Exploring the Clockwork City of Thisslewit

📅 June 21st — Exploring the Clockwork City of Thisslewit

With relics identified, the party left the waterfall behind and began their journey to the next destination.

This marked a turning point, not just in location but in atmosphere. The mystery and kinship of Greystone Hollow, the rebellious determination of the waterfall hideout, all faded behind them. Thistlewhit offered no warmth. No welcome. Only silence and the mechanical ticking of imitation life.

It was not a village of the living. It was a pantomime. Clockwork bakers, gear-driven blacksmiths, even animals shaped from brass and bone. A hollow performance of a town, designed not for comfort, but remembrance.

This was the legacy of Atlas.

A brilliant and grieving mind, shattered by the death of his wife, Viola. In his refusal to let her go, he turned to alchemy and machinery, reimagining her again and again. When that failed, he rebuilt the world around her in her image. A world without death. A world without soul.

The party uncovered fragments of his journals scattered throughout the town. Designs and apologies, hallucinations and horrors, as he spiraled further away from grief and into obsession.

🏙️ Exploring the Town

Bakery: A broken automaton lay discarded in the corner, covered in dust and motionless for decades.
Candy Shop: Evidence suggested the shop once had an automaton attendant — drag marks hinted it had been forcibly removed. Thomas recovered an advanced automaton head from the candy shop floor, long dismembered but valuable.
Bar: The party discovered two automatons — one from the candy shop and the original barkeep. The barkeep was found slumped behind the bar, still connected to a damaged umbilical cable that snaked into a hidden panel.
Following the umbilical cable, the party uncovered a secret passageway beneath the bar, leading deeper into the city's infrastructure.

🏗️ First Warehouse – Command Terminal

The hidden path opened into a massive warehouse filled with broken catwalks and dangerous gaps.
On a raised command platform, unreachable by foot, Thomas used his teleportation pistol to blink across the distance and interface with a central command terminal.
He successfully exploited the terminal and learned about the city's power grid.
Power was redirected away from the city's central magic shield and toward the bridge activation system.

⚙️ Second Warehouse – Steam Pressure Control

The party continued to the second warehouse, housing a large steam-powered pressure system.
This system fed energy into the city’s mechanical infrastructure.
The group rerouted steam valves to lower internal resistance and boost output.
Final rerouting enabled partial power restoration to the bridge mechanism.

🗼 Arrival at the Tower

After finishing their tasks in the second warehouse, the party made their way to the central clockwork tower.
A massive structure, scarred by time and arcane residue.
They entered and ended the session on the first floor, prepared to ascend and uncover its secrets.

🕰️ The Tower and the Legacy of Atlas

They powered the drawbridge and ascended the tower, entering a place frozen in time. Failed creations in the halls. Half-finished projects. Rooms abandoned mid-breath. Mechanical guardians clinging to programmed purpose. On each floor, the illusion unraveled further.

Thomas interfaced with ancient devices, peeling away layers of control and surveillance.
Silas lured constructs into molten traps.
Blaze lit a candle and whispered a prayer to a forgotten goddess.
Del and Elliot found Viola’s journal and read what Atlas never could accept.

Click here to access Viola’s Journal

At the summit, the cradle waited.

Atlas was there, hands trembling as he adjusted the golden frame holding the latest version of Viola. She was almost perfect. She opened her eyes and screamed.

The battle that followed tested more than strength. Elliot staggered beneath the echo of her voice. Automatons threw themselves forward like acolytes. Unstable magics fractured space. For the first time, the party faced the kind of spellwork that reshapes reality.

In the end, it was Silas who stepped forward. He raised his blade and gave mercy to the false soul trapped in Viola’s body. Her scream ceased. The cradle dimmed.

Atlas collapsed under the party’s might.

Thomas reached into Atlas’ coat and retrieved his relic, the Veilstone Amulet.

The tower fell silent.

Then the voice spoke.

“Continuity program activated. Custodian of residence, please state your designation.”

Thomas paused only briefly.

“Thomas.”

“Welcome, Custodian. Awaiting directive.”

Now, Thistlewhit belongs to them.

No longer a haunted echo, but a bastion. A place to regroup, rebuild, and reshape. Each party member has been granted a floor. Below, the tower hums once more, waiting for instructions, ready to serve a new purpose.