Truthscribe Quill
A purple-plumed quill that refuses to write a lie.
Renna shifts on the uncomfortable wooden stool flanked by a bored looking man in guard livery. She'd heard rumours of the quill now in her hand, rumours she had hoped were unfounded. The lawmen here in Teris had made one thing clear: she wasn't leaving the room until she had written in detail about her actions the night before.
Truthscribe quills are used by the legal systems of large enough settlements across the Riven Lands to create tangible evidence that can be used as proof of personal accounts, to confess crimes or to create binding contracts. Such a quill is visually distinct from other, similar implements as both the plume and the ink produced are deep purple in colour. Individual specimens may be of different sizes and shapes as they retain the basic form of the feather used during item creation.
A truthscribe quill may only write statements that are known by the author to be the truth. This functions the same way as a localised version of the zone of truth spell that only applies to written text. If the holder attempts to pen words that they know to be a lie, ink does not flow from the quill. In addition, if the quill is used for any other purpose - such as drawing - it will also fail to write.
Each quill produces its own endless supply of ink, never requiring dipping into an external source. The ink dries immediately, making it impossible to smudge or doctor. Once written, text resists amendment or obfuscation but the paper or parchment used does not gain any additional magical properties and may be damaged as normal.
The quill may not be used to gain information - a user could not write "The devil-prince's true name is..." to reveal the name. Instead, the most likely way they would complete the sentence would simply be "...unknown by me."
Urvén Homebrew
Truthscribe Quill
Wondrous Item
Uncommon Enchantment
When writing with this quill, you must make a DC 14 Charisma saving throw, becoming unable to knowingly write a lie on a failure.
The quill endlessly produces its own ink provided it is being used to write text. It does not produce ink, nor will it apply ink from an outside source, if used for any purpose other than writing.
This larger than average quill is a regal purple in colour. It writes in a similar shade.
Cost: 500gp
Weight: 1oz
Intelligence (Arcana) to recognise enchantment and to potentially duplicate.
Intelligence (History) to know of local usage.
Crafting
8 materials with a total value of 400gp including any combination of the following:DC 14 to produce, 12 total crafting progress required.
Rules on crafting magic items can be found here.
Summer Camp 2021
Article Links
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This was an article originally written as part of the 2021 Summer Camp challenge. I have edited the article since then, so what appears on this page no longer reflects the original competition entry. - Theoclymenus
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