The Bookstalker

The frozen peaks of the Giant's Teeth were one of the most remote places on the planet. The air was thin enough that it stole the breath from your lungs, and cold enough that it froze the tears on your face. It was the furthest you could be from any other living creature.

He'd still found them.

Corlon was dead, his head smashed in from the bookstalker's quarterstaff. Shen had been flung off a cliff, falling a thousand feet into a ravine of ice sharp enough to pierce steel. Marvus had tried to reach for his spells, but he had never been a deft hand with his sorcery... and not in the face of what was coming for them. Narem had tried to flee, and had gone ass over end down the mountainside. Fear and cold had stolen his grace, and even if the bookstalker hadn't caused his fall, he hadn't done anything to help him.

Kneeling down before the sealed crate, he traced his gloved fingers over the runes to unlock the sealed container. It opened with a soft whoosh, and he opened the lid. Beneath his black-and-white mask, he smiled.

It was there. The grimoire of the ancient wizard Larne Korash, who had become a lich and been destroyed a hundred years ago by the Swords of Darakis. An important tome as a work of magic, but also the last vestige of a lost history. The bookstalker closed the lid, resealed the crate, and then gestured with one hand. The crate and its contents raised into the air, borne aloft on a small disc of force.

His job complete, he turned and headed back toward the library. The tome would need to be filed, cared for, and studied in a safe environment... but none of that was his task. By that time he would be off, tracking down the next book on the library's list.

The Bookstalker

Nethys, the mad god of knowledge, creates with one hand and destroys with the other. A god who mastered magic, and who is driven by it, his followers hold an equal reverence for mystical power. They seek knowledge, and understanding, attempting to follow in the footsteps of Nethys's own apotheosis.

The bookstalker is someone who serves a specific function within this faith; hunting down tomes, grimoires, books, scrolls, and notes of any philosopher, wizard, druid, or bard who have contributed to the pool of knowledge about magic.

There are several ways to make this concept, but the path I recommend is an inquisitor of Nethys. Inquisitors wield magic, stealth, skill, and their unique judgments. They make for ideal field agents who are capable of working alone, and who are able to take advantage of nearly any situation. And if you combine the inherent advantages and abilities of the inquisitor with the Knowledge domain (which gives you access to useful spells as well as domain abilities) you have a powerful investigator. While you could also run the bookstalker as a wizard (with a heavy lean on diviner), or as a cleric (with the Knowledge domain, as well as the Rune domain), my recommndation is for an inquisitor.

However, some books and relics are important enough that multiple bookstalkers might be sent as a team to recover them, and to ensure they are brought back in one piece to the church.

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