Timepiece of Travel ruling questions.

[Setharious]

So my wife and I recently discovered this item and are trying to figure out, specifically, how the Turn-By-Turn directions works. Here is what it says: You can name any location within 10 miles of your current location that is known to at least one creature also within 10 miles of that location (including you). Once you name the location. a disembodied voice heard only by you provides directions to the location by the safest, most direct route. The voice knows to avoid natural hazards, so that it does not send you through trackless wilderness or into a lake. But it has no knowledge of or ability to help you avoid monsters, enemies, traps, locked doors, and the like. The timepiece is of no use for reaching locations that are wholly secret or not known to any creatures within range.

So here are the questions. Does the one with the Timepiece need to have been told the name of the location, or are all named locations in their head considering it says 'you CAN name locations' and not 'IF you can name locations'? Does the place have to have a name, or could you name it such as 'the highest point' or 'the nearest cornfield'? What defines 'wholly secret'? If there is a lich in a dungeon within 10 miles of the one with the Timepiece, do they know of the dungeon?

Thanks for the help!

[Chronos]

I'd rule it as "You have to be able to refer to the location, in a way that the person who knows the location would recognize". So if you're looking for "The Viper Clan bandits' headquarters", and there's a Viper Clan bandit nearby, that would work, but if you know (but the bandits don't) that their headquarters used to be Castle Richtover, then asking for the location of Castle Richtover won't work.

[JackPhoenix]

Does the one with the Timepiece need to have been told the name of the location, or are all named locations in their head considering it says 'you CAN name locations' and not 'IF you can name locations'?
Nothing in what you've posted indicates the item grants you any knowledge you don't already have. You can't name a location whose name you don't know. Having an "If" there would be redundant... if you can't name a location, then you can't name a location, doesn't matter if it's because you don't know the location exists, don't know its name, can't pronounce it or because you can't speak.

Does the place have to have a name, or could you name it such as 'the highest point' or 'the nearest cornfield'?
Unclear.

What defines 'wholly secret'?
Unclear, but presumably a location whose existence is unknown. Which is kinda redundant with the "no creature within 10 miles knows about the location".

If there is a lich in a dungeon within 10 miles of the one with the Timepiece, do they know of the dungeon?
See the answer to the first question. The item tells you how to get to a location you name, if you can't name the location, it can't help you.

[Setharious]

Nothing in what you've posted indicates the item grants you any knowledge you don't already have. You can't name a location whose name you don't know. Having an "If" there would be redundant... if you can't name a location, then you can't name a location, doesn't matter if it's because you don't know the location exists, don't know its name, can't pronounce it or because you can't speak.

I guess my question then is, why does that first line exist? If I am capable of saying the name of a location, do I not know of the location? It isn't like it says I have had to have been near, at, seen, or be familiar with the location, just that that location is 'known.' Since only I can say the name to trigger the effect, and to say the name I need to know of the location, then why does is mention that it works if I name a location another creature knows unless it grants me knowledge of those locations known by the other creatures?

[JackPhoenix]

I guess my question then is, why does that first line exist? If I am capable of saying the name of a location, do I not know of the location? It isn't like it says I have had to have been near, at, seen, or be familiar with the location, just that that location is 'known.' Since only I can say the name to trigger the effect, and to say the name I need to know of the location, then why does is mention that it works if I name a location another creature knows unless it grants me knowledge of those locations known by the other creatures?

Knowing the name of a location... or even knowing where the location is....is not the same as knowing how to get there by safest and fastest route from your current location.

[Setharious]

Knowing the name of a location... or even knowing where the location is....is not the same as knowing how to get there by safest and fastest route from your current location.

But you don't know the safest route, or any route at all. You just know the place, and a magic voice tells you the route?

[JackPhoenix]

But you don't know the safest route, or any route at all. You just know the place, and a magic voice tells you the route?

That's what the text says.

[Dork_Forge]

But you don't know the safest route, or any route at all. You just know the place, and a magic voice tells you the route?

It's clearly a GPS analogue, so how I interpret the beginning is:

I know the name of a city, but someone within 10 miles of the location must have actual knowledge of the location for it to function. So you couldn't overhear the name of a place and then try to get there if said place was completely desolate.

This item, however, is from Aq Inc and, to be honest, seems very poorly written.

[Chronos]

Another point of ambiguity: Do you have to specify the creature you're stealing the knowledge from? It doesn't say that you do... but if you don't, then it'd only fail for completely uninhabited places (not even any monsters), and there are precious few of those.