The Apologetic Scraper

by Frazer 👁 53 views

Charges: 3 (regains at dawn)

This squat, waist-high boot scraper is made from dark oak swollen smooth by generations of hands. Four hooked teeth of tarnished silver rise from a shallow stone basin, each engraved with a different phrase of apology in a dozen languages. A thin line of black enamel runs through the wood like a healed wound. No matter where it is placed, a little gray mud gathers beneath it, even on clean floors. When a charge is expended, the mud briefly turns ink-black and smells faintly of rain, cold iron, and extinguished candles.

Immaculate Threshold When a creature scrapes one or both boots across the iron teeth, the boots and the creature's lower garments become perfectly clean, free of ordinary mud, blood, dust, dung, ash, and similar nonmagical grime. The scraper can also erase the creature's tracks and scent from the last 10 feet of ground it crossed.

Scrape Away the Burden As an action, a creature can scrape one boot across the scraper and expend 1 charge. The creature ends one of the following conditions affecting it: charmed, frightened, or poisoned. Alternatively, it can remove one nonmagical effect imposing disadvantage on its ability checks. The effect must be one the creature is willing to relinquish, and the scraper cannot remove a condition caused by a curse, artifact, or deity.

The Guilt It Keeps Whenever this item removes a condition or harmful effect, a smear of black, tar-like guilt appears between its teeth. Until the next dawn, the creature that used the scraper has disadvantage on its next Charisma check made to deceive, excuse, or shift blame for a wrongdoing. If the creature has committed no wrongdoing it regrets, the scraper instead whispers a quiet apology audible only to that creature, and no disadvantage applies.

A Reluctant Apology If a creature uses the scraper to remove a condition it knowingly caused another creature to suffer, the scraper releases a whisper naming the injured creature and the wrong that was done. The whisper can be heard through magical silence, but it deals no damage and has no further mechanical effect.

Lore

The Apologetic Scraper is said to remove not only what clings to a traveler's boots, but also what clings to the traveler's conscience. It does not forgive. It merely takes a small portion of a person's burden and keeps it for itself. Those who use it often claim that the item becomes heavier over time, though its weight never changes.

History

The scraper was made by Odran Vale, a court artificer who accidentally caused a palace fire while attempting to impress a visiting ambassador. The fire killed his closest friend, who had entered the burning archive to save Odran's work. Odran forged the teeth from the silver clasps of his own ceremonial boots and carved every apology he had failed to speak into the wood. He placed the scraper outside the ruined archive as a final gesture of remorse. Years later, servants found it at the threshold of every house where Odran had sought forgiveness. After his death, it continued appearing outside the homes of people who had wronged others and lacked the courage to admit it.

Created by Frazer 👁 53 views