Found in the lair of a Shadowfell beast, this extra-planar artifact can shuttle life energy from the strong to the weak, for a small sacrifice.

A perfect sphere of stone, it feels slightly warm to the touch when empty and pulses with the warmth of life when charged with energy.

UPDATE:

Repeated use of the item seems to have awoken a dormant power. A thin red band has spread appeared the circumference of the sphere and it now imparts extra resilience to the recipient of the life force.

Standard Action: Sacrifice two healing surges to ‘charge’ the orb when empty.

Standard Action: Draw a single healing surge from the charged orb, leaving it empty. Until his next extended rest, every time the user spends a surge he gains resist 5 to all damage until end of his next turn.

The orb can only hold a single charge at a time. An unspent charge will fade into nothingness after half an hour in the orb.