Palimpsest of the Waking City
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Self (1-mile radius)
Components: V, S, M (a scraped vellum palimpsest and inks worth at least 5,000 gp, which the spell consumes)
Duration: Instantaneous
Description
You spend an hour inscribing an event that never happened onto a scraped page, and the city reads your copy instead of the original. Choose one event no longer than 1 hour in duration that took place within the last 30 days and within 1 mile of you, then describe a false version of it aloud as you complete the casting.
When the casting ends, every creature within 1 mile that witnessed, participated in, or heard an account of the original event must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature's memory of that event is seamlessly replaced by your false version. It defends the false memory as its own and invents small details to fill any gaps, growing evasive rather than doubtful when pressed. On a successful save, the creature retains both versions and knows which is true, though it can rarely prove it to anyone else. A creature immune to being charmed automatically succeeds.
Physical evidence is untouched: ledgers, letters, portraits, and corpses do not forget. A creature presented with clear evidence contradicting the false memory can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Greater restoration, remove curse, or a wish spell also restores true memory to one creature.
After 30 days the true memory resurfaces in every affected creature at once. Most experience the return as a single night of violent and unwelcome dreaming, and a city that wakes together rarely stays quiet.
Spell List
Bard, Warlock, Wizard