The Faces Beyond the Glass
The Faces Beyond the Glass
Read aloud
A woman's cry for help rides the wind beneath the Great Library, though every window is shut. In the catacombs, a woman appears in a tall mirror, her lips matching the distant plea as her face shifts into each of yours. One by one, you nod to one another and step through.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Find the source of the cries in the Great Library catacombs.
- 2Find and rescue Sister Maelin Voss.
- 3Stop the mirror-haunt from reaching the Great Library.
- 4Restore the forgotten dead to the library's records.Optional
The clock
Each time the party takes a short rest or triggers a major complication, the mirror's crack widens. After three such advances, the Pale Reflection can reach the upper stacks unless the party seals or destroys the mirror.
Scenes
- 0:00The Call Beneath the Stacks
- 0:30The Catalogue of the Dead
- 1:30The Librarian Without a Shadow
- 2:15A Face for the Mirror
Cast
- Sister Maelin VossAlly and trapped librarian
- Tovin RuskQuestgiver and library under-warden
- The Pale ReflectionAntagonist
- Edda ValeWildcard
The hook
Set the scene
Read the hook aloud as the characters enter the catacombs. The mirror stands in a chamber lined with stone shelves and sealed tombs. The woman in the glass looks different to each adventurer, but each sees the same expression of desperate recognition. A thin crack splits the mirror from crown to base. When a character steps through, the surface gives way like cold water and the others can follow.
How Tovin Rusk asks
After the adventurers return from the mirror, or if they seek help before entering, Tovin approaches them in the library's lower reading room.
He offers access to the catacombs and a reward for finding Maelin, but insists the public be told only that there is a structural hazard below.
Rumours
Scenes
about 4 hours0:00
30 min
ExplorationThe table is here
1. The Call Beneath the Stacks
The catacombs beneath the Great Library, at the Mirror of the Unremembered.
Introduce the three adventurers as strangers drawn by the same cry. The mirror copies their faces, then offers a way through. Once they cross, the surface closes behind them and shows an empty chamber on the other side.
NextA line of fresh footprints leads away from the mirror toward a burial gallery.
0:30
60 min
Social
2. The Catalogue of the Dead
A narrow gallery of sealed tombs and abandoned library shelves.
The party navigates the burial gallery, finds Edda's ghost, and can learn that Maelin is alive nearby. Edda knows a safe route but may demand a name or a promise in exchange.
The Procession of Empty NamesNextEdda's directions, or the markings on the tombs, lead to a flooded stair and Maelin's cell.
1:30
45 min
Skill
3. The Librarian Without a Shadow
A low crypt cell beside a flooded stairwell, with an iron grille and a jammed release wheel.
The party finds Maelin imprisoned behind an iron grille. She explains that the mirror stole her reflection and can use it to imitate her. She admits she helped seal the mirror years ago, and can describe the rite needed to bind it again.
NextMaelin leads the party to the mirror chamber and gives them the names required for the sealing rite.
2:15
90 min
Combat
4. A Face for the Mirror
The circular mirror crypt, where bronze shields and polished stone create multiple reflections.
The Pale Reflection confronts the party and offers to release Maelin if one adventurer takes her place. The characters can fight, complete the rite, or destroy the mirror. The outcome determines whether the catacomb's dead settle or spill into the library.
The Room That Remembers YouNextIf successful, the party returns to the Great Library through a darkened passage. If they fail, the mirror's influence spreads into the upper stacks.
Behind it
What people believe
A woman's cry for help has been heard beneath the Great Library, where an old catacomb has begun to stir.
The library's under-warden asks the adventurers to investigate, find a missing librarian, and make sure the dead do not reach the stacks above. The catacombs contain a strange mirror and signs that someone has been trapped beyond it.
Background
Beneath the Great Library lies a burial complex built around the Mirror of the Unremembered, a relic once used to preserve the faces and final testimonies of the dead.
The library's founders sealed it after its reflections began answering questions no living person had asked. Over generations, the mirror's chamber was forgotten, but its call has begun to reach people whose faces it can use.
The stakes
If the Pale Reflection escapes, it can replace people through reflective surfaces and eventually reach the Great Library's readers.
If the party abandons Maelin, the mirror can use her stolen reflection to make its calls more convincing.
Encounters
2The Procession of Empty Names
Combat or negotiation
A narrow burial gallery with waist-high stone sarcophagi, broken shelving, and a central aisle. Sarcophagi provide cover, but pushing one over blocks part of the aisle.
Foes
4 skeletons
ComplicationThe coffin's lid slides open when anyone speaks above a whisper. If a character uses the inscriptions on the tombs to command the dead to rest, the skeletons pause long enough to escape or negotiate.
ScalingFor a smaller or less experienced party, use 2 skeletons. For a stronger party, add 2 skeletons and give the corridor difficult terrain from scattered bones.
The Room That Remembers You
Combat
A circular crypt with a cracked standing mirror, four reflective bronze shields, and a central dais. The shields can be turned to redirect reflected light; a character who spends an action doing so can suppress the mirror-haunt's mirror-step until the start of their next turn.
Foes
The Pale Reflection, a custom mirror-haunt
2 shadows
ComplicationThe mirror's surface can mimic a character's movement a heartbeat early. Once during the encounter, the Pale Reflection can use a custom mirror-step feature to move between two reflective surfaces it can see. This is a custom feature, not an official D&D 5E monster ability.
ScalingFor a level 3 party, use the Pale Reflection alone, with its hit points reduced and its mirror-step limited to once. For a level 5 party, use the listed shadows and let the mirror-haunt call one additional shadow if combat lasts more than three rounds.
Cast
4Sister Maelin Voss
Ally and trapped librarian
WantsHelp the adventurers recover her stolen reflection and break the mirror's hold, while concealing that she once helped seal it.
“The mirror did not call you by name. It called you by the shape of your fear.”
Tovin Rusk
QuestgiverQuestgiver and library under-warden
WantsKeep the library's lower levels closed and prevent another death, even if that means abandoning Maelin.
“I heard her too. I thought it was a trick of the pipes, until my own face called back.”
The Pale Reflection
Antagonist
WantsEscape its chamber by exchanging places with a living person and spreading its influence beyond the catacombs.
“You came when I called. Now give me the face you brought.”
Edda Vale
Wildcard, a ghostly former cataloguer
WantsTrade useful directions for a chance to be remembered by someone living.
“I can tell you which door is real. I just cannot promise it will stay real.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A silvered hand mirror engraved with the Great Library seal, worth 25 gp
One potion of healing per adventurer, supplied by the library's infirmary
On a win
The mirror falls silent, its surface becoming ordinary dark glass or harmless fragments.
Maelin is freed if the party found her, and the dead settle into their tombs. Tovin arranges the promised reward and asks the party to keep the library's most dangerous secrets out of public circulation.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party is defeated or retreats from the mirror chamber without disrupting the mirror's hold.
- Maelin remains trapped, and the Pale Reflection escapes into the library's reflective surfaces. The library seals the catacombs, but the entity can later threaten readers and staff.
- The party breaks the mirror without completing the sealing rite or recovering Maelin's reflection.
- The mirror is damaged but not quieted. Its call grows weaker, yet it begins appearing in polished objects throughout the Great Library.
- The party exposes the library's secret or allows the catacomb dead to reach the upper stacks.
- Tovin refuses to let the party leave with the mirror's fragments, and the library's leadership may treat them as responsible for the breach.
Complications (d6)
- 1A whisper from the mirror repeats one character's last spoken sentence in the voice of someone they miss. The next reflection they see points toward a false passage.
- 2A rusted bell rings in a sealed alcove, waking two skeletons that begin dragging a coffin toward the mirror chamber.
- 3The corridor's black water rises to knee height. A submerged iron grille blocks the way until someone finds and turns its hidden wheel.
- 4One character's reflection stops copying them and silently mouths the location of Maelin's cell. It then vanishes from every nearby polished surface.
- 5A collapse seals the route behind the party. The rubble can be cleared, but the noise draws the attention of the chamber's guardians.
- 6Edda offers a shortcut in exchange for one character's full name. If accepted, the Pale Reflection can speak that character's name to unsettle them in the final chamber.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Turn The Faces Beyond the Glass into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.
