Gorothir's Girdle

Gorothir's Girdle was a holy text of the church of Shar, which took the unusual form of a black leather corset instead of an actual book. It was said to be one of the oldest garments in Faerûn.

Description
The Girdle was a black leather corset studded with many small figures carved out of jet. There were a total of 28 figures decorating it, each of them as tall as a small man's palm and sporting empty eye sockets. Those visages were particularly life-like, and were easily recognizable from each other. They were described as follow:

A laughing lady &bull; a sad old bearded man &bull; a jester &bull; a knight &bull; a fat woman &bull; a hook-nosed man &bull; a cowled man &bull; a bearded man in a feather cap &bull; a girl child &bull; a weeping lady &bull; a grim scarred warrior &bull; a scowling dwarf &bull; a sneering elf &bull; a crying boy &bull; a baby &bull; an idiot man &bull; a whistling man &bull; a man with his tongue sticking out &bull; a staring man &bull; a bald man &bull; a howling man &bull; a man with many tufts of hair &bull; an alluring lady &bull; a woman with her tongue sticking out &bull; a screaming woman &bull; a smiling lady &bull; a jolly man &bull; a woman with scaly skin

While made to be worn by an individual with a small waist, the laces holding the Girdle together allowed almost anyone to wear it&mdash;albeit sometimes in a ridiculous fashion.

Powers
This sacred item was protected by enchantments against deliberate attacks and the ravages of time, making it as resistant as bone or ivory. It also benefited from a permanent ironguard spell.

The knowledge contained in the Girdle could be revealed by placing the correct gems in the jet figures' empty eye sockets. When a correct gem was inserted, it would stick in place and glow slightly. When a wrong gem was used it would vanish, consumed by the divine item. Once both gems in a specific figure were matched properly the corresponding spell would appear within that face in midair, in vertical floating letters of green fire. Doing so would not consume the gems, which were safeguarded by the divine relic's protective powers and could only be removed deliberately.

While typical holy books could only be used by faithful of the corresponding deity, Shar allowed the Girdle to be used by priests of any faith&mdash;even against her own clergy. On occasions, Shar proved capable of corrupting the possessor of the belt if they were not her followers already, turning them into faithful servants. She would also take actions if she deemed the current owner of the item to be too weak, whispering to more worthy priests so they could make the belt their own.

In some cases the Girdle have granted its owner the ability to cast spells once a day such as aberrate, damning darkness, fiendish clarity and slow consumption. It would also sometimes damages creatures of good alignment that made contact with it.

Contents
As a Spellbook, the Girdle contained information on the 28 spells&mdash;as many as the visages ornamenting it: Animate dead, Armor of darkness, blade barrier, circle of privacy, crawling darkness, creature of darkness, crushing walls, dark road, darkbolt, dispel magic, dissension's feast, efficacious monster ward, greater creature of darkness, grounding, heal, hovering road, imbue with spell ability, invisibility to undead, meld into stone, mind read, mindshatter, miscast magic, mistaken missive, modify memory, monster mount, obscurement, telepathy, and whip of Shar.

On the inside of the girdle, a tale described how Gorothir felled an empire with only a lie and a secret. This text also contained the specifications of the false sending spell. Some sages believe that this text wasn't originally present on the belt, but was an addition by a former owner.

History
The Girdle was first used circa -310 DR by Gorothir the Dark Prophet of the Night, a priest of Shar. While some believed that Gorothir built the item, others thought he received it from the goddess or from one of her servants.

This belt had a bloody history, moving from one owner to the next through murder and deceit. Gorothir lost the belt after being blasted in a conflagration of powerful magic by his descendants. One of those took the belt for himself, only to be assassinated by a fellow clergywoman a couple years later. One particular nameless owner, who displeased Shar, was turned into a staggering undead to watch over the Girdle until a more worthy owner showed up. The belt was lost in the Underdark after a powerful priestess attained lichdom and lost Shar's favor. Its last known owner was Zesstra Aleanrahel, third daughter of a powerful drow Matron.

Rumors

 * The Girdle was said to be haunted by the spirits of some of its famous owners, such as Rulgond and Klaunauthe.
 * It was said amongst the clergy of Shar that secret combinations of gem placements could let the owner summon some of the spirits haunting the belt, of even the presence of the goddess herself, to answer questions and provide advices.
 * It was rumored that a 29 spell could be learned from the girdle, by placing the correct sort of stone in all eye sockets. It was unclear which stone should be used, probably some lesser ornamental variety. The 29 spell was supposed to be Mass Resurrection.
 * The belt is said to have appeared in markets and shops regularly, sold at a very high price only to disappear again not long afterwards.

Notable Owners
The known owners of the Girdle are listed below in chronological order.
 * Gorothir, the first owner, rumored to be the creator of the belt
 * Jurguth Goroth, a descendant of Gorothir (circa 446 DR)
 * Klaunauthe Draeyl, a priestess of Shar (circa 469 DR)
 * The adventurer Rulgond (circa 554 DR, until its death in 576 DR from the blade of fellow adventurers)
 * Lalondra Worul, a priestess of Shar sent by the goddess to retrieve the belt after it went through several nameless hands (circa 617 DR). She was the last known owner, but lost the belt after achieving lichdom in 697 DR and being deserted by Shar.
 * Zesstra Aleanrahel, a female drow who recovered the Girdle from the body of a dead illithilich and converted to the worship of Shar (circa 1370 DR).