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

[faceblocker]

Wha─

[ For that flash in time, Vi forgets it's not real. She catches the faint image of the jagged monkey face and her heart stops, but before she can even look around for any other signs of Powder, the sound of the explosion drops her to her knees with her hand still on the lever. She can't hear the exit open in the chaos of a blast that's somewhat muted to her, but Vi too easily remembers other sounds of similar destruction in Powder's wake. Here, the ethereal pink gas colors the air, as do the flames that scatter around the wreckage of the illusion. Initially, she's stunned when she doesn't see any burns on herself, and that's the reminder she needs.

Not real, it's not real.

With a shudder, Vi scrambles back onto her feet to rush to Caitlyn. She's not on fire, either. ]

Are you okay?!

[ Her stomach flips at the gruesome scene around them, and Vi immediately crowds around her, trying to pull Caitlyn up without letting her look behind them. The tugging on her hand is insistent, and she'll try to pull at Caitlyn's shoulder with her other hand so that she stays facing the newly opened exit. If Vi can just get her out of here before she even realizes what happened, maybe this won't get any worse. ]

Yeah, you're okay, you're okay. It's not real. Just look at me. I'm real.

[clavesregni]

[The world starts to fade back in slowly, first the heat on her skin, then the light shining through her eyelids, and finally the high-pitched ringing sound that begins to coalesce into Vi's voice.

Vi's alright. At least Vi's alright.

She coughs, trying to dispel the feeling of ash clogging her throat, as she feels herself being pulled up.]

Mum.

[As she stumbles to her feet, she finally blinks her eyes open, taking in the plumes of pink gas just beginning to settle, the wreckage of her sitting room, the shattered remnants of the settee still smoking, the table upended and ablaze, her mother's chair... Her mother was... Right behind her. She tries to turn to look, needing to see whether her mother's alright, but Vi's pulling at her so insistently.]

Is she...

[She tries again to twist around, pushing against Vi's arms, her eyes desperately scanning the wreckage. She sees the butler who'd just finished laying out the tea half-buried beneath a chunk of the upper floor balcony, the exposed side of his face burned away, his limbs all at odd angles, but she can't process that because lying next to him is... ]

Dad!

[Her thoughts are racing madly, her heart is beating so hard it's all she can hear. Her father's got to be alright, he's got to. She has to get to him.]

[faceblocker]

[ This is more than just a vision to Caitlyn, given her behavior as she comes to, and it squeezes at her heart to think about her actually feeling the heat of the explosion. Even Vi, who's only privy to the translucent imagery, is having trouble reminding herself that this isn't real.

Fire licks, and Vi smells burning flesh and chemicals. She sees a warehouse in rubble in the peripheral, but she knows it's Caitlyn's house. But it isn't any of those things, and she swallows tightly to remind herself of that when Caitlyn twists to see the destruction behind them. Vi hopes they don't find anything like this when they go home. There's still a chance that she wouldn't have been in the council chambers...

But she still remembers Caitlyn's scream when the rocket was fired. A scream of pain and knowing, the kind of pain Caitlyn's suffering now. It isn't fair if she has to go through it twice.

Vi grabs both her arms to turn her back around, offering a breathless shake of her head before pulling her close. Caitlyn feels so fragile...more than just tired... ]

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It's not real. [ Not here, anyway. ] It's not real. Those aren't your parents. Just remember, we need to burn the talismans.

[clavesregni]

Vi, please. I have to-- [She collapses fully against Vi even as she's struggling to get away from her. A lock of hair, come loose from her ponytail, falls across her eyes. Is it turning grey? It must be from the ash in the air.

She doesn't have the strength to fight against Vi. She finds herself turned around, pulled towards her, away from her dad, away from her mother. She still doesn't know what befell her mother, whether she's...

Caitlyn shakes her head.]

I can't leave them.

[Her legs feel too weak to support her weight, so she grabs hold of Vi's jacket to steady herself.]

[faceblocker]

[ What in the hell is going on? Caitlyn's draining energy is enough to make Vi panic, but physical changes are setting in. She hates the thought of taking Caitlyn anywhere against her will, but it's becoming clear that there's no time to negotiate. All she can do is hope that Caitlyn will forgive her once she finds sense, and that whatever's happening to her can be reversed.

Carefully, but quickly, Vi scoops up Caitlyn to clutch to her chest, and she's ready to throw her over a shoulder if needed, but Caitlyn's becoming so weak that she doesn't seem able to physically protest any longer. Any verbal protests aren't so easily ignored, but Vi manages with a quick apology while darting back to the lever. Her hold on Caitlyn is like iron as she kicks at the lever, and the nearby clank of an elevator being activated is like music to Vi's ears. ]

You're not leaving them. You're on your way back to them, I promise. Just shut your eyes, please.

[ Despite the horrifying scene, Vi reminds herself with every step that it isn't real, even as her muscles bunch from old fears and losses. When she finally has them both back in the elevator, she lets out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, but her grip on Caitlyn only tightens. ]

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn doesn't have the strength to struggle anymore. She simply collapses against Vi, eyes shutting less because of Vi's request and more out of sheer inability to keep them open.

As the smoke and ash in the air clear and she begins to breathe easier, her eyes blink open again. It isn't just breathing that's easier. She can think again, she feels as though her strength is coming back.]

It wasn't real, was it? My parents aren't... [They can't be here. It's obvious now; she's not sure why it wasn't obvious before. The door to this floor of the tower wasn't some sort of portal directly into her sitting room with the addition of a lever to control the elevator. There's no logic in that.

Her brow furrows as she scrunches her eyes shut again, but the only thing she can see is... the butler.... her dad...

She shakes her head before trying to swing her legs down to put her feet on the ground so she can hug Vi properly. She still feels shaky, but whatever it was sapping her energy is fading fast.]