The Item's history began amidst the turmoil of Coia's devastating Civil War, a conflict that raged for nearly five centuries. On 18 April 1, as corrupt merchants battled for control of the Bukhara Spire Gateways, these mystical structures twisted into portals to darker planes. Enslaved artificers were forced to harvest the resulting slag and debris from the spires. These raw materials were then melted down and reformed into numerous crystalline spheres.
Initially, these spheres were intended to be sold as powerful scrying devices to the highest bidders, promising glimpses of the future or distant lands. However, their fundamental refraction was profoundly broken. Instead of revealing faraway vistas, they refracted the viewer's immediate reality through the terrifying lens of the Shadowfell and the Abyss.
For centuries, these "broken" curiosities likely circulated among collectors or were discarded as failed arcane experiments, their true, sinister nature remaining undiscovered. It was only recently that the demigod lich Velsharoon took a keen interest in these peculiar relics. He recognized their "flaw" not as a defect, but as a potent, latent ability.
Velsharoon's agents, posing as unassuming merchants, have since flooded the markets of Ironhold and Rueside with these common curiosities. They are sold as simple arcane focuses or parlor tricks, creating pretty light patterns for unsuspecting buyers. In truth, each sphere acts as a metaphysical eye, a vast two-way mirror into the nightmares of Coia.
This insidious network allows Velsharoon and his lieutenants, most notably the enthralled Lord Mangar Roth, to peer through the refraction. They spy on potential threats to their schemes, including formidable groups like the Knights of Ubba and the Dragonbone Vanguard. The Item, though not yet destroyed, remains an active part of this sinister surveillance.
Currently, one such sphere resides on a dusty shelf in a pawn shop located within the city of Ironhold. It pulsates faintly, its gentle rhythm subtly synchronized with the deep tremors emanating from the distant Iron Mountain, a quiet observer in Velsharoon's expanding network.
