the clock tower

[groundrules]

Happy Hallow-elevator! The clock tower event lasts between 22 October and 8 November. ICly, the tower incursion stretches around a week, and you’re welcome to have your character investigate something else, if they finish early!

THE CLOCK TOWER

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ALL IS AS ALL WAS| TRIAL & NO ERRORS | THE TOWER

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ALL IS AS ALL WAS

Play it cool, as Serthica’s customs officers pore over your passport papers, before grudgingly allowing you overground. Minaras, you hear, is hunting a delinquent.

Both it and Eidris fare well, with no sign of the damage that preceded the Unwinding. Locals no longer behave eerily, dragons and clockwork droids roam freely, and everyone hates taxes.

Yet perfect strangers insist they know you. Your assigned address leads to a different house. The roads, buildings and architecture look ‘lived in,’ but changed.

No one remembers the Unwinding.

■ Burlap mannequins sometimes watch from mirrors, windows and reflecting surfaces.

■ You might hear shifting and scratching in Eidris walls.

■ Minaras has doubled its bounty for a man not unlike Leonard McCoy.

■ Black fungal spores are found on the increasingly voluminous experiment vials, specimens and supplies thrown out by Minaras medical facilities.

■ Frail and confused, Ellethia survivor Zenobius finally awakens. A short thread is up for RNG grabs.

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TRIALS & NO ERRORS

The guard troops that Eidris and Minaras assign to the Neutral Zone now protect King Thivar and High Councillor Arabella during the annual Sanctuary Reckoning trials. Both adjudicate cases that violate the ceasefire.

Prolonging the trials buys time for your companions in the clock tower.

■ Create a distraction — flood the judgement hall rooms? Fire? Illusions?

■ Pose as trial participants: perhaps you are of Eidris, and you caught this wicked Minaraian raiding your home? Mayhap this wretched man of Eidris stole your girlfriend? Wait, you’re a Minaraian who wants to kill King Thivar?

■ …organise breakouts, if Thivar or Arabella have your jailed. You are first imprisoned in makeshift Sanctuary cells — all but poorly locked, glorified closets. Get a trial sentence!

■ Thivar and Arabella treat the trials as a box-ticking exercise.

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THE TOWER

As Eidris and Minaras play court, you can infiltrate the Neutral Zone clock tower of Vassarizhia.

■ Only token security remains. The door is unlocked.

■ Karsa supplies paper talismans that must be burned in the watch fire at the tower’s top level.

■ Each burned talisman amplifies the reveal spell that Karsa activates. Link a finished burning thread by 8 November to help the cause.

■ A November mod post will describe how much of Serthica’s ‘undeath’ characters can see.

■ Placing Magnus’ dragon eye before the tower’s telescope will allow characters to always see Serthica’s undeath, moving forward.

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✘ ELEVATOR ETIQUETTE

Imperfect stillness dominates Vassarizhia: your footsteps do not click, words die in your mouth. The tower’s rickety gear slither silently. Your heartbeat aligns with the clock’s tick… tock.
You have the growing, gnarly certainty that you have invaded something ancient and alive.

The tower’s entryway level is large, deserted, stacked with gears. At its core is a dilapidated open elevator shaft.

A large sign says to find and pull the floor lever, if elevators stop.

■ There are two elevators. Each narrow lift can hold up to four people, crammed. The upper half of the carriage is chain-link fence, while the floors contain hatches that sometimes open mid-travel for 30 seconds. Hold on to ceiling-bound leather straps.

■ The ropes holding the elevators are thick, but tattered.

■ The elevator’s creaking squeals can awaken swarms of 1m-tall bats and bat wyverns. They rattle the lift, but ultimately withdraw.

■ The elevator can stop at as many levels as you want (or none!).

■ Beyond the second level, you feel intensely paranoid and see your companions as the persons you most hate/fear for five to 10 minutes. Reaching the top, you are tempted to cut the lift ropes of those who follow. (The ropes and elevators recover, after crashing to the bottom. )

■ On each floor, as you exit the elevator, a nearby wall shows a different scratched instruction, signed by DAVID.

LEVEL I: THE LABYRINTH| LEVEL II: THE ANCESTOR | LEVEL III: TAG! YOU’RE IT
LEVEL IV: THE ROOM WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS | LEVEL V: IT’S RAINING (AGAIN)

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LEVEL I: THE LABYRINTH
CONTENT WARNING: MINOTAUR, BODY HORROR

Step into a jail maze, flooded to knee level. Confusing corridors narrow, widen and contort, while wall torches dim.

Intermittent howling reveals you’re not alone. Hiding, you see child-like chalk drawings of forest animals on walls — and a great minotaur. Keep silent.

■ David S P’s wall scrawl says, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY.

■ Collect some of the many discarded daggers or axes. Rope bundles float in water — use them to paralyse your captive or briefly force them under your control.

■ Don’t linger in one place: rotting, bodiless hands surface to restrain you.

■ Bad news, if you swallow water when the minotaur or dead hands try to drown you: your skin stretches and bursts, while your bones pop and extend. You mutate into a half human, half woodland creature, all bloodlust. ( Inspiration, anyone? ) Your companions should still recognise you; between hazy memories and constant pain, you might struggle to remember them and even attack.

■ Morphed characters can (painfully) return to normal within minutes of re-entering the elevator.

■ A smaller and distressed three-headed minotaur also roams the labyrinth. Two of its heads sob, while the third urges you to hide with it when brother approaches. It tries to throttle you with a noose to make brother happy, if you follow. David did say.

■ The minotaur and its sibling have poor sight. They cannot enter a corridor where you’ve drawn or laid down a line.

■ Pull the lever, and a straight corridor leads you to the elevator.

TOP | LEVEL II | LEVEL III | LEVEL IV | LEVEL V

LEVEL II: THE ANCESTOR
CONTENT WARNING: GIANT SKELETON, BLOOD DRINKING

Here, only barren stone and thin rivulets of fresh water pouring from wall fountains with sharp-tipped ornaments — your spilled blood quickly infects the basins. Knives, pins and bowls have been abandoned nearby.

High pressure and vertigo overwhelm you. Follow a rhythmic heaving to where the upper half of an enormous skeleton — the Ancestor — has broken through a wall. White, silk thread fetters it. Dried blood rims its cracked mouth. Before it, the stone floor has been tarnished, up to a 5m radius.

The Ancestor appears dormant, a crown of iron thorns on its head. It clutches the lever tightly in its right hand. Above it, an engraving urges, SPILL WINE FOR YOUR ANCESTOR.

■ David S P’s elevator scrawl says, WATER TO WINE.

■ Dally staring and you feel dizzy, nauseous, depressed and compelled to share your close-death encounters. Before you know it, you are stepping into the Ancestor’s radius…

■ …where it plunges for you, if you don’t bear a filled cup. The silk ropes keep the Ancestor from reaching beyond 5m.

■ Two carvings under his fists read HONOUR THY FATHER and DISHONOUR THY MOTHER.

■ Quickly distract the Ancestor from crumbling his captives, tearing their arms or attempting to eat them.

■ The Ancestor is instinct-driven, consumed by thirst. It cannot see or smell, and only remembers taste. Sounds divert it.

■ Improvise: there is no actual wine here. Infuse water, spill blood, or vocally pretend you are delivering wine, and the Ancestor might spare you.

■ If sated, the Ancestor releases the lever.

TOP | LEVEL I | LEVEL III | LEVEL IV | LEVEL V

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LEVEL III: TAG! YOU’RE IT
CONTENT WARNING: SCARECROW, SKINNED CREATURES

Enjoy pitch dark, dread and bile spreading in your gut. Take a candle from near the elevator and roam through small, unlocked rooms that feature tattered beds, strips of tanning leather and blood or wax spilled on the floor.

■ David S P’s wall scrawl says, O CATCHES IT.

■ Ahead, you see candle-bearing mannequins that dance a hora to the same song played by Jim Kirk’s music box: “Up the mountain, in the grove, hand in hand to Ke-Waihu, fresh harvest’s a treasure trove, each fall we feast anew.”

■ The creatures are patched abominations of wax, skinned flesh and burlap. In the middle of the hora is a wiry scarecrow, eyes blazing with candle fire as it points a large cleaver. In certain lights, the scarecrow’s face briefly contorts into that of your mother. It wears priestly robes that Arc III survivors may recognise from the House of Ravens.

■ As the dance finishes, you notice the lever in the middle of the circle, where flame spells out TAKE THEM, NOT ME. The game begins.

■ The abominations run, gleefully manic and screaming TAAAA~AAAAAG. YOU’RE IT! The scarecrow unflinchingly cuts them down while pursuing you. Hide in the abandoned rooms, or risk snuffing your candle to avoid detection.

■ Some abominations slap you, hold you, or alert the scarecrow. Others offer shelter. A few peel off wax skins from their limbs — showing black fungi beneath. They murmur, IT NEVER GOES AWAY.

■ Parchment strips fall from the scarecrow’s sleeves, reading, HAPPY NAME DAY, MOTHER KNOWS BEST, THE SIN RAN DEEPER THAN SKIN, IF YOU CAN BEAR IT, IT’S A GAME.

■ Bless David: draw the scarecrow into a drawn or makeshift circle to trap it.

■ Intense, paralysing fear arrests you, if the scarecrow catches you. The wax abominations chant, TAKE THEM, NOT ME. One might even take pity and move your numbed mouth to utter the words. Say them — and the scarecrow lands deep cuts on your arms, then pursues your companion.

■ If you betray someone, the abominations take the appearance of your worst version: whether physically mutated, with a temper that amplifies your worst features, or both.

TOP | LEVEL I | LEVEL II | LEVEL IV | LEVEL V

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LEVEL IV: THE ROOM WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS
CONTENT WARNING: MANIPULATION, MENTAL COERCION

You enter a quiet room. The lever sits on a table, beside rope and a dagger. As you approach, your surroundings transform: perhaps your dearest dead appear to warmly welcome you. Crowds of your doubters celebrate your success. Or you are in a calm oasis, where nothing hurts.

■ David S P’s wall scrawl says, THIS DREAM IS A NIGHTMARE.

■ Whatever your deepest wishes, the room’s vivid illusions provide. With time, your beautiful dreams deteriorate into horror. Sometimes, you hear whispers of, Make a wish.

■ The room increasingly drains your life force. Within half an hour, you have gaunt flesh, brittle bones and a hunched back. Or you might feel compelled to harm yourself, clawing your arms and face, or pulling your hair out.

■ The damage comes undone minutes after reaching the elevator.

■ The room focuses on one person: if someone joins you, they see fainter echoes of what the room shows you, but they are not enthralled. They must coax or drag you away.

■ If you are under the room’s influence, it forces you to make any later intruders stay.

TOP | LEVEL I | LEVEL II | LEVEL III | LEVEL V

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LEVEL V: IT’S RAINING (AGAIN)
CONTENT WARNING: PLAGUE, THE CHILD

At the tower’s open-sky top, fire crackles from a small stone pit, shielded by a familiar, immovable blood-spattered white umbrella. Nearby, discover an immense rusted telescope and other discarded astronomy tools.

You trip on rain-battered yellowed bones at every step. One skeletal hand holds a watch piece, engraved for Mr. David Sebastian Pumpkins.

■ David S P’s has only scrawled his signature.

■ You might reach the flame easily, or be overwhelmed by sickness, black fungal spores blooming on your fingers, while you cough blood and experience intense fever. The symptoms wane once you reach the fire.

■ Burn paper talismans and link finished threads to help Karsa’s spell.

■ The child with a fox mask from the Unwinding could appear. Sign up for one of three short threads, which must finalise by 3 November.

NOTES

■ Some of the bigger plot clues have been emphasised, to help navigate through the horror details.

■ You can hit up some NPCs during the trials.

■ Check out plotting posts for last-minute team-ups.

■ Back to the top.

QUESTIONS

Comments

[strewth]

[Cheryl's face is replaced with another blonde-- younger, almost baby-faced in the roundness of her eyes and jaw. A welcome distraction from family-- all Constantines age harshly, sharp-featured and hard-nosed. John breathes out; he didn't realize he was holding his breath.]

[Some part of him knows-- knows absolutely-- that this woman is right. He has to go. He has to go with her. And-]

[His sister is suffering in Hell-]

I can't leave her.

[vdovy]

[ The man barely seems to register her slap. Yelena would find that offensive under any other circumstance, but she can practically feel this room crackling with dark forces. Whatever is at work here, its power is great.

This time, she taps his face more gently, hoping that physical touch can help anchor him to reality. ]

You can always come back for her, [ Yelena lies. ] But right now I just pulled the lever and the elevator is resetting. We need to go.

[strewth]

[The slap will come back later, a reverberation echoing back from his own failings. Gentle treatment is always more shocking. He twitches under her touch, the spell slowly breaking.]

[We can always come back. Sound logic, and he can tell because he hates it. The cold logic of morning was never his friend, even when it comes from puppy-faced girl children with wide eyes.]

Yeah... yeah, okay. Lead the way, luv. [But he's walking in quick strides before her, shuffling to the side, trying to ignore the accusatory glance his sister's ghost shoots him.]

[vdovy]

Oh wow, that worked? [ Yelena would pat herself on the back if she wasn't already being left in the dust. She hurries behind the man, lest the room latch onto her instead and begin manifesting her own ghosts. ] You move very fast for someone who was just in a trance!

[strewth]

[He provides the girl with a somewhat sarcastic smile, not quite feeling up to anything more sardonic. His best quips happen when he wasn't just off his rocker.]

Long legs. You worried, now?

[His face hurts. The slap starts to come back to him, slowly, like a passing shock.]

[vdovy]

[ Yelena is about to respond when something shuts her up. Behind her, she hears a melodic whistle that cuts right to her core. For a moment, the temptation to turn around is overwhelming. Her vision blurs, something she almost attributes to the room and its magic until she blinks the tears out of her eyes. ]

I could have left you here, you know. [ She grumbles as she picks up her pace. ] The least you could do is make sure I'm not being trapped behind you!

[strewth]

[It's so much easier to have your shit together when someone else is losing theirs. That sound-- he can't place it, but he can see the effect it has on his companion. Her answering squeak, a second later, confirms John's vague suspicion.]

The worm fuckin' turned. [He nearly growls it. Somehow, this is personal, between John and the room. It's dragged someone else into this-- forgotten the image of his sister in the process, he's sure.]

[His hands go up, as though he's a capable physical fighter (he's not). He stands at the girl's side, now, hackles raised.] You trapped, then-- or ready to run for it?

[vdovy]

[ Yelena doesn't risk turning around. She does look to her side, giving the man's stance an appraising once-over. Then she grabs him by the arm and rushes forward, away from whatever vision awaits her behind.

The temptation to look only increases the further she runs, and she finally risks a glance once the elevator is back in their sights. The room has transformed: the table, with its knife, rope, and lever, are still at its center, but now they sit atop a jagged slab of rock. Wind howls around them; they are standing on a mountaintop on some distant planet, its unique atmosphere painting everything in shades of purple.

Natasha is there, but she isn't looking at Yelena. She is locked in combat with a blond archer. They appear to be evenly matched, but Yelena knows how this ends. Her sister will win. And then her sister will die. ]

Keep going, I'll be right behind you! [ She pushes the man toward the elevator and spins around, heading deeper into the room. ] I have to stop her.

[strewth]

[The resemblance isn't as remarkable, maybe, but John can still sense the pull. Did he look that desperate? Did he look that alone?]

Oi! Hold, now. [John's no fighter, no singular strength, but he has cunning and a rat's own instinct for survival. His fingers dig into the woman's arm, trying to keep her there, with him.] You can't change nothing. It's done.

[Is it a guess, or just John speaking to himself, shouting over the barrier of time? It doesn't matter; this is his best volley.]

Can't be stopped.

[vdovy]

[ When Yelena whips back around, her face is an open book, dim hope and desperation reading clear as words on a page. She has heard this argument before: Natasha was never going to be stopped, and there was nothing Yelena could have done. She simply can't accept it. Her deepest wish was for a chance to have been there to prevent Natasha's sacrifice and now that wish is seemingly granted.

Failing to resist the magic's pull, she jerks her arm from the man's grasp and resumes her retreat. ] I have to try.

[strewth]

You don't.

[That's the thing, an unassailable truth John cannot hide, doesn't want to hide. You never have to try. Sinking into the depths of apathy is a specialty.]

Likely you already tried, if you had the chance. No do overs in this life, or the next, I reckon.

[vdovy]

[ She never had the chance, is the thing. That's what makes the scene before her so tempting. But before she can get any further, his next words sink in: "no do overs in this life." There are a lot of things Yelena would take back if she could, but life doesn't grant second chances. You live with what you've done and that's it. Sometimes, you live with what others have done. Natasha made her choice. It's like Clint said: they both need to find a way to live with that.

When Yelena turns away from the room, she is fighting back angry tears. She is angry with Natasha for sacrificing herself, angry with Clint for losing the fight, angry with this room, but most of all, angry with herself for falling victim to it. She marches furiously toward the elevator. ] Let's get the hell out of here.