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]

[ Finally released, she still isn't settled, but it isn't the Doctor that she curses her frenzy with; that's for the beasts of sky and sulfur. She can feel Cerberus resisting, and she knows why, but she leaves him to it, having already proven that his will can't match her own in this type of magic. How can the ancient hound resist, when it's been hungering for violence for so long now?

The larger minotaur seems to notice the hesitation, but before it can turn to lunge again, the swarm of bats─some still on fire with screeches that echo down the cavernous tunnels─spiral and dive onto the already battered brothers, just keeping them at bay. Even the disembodied hands that reach for the Doctor or Red are snatched up and smashed into the walls, or tossed into the flames left by Cerberus.

She's repeating the chant, her vitriol rising once more to reach a fever pitch. No matter what, the bats and the wyverns won't halt, only chasing the howling minotaurs when they try again to race away. ]

[thedreamer]

[ There's a hopeful moment in the way that Cerberus seems to hear his voice and halt. Trading glances between Cerberus and Vanessa, the Doctor calls to his friend again, needing to believe that he can break through the darker forces at play here. ]

Red! Hear me. I'm with you. I'm here!

[ He paces himself slowly, though, taking careful steps back towards Vanessa. She's unleashed a darkness like he's only ever known in his own soul and he's too afraid to think about it for long, what that means exactly. How often has he been here, in this exact place? When his desire to negotiate has failed, when the better part of his nature hasn't prevailed, when he's forced to do the unthinkable and show no mercy on countless beings in his long life. It weighs on him, takes it toll, takes pieces of him away every time. He never knows when and he always hopes it won't come to that, but it has and it will again.

He wanted to avoid this, but the part of his mind that Vanessa's spell has tangled with knows this destruction - abhorrent, terrible - had to happen. They always get one chance with him, and they had it. He should feel more remorse, but right now, he simply can't. There's nothing there; only worry for his friends.

With Cerberus at least aware of him now, the Doctor has to attend to Vanessa and he has only one trick left at the moment, one last hope of overpowering her. Why didn't he do it before? Too risky; would he have hurt her or Cerberus? Or is that a lie he tells himself to avoid acknowledging that her magic served a purpose? He doesn't want to think about that either, not now. He just needs to help her, if he can.

Though his powers have been unpredictable in this tower, he'll need to be confident and sure of himself now. If he's wrong, if he's underestimated, he has to trust that Vanessa won't destroy him, but he can't be sure of anything at the moment. Closing his eyes briefly, he reluctantly makes his choice and marches back towards her, giving her no time to stop him before he reaches out with his index finger, tapping her forehead and sending a sleep suggestion to overcome her mind.

Blessedly, as it always has, it works quickly, nearly instantly, and the Doctor's arms move to catch Vanessa, gently easing her down to a few of the drier rocks jutting out from the water. He didn't miss the sob from her lips, nor the tracks of tears on her face. She's injured, too, and all that he wants is to carry both of them out of here safely. His hearts break, that this had to happen (it did) at all, and he quickly smooths her hair back, kissing her forehead before he goes back to Cerberus. Now, at least, if Red comes back to them, the continued spell won't interfere. ]

Can you hear me, Red? It's me, it's the Doctor.

[growlies]

( Red does hear him. Inside, she is reminded of the anchor with his words, with his voice, and she is holding on to it - part of it is the spell, part of it is Cerberus, part of it is her own desire for violence and death and blood. It's like being in a storm, but gripping hold of the only solid thing around, and it's hard to fight against the winds of it.

The moment the spell ends, she's aware of it. The winds die down.

When the Doctor returns, Cerberus is not so tense -

She hears his voice again, and then still gripping hold of that beautiful anchor, that wonderful port in a storm, that feeling of control (but she liked not having control, didn't she? following orders, being made to follow orders that was familiar, that's what she is made for), she switches back. The transformation is similar to before - blue light and Underworld magic and shifting bones and muscles. She lands on her hands and knees in the puddle where Cerberus had been moments before, breathless, fingertips scraping into the floor below her, catching grime and who knows what else. Her bones feel like they're buzzing. Every limb feels heavy. Her head is fuzzy, and then she blinks and stares up at - )

Doctor? You're- ( Her expression crumples in relief and the grief that had been caged before she scrubs at her face with a dirty hand, scrubs the tears away, and then she pushes herself up to her feet, shakily but she manages to stay on her feet. Her gaze drifts from him to behind him. Her chest clenching with concern. Brain is not processing anything at the right speed. They- She-

Vanessa. That's what happened. Her spell- )

Where's- ?

[thedreamer]

[ Focusing on them is his own anchor through this. The danger isn't completely passed, they still need to actually get out, but his relief is a palpable, all-consuming feeling when he sees Red. What's happened here between the three of them in this labyrinth is like nothing he's ever witnessed before. His thoughts are swirling, turning over so many things; doors that were opened in his mind that shouldn't have been, a maelstrom of emotions - among them, fear and worry and love and fierce protectiveness - and he doesn't know how to even begin to process it all. He can't begin to think at length about any of it at all, at least, not now. Having never before experienced the power of a spell like Vanessa's or the transformation of Red into Cerberus and back, the Doctor couldn't be entirely sure of anything at all, least of all that they'd come out of this still breathing. For that small mercy, he's grateful.

And, for a moment, he needs to just assure himself of the solid weight of Red, to know that she's here and alive. It still feels like they don't have time for pleasantries, for words of comfort and assurance, but they can spare this, just this, for now.

Closing the gap between them, the Doctor reaches out to hug her gently. ]

She's safe, but we have to move quickly. Are you okay?

[ Okay enough to move, that is. Is she okay? Well, that's an answer for another day, he presumes. It certainly is for him. ]

[growlies]

( Her eyes burn when his arms wrap around her, and she realizes (distantly) that's what she needed too without knowing she did. She needed the solidness of him against her to convince herself that he is real after she watched him fly across the room and crack his head against the wall like that-Her arms lift to hug him back tightly, but it's not over yet. She knows that.

Vanessa can only be safe for now, and so she nods against his shoulder, pulls back (he's still bleeding), draws the remains of her energy, locks her jaw in determination, ignores exhaustion and pain and there's no sorting out thought or feeling. Just focus on action. )

I can walk. I know we gotta get out of here.

( The actual question of Are you okay is a giant hornet's nest of- None of them are going to be able to answer that. She blinks rapidly through the burning in her eyes and starts to walk back the way he came so they can grab Vanessa and-

When they come into the clearing, she sees her lying there, unconscious or- She looks back to the Doctor. )

[thedreamer]

[ He keeps himself just slightly behind her, a last measure of safety and all that he really has left to give at the moment. The way she was attacked in that battle, the way she was thrown - he knows Red is hurt and he wants to heal it all in an instant. They shouldn't have been here at all, but they can only go forward now.

Vanessa. Oh, right, should have warned Red first, probably. ]

She's asleep, only asleep. I had to stop her.

[ His voice carries no regret for it, almost detached, at least outwardly. He did what was necessary, it was taking everything from Vanessa; by the same token, Vanessa and Red had done what was necessary.

Internally, of course, he's a contradiction of feelings about what occurred, what happened between them when he'd first tried to stop her, and his ultimate decision to stop her forcibly.

He closes the gap between them, though, and kneels down beside Vanessa. He's moving slow from his own injuries, but he's as gentle as he can possibly be, lifting Vanessa up into his arms. He'd carry Red out of here if he could manage regrowing a few extra limbs just now. ]

[growlies]

...you did. You had to.

( Vanessa had to be stopped. Cerberus had to be stopped. She's- There's bits and pieces coming through to her now of what happened in these last few minutes, and she rests a hand against his arm loosely, quietly, gently briefly. Her whole body aches, and he is hurt too. He shouldn't be carrying anyone, but she also can't right now. Super strength only lasts in bursts, and she is ultimately small like this, much shorter than them both.

Her heart is twisted up. Her head is still all- cottony.

She eyes both of the hallways out of guarded instinct while he gathers Vanessa in his arms. She's relieved that Vanessa is alive, asleep but alive, and they are going to get out even if they went through fucking Hell to do it. Her eyes burn stupidly again as she stays close to them both but turns toward- toward the exit.

This is how they'll leave the three of them - broken and battered but alive, having done what was necessary (and more than that too). )