A small, remarkably smooth glass orb mounted on the head of Leif’s staff, which he uses as his spellcasting focus.
Howl brought it to him in the Purodetapo Forest, at some point before the campaign began. He has never known anything else about it.
(Not to be confused with The Orb, the enchanted glass prison recovered from the Lost Library of Leith Chantos that holds a living creature. Different object, and the party has been careful to keep them straight at the table.)
What Anyone Has Been Able to Read From It
| Who looked | Verdict |
|---|---|
| A market glassblower (Pentamarone, Session 10) | “Remarkably smooth, very nice handcrafted work.” Nothing more. She suggested Madame Verre would know |
| Madame Verre (Session 11) | Stopped mid-negotiation, went still, and said “I think there’s something very special about that.” Would not elaborate |
| Madame Verre (Session 12, after study) | “I definitely learned some things. I’m happy to share them.” What she learned about the orb specifically has not been disclosed |
Session 11 — Verre Takes It (September 9, 2026)
Mid-argument over whether the WitchCrafters would house the party, Verre’s eye caught the orb on Leif’s staff. He explained it was his focus, that he is “technically a warlock, although I’m coming to terms with it,” and that Howl brought it to him in the Purodetapo Forest.
“The Purodetapo Forest, you say.”
“Marka. Give them whatever they want.”
Housing and meals went into the contract with no further discussion. The orb is the reason the party is being put up for free.
Later that week she sent for Leif privately, asked him a great many questions and answered none of them, agreed to look into The Whispering One for him at no cost — and kept the staff and orb for study.
Leif has no arcane focus until it comes back. He discovered this the hard way in the alley with Aleister the Invoker, when his Eldritch Blast did not go off. (Returned in Session 12.)
Session 12 — Returned (September 23, 2026)
When the party described Aleister the Invoker to Verre, she vanished to examine Cocytus’s corpse, reappeared just long enough to toss Leif his staff, orb and all, across the room, and vanished again.
“I’ll never be without my staff again.”
Late in the research montage Leif asked Verre about his focus; she put him off until the chalice work was done (“I definitely learned some things”). In the private audience that followed, held with Howl present, Leif learned his patron’s name, Sorath, and that it is a being not of this world. Whatever Verre learned from the orb itself remains undisclosed, and the recap does not say whether the orb is connected to Sorath.
Why It Matters
Three things now converge on this object:
- Glass is Madame Verre’s medium. Her own staff is glass; it is her arcane focus; her guild’s whole reputation runs through her glasswork.
- Howl brought it — and Howl is separately implicated in The Whispering One (Session 8) and recognized by Aleister the Invoker (Session 11). (Revealed in Session 12: Howl is a servant of Sorath, the Whispering One.)
- It came out of the Purodetapo Forest, which sits directly in the path of the Great Cataclysm and the fourth magic — and which is where Leif was first contacted.
It is also, incidentally, the party’s proof that glass works as an arcane focus — relevant to Úlfr’s plans for the Nithing Pole.
Related
- Leif Kalanchoe — its owner · Howl — who brought it
- Madame Verre — studied it in Sessions 11–12
- The Whispering One · The Fourth Magic · Purodetapo Forest
- The Orb — the other glass sphere, unrelated
- Nithing Pole — the glass-focus precedent matters here
Current Status
Back on Leif’s staff, as of Session 12 (September 23, 2026), returned by Madame Verre. (Previously held in her study in Pentamarone from Session 11.)