Q14 - The Mirror Maze by Goblin King

[Anderas]

We have an abundance of story arcs in HQ25, but what we do not have enough are encounters: Singled out quests you can play independently; in-between, either because you have the idea to play HQ spontaneously; or because you have not so much time, or because the Heroes just have the need to refill their pockets after someone of them lost their entire equipment...

So I asked Goblin King if we could reusehis Mirror Maze as Q14 of our quest pack.

Here's his answer:

A-OK with me

It's here for people to use it.
Feel free to make any adjustments you may need to conform it to the quest pack

So, if no-one else is against it, let's have Q14 = The Mirror Maze by Goblin King.

The Mirror Maze
While the heroes are resting by the campfire a traveler suddenly appears and politely asks permission to warm himself by the fire for a while. He seems harmless and the heroes agree. He has travelled far and wide and entertains with his amazing tales of dreadful monsters and amazing treasures. After a few bottles of wine his voice changes to a whisper… He pulls an old map from his pocket. It leads the way to the Mirror Maze! A strange magical crypt which holds great power to those who dare to brave it’s dangers!

Notes:
This dungeon is split across the middle down the long corridor. The top and bottom parts are mirrored versions of each other. Each monster and furniture has a counter-part on the other side of the mirror-line.
Every monster has a statue counterpart, marked in orange. These statues cannot be harmed or moved in any way. But if the monster counterpart moves the statue moves accordingly. Remember up is down, but left and right is the same. If the monster is killed the statue is removed.
The heroes will find magic rings that allow them to jump back and forth between the two mirror parts. Using this power does not count as an action. It is not allowed to move, use the ring and use your remaining movement. If a player is in the top right corner and uses the ring he will end up in the bottom right corner - Just like there was a mirror right through the middle. If a player tries to use “Pass through rock” in this quest, as soon as he enters a wall, tell him that he receives a magical shock and looses 1 BP. This ends his turn immediately. The walls are magical and can NEVER be breached by any
skill or equipment!

A. When the first hero enters the dungeon read the following:
“You sense strong magic at play here though
you can’t quite put your finger on what exactly is going on. The walls seem to hum faintly and tiny magical sparks appear when you touch them!” 

B. Use the stone tablet from Kellar’s Keep to create a stone altar in the middle of the room. If a hero examines the tablet read the following according to his mind points:
1-2 MP: This stone slab is riddled with doodles and mumble jumble.
3 MP: The tablet seems to explain something about mirrors and dimensions?
4+ MP: Strange… This ancient tablet seems to explain that this dungeon is composed of two mirrored dimensions!?

C. This chest is filled with rings! But when the hero reaches down they all seem ethereal except one! Every Hero can take one Ring.
“The wizard senses strange magic surrounding this chest! Perhaps they should all try reaching into it?” 
Once all heroes have grabbed a ring tell them that they can use the power of the ring once per turn and it does not count as an action. Do not tell them how it works! Just move the players through the mirror-line each time they use the ring. Once they discover how the rings work, let them move the figures themselves.

D. If a player opens this trap without searching it for traps he loose 1 BP! He finds 50 gold coins.

E. This Fimir can cast “Fire of Wrath” once.

F. Once the first hero enters this room read the following:
“You seem to have entered an ancient crypt! These sarcophaguses seems in remarkably good shape! Seems like they have never been visited by grave robbers…” 
A player can open one sarcophagus per turn. Roll a combat die to determine what he finds:
Skull: 50 gold coins
White shield: 100 gold coins
Black shield: A healing potion that can restore 4 lost body points.
For each sarcophagus the heroes open a skeleton is created in the mirror-room. Do not place these until the room has been discovered.

G. This chest contains 125 gold coins.

H. If a player examines this weapon rack he finds a magical throwing dagger. 

I. Once a hero enters this room read the following:
“The magical ring on your finger sends a painful bolt of pain up through your arm. In a mental flash it is revealed to you that the shadowy figure in the room is the wizard who once created this maze to protect his magical secrets. Having spent his life warping through the dimensions his soul has been shattered and he is now just an empty being of madness” 

The soulless wizard has his stats below.
After the fight, read the following: “
With a terrible scream the wizard shatter into thousand pieces of broken mirror! May he finally rest in peace…” 

J. If the elf or wizard examines this altar they discover lore of ancient magic. They gain access to a new hero spell set from the expansions. After getting access he is teleported to the B in the middle room.

The Soulless Wizard
MV 10 - AT 4 - DE 8 - BP 6 - MP 6

Special Rules:
He can cast the following Spells: Control Mind, Rust, Dispell, Madness.
In addition he also negates the power of the magical rings in his room. Heroes can enter and fight him, but they can’t escape! Once he is slain the rings work again.

You can download it here;
Lestodante also has already an italian version of it;
I will try to make it HQ25 conform in the coming days

[knightkrawler]

Nope. Nothing against that.
Good idea to have some in-betweeners.

[lestodante]

It is a very nice and particular quest I think. So it is a good idea to put it in a collection and don't leave it alone.
But... are you still searching for quests? I was thinking in so many years people submitted enough quests to fullfill the project!

[Anderas]

Ye we are...

J_dean is currently working on Quests 4-8; having the first two done and three yet to do.

And still open are those:
quests 19-22, four quests where the heroes will find some kind of artifact each one,
and quest 23-25, the showdown trilogy

[Anderas]

I was working on the quest notes for the mirror maze.

There is no way to cut the quest down to one page.
Would you be ok with having one two-page-quest?

[lestodante]

yeah, they are so long, but 2 pages are the best solution to make them understanable to everyone.

[The Admiral]

I raised this point in the original Mirror Maze thread:

"I am assuming that the Soulless Wizard only prevents the use of the rings in the room he is in and not the entire gameboard? Otherwise he can just use the 'Escape' Spell and that is the end of the game as the Heroes are now trapped forever."

This is a quest breaker as written.

[lestodante]

I agree with The Admiral. We risk this situation: the first hero enter the wizard's room while the other heroes are still behind him in rooms located in the bottom part of the board.
If the evil wizard is blocking the use of the rings on the whole board, none of the remaining hero can progress and reach the evil wizard.
So definitely better to limit that power to his room only.

[Goblin-King]

I raised this point in the original Mirror Maze thread:

"I am assuming that the Soulless Wizard only prevents the use of the rings in the room he is in and not the entire gameboard? Otherwise he can just use the 'Escape' Spell and that is the end of the game as the Heroes are now trapped forever."

This is a quest breaker as written.

Yes, the intention is (as also written) that the heroes can enter, but not leave. Perhaps the rings just vanish when they cross over to the final section.
And the Soulless Wizard don't have/won't use "Escape". I just thought the High Mage spells were the most thematically appropriate for him...

[The Admiral]

So the following should fix this?
1) The soulless Wizard cannot cast the Escape spell.
2) Once the secret door to the Soulless Wizard's room is opened, the Heroes' magic rings will not work in his room, or the adjoining small room. So the Heroes can get to the small room, but once there, they will not be able to go anywhere except the soulless Wizard's room.