Aim it at an opening and throw. This goose-feather quill will travel through the air like a lazy dart, drifting up and down on drafts of air. If there are threats in that place, there is a risk it never returns (1 on d6 for each place a party might encounter creatures or traps), but if it survives it will return and draw a map of the basic layout with no details but crude "X"s where it came into danger.
Interesting. Intended as a "consumable" like potions or scrolls, since it's likely to have a pretty short lifespan?
ReplyDeletePerhaps there's some quest potential there too. Perhaps they're made only from the feathers of a specific rare bird (or something more exotic that also has feathers - dinosaur? coatl? winged monkey?) and the PCs are sent to go find specimens? Extra complications if they have to bring the source back alive (maybe with an eye toward breeding them in captivity) or if there's competition from other adventurer types?