This heavy tome is written in Midani and is entitled The Nycoptic Manuscripts: Analysis and Critique, written by Kazerabet, Queen of Ysawis, dated 585 AL. The text contains excerpts of the Nycoptic Manuscripts, a collection of ancient tales and cryptic prophecies which included a vast array of knowledge of necromancy. The author of this tome analyzes and expands upon various passages from the source text, aimed at furthering the field of necromantic research. A key passage reads as follows:
... Intermingled amongst the Author's astute and accurate observations as to the nature of the Art, we are confronted with the Author's own musings, prophecies, and soothsayings as to present and future as they concern matters of death and divinity. Consider for instance the following passage, recounted as "Loviatar's Descent into the Netherworld."
The characters which feature are the Faerunian deities of pain and strife, yet here the Author seems to recast them in such a way as to scarcely resemble the myths to which either deity is attributed. Are these merely the ramblings of a madman? Or are they are the forbidden truths of one has glimpsed into the divine fabric of our universe? Perhaps in our study of the Art, the line between madness and truth is not so great a line as some may think. I shall allow you, dear Reader, to be the judge:
When Our Lady of Pain discovered her sister had left the Land of the Living and taken refuge in the World of the Dead, her wrath and fury were boundless. She descended to the Land of No Return, through the caverns and lower regions known only to this spirits, until she reached the city of Erkalla itself, ruled by Cyric, the King of the Dead. And Loviatar approached the gate of the city, known as Ganzir, and pounded her Flail of Tears on the door, demanding to be let in, but her command was unanswered, and her screams resounded through the streets of Erkalla:
"Gatekeeper, I am here at Ganzir before the Walls of Erkalla. Open these gates for me! I am Loviatar, Maiden of Pain, Mistress of Sorrow, and I shall smash down this door if you do not open it! I shall crack open the bolts with my Flail of Tears and sunder the iron with my Scourge of Despair. I shall release all the dead from city of Erkalla, and they shall climb up the stairs of the earth. I shall raise up the dead, and they shall eat the living: the dead shall outnumber the living!"
And the Gatekeeper appeared, and he opened the door, but he would not let Our Lady pass:
"Mighty Loviatar, Maiden of Pain, you cannot enter Erkalla with your symbols of Power. Leave them with me, and then you may visit the King."
Our Lady of Pain saw the truth in his words, and at the gate of the city, she stripped off her talismans. She gave up the Flail of Tears, surrendered the Scourge of Despair. She unwrapped her Robe of Severed Hands, and coiled up her Whip of Countless Afflictions. She unwrapped the spiked wire from her hair and plucked out the needles from her nails.
And at last Loviatar was finished, and the Gatekeeper escorted her into Cyric's dismal palace. And the King of the Dead saw Our Lady humbled, and in his throne room of glory, he heard her complaint. Cyric made his voice heard like a gavel of thunder, and he spoke loudly his judgment, with the following words:
"I am Cyric, Lord of Erkalla, and I welcome you to my pale domain. You have no power here in my most ancient city: over the dead only I am King. I have heard your request and will honor it. When you leave, your sister shall accompany you. But each winter she will come back and visit me, and I shall return her to your side in the summer."
Our Lady of Pain heard his pronouncement, and she left gladly with her sister beside her. Thus Loviatar ascended from the netherworld, resuming her just punishment of Man.