Once a powerful wizard and leader of a famous group of adventurers, Murgen met his demise in the Western Wastes, fighting a cult attempting to free one of the Dread Walkers from its temporal prison. The wizard and his allies won the battle by the closest of margins. The very laws of reality were bent beyond their limits, and Murgen was briefly exposed to the full countenance of the Dread Walker’s presence. This event shattered the man’s mind, both figuratively and literally.
The essence of Murgen’s psyche was blasted from his head, the fragments taking physical form in the shape of tiny spheres of varying colors and sizes, each embodying a small sliver of the brilliant wizard’s mind. How many of these spheres exist is unknown, but the number is speculated to be hundreds, if not thousands. Thrown to the winds across distance and planar boundaries, adventurers and explorers have been finding the marbles at random for decades. Some believe that if all—or nearly all—can be gathered together, then Murgen’s mind can be restored. There are those that quest to do just that, though few do so out of altruism; most seekers wish to bend the wizard’s disembodied mind to their own will and empower themselves with his lost secrets. Others warn that absorbing too many of the marbles could allow enough of the wizard’s psyche to meld together, repairing itself and taking over the body of the one who gathered them.
To use a marble, a creature must attune to it, though attuning to one does not count against the total number of magic items to which the creature can attune. At the end of the attunement period, the marble is pressed to the creature’s head, and it is absorbed. A single marble can be removed during a short rest.
Known Marbles
Inspiration (Rare). This glowing green marble grants inspiration. Three times per day, you gain advantage on an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check.