The Manifest Orb

The First Letter

Day 1
I am exhausted. I have spent six hours already since the time I came hither into the castle library tower of Durdan. Since not many know where Durdan lies, I shall write of its location. The Valley of Durdan is located between the peaks of Yorkiv and Llerhen. Here I have been, and here I am now, still searching for the answer to the mystery of the orb, which has come into my possession.
But I show you a race without the starting point. My name is Illeravin the Wise. I am a wizard here in the region of Palarth, where the mountains are high and our people’s hopes higher still. We have an enemy that would have us all dead, but we can only hope our defenses stand firm, for our enemy comes from underneath us, in cave complexes burrowed in the mountains that are our home. The orb that I have previously described came into my hands after a raid of a cave nearby Durdan’s Keep. I have been instructed to keep myself here, within the library tower, learn as much as I can about this mysterious orb, and record my progress on paper. Every so often, I am to open the door of my new home, give the local scribe my papers, and receive a meal that should show to be very hearty.
I have not yet touched the orb nor meditated upon it, for I fear I might yet only know too little of the orb and its power. However, I have searched within the library and pulled numerous expanses of documents covering normal orbs, magical orbs, and concave orbs, which are by far the most dangerous. As of this very moment, I can firmly conclude that it is neither a concave orb nor a normal orb of dull stone. It is a magical orb of some sort, yet of which dimension I am not sure. I would rule out any dimension of a healing orb; at the same time, the way the orb was kept in its house of rock did not lend itself to a certain type of offensive-destruction dimension of magic. Mounted as it was within a podium of brass and silver, the orb appeared more as a tool of some sort, or possibly of defensive magical dimensions. I look at the orb and shiver at times, hoping beyond all hope that it is not a dispelling orb, which is why I am wary of touching its smoothly dark surface.
I am hungry now, and this writing aches my wrist. I am done for today, spending a majority of my time simply observing and reading. Tomorrow I will study its physicality.