Barlithian's Mystical Mirror
by Mark Corrington



There have been but few who could excel in each of the seven
deadly sins as well as the “great” Illusionist Barlithian. Although
he was an excellent craftsman, no Illusionist alone could create
such a magical mirror, no matter what his level. Upon completion of the so-far unmagical mirror, pride typically swelled within Barlithian’s head. He bragged that not even the gods themselves could meet his mirror’s perfection. At first the deities
ignored the obnoxious Barlithian, but when he was still spouting
his glories for a year after the mirror’s creation, two gods joined
forces to teach him a lesson. One evening the beautiful Egyptian
goddess Isis and the handsome Greek god Hermes came before
Barlithian and told him that they
would turn his wondrous mirror
into a great magical item. Barlithian was overjoyed and the mirror
was rendered magical. Later, Barlithian realized the problems and
frustrations of owning such an artifact. (In roughly translated Greek,
the mischievous Hermes’ final
words were, “He wanted it, now he
can choke on it!”) Because of his
lusty love for femmes fatales, Barlithian had three wives, each oblivious to the others’ existence. He
wasted the magnificent magic mirror by using it to keep tabs on his
wives’ faithfulness. 

His trigamy ultimately led to Barlithian’s demise. Upon discovering
his indiscretions and each others’
identities, the three wives joined
forces and, after binding and gagging him, had him dropped into an
active volcano. Since then the mirror has had several owners. The
next one could be you. 


Physically, the mirror and its
frame stand seven feet tall, five feet
wide and eight inches thick, weighing 1,000 pounds (10,000 gp). The
mirror’s three-by-five-foot glass
center surface is surrounded by a
massive, ornately carved one-foot-wide mahogany frame. in
each of the four corners of the frame there is a fist-sized 250gp
tigereye stone. On the front and sides of the frame there is also 
decorative gold leaf worth 80gp. The mirror’s non-detachable
back is one unadorned, flat piece of mahogany. Finally, on the
upper front portion of the frame there is boldly carved in the
common tongue “BARLITHIAN,” evidence of its creator’s ego. 

Barlithian’s Mirror(BM) has three permanent magical powers,
but only the first two are generally known of. The first two
powers are known to 50% of all Illusionists, 25% of all MagicUsers and 10% of all members of other classes, while the third
power is known to only 5% of all Illusionists, 2% of all MagicUsers and 1% of all other classes. Any character who happens to
know of the third power will also automatically know of the first
two powers. When seeing the word “Barlithian” at the top of the
mirror, any character who knows
about any or all of BM’s powers will
immediately recognize the artifact
and remember the legend of Barlithian. (Of course, a character does
not have to tell the others what
he/she knows.) BM is of True Neutral alignment, so Detect Evil or
Detect Good will show nothing —
but if a Detect Magic spell is used,
BM’s glass will glow with a rainbow
of colors which will blind all beings
within 30 feet of the mirror for 1-4
turns if they fail their saving throws
vs. spell, and will blind any
being within 10 feet for 1-6 turns
with NO saving throw. Characters
behind BM (on its flat, unadorned
side) will not be affected. This detect magic idiosyncrasy has never
been mentioned in any legend, so
no characters will know about it
before it happens to them.

The first “known” magical power
is always in operation except when
the second power is being used.
The first power is that BM will reflect images as a spell of True Seeing, with some additional abilities:
Characters cursed with lycanthropy
will see their alter-egos; a Medusa
can view her reflection without
turning into stone; those that normally fear mirrors (such as Vampires) can see themselves with
no ill effects. The greatest added ability of this nature is that any
character that is not a greater or lesser god and has any form of 
Charm ability will inadvertently charm himself/herself (no saving throw) and will act as if under a Friends spell for 24 hours
towards BM’s owner or, if the owner is not present, the first seen
member of the owner’s family. If neither the owner nor his/her
family is present or if BM has no owner, the charmed character
will return or try to return to its home/lair and sleep for the
duration of the spell. While thusly charmed, characters will
never jeopardize their alignment nor, upon the spell’s end, remember anything that happened while charmed. All charmed
characters, once recovered, are ever afterward immune to this
effect of the mirror. 

Once BM’s location is publicly known, there is a 1 in 20 chance
per day that from 1-4 monsters of average Intelligence or higher
will stop by for a good look at themselves. The DM will decide
which unwelcome visitors will appear. Thankfully, Isis cajoled
Hermes into softening BM’s monster-attracting practical joke so
that when a monster is viewing its reflection, the monster will not
attack unless an attack or an attempted attack is made towards
it. The monster will be at its friendliest (or as friendly as it can
become). This feeling of good will lasts from 1-20 turns, after
which that monster becomes immune to BM’s “taming” effect
for a year. There is a legend that Alkee Frinde, an undernourished sage of mosses and ferns, was awakened in his bedchamber one night by some noises coming from his front room.
Upon investigating, he discovered a Wraith, a Titan and a Night
Hag, each vainly admiring his/her/its own reflection. Being a
man of action, Frinde took action. He fainted on the spot. 

The next morning when he awoke on the floor, he was surprised to find himself alive and in one piece. He didn’t find out
why the three visitors of different alignments had not tried to kill
each other— or him. What Frinde did find was 10gp, 15ep and a
small Carpet of Flying, apparently the way the “customers”
showed their appreciation for the mirror.


That day Alkee Frinde sold the mirror and moved. 

The second power of BM is its ability to give a 100% accurate
vision of a particular person or creature. Any character class can
operate it and get a visual response, but only an Illusionist or
Magic-User can get an audio response as well. (A 50% chance
for Illusionists, a 25% chance for Magic-Users.) To operate the
power, the user must mix even amounts of any type of oil with
any type of ash, add a drop of his/her blood and, in the common
tongue, write with this fluid at the bottom of the glass the name
of the subject to be seen. For one minute, a vision of the requested subject will appear on the glass. When the power’s duration is
over, the image and the written name will vanish.

There are stringent limitations to this second power:

It can be used only once a week. If this second power is called
upon more often, nothing will happen.

The viewer must use the full name the subject is known by.
Although middle names and maiden names are not always
needed, pet names, nicknames, aliases, last names only, first
names only, etc., will not work. (Example: To see Leo Gwaffusi
IV, the viewer must use “Leo Gwaffusi IV.” “Leo Gwaffusi” will
not work because you might mean Gwaffusi II or III. “Prince of
the Hanshire Elves” is a title but not a particular character, while
“Head Elf at Hanshire Castle” is only an address.) If the user
does not know the subject’s full name, the power cannot be
employed.

The subject must be at least partially in the same plane of
existence as the mirror, and only that part of the subject in that
same plane can be seen.

The subject is seen in the light or lack of light of his/her
surroundings. The viewer cannot cause light to be created in
any way near the subject. Neither infravision nor ultravision can
be used to enhance what is shown in the mirror. If the subject is
in complete darkness, the mirror will be black. 


If audio is possible, the viewer/listener(s) will hear only what 
the subject could possibly be hearing and nothing more. If the
words are garbled or faint, there is nothing the listener can do. 

There is almost no way to determine precisely where the
subject is in relation to the viewer. The vision will be just as clear
if the subject is in the next room or on another planet. The vision
is focused on a close picture of the subject only, not a full picture
of the setting the subject is in. Unless objects or other characters are very near or touching the subject, they will not be seen.
As for background, such as scenery seen over the subject’s
shoulders, the farther away it is, the blurrier it becomes. (Example: Leo Gwaffusi IV appears in the mirror. He has been obviously tortured, because he has a cut above one eye and bruises all
over his body. He is dirty, tired-looking and chained to a massive
stone wall. There is someone chained next to him but you can
only see his/her humanoid arm. The only light source is a flickering yellow flame that is beyond the field of vision. Because you
have sound, you hear numerous beings moaning and crying,
but no words are said. Although this vision is packed with information, you do not know where Leo is, who put him there, why
he is there, who is chained next to him....) 

The subject never knows he/she is being viewed even if the
subject is using a Detect magic spell, Wish spell, etc. Conversely, the viewer can in no way communicate with the subject. This
includes magical “communication” or non-physical contact.
Spells cannot be stored in the mirror, nor transmitted through it.
Psionic ability will not function through the mirror. 

sionic ability will not function through the mirror.
Only beings can be the prime focal point of the vision, never
objects. (Example: The Sword of Jusiana cannot be seen; it is a
magic weapon with a full name, but it is still only an object.) 

Beings will be seen as they are at the moment of viewing, no
matter what condition they are in or what they are doing. The
vision seen and perhaps heard is always happening at present,
never in the past or future.

The third power of the mirror is not widely known — because
the knowledge of it can often cost the discoverer his/her life. BM
can differentiate between normal usage and vandalism. Under
normal usage, BM will allow pegs, nails, screws, spikes, drill bits
or whatever to be used in order to hang it on a wall, hinge it on
one side to become a secret door, put it on a floor base, etc. An
observant character will be amazed to discover that BM is always in mint condition, because old screw holes and nail holes
will heal and tiny chips and cracks accidentally made will mend
themselves, When the glass is being cleaned or the frame is
being polished, a contented “thrum” will emanate from the mirror as if it has a life of its own. 

Any being which harms BM deliberately or accidentally will
reap the terrible vengeance of the third magical power. At first,
the mirror will absorb the actual damage, but once the damage
has been done, within 4-9 turns (d6+3) BM will, within 1 segment, magically heal itself and cause certain types of damage to
the one/ones who harmed it. (If 2% or less damage is accidentally done to BMduring a 24-hour period, the mirror will consider it
due to normal daily wear, heal itself and take no retribution.) If
more than one character causes damage to the mirror, each one
will receive an equal share of damage regardless of his/her
degree of participation. An exception to this equal-injury rule is
when an unwilling character is forced by another to damage BM.
In such a case the unwilling character(s) will be spared and the
one(s) who did the forcing will receive all damage. Any removed
parts, such as the tigereye stones or the gold leaf, will at the time
of repair teleport back to their settings on the mirror. There is no
saving throw against magic allowed for characters or creatures
who are damaged after harming the mirror. 

If the damage is quickly repaired before BM has time to retaliate (within 4-9 turns, as above), nothing will happen to the
one(s) who harmed it. Depending on the amount of damage, any
spell that repairs non-magical items or cures beings will help
repair the mirror — because it wants to be repaired! Any spell so
employed will be effective up to the limits of its power and
ability. Example: A Mending spell is powerful enough to reset a 
tigereye stone but not strong enough to repair the shattered
glass. 

Any acts of the gods that harm BM will be countermanded by
other acts of the gods that will prevent the harm or repair it.
Barlithian’s Mirror will last an eternity. 

BM always follows certain courses of action against those
who harm it: 

Anyone removing the tigereye stones will lose 1 eye for 1
stone, 2 eyes for 2 stones, 2 eyes and 1 ear for 3 stones and 2
eyes and 2 ears for all 4 stones. (Loss of an ear includes the loss
of the ability to hear plus the outer ear itself.) 

Carving out hunks of the wood for non-normal usage will
result in the carver losing an equal volume amount of fingers,
toes, nose(s), hands, feet, etc. (Example: Leo cuts out a onesquare-inch hunk of wood and the mirror takes a one-squareinch hunk of Leo, namely his big toe,) 

Any cutting of names, initials, words, numbers, symbols, pictures or any other types of identification marks on BM will result
in them magically appearing on the cutter’s chest in the same
size and depth of cut as they were inscribed. 

Any removal of the gold leaf will result in an equal percentage
of the taker’s skin/hide being removed. If 15% or more of a
character’s skin/hide is removed, a saving throw against bleeding to death must be made. To calculate a character’s chance of
bleeding to death, add the percentage of the gold leaf remaining
on BM and the character’s present Constitution. A successful
saving throw would be that number or less. (Example: Leo has
removed 60% of the mirror’s gold leaf. His number needed to
save against bleeding to death would be 40 (% of the gold leaf
remaining) + 15 (Leo’s Constitution) = 55; a roll of 01-55 would
spare Leo while a roll of 56-00 would let him bleed to death.) If
uncared for, a character bleeding to death will lose 5% of his/her
hit points per turn until, after 20 turns, no hit points are left and
the character is dead. If a character loses 30% or less of his/her
skin/hide, a Cure serious wounds spell will heal him/her, but if
31% or more skin/hide is lost, a Cure critical wounds spell (or
better) must be used. All lost skin/hide left untreated will leave
some permanent scarring. If 20-39% of a character’s skin/hide
becomes scarred, there is a 10% chance of that character losing
1 Charisma point; a 20% chance of losing 2 Charisma points for
40-59% scarred flesh; a 30% chance of losing 3 Charisma points
for 60-79% scarred flesh; and so forth. 

Burning BM will cause the arsonist to suffer equal damage in
the same way that BM suffered: flaming torch for flaming torch,
Fireball for Fireball and the like. Heat, electricity and Wood warp
spell damage behaves similarly, with the latter causing the caster’s bones to become misshapen, making the caster lose 1 point
of Dexterity. 

BM is immune to any form of gas, water, ice, cold, acid, or
dispelling of its magic. Nothing will happen to the character who
attempts such an attack on the mirror, because nothing will
happen to the mirror.

If the mirror’s glass is shattered by a character, the punishment is death. The smasher explodes into tiny pieces with the
noise, force and shrapnel damage potential of a bomb. (Note: If
more than one character shatters BM,EACH will take 100%
damage and explode. This is the only other exception to the
equal-injury rule.) Everything, creature or object, magical or
not, within 10 feet of the exploding victim will be destroyed, with
no saving throw, by the shrapnel. Except for BM, which will heal
itself, everything within that 10-foot circle is forever unsalvageable. Beyond that circle, everything within 50 feet of the victim
will take 4-24 (4d6) points of damage if it fails its saving throw vs.
spell. The noise of such an explosion always attracts, within 1-4
turns, wandering monsters of the DM’s choice. 

Experience point value: --- (Artifacts bring no experience points.
Gold piece sale value: 120,000.

Dragon - Magic Items - Dragon 50