Shard of the Hated Reflection

by Frazer 👁 45 views

This triangular fragment of silver-backed glass has edges as sharp as a dagger and a surface darkened by violet and smoke-gray swirls. A thin frame of tarnished electrum clings to its longest edge, engraved with two figures reaching toward one another across a broken circle. The shard never reflects the room around it clearly; its background is always an indistinct black corridor fading into distant candlelight. When held near another piece of the same mirror, both shards tremble faintly and draw toward each other.

Enemy's Reflection While holding the shard, you can use an action to gaze into it and name a creature that regards you as an enemy. The shard reflects you as that creature most fears, despises, or condemns you. The image reveals no factual information beyond the enemy's genuine perception, and the Dungeon Master determines the appearance and emotional details. If the named creature does not truly regard you as an enemy, the shard shows only your ordinary reflection.

Read the Hatred Once per long rest, after viewing your reflection through the shard, you can gain advantage on one Wisdom (Insight), Charisma (Intimidation), or Charisma (Persuasion) check made against the named enemy within the next 24 hours. The check must directly involve that creature.

The Missing Twin The shard is one half of a matched pair. You always know the general direction of its sibling while both are on the same plane of existence. As an action, you can sense whether the sibling is within 1 mile of you, though you do not learn its exact location.

Borrowed Aspect Once per dawn, when you see yourself in the shard as an enemy's worst enemy, you can adopt that appearance for 1 hour. This functions as a disguise, but the image reflects the enemy's personal hatred rather than your choice. During this time, you have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks made against that enemy, but disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to calm or reassure it.

Truth Beneath the Image The shard cannot be fooled by illusions, disguises, or shapechanging effects affecting you. It shows the form your named enemy would recognize as the most threatening or contemptible version of you, even if that form is not physically possible.

Lore

The mirror was called the Concordance of Two Faces, crafted to force enemies to see the wounds they inflicted upon one another. Its makers believed hatred was a bond as strong as love, and that no feud could survive once both sides witnessed themselves through the other's eyes. They were wrong. The mirror did not reveal a simple reflection, but the most terrible identity each viewer represented to their enemy. The Concordance was shattered after its final owners saw one another as monsters beyond forgiveness.

History

The mirror was broken during the Siege of Veyr, when the rival generals Othmar Vale and Seressa Thorne looked into opposite halves and saw not themselves, but the dead children each blamed the other for sacrificing. Seressa cast her shard into a burning reliquary, while Othmar's fragment vanished beneath the battlefield. Centuries later, the surviving shard was found embedded in the breastplate of a petrified knight. Its sibling remains lost, and the shard grows colder whenever someone nearby speaks of an unresolved grudge.

Created by Frazer 👁 45 views