The Glow-Torch
Enchanted by a journeyman out of the Timeless Bastion, the Glow-Torch is a metal rod approximately one foot long, made of metal and incised with a variety of runes and magic symbols. Anyone with knowledge of arcane languages or writing will recognize them as powerful spells of illumination, light, and darkness-banishing. However, when the command word is spoken, only a faint glow will appear at the item’s tip, variously described as “a meager spark,” “a solitary firefly,” or a “lowly glowworm.”
The glow is too dim to provide useful illumination in all but the darkest of environments, and even then a lengthy period of adjustment is necessary. As a type of magical illumination, though, the glow cannot be blown out, snuffed, or extinguished in any way other than by the speaking of the command word. In this way it has occasionally been mentioned in annals as a useful source of emergency illumination by those who see well in the dark, but it is still a disappointment given the seemingly powerful runes with which it is carved. Sadly, it takes a true runic master to see the myriad imperfections and errors that conspire to reduce the item’s intended fiery illumination to a faint glow.