Written into a Corner...Help Me Out?

[Hadrian the Builder]

My players have finally arrived in the Mournland to gather the final McGuffin, a relic of a long lost hero.

I gave them some clues about where to go and what to do, but have long since forgotten the solutions to the prophesy/riddle that I had in mind originally. So I need some ideas on possible solutions.

Here are the clues:

A snippet of (a much longer) Prophesy:
"One is found in glowing grave, filled by arcane, twisted wave."
(This was meant to indicate the Mournlands and possibly direct them to the Glowing Chasm)

The Sphinxes Riddle:
"Travel across the Crystal Plain until you reach the City of Broken Glass.
Reflect on the Past and move beyond your reflections.
Only then can you bring the past to the present.
But make haste, for shadows already gather to quench the lights forever.”
(This was meant to direct them to the Glass Plateau and to the City of Making, where the party is now)

The Strange Reflections:
The city, when viewed from above, reflects the current starfield, day or night, and may be an Orerry of some sort on a grand scale. In addition, when they look down into the now glassy ground, they can see arcane wisps of energy flowing around.


The party is currently IN Making, and I've described it as a city that was transformed into glass. So whatever the solution is, it needs to be in Making.
The players started tossing ideas around about mirrors or literal graveyards.
I had something in mind that the clues would help identify where to go in the city as well as, upon further consideration, provide clues about how to find and actually open the secret hiding place...

 

[Celebrim]

You realize that you are working at this backwords.

I know 'The X Files' has set a bad example, but generally speaking you figure out what the mystery is first then you write clues for it.

You currently have a mirror that accurately reflects the current star field.

You clue points to a mirror that accurately reflects the past. That's what they need to find in the city. So find a smaller mirror that is a copy of the bigger orerry that reflects a different (already past) starfield. The McGuffin is hidden by being timeshifted from the present. It is permenently 10,000 years/1 year/1 day in the past of whoever is looking for it. To retrieve it, you must activate the Mirror of the Past portal and step through it - into your own past - into the time shifted version of the City of Making. Misactivating the portal by pressing the wrong runes shifts you in to the wrong past, which has been carefully selected to be quite lethal.

You might want to place a clue in the city which identifies:

a) The time of the McGuffin
b) The place of the McGuffin
c) The runes need to activate the Orerry of the Past.

Be sure to give the McGuffin, Orrey of the Past, and needed clues appropriate guardians. A Time Elemental, a Stasis Trap, an Antigravity Trap, and a Spectator, Inevitable or other lawful guardian appropriate to the party level suggest themselves to me.

Be sure also to keep in mind that the time shifted version of the city is not in this dimension, and is a pocket dimension made for the purpose. Attempting to travel beyond a small radius around the McGuffin's hiding place (or staying too long in the pocket dimension) results in the character experiencing - groundhog day like - circular time. In this way, you won't get any wierd time travel anomolies in your game.

 

[TarionzCousin]

The Strange Reflections:
The city, when viewed from above, reflects the current starfield, day or night, and may be an Orerry of some sort on a grand scale. In addition, when they look down into the now glassy ground, they can see arcane wisps of energy flowing around.

Is this part of the prophecy that they have already heard/read/seen?

How are they going to find any more clues?

What exactly is the MacGuffin?



Something like this?
The deepest well, the tallest tower
The brightest star, the strongest power
Come together, sight unseen
To show the (relic) in between.

I would throw this at them and determine where each of these things (well, tower, star) are in the city and how they can use their most powerful power (?) to get them to "come together" somehow. That would cause the glass to melt or shatter and reveal the relic.

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

Is this part of the prophecy that they have already heard/read/seen?

How are they going to find any more clues?

What exactly is the MacGuffin?

All the above clues have already been given. My best guess about how they'll find more clues is that they'll think of a suitable place to go investigate and I can leave additional clues there.

The MacGuffin is the final relic (The armor in this case) of an ancient hero, They've been collecting these items throughout heroic tier so they can defeat the villain.

[MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION] you've given me some great ideas to help me through my block. Starfields and Orreries have feature prominently throughout the campaign, and they flirted with time travel in a previous adventure.

 

[Aeolius]

Starfields and Orreries have feature prominently throughout the campaign...

You'd probably enjoy looking over the Antikythera Mechanism as well, then.

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

Wow, that is pretty awesome. Thanks for the pointer.

 

[Rel]

Hadrian, I'll give some thought to your OP but I also wanted to make sure you knew about the upcoming NC Game Day since you've attended in the past.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/298369-nc-game-day-xxiii-january-22nd.html

We'd love to see you there if you can make it.

 

[Quartz]

The city of glass, Making, is it yet broken? Maybe they literally have to break - i.e. destroy - the city. A few Earthquakes or Storms of Vengeance or conjured elementals should do the trick. Or maybe there's a model of the city hidden somewhere that they have to smash.