The Adversary's Whetstone

by Frazer 👁 53 views

Charges: 3 (regains at dawn)

This palm-sized whetstone is a dark green slab veined with threads of silver that resemble handwritten annotations. Its edges are unnaturally straight, and its surface glitters with minute flecks of iron, ink-black glass, and powdered diamond. One side bears a razor-thin engraving of an open mouth; the other displays a closed eye. When drawn across steel, it whispers fragments of unfinished arguments in voices too faint to identify.

Edge of Certainty As an action, you can draw the whetstone across one nonmagical or magical melee weapon, sharpening it for 10 minutes. For the duration, the weapon gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and its damage is magical if it was not already. This property cannot affect a weapon that already has a bonus to attack or damage rolls.

Sharpened Argument Once per long rest, you can spend 1 minute tracing a line across the whetstone while preparing a statement, negotiation, or debate. For the next hour, you gain a +1d4 bonus to Charisma (Persuasion) checks. In addition, when you fail a Persuasion check during that hour, you can reroll it and must use the new roll. Once you use this reroll, the property cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.

Cutting Retort When a creature you can hear within 60 feet makes a claim, threat, or promise, you can use your reaction to deliver a pointed rebuttal. The creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes before the end of its next turn. A creature that cannot understand your language is immune. This property can be used three times, and you regain all expended uses daily at dawn.

Collector's Mark While attuned to the whetstone, you always know the direction of the nearest creature that has knowingly possessed it for at least 24 hours, provided that creature is within 10 miles of you. This property does not reveal distance or identify the creature.

Lore

The Adversary's Whetstone is said to sharpen not what is true, but what can survive opposition. Duelists used it before fencing bouts, advocates before trials, and tyrants before addressing their subjects. Old catalogues describe it as 'a modest stone of extravagant consequence.' Its current whereabouts are unknown to the public, though a collector somewhere knows exactly where it is—and has reportedly arranged an entire gallery around the empty space where it will eventually be displayed.

History

The whetstone was created by Orsena Vale, a royal rhetorician and amateur swordsmith who believed every argument should have an edge. She shaped it from a meteorite fragment, a judge's discarded seal, and the whetstone used by her murdered fencing instructor. After Vale lost a celebrated debate by one sentence, she vanished with the stone. Centuries later, it passed through the hands of duelists, barristers, revolutionaries, and thieves before disappearing from an auction in the city of Leth. The auctioneer's records end with a single note: 'Purchased privately. Buyer declined to give a name.'

Created by Frazer 👁 53 views