Staff of the Lidless Orb
Major arcanum #1
A sphere of greenish glass, etched with a cat's-eye design and set atop a staff of rough, pitted black iron. The orb catches the light and seems to glow, and the pupil seems to widen in the dark and narrow to a slit in daylight.
And sometimes, you could swear, it seems to look about on its own.
But that's preposterous.
When you grip the staff, close your eyes, and see through the Lidless Orb, roll +CON: on a 10+, choose 3 from the list below; on a 7-9, choose 1.
- The orb sees through darkness, natural or magical
- The orb sees through illusion, glamour, and invisibility
- The orb can see strong emotions as auras radiating from people and lingering on places
- You can move about and operate effectively while seeing through the orb (otherwise, not so much)
Whatever you choose, the effect lasts until you open your eyes or let go of the staff.
On a 6-, the orb shows you a terrible vision of some distant time or place. Mark 1 (or see below) and ask the GM what you see. While the vision lasts, you are oblivious to the world around you and have disadvantage on your first roll after coming to.
When you make the last mark, you unlock the mysteries of the Staff and can use Power of the Lidless Orb (see reverse). Mark one of the four effects (your choice); you can produce that effect.
When you would mark a circle but have already marked all three, mark a new effect for Power of the Lidless Orb. You can now produce that effect.
The rest is discovered in play. Every arcanum has a hidden back — what it becomes, what it wants, what it costs. That’s for your table to find out, so it isn’t published here.
Back to all arcana.
Put it in a player’s hands
The app deals arcana face-down; the GM flips them when the fiction says so.