D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Clockwork Goldfinch Assaults of Dawn Temple

# Construct# Intrigue# Dungeon# Investigation

For decades, the Dawn Temple has been a beacon of intricate celestial mechanics and divine artifice. Its sacred clockwork guardians, the Goldfinches, have patrolled its halls in perfect harmony. Now, they attack indiscriminately, their movements corrupted by a foul, viscous fluid. The Prelate, Kaelen, points to sabotage by the Luminous Heresy, a faction seeking to liberate consciousness from mechanical 'prison'. But whispers in the temple's lower levels speak of 'substandard arcane oil', a cost-saving measure with catastrophic results. Veteran adventurers will find no simple answers, only desperate factions and a temple that has become a beautiful, deadly trap.

Chronicle Prelude

The Court of Gears, the Dawn Temple's grand public receiving hall. Sunlight streams through vast stained-glass windows depicting celestial gears, illuminating a scene of controlled chaos. Temple Acolytes tend to the wounded, while Praetorians in gleaming plate guard the inner sanctum. The air smells of ozone, sanctified oil, and fear.

Environmental Traits

The sacred automata of the Dawn Temple, the Clockwork Goldfinches, have turned hostile. Their attacks are growing more frequent and coordinated, threatening to breach the inner sanctum and destroy the 'Heart of Dawn', the source of all celestial light in the region. The cause is unclear: sabotage or systemic failure.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Prelate Kaelen, the Gilded Sinner
A tall, gaunt figure in ornate, gilded ceremonial armor, now warped and partially fused with the jagged, sparking chassis of a corrupted Goldfinch drone at his left shoulder and arm. His face is a mask of tortured piety and divine fury, his eyes glowing with a sickly, unstable golden light.
Artificer-Sister Lyra of the Open Eye
A woman of sharp, intelligent features, wearing practical leather overalls stained with grease and luminous paints. Her left arm is a prosthetic of intricate, humming clockwork, and she bears the open-eye-within-a-gear brand of the Heresy on her neck. She carries tools and small, twitching mechanical companions.
Acolyte Dren
A young, pale-faced acolyte in simple white robes, trembling and covered in black machine oil. His eyes are wide with terror, and he clutches a small, gear-shaped sigil to his chest like a talisman.
Captain Valerius of the Praetorian Guard
A towering, powerfully built figure in heavy, ceremonial plate armor of polished steel and brass, now marred by dents and foul oil stains. His helmet's visor is raised, revealing a face set in grim, unquestioning loyalty, though his eyes dart with confusion at the world's new chaos.
Trapped Artificer Torvin
A wiry, frantic-looking man pinned beneath a fallen, still-sparking Goldfinch drone. He wears the Heresy's practical clothing and has soot and oil smeared across his face. He struggles weakly, calling out for help.
Auditor Seres of the Conclave
A severe, immaculately dressed woman in grey, slate-blue robes of office. She holds a clipboard and stylus, observing the chaos with a detached, analytical expression, making notes. She seems entirely unaffected by the surrounding pandemonium.
Corrupted Praetorian Elite
A hulking figure in once-magnificent ceremonial armor, now warped and oozing dark, iridescent oil from every joint. Its movements are a jittery, violent parody of disciplined patrol, and its voice-box emits a constant, distorted scream of corrupted litany and static.
Inquisitor-Magus Voren
A calm, cold-eyed human in robes of deep indigo and silver, marked with the scales and quill of the Secular Conclave's investigative branch. He floats a foot off the ground, surrounded by a subtle shimmer of protective wards and holding a humming, orb-tipped staff.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Gilded Heresy of Dawn Temple

The Goblin Plight of Rivervale and the Cryptic Mine