The Thimble of Unending Apology

by Frazer 👁 70 views

This tiny thimble is made of tarnished silver, though one side gleams constantly as if polished by an invisible thumb. Its rim bears a ring of minute engraved words: “I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry.” A single tear-shaped chip of smoky blue glass is set into its crown, and faint gray lines run through the metal like old scars. When worn, it contracts gently around the fingertip without pinching, while the protected nail takes on the color of moonlit steel.

Perfect Fingertip When you finish attuning to the thimble, it molds itself to one fingertip of your choice. That fingertip, including its nail and the thimble itself, is immune to all damage and cannot be cut off, crushed, burned, frozen, corroded, pierced, diseased, or otherwise physically harmed. Effects that would sever or destroy the fingertip fail, though they can still damage the rest of your hand, arm, or body. The protected fingertip cannot be forcibly removed from your hand, and the thimble cannot be removed while you are attuned to it.

Unyielding Touch The protected fingertip can safely touch mundane flames, boiling liquids, blades, needles, acid, and similar hazards without being harmed. This protection does not extend beyond the fingertip, does not grant resistance to damage affecting the rest of you, and provides no protection against magical effects that target your mind, soul, or body as a whole.

The Weight of Remorse The thimble remembers the harm for which it was made. Whenever you deliberately use the protected fingertip to cause harm to a creature that has not harmed you or an ally during the current encounter, you take 1 psychic damage and hear a whispered apology in the voice of the thimble's maker. This damage cannot be reduced or prevented.

Curse. The thimble's guilt makes it cling to its wearer. While attuned, you cannot willingly remove it or give it away. You can end the attunement by casting remove curse, or by making a sincere apology and meaningful restitution to a creature you personally wronged while wearing the thimble; the Dungeon Master determines whether the apology is accepted. The curse is subtle and is not revealed by simply handling the item.

Lore

The thimble was created to protect the one finger its maker could not bear to have harmed again. Whether the apology was for an accident, a betrayal, or a deliberate cruelty has been lost to history. Every owner agrees on one detail: the thimble never forgets what the finger has done. It offers perfect protection, but never forgiveness.

History

The first recorded owner was Meriel Vane, a seamstress who fashioned the thimble after a reckless nobleman's sword cut through her apprentice's hand. Meriel claimed she made it as an apology, though no account agrees on whether she apologized to the apprentice, the nobleman, or herself. The thimble disappeared after Meriel used its protected finger to stitch a shroud for the apprentice. It has since passed through surgeons, torturers, locksmiths, and penitents, always returning decades later to a place where someone needed protection from one small, terrible thing.

Created by Frazer 👁 70 views