Staff of the Dark Sea

I'd give my left hand and half a lung to know who on earth created this thing. A staff like this could only have been made by an absolute master of the craft. And if I could meet them, well, there'd be nothing quite like it.

— Cieliss Lin, Transmutation Expert at the Vilaen Academy of Mystery

The Staff of the Dark Sea is a mysterious magical item discovered by Karsath Vadae in the Finuhit Ocean west of Vilaen. It is currently being held by the Vilaen Academy of Mystery for study, as its origins are completely unknown, and it exhibits very strange properties under examination.

Description

Staff of the Dark Sea by Isaac Thompson

Despite the name, very little about the staff is nautical. The base of the staff is a 1.8 metre tall rod of platinum divided into 5 even segments by golden bands with intricate patterns that have long been worn away. Each band is believed to have had different patterns that likely had meaning - the sole one in decent condition is second from the bottom, which appears to have words in an old elven script that have yet to be deciphered.
The head of the staff is a misshapen grey orb the size of a human head. Its colouration is not even, shifting from ashen to slate to iron, with these colours observed to change slightly depending on the time of day regardless of where the staff is stored. Bizarrely, the orb bears 6 dark patches that resemble hand and paw prints - 2 sets of overlapping prints on opposite sides, a bestial print on a perpendicular surface, and fragments of a final humanoid print where the focus connects to the staff.
Gold wires wrap around the staff head like netting, and rattle slightly at all times of the day. The staff also emits a low hum and faint glow, which become more potent when interacted with.

Magical and Mysterious Properties

While in most circumstances it functions as a normal wizard's stave might, the Staff of the Dark Sea has some curious properties all its own:

• Spells cast using it as a focus are unleashed far quicker than usual
• Touching the head leaves the person's hand tingly, with prolonged contact causing semi-permanent wrinkling and numbness
• The air of rooms it is kept in seems to go stale at a rate far quicker than normal
• Prolonged presence around the staff causes headaches and fatigue, as well as reports of strange visions and unbidden thoughts

History

It was the strangest thing. The water under my boat was unnaturally choppy, rocking this way and that, and suddenly this staff bobs its head up. I thought I'd been caught in the snare of an ocean monster! It's my great relief none of my colleagues were present, or I fear what I said would have damned my reputation.

— Karsath Vadae

Study has not yet uncovered when the staff was made, or by whom. What is known is that it was found by Karsath Vadae in 3277. While sailing the ocean west of Vilaen to take notes on weather patterns, Vadae fished the staff from the water and brought it quickly back to the city to be studied by her more arcane-inclined colleagues in the Vilaen Academy of Mystery.
Its unknown origins and strange properties swiftly saw it become one of the Academy's most prized possessions, with a rotating cast of highly talented scholars pouring over it and any available history. Outside of these elite academics, no-one is permitted to see the staff, after a junior mage was left with permanent scarring following prolonged contact with the staff's head.

Item type

Unique Artifact

Creation Date

Unknown, theorised before 2000

Dimensions

1.8 metres tall rod with 20x20cm orb atop

Raw materials & Components

Platinum
Gold
Misshapen orb of unknown material and construction
Cloth straps

I don't trust it. There's something wrong with it. Elluh was struck with visions that left her nearly inconsolable with a grief and rage she couldn't explain, and you well know how articulate she is. If it were up to me, I'd see the thing into the ocean whence it came. Nothing good will come of us pawing at it.

— Fulque Devipond

Origins

A question many want an answer to is how such an artefact came to rest in a portion of the Finuhit Ocean rarely travelled. No landmass lies north of the area, nor has one been present for the length of written record. As such, it is presumed to have been crafted elsewhere and then perhaps disposed of in the murky waters.
This itself raises questions - why would the owner of such a staff seek to be rid of it? And why, if no records exist that point to its existence, was it still at a point in the ocean where it could be recovered, rather than having been taken over the World's Edge years ago?

Finuhit Ocean by Joseph Barrientos