Session 64

he Child’s Prophecy — The Temple & the Sable Mirror ________________________________________ 🌍 SETTING OVERVIEW Location: Monastery of Silent Memory, perched on the cliffside shores of the Sable Mirror, a vast, still lake east of the trade town of Danu. The Sable Mirror: A massive, black-water lake whose surface reflects the sky too perfectly, like polished obsidian. Locals say it reflects more than the present—glimpses of the past, future, or what shouldn’t be. Tone & Atmosphere: • Dreamlike, holy, and unsettling • An uneasy calm hangs over the lake • Water drips where it shouldn’t • Reflections sometimes move… differently • Prophecy and fate are pressing in like tides ________________________________________ 🏞️ PART I: The Monastery of Silent Memory 📍 Location Description: Built into the black-stone cliffs rising above the Sable Mirror, the Monastery of Silent Memory is a crescent-shaped complex of domes, open-air halls, and stone terraces, where wind and water sing constant hymns. • Marble tiles, water channels etched with runes • Murals faded by moisture—many feature a child with no face or a mirror that bleeds light • Bells that only ring in dreams ________________________________________ 🧕 MONK Aylin Role: Caretaker of the child; prophetic dream-interpreter Appearance: Wiry, silver-eyed woman with tattoos of moon phases on her hands Manner: Gentle, devout, anxious but devoted to duty ________________________________________ 🛏️ Scene: Dream Observations The Child: • Pale, androgynous, 6–7 years old • Sleeps uneasily, speaking in dreams • Does not speak when awake Dream Ritual: Each night, the child is placed in a silver-rimmed stone bed beneath a skylight that reflects the moon’s light through a water lens above. What Happens: • Voices echo from the child’s mouth—some overlay, others speak in strange tongues • Arcane runes on the walls flicker and glow faintly when certain words are spoken "When the mirror drinks the moon, the voice that is many shall call, and what was born without place shall speak of collapse." ________________________________________ 📚 Investigation in the Monastery Library Area: Molded shelves, damp scrolls, cracked tablets Tablets of Note: • “When the Moon ran backwards, the Mirror bled truth.” • “A child, born outside the turning of stars, shall be voice and void.” Skill Checks (DC 13–16): • Arcana: Language is a proto-divine dialect—maybe tied to the Far Realms or Primordial Truth. • History/Religion: The temple beneath the lake is older than the monastery itself, possibly built by those who first studied time as a divine force. ________________________________________ 🚶 PART II: Ritual of Descent 🌌 Ritual Preparation (Optional Mini-Quest) • Aylin asks for two things to activate the descent to the temple: 1. Mirror Oil made from lake reeds + starlight essence (a short skill-based fetch) 2. A night where moonlight fully reflects on the lake (“When the mirror drinks the moon”) 📜 High Priestess Ilyra Role: Overseer of the Temple Network around the lake Appearance: Proud, veiled elven woman, with a coral circlet and eyes like cracked quartz Attitude: Wary of outsiders; reverent about the prophecy Meeting Scene: • Found at the Moonlit Platform, a raised dais over the lake • She reads the prophecy aloud in Celestial, and flinches when the last line is spoken “We feared this would return,” she says. “The temple beneath… it’s not just ruins. It’s a memory. And memories drown.” ________________________________________ 🧙 PART III: The Guardian of the Depths 📍 Location: Hidden dock near a half-sunken statue, accessible only by boat or cliff path The Guardian: • Appears as a gaunt, fish-eyed man in kelp-wrapped robes • Voice echoes as though underwater • Demands a trial of worth ________________________________________ 🧩 Choose 2 of 3 Trials: 1. The Mirror’s Riddle (Puzzle) "I am not what I reflect, yet without me, truth is blind. What am I?" Answer: A Mirror (Correct answer grants +1 to Wisdom saves in temple) 2. The Sacrifice of Comfort (Moral) o Players must each leave behind a personal comfort or luxury item (DM’s call). o If none do, temple becomes hostile or curses follow them 3. The Unanswered Question (RP) o “If this child destroys the world, will you kill them?” o Not about the answer, but the party’s reasoning o Compassion or conviction = Boon: one PC gains Prophetic Insight (can reroll 1 failed save in temple) ________________________________________ 🌊 PART IV: Temple Beneath the Sable Mirror 📍 Access: Via submerged gate in the cliffs revealed under moonlight • A shimmering dome of moonlight opens the path • Water drains as they descend (magical bubble, Control Water, or Water Breathing) ________________________________________ 🏛️ Temple Description • Walls of obsidian-veined stone, slick with moss • Symbols spiral inwards like vortexes • Light behaves strangely—reflections appear before objects Hazards: • Water pressure surges (Con save DC 13 or gain a level of Exhaustion) • Mosaics of cities collapsing, stars falling • Time-bent ghosts of former priests whisper wrong prayers ________________________________________ 🧟 Encounters (choose 1–2): 1. Moon-Spliced Guardians o Reskinned Water Weirds + illusory duplicates (Displacer Beast-like movement) o Defend the central mirror pool 2. Reflected Selves o Each PC must face a twisted version of themselves o Fight OR talk to them—these echoes speak of possible futures ________________________________________ 🪞 FINAL CHAMBER: The Sable Mirror Core 🌑 Chamber Design: • Round, submerged space with domed ceiling open to lake above • A pool in the center reflects cities burning, void storms, and the child, older, surrounded by dead stars As Moonlight Touches the Mirror: • The child speaks through the water, voice echoing: “I was not born. I am what time forgets. I am not one. I am many.” ________________________________________ 🎯 Player Actions: • Record the Prophecy (Arcana or Religion DC 18): Grants key lore about future events • Interrupt Resonance (Dispel Magic or similar): Causes temporal backlash • Observe Fully (take the risk): See future visions, but unleash a rift surge ________________________________________ 💥 Backlash Options (Choose 1–2): 1. Temporal Fracture: Players see older/younger versions of themselves, possibly offering advice or accusations. 2. Rift Horror Emerges: A Moonspawn Horror (homebrew or use Star Spawn Mangler) climbs from the mirror 3. Chamber Floods: Skill challenge to escape or stabilize the collapsing ruins