Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ascending the tower…

As you stand in front of the entrance of the massive clock tower you notice a tarnished bronze plate embedded by the front door. It reads “In dedication to…” with the name dedicatee scratched out from the surface. The name had been removed in obvious anger. A rusted out chin tied around the handles of the double doors blocks your entrance but it is so weathered that it breaks with minimal effort.

Once inside you glance around to discover the place is covered in dust from years of neglect. The metal gears climbing up the length of the tower are rusted and corroded, yet strangely they are working, dutifully spinning, counting out the time for the grand clock above. In the center of the room there is a rickety metal spiral staircase. As you put for foot on the first step it wobbles and seems unstable, yet you press on. Never the less you press on.

As you climb the decaying staircase you notice the clanking and clacking of the gears and gizmos as they wrap around inside the building. The staircase branches off at several points to allow access to specific gears boxes or storage rooms. You carefully watch the stairs to make sure do not anciently step where one of the planks that are missing and you soon realize you are rather high off the ground. As you ascend even further the staircase becomes crowed by the noisy rusted gears. As you look to the wall you see stain glass embedded with large numbers. You are in the middle of the grand clock itself! The noise is barely bearable by this point and you pray it does not reach an hour while you are so close to its bells. But then you reach the end of the staircase. It disappears into the ceiling, ending in a heavy trap door. With much effort you push it open and find yourself in a new room.

The noble’s chamber

As you glance about the large room you notice it is decorated akin to that of the bedchamber of a rich noble. A large four corner bed with silk sheets and plush pillows sits in one corner. Ornately decorated furniture is placed about the rest of the room. The walls are adorned with several paintings, most them of depicting nature scenes. Several of them also containing an image of a older boy and girl. The girl’s hair is blond and and her skin pale. She dressed like that of a noble. The boy’s appearance stood out in stark comparison to hers. He had brown hair with tan skin and wore simple clothes. Yet despite there clear apparent different social classes they were often displayed wishfully gazing into each others eyes. An Easel with a collection of paints sitting in a corner of the room leads to suggest that these paintings might be the work of who resided here. In the middle of the room there sits an ornate chair. Positioned in front of it is a music stand and sitting nearby is a violin resting atop its case. Yellowed sheet music lay scattered across the floor. You get the feeling that this room has not been touched in ages and yet there is not a spec of dust to be seen. You notice on the far wall there is a balcony and that’s when you spot her. Standing precariously on the ledge with her back to you is a girl. She is tall and frail looking with marble white skin. Her hair is long and blond and billowing slightly in the wind. Her dress is dark and eloquent. You feel like you have seen her before and then you remember the paintings. She doesn’t seem to have noticed your presence yet, yet you feel like she knew you were here all along.

((what is your next move?))