by James "Tao" Murphy
I have my Katana, my bow, (strange that I call it that now) and a few coins, not enough, there is never enough. We have been asked to get back someone named Farfar. In his day he was a powerful wizard, but sometimes he forgets himself. He has run off and we have been asked to bring him back. We had been told he would probably have to be killed but they could take care of raising him.
I had spent a few days in the woods by myself, well, not exactly by myself. I had company that I would not expect someone like myself to have. But that is another story. I had more coins than I think I had ever had in my life. I probably did not want to get involved in killing someone. But the town peoples begged us to help. So off we went. (when did I become one of the good guys?).
We spread out searching the local woods where they thought he went. We first found some stray hungry wolves, a few goblins, and other minor threats. Not much of a contest, Just some bumps on the road. Judging by these early encounters we could handle anything. We had not yet realized that time itself was against us.
We found what looked like an abandoned tower, just the kind of place a mad wizard would call home. It had a broken door, so we went inside. It was around lunch time when we entered but inside it was black as midnight. Well, almost midnight.
When we went in. several of our magic users cast light spells and we could see we were in a large room, much too large for the tower we thought we entered. I immediately looked for a way out but did not see any. I wonder if this was another Oni, er, Demon playing tricks on us. I hoped I would not have to be covered in puss again.
What I saw on the walls struck fear in me more than any Oni, demon, or goblin ever could: Puzzles, and switches, and knobs, and all over the wall’s things written with the common letters but in some kind foreign order as if it was some kind of cypher. Puzzles? why did it have to be puzzles?
The only other thing in the room was up against one wall was a large clock. It was encased in dark wood and looked awfully expensive. I noticed the clock was moving and remarkably close to midnight. By the time I pointed this out, the minute hand moved to the 12 and it started to sound the hour.
What I saw on the walls struck fear in me more than any Oni, demon, or goblin ever could: Puzzles, and switches, and knobs, and all over the wall’s things written with the common letters. Obviously a cypher with very few letters filled out. Puzzles? why did it have to be puzzles?
The only other thing in the room was a large clock up against a wall, I went over and noticed it was set to a few minutes to midnight I heard someone say “the cypher the F is really and E”, and someone else said, something about “these thee letter must be THE” by the time I turned back to the clock it was midnight and it started to make sounds like a small gong.
What I saw on the walls struck fear in me more than any Oni, demon, or goblin ever could: Puzzles, and switches, and knobs, and all over the wall’s things written with the common letters but in some kind foreign order as if it was cypher. But some of the cypher had already been solved? Puzzles? why did it have to be partially solved puzzles?
I noticed a clock that was set to eight or so minutes to midnight. But as I was going over someone yelled out “that switch over there make sure it’s to the side that says weaker” a mass confusion broke out and I noticed that some of the party were changing where some of the dials and knobs were set. There seemed to be some spirited discussion on if the first switch should be set to “weaker” or “Stronger”. A Fighter that I did not know, had moved it too stronger. And they did not seem like they wanted to let it go. Another questor decided to attack the fighter so they could move the switch back to weaker but could not affect the fighter. While we were busy deciding on which way the switch should be set the clock in the corner stated to make a sound like a gong.
What I saw on the walls struck fear in me more than any Oni, demon, or goblin ever could: Puzzles, and switches, and knobs, many had labels that were already deciphered but some were still blank. I also saw all over the wall’s things written with the common letters but in some kind foreign order. It was definitely a cypher. Quite a lot of it had already been solved but there were still several parts that had not been translated. Puzzles? why did it have to be mostly solved puzzles? What was the point?
I noticed a clock against one wall that showed it was about 15 minutes to midnight. Plenty of time to figure everything out. It was suggested that we had been looping back in time every time the clock struck midnight. And each time depending on how the switch was set; either Farfar would be stronger, or the party would be weaker. Because we did not know how many times we had looped, we had no idea how good or bad this was going to be.
With just a few minutes to spare all the puzzles were solved. Knobs and dials and switches were set to the proper placement. We spread out and Farfar appeared in the center of the room. For an old wizard he looked to be in quite the fighting shape. He must have immediately cast a spell as all of us lost both legs and the use of some of our spells. At the same time, he seemed to grow in size and mystic armor now sheathed his body.
A few of the questers tried to talk to him, remind him of who he was and that we were not the enemy. He responded by attacking them first. It was a tough fight, I got a few good arrow shots in, shots that would normally drop someone, but he seemed to shrug them off. Finally, he was down, with his death the room changed back to the ruined tower. With nothing to search we dragged his body back to town. They were happy to see us and rewarded us with a few coins. They promised not to raise him until we were clear.
*****
Grandfather clock
The party needs to bring Farfar back to the town. Alive or dead, (it will be dead). He has run off and the town is worried. The party will need to set several puzzles before the clock strikes midnight. If they don’t it resets back. Every time it resets it goes back two additional minutes. But once the sequence is completed a big bad appears named Farfar (grandfather in Swedish). He will be stronger or the party will be weaker, for every time the clock was reset. For instance, he will have more armor, more special calls, or something like everyone lose a leg, two legs, two legs and 1 arm, all armor is destroyed. All spells in your pool can not be cast. All spells in your third slot, fifth, second, fourth, sixth. Come up with more as we need it. There will be one two position switch that will be labeled (in the cypher) Stronger/weaker. It should be more central than the rest. While someone is holding the switch in one of the positions they can not be harmed by the rest of the party. (but they can by grandfather). This will determine each time its reset which will happen. As soon as a player grabs this switch a marshal will have to give them a micro briefing, “IC: the switch has to be in one of the two positions. If you start to move it, it will go to the other position, and OOC you will call no effect to any damage the party try to inflict on you while you are holding the switch, your PC does not know this and will expect to take damage”)
The party enters an area that has several knob’s switches, dials, and a large grandfather clock that is set to 5 minutes until midnight and starts running as soon as they enter. There is a cypher (simple substitution) printed on the walls. Many, many pages of it. The cypher describes in what positions the knobs, switches, etc must be set. There will also be a few more classic puzzles like a sudako or magic square to determine where some of the knobs and dials have to be set. It details that grandfather will appear at midnight when everything is correct. That every time you fail time will loop and make grandfather stronger. The clock is set to 5 minutes until midnight. And starts running.
If Grandfather wins (unlikely but possible. The clock resets and we go again) Scene ends when grandfather is defeated, and the party can bring him back to town Dead.
The clock can be speeded up manually by a PC. However, that PC will be killed by doing this. They can be raised normally.