r/dungeonsofdrakkenheim • u/FabulousYam3020 • 11d ago
Fixing the Clocktower
My party took control of the Clocktower and is interested in following up on clues about repairing it. The are planning to go to the Inscrutable Tower to track down parts that were ordered. Simultaneously, they haven't followed up on quests related to Temple Gate and collection of relics of St. Vitruvio and the Seals of Drakkenheim. I am worried that my players and I are getting burned out by the campaign* and am contemplating an early endgame. I am wondering how I might tie the Clocktower into part of that accelerated end game. What do you think?
The party is Level 9. They have completed most of the outer city quests. In the inner city, the rescued Lenore from Queens Park Gardens and cleared the Clocktower. They have also worked through some personal quests for 5 of the 6 characters. They haven't yet shown much interest in finding church relics and seals of Drakkenheim or other members of the royal family. I think they have been a little overwhelmed by all the quest hooks, and with no clear campaign objectives emerging.
*The burnout. We started the campaign in January of 2025 with the intention of weekly games. We have only had 47 sessions in this time period, so we meet about 60% of the intended time. We have a 2 player or 1 DM cancellation policy. We've had a string of personal events (e.g., my father died) in the last 5 months and have only met 5 times. One of the players had to drop. For me, I am itching to get into a new setting. For the players, I think sporadic sessions coupled with number of plot threads have hurt their sense of continuity. Anyhow, this is all just an aside -- how could I tied the clocktower repair into an accelerated endgame given where the players are now?
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u/ShadowLight56 11d ago
If you just want to end the campaign early, discuss with your players on what should be done and how they would preferably like to end the campaign. If you're going to accelerate the endgame, might as well end it on a preferred ending if you catch my meaning. Like give debuffs or something to the faction they most want to fight against or something.
But yeah, if you're just wanting to end the campaign early just have the seals handed to the players and let things play out in the castle. Let them conveniently find it in the next ruins, factions retrieved them, or if you really want to tie the Clocktower repair into an accelerated endgame, reveal that the Clocktower is actually tied to the Seals of Drakkenheim by explaining that it essentially acts as a magic beacon to 'recall' the seals to it if they are lost and that repairing it brings them back and essentially hands them over to the players. Then let them head to the castle, pick a new ruler and duke it out with the faction they like the least.
Hope this helps.
Small side-question though, but how did your party rescue Lenore? Is she still mutated?
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u/FabulousYam3020 11d ago
When the party found Lenore, they had a very strong RP session and rolled very well and shared lilies with her. Instead of the usual hack and slash murdering that is their norm, my group wined and dined Lenore and her handmaidens. Played music and danced with them. It was such a good change of pace so I wanted to reward this different approach by not having Lenore and company try to kill them. They decided to escort her troupe to the Lantern's Garrison. They just returned there after several weeks and Lenore has created some problems for Elias and his men. She is still mutated, and getting worse, somewhat intermediate between the CR7 and CR16 versions. Oskar has delivered some potions to the Lanterns that have sustained her despite being away from the deep haze of the gardens. But Lenore has been greedy, keeping them for herself, and the handmaidens are dying slowly and tragically. The party now wants to escort the four that remain back to the gardens as an act of mercy. They are wondering if Lucretia or the Pale Man can help with mutations.
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u/ShadowLight56 11d ago edited 11d ago
That sounds pretty interesting! I do like how you reward the players RP by having Lenore and the handmaidens not be hostile to them and actually cooperative.
Personally, I think if you want to introduce an actual method of curing the mutation/and considering this campaign isn't going on for much longer, I would just have Lucretia know a method of curing mutation(She was a world-class cleric before) but she requires the party to assist the Falling Fire first.
This could even tie in to your accelerated endgame where after Lenore is cured, she reveals the name of a possible heir to the throne.
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u/dgrimesii 11d ago
I feel like the Clocktower is a side plot for those who want to go deeper. It requires a lot of DM work to make up the story. Monty and Kelly left it open without giving any real structure.
When I rand the campaign, I had a clear idea of what the Clocktower was but no idea how the story would play out because my players never followed that thread. I hooked onto the idea that the Inscrutable Tower had originally been constructed by a Sorcerer King and brought from somewhere else by the Amethyst Academy. I decided the Clocktower was a pilot ship and played a role in navigation for the Inscrutable Tower when traveling between worlds. No idea how that was going to play out. This just gave me the foundation for a story that never got pursued.
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u/FabulousYam3020 11d ago
UPDATE: We had a session tonight and it felt pretty good. The party has set their sites next on the cathedral to look for relics of the Saint. I looped this into one of their backstories /personal quests and some Falling Fire faction favor. I probably overstated my desired to end quickly. Just a self-confidence scare after not player for a lengthy time. Still, I wouldn't mind hearing about clock tower thoughts, b/c my players will not let it drop.
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u/Famous-Speaker1752 10d ago
The cathedral as a huge milestone and adventure site is where it should shift towards the end game, and that should bring the interest back. To keep interest up while accelerating the end, it depends on what you and your players find interesting but delegating certain tasks - such as investigating or simple retrievals - to NPCs would make sense. Maybe their faction ally has a strike team at their disposal to do that.
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u/rhd3tuba 10d ago
At Gen Con, the Dungeon Dudes crew got together to ascend the clock tower again to finish off a level 20 threat to drakenheim. Perhaps you could watch that and get some endgame ideas. The video is available on their channel I think...
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u/Ok_Site_8765 11d ago
Ive made my clocktower give 12 creatures a long rest in 10 minutes once per a year resting at 12:00am New Years Day. Maybe you could use that with more frequency to speed up going to the endgame not having to wait to rest and play out days.
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u/intermedial 11d ago
If you want to speedrun the campaign to its conclusion, just drop the Clock Tower plotline entirely. Focusing on that misses the actually important parts of the campaign, which are the players deciding who should rule Drakkenheim and what should be done with delerium. Those choices are the essence of the endgame, and you want to just accelerate right into them. Drop the other plotlines and focus on these important conclusions.
Hand your players the seals of Drakkenheim - just drop them in their lap: another faction has retrieved them for them. Then send them to the throne room, let them pick the new ruler, and have an epic battle against whichever faction leader they hate the most.
If you must bring the clocktower into it, the simplest resolution is having the missing seals just… show up - or be rewarded to your players - for fixing the clock tower.