The quest book tells this story only briefly, in Mentor's messages and the quest notes. This page mixes the official names and events with fan elaboration, and labels the elaboration where it appears.
The Elven Kingdom of Elethorn
Elethorn is the elven kingdom of the HeroQuest world, ruled by Queen Terrellia. It has a long history with Mentor. In the Game System's backstory, Ladril, the elven fighter-mage who fought beside Rogar the barbarian, came from Elethorn. Mentor's first message in this pack spells out what's at stake. If the elves fall to Zargon, "the King will lose the power and strength of Queen Terrellia's people", and that "will surely mean the end of the Realm".
The furniture in the pack (a throne, a tomb, bookcases, an alchemist's bench) was designed "for the elven world". The quests take the heroes to a fortress on the southern border, a cavern south of the kingdom, the Queen's own test maze, an old mine, an alchemist's laboratory on the western border, and finally a castle deep in the marshes of Gliness Fen.
Fan elaboration: At many tables, Elethorn is a kingdom of old forests and older magic. It's proud, slow to ask humans for help, and quick to remember a debt. That fits the quest book's tone: the Queen won't trust outsiders with her daughter's life until an elf has proved the plan can work.
A Family Divided
The whole story turns on one family:
Queen Terrellia
The elven queen. She receives a ransom note and insists that an elven hero prove their worth in three trials before she agrees to a rescue.
Princess Millandriell
The Queen's daughter, "but a child" of five, kidnapped and held in a mirror maze in the Realm of Reflection.
Sinestra, the archmage
The Queen's "evil sister". Her ransom note demands that Terrellia abdicate and hand all power to her. Mentor believes she serves Zargon willingly.
Fan elaboration: The book never says why Sinestra turned on her sister. Players tend to fill that gap with a younger sister passed over for the throne, a scholar of mirror magic who went too deep, or both. Whatever you pick, keep the official core: she wants the crown, she is willing to use a child to get it, and Zargon's power stands behind her.
The Elf's Three Trials
Mentor picks one elven hero to lead the rescue, but the Queen's terms are strict. The Elf has to pass three trials alone first:
- The Sovereign Sword. Agents of Zargon have stolen the Queen's legendary family heirloom and taken it to a fortress on the southern border. The Elf brings it back and is rewarded with elven chain mail.
- On Sacred Ground. Creatures of Dread have taken two of the Queen's attendants to an underground cavern. The Elf fights through to free them.
- Terrellia's Maze. The Queen's own maze, stocked with monsters who have been promised their freedom if they kill the Elf. A note warns, "All is not as it seems". The prize is a golden book, and the reward is a weapon of the Elf's choice.
Lunarium and the Realm of Reflection
Millandriell is held in the Realm of Reflection, a world behind the mirrors. The only way in is lunarium, a glittering silver liquid that opens a mirror entry. Only the Queen's old royal prospector can tell true lunarium from fakes. The rest of the party joins the Elf here. They free the prospector from a mine where Zargon's minions hold him, then take him to the high alchemist's laboratory, where he picks the real flask out of hundreds of silver bottles.
Sinestra fights back. Her servant Tormuk the necromancer casts a spell on two of the Queen's bodyguards, the finest elven archers in the kingdom, and they fight for him until the heroes break it. In the castle at Gliness Fen, giant wolves carry a werewolf's curse.
Fan elaboration: The book doesn't explain what lunarium is. Many groups treat it as moonlight given substance, a link that fits the moon shrines and Lunar Charms of Rise of the Dread Moon. That pack does turn Lunar Charms into lunarium at an alchemist's bench to pass the Mirror Gates, so the idea has some official support.
Silvermane's Lair
Sinestra's deepest den is called Silvermane's Lair. A great mirror there shows the captive princess. When the lunarium touches it, the glass turns black and the heroes can step through into the Realm of Reflection, though not back again. Another mirror in that realm holds the Elven Bow of Vindication, a treasure of the elven kingdom that Mentor says can help destroy the archmage. Sinestra waits in her Inner Sanctum with spells of mirror magic, firestorm and the werewolf's curse.
In the conclusion, Queen Terrellia holds a celebration for the heroes and has their names written into the ancient Book of Elven Heroes. She takes back the Bow of Vindication and gives them a chest holding 2,000 gold coins. Mentor tells them peace and order have been restored to the Realm.
That peace doesn't last. When Rise of the Dread Moon opens, Millandriell is safely home, but Mentor fears "a great evil still simmers in Elethorn".
Classic edition (1989–1990): The original The Mage of the Mirror was a North American "Elf Quest Pack" from Milton Bradley in the early 1990s. Sinestra was the villain there too. The 2023 Avalon Hill pack retells the story for the current game, so check which book a quest note comes from.
Where Next
For the rules and quests of this pack, see The Mage of the Mirror. To follow the story to its end, continue to Rise of the Dread Moon.