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Master of Clocks

From Towers

This is an one-shot adventure for characters outside my normal Essonay-based campaign and intended for a different group of players.

Table of contents

1 House Rules 2 Plot Overview 3 Adventure Setup 4 Matters of Time 5 Personae Dramatis 6 Corvinaer 7 Maps

House Rules

This Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition adventure is for 4-6 characters, each around level 4. The adventure expects that a few variant rules will be used:

Character Creation

1. The players will create a 4th level character using only approved rulebooks. Right now, only the PHB is approved.
2. Use the "point buy" method with 35 points. Here's a free calculator (http://tyger.xganon.com/programs/pointbuy.html).
3. Don't give yourself the ability increase for 4th level, since it's already built into the points.
4. Buy yourself 5400 gp worth of equipment and magic items from the PHB and DMG. That's starting wealth for a 4th level character.
5. Bring a miniature (or some token) to represent your character.

Advancement

1. Players will earn triple normal XP for all encounters.
2. XP is split evenly between all PCs present for an encounter. Disputes are settled at random.
3. Players can level up their characters immediately upon attaining enough XP. No "training" or other in-character considerations are necessary.
4. Characters earn an ability score increase at every level.

DM Preparation

1. The DM will draw all the maps on easel-sized paper with a 1" grid.
2. The DM will place each map in front of the players as the PCs visit those locations. The players can look at the entire map and choose where their PCs go.

Play Procedure

1. The maps will show secret doors and traps. Players can roll Spot checks to notice them. If they fail, they must act as if their characters do not know about the secret items. Nothing behind secret doors is key to finishing the adventure or the flow of play but those areas can offer boons that will increase the chance of success. Hidden traps, obviously, can be life-threatening.
2. The DM will run the adventure as written without fudging.
3. The DM will try to kill the PCs.
4. If someone dies, they can be "healed" back at the temple. This takes two hours including travel time.

Magic

1. Divine spellcasters get their spells directly from Uril (Gaia) the Earth Goddess or Sulerien the Sun God.
2. Arcane spellcasters get their spells from natural forces of the world, essentially via Uril (indirectly).
3. Sorcerers in particular get their spells from demons and spirits (depending on alignment).
4. Prepare spells as normal.
5. All spell slots are restored by eight hours of rest at the normal bedtime.
6. Spell slots may be restored individually at a rate of 10 minutes of meditation or prayer per spell level. The entire time for the spell must be spent in meditation or prayer without interruption (i.e., a 3rd level spell takes 30 minutes and any interruption requires a restart). A concentration check is required when interrupted by an outside party (DC 10-30, depending on circumstances, at the DM's evil whim).

Plot Overview

The Master of Clocks has turned to the dark side. He's binding demons, undead, and elementals to his mechanical creations to animate them and give them "life." The Queen of Corvinaer, a small towerland with a large port city, has summoned a group of "problem solvers" to her court and commanded them to find the Master of Clocks and bring him to justice, or kill him if necessary, and clean up the mess left behind by his evil creatures.

He has a workshop in the city but he has largely abandoned it, moving his operations to a series of warehouses and basements where he can work in private. His main "lair" is in a well-guarded chamber below the city in its drain water system. He's used stone-eaters to carve out some additional tunnels and rooms and guarded the entrances with his fiendish creations plus a few regular types, enlisted from the criminal element of the city.

On the Autumnal Equinox, at noon the day after tomorrow, the Master of Clocks will complete his ultimate ritual and bind a powerful demon to a giant mechanical insect and he plans to take over the kingdom after that. His apprentice, a pitiful woof (kobold) sorcerer, feels guilty about the evil to which he's been accomplice, and he fears that the Master will sacrifice him to the demon at some point. He's been using his Megaphone of Sending to send 25-word messages to the Queen to warn her. If the Master catches him, he'll be fed to the demon.

Adventure Setup

Read this to the players:

The queen fired him over a disagreement about money. He wanted 50,000 coins for his latest project, a machine for weaving silk. She refused, saying she had laborers for that work, and 50,000 coins would buy enough workers to weave cloth to cover the entire kingdom. He left in a huff.

Everyone knows about the Master of Clocks, so called because of his most famous invention, a giant series of mechanical clocks in the city hall tower. These ring loud bells on the hour throughout the day and serene chimes at night. There are also smaller clocks at stations around the city.

The queen's written messages say:

• Master of Clocks plots your overthrow. He will summon a demon and will bind it to his machine on the equinox. You must stop him!
• Master of Clocks has summoned nether demon and trapped it in his secret lair. Will attempt to determine location. Will bind it soon! Please hurry!
• Master of Clocks must be stopped! Demon grows more powerful every hour! Save me! Binding ends at midnight! Will use it to take over kingdom!

The queen has arranged with the Church to supply healing as necessary. She will pay each of the adventurers handsomely for their troubles, in advance if they require.

Matters of Time

Place 12 red tokens in a bowl. These represent 5 minutes each. Place 30 blue tokens and 12 white tokens in the bowl. These represent an hour each. As time passes in the game, remove the tokens from the bowl (make "change" as necessary). This is the amount of time before the equinox and the demon is summoned. When only white tokens remain, it is midnight the night before the equinox. The demon gains power at this point, as explained below.

Personae Dramatis

Her Majesty, Queen Juilaine of Corvinaer, the monarch of this towerland. Noble 6.

Mister Quadone, the palace herald. Bard 3.

Orsht Kamar, Master of Clocks, once the royal mechanic, now enemy of the state. Sorcerer 10.

Horgin Retbander, mechanic's apprentice and sorcerer, sending warning messages to the queen. Sorcerer 5.

Valander Madren, priestess of Uril at the Church. Cleric 2, Expert 5.

Corvinaer

Corvinaer is a small city with a wall around it and the palace in the middle. The south side is against the ocean. The outlying area to the north, east, and west is townish for a mile or so and then turns to farmland for many miles. There are pockets of forestland here and there. The people of Corvinaer are a mix of human and elvish. Some halflings and woofs (kobolds) live here. Dwarves and gnomes and other races are quite rare.

There are a number of large warehouses down by the docks. The town hall figures prominently in the business area of the city, it's clock tower rising above all the other buildings there.

Maps

Here is a description of the key areas the adventure explores.

The Master of Clocks maintains a workshop in the business district of town. Only a hired watchmaker works here now but plans and contraptions there will give the players a hint of what is to come. The watchmaker will tell the party annoyedly that all deliveries were supposed to go to the warehouse and he can't have another monster banging up the shop.

The clock tower at town hall provides important clues as well as some combat encounters. One of the devices in the tower is a sort of cosmic calendar marking the events the Master plans (midnight before equinox and autumnal equinox at noon). There are fiendish symbols and paintings around it showing gates opening and stuff. There's a clockwork spider here, hiding in the rafters. It is powered by a trapped earth spirit.

The warehouses contain the Master's earliest experiments. They run loose inside the large building amidst countless crates and barrels full of weird wooden and metal parts labelled and organized meticulously. A number of clockwork robots roam here, looking for "food." These are wheeled things with pincers and trapped fire elementals. Giant clay orbs powered by stone elementals roll down the aisles looking to crush people. Notes will point the PCs to the sewers.

The sewers are mostly a drain water removal system. The water isn't absolutely disgusting, but you wouldn't want to drink it. You enter the tunnels at any guard station or at the ocean where the water comes out. The former are well guarded but guards can be convinced you're working for the queen. The latter are covered with 2-inch diameter iron bars spaced 4 inches apart. Drains into the system pepper the city but are only about 6 inches in diameter. The tunnels are 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall -- just large enough for a person to walk down. There's generally only a few inches of water in them except during storms. The Master of Clocks has used stone-eaters to carve out some larger sections. This new construction will be very obvious if found. He entered the tunnels inside the warehouse, but the entrance is covered with a large crate. The secret entrance is a time-saver, not a necessity. The PCs can enter the tunnels in many places. The Master has left some giant mechanical rats (with trapped demons) to guard the passages.

The lair is a constructed tunnel complex under the sewers. It's guarded by all kinds of terrible creatures, mechanical or otherwise, plus plenty of devious and overengineered traps. He has a main lab here. He and his apprentice have private rooms. There's a summoning chamber with a giant demon trapped in a pentagram. The ceiling of the summoning room has a "keystone" in its dome that can be removed to let in the equinox sun at noon.

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