Necrospheres, also called Robber Spheres, Human Batteries or Battery Traps are a common type of trap found in ancient ruins. They are massive, transparent glass spheres that encase and petrify anyone who touches them, preserving the magical energy in their body as a power source for the ruins' enchantments.
The necrosphere is one of the most infamous magical traps known throughout the Torchlight Society. Despite its formidable reputation and numerous agent deaths being attributed to them, Torchlight only ranks necrospheres as Artifact Class A4 "High Risk". Their lack of autonomy and the fact that they only work once and can only trap one victim disqualifies them from the A5 "Catastrophic" classification.
Necrospheres are enormous, hollow, indestructible glass balls of varying size, usually 6-7 feet in diameter. They are made from a quartz-like silicate glass material with small amounts of aether crystal, causing them to emit a very faint purple glow which can only be seen in near-total darkness. They are always spherical, but some have imperfections that suggest they were carved by hand or more likely shaped by Transmutation magic. The glass is only 2-3 millimeters thick, which for its size would be incredibly fragile if not made indestructible by magic.
The victim's body is clearly visible inside an activated necrosphere, frozen in place like a statue. As more and more energy is siphoned from it, the body gradually decays, becoming withered and skeletal like a mummified corpse or a draugr. Once most of the energy reserve has been expended, the skin and musculature withers away into ash, leaving only the skeleton behind. The victim's remains finally dissolve into ashes as the last of their energy is drained away. A live, or unactivated, necrosphere appears empty.
Necrospheres containing skeletal beings in various states of decay are a common sight in most ancient ruins. They were commonly used as booby traps. Thanks to their spherical shape, they were usually rigged up to mechanisms that would roll or drop them onto unsuspecting intruders, or would be placed at the bottom of hidden pits, or even launched at intruders by catapults. Ancient literature also suggests that the Tolgethic people used necrospheres as a method of execution, and some victims may have even been put in them as a form of ritual sacrifice.
It is considered very rare to encounter a live necrosphere trap in modern times, as the Torchlight Society has largely found and disassembled any remaining traps in known ruins. Despite this, incidents and deaths have still happened, usually when entering previously unexplored areas. In the rare event that an entirely new ruin is found, the risk of encountering necrosphere traps is high. The Society trains its field agents on how to respond to entrapments using a special attunement spell.
The Necrosphere bears one of the most complex networks of metamagic enchantments ever studied in modern times. The strength of the enchantments far exceeds anything that the Torchlight Society has accomplished. Despite the name "necrosphere", the complex enchantment does not actually contain any spectral or necromancy components - these only come into play in the form of the spells used on their victims.
On contact with the surface of a live necrosphere, a creature is sucked through the glass surface by a powerful magical force. Once the creature is fully enclosed in the sphere, the surface re-solidifies and becomes indestructible, sealing the victim inside. Studies have shown that necrospheres exhibit Venus fly trap-like behavior in that they only consistently respond to contact by humans and animals above a certain size. This is believed to be intentional in order to prevent the traps being activated by small animals such as rats or even insects, which would yield a very small amount of energy and essentially waste the single use of a valuable artifact.
After a necrosphere has been triggered, it begins to slowly petrify its victim. The petrification process begins minutes after entrapment, and takes 3 to 5 hours until fully complete. In this state, the victim is still fully conscious but quickly becomes weakened and delirious. Activated necrospheres which have already captured a creature are safe to touch; they do not respond to further contact nor attempt to capture multiple subjects.
During this phase, it is still possible to save the victim from petrification using a special attunement spell that "resets" the necrosphere to its original empty state. The effects of exposure to a necrosphere may take days to weeks to wear off after a person is freed in this way. However, once the petrification is complete, this spell has no effect.
Once the subject has been fully preserved, the purpose of the trap becomes apparent. No known magic can reverse the effects of a necrosphere once it enters this state. Although the glass is completely indestructible, most spells can pass right through it without issue. Draugr and other undead that inhabit the ancient ruins have been seen to use Sangromancy spells on the petrified subjects, slowly draining the preserved creature's life energy in order to sustain the magic that keeps them animated, as well as the magic that powers the many other artifacts and traps throughout the ruins. The preserved body of a necrosphere victim is an extremely efficient source of energy, yielding up to six times the aetherium energetic equivalent that the creature would have had while alive. A single preserved human can sustain a ruin's protective magic for over a century.
Whether the victim remains conscious after petrification is unclear, as no one has ever been rescuscitated after becoming fully petrified inside a necrosphere. Analysis of brainwave patterns suggest that the subject loses consciousness and is effectively dead following petrification. However, this remains a topic of great interest to the Torchlight Society.
As the preserved body is drained of energy, it gradually decays into a skeletal form. Once all of the energy reserves are used up, the body collapses into a fine white ash which coats the inside of the sphere. The depleted necrosphere then loses all magical properties and becomes completely inert. In the absence of the indestructibility effect, the very thin glass usually cracks or collapses under its own weight, leaving behind a pile of skeletal ash and dangerous glass shards.
Necrospheres were known to Team Torchlight as early as NE 17. The first documented incident of a person being trapped and petrified occurred in NE 23, ostensibly the first time the early adventurers encountered a live necrosphere. Since then, the Torchlight Society has had numerous incidents involving these artifacts. They are frequently found alongside Warping crystals and other Tolgethic defenses against robbers.
Before the Society discovered the attunement spell that resets necrospheres in 73, entrapment was a death sentence. As of the year 366, a total of 529 people have been trapped in necrospheres, an average of 1.4 incidents per year, with 107 (20%) of those entrapments ending in petrification and presumed death. The vast majority of necrosphere deaths have occurred with non-Torchlight-affiliated individuals who entered the ruins illegally. Since the discovery of the attunement spell, all Torchlight ruin outposts are required to have at least one agent with knowledge of the spell on-site at all times. Agents who accidentally set off traps are rescued by onsite task forces using this spell. Rogues and other outsiders are freed if found alive before having their memories erased and being returned to civilization.
The Society previously stored necrospheres in Base 08. When it was destroyed in 191, cleanup crews had to meticulously work around live necrospheres that had been scattered around the wreckage and were still live, as the indestructible artifacts were not damaged by the explosion.
Torchlight usually leaves activated necrospheres where they were originally found, as removing them would break the enchantments the society wishes to study by depriving them of their power source. Live necrospheres are now exclusively stored in Base 11 in a special secure chamber. Agents entering the room are required to use a remotely-operated crane mechanism to move the objects around and wear protective equipment to prevent direct physical contact.
The ability to revive petrified victims is high-priority objective for Torchlight artificers, as the Society has several necrospheres in its possession which contain perfectly-preserved bodies of ancient Tolgethic people with little to no decay. These artifacts have given Torchlight the clearest picture of what the ancient tribal people looked like and how they dressed, and reviving them would give Torchight the means of communicating with ancient people directly for the first time ever. The Torchlight Council has offered a reward of 10 million credits to any research team that discovers a way to revive petrified necrosphere victims - a reward that, as of 366, remains unclaimed.
The curious case of Agent Emmeline Stonewall remains a subject of great interest as well. In 363, Stonewall became trapped in a necrosphere at the Nacahst Island Ruins. She and her party were lost in the ruins and unable to reach base camp in time to rescue her, but she was saved from petrification by a protective enchantment improvised on the spot by her colleague Nichelle Gideon. Although not petrified, the necrosphere no longer responds to the attunement spell and remains indestructible, meaning it is possibly corrupted and leaving Stonewall apparently permanently trapped. She no longer needs to eat or breathe, and her aging appears to have significantly slowed, raising questions about her life expectancy. Many researchers have expressed a desire to reproduce these effects as a possible treatment for age-related illnesses, although this research has not been authorized.
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