The Conversational Bookmark

by Frazer 👁 40 views

This slender bookmark is fashioned from deep blue vellum edged in tarnished silver. A tiny brass clasp shaped like a speech bubble holds a strand of crimson silk, while its lower edge is engraved with unfinished sentences that seem to rearrange themselves when read. The bookmark is warm when someone nearby is speaking and grows faintly cool when a conversation ends without a farewell.

Held Place When placed in a book, journal, or other written work, the bookmark magically returns to the last page and line you were reading when the book is closed. This benefit functions for any number of books, but only you can cause the bookmark to return to a remembered place.

Unfinished Conversation As an action, you can touch the bookmark and name a creature with which you have spoken within the last 7 days. For the next 24 hours, you remember the conversation perfectly, including the exact wording, tone, and order of statements. During this time, you have advantage on ability checks made to recall or accurately quote that conversation.

Marked Reply Once per long rest, when a creature you can see finishes speaking to you, you can use your reaction to magically mark the conversation. Until the end of your next turn, you can understand the general meaning of any language that creature speaks, even if you do not know the language, and you have advantage on your next Charisma check made against that creature.

The Small Obligation When you finish attuning to the bookmark, a quiet obligation appears in your mind, chosen by the DM. It must be a modest, non-dangerous task that can reasonably be completed within 7 days, such as delivering a letter, returning a borrowed book, answering a question truthfully, or introducing two people. Until you complete the obligation, you cannot end your attunement to the bookmark, and you have disadvantage on saving throws against being charmed by creatures to whom the obligation directly relates. The bookmark does not create an obligation that requires theft, violence, betrayal, or certain death. Once completed, the obligation vanishes and a new one does not appear unless you attune to the bookmark again.

Lore

The bookmark is said to have been invented by the Concordance of Patient Readers, a society of scribes who believed that abandoning a conversation midway was as discourteous as closing a book on another person's finger. Their maxim, stamped in silver on every genuine bookmark, reads: "No thought should be lost merely because the page was turned."

History

The oldest known example belonged to Meriel Voss, a traveling negotiator who used it to preserve treaties, promises, and casual remarks alike. After Meriel died, the bookmark passed through the hands of dozens of owners, each inheriting a different small obligation. One owner spent a week carrying a baker's apology across a war zone; another was required to read an entire unfinished novel aloud to its dying author. The item is now commonly found among librarians, diplomats, detectives, and habitual interrupters.

Created by Frazer 👁 40 views

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