Like Clockwork

Attacked at Sea

On a small chartered sloop sailing in the Inganna Achipelago, five adventurers prepared to face the feared Ternion Isle. The band was hired by the mysterious Burton Weller to investigate a mysterious shipwreck spotted off the island's coast. Among the group was an aging human warrior named Darien and an eager gnomish rogue named Gimble. They were joined by the gruff elven ranger Quillaithe, a stoic halfling monk named Perrin, and his close friend Krusk, a friendly orc barbarian.
As the sight of Ternion Isle appeared over the horizon, Gimble noticed a large shape moving in the water. The adventurers made themselves ready before a massive tentacle erupted from the sea below them, pulling Krusk beneath the waves. After several moments of stillness, three more tentacles emerged and began attacking the ship and its inhabitants. Darien immediately mounted his horse Kerrygold and began darting back and forth across the ship, while Perrin was pulled overboard. When the creature reared its head, Gimble jumped onto it and began attacking it directly while Quillaithe focused fire on several tentacles. Eventually the creature suffered enough damage that it retreated back beneath the waves. Perrin was pulled back aboard, and after taking time to tend to their wounds the group continued sailing towards Ternion Isle.

Entering the Ship

Soon the ship approached and carefully navigating through the jagged reefs that surround the island, and came within sight of their quarry: a strange, brass ship beached upon a limestone pillar. Arriving just after sundown, the crew elected to wait on their ship for the morning. About an hour after sundown, Gimble noticed a dense purple fog roll in off of the island, but the night was otherwise uneventful. In the morning, Quillaithe elected to remain on the ship in case the sea monster returned while the other three lowered a rowboat and made their way to the wreck.
The crew boarded the strange vessel, finding a brass hatch atop it. Gimble set about unlocking it but found it to be jammed. Perrin was able to force the hatch open, but in so doing triggered a flamethrower trap that harmed him and Gimble. Cautiously, the three entered the vessel. They found themselves in a medium-sized room with strange brass pipes and tubing running all along the walls. In one corner was a forge and anvil, and in the other piles of crates. On each of the far sides of the room were large brass doors that appeared locked when the party attempted to open them. After some investigating Gimble found a small panel that unlocked the door, and entered through it into a smaller room containing a large water wheel and more brass piping. A secondary door led into another room containing some sort of large strange machine from which dozens of pipes flowed out of. On the front of the machine was a small alcove containing the shattered remnants of a blue crystal.
Gimble went back into the first room and investigated the other door. Opening it triggered another flame trap, although he was able to avoid being hit by it. Inside was a large concave glass window that looked out into the ocean, positioned in front of a heavy brass ship's wheel. A brass armillary sphere was suspended from the ceiling, and in the corner of the room lay what appeared to be a suit of armor lying on the ground in front of a case containing a glowing blue crystal which was suspended in a similar alcove as the one on the strange machine seen earlier. Darien reached out for the crystal and received a painful shock from it, before Gimble found a switch on the side of the case which caused the crystal to stop glowing and drop out of its alcove. Gimble then took the crystal into the machine in the back and placed it in the machine, causing the ship to illuminate.

A Costly Fight

While the crystal restored power to the ship, it also restored power to the ship's defenses. Immediately, a swarm of small clockwork beetles flew out of a hatch and instantly downed Perrin. Gimble and Darien fought this swarm fiercely, but Gimble too was soon overpowered and fell dead before them. Darien continued to fight and soon lost consciousness as well. As he fell to the ground, he heard heavy footsteps behind him and saw the strange suit of armor approaching. The suit seemed to move of its own accord, and dispatched the last few beetles before healing Darien. The suit introduced itself as an automaton, but he seemed to have lost his memory in the crash. Darien dubbed him Smithy, a designation the automaton seemed happy with.
Smithy apologized for what happened to Darien's companions and told the ship to stand down. The ship began performing repairs on itself but told Smithy it needed biomatter to continue operations. The two realized the best bet would be to travel ashore and gather materials and elected to travel back to Darien's ship in the meantime. However, as Darien emerged from the hatch of Smithy's ship he saw the last few seconds of his ship being pulled beneath the water by a tentacled beast, taking Quillaithe with it.

Chapter One

"Like Clockwork"

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Next Chapter: Forests and Festivals

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Ingame Date: 11^th of High Sun, 1855
Real-Life Date: March 13, 2022
Protagonists:

• Darien Lothar
• Gimble Stumbleduck†
• Smithy

Featured NPCs:

• Quillaithe†
• Perrin†
• Krusk†

Locations:

• Ternion Isle