The Apologetic Scraper

by Frazer 👁 57 views

This knee-high boot scraper is fashioned from blackened oak and green-patinated brass. Its four blunt teeth resemble tiny clasped fingers, and a tarnished silver plate bears the words, "I should have stopped sooner." A shallow bowl beneath it catches no mud; instead, it fills with a dark, glasslike residue whenever its magic is used to lift a burden from someone's heart.

Cleansing Scrape As an action, you can scrape one of your boots across the brass teeth of the scraper. The scraper removes all nonmagical mud, dirt, blood, and other grime from your footwear and clothing. It can also remove one nonmagical stain or mark from an object no larger than a 5-foot cube.

A Burden Set Down Once per dawn, when you use the scraper, you can name a wrong you have committed and scrape your boot across it three times. You then end either the charmed or frightened condition on yourself. For the next 24 hours, you have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to offer a sincere apology or make amends, but disadvantage on Charisma (Deception) checks and Charisma (Intimidation) checks.

It Remembers The scraper cannot erase guilt or remorse; it only draws those feelings out of its user and stores them. While attuned to it, you occasionally hear the faint sound of weeping metal whenever you knowingly harm or betray another creature. This sound is audible only to you and cannot be silenced by mundane means.

Lore

The scraper was made as an apology by a remorseful house steward who failed to warn a visiting family about a murderous nobleman. The steward could not undo what happened, so he commissioned the scraper from a remorseful smith and asked that it carry the guilt he could no longer bear. The resulting enchantment was meant to make every visitor pause, clean their boots, and remember that entering a home leaves traces behind.

History

After the nobleman's manor was abandoned, the scraper remained in its entry hall for decades. Travelers who used it reported feeling briefly lighter, followed by an overwhelming urge to confess some small cruelty. A priest eventually carried it to a refuge for displaced families, where it became a quiet ritual: before entering, every resident scraped away the road and spoke aloud one thing they regretted. The refuge burned years later, but the scraper survived without a scorch mark.

Created by Frazer 👁 57 views