raid to steal it back from Lathamp's palace. The rangers dueled the Eluphan guards along the battlements and in the galleries as they successfully reclaimed the tome from the palace vault.

In the, Rhighaermon married Dathae, and they hung the glowing Companion over their bridal bed. Afterward, while on their honeymoon, Rhighaermon finally delivered the Companion to the priest Klavaeron of Cedarsproke in the Gulthmere Forest.

The mind flayer tried to exchange the tome for a more useful magical item. But, by sheer chance, the man he tried to trade with was none other than the now elderly Rhighaermon O'Antlers. With every trick and tactic he knew and every magical item in his possession, Rhighaermon killed the mind flayer and stole back the Companion, and carried it to the closest temple of Mielikki. However, he was hunted all the way by the mind flayer's druuth. Mortally wounded and with the doppelgangers close behind, Rhighaermon arrived at last at the Mielikkian temple in Maerlar in Mulhorand. He fell into the priests' arms, holding the Companion out to them though he could not tell them what it was. The priests charged out to heal him and protect him from the doppelgangers, when a mystery lady in green emerged from the trees and caused vines to ensnare, choke, and tear apart the doppelgangers with no more than her finger. She picked up the faithful Rhighaermon O'Antlers with a smile and disappeared, as the stunned priests fell to their knees and wept and praised Mielikki, the Supreme Ranger. A message carved on their altar would be found the next morning, as if it had always been there, encouraging the Mielikkians to continue the Rightful Cycle. Later, Dathae completed the Companion ' s journey, carrying it from Maerlar to the next Mielikkian priest in the Rightful Cycle.