The Midnight Mechanism
The Vessel Square clocktower has sealed its doors, and its brass automatons have woken. When the great bell strikes midnight, the gears will grind the tower shut for good. Climb through the turning labyrinth, recover the Mainspring Key and set it in the bell's escapement to stop the clock.
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Eleven at night. You came to the Vessel Square clocktower to deliver a repair order, and the great doors have swung shut behind you with a boom. Gears turn in the walls and polished brass figures clank in the dark. The tower's Mainspring Key, which winds and governs the whole clock, has been taken from the clockmaker's bench. If the bell strikes midnight with the clock running wild, the tower will lock itself forever.
Your goal: Find the Mainspring Key and carry it to the Bell Chamber at the top, then set it in the escapement to stop the clock. You lose if your HP reaches 0.
A round hall of black and white tiles, with a huge pendulum swinging slowly behind a glass panel. Doors lead east to a workshop and west to a gear hall; a narrow stair climbs north.
7 places to explore · 2 dangers · 12 HP to start
Move room to room, search for gear and read what you find.
Every attack and every dodge is a d20 roll the engine makes, never the narrator.
Watch your HP, use what you carry, and reach the end.
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