The tome you found on the altar when you defeated Helena (and which you seem to have forgotten about) seems to be a grimoire of sorcery.

The first section details a number of rituals for casting spells.

The first chapter outlines the mental disciplines, incantations and mystical symbols required to perform the magical rituals, and ways in which the range and power of the spell can be increased, at the cost of more energy used.

The second chapter describes a form of ritual self-mutilation and scarring. For each Hit Point of blood you draw from a location, you will generate up to 20 Magic Points, but you run the risk of losing a point of Charisma and also permanent damage. The number of Magic Points seem to be dependent on the psychological importance of the scars – you stop reading when it starts discussing ritual castration. The blood must be stored in a ritual stone bowl and the Magic Points will remain available for as long as the blood is liquid.

The third chapter describes a form of of blood letting that similar to the first, but only involves blood letting, without the ritual scarring and loss of Charisma. It is less effective however, and only generates up to 10 Magic Points per Hit Point of blood lost.

The fourth chapter describes forms of ritual human sacrifice. In this other victims are bled, either partially or to death, into a similar bowl. The efficacy of the harvesting seems to depend on the emotional attachment that you have to the victim. If the victim is a close relative or someone to whom you have a close physical relationship, you can get 5 Magic Points per Hit Point of blood. If they are merely a member of the same species, then you only gain 1 Magic Point per Hit Point. Creatures of a different species do not generate Magic Points.

The second part is a list of spell rituals. All of them require magic points from blood and other material components and specific rituals.

The spell rituals, at first glance, seem to be:

Blood Ward which uses a supply of sacrificial blood to protect the caster from physical damage. The spell can be cast quickly and with little preparation other than the supply of blood. The blood must be present between the attack and the caster – for protection from missile weapons it can be in a bowl or trough in front of the caster, but for protection from close combat weapons it must be smeared onto the body.

Anaemia which causes a gradual wasting illness in the victim. The victim will weaken and die over a number of days. The ritual takes 4 hours to cast and requires a part of the victim’s body, although this need only be a few hairs. This must be placed in a silver chalice and the blood added at the start of the ritual. The chalice and the caster must then remain inside an unbroken magic circle for the duration of the ritual, during which the caster must intone the pages and pages of words in a language that seems strange and inhuman to you.

Vampiric Touch which allows the caster to heal a wound by transferring it onto a victim that he targets. This is again very quick to cast, and is done by opening up the wound already suffered (causing an extra Hit Point of damage) and smearing the extra blood onto the hand that then touches the victim.

Abjure Life which allows the caster to cease breathing, eating and ageing for the duration of the spell. This seems to be a very complex spell, and you are not quite sure how it works.

Restore Vitality which allows the caster to regain youth. This requires the caster to sacrifice a victim of the same species and gender as themselves and drink all their blood over a 24 hour period from full-moon-rise to full-moon-rise. The caster will regain all the years of life that fate had decreed that the victim would have lived had this ritual not occurred. It is therefore impossible to know how much youth will be restored. A marginal note in a very precise hand notes that by subverting fate, overuse of this spell can attract the unwanted attention of Zalatun, Lord of Fate, who may send minions to track you down. Another note in a more rounded hand notes that small children usually have more life ahead of them and have a smaller volume of blood, making the drinking part easier.

Extract Heart which you think you may have seen in action. It is another fast casting spell by requires a lot of Magic Points to ensure that the victim’s Constitution is overcome and the heart successfully extracted.

Magic Jar which allows the caster to create an enchanted vessel, which can be an actual jar, or something like a gem, that their soul will return to if their body is ever destroyed. Their body will then gradually reform next to the magic jar.