> [!infobox|wikipedia] > # Rusty Nail > [![[Rusty_Nail_small.webp|cover hsmall]]](Rusty_Nail.webp) > ###### Basic Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Type | Item | > ###### Item Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Item Type | Wondrous Item | > Rarity | Artifact | > Owner | [[Eryndor]] | > Origin | [[Sumara, The Shining City\|Sumara]] | > Materials | Rusted iron, Starfall Iron | > ###### Status > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Status | Active | The Rusty Nail is the most storied object carried by the [[The Bloody Nails|Bloody Nails]] — the very nail that gave the rebel band its name, and the emblem now scratched onto walls across [[Valtorra]] as a sign of the growing rebellion against the [[Valtorran Empire|Empire]]. What began as a flake of rusted iron prised from the hull of an Imperial prison ship has since been reforged into a true artifact: an unremarkable spike bound in Faewild silver that can fasten two things together for all time. ## Description #### Appearance The Rusty Nail is, first and unmistakably, a nail — a short, heavy iron spike, deeply rusted and pitted along its length, never cleaned and never replaced. That humbleness is the whole of its charm: where another would have swapped the worn-out thing for something finer, this one was kept exactly as it was found. In its reforged state, fine bands of luminous silver-and-Starfall-Iron knotwork wind around the shaft, the Faewild tracery glowing a soft teal-green and warm to the touch. The flat, squared head carries an interlaced knotwork seal worked around a single central rune, and a faint scatter of sparks and a low violet aura cling to the metal — the only outward sign that this is no ordinary nail at all. ## Properties Driven into two or more objects, the Rusty Nail fastens them together as any nail might — but press its head once it is set, and the join becomes absolute. No force, mundane or magical, can ever again part what the nail has joined; the binding is total and irrevocable. As it activates, the nail sinks seamlessly into the material, vanishing into the join and leaving only a faint, knot-like mark where it was driven. This effect is known as the Binding of the World Tree. Only one thing is known to undo such a binding — and it is also the only means of recovering the nail itself once it has been driven home: a *Wish*. Short of that single, world-bending magic, both the join and the nail within it endure. The reforged nail is, for all practical purposes, indestructible, and in theory will last forever. > [!example] ***In Game Item Text:*** > The First Rusty Nail: > - Taken from the prison ship. > - Left sticking out of the head of a Hand of the Empire in Skyreach. > > The Second Rusty Nail: > - Obtained from the workbench of the blacksmith in Camaar. > - Has been blended with fey metal while in Sumara, causing the following effect: > > ***Binding of the World Tree.*** When you drive the nail into two or more objects to fasten them together, you can press the head of the nail to invoke its enchantment. The binding becomes absolute and irrevocable — no force, magical or otherwise, can separate the joined objects. Only a *Wish* spell can undo what the World Tree has sealed. > > Once activated, the nail fuses seamlessly into the material, leaving only a faint knot-like mark where it was driven. ## History The Rusty Nail's story begins with a far humbler object. On the night the [[The Bloody Nails|Bloody Nails]] were thrown together aboard an Imperial prison ship, [[Eryndor]] tore a rusted nail from the hull and used it to pick the lock of their cell, freeing the five strangers who would become brothers in arms. That first nail gave the group its name. It travelled with them until the Fall of [[Skyreach]], where it was driven into the skull of a [[Hand of The Empire]] and lost when the fortress was brought down. Unwilling to let the symbol die with it, Eryndor bought a replacement — an ordinary rusty nail from a blacksmith in [[Camaar]] — and carried it as a keepsake. It was this second nail that was reforged into the artifact it is today. During the party's time in [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]], the quiet elven smith Ferethis of the Ironweave forge blended the keepsake with Starfall Iron, one of the rare luminescent metals of the Faewild, binding the worn iron and the fae metal into a single enduring whole. As the smiths of the Ironweave are fond of saying, Faewild metal does not forget what it is given — a fitting maxim for a nail whose every binding can never be undone. ## Current Owner The Rusty Nail remains in the keeping of [[Eryndor]], who has carried it in one form or another since the very first night of the [[The Bloody Nails|Bloody Nails]]' escape. It is at once his oldest possession and the band's truest relic. ## [[The Bloody Nails|Campaign: The Bloody Nails]] #### [[Session 01 - The Rusty Nail]] As the prison ship foundered in a storm, [[Eryndor]] procured a rusty nail from the wreckage and used it to pick the lock of the party's cell, freeing the group as the vessel went down. The nail became the namesake of the [[The Bloody Nails|Bloody Nails]]. #### [[Session 16 - The Fall of Skyreach]] The original nail was left buried in the skull of a defeated [[Hand of The Empire]] at [[Skyreach]], and lost when the structure was destroyed. #### [[Session 17 - A New Journey Begins]] During a resupply in [[Camaar]], [[Eryndor]] purchased a replacement rusty nail from a blacksmith — a keepsake to carry the symbol forward. #### [[Session 46 - The Shining City]] At the Ironweave forge in [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]], [[Eryndor]] commissioned the reforging of his keepsake: the smith [[Ferethis]] blended the rusty nail with Starfall Iron, transforming it into the artifact it is today. ## Trivia - The rusty-nail symbol of the rebellion draws on the idea and legend of the nail — a throwaway thing that broke open a prison — rather than on the physical object itself. - For all the power now woven into it, the artifact is still the same plain, rusted spike Eryndor bought in a Camaar market; the Faewild silver only wraps the iron, it never replaces it. - The nail has had more than one incarnation, and is sometimes loosely numbered; the relic Eryndor carries today is the second nail, reforged.