Virmon's Orb of Confidential Conveyance

With the last of the wizard's clanking automatons destroyed or disabled, the heroes of Westport were faced with a single iron-bound oaken door that presumably led to the villain's inner sanctum. Jaktoon had the lock open in no time and Alfren and Tyler advanced into what surely must have been an alchemical lab or ritual chamber. Kaera walked in slowly behind them, invoking the spell that would illuminate all dweomers to her third eye. When she uttered her final syllable, she opened her mundane eyes with a start.


"There's something extraordinarily powerful in here. I've never experienced its like. But it is so strong that it is impossible to discern its origin."


The four heroes busied themselves with poking baubles with their weapons or cautiously running hands over  wizardly implements. No one wanted to touch anything for fear of malevolent enchantments.


While the others searched, Tyler, the visitor from the future, noticed something of interest.


"Look, it's a snow globe. Or I should say it's a desert globe."


The others gathered around to see. Sure enough, there was a translucent crystal sphere containing a tiny bronze fortress built upon an artfully arranged desert landscape. Moving the sphere dislodged a cloud of sand that swirled around the castle as if there were a sandstorm.


"Looks like pretty toy, " Jacktoon put forth with a smirk. "I dare say the Duke's daughter might find it a pleasing gift."


"Don't get any ideas, rogue, " challenged Aldren. "Duke Ashfyr will see everything first. He's promised us land and titles should we unfailingly bring him the treasure of Virmon. That shifty vizier of his will know if we are holding anything back."


Meanwhile, a gaunt figure in yellow robes reclined on sumptuous pillows while voices in the sky spoke of those responsible for his retreat. Pressing his fingers together, he stared out upon the sand-swept landscape and thought to himself, "the Duke's own champions will deliver me into his company, so that I might extract my revenge for all the indignities that I have suffered. Perhaps I'll start with this daughter of his..."

VIRMON'S ORB OF CONFIDENTIAL CONVEYANCE
Appearance: A snow globe depicting a brass and bronze fortress on a rocky desert outcropping. The globe radiates a very powerful magical aura that is easy to detect from great distances but that is nearly impossible to localize up close. The effect is that the orb appears to be a mundane bauble, rather than a powerful magical artifact.

Function: The orb contains a very small pocket dimension centered on the desert fortress and it's immediate surroundings. Virmon has encoded a ritual to transport persons to this dimension into one of his lorebooks (the corresponding spell to get out exists in another book, presumably inside the fortress' library). Otherwise, a character projecting themselves astrally or spiritually could gain entrance to the orb's dimension without too much difficulty.

The fortress itself is well supplied for an extended stay. Virmon intended to reside comfortably within the orb while minions carried him through land too dangerous or inconvenient for one such as himself.

The orb itself in virtually indestructible and occupants do not feel motion or suffer ill effects, regardless how the orb is mishandled by its bearers. The name "Virmon" is discretely etched into the orb's base.

***

Notes
It was inspired by a random selection from Chris Pound's Vancian spell name generator, re-purposed as a Vancian artifact generator. It became one of my favorite magical gizmos in our long-running Buffy The Vampire Slayer RPG series, Slaying Solomon.