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Search 118 of the Pestering Bristle Whisk

—

by

Dale
in

Lore

  • In the academic disputes of Saṃsāra, most search magic practitioners believe secrets are uncovered through deep contemplative stillness or sharp visual acuity; however, the mendicant gadflies of the Itinerant Scrapers proved that secrets can also be badgered into the open.
  • Design 118 was first assembled in the drafty chapterhouses of the Irritant Order—a sect of itinerant census-monks and nuisance bailiffs who found that people, spirits, and even stubborn inanimate vaults will yield their concealed truths simply to make an annoying presence go away.
  • The whisk operates upon the metaphysical principle of “incessant agitation”: it resonates not with grandeur or quiet wisdom, but with the persistent, maddening friction of repetitive tapping, scratching, and intrusive nagging.
  • When held by an avatar who leans into persistent petty interference, harmless busywork, and meddlesome prodding, the brush’s bristles begin to itch and tremble, instinctively guiding the handle toward whatever someone nearby is desperately wishing would remain undisturbed.
  • Experienced avatars note that using the whisk often causes bystanders to grind their teeth or develop sudden nervous twitches, as the magical search frequency itself feels like a stray horsefly circling one’s ear.

Description

  • The item is a short-handled, stiff-bristled utility whisk roughly eight inches long, featuring a handle turned from common mottled hornbeam wood with a shallow thumb-rest worn smooth by repetitive rubbing.
  • Bound securely into the flared wooden socket is a Tier 1 magic crystal: an uncut, cloudy splinter of honey-yellow scapolite, banded with fine natural striations that emit an intermittent, low-frequency buzzing whenever pressure is applied to the bristles.
  • The head consists of thirty-three stiff, split-tipped porcupine quills interbraided with coarse, dried thistle fibers and stiff badger bristles, held tight with wraps of tarred linen twine.
  • Dangling from the pommel hole on a thin brass chain is a tiny, clattering brass thimble with a loose iron bead inside that rattles with a hollow, persistent tick-clack at the slightest movement.
  • When swept across any surface, the bristles produce a dry, rasping scritch that sounds slightly louder than it ought to be, setting sensitive nerves on edge.
  • The whisk continuously gives off an odor reminiscent of crushed nettles, pungent vinegar wash, dried mustard seed, and static-charged wool.

Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
  • Item Classification: Agitative Search Implement / Contact Divination Whisk
  • Specific Gear Slot: Hand Slot (Held in one hand, or tucked into a belt loop or apron sash)
  • Base Item Type: Divination Whisk / Sensory Agitator
  • Armor Check (AC) Modifier: +0 base AC (+1 circumstance bonus against being surprised or ambushed while sweeping, as the continuous scratching and rattling breaks the concentration of stealthy stalkers).
  • Item Resilience: 10
  • Item Health Points: Avatar maximum Health Points plus 10 (base avatar max HP plus resilience of 10 multiplied by item tier 1).
  • Structural Integrity: If reduced to half health points or below, several porcupine quills crack, and the brass thimble dents, deadening its rattle; if reduced to 0 health points, the hornbeam handle splits lengthwise, and the yellow scapolite crystal shatters into non-magical powdery grit.
  • Item Weight: 0.4 pounds.
  • Attunement Requirement: Simple attunement (requires spending fifteen uninterrupted minutes pacing around a room, flicking the brass rattle, and obsessively brushing off harmless dust from walls, chairs, or companions’ cloaks until someone in the area audibly tells the user to stop or sighs with profound irritation).
  • Suggested Market Value: 20 silver coins (2 gold coins) in scriveners’ guildhalls, toll stations, and customs barracks; rising to 25 silver coins in bustling bazars among bailiffs, persistent tax-collectors, and inquisitive investigators.

Tags

  • search, divination, bothering, nuisance, porcupine-quill, scapolite, whisk, hand-slot, agitation, pestering, friction, common, tier-1, annoyance, meddlesome, scritch-whisk, gadfly-magic, itch-divination, thimble-rattle, brass-tinkerer, persistent-search, bristle-scryer, petty-interference, nettle-trace

Passive Magic

  • Intrusive Friction:
    • While actively sweeping, scratching, or tapping surfaces with the whisk, the avatar becomes attuned to petty structural disturbances. The user gains an edge on checks to detect secret compartments, loose floorboards, and hollow masonry within 10 feet, as the bristles catch, skip, and scrape loudly whenever passing over concealed seams.
  • Irritating Awareness:
    • The persistent, rattling presence of the brass thimble and the scratch of the bristles creates an ambient zone of mild psychic static. The wielder is immune to being put to sleep by non-magical means and gains an edge on saving throws against being lulled into trances, hypnotic fascinations, or optical illusions, kept alert by the relentless annoyance of the tool.
  • Scent of the Stinging Nettle:
    • When carried openly, the brush emits a sharp, sinus-pricking odor of crushed nettles and vinegar whenever someone within 15 feet is harboring an active secret, a concealed weapon, or an unspoken lie they are desperate to keep hidden.

Active Magic

  • The Nagging Scritch:
    • Action Cost: One standard action.
    • Verbal / Casting Requirement: The avatar briskly brushes a wall, door, piece of furniture, or person’s sleeve while muttering: “What’s this then? What have we here? Mind if I tidy this up?”
    • Effect: The bristles vibrate with high-pitched, abrasive friction for 5 minutes. As the avatar brushes surfaces, the whisk actively tugs the hand toward hidden catches, concealed latches, or sliding panels within 15 feet, scratching frantically against the exact spot where a secret release mechanism is placed.
    • Cooldown: Usable three times per in-game day.
  • Badgering the Concealed:
    • Action Cost: One standard action.
    • Verbal / Casting Requirement: The wielder rhythmically rattles the brass thimble against the hornbeam handle three times, producing an excruciatingly grating clatter.
    • Effect: An agitative psychic pulse ripples outward in a 20-foot radius. Any creature attempting to stay hidden, invisible, or motionless within this zone must succeed on a Will/Focus check or feel an overpowering, maddening physical itch across their skin. On a failed save, the creature must scratch themselves, cough, or curse under their breath, immediately giving away their precise location.
    • Cooldown: Usable three times per in-game day.
  • Relentless Pester-Mark:
    • Action Cost: One standard action.
    • Verbal / Casting Requirement: The avatar sweeps the whisk across an object or person, flicking a shower of invisible, static-charged bristle-dust over them.
    • Effect: For 1 hour, the target is marked by the spirit of annoyance. Even if the target moves behind cover, blends into a crowd, or attempts magical camouflage within 60 feet, the user hears a continuous, faint, maddening rasping buzz echoing from their direction, allowing the user to track them effortlessly through walls and crowds.
    • Cooldown: Usable once per in-game day.

Specific Gear Slot

  • Hand Slot (Held in the hand by its wooden grip, or hung from a wrist loop/belt toggle)

Commerce and Acquisition of the Pestering Bristle-Whisk in Saṃsāra

  • Customs Houses, Toll Stations, and Cargo Inspection Barracks:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Drafty, lime-washed timber gatehouses stationed along busy river docks, mountain passes, and turnpike bridges. The air is sour and dry, smelling of vinegar washes, damp wool cloaks, horse manure, dried mustard, and sour ale from the carters’ flagon-hearth.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Bored toll-bailiffs, sharp-eyed revenue wardens, and cargo prodders keep these whisks hooked to their belts to sweep across wagon floorboards and poke through sacks of wool without lifting heavy crates. The standard baseline price in these official checkpoints is 20 silver coins (2 gold coins).
    • Independent caravaneers, traveling merchants, and roving avatars pay the full baseline sum of 20 silver coins.
    • Sworn toll-clerks, certified river bailiffs, or avatars carrying an official Customs Insignia receive a 10% tier discount (paying 18 silver coins at Tier 1; 16 silver coins at Tier 2).
    • The seller snaps the brass rattle to demonstrate the ring, scrapes the quills briskly against the pine counter to prove their abrasive tension, and hands it over in exchange for coin with an impatient, hurried grunt.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: The toll officer scratches the whisk across the underside of the counter; if the scapolite core buzzes and the brass thimble chatters sharply over a hidden joint, its authenticity is verified.
    • Official buybacks adhere to the standard 10% tier valuation formula (returning 2 silver coins at Tier 1; 4 silver coins at Tier 2).
    • Acquired brushes are stamped into the barracks quartermaster’s chalk-slate log and hung on iron wall pegs.
  • Itinerant Scrapers’ Guild-Yards and Cooperage Workshops:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Noisy, sawdust-filled work-sheds tucked into the artisan quarters of major market towns. The space is crowded with split timber, bundles of porcupine quills, racks of rasps, and boiling cauldrons of pine rosin and tar, smelling strongly of turpentine, wood shavings, boiled linseed oil, and pungent green nettle steeps.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Journeymen carpenters, barrel-coopers, and pest-clearing guilders use the whisk to locate dry-rot voids in ships’ hulls and hidden bug-galleries inside seasoned timber. The practical artisan utility in these working yards fixes the price at 22 silver coins (2 gold coins and 2 silver coins).
    • Wandering adventurers, laborers, and unbonded handymen pay the full 22 silver coins.
    • Registered apprentices, licensed wood-turners, or avatars presenting an authorized Scrapers’ Guild token receive the 10% tier discount (paying 19 silver and 8 copper coins at Tier 1; 17 silver and 6 copper coins at Tier 2).
    • The cooper presents the tool wrapped in brown tallow-paper, showing off the grain of the hornbeam grip and the tight linen whipping.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: The artisan examines the quills for splits, taps the yellow scapolite crystal to hear its characteristic low drone, and inspects the brass thimble for dents.
    • Buybacks calculate at the standard 10% tier formula based on the 22 silver cost (yielding 2 silver and 2 copper coins at Tier 1; 4 silver and 4 copper coins at Tier 2), recorded in the shop’s grease-stained timber ledger.
  • Bailiffs’ Quartermasters and Constabulary Lock-Ups:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Low-ceilinged, barred holding cells and guard desks inside city watch bastions. The atmosphere is stark and harsh, smelling of cold lye, stale sweat, iron rust, and dried vinegar used to scour interrogation benches.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Interrogators and search-wardens purchase the whisk to sweep down suspected smugglers, shaking out hidden lockpicks, stitched-in gems, and false-heel boots through relentless physical prodding. High civic and enforcement demand raises the station price to 24 silver coins (2 gold coins and 4 silver coins).
    • Stray mercenaries, bounty-trackers, and independent avatars pay the full 24 silver coins.
    • Sworn city guards, appointed constables, or avatars presenting an active Constable’s Warrant receive the 10% tier discount (purchasing at 21 silver and 6 copper coins at Tier 1; 19 silver and 2 copper coins at Tier 2).
    • Transactions are conducted briskly across iron-grated counters with flat, bureaucratic efficiency.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: The armorer rattles the thimble directly into the seller’s ear; if the persistent clatter triggers an immediate, annoying tickle, the enchantment passes muster.
    • Payouts adhere to the standard 10% tier calculation against the 24 silver rate (yielding 2 silver and 4 copper coins at Tier 1; 4 silver and 8 copper coins at Tier 2), marked into the municipal armory rolls.
  • Meddlers’ Stalls, Rag-and-Bone Curio Basements, and Bazar Alleys:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Clogged, chaotic stalls crammed under the eaves of noisy open-air bazars and narrow back-alleys. Piles of second-hand clothes, bundles of feathers, rusted birdcages, brass keys, and bundles of dried herbs hang from low canvas awnings, smelling of moth powder, dried mustard seeds, sharp vinegar, and pipe tobacco.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Sneak-thieves, nosy tavern busybodies, and professional informants purchase the whisk to ferret out hidden purses, floor-compartments, and concealed letters in target rooms without tearing the furniture apart. Illicit convenience and high curiosity markup push the street price to 25 silver coins (2 gold coins and 5 silver coins).
    • Roving delvers, street vagabonds, and freelance cutpurses pay the full 25 silver coins.
    • Recognized informants, street-runners, or avatars offering a recognized Bazar Nuisance-Token receive the 10% tier discount (paying 22 silver and 5 copper coins at Tier 1; 20 silver coins at Tier 2).
    • The street vendor incessantly rattles the thimble, dusting the buyer’s sleeve while chattering a relentless stream of gossip until the coins are handed over just to end the transaction.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: The junk-dealer rubs the thumb-rest on the hornbeam grip, checks the honey-yellow scapolite for internal fractures, and tests the bristles against a rough brick.
    • Buybacks yield the standard 10% tier valuation of the 25 silver tag (paying 2 silver and 5 copper coins at Tier 1; 5 silver coins at Tier 2), scribbled into a ragged pocket notebook and settled in worn silver bits.

Tactical Roleplay of the Pestering Bristle-Whisk Across the Environments of Saṃsāra

  • Customs Checkpoints, Border Tollgates, and Guard Stations:
    • Environmental Context: Narrow chokepoints, queues of impatient carters, heavily laden draft beasts, stacked timber crates, and armed guards suspicious of contraband.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • While passing through a strict cordon where guards use intimidation or probing spells to break a traveler’s composure, the avatar continuously flicks the dangling brass thimble against the hornbeam handle. The rhythmic, maddening tick-clack provides enough sensory distraction to disrupt mental probes and deflect hostile scrutiny; guards become so eager to dismiss the noisy, meddlesome nuisance that they wave the avatar through the gate just to stop the sound.
      • If a cutpurse or cutthroat tries to tail the avatar through the crowded gate queue, the brush’s passive Scent of the Stinging Nettle sharpens, emitting an acrid vinegar-and-nettle stench that alerts the user to turn and brush off the tail’s shoulder with an intrusive “Pardon me, friend, you’ve got chalk on your collar,” completely defusing the stealthy approach.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • Inspecting a merchant wagon suspected of harboring smuggled reagents or false bulkheads, the avatar engages The Nagging Scritch. Brushing vigorously along the sideboard while chattering endless petty questions, the porcupine quills suddenly catch, buzz violently, and scrape hard against a seam, exposing the spring-catch of a hidden false floor.
      • When a nervous smuggler in line attempts to feign innocent nonchalance, the avatar deploys Badgering the Concealed. The hidden smuggler is overcome by an excruciating phantom prickling across their collarbones and shins, forcing them to fidget, scratch furiously, and drop their false papers in front of the toll wardens.
  • Noble Salons, Diplomatic Banquets, and Bureaucratic Manors:
    • Environmental Context: Stifling social etiquette, velvet draperies, polished parquet floors, whispered court intrigues, and hidden eavesdroppers tucked behind screens.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • Surrounded by charming courtiers attempting to weave subtle glamours, hypnotic suggestions, or social compulsions, the wielder relies on Irritating Awareness. The constant, scratchy scrape of the stiff quills tucked into the user’s sash breaks the fragile focus of courtly enchantments, keeping the avatar sharp, awake, and immune to mesmerizing visual displays.
      • If a concealed court assassin is lurking motionless behind heavy wall tapestries, the avatar feigns the persona of a clumsy, over-attentive guest dusting the drapes. The scratching bristles disrupt the assassin’s poise, forcing a subtle rustle of velvet that warns the avatar before a blade can be drawn.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • To track an elusive spymaster who keeps slipping out of crowded ballrooms, the avatar “accidentally” brushes past them during a toast, activating Relentless Pester-Mark. For the next hour, no matter how smoothly the target blends into the aristocratic crowd or vanishes into shadowy galleries, the avatar hears the telltale rasping buzz echoing through the corridors, following the target straight to their secret rendezvous.
      • In a private library filled with identical book-spines, the user sweeps the shelves with The Nagging Scritch, letting the bristles snag and chatter directly against the hollow dummy-book concealing the chancellor’s treasonous correspondence.
  • Damp Sewers, Underground Cisterns, and Sump Tunnels:
    • Environmental Context: Echoing brick vaults, knee-deep muddy runoff, narrow walkways, nesting vermin, and ambush predators lurking submerged in murky flow.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • Navigating claustrophobic, dark conduits where sewer lurkers rely on total stillness and blind ambushes to strike, the user rhythmically taps the brass thimble against the stone. The grating, repetitive clatter echoes ahead, unsettling the nerves of cold-blooded beasts and denying them the surprise advantage, as the sound makes them restless and agitated.
      • The whisk’s ambient aroma of pungent mustard seed and vinegar cuts through the dizzying stench of sewer gas and rotting detritus, preventing lightheadedness and nausea during extended subterranean slogs.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • When pursuing a fugitive wererat or thief who has used magical camouflage to blend seamlessly into the mossy brickwork, the avatar unleashes Badgering the Concealed. The agitative psychic pulse hits the tunnel, making the hiding fugitive’s skin burn with an intolerable itch; unable to hold still, they sneeze, curse, or splash into the water, ruining their concealment.
      • Searching for a forgotten smuggler’s egress through miles of identical stone walls, the user drags the quills along the masonry; the bristles hook into the hairline fracture of an unmortared pivot-stone, vibrating the yellow scapolite crystal to signal the hidden passage.
  • Overgrown Ruins, Thorny Hedgerows, and Wilderness Thickets:
    • Environmental Context: Dense brambles, decaying temple stones, chittering insects, rustling leaves, and camouflaged forest stalkers.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • Pushing through dense, bug-infested briars where poisonous insects or venomous snakes lie in wait, the avatar sweeps the brush ahead of their boots. The prickly porcupine quills startle and flick away hazards before they can strike exposed skin.
      • Against wood-wights or bog spirits that use soothing whisper-magic to lure travelers off marked trails into sinkholes, the persistent, abrasive friction of the tool keeps the avatar’s mind rooted in gritty, annoying reality, ignoring the ethereal call.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • While scouting a ruined shrine where enemy scouts are concealed under ghillie cloaks or leaf litter, the avatar uses Badgering the Concealed. The hidden ambushers twitch, rub their faces against their sleeves, and rustle the dry foliage, instantly betraying the entire ambush line.
      • Marking a fleeing beast or bandit fleeing into a vast marsh with Relentless Pester-Mark, the party does not need to follow visual tracks through tangled thorn-scrub; the avatar simply leads the pursuit toward the incessant, buzzing rasp that vibrates along the path.

Perception of Activation:

  • Visual (Sight)
    • User’s Perspective: The air immediately surrounding the bristles and handle takes on a faint, yellowish, prickly visual haze, like pollen dancing in hot glare or static flicking across dry wool. When swept across surfaces, hairline fractures, seams, and hidden latches seem to emit tiny, stinging sparks of mustard-colored light that snag the gaze.
    • Observer’s Perspective: The cloudy, honey-yellow scapolite crystal set into the hornbeam handle pulses with an irritating, staccato flicker, like a sputtering grease candle. The tips of the porcupine quills tremble with rapid, erratic micro-vibrations, kicking up minute clouds of dry bristle-dust.
    • Positives: Clearly highlights subtle physical seams, keyholes, and trigger catches that would otherwise blend seamlessly into timber or stone.
    • Negatives: The erratic yellow flickering causes mild eye fatigue and optical jitter if stared at continuously in dark rooms.
  • Auditory (Sound)
    • User’s Perspective: The dry rasp of the quills against stone or wood amplifies into a high-pitched, abrasive scritch-scratch that feels uncomfortably loud, accompanied by the persistent, sharp tick-clack of the bouncing iron bead inside the brass thimble. When nearing a hidden catch, a thin, insect-like drone whines directly behind the user’s ear.
    • Observer’s Perspective: The broom creates an grating, nail-on-slate scraping sound far louder than a normal dust-whisk, accompanied by a relentless, hollow metallic chattering from the brass thimble that quickly frays patience.
    • Positives: Auditory cues clearly tell the user when the brush has snagged a hollow void or mechanical catch without needing direct visual line of sight.
    • Negatives: Renders quiet or stealthy investigation nearly impossible while the bristles are in contact with surfaces.
  • Tactile (Touch)
    • User’s Perspective: A prickly, fizzing vibration runs up the handle into the thumb and palm, feeling exactly like mild static electricity or resting a hand on a hive of restless wasps. The bristles resist smooth motion, catching and jumping with abrupt, sharp jerks whenever they cross over concealed seams.
    • Observer’s Perspective: The bearer’s fingers twitch with small, repetitive movements, repeatedly rubbing the worn thumb-rest and flicking the brass rattle with nervous, restless energy.
    • Positives: Distinct haptic feedback makes detecting hidden releases completely intuitive through touch alone.
    • Negatives: Extended handling leaves the user’s palm with a tingling, pins-and-needles numbness that can linger for several minutes after setting the tool down.
  • Olfactory (Smell)
    • User’s Perspective: A sharp, sinus-stinging tang flares through the nostrils, smelling intensely of crushed stinging nettles, pungent white vinegar, and freshly ground mustard seed.
    • Observer’s Perspective: A faint, acrid draft of vinegar wash and bruised weeds drifts off the brush, causing anyone standing within arm’s reach to wrinkle their nose or sniffle.
    • Positives: Immediately shocks the sinuses open, clearing grogginess and neutralizing noxious sewer or decay odors.
    • Negatives: Can induce sudden sneezing fits if held too close to the face while sweeping dusty shelves.
  • Gustatory (Taste)
    • User’s Perspective: A sour, metallic sharpness coats the back of the throat and tongue, resembling the taste of sucking on a raw copper coin dipped in sour cider.
    • Observer’s Perspective: The wielder unconsciously works their jaw and swallows repeatedly, sporting a sour, pinched grimace.
    • Positives: Suppresses sluggishness and keeps the avatar sharply awake and alert.
    • Negatives: Dries out the mouth and makes speaking pleasantly or diplomacy difficult without taking a drink of water.
  • Extra-Sensory: Agitative Friction (Nuisance Resonance)
    • User’s Perspective: The avatar senses the physical space not as static matter, but as a web of nervous tension. Concealed compartments, hidden panels, and tightly held secrets feel like irritating burrs caught under a collar, pulling the user’s attention toward them with an irresistible urge to poke, scratch, and pry them open.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Lurking observers or hidden ambushers feel a sudden, prickling heat across their skin, as though an invisible horsefly is repeatedly landing on the nape of their neck.
    • Positives: Directly reveals hidden compartments and stealthy presences through the psychological friction of their deliberate concealment.
    • Negatives: Imparts a nagging, hyperactive restlessness that makes sitting completely still or maintaining a patient watch exceedingly frustrating.
  • Extra-Sensory: The Gadfly’s Pester-Echo (Tracking Frequency)
    • User’s Perspective: When tracking a marked target or bypassed secret, the user perceives a directional, buzzing vibration echoing in their inner ear, growing sharper and more annoying as the distance to the target closes.
    • Observer’s Perspective: The marked target feels a relentless phantom tickle behind their ears, often causing them to rub their neck, twitch their shoulders, or look around in irritation.
    • Positives: Allows effortless tracking through physical cover, dense foliage, and crowded crowds without relying on sight or footprints.
    • Negatives: The continuous internal buzzing makes following delicate conversational nuances or enjoying quiet meditation impossible while the mark remains active.

Crafting Recipe: Search 118 of the Pestering Bristle-Whisk

  • Materials Needed:
    • 1 billet of dense, seasoned mottled hornbeam wood (approximately 9 inches long and 2 inches square).
    • 1 Tier 1 magic crystal: an uncut, naturally cloudy splinter of honey-yellow scapolite (approximately 1.5 to 2 inches long, naturally striated with fine internal fractures).
    • 33 mature, split-tipped porcupine quills (cleaned and dried).
    • 1 handful of stiff badger hair bristles.
    • 1 handful of coarse, dried thistle fibers.
    • 6 feet of fine linen twine, steeped in dark pine tar.
    • 1 small cast brass sewing thimble (perforated at the crown).
    • 1 small, loose cast-iron shot or round iron bead (sized to rattle freely inside the thimble).
    • 4 inches of fine brass link chain.
    • 1 small brass cotter pin or retaining wire.
    • 1 pinch of dried mustard seed powder.
    • 2 tablespoons of pungent white vinegar steeped with bruised stinging nettle leaves.
  • Tools Required:
    • 1 Woodturning lathe or drawknife with a carving bench.
    • 1 Set of wood rasps, half-round files, and cabinet scrapers.
    • 1 Hand auger and spoon gouge (for hollowing the crystal seating aperture and pommel hole).
    • 1 Pair of flat-nose jewelers’ pliers.
    • 1 Small bone burnisher (for smoothing the thumb-rest indent).
    • 1 Linen wrapping clamp or hand-vise.
    • 1 Small glazed clay dish for steeping and mixing the nettle solution.
  • Skill Requirements:
    • Woodworking & Turning: Minimum skill rank of 2 (required to shape the hornbeam handle, hollow out the flared socket, and form the ergonomically rubbed thumb-rest without splitting the hard grain).
    • Lapidary & Crystal Fitting: Minimum skill rank of 1 (required to hollow, bed, and seat the fragile, striated yellow scapolite crystal within the handle cavity without crushing its brittle inclusions).
    • Brush-Binding & Cord-Whipping: Minimum skill rank of 1 (required to bundle the split-tipped porcupine quills, badger hairs, and thistle fibers into an abrasive, resilient brush head under tarred tension).
    • Mind’s Eye Divination / Search Magic (Agitation & Friction Discipline): Minimum skill rank of 2 (required to channel the spirit of petty interference, awakening the scapolite’s buzzing frequency and binding the persistent pester-resonance to the bristles).
  • Crafting Steps:
    • Shaping the Hornbeam Handle and Crystal Bed:
      • Turn or carve the seasoned hornbeam billet into an 8-inch handle, tapering from a slender pommel up to a flared, hollowed bristle-socket at the head.
      • Use a shallow spoon gouge and scraper to carve a smooth, oval thumb-rest indent along the lower third of the grip, burnishing the wood until slick to the touch.
      • Carve a vertical window-like cavity directly beneath the bristle-socket along the upper throat of the handle to receive the crystal.
      • Drill a small axial hole through the bottom pommel to anchor the brass rattle chain.
    • Seating the Scapolite and Rattle Assembly:
      • Moisten the hollow crystal bed with a drop of the pungent stinging-nettle and vinegar steep, then dust the cavity with a pinch of dry ground mustard seed.
      • Carefully insert the uncut, cloudy yellow scapolite splinter into the throat aperture, securing its ends into shallow carved notches so it sits flush within the wood.
      • Take the brass thimble, insert the loose iron bead inside, and run the short length of brass link chain through the crown hole.
      • Secure the chain inside the thimble with a small brass cotter pin so the bead bounces continuously against the inner wall.
      • Fasten the other end of the brass chain through the drilled pommel hole, crimping it tight with the flat-nose pliers so it dangles and chatters at the slightest hand motion.
    • Bundling and Whipping the Abrasive Head:
      • Sort the thirty-three split-tipped porcupine quills, interweaving them evenly with the stiff badger hairs and coarse thistle fibers to create a stiff, scratching array.
      • Seat the base of the bundle firmly into the flared top socket of the hornbeam handle, pressing the quill-butts directly against the top tip of the yellow scapolite crystal to ensure direct vibrational contact.
      • Anchor the dark tarred linen twine at the neck and whip it tightly around the socket in overlapping coils, binding the quills under high tension.
      • Knot the twine securely and seal the wrap by rubbing it with pine rosin and a drop of the nettle vinegar.
    • Agitative Attunement and Pester-Awakening:
      • Carry the completed whisk into a quiet workshop, archival room, or study where someone is attempting to focus on detailed, peaceful work.
      • Pacing restlessly back and forth, flick the dangling brass thimble so it clatters continuously (tick-clack, tick-clack) while sweeping the stiff quills across dusty shelves, tool racks, and door lintels.
      • Repeat trivial, meddlesome questions aloud (“Is this clean enough? Did you want this moved? Mind if I scrape this corner?”) until the worker audibly snaps, groans, or scolds you in exasperation.
      • In that exact moment of shared petty annoyance, press your thumb firmly into the worn indent and briskly scrape the porcupine quills across a rough stone or floorboard.
      • The honey-yellow scapolite absorbs the spike of pure social irritation, settling into its characteristic low, insect-like drone and binding the pestering search-magic permanently to the bristles.

Great Stone-Lidded Vault of Warlord Khavan-Zun, Forty Silent Inquisitors, and Most Annoying Nun Upon Road

In the year of the three red grasshoppers, when the realm of Zun-Thul (rendered in the crooked clay-letter as “The-Place-Where-Men-Keep-Their-Mouths-Shut”) was trampled beneath the split-hooves of the Iron Horse-Legion, there was no speaking above a wet whisper in all the province, for the Warlord Khavan-Zun had cut the tongues out of eleven thousand sheep-herders simply to hear the sound of the evening breeze through the olive trees.

This warlord was a man of terrifying, stony solemnity. His face was carved of dark basalt that had never been seen to smile; he lived in a fortress of dry black slate where no bell was permitted to chime, no rooster was permitted to crow upon pain of boiling oil, and his eighty palace concubines were required to sew their dresses from soft badger-felt so that their petticoats made not the slightest rustle when they walked down the corridors of polished obsidian.

Now, it is inscribed upon the ninth fragment of the chipped water-tile that the warlord had despoiled the Sun-Tombs of the Upper Valley, carrying away the Seven-Hollow-Crown of the High Priest and nine hundred chests of yellow electrum coins.

Yet, when the grand vizier of the Emperor marched forty thousand brass-armored spearmen to the gate of Zun-Thul to demand the tribute-gold, Khavan-Zun stood upon his rampart, folded his thick arms beneath his wolfskin mantle, and spoke down through his teeth:

“Enter and take it, if you can find it. But if your boots scratch my floor, or if your men make a noise like geese in my courtyard, I will feed your horses their own saddle-cloths.”

Then the Emperor sent forth his Forty Inquisitors of the Glass Needle.

These were holy men of terrible, silent reverence. They wore shoes made of downy duck-fat and walked upon their toes without disturbing the dust of the flagstones. They carried rods of polished bone, crystal prisms suspended upon spider-silk, and long silver needles with which they probed the air for the smell of buried gold. They spoke only in fingers and sighs.

For ninety days, the forty solemn priests moved through the black slate halls of Khavan-Zun like smoke through an empty tomb. They measured the thickness of the stone walls with soft wax-cords. They listened with bronze cups pressed against the bedrock to hear the dripping of underground moisture. They knelt upon velvet cushions and prayed to the spirits of deep earth, begging the stone to whisper where the crown of the high priest had been laid to rest.

Yet the slate remained dumb. The walls showed no cracks; the flagstones revealed no seams; the mortar between the black stones had been smoothed with lead and burnished with mutton-tallow until the whole fortress was as unbroken as the shell of a river-turtle. The Forty Inquisitors grew hollow-eyed, thin as reeds, and half-mad with quiet. They sat in circles, weeping silently into their sleeves because the silence of the warlord was heavier than their prayers.

On the ninety-first morning, when the vizier was about to hang the Forty Inquisitors from the gate-timbers for failing the crown, there came shambling up the stony mountain path an old, crooked mendicant woman of the Low Scrapers, known in the dialect of the river-reed as Vara-the-Nose-Poking-Aunt.

She did not wear duck-fat slippers. She wore clattering clogs made of hollow walnut wood that went tonk-clack, tonk-clack against the slate road. She did not carry silver rods or spider-silk balances. Tucked into her greasy flaxen girdle was an eight-inch whisk of hornbeam wood, its head bristling with thirty-three split porcupine quills, coarse thistle-hair, and badger fur, while from its pommel swung a little brass sewing-thimble with a loose iron bead that went tink-clink, tink-clink, tink-clink at every single shuffle of her left knee.

She smelled powerfully of pungent vinegar, crushed wild mustard, and bruised stinging nettles, such that when she reached the iron gates of the fortress, the six sentries began to sneeze uncontrollably, dropping their poleaxes into the ditch with a dreadful clatter.

“What is this insect?” roared the Warlord Khavan-Zun, leaning over his parapet with his fists clenched, his forehead veins bulging with indignation at the sudden, horrible noise. “Who has let this clattering crow into my quiet courtyard? Chop her into lard for the wagon-axles!”

“Wait a moment, wait a moment, keep your pelt on, my big stone darling,” Vara called out, her voice screeching like a rusty pump-handle working dry gravel. “I am only here to dust the corners! Look at this gatehouse! Filth everywhere! Cobwebs on the lintel! Bird-droppings on the murder-holes! How can a great warlord live in such a disgraceful mess? Have you no shame before your grandmother?”

The Forty Inquisitors threw up their hands in horror and covered their ears with their linen cowls. The warlord’s jaw worked with such fury that his iron beard-rings chattered together.

“Throw her down the dry well!” screamed the warlord.

“Oh, no well for me today, my sweet mutton-pie,” Vara squawked, pushing past the spear-butts of the guards. She drew the hornbeam brush from her belt and immediately began sweeping the rough quills against the warlord’s polished obsidian steps.

Scritch-scratch. Scritch-scratch. Tink-clink, tink-clink.

The porcupine quills made an unbearable, dry, abrasive screeching against the black stone, like a dull saw scraping across an iron cauldron. Within the hollow throat of the handle, the honey-yellow scapolite crystal began to buzz with a thin, whining hum that sounded exactly like a giant blowfly trapped between a glass pane and a sheepskin curtain.

“Stop that!” barked the captain of the guard, lunging toward her with iron manacles.

Vara skipped to the left with an infuriating hop, swinging the brush up and dusting the captain’s iron breastplate with sharp, vigorous strokes.

Scritch-scratch-scritch.

“Look at that rust on your rivet, captain! Disgraceful! Mind if I tidy that? And what’s this on your collar? Dried mutton-broth? Have you been eating sheep-fat on watch? What would your poor mother say if she saw your gorget so sticky?”

The captain dropped the manacles, clawing frantically at his neck, for the agitative dust from the quills made his collar prickle with a sudden, maddening itch that felt like seventy red ants running down his spine. He danced upon one leg, howling and scratching his own throat until he fell into the water-trough.

Vara paid him no heed. She shuffled straight into the Grand Hall of Basalt, her walnut clogs going tonk-tonk-tonk upon the mirror-polished floor.

“Silence!” bellowed Khavan-Zun, striding into the hall with his black broadsword drawn. “There has been no noise in this hall for seventy winters! I will split you from crown to navel if you flick that rattle once more!”

Vara stopped. She looked at the warlord with her round, watery eyes. She took the little brass thimble dangling from the handle and flicked it with her forefinger three times.

Tink-clink! Tink-clink! Tink-clink!

“Did you mean this noise, my sweet turnip? Or did you mean this one?”

And with that, she dropped onto her knees and began to scrub the stiff porcupine bristles vigorously across the center of the unbroken black floor, muttering a stream of endless, badgering complaints:

“Tsk-tsk-tsk. Look at this stone. Who laid this slate? A blind pig? Look at the seams here. What an untidy lump! Did you think nobody would notice this terrible craftsmanship? What is this edge here? Mind if I scrape it? Mind if I tidy this up for you? What have we here, then? What’s tucked under this dirty corner?”

The warlord raised his sword to cleave her skull.

Yet, as the porcupine quills scraped across the seamless stone, the yellow scapolite inside the handle flared with a sputtering, greasy yellow glow and let out a shrill, vibrating drone like a thousand wasps in a hollow skull. The bristles caught on an invisible hairline seam that no needle of the Forty Inquisitors had been able to detect.

Vara did not strike the floor with an iron crowbar. She merely kept scratching at the seam, over and over, faster and faster, her thumb rubbing the slick indent on the hornbeam handle, the brass rattle clattering like an angry viper.

Scritch-scritch-scritch-scratch-scratch!

“Stop it!” roared Khavan-Zun. The sound pierced his eardrums; the yellow light jittered before his eyes; the acrid reek of crushed nettles and sour vinegar filled his mouth until his teeth felt loose in his gums. An intolerable, prickling itch broke out across the warlord’s forearms, under his wolfskin mantle, and behind his ears.

“I cannot bear it!” the warlord shrieked, dropping his great sword, clawing at his own cheeks, and stomping his feet in frantic agony. “Cease the scratching! Cease the rattle! By the seven devils of the swamp, stop brushing my floor!”

“Just tidying, just tidying!” Vara squawked, working the bristles even deeper into the crack. “You wouldn’t want a bump in your hallway, would you? A visitor might trip! A grandfather might skin his shins!”

“Take the crown! Take the chests! Just take that filthy, squeaking broom out of my sight before I tear my own ears from my head!”

With a desperate, weeping howl, Khavan-Zun kicked a small, disguised iron rivet near the skirting board that his own craftsmen had hidden forty cubits away under a stone bench.

With a heavy groan, the seamless slate floor beneath Vara’s bristles gave way. A massive counterweight groaned in the walls, and the central flagstone—three paces thick and ten paces wide—swung upward upon greased bronze hinges, revealing the subterranean vault below.

There, glittering in the torchlight, lay the nine hundred chests of yellow electrum coins, and resting upon a velvet cloth was the Seven-Hollow-Crown of the High Priest, untouched by dust.

The Forty Inquisitors rushed forward, their jaws hanging open, staring down into the vault that ninety days of silent scrying, geometric compasses, and solemn fasting had failed to uncover.

Vara did not look into the vault. She did not reach down for a single electrum coin.

She merely stood up, rubbed her hip with a creak of her joints, blew a puff of gray quill-dust off the end of her nose, and wiped the vinegar-stained whisk against her skirt.

“A very poorly fitted hinge,” the old woman remarked to the trembling vizier, tapping the great stone slab with the brass thimble. “The carpenter used green pine for the frame; it will rot in five years. You ought to have it planed down. Shall I stay and scrape the mold off for you? It will only take four or five days of continuous brushing.”

“No!” screamed the vizier, the Forty Inquisitors, and the Warlord Khavan-Zun together in one great, terrified chorus of weeping despair.

The vizier hurled a heavy purse of gold into Vara’s apron, and the guards threw open the iron gates, begging her on their knees to depart.

The old woman chuckled, tucked the hornbeam handle securely into her belt sash where the brass rattle went tink-clink, tink-clink against her hip, and clattered down the mountain road in her walnut clogs, singing a shrill, tuneless song about cabbage worms that set every dog in the valley barking until sundown.

And it is written upon the final edge of the baked clay plate that the Warlord Khavan-Zun never spoke another word of silence for the rest of his days, for whenever a room fell quiet, he thought he could hear the faint, dry scritch-scratch of porcupine quills upon the stone, and would begin to scratch his neck until it bled.

Moral of the Story

The deepest vaults and proudest hearts may easily lock out the heavy hammers of war and turn cold shoulders to the silent contemplation of scholars, for grandeur understands how to resist grandeur; but against the relentless, petty friction of an intrusive nuisance who refuses to go away, no fortress can endure, proving that what cannot be pierced by the sharpest sword or uncovered by the quietest sage will readily open itself to the persistent scratch of an annoying meddler whom the world simply cannot bear to tolerate.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu

Search 118: The Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Enchanted Artifice / Agitative Search Implement

  • Item Profile:
    • Base Skill: Spot Hidden, Track, or Fast Talk
    • Hands: 1-handed (held in hand by turned hornbeam handle, or tucked into belt/sash)
    • Form: An 8-inch utility whisk featuring a polished hornbeam handle with an ergonomic thumb-rest, holding thirty-three split porcupine quills, badger bristles, and thistle fibers bound with tarred linen. An uncut needle of honey-yellow scapolite is set into the throat cavity. A small brass thimble with a loose iron bead hangs from the pommel on a brass chain.
    • Scent Profile: Crushed stinging nettles, pungent vinegar wash, and freshly ground mustard seed.
    • Sanity Cost: 0 Sanity to handle; users become prone to petty fidgeting and relentless fussiness.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Intrusive Friction: Sweeping surfaces with the bristles generates unnatural tactile friction. The investigator gains a Bonus Die on Spot Hidden checks to detect secret panels, hollow floorboards, or hidden wall vaults within 3 yards. Stealth is penalized: the user suffers a Penalty Die on Stealth rolls while actively brushing.
    • Irritating Awareness: The continuous rattling thimble and sharp quill-scrapes create mental static. The bearer cannot be put to sleep by mundane sedatives or non-magical fatigue, and gains a Bonus Die to resist hypnotic fascination, trance effects, or subtle optical illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: The whisk gives off an acrid vinegar-and-nettle tang whenever an NPC within 5 yards is actively concealing a weapon, contraband, or a critical spoken falsehood.
  • Active Powers:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Cost: 1 Magic Point.
      • Mechanics: The user briskly sweeps a surface while chattering meddlesome commentary. For 5 minutes, the scapolite core buzzes and pulls the user’s hand toward the exact trigger, spring-latch, or release button of any concealed mechanism within 5 yards.
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Cost: 1 Magic Point.
      • Mechanics: The investigator rhythmically rattles the brass thimble three times against the handle. Living beings attempting to remain hidden or stationary within 6 yards must pass a Hard CON or POW check or succumb to an unbearable skin itch, forcing an involuntary sneeze, cough, or scratch that completely breaks their concealment.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Cost: 2 Magic Points.
      • Mechanics: Sweeping the bristles across a subject flicks an invisible charge of bristle-dust onto them. For 1 hour, the investigator hears a faint, annoying buzzing in their inner ear pointing toward the target, allowing effortless tracking through walls, crowds, or foliage within 20 yards.

Blades in the Dark

The Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Arcane Implement / Agitative Divination Focus, 0 Load (carried in hand or tucked into belt)

  • Item Profile:
    • Load: 0 (compact hornbeam handle, porcupine quills, scapolite crystal, brass rattle)
    • Appearance: A bristly scraper whisk with an uncut yellow scapolite core, split porcupine quills, and a noisy brass thimble rattle.
    • Affinity: Agitation, nuisance, secret mechanisms, friction scrying, tracking.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Intrusive Friction: Gain +1d to Survey or Tinker when actively scrubbing and inspecting surfaces for hidden compartments, false seams, or concealed lock-catches.
    • Irritating Awareness: The restless rattle and abrasive quills keep your mind hyper-alert. Take +1d to resistance rolls against sleep, hypnotic compulsion, or mesmerism.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: The tool emits an acrid vinegar scent when near someone harboring contraband or an active betrayal, granting improved Position on Read a Person rolls under those conditions.
  • Active Arcane Abilities:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Cost: 1 Stress.
      • Action: Survey or Tinker.
      • Effect: You brush a surface vigorously while asking nosy questions. For the remainder of the scene, the brush snags and buzzes violently upon any concealed catch or hidden drawer within close range (10 paces).
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Cost: 1 Stress.
      • Action: Prowl or Sway.
      • Effect: You clatter the brass thimble three times. Any hidden observer or ambush lurker within close range must resist with Resolve or break cover by scratching, coughing, or cursing aloud.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Cost: 2 Stress.
      • Action: Hunt or Attune.
      • Effect: You flick bristle-dust onto a passing quarry. For the rest of the score or scene, you hear a persistent, irritating buzz directing you straight to their location within standard operational range, bypassing crowds and physical cover.

Dungeons & Dragons

Search 118 of the Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement by an Avatar)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Category: Wondrous Item / Divination Focus
    • Weight: 0.4 lbs.
    • Gear Slot: Hand (held in one hand or looped on belt/sash)
    • Description: An 8-inch hornbeam utility brush with an uncut, honey-yellow scapolite crystal set in the handle throat, holding thirty-three split-tipped porcupine quills and badger hairs bound in tarred linen. A brass thimble with an internal iron shot rattles from the pommel. Smells of crushed nettles, vinegar, and mustard seed.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Intrusive Friction: While actively sweeping or tapping surfaces, you have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) and Wisdom (Perception) checks to detect secret doors, false bottoms, and hollow floorboards within 10 feet. However, while brushing, you have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks due to the loud rasping sound.
    • Irritating Awareness: The restless rattle keeps your senses buzzing. You cannot be put to sleep by non-magical means, and you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or falling under hypnotic or visual illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: You detect an acrid tang of vinegar and crushed nettles whenever a creature within 15 feet is carrying concealed weapons, hidden contraband, or actively maintaining a deliberate spoken deception.
  • Active Features:
    • The Nagging Scritch (3/Day): As an action, you vigorously brush a surface while muttering fussy complaints. For 5 minutes, the whisk vibrates and tugs toward the exact location of any hidden latch, keyhole, or concealed hinge within 15 feet.
    • Badgering the Concealed (3/Day): As an action, you snap the brass thimble three times against the handle. Each living creature attempting to remain hidden or stationary within 20 feet must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be seized by an unbearable itching sensation, forcing them to scratch, cough, or curse aloud, instantly ending their hidden status.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark (1/Day): As an action, you flick a cloud of bristle-dust over a creature or object within 5 feet. For 1 hour, as long as the target is within 60 feet, you perceive a continuous, buzzing rasp echoing from their direction, negating the benefits of cover or invisibility against your attempts to track their location.

Knave

Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Item / Divination Whisk (1 Slot, Hands: 1)

  • Item Profile:
    • Inventory: 1 slot (carried in hand or tucked into belt).
    • Durability: 3 Quality.
    • Appearance: An 8-inch hornbeam brush tipped with porcupine quills, carrying a yellow scapolite stone and a clattering brass thimble.
  • Item Rules:
    • Irritant Scritch: While sweeping surfaces, roll with Advantage on Wisdom checks to find concealed doors, false floorboards, and hidden locks within 10 feet. You cannot make Stealth checks while brushing.
    • Hyper-Alertness: The continuous clatter prevents you from being put to sleep by mundane narcotics or exhaustion. Roll with Advantage on Wisdom saves against charms, hypnotic trances, and visual phantasms.
    • Nettle Scent: Smells sharply of vinegar and mustard whenever someone within 15 feet has a concealed blade or lies directly to your face.
    • The Nagging Scritch (3/Day):
      • Spend an action sweeping furniture, walls, or clothing with the brush.
      • For 5 minutes, the bristles snag and buzz loudly directly over any concealed catch, sliding brick, or hidden compartment within 15 feet.
    • Badgering the Concealed (3/Day):
      • Spend an action rattling the brass thimble three times against the grip.
      • Hiding creatures within 20 feet must make a Constitution save or succumb to a maddening itch, scratching or coughing aloud and immediately revealing their hiding spot.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark (1/Day):
      • Spend an action flicking bristle-dust onto a creature within arm’s reach.
      • For 1 hour, you hear a loud, irritating buzzing leading directly to them through walls, foliage, or crowds within 60 feet.

Fate

Search 118: The Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Extra (Aspect and Stunts)

  • Item Profile:
    • Aspect: Persistent Itch of the Meddlesome Gadfly
    • Description: An 8-inch hornbeam utility brush with an uncut, honey-yellow scapolite crystal set in the handle throat, holding thirty-three split-tipped porcupine quills, badger bristles, and dried thistle fibers wrapped in dark tarred twine. A small brass thimble with an internal bouncing iron bead dangles from the pommel on a fine brass chain. Smells intensely of crushed stinging nettles, sharp white vinegar wash, and dry mustard seed.
  • Stunts and Mechanical Rules:
    • Intrusive Friction: Gain a +2 bonus to Investigate or Notice when actively sweeping and tapping surfaces to uncover hidden panels, loose flagstones, or concealed spring-latches within your zone. However, while brushing, you cannot perform Stealth actions to remain quiet.
    • Irritating Awareness: Gain a +2 bonus to Will when defending against trances, hypnotic fascinations, visual glamours, or magical sleep, as the continuous scratching and rattling keep your mind buzzing and alert.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: The whisk gives off an acrid vinegar-and-nettle tang whenever someone in your zone is actively concealing weapons, contraband, or a critical deception, granting a +2 bonus to Notice or Empathy to detect their nervousness.
    • The Nagging Scritch: Once per scene, spend an action to vigorously brush a surface while asking fussy, meddlesome questions. You establish a situational aspect on the scene such as Abrasive Quill-Catch with one free invoke, indicating the exact release mechanism or keyhole of a concealed container or hidden entryway in your zone.
    • Badgering the Concealed: Once per scene, spend an action to rattle the brass thimble three times against the handle. Every hidden or stationary character in your zone must defend with Physique or Will against your Notice roll; on a failure, they succumb to a sudden maddening itch, coughing, sneezing, or scratching aloud, which creates the aspect Involuntary Twitch on them with one free invoke and ends their stealth.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark: Once per session, spend 1 Fate Point and an action to flick static-charged bristle-dust over a target within arm’s reach. For the rest of the scenario, you hear an incessant inner-ear buzzing that tracks them across physical barriers, placing the aspect The Gadfly’s Pester-Echo on the target with two free invokes for tracking purposes within two zones.

Numenera & Cypher System

Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Artifact (Level 2)

  • Item Profile:
    • Level: 2
    • Form: An 8-inch turned hornbeam handle fitted with split porcupine quills, badger bristles, an uncut honey-yellow scapolite crystal core, and a dangling brass thimble rattle.
    • Classification: Sensory Agitator / Divination Whisk (Hand Slot / 1 Hand)
    • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (checked upon activating The Nagging Scritch, Badgering the Concealed, or Relentless Pester-Mark).
  • Passive Effects:
    • Intrusive Friction: Tasks to locate concealed latches, secret panels, and false compartments within immediate distance (10 feet) by scrubbing surfaces with the bristles are eased by one step. Stealth tasks attempted while sweeping are hindered by one step due to the abrasive noise.
    • Irritating Awareness: Intellect defense tasks against hypnotic fascinations, visual illusions, and mundane or non-magical sleep effects are eased by one step.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: Tasks to discern if an NPC within immediate distance is holding a concealed weapon, hidden item, or active lie via scent cues are eased by one step.
  • Active Powers:
    • The Nagging Scritch (Action):
      • The user briskly brushes surfaces while chattering intrusive questions. For 5 minutes, the scapolite core buzzes and vibrates, easing tasks to locate and manipulate hidden catches or concealed doors within immediate distance by two steps. Check for Depletion.
    • Badgering the Concealed (Action):
      • The user rattles the brass thimble three times. All hidden or motionless creatures within immediate distance must succeed on a Might defense task or break cover by scratching, coughing, or cursing aloud due to an overpowering phantom itch. Check for Depletion.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark (Action):
      • The user sweeps the bristles across a target, dusting them with charged quill-powder. For 1 hour, tasks to track, pursue, or locate the target within short range (up to 50 feet) are eased by two steps, ignoring the benefits of physical cover or camouflage. Check for Depletion.

Pathfinder

Search 118 of the Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Item 2

Auditory, Divination, Emotion, Invested, Mental, Occult

  • Item Profile:
    • Price: 25 gp
    • Usage: Held in 1 hand (or tucked into belt/sash)
    • Bulk: L (Light)
    • Description: An 8-inch hornbeam utility brush housing an uncut splinter of honey-yellow scapolite in the handle, holding thirty-three split porcupine quills and badger bristles bound in tarred linen. A brass thimble with an internal iron pellet hangs from the pommel on a small chain. Smells of crushed stinging nettles, vinegar, and mustard seed.
  • Passive Effects:
    • Intrusive Friction: While actively sweeping or tapping surfaces with the bristles, you gain a +1 item bonus to Perception checks to Seek secret doors, false compartments, and concealed latches within 10 feet. Due to the loud scraping noise, you take a -2 item penalty to Stealth checks to Sneak while brushing.
    • Irritating Awareness: The restless rattle keeps your senses buzzing. You gain a +1 item bonus to Will saving throws against sleep effects, trances, and visual illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Perception checks to detect hidden weapons, concealed contraband, or active falsehoods on creatures within 15 feet when relying on smell.
  • Active Abilities:
    • The Nagging Scritch (Two Actions):
      • Frequency: Three times per day.
      • Traits: Concentrate, Detection, Divination, Occult.
      • Effect: You brush a surface vigorously while muttering petty complaints. For 5 minutes, the scapolite crystal buzzes, tugging your hand toward hidden catches or sliding mechanisms within 15 feet. You gain a +2 status bonus to Thievery checks to Disable or Pick any secret lock or hidden latch located this way.
    • Badgering the Concealed (Two Actions):
      • Frequency: Three times per day.
      • Traits: Auditory, Concentrate, Emotion, Mental.
      • Effect: You snap the brass thimble against the handle three times. Each living creature attempting to remain hidden or stationary within 20 feet must attempt a DC 16 Fortitude save. On a failure, the creature is overcome by a sudden, maddening skin itch, forcing it to sneeze, scratch, or shift its weight, immediately reducing its concealment to standard Hidden and revealing its precise square.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark (Two Actions):
      • Frequency: Once per day.
      • Traits: Concentrate, Divination.
      • Effect: You flick bristle-dust onto an adjacent creature. For 1 hour, you hear a continuous, buzzing rasp echoing from the creature’s direction. You ignore the concealed condition from environmental cover, darkness, or invisibility against the marked target while it is within 60 feet.

Savage Worlds

Search 118: Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Minor Arcane Relic / Agitative Divination Focus

  • Item Profile:
    • Weight: 0.4 lbs.
    • Gear Slot: Hand (held in hand or hung on a belt hook)
    • Traits: Minor Artifact / Divination Focus
    • Description: An 8-inch turned hornbeam brush with a smooth thumb-rest, featuring thirty-three split-tipped porcupine quills, badger bristles, a yellow scapolite core, and a clattering brass thimble rattle. Emits a pungent odor of crushed nettles, vinegar, and mustard seed.
  • Passive Abilities:
    • Intrusive Friction: The user gains a +2 bonus to Notice rolls made to discover hidden compartments, false floorboards, and concealed catches within 2 inches (4 yards) while actively sweeping. While brushing, Stealth rolls suffer a -2 penalty due to the loud quill-scraping.
    • Irritating Awareness: The bearer gains a +2 bonus to Spirit rolls to resist being put to sleep, mesmerized, or tricked by visual illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: The user catches the acrid odor of vinegar and nettles whenever an individual within 3 inches (6 yards) carries concealed contraband or maintains a deliberate lie, granting a +2 bonus to Notice rolls to discern deceit.
  • Active Powers:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Cost: Action.
      • Frequency: 3 times per day.
      • Trapping: High-frequency friction buzzing and frantic bristle-snagging.
      • Effect: The wielder sweeps surfaces while pestering bystanders with busywork. For 5 minutes, the brush snags and vibrates violently over concealed compartments, floorboard catches, or hidden switches within 3 inches (6 yards), granting a +2 bonus to Thievery rolls to operate or bypass them.
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Cost: Action.
      • Frequency: 3 times per day.
      • Trapping: A clattering brass rattle and an agitative phantom itch.
      • Effect: The wielder rattles the thimble three times. Living creatures attempting to stay hidden or stationary within 4 inches (8 yards) must succeed on a Vigor roll at -2 or involuntarily scratch, cough, or curse aloud, instantly breaking their stealth.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Cost: Action.
      • Frequency: Once per day.
      • Trapping: A pinch of static-charged bristle-dust and an inner-ear rasp.
      • Effect: Brush the target at touch range. For 1 hour, the user hears an annoying, buzzing rasp pointing directly to the target’s location within 12 inches (24 yards), completely negating penalties for dim lighting, standard cover, or invisibility during pursuit.

Shadowrun

Search 118: The Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Enchanted Dowsing Focus / Agitative Focus (Force 2 / Friction & Detection Affinity)

  • Item Profile:
    • Type: Agitative / Enchanted Dowsing Focus (Detection Affinity)
    • Force: 2
    • Availability: 3R
    • Cost: 7,500¥
    • Weight: 0.2 kg
    • Form: An 8-inch utility brush turned from dense hornbeam with an ergonomic thumb-rest, holding thirty-three split porcupine quills, badger bristles, and thistle fibers bound in tarred twine. Encased in the neck is an uncut needle of honey-yellow scapolite. A miniature brass thimble holding an iron shot dangles from the pommel on a fine brass chain.
    • Scent Profile: Pungent vinegar wash, crushed stinging nettles, and ground mustard seed.
    • Astral Signature: A restless, stinging swarm of mustard-yellow static needles that buzzes and twitches with erratic agitation.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Intrusive Friction: While actively scrubbing or tapping surfaces, the runner gains a +2 dice pool modifier on Perception Tests to locate physical hidden compartments, concealed wire-splices, false panels, and wall safes within 4 meters. However, the abrasive scraping inflicts a -2 dice pool penalty on Sneaking Tests while brushing.
    • Irritating Awareness: The restless clatter of the thimble keeps the bearer’s central nervous system continuously agitated. The runner gains a +2 dice pool modifier on Composure or Willpower Tests to resist magical sleep, hypnotic suggestions, or sensory illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: The whisk gives off a sharp vinegar-and-nettle odor whenever someone within 5 meters is concealing an unauthorized weapon, smuggled cyberware, or an active lie, providing a +1 dice pool modifier on Judge Intentions Tests.
  • Active Features:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Action: Simple Action
      • Cost: 1 Drain (Stun)
      • Mechanics: The runner sweeps a surface vigorously while chattering intrusive questions. For 5 minutes, the scapolite core buzzes and vibrates, providing a +2 dice pool modifier on Locksmith or Hardware Tests to manipulate or bypass concealed mechanical releases, hidden latches, or sliding panels within 5 meters.
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Action: Complex Action
      • Cost: 1 Drain (Stun)
      • Mechanics: The user snaps the brass thimble three times against the grip. Every living entity attempting to remain hidden or stationary within 6 meters must make an immediate Body + Willpower (2) Test. On a failure, they succumb to a sudden phantom skin itch, forcing an involuntary scratch, cough, or curse that completely negates their surprise or hidden advantage.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Action: Simple Action
      • Cost: 2 Drain (Stun)
      • Mechanics: The runner brushes a passing subject, flicking a trace of charged quill-dust onto them. For 1 hour, the runner perceives an incessant, rasping buzz in their inner ear pointing toward the marked subject within 20 meters, bypassing physical walls, standard smoke, and crowd interference.

Starfinder

Search 118: Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Hybrid Tech/Magic Agitative Sensor, Level 2

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Level: 2
    • Price: 750 credits
    • Bulk: L (Light)
    • Gear Slot: Held in 1 hand (or tucked into belt/sash)
    • Capacity: 10 charges (Usage: 1 to 2 charges per activation)
    • Description: An 8-inch hornbeam brush housing an uncut, honey-yellow scapolite crystal in the handle throat, holding thirty-three conductive porcupine quills and badger bristles bound in tarred cord. A brass thimble rattle hangs from the pommel. Smells of crushed nettles, vinegar, and mustard seed.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Intrusive Friction: Sweeping surfaces with the bristles grants a +2 insight bonus on Perception checks to find concealed access hatches, hidden compartments, and secret wall panels within 10 feet. Due to the rasping noise, you take a -2 penalty on Stealth checks while brushing.
    • Irritating Awareness: The continuous rattling thimble keeps the mind sharp. You gain a +2 insight bonus on saving throws against sleep effects, hypnotic trances, and visual illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: The sensor emits an acrid aroma of vinegar and nettles when within 15 feet of an individual concealing small arms, illicit tech, or an active deception, granting a +1 insight bonus on Sense Motive checks.
  • Active Systems:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Activation: Standard Action
      • Battery Cost: 1 charge
      • Mechanics: The sensor head sweeps an area for 5 minutes. The bristles snag and buzz loudly over hidden mechanical catches, sliding panels, and concealed keyways within 15 feet, granting a +2 insight bonus on Engineering checks to open or disable them.
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Activation: Standard Action
      • Battery Cost: 1 charge
      • Mechanics: The user snaps the brass thimble three times, broadcasting an agitative bio-electric neural pulse. Hiding creatures within 20 feet must make a DC 13 Fortitude save or suffer a maddening skin itch, forcing an involuntary scratch, twitch, or vocalization that ends their stealth.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Activation: Standard Action
      • Battery Cost: 2 charges
      • Mechanics: Brushing a creature within reach marks them with charged quill-powder. For 1 hour, you perceive an annoying, directional rasping buzz leading to the target within 60 feet, ignoring the benefits of standard environmental cover, concealment, or invisibility.

Traveller

Search 118: Agitative Scritch Whisk

TL 10 Micro-Friction Acoustic Dowsing Probe

  • Item Profile:
    • Tech Level: TL 10 (Mottled Hornbeam Composite / Scapolite Piezo-Resonator / Split Quills)
    • Mass: 0.2 kg
    • Form: A compact 20-centimeter brush with thirty-three conductive porcupine quills, a yellow scapolite frequency crystal, and a clattering brass thimble kinetic bead.
    • Sensor Profile: Surface-friction harmonic detector, bio-electric tickle broadcaster, and micro-particle acoustic beacon.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Acoustic Friction Sweep: Actively brushing bulkheads or deck plates detects hollow voids, concealed compartments, or disguised access hatches within 3 meters, granting DM+2 on Investigate or Recon checks. The rasping noise inflicts DM-2 on Stealth checks while sweeping.
    • Anti-Soporific Rattle: The kinetic brass rattle generates low-level sensory interference, granting DM+2 on END or INT checks to resist sedatives, fatigue-induced unconsciousness, or hypnotic neuro-programs.
    • Contraband Scent Alert: Micro-chemical vents release a sharp vinegar-and-mustard odor when within 4 meters of concealed organic contraband, unshielded energy cells, or elevated biological stress indicators (deceit), granting DM+1 on Streetwise checks to gauge intent.
  • Active Features:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Time: Minor Action
      • Mechanics: Activating the piezo-scapolite core causes the quills to buzz against surfaces for 5 minutes. The brush snags hard on hidden seams and micro-latches within 4 meters, granting DM+2 on Mechanic or Engineer checks to unlock or bypass them.
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Time: Significant Action
      • Mechanics: Clattering the brass thimble three times broadcasts an irritating bio-electric itch pulse within 6 meters. Concealed ambushers or sentries must make an Average (8+) END check or twitch, cough, or curse aloud, losing stealth and forfeiting surprise.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Time: Minor Action
      • Mechanics: Dusting an individual at touch range tags them with micro-acoustic resonant particles for 1 hour. The user tracks them via a directional buzz on personal audio gear within 20 meters, bypassing doors, thin bulkheads, and crowded spaces.

Warhammer

Search 118: The Pestering Bristle-Whisk

Curio / Agitative Talisman (Nuisance Mendicant Scraper)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Type: Contact Divination Whisk / Agitative Curio
    • Availability: Scarce
    • Encumbrance: 0 (carried in hand or tucked into belt/sash)
    • Location: Hand Slot
    • Description: An 8-inch hornbeam brush tipped with thirty-three split porcupine quills, badger bristles, and thistle fibers bound in tarred twine. An uncut needle of honey-yellow scapolite rests in the handle throat, while a clattering brass thimble rattle dangles from the pommel. Smells sharply of crushed nettles, vinegar, and mustard seed.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Intrusive Friction: Sweeping surfaces with the bristles snags on hidden joins and hollow timbers, granting a +20% bonus to Perception Tests to find secret doors, hidden lock-catches, and concealed compartments within 4 yards. Due to the loud scraping, the user suffers a -20% penalty to Stealth Tests while brushing.
    • Irritating Awareness: The restless rattle keeps the mind sharp and jumpy. Grants a +20% bonus to Willpower Tests to resist sleep spells, hypnotic trances, and visual illusions.
    • Scent of the Stinging Nettle: Emits an acrid tang of vinegar and nettles when within 5 yards of someone harboring concealed weapons, stolen goods, or an active spoken lie, granting a +10% bonus to Intuition Tests to detect deceit.
  • Active Abilities:
    • The Nagging Scritch:
      • Action: Half Action
      • Test: Average (+20%) Perception Test
      • Duration: 5 minutes
      • Mechanics: You vigorously brush furniture or walls while badgering bystanders. The quills catch and buzz violently over concealed catches, secret drawers, and hidden floorboards within 5 yards, granting a +20% bonus to Pick Lock or Trade (Carpentry) Tests to open or disarm them.
    • Badgering the Concealed:
      • Action: Half Action
      • Test: Challenging (+0%) Willpower Test
      • Duration: Instantaneous
      • Mechanics: You snap the brass thimble against the handle three times. All living creatures attempting to remain hidden or motionless within 6 yards must pass a Challenging (+0%) Toughness Test or break out in a maddening skin itch, forcing an involuntary cough, scratch, or curse that immediately reveals their position.
    • Relentless Pester-Mark:
      • Action: Half Action
      • Test: Average (+20%) Agility Test
      • Duration: 1 hour
      • Mechanics: You brush an adjacent subject, flicking a fine dusting of charged quill-powder over them. For 1 hour, you perceive a continuous, annoying buzzing rasp pointing directly toward the target within 20 yards, ignoring standard darkness, visual concealment, or intervening crowds.