The Splintered Quartet
The Splintered Quartet is a complex magical hazard created when a fragment of the Great Mirror, an ancient artifact said to have once reflected the Ethereal Plane itself, broke apart in the ruins. Four crystalline glass shards remain suspended around a ruined frame. They do not have fixed powers. Instead, they imitate and distort nearby magic, changing their effects whenever a creature casts a spell or activates a magical item within 60 feet. The hazard rewards mundane problem-solving while making careless spellcasting dangerous.
The Splintered Quartet
Defenses
Detection
“Four hand-sized shards of translucent glass hover around a broken stone frame. Each shard reflects a different room, including places that are not actually present. Pale colors move beneath their surfaces whenever magic is cast nearby.”
Standard Engagement
The hazard rolls initiative when a creature enters the ruined mirror chamber, touches a shard or its frame, or uses a magical effect within 60 feet.
At the start of each round, each active shard uses one effect based on its current resonance. The GM chooses the shard's target if its effect allows a choice, otherwise use the nearest valid target. A shard can use the same effect repeatedly until its resonance changes. The Quartet can produce a maximum of four effects per round, one from each shard.
The hazard resets at the start of the next round after a shard's effect resolves. A disabled shard remains inactive for 10 minutes, after which it reforms unless the stone frame has been disrupted.
The nearest creature within 30 feet must attempt a DC 20 Reflex save. On a failure, it takes 2d6 slashing damage from a sudden plane-thin glass edge and is pushed 5 feet. On a critical failure, it takes double damage and falls prone. On a success, it takes half damage.
The shard releases a distorted copy of the most recent spell cast within 60 feet. The spell affects a random creature within 30 feet of the shard, using the original spell's rank and spell DC, but deals only half its normal damage or grants only half its normal healing. If the spell has no damage or healing, the copy instead creates confusing illusory duplicates, making the target concealed until the end of its next turn.
A pulse of stolen enchantment targets the creature that most recently used a magical item within 60 feet. The creature must attempt a DC 20 Will save. On a failure, it is stupefied 1 for 1 minute. On a critical failure, it is stupefied 2 for 1 minute. The creature can attempt a new save at the end of each of its turns.
The shard opens a thin window onto the Ethereal Plane. Each creature in a 10-foot burst must attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save. On a failure, it is partially phased and slowed 1 until the end of its next turn. On a critical failure, it is also off-guard for the same duration. On a success, it is unaffected.
Each shard begins the encounter with a different resonance: Edge of the Elsewhere, Reflected Spell, Borrowed Wonder, or Ethereal Slippage. Place or track these effects separately.
Whenever a creature casts a spell, activates a magical item, or uses a magical ability within 60 feet, the shard nearest that creature changes to the effect most closely resembling the magic used. An attack or damaging spell causes Edge of the Elsewhere. A spell that targets a creature causes Reflected Spell. An item activation or enchantment effect causes Borrowed Wonder. Teleportation, summoning, spirit, or planar magic causes Ethereal Slippage. If more than one applies, the GM chooses. The changed shard uses the new effect at the start of the next round.
If no magical influence occurs during a round, one shard of the GM's choice becomes dormant until the next magical influence. Dormant shards do not act during their routine.
A shard destroyed or disabled no longer contributes to the routine, but destroying a shard immediately triggers its current effect once.
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