Clockwork Inkbeetle (Patreon)

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.

The Cartographer's Guild of Antronec would hire small bands of adventurers to test their mettle on new and exciting expeditions provided they wear a single band of the found and lost. "To make sure you're alright!" they would say, with a smile. They always had the best smiles. Besides, the gold was always worth the request.

In an enclosed room, well-guarded and hidden in the basement of the guild, the Cartographers would watch in earnest as these beetles would scurry across sheets of labeled parchment as bands of expendable mercenaries would plot the best—and worst—routes through the most dangerous places in the realm. Some maps were sold to the highest bidder. Others were used by Cartographers themselves to ransack the remains of their fallen hires and finish the job themselves.