Puttering around the dungeon on its little bowed legs, the TICHENORTIME appears!
A dozen lifelike hands radiate from its circular clock-face body, each with a number of fingers equal to the hour they are positioned at. The clock body is supported by three slender human legs. It has three clock hands: hours, minutes, and a special silver hand fixed at 12.
The Tichenortime is a curious automaton found deep within the halls of the Inverted Palace. It appears harmless at first, tottering after party at a safe distance, keeping time with a soft tick-tock.
What it Does
When combat breaks out, the silver clock hand ticks to one. Time compresses.
Instead of rolling initiative each round, both sides act simultaneously the first round and every round after.
On the second round, the silver hand moves to two. two rounds are compressed into one. Declare two rounds of actions, and both resolve at the same time. On the third round three rounds resolve at once, on the fourth four, and so on up to 12.
How to Stop It
That's the challenge.
- Breaking it works. The Tichenortime has AC -1, 80 HP, saves as a 8 HD creature, and casts Slow on anyone who damages it. It runs away after losing 20 or more HP, but can appear again as a wandering monster. If destroyed, it's body is worth 10,000 sp to a wizard or antique collector and weighs 500 lbs.
- Thieves can attempt to mess with its internal components. If the Tichenortime is grappled or otherwise immobilized, thieves can attempt to Remove Traps. If the roll succeeds, the Tichenortime is deactivated for the rest of combat.
- Removing the silver hand does nothing, as it's just there to show how many rounds are being compressed. It's worth 5 sp.
- Pausing combat for a full minute (six rounds) resets the Tichenortime back to it's original state.
- It won't follow you if you leave the dungeon floor. But it will be waiting.
What else
Closing a Tichenortime's fingers into a fist gives you FREE TIME. For every finger the hand has to close, you get one full turn where you can do whatever you please without the effects of time passing. This doesn't "stop" time, rather the effects of time progressing are ignored—wandering monsters aren't checked, torches don't burn down, magical effects aren't exhausted, etc. So if you survive 11 combat encounters with the Tichenortime and it gives you its hand with 11 fingers, each finger can be closed to give you a total of 11 free turns.
Once a hand has been given, the silver clock hand starts combat on the next number; so after the "one" hand has been given, combat starts with two rounds compressed into one, after the "two" hand has been given combat starts with three rounds compressed, and so on up to 12.
If the players manage to survive 12 encounters and get all 12 of the Tichenortime's hands, it's body opens up to reveal a reliquary containing the HAND OF VECNA... or some other thematically appropriate reward.
The Tichenortime that inspired this post is a sculpture made by Pedro Friedeberg.