RUMOR WOODS: GM Ethereal announced an update to Spell Books that began with an entire storyline! Even if you do not use magic or a spell book, you will want to read Spell Books!: Volume 2: The Sequel: The Return of the Features, Starring Dunvold as the wizard and Tad, his faithful famliar. Oh yeah, Spell Books get New Verbs, New Voucher, New Tier (with a multi-spell attack mode):
Text of Discord Post follows:
GM Ethereal
[Rumor Woods] Spell Books!: Volume 2: The Sequel: The Return of the Features
on 6 Apr 2026 at 5:10 PM
from the Official GemStoneIV Discord
on #forums/paid-events channel
“Faster!” his mentors begged him. “How are you going to defend yourself when there’s a kobold biting your neck by the time you’ve gotten to the right invocation?”
Sigh.
Dunvold was never a fast reader. While other wizards were busy levitating rocks and conjuring flame, he was still sounding out “The Wheels on the Wagon Go Round and Round: A Primer on Circular Motion and Enchanted Transportation.”
His first combat exam was a disaster. By the time he’d stumbled through “I hereby summon thee, O crackling arc of—wait, is that an ‘i’ or an ‘l’?—of light-en-ing,” the training dummy had already crossed the arena and bopped him on the head. Twice.
“Perhaps you’d be better suited to alchemy,” suggested Professor Burnwood gently, after Dunvold’s protective ward fizzled out because he’d accidentally read “shield” as “sheld” and created a small pile of clamshells instead.
But Dunvold was stubborn. Every night, by candlelight, he practiced. First with children’s spellbooks. Then young adult spellbooks with slightly more complex incantations. He read aloud to his familiar – a deeply unimpressed toad named Tad — until his tongue no longer tripped over phrases like “effervescent transfiguration” and “perpendicular banishment.”
The breakthrough came on a Tilamaires.
He was reading a particularly dense tome about elemental manipulation when he realized he wasn’t sounding out the words anymore. His eyes were simply… knowing them. The symbols flowed like water, the syllables rolled off his tongue like thunder, and suddenly—whoosh—a column of fire erupted from his palm.
“Tad, did you see that?!”
Tad blinked once. Slowly.
But Dunvold didn’t need validation. He could feel it. He grabbed another spellbook. Then another. Incantations that once took him minutes now took seconds. He chained spells together – frost, then lightning, then a shimmering barrier of pure force —reading faster and faster until the pages were practically a blur.
By the time the final exams rolled around, Dunvold wasn’t just competent. He was terrifying.
While other students carefully enunciated their way through a single protection spell, Dunvold had already summoned three elementals, erected a fortress of ice, and teleported the test dummy into a shallow pond. His mentors stood slack-jawed as spells flew off the page like startled birds, each one more devastating than the last.
“How—” stammered Professor Burnwood.
Dunvold smiled, adjusting his reading glasses. “Practice,” he said simply, as an errant fireball turned a nearby bush into a small pile of ash. “Lots and lots of practice.”
Tad, perched on Dunvold’s shoulder, gave what might have been an approving croak.
This, this was what reading was about.
Several updates for Spell Books are coming to Rumor Woods 2026! This year, we have a few player request features and two new features, which will be deployed shortly before opening on Friday. They are:
You may now PONDER to a specific slot (e.g. ponder <#> <book>).
You may now TRANSFER spells between slots – just select a slot via PONDER and then TRANSFER <book> to begin the process. If a spell is already present in the destination slot, it’ll be moved to the originating slot for the spell being transferred.
Several bug fixes have gone in related to display and usage (Thanks bug finders!).
NEW: You may unlock additional uses of STARE (1750) via a voucher, capped at the item’s Tier (5x/day max at Tier 5). Speaking of Tier 5…
NEW: Tier 5! At this Tier, you may WAVE a book at a target to sequentially invoke spells in rapid succession! The first spell has a 100% chance to fire, the second 75%, the third 50%, and the fourth 25%.
Pricing is still TBD. The upgrades should be available when Rumor Woods opens.
Enjoy!
This poor, poor rat…
>wave guide at rat
Raising your strategy guide at a giant rat, you begin to rapidly invoke the spells contained on the guide’s pages, unleashing a bombardment of spells in rapid succession!
You unleash the Prayer of Holding spell at a giant rat!
Glowing mist encircles a giant rat before fading away ineffectually.
You unleash the Divine Fury spell at a giant rat!
Particles of dust and soot rise from the ground at your feet as you release a pulsating, platinum ripple of energy toward a giant rat!
CS: +480 – TD: +3 + CvA: +25 + d100: +74 == +576
Warding failed!
The giant rat is cloaked in a blinding platinum light and assailed for 400 points of damage!
… 50 points of damage!
Head and most of upper body turned into a smoking pile of gore!
The giant rat is stunned!
… 75 points of damage!
Terrible slash to the giant rat’s side!
Entrails spill out, onto the ground!
Death can be SO messy.
You unleash the Fervent Reproach spell at a giant rat!
A single dim, ale-brown globe springs to life in your right hand. With a flick of your right wrist, the globe dances through the air toward a giant rat!
CS: +480 – TD: +3 + CvA: +25 + d100: +99 == +601
Warding failed!
The orb squarely impacts a giant rat, discharging the ale-brown energy over its entire being for 358 points of damage!
The ale-brown energy pulses for an additional 250 points of damage …
… dissipating with a final discharge of 150 points of damage!
You unleash the Condemn spell at a giant rat!
[SMR result: 497 (Open d100: 55, Bonus: 60)]
The air around a giant rat vibrates with the low, strident blast of a hunting horn!
Misty figures with vengeful, star-bright eyes course past the giant rat, slashing it for 35 points of damage!
… 35 points of damage!
Hard slash to the giant rat’s side!
Left arm no longer available for use.
The giant rat shrieks as it slumps to the ground and licks at its wounded left foreleg.
Cast Roundtime 12 Seconds.
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