Ernalda's Mirror

[Erol of Backford]

So, looking at the Ernalda's Mirror.

Spoiler

The remaking of:

For me there would be 6 parts of the mirror, earth cube has six sides, no other reason, need to locate 5 that are missing besides that which is found as part of the ongoing campaign.

Possibly the first fragment is found to be somewhere insignificant like on a trinket table of Oriane the Peddler from Pegasus Plateau and it leads them to Clearwine and then the Smoking Ruin?

One might be in Snake Pipe Hollow, another could be with Gonn Orta, one of his caves (along with Speaking Wheel), possibly there is one part in the Nochet Stacks or Nochet's Earth Temple, lost or hidden away and forgotten? Is there one in the 3-Emerald Temple? Maybe a part is buried with a priestess in the crypts of Ezel? (Anything written on Ezel besides GtG and other gazetteer notes?)

Cam's Well might be an obvious location for a shard, what draws the snakes there... it's the remains of a God Time palace consisting of white pearlescent walls with a double helical ramp large enough for herd animals to traverse... or very large snakes.

Other thoughts where fragments of the mirror might be and or what clues might lead the PC's to find the other parts?

Curious if the mirror might only attract snakes if in possession of an Ernalda priestess and or if they wish it to do so... YGMV and I don't like snakes much.

I love Dumuzid's post for what happens after the Smoking Ruin scenarios are resolved and is related:

 

Edited April 7 by Erol of Backford

[scott-martin]

I like this six-sided mirror, consider associating each with benign/malign earth across the three generational aspects of the goddess. Put all six of them together and you have something that can reflect the image of the goddess to herself as she is.

Cam would definitely have one, as would the grandmummies in Ezel.

[Nick Brooke]

After my group completed The Smoking Ruin and gave the mirror to the ambitious

Spoiler

Earth Priestess Daravala, she kept it hanging on her wall. From time to time she would ask the image in the magic mirror who should be the Ernaldan High Priestess of Clearwine, and the Great Goddess she saw reflected in the mirror - who looked just like Daravala - would tell her that she ought to be. Shenanigans ensued.

I like the classics.

[Erol of Backford]

20 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

Cam would definitely have one, as would the grandmummies in Ezel.

Cam's, Ezel, Smoking Ruin, maybe the trinket table of Oriane the Peddler from Pegasus Plateau or something like that... a great start.

Ezel details?

6 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

Shenanigans ensued.

Would be curious to see point details would be nice of... thank you both.

[scott-martin]

18 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

I like the classics.

Now that's the hot stuff. I'm slipping!

 

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Erol of Backford said:

One might be in Snake Pipe Hollow, another could be with Gonn Orta, one of his caves (along with Speaking Wheel), possibly there is one part in the Nochet Stacks or Nochet's Earth Temple, lost or hidden away and forgotten? Is there one in the 3-Emerald Temple? Maybe a part is buried with a priestess in the crypts of Ezel?

Cam's Well might be an obvious location for a shard, what draws the snakes there... it's the remains of a God Time palace consisting of white pearlescent walls with a double helical ramp large enough for herd animals to traverse... or very large snakes.

Earth temple in Snakepipe Hollow seems like a logical choice, and I like Cam's Well (vs. the Paps).

In Esrolia, I'd go with the Necropolis over Ezel or Nochet, well within the grasp of Ty Kora Tek.

The other likely place in Esrolia is Asrelia's Hold, however, I'd be more inclined to say that Asrelia took her piece back deep into the Earth and you now have to retrieve it from the Dancing Jar. 

Axe Hall could be another option in Babeester Gor's grisly treasure hold.

Quote

(Anything written on Ezel besides GtG and other gazetteer notes?)

See Esrolia: Land of 10k Goddesses. It describes the temple complex there (and for visual look at the cover of Treasures of Glorantha).

Besides the temple complex, the Grandmothers' Council rules there so all 200 noble Houses maintain part-time dwellings there. And of course the priestesses of all the temples have their residences, and Babeester Gor undoubtedly has a chapter house there.

Edited April 7 by jajagappa

[Erol of Backford]

Just now, scott-martin said:

Now that's the hot stuff. I'm slipping!

And there is religious intrigue already written into the Smoking Ruin - Clearwine Earth Temple scenario. 

[Erol of Backford]

5 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Necropolis over Ezel

Somehow I thought they were the same. So this quest is amended to misdirect to Ezel and redirects to Necropolis. Thank you!

[Erol of Backford]

10 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Axe Hall could be another option in Babeester Gor's grisly treasure hold.

Not an easy place to get into you can be sure of that. The basement catacombs would be an interesting scenario to be sure...  

[jajagappa]

1 minute ago, Erol of Backford said:

Somehow I thought they were the same.

No, definitely different places! About 30km apart. Ezel is the centerpoint for Ernalda worship, the Necropolis for Ty Kora Tek.

[Erol of Backford]

OK, I know it sounds hoaky but... the PC's have all but the last of the mirror fragments and use it to see Necropolis as it was back in the day which happens to shows them likely locations of the last shard at sunrise... something. It'll take a good bit of development but has almost outlined itself in these few entries. Many sessions of game fun for sure.

[Erol of Backford]

I'll apologize in advance, just had to:

Which grave at Necropolis... does anyone hear a flute?

  

Edited April 7 by Erol of Backford

[mfbrandi]

12 hours ago, scott-martin said:

Ah, but we all know the young princess is really a vampire — “Red as Blood” — but in Glorantha is this a tale told by or against the Lunars? If Christ is Nysalor, it could go either way.

[Erol of Backford]

So Gina Jar is on the back of the mirror but in the book Gina is evidently on the missing part of the mirror... is there a picture of Gina Jar (ghost of Ernalda)?

[mfbrandi]

7 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

on the back of the mirror … on the missing part of the mirror … is there a picture of Ginna Jar (ghost of Ernalda)?

• Ginna Jar … may be represented as a ghostly queen wearing rags or as an iconic symbol such as a floating jar, footsteps, or an empty place between other Lightbringers. — Prosopaedia (PDF, p. 46)

The ghost of who now?

If we are going with @scott-martin’s six-sided mirror — and why not? I imagine a cube of half-silvered panes (or something equally exotic), rather than a hexagon broken into triangular shards — then let us say the image of Ginna Jar is a blank space on the back of the seventh pane. The seventh pane doesn’t exist, and anyway there is no way to fit it into the jigsaw. No mirror will ever reflect the preening Green One back to herself as Ginna Jar (who is so unassuming that she has no reflection).

See this as pushing against the Ernalda power grab in which the Big Green E claims to be Ginna Jar = Arachne Solara = the ghost of Glorantha. “And look, I am not a ghost, I am alive. I am Glorantha. I am Cosmos!” The really “big” gods are modest and invisible and/or without cult.

Edited April 9 by mfbrandi
It/never -> No mirror/ever

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, mfbrandi said:

then let us say the image of Ginna Jar is a blank space on the back of the seventh pane. The seventh pane doesn’t exist, and anyway there is no way to fit it into the jigsaw. No mirror will ever reflect the preening Green One back to herself as Ginna Jar (who is so unassuming that she has no reflection).

Clearly Ginna Jar is the back side of the mirror! She always there, but can never be seen (by the living).

[Erol of Backford]

9 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Clearly Ginna Jar is the back side of the mirror! She always there, but can never be seen (by the living).

This is a copout, please sketch the missing portion of the mirror back in all of Gina Gar's ghostly magnificence and post it.

11 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

If we are going with @scott-martin’s six-sided mirror — and why not?

The idea was that the mirror, see clip below, would or could only be broken into 6 shards... earth cube and all that.

MGF would say its a cubed mirror with the ability to 3D camera areas in god-time and even somehow print or leave residual imaging on some surface somehow... real god powers, snapshots of past time. What the LM's wouldn't do to get their ink stained hand on that...

[scott-martin]

28 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

cubed mirror with the ability to 3D camera areas in god-time

Hmmmmmm.

[mfbrandi]

27 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

This is a copout, please sketch the missing portion of the mirror back in all of Ginna Jar’s ghostly magnificence and post it.

Bit harsh. Perhaps the image of six Lightbringers with a gap where the seventh “should” be is the truest representation. It is the holes in the world that hold it together. Six is the number of the lozenge, but making it seven by adding an absence points us in the direction of Sedenya and Nysalor … and the very hungry caterpillar. Hail Krarshtax! 😉

[Erol of Backford]

1 hour ago, mfbrandi said:

Bit harsh.

Was teasing, hard to show in text, PP p.87, calls out what is on the back and is missing... says Ginna Jar transmogrifying into Ernalda... I'd like to see it.  Didn't mean to offend in any way Jaja!

[Erol of Backford]

So you are walking around with most of Ernalda's Mirror, you are an Ernalda acolyte, divination shows that you are destined to be the one to unite the mirror for what purpose, is unknown or has not yet surfaced via divination.

On 4/7/2024 at 4:31 PM, jajagappa said:

Earth temple in Snakepipe Hollow seems like a logical choice, and I like Cam's Well (vs. the Paps).

In Esrolia, I'd go with the Necropolis over Ezel or Nochet, well within the grasp of Ty Kora Tek.

The other likely place in Esrolia is Asrelia's Hold, however, I'd be more inclined to say that Asrelia took her piece back deep into the Earth and you now have to retrieve it from the Dancing Jar. 

Axe Hall could be another option in Babeester Gor's grisly treasure hold.

So you fight your way through Snakepipe Hollow, bring the godling there back to life of course, maybe he gives you a geas to rebuild the mirror? You find the Sankepipe while you are at it?

You move onto Necropolis to obtain another shard, likely had to go into the Underworld for that one, Ty Kora Tek of course. Maybe the event coincides with the procession of the dead from there to Nochet somehow?

Asrelia's Hold leads you to the Dancing Jar and a hero quest (Any source location/info for the Dancing Jar?) Is Asrelia's Hold, Helerdon (small city): Also called Asrelia’s Retreat or Asrelopa? Need info on this location...

Cam's Well might be a nice change from the Paps as the Ernalda acolyte happen to have the Snakepipe with them when they get to Cam's Well. Lots of fun to be had there in lieu of the Paps with the pipe and snakes there? Thanks for the suggestion Jaja!

Axe Hall would be trouble I assume... the last location and all but the acolyte is a male and a werebear. Maybe the PC changes to a female to gain entry there? More game fun right...

Maybe Dekko is on this path somehow as well?

Smoking Ruins, Snakepipe Hollow, Dekko, Necropolis, Nochet, Cam's Well, what an epic adventure!

Maybe the remade mirror as something to do with bringing Genert back...

[jajagappa]

9 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Asrelia's Hold leads you to the Dancing Jar and a hero quest (Any source location/info for the Dancing Jar?)

The Dancing Jar is in the Underworld in Asrelia's Hut - definitely have to heroquest for a chance to reach in. It's a central bit of the Eringulf Vanak Spear story.

You can find the full tale in the HeroQuest: Glorantha book, p.194-6. I think it was originally in Enclosure #2. I've noted relevant bits below.

"In the Ginijji are the Monster Rocks, placed in a circle around a lightless pit. Inside the pit are seven tunnels, and down one of them lies the trail to the Dark Plenty. In the Dark Plenty is the Hut of Asrelia. Inside the Hut of Asrelia is the Dancing Jar. Inside the Dancing Jar are twelve Bountiful Treasures and Seven Deadly Guardians. Bring back three of the Bountiful Treasures and one of the Deadly Guardians, each alive and controlled, and you may join with my daughter Caranistrata, with my blessing and hers, in the Woman’s Concubine Marriage.”

[Notes: Ginijji is an ancient name for Snakepipe Hollow. The Dark Plenty is the Underworld.]

"Ordinary people refused to enter the Ginijji, a thick and wild place where some things from the Chaos Wars still lurk. The Orlanth priests chanted their best prayers as Eringulf descended through the pit. At its base was a Pit of the Jaws, and Eringulf Vanak Spear searched his mind for knowledge, and he chose the right pit. In the Dark Plenty he got lost, as everyone always does, but he had no trouble because he had the Vanak Spear and the help of his six allies. He met Maran Gor before he met Asrelia, and though the pig-dogs that guard her doorway removed his six allies; they captured one of them, bound it with iron rope, and returned with it."

"In Asrelia’s Hut, Eringulf Vanak Spear bet his left arm and the way he threw his javelins that he could catch the Dancing Jar, and he won. At the same time, beyond the formula, he made two more wagers. The first stake was to wager the way that he could move through the forest against another reach into the Jar. The second was to wager his hard-won ability to see in the dark against a second try. Asrelia selected his opponents, and as usual they contested in silence. Eringulf won both times."

The Treasures / Guardians in the Dancing Jar are random. You can't see in, but must reach in and see what you pull out.

In my game, when the PC's were rescuing the goddess Orane from Ty Kora Tek's Caves of Silence in the Underworld, they found the Dancing Jar there. The hero who took the challenge succeeded and won: 1) the Pot of Plentiful Porridge; and 2) the Blessing of Seeds.

[Erol of Backford]

16 hours ago, jajagappa said:

HeroQuest: Glorantha

next on my reading list. Thank you Jaja.