There is some speculation at qhcf, it'd be nice to have some sort of
official verification.

Orbs were not hard to get and extremely powerful in my view,
I advocated for their complete removal multiple times.

Our source code VCS only goes back to the Great Crash of 2010. In that time, the code for orbs of travel has not changed at all.

My memory isn't good enough to say whether they changed at all prior to that.

They can be hard to get. Try getting one if you are wanted or have a crappy luck stat.

However, I have two experiences where orbs didn't work.

One was in the upper level of high lords keep. I was getting pounded on by that ap mob and held the orb. It didn't transport me. It was just in my hands. I tried multiple times and it wouldn't do anything.

I had the same thing happen in ysigrath when I held it by mistake.

So I don't know how they work but I so know they are not a guaranteed escape.

The refuge however is not a cursed area.

So since Umiron came in with 'no changes', it seems that the AP
####ed up bigtime.

Actually orbs used to be how you got out of avalanches in jade mountains.

And not all of high lords or ysigrath are cursed. Some rooms are, some are not.

Whatever the rules are they are not easy to determine.