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

③ Level Three

[somebadnews]

Apparently it's Five's luck to only go up one level at a time. Each floor has hacked away at his perception of reality. By the third, he's determined not to fall for any of the tricks he's stumbled on before. Don't drink anything. Stay quiet. Don't stare at anything for too long. Don't trust anyone to not screw this up for him.

He still holds a battered axe at the ready as he's drawn to the movement towards the center. The dancing mannequins seem like a personal slight to him, and his hands itch in an expectation of the violence to come. He recognizes the music. Whatever triggered them being sent to the Unwinding, that song was playing. It's not a good sign.

The giant scarecrow in the middle is the obvious one he needs to take down first, but just before he jumps, he sees a woman's face looking back. Not a single hair out of place as she smiles broadly down at him in borrowed robes. Sweat beads down his throat and he takes a steadying breath. They're doing this. He isn't losing his mind.

"Sorry, Grace." His hands glow blue as the dance finishes and they turn in unison to descend on anyone unlucky enough to bear witness.

[scrapgege]

[Xie Lian has, well, seen his own vision of his mother and that was enough to make him stop at first, a step or two behind.

But when he hears the... child? holding an axe whisper a 'sorry', it seems clear they didn't see the same thing.]

Who's Grace?

[He's not super concerned about the horde charging them right now, he just needs to confirm this thing first.]

hope this is ok!

[somebadnews]

[ Five looks to Xie Lian like he didn't notice he was there, which really doesn't bode well if he's already losing sight of his surroundings. He could fight them off, but they're charging too quickly for him to keep track of another body. Without asking, he takes a quick step back to grab his arm and teleports them both to the nearest empty room.

He shuts the door, but they're in a frenzy just outside, screaming like lunatics about playing tag. They'll find them here soon. ]

...Grace was my mother. [ The door shakes, and he readies the axe. ] Which means they can cast illusions.

[ He hopes that's all that was. ]

Did you see something?

[scrapgege]

[Xie Lian doesn't look too perturbed by the teleporting. He blinks once or twice and takes a moment to take in his surroundings.]

Oh, I didn't know you could do that. That's handy.

[He's also still not panicking about the screams and the frantic search. But the answer seems significant.]

I saw my mother too. So it might be a spell, more than just an illusion.

[somebadnews]

[ He gives him a look for never noticing his teleporting, but his gaze drifts to the bed and the blood on the floor. That thing read their minds and picked out their mothers, specifically, and that's probably enough of a distraction for most. It's becoming very apparent how every floor is just a different elaborate death trap. ]

A spell or a curse? [ They're just outside, so if he can at least hurry up if he's got anything useful to share. ]

[scrapgege]

[Honestly, Xie Lian probably knew at some point that Five can teleport. It's juts not a piece of information that matters a lot to him, so he filed it away and just got reminded, most likely.

... It's also a common enough power among gods that it's not, in fact a big shock.

The question has him looking a bit perplex.]

A curse it's just a type of spell. We call it that because the effects are bad for whoever gets targeted, but the mechanisms are basically the same. A caster, a wish for an outcome and a price paid is all it takes.

[There's a sudden bang on the door.]

I think they found us.

[somebadnews]

[ Well, that didn't take long. Five expects them to break through that door any second, so he gets into position and jumps to the point. ]

You think one person is behind this. [ He already assumed, and he knows who, but it's nice to have confirmation. ] Is killing them enough to break it?

[scrapgege]

Well, it could be a person... Or it could be something left over by someone who is already dead, or a ghost, or a demon. Or possibly, the place itself is cursed through some bad event that happened. Ellethia was like that.

[That being said, Five's assumption isn't completely unwarranted.]

Killing the spellcaster will usually undo the spell... But we don't know who it is, or if they are even here. They don't need to be for the curse to still be active.

[somebadnews]

[ It's enough to encourage him. Five isn't magical, but there is one thing he knows how to do. ]

You don't think this has any similarities to the Unwinding? The man in white and the boy. One of them has to be behind it. [ And considering he's halfway positive part of this has to do with revenge... ] My bet is that they're around here somewhere.

[scrapgege]

Of course, logically it probably has to do with them, but I can't feel their presence at all. Not in our immediate area at least.

[And like he said, they don't necessarily have to be there for the spell to still be active.]

Their power is different from what I'm used to, though, so there's a chance they might be here as you said.

But first, we need to find the lever for the elevator.

[somebadnews]

[ He can feel them? Five would question it, but there's banging on the door again. ]

You're right, first thing's first. [ The door finally gives way, and a scarecrow stumbles inside. Five lifts the axe, but instead of attacking them, it peels its skin back to show them, revealing black fungi underneath. ]

What are you...? [ ("It never goes away.") Five shoots Xie Lian a disgusted look, then clenches his jaw and blinks back outside of the room to start to make his way towards the lever. ]

[scrapgege]

[..... And now he's left alone with the weird, skin-peeling mannikin. Than you, Five.]

Ah.

Well, I'm sorry about that. It's not great being sick. We're trying to find a way to stop it, if it helps?

[Maybe he can distract the thing long enough for Five to reach the lever.]

[somebadnews]

[ Outside the door Five immediately runs into more insane scarecrows screaming about playing tag. And in the distance, the giant one, mowing them down as it slowly makes its way in their direction. ]

What the hell... [ He's about to fight them off, but one grabs his shoulder and makes a terrible noise to alert the others that it found him. Five immediately blinks behind it and slices it in two while the others continue to run at him.

There's still dozens between him and the lever. Not that he can't take them all, but he doesn't want to burn all his energy when he doesn't know what else is coming.

So it shouldn't be a surprise when a few minutes later, he reappears near Xie Lian. ]

I need a distraction.

[scrapgege]

Oh. You're back.

[Xie Lian is still... talking to the mannequin, it looks like, and commiserating with it, which at least has kept that one in place through sheer bewilderment that this is happening.]

If you're trying to go to the lever, can't you just teleport directly where it is? Or are there too many of them around it?

[somebadnews]

[ Just... squinting. ]

I don't mean to interrupt your conversation. [ But no, he's too annoyed to ask for help again. All he really needs to do is avoid the big one with the scythe.

So he huffs a very annoyed sigh and disappears again in another flash without giving him an answer. He'll take care of the lever, but don't be surprised if Xie Lian walks out on a mess a few minutes from now. Apparently they tried to grab him and he took the opportunity to vent his frustrations.

Unfortunately it alerted the aforementioned 'big one' and Five's attitude very abruptly changes. He backs himself up into a corner of the room, wide-eyed and inexplicably stricken with fear. ]

[scrapgege]

[The 'mess' is kind of expected, to be honest.

But as the scarecrow advances on Five, it is suddenly stopped.

And it looks, honestly, a bit confused about that, flailing for a moment until it suddenly becomes obvious that someone's hand has gripped what passes for a neck on the creature, if it can be called that.]

I was really hoping not to have to do this again.

[Xie Lian gives five a reassuring look over the scarecrow's shoulder.]

I'm not to going to be able to disable it permanently. I've been on this floor a few times and I've done this once or twice and it always puts itself back together. But it should buy us enough time to get back to the elevator.

[Xie Lian's other hand comes to grip the side of the scarecrow's hand and he starts pulling in different directions.]

Oh, and don't talk to it.

[hatejakku]

"Come on!"

Sure, Finn's curious about who Grace is, but he's gotten the important parts. She's someone that Five knows (or knew), and this thing that looks like her probably wants to kill them. That's enough for Finn to call a retreat.

He notes Five's weapon and grabs him by the other arm, every intention of running for cover. There was a blockade and some rooms not far. If he shot into their crowd with his blaster a few times, they could probably make it.

[somebadnews]

There's probably something to be said that Five's first instinct was to kill the thing that looks like his mother. He holds no ill will to the robot that raised him, but he also wouldn't have hesitated if her programing had gone wrong and taking her out was the only option available. This isn't even her, just a strangely specific figment of his imagination.

The plan had been to teleport behind it and aim for the head, but the hand that suddenly grabs his arm mid-jump throws off his calculations. Which means Finn is taken with him as both end up in a completely different spot than he intended. It's dark when they reappear seconds later in another room, but he can hear them nearby.

"You...," he hasn't seen him since the tea party. Where they ended up in a strangely familiar situation, if he thinks about it. No time for that. A look around the room and he spots the faint outline of furniture, and he gestures towards it. They don't have long to barricade the door. "Help me with the bed."

[hatejakku]

Finn's already running when they jump. As such, he nearly runs straight into a wall. His hands press against it, and he looks around in the dark, noises far more distant than they were a moment ago. Did he just blackout? Wha-

"What happened?" At least he has enough sense not to be loud.

He also has enough sense to move. It takes a beat longer than usual, but he can panic about physics and barricade a door at the same time. The two acts go hand in hand for him, usually. So he grabs an end of the bed and starts dragging it over.

"Did you see that? Am I crazy?"

Is he talking about the teleporting? The mannequins? God, who knows at this point.

[somebadnews]

He wouldn't have had such a messy landing if someone hadn't thrown him off at the last second. But Finn at least follows directions. Once he has a hand, moving the bed becomes much easier, or in another word, possible. Five is stronger than he looks, but he's still in the body of a scrawny teenager.

"That depends," his voice strains as he tries to shove the bed towards the door. He's not going to address the teleporting, because that's obviously not what he meant. "Did you see a bunch of mannequins dancing a hora around a scarecrow that had a woman's face?"

It's worth confirming.

He tugs harder at the bed and steps right in a pool of blood before he sees it. Lovely. "...Not any stranger than the tea party. I should have been expecting you to show up again."

[hatejakku]

Finn is entirely unaware to Five's plights, both the blood puddle and the bed tugging. He's too busy trying to focus on barring the door without freaking out about it. Thankfully, he's a good multitasker and is able to slide the bed into place with only a few shrill squeaks along the floor.

"Yeah, yeah, I saw that. I also saw nothing in between there and here." To be fair, he's been hanging out with a mannequin for, like, two weeks now. At least. Anne doesn't quite have a face, but she's much nicer than those outside. Point is, he's not as worried about them as a sane person probably should be.

Then he looks around a little better and-- "What's- Is that blood? Why- Wait a minute, are you saying I only show up when things are crazy?"

... A moment's thought relents that Five wouldn't be entirely wrong about that...

[somebadnews]

Five looks up from his efforts to rub the blood off his shoe when he emphasizes 'seeing nothing', but doesn't seem to be in any rush to explain. He's still annoyed that he was interrupted in the middle of a jump.

"You're two for two." Showing up when things are at their most ridiculous. He's been in crazy situations before, but they really hit a new level around the time Finn started making appearances. It's probably not his fault, but it feels nice to blame the person in front of him. "Granted it's a low bar."

The blood pool is interesting though. Still wet, but no sign of a body. What did they do, eat them?

"I think some people beat us here." Hopefully nobody he knows. He didn't tell many of them he was coming just in case they were tempted to put themselves in this situation. Or keep him from confronting a potentially-possessed child. Which just leaves him with how to deal with Finn.

"You want to get comfortable? I can check back after I get a better idea of what we're dealing with."

feel free to ditch him anyway lol

[hatejakku]

"Wha-... No."

Finn's got his eyes flicking at the blood, too, wondering the same things Five is. That it looks fresh, there are no bodies here, what happened to the bodies, who could it have been, was it someone he knew, etc etc. There's an evil scarecrow with a mob outside, and Finn's half convinced he blacked out for a whole two and a half minutes.

The idea of being alone right now, especially when someone he knows is about to go back out into danger, doesn't sit well with him. Oddly enough.

"You're not leaving me alone in here and no one is going out there by themselves. Besides, I- I have experience. I'm experienced. With this stuff. With, you know, fighting and espionage and keeping cool under pressure and- and-... How are you even going to leave? We just blocked the one exit."

So cool under pressure.

lol he doomed himself telling him what to do

[somebadnews]

As much as he appreciated the help with the bed, Five is quickly reminded of the reason it's so hard working with others. They always want to give their input. Not even making concessions and telling him what he's going to do is enough to satisfy him. But seeing as how they're in the middle of a nightmare fueled scarecrow fantasy, he generously waits until Finn is done rambling to respond.

"We did. We needed a safe room, and now we have one." He's hoping talking slower gets it through to him that under no circumstances should he open that door. It's implied. "If you want to be useful, look for a weapon and stay quiet."

That's all he says before he disappears in a flash of light to play tag with a bunch of half-formed manic lunatics.

[hatejakku]

"I already have a-"

The rest of his words slam into the back of his throat like a fifty car pile up, and he makes about as much noise as that kind of scene, too. Hand on the grip of his blaster, he goes through some sort of sputtering and gurgling and silent screaming, eyes flicking around the room like that's going to solve his problems.

Five's gone. He's just-... He's gone.

The show he puts on lasts all of about thirty seconds before words begin to make themselves known again. "How- Where- What did-- Five!" Don't worry, that was a quiet shout. Anyway, he'll wait here and try his best not to have a heart attack. Because this might as well happen.