Draft:Orb of Air

Omega 0.90.4

Orb of Air&TypeArtifactBase value (Au)2000Item level6Weight50Unidentified appearanceMysterious OrbCursed nameOrb of Air

The Orb of Air is an artifact that grants electricity immunity, prolonged invisibility, knowledge of ball lightning and an immediate lightning bolt. It does not grant flight or breathing. Using it individually prevents that copy from serving as material for the Orb of Mastery.

Generation

Air Orbs are repeatable random finds at item level 6, including eligible random monster treasure. The Elemental Lord of Earth carries one on the first Astral level; do not infer the Orb's identity from the lord's element. A normal kill drops carried possessions, and successful player pickpocketing can take the Orb from the living lord. Ordinary construction gives the lord only this Orb, with no extra random loot; the pickpocket command does not check its listed theft immunity.

A summoning scroll can produce the carrier at random, but cannot select it or make it friendly through blessing. Artifacts do not appear in automatically generated pawn-shop stock and cannot be selected by normal acquirement.

Activation

Activate a separated copy from accessible inventory with A → a, then choose a to toss it through the air. No separate throwing command is required. The effect needs no mana, recorded identification or blessing, but identifying it first avoids confusing the five Mysterious Orb kinds. Escape is not a valid cancellation at the element question.

Result of answering a	Effect
Spell knowledge	Learn ball lightning; existing spell cost is unchanged
Experience	+10,000
Protection	Add 100 to electricity immunity
Concealment	Add 502 invisibility units
Immediate attack	Target a lightning bolt with attack strength twice current Dexterity plus level and a damage roll of 0–74
Remaining object	A Burnt-out Orb

The learned spell and immediate attack are different: knowledge of ball lightning is followed by a bolt, with the bolt's path, hit roll and electricity-immunity checks. An ordinary hedge can be destroyed, but a trifid absorbs it.

Invisibility normally loses one unit at each ten-minute status update. From no prior invisibility, 502 units therefore last about 83 hours 40 minutes of ordinary indoor time, not 502 actions or minutes. Existing invisibility adds to the result; at 1,000 or more it stops naturally counting down. Travel and services do not necessarily execute the same updates, and invisibility still does not stop every enemy's attacks. The potion explains its pursuit effects.

Electricity immunity has no ordinary 100-minute expiry. Its positive accumulated value protects against that damage type; the special all-damage invulnerability countdown can also decrement it.

Wrong answer and burnout

Any other accepted answer creates a lightning ball centered on the player, with damage rolls of 0–99. Existing electricity immunity can protect against it, but the correct-use immunity is not granted. A surviving Orb use still leaves a Burnt-out Orb.

The selected object is replaced by one burnt-out copy, so activating a stack can lose unused spares. Choose a valid bolt target; by that prompt, the other benefits have already been granted, and cancellation is not a way to keep the elemental Orb. Enchanting the burnt-out result cannot restore Air.

Strategy

Air offers both protection and an extended period of less reliable enemy pursuit. A spare can be useful before a difficult journey, although invisibility is not a substitute for surviving adjacent attacks. For a gap or water crossing, seek levitation or breathing rather than relying on the Orb's name.

Its first-floor Astral source is earlier than the other fixed Orb carriers, but still a dangerous encounter. Spending that first copy means finding another before Mastery; keeping the set intact avoids that dependency. The combined Mastery activation does not grant Air's individual invisibility, immunity or spell.