Trial of Resolve
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The Mirror CellsThe Rune RingThe Tribunal Door
Roleplay EncounterDND5E 2024Party L6 · 5 PCs
Trial of Resolve
Read Aloud
The heavy doors clang shut, and black-glass cells slide up around each of you. Your own faces step from the walls, twisted by pain, and press their hands against the glass. A cold voice says, “Admit your weakness, abandon your resolve, and you will be free before dawn.”
The Scene
HOSTILEMagical interrogationBase DC 15Stakes The Tribunal wants the heroes to abandon their own account of who they are. If they fail, the final hearing begins with their surrender turned into testimony.
20 to 30 minutes
NPC Goal
Break each hero's resolve, make them accept the Tribunal's version of their failure, and turn their surrender into evidence for the final hearing.
Leverage
The reflection promises freedom before dawn, absolution from the Tribunal, or the power to prevent the hero's greatest failure from happening again.
Player Approaches
- Inspect the runes with Intelligence (Investigation) or Intelligence (Arcana) at DC 15.
- Read the reflection's emotional performance with Wisdom (Insight) at DC 15.
- Resist its bargain with a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw.
- Name the failure without excuses, then state a personal truth using Charisma (Persuasion) at DC 15 or a raw declaration.
NPC Gambits
- Ask the reflection what it wants.
- Point out a contradiction in its story.
- Describe the failure without accepting the reflection's judgment.
- Refuse the bargain and accept the cost.
- Call another hero's name and remind them of a truth they have demonstrated.
NPC Reactions
- When questioned, the reflection answers with concern that sounds memorized.
- When challenged, it changes from pleading to accusation: “You call this resolve because you fear the truth.”
- When the hero names the failure, it offers one final bargain tailored to that confession.
- When a hero declares a truth, the reflection screams without moving its mouth and the cell cracks.
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