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Clockwork Inkbeetle

Wondrous Item

Uncommon

This minuscule, mechanical beetle is 1 inch long and quietly whirs with a mix of magical and mechanical forces. Placing the beetle on a piece of parchment you hold or carry causes it to spring to life and begin tracking your travels. As you move, so does the beetle. It leaves behind a small line of ink that it generates. The ink immediately dries and doesn't dissolve in water. In addition. the beetle's small frame allows it to move even while enclosed in a book or similar enclosure without losing its sense of movement or direction.
 The beetle has a dial on its underside. A creature can use the dial to select the scale in which the beetle moves. For each option, the beetle moves 1 inch in the same direction as you for every amount you move as shown on the dial, creating a map of your journey: 20 feet, 200 feet, 2 miles, or 20 miles. The beetle is immune to magical effects that would otherwise alter its sense of direction.
  The beetle always knows which direction is North. When placed on a piece of parchment for the first time, it crouches down to stamp a small compass rose on the sheet before beginning to move. If the beetle runs out of space on the parchment to travel, it stops moving in that direction and emits a clicking sound that can be heard by creatures within 5 feet of it. 
Attaching one band of the found and lost to the beetle while you wear the other allows the beetle to move and trace your movements in this way from afar so long as you are both on the same place of existence.



Created by

Westmaster_Funk.

Statblock Type

Item

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