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

[matermali]

[ The logic behind the fire's existence doesn't make any more sense than anything else she's suffered through to get here. The strings that connect people have been plucked and tangled, and Vanessa has been forced to ascend beyond such a mess in order to trudge her way over bones. The fact that she is trusting strangers with a spell she knows nothing about only vexes her further. How is she to know that burning this talisman won't curse the lot of them further?

How is she to do anything else?

The umbrella catches her eye more than any fire or bones, but even more-so is the man crossing himself before he too begins his trek. She might have done the same, once. Another life it seems. Who is she to plead for God's protection?

She's trusted the unholy or the pagan magics to get her this far, so why not now? ]

Not yet.

[ Company... Had she not just damned the last one with her? New friends be wary, but she doesn't turn him away. They're heading in the same direction, regardless, are they not?

Her steps are slow, unsteady. After her last fall, the limp has worsened, but she manages just fine without falling. ]

May many of us pass through this...area, for a cause that I hope proves worthy.

[soloritur]

[ He makes his way slowly towards her, stepping over yellowed bones that litter the path towards the fire. They look human, and it's hard not to get distracted by what happened here. Is this where they kept people who were dying of the plague? Or is it what the mannequins are made of? It turns his stomach to imagine, so he instead focuses on the woman. ]

Were you waiting for someone? [ Trying at a casual tone doesn't really work, given the circumstances, but he can understand her hesitance given everything that happened on the way here. ]

Or did you see someone else do it? I haven't heard what happens, once they burn.

[matermali]

[ Although she tries to be careful in avoiding any mishaps, she has been through a trial that has left her weak and unsteady. Pain is the worst in her leg, her arms, or when she breathes, but she manages to keep from falling so far. Although one stumble does lead to a yellowing skull crunching underneath her soggy boot, Vanessa barely offers it a glance of sorrow before struggling on. Whatever sad reason they met their end, it isn't the first time that Vanessa has walked through bodies to do what must be done.

Her breath is a pained, tired wheeze, and her words rasp. They always do, of course. Were you waiting for someone? No, she quite left someone behind. Forcibly so. She still feels dazed about it. Was it all real? No answer there. ]

The Merchant said that it may reveal the state of the world. I assume that many must be burned for it to work, given the great reach that this sort of spell must require.

[soloritur]

[ Marcos sees her struggling and immediately closes the space between them in case she falls. It looks like they really should be tending to injuries, but he knows she just wants this over with as much as he does. So as much as he wonders what happened on the floors he missed, he's going to guide her through this first.

They put them through all this, only to burn some paper. Magic that he doesn't understand, and might not matter in the end. He only came to the tower to help whoever he found, and it just so happens he found her. ]

Careful. [ He coaxes her to slow down. There's not a hurry. Nothing is chasing them now. ] Here, take my hand. We'll do it together.

[matermali]

[ Though she hasn't spurned his company, the offer to take her hand is received with a flinch, and she scratches at the inside of her wrist with a shake of her head. Her frown is sour. She has been forced to use and betray others, when they weren't doing the same to her. Vanessa doesn't know who she trusts less at the moment: herself, or everyone else.

Of course there's a hurry. She must be done with this. ]

I did not reach this point only to collapse now. I am quite fine.

[ Perhaps not quite fine, but she does manage to keep from outright falling over for most of the journey. It's only just at the end that another stumble nearly carries her right into the fire, but his insistent nearness pays off as the overly helpful man catches her. The force of it drags at her breath, as pain shoots from her ribs, and as soon as he pulls back onto her feet, Vanessa jerks away from him with a confused glare. ]

...Thank you.

[ Somehow, in her daze, they've arrived whole. Somehow, so is the talisman that she pulls free. Curious, she'll glance at him to see if he has any qualms about such a pagan ceremony. The cross he formed suggested he believes in God, after all.

Hers is tossed into the flames silently, without fuss. ]

[soloritur]

[ Marcos is well accustomed to strong women, so he doesn't begrudge her for wanting to make those last steps on her own. Especially after making it all the way here. He only jumps in when she nearly falls, and offers a brief smile at her thanks.

He worries for her the more she stumbles. She might not be ready to talk about what they did to her, but as soon as they're done here, he's already planning to find a healer to take a look at her leg.

Thankfully nothing else is waiting for them at the fire. He watches hers burn before he pulls out his talisman and tosses it in after. It's gone in an instant, and with it any reservations he had about what might happen. But the air is quiet all around them. Blissfully anti-climatic after what it took to get here, even if it's hard to trust that they're safe until they're back out of the tower. ]

That's that. [ He hopes it did something, and it wasn't just a series of trials to test how far they'd go. The fact that she's the only one up here isn't encouraging that many of them reached the fifth floor. His gaze drifts to the bones at their feet and he feels sick for them. How many people have died in this tower?

The telescope in the corner seems so out of place, but that's probably what they used to use the tower for. Before whatever happened here took hold. He sniffs and looks back to her. ]

Unless you'd like to do some stargazing, I don't think we should stick around.

[matermali]

[ The stargazing remark garners a wan smile as she limps around the fire to reach for the umbrella, though she's surprised to find she can't lift it or move it. Staring at it, Vanessa knows there's more to this venture than just the talismans. There's more up here.

A glance for the telescope, then back to Marcos. What is he fighting for? Does he do this because he was told to, or for his own reasons? He doesn't seem to know much about what's going on, but then even for Vanessa's investigations, she remains woefully ignorant as well. ]

Stargazing, no. People gazing, however...? Mr. Bane has a dragon eye through which the dead can be revealed. Imagine how useful it may be with such a telescope.

[ She's never seen one of that size, but Serthica has been a city full of firsts. ]

I will stay for now, but I do not fault you for going. May I ask a question, though?

[soloritur]

[ He tilts his head curiously when she mentions the dragon eye. Putting it in the telescope isn't something he would have thought of, but maybe that was their plan all along. He still hasn't come to terms with the thought that the dragons are dead, maybe everyone here, so he can't say he's looking forward to what they'll find.

Worry creases his brow when she says she wants to stay with the bones and the ominous silence. Leaving her here doesn't sit right with him, but before he can convince her otherwise, she asks him something. ]

Yeah, of course. [ He's still hovering, watching closely to see if she's in pain. ] What is it?

[matermali]

Do you think He can hear your prayers, even here?

[ An invasive question for standard interactions, especially first-time meetings, but nothing about this day or night has been...standard.

She kneels, wincing, near the umbrella, to stare at the fire. Her voice is weary, near monotonous. ]

That this is somehow part of His plan?

[soloritur]

[ That isn't the question Marcos was expecting. He looks pained after she asks, because it's something he's had to grapple with before. Not only here, but with what's still going on back home. It must be the same for her. ]

I can hope. [ Hope that there's a reason when everything looks grim. Sometimes faith is the only comfort he has. He gives her a sympathetic shrug. ] Sometimes you just have to believe in something.

[matermali]

...Yes. I suppose you do.

[ Vanessa knows that, and she knows that she mustn't let go of all of her hope. But her grip feels so tenuous. Can she believe in herself, without God's guiding hand?

She nods, looking up from the fire, over to him. Despite her earlier suspicions, he hasn't over imposed, so she'll offer a grateful nod. ]

Thank you. [ Not only for helping her walk. ]

[soloritur]

[ Marcos hovers there, glancing back the way he came and briefly at the scattered bones, then refocusing on her. Not just because of the question about his faith, but because she's obviously not okay. She can barely walk, and she experienced who knows what getting up here. She was waiting here alone and now she doesn't want to leave.

He steps closer, cautiously. ]

I could stay with you for a while, if you'd like. You don't have to go back on your own.

[matermali]

[ Her smile, though weak, is softer for the kindness he's offered since their first meeting. But though her suspicion of him has waned, perhaps thinned in the cold air, Vanessa doesn't care to invite even more protection from people she has yet to know the name of.

What sins she's committed, or have been committed against her, deserve some thought. ]

No, thank you. You've provided more than enough kindness.