The Eerie Mirror
A hand mirror with an ancient, slightly warped and domed gemstone of obsidian or onyx, some black jewel a handspan across. The ripples and bubbles of the gemstone reflect life like a funhouse mirror or soap bubble, exaggerated or distorted.
Those who view the mirror see their own faces turned bug-eyed and wide, or pinched and pale. The walls behind them twist and collapse in on themselves. Sometimes it seems that the lights are dimmed in the reflection; that sometimes their doppelgangers bear different expressions.
Each time someone looks into the mirror they make a roll to resist. On a failure the mirror imposes one of the following effects:
The character’s face (and body) is changed just a bit toward the shape of their reflection. After 3 such failures they are fully funhoused: limbs too long, eyes bulging, mouth turned to a pinprick. Others may notice it, or it might be that the subject is the only one aware of the changes.
The character’s personality is warped a bit. They become more paranoid, aggressive, touchy. After 3 such failures they are essentially a different person, unwholesome and angry. They may begin to work toward dark, unsettling ends: cannibalism, beginning a cult, incest, random violence, racism, and so on.
The character’s environment warps a bit. Others don’t notice it, but the walls seem to flex inward, lights burn dimmer, everything is slightly oil-slicked and reflective. After 3 such failures the character’s environment is entirely transformed, and they live in this new, awful world behind the surface of the mirror.
So why would anyone keep looking into the mirror? Because the world behind the mirror knows secrets ours does not. Characters can see a glimpse of the beautiful, divine, or weird between the eerie transformations of the mirror. At times the mirror can share the future. Those who use the mirror carefully can build fortunes, win wars, and earn love.
Each glimpse into the mirror for the purpose of learning something from the future or the Other Side requires a roll. On a failure it yields nothing; on a bad failure it provides false information that leads to disaster. On a success the mirror shows something true and useful.
