Session 62
The Arrival of the King and the Watchmaker (5–10 mins)
The air tightens, and the door opens—not with fanfare, but with silence.
Two men enter: one in royal crimson and black, his crown worn with weight; the other in long robes of pale blue and grey, with eyes like distant storms.
The King Velandor. And the man once known only as the Watchmaker.
Opening Dialogue:
King:
“Welcome back, how was your quest to Abnoba?"
(Let the players speak—respond to questions or give updates. The King listens, but he's deeply uneasy.)
3. Dialogue: The Alliance & The Threat (15–20 mins)
You return to Danu not a moment too soon. The city creaks beneath the weight of something it cannot see. Rifts. Dreams repeating themselves. Children born with memories of other lives.”
(He gestures to the Watchmaker.)
“And now, this man—who once sought to end my bloodline—sits across from me not in chains, but in counsel.”
Pause. His eyes lock with the players. This is a test.
“Tell me… would you have me trust him?”
[Let players respond here.]
They might defend or condemn the Watchmaker, ask questions, or remain cautious. Encourage roleplay.
🎭 Watchmaker's Turn: Explaining Himself
The Watchmaker (quiet, tired—not defensive):
“I was wrong. Not about the child. Not about the deviation. But about the path forward.”
“I believed the timeline could be corrected. Resequenced. That all deviations—large or small—were weeds to be cut down.”
(Looks to the King briefly.)
“But the roots run too deep. We no longer walk the path we were meant to. There is no returning.”
Player Interruption Opportunity:
Ask: “Then why are you here? Why seek alliance now?”
The Watchmaker (grim):
“Because something has noticed us.”
“Whatever lies beyond our multiverse has seen this broken thread of a world… and it’s reaching in. Through the cracks. Through the rifts.”
King Alric (bitter, cutting):
“And how convenient that this only begins after you fail to cut the thread you so feared—my daughter.”
“Are we to believe these… monsters… are not of your making? Or perhaps just another contingency from the clockwork tomb you called a future?”
🎭 Players React Again
At this point, the players may begin choosing sides, asking for proof, demanding accountability, or suggesting action.
Possible directions:
- A player might try to get the King and Watchmaker to focus.
- They may ask what the threat actually is.
- They may accuse one or both of lying.
🕯️ Tension Builds: The Fracturing World
The Watchmaker (ignoring the insult, voice soft but urgent):
“In the past week alone, six villages have reported ‘missing days’. People caught in loops. Others who vanish only to return claiming they died elsewhere.”
“I traced the leylines around the child’s birth. What once pulsed with stability now trembles. The weave of time has thinned. The rifts are growing not just in number—but in intelligence.”
King Alric (coldly):
“You speak of threads and frays, Watchmaker. I speak of flesh and blood. Tell me plainly—what is it you want?”
The Watchmaker (leans forward, expression tight):
“I want to stop what’s coming.”
“And I cannot do that alone.”
🎯 Critical Choice/Player Engagement
At this moment, the King turns his gaze fully to the party.
King Alric:
“Then perhaps I’ve lost all reason. Or perhaps I’m the only one left with it.”
(He gestures to the players.)
“You’ve seen what the world is becoming. You’ve walked in lands cursed by ruin and twisted fate. So speak now. Do you trust this man’s council? Or should I see to his execution myself?”
4. Player Interactions (10–15 mins)
Encourage players to:
- Question the alliance.
- Offer insights from their travels.
- Express doubt, support, or warnings about the Watchmaker.
- Demand answers about the King's trust in a former enemy.
Let them roll Insight (DC 14) to reveal:
- The Watchmaker is deeply shaken—this is not just theory anymore.
- The King sees this alliance as his only option—not a choice, a necessity.
Section 4 – The Fracture Event (Narrative Only)
As voices rise and tensions peak, something changes.
Read aloud:
“The air shifts. Heavy. Wet. Like the moment before a thunderclap—but no sound comes.”
“A ripple moves across the polished marble floor—subtle at first, then impossible to ignore.”
“One of the twelve arched windows turns black, showing not the strange skies of distant realms… but nothing at all. Not darkness. Absence.”
“And in the center of the room, a hairline crack appears in the air itself, vertical, glowing faintly with impossible light.”
All noise ceases. Players feel disoriented, light-headed. Time seems to slow, but they are aware they haven’t moved.
Then, a vision flashes through their minds:
- A city half-swallowed by shifting void.
- Trees growing in reverse, unraveling into seeds.
- A child standing alone, speaking in a voice not their own:
“We are not supposed to be here. But they are.”
The crack vanishes. The light fades. One of the players finds a single white feather, warm to the touch and pulsing like a heartbeat. It wasn’t there before.
🔍 Section 5 – Leads for Investigation
The event leaves the Watchmaker and the King shaken—silent for a moment, until the King speaks:
King Alric:
“That was not magic. That was not prophecy. That was wrong.”
The Watchmaker:
“It is beginning. There is no returning now—only forward. If we’re to survive what’s coming, we need to understand it. Quickly.”
Then offer the players three investigation leads:
📍 LEAD 1: The Silent Village
Location: Torghal, a remote village south of Danu
What Happened: Reports claim the village has gone completely silent. No sound can be heard from within—not even birdsong. Those who enter claim time "stops" inside.
Lead: The Silent Village — Torghal
🗺️ Overview
- Location: Torghal is a small village about a day’s travel south of Danu, set in foothills. It’s close enough for refugees or merchants to reach, but remote and fairly obscure.
- Purpose in Campaign: Examine a place where time—and even phenomena like sound—are being affected. Gives the party a chance to investigate environmental anomalies, local NPCs, and uncover clues of what is breaking in the world.
🎭 Key NPCs
| Name | Role | Notes / Personality |
| Elder Mareth | Village elder; the de facto leader | Soft-spoken, cautious, deeply religious; started keeping detailed journals after strange things began |
| Lissa & Tobin | Young siblings; survivors who left the village | One is mute now, the other keeps a journal; good sources of direct observations |
| Brother Sevren | Traveling monk/priest visiting Torghal | Has more knowledge than average cleric; studies strange phenomena, possibly knocked off a timeline himself |
| The Whisper | An entity or voice heard by some villagers in the dark; possibly part illusion, part psychic remnant |
🔍 Investigation Thread
Act I: Arrival + Initial Clues
- The party arrives; they see a ring of torches around Torghal’s boundary, but no smoke from chimneys, no children outside, no animals. It’s eerily quiet.
- Elder Mareth meets them at the gate. He describes that at dawn, things were normal. By midday, the birds stopped singing. By dusk, no voices. At night, an oppressive silence and dreams of shifting shadows.
Clues to discover:
- Soundless boundaries: Outside the village, the world sounds normal. Within, even whispering fails. A Ritual (Religion / Arcana) check reveals the boundary has muzzled magic and sound—a field of anti-resonance.
- The Journal of Lissa & Tobin: entries like “The clock’s hands floated off the wall,” “My voice echoes in my mind, but my lips do not move.”
- Brother Sevren’s relic: He carries a small mirror fragment from Torghal, which reflects past moments instead of present—his reflection shows him years younger, or sometimes in a location he’s never been.
Act II: Digging Deeper
- Exploring the village: Houses are intact but kitchens cold. Food on tables, but unspoiled. People in their beds—but asleep in weird postures.
- The Whisper: A voice at night that calls people by name, quoting things they have not said, quoting fears, memories.
Obstacles / Challenges:
- Local superstition: Some villagers believe the cause is a curse for past sins. They may try to stop the PCs from interfering.
- Time loops: If someone sleeps in Torghal, they may relive the same hour over and over (or dream of doing so).
- Psychic backlash: Anyone sensitive (spellcasters, intuitive characters) might experience headaches, memory glitches.
Act III: Confrontation or Revelation
- In the heart of the village is an old well—a dried up stone well with unknown runes around its rim. Beneath the well is a hidden crypt or chamber that is the focal point of the anomaly. Maybe an ancient relic was placed there long ago, which is refusing to stay in time.
- The party must decide: remove the relic, seal the crypt, perform a ritual, or possibly destroy the source. Brother Sevren knows bits of old sacred rites, but the knowledge is incomplete.
⚙️ Possible Outcomes & Consequences
| Decision | Consequence |
| Seal / remove the relic | The silence lifts over Torghal; time resumes “normally.” They get one powerful artifact or fragment (e.g. a time‑fragile crystal). Villagers regain voices, but residual trauma remains; some remain mute until treated/ritual. |
| Destroy source without care | Might break the anomaly, but damage nearby leylines—risk of collateral fracture elsewhere. Possibly draw the attention of the larger threat quicker. |
| Fail / retreat | Torghal is lost; boundary spreads; rumors reach Danu and the Watchmaker; increased urgency. |
💡 Clues to Feed Back into Main Plot
- The runes around the well are similar to ones seen in old palace vaults.
- The mirror fragment from Sevren matches descriptions of “the Watchmaker’s mirrors” or devices used in his research.
- The relic was buried long ago by monks who feared it was “too old” even for their faith; their texts mention a “broken unborn future.”
Contents
Lead: The Scholar Who Shouldn’t Exist — Maerin Vale
🗺️ Overview
- Location: Umber Archive, a restricted section deep within Danu’s Royal Library. Accessible only by permit.
- Purpose: Explore identity, anomalies, ghost‑histories. Maerin Vale’s presence is a paradox; his knowledge or experiences may be keys to understanding the timeline breaks.
🎭 Key NPCs
| Name | Role | Personality / Motivations |
|---|---|---|
| Maerin Vale | Scholar resurrected in records; appears alive, gives lectures, researches time anomalies | Polite, haunted, often confused about what is real; nightmares wake him; believes he’s partially existing in two timelines. |
| Archivist Lenora | Head of Umber Archive | Protective of her archives; wary of the Watchmaker; concerned about what Maerin knows. |
| Scribe Rhon | Young apprentice, friend of Maerin | Loyal, curious; acts as a “bridge” to party; brings them letters, notes. |
| Ghost of Old Maerin | A spectral echo of Vale’s former self | Sometimes appears in dreams or mirrors; warns of “What you’ve done” / “What must be undone”. |
🔍 Investigation Thread
Act I: Discovery & Introduction
- The party is summoned (or requests permission) to visit Umber Archive. Archivist Lenora is reluctant, but Maerin is lecturing on “Temporal Disjunctions,” and the party is allowed to attend.
- During his lecture, Maerin accidentally mentions details no living person could know: names of people long dead, events in places the party visited but which happened before his “death”.
Clues:
- Ancient portraits / old records: A portrait of Maerin Vale in the archive sealed away—dates indicate he died forty years ago. People knew him in his original life.
- A letter addressed to Maerin dated decades ago, but in his hand (recently signed).
- Scribe Rhon shares with players a private concern: Maerin sometimes phases—his reflection shows the old Maerin, or multiple versions.
Act II: Deeper Anomalies
- Maerin’s quarters are strange: clocks ticking backward, books appear and disappear, notes are written in contradictory tenses (“He is dead” vs “He will live”).
- Dreams: Maerin has had recurring nightmares of voids, visions of Danu drowning in darkness, and of the “child” speaking in a choir of ghost voices. He believes these are glimpses of future or alternate timelines merging.
Obstacles / Challenges:
- Other scholars who disbelieve; might try to shut down or discredit Maerin to maintain order.
- Archivist Lenora’s suspicion that the Watchmaker (or someone else) is manipulating history. She may restrict access.
- Magical or psychic disruptions: touching “wrong” books causes temporal disorientation—possibly forgetting what they just did.
Act III: The Confrontation
- Maerin believes there’s a location in Danu—an underground chamber below the Archive or Palace—where a shattered temporal seal lies (old foundation stones laid with magic to “bind the past, present, and future.”)
- He wants the party’s help to locate the seal, assess its damage, and decide whether to reforge it, reinforce it, or remove it entirely—each with risks.
- Ghost Old Maerin may appear, offering cryptic advice or warnings.
⚙️ Possible Outcomes & Consequences
| Decision | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Reforge / reinforce | Slows or mends fractures locally; party gains access to Maerin’s secrets—old lore, magical items tied to memory/time (e.g. a Memory Locket). |
| Remove / unbind | Risks causing upheaval—maybe the seal is holding back something. Unbinding may unleash smaller rifts—but might also allow new timeline paths to emerge. |
| Do nothing / side with opposition | The seal continues to decay; Maerin may fade entirely (becoming a temporal echo only), giving the Watchmaker and King less leverage. Teaches the danger of inaction. |
💡 Clues for Main Plot
- Maerin’s visions often mention the child, and a “Temple under water” or “Sunken Mirror Lake” (connecting to the third lead).
- The seal’s runes match some in the Torghal well.
- Some of the books Maerin studies are missing from the Archive—books the Watchmaker requested access to (or perhaps forcibly removed).
3. Lead: The Child’s Prophecy — The Temple & the Sable Mirror
🗺️ Overview
- Location: The temple is sunken beneath the Sable Mirror, a large lake east of Danu. The temple has partially flooded and partially collapsed over centuries.
- Purpose: To bring together prophecy, divine / magical speech, the role of the child, and external physical locations to explore. This quest can provide foreshadowing of what the child is to become (or prevent), giving strong stakes.
🎭 Key NPCs
| Name | Role | Personality / Motive |
|---|---|---|
| The Monk Aylin | Observer of the child; interpreter of dreams and speech | Gentle, devout, consumed by fear; believes prophecy must be understood so fate can be shaped. |
| High Priestess Ilyra | Oversees temples around the lake; keeper of ancient texts | Proud, protective of temple integrity; skeptical of outsiders; believes prophecy is sacred. |
| Guardian of the Depths (temple caretaker) | Reclusive figure living in sanctuary below ruins | Has seen the flooding’s effects; has lore but demands tests for those entering. |
| Echoes of the Child | In visions/dreams; child speaking in unknown tongues, sometimes in multiple voices | Not hostile necessarily, but unsettling. |
🔍 Investigation Thread
Act I: Observation & Dream‑Portents
- Aylin invites the party to observe the child’s nightly dream‑sessions or prophetic utterances. At first, simple signs: strange words, repeated phrases, voices echoing in unison.
- She gives them a fragment of prophecy: “When the mirror drinks the moon, the voice that is many shall call, and what was born without place shall speak of collapse.”
- The party is given access to scribed tablets from the temple archives (old and water‑rotted) that mention a “born without place” and “mirror that drinks moonlight.”
Act II: Journey to Sable Mirror
- Travel to the lake: weather is strange, moonlight seems unusually bright (or distorted). Possibly small rifts along the way that manifest odd creatures or illusions.
- On arrival, High Priestess Ilyra helps interpret the prophecy, but warns: the sunken temple is dangerous—flooded chambers, traps, collapsing walls, water magic that behaves wrongly.
- The Guardian demands tests: The party must prove themselves in small ways (riddles, moral tests, willingness to sacrifice comforts) before being allowed into the inner sanctum.
Act III: Temple Below the Lake
- Inside, flooded sections: breathing apparatus, magical bubbles, or spells needed to traverse. Possibly make skill checks to swim, avoid drowning, avoid water pressure, etc.
- In the central chamber is a large pool that reflects not the sky, but shifting images—scenes that may be possible futures or pasts warped.
- The pool or mirror is a conduit: when the moonlight (or moon’s reflection) hits the mirror-surface, the child’s voice resonates. Words in unknown language, images of a city unraveling, a child stepping through void.
- The party can try to record, translate, or stop the resonance. Interrupting it may cause backlash: small rifts, water flooding, illusions, temporally displaced echoes (seeing themselves as old / young), etc.
⚙️ Possible Outcomes & Consequences
| Decision | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Let prophecy proceed / record it | Gain powerful prophetic insight; piece together what role the child might play; possibility to use this knowledge as leverage. Possibly gain magical item tied to prophecy (e.g. Lens of Voices, an item that lets you hear whispers across time). |
| Disrupt / silence prophecy | Could anger or provoke the forces behind the rifts. May delay things temporarily, but possibly at a cost—e.g. child’s health, waking nightmares across kingdom. |
| Seal or bind the temple’s mirror | Prevent further resonance; perhaps prevent future visions; risk of sealing off important knowledge forever. |
| Fail / retreat | Prophecy continues without explanation; the party may feel guilt. The Watchmaker or others may blame them. Meanwhile, more rifts appear. |
🔗 How These Leads Interconnect
- Clues from Torghal and Maerin overlap: matching runes, references to “mirror,” echoes, dying seals.
- The Temple prophecy ties directly to the child—what Maerin dreams, what the Watchmaker fears, what the King must protect or fear.
- Success in one lead gives tools or lore useful in another (e.g. relic from Torghal helps translate prophecy; Maerin’s knowledge assists in interpreting runes in the temple; etc.)
