Timepiece Pieces - cavesandcreatures/the-goblins-of-whismywood GitHub Wiki

Plot

The Timepiece is a pocket watch created by the artificer Nerdsworth. He wanted to create a device that could manipulate time, allowing him to rewind it at-will. However, he never quite finished it, and was on a quest to find a powerful artificer who could help him complete it. Upon traveling through Whimsywood, Nerdworth ended up in Goblin Jail, where his timepiece was confiscated. Being shiny and gold, the goblins began to fight over it, and at the stroke of midnight, it slipped through their fingers as they all tried to take it for themselves, shattering into four pieces. One such piece bounced into the jail cell, where Nerdsworth discretely scooped it up. The rest were taken by various goblins and have been sold or traded to some of Whimsywood's residents.

A strange thing happened when the timepiece shattered: Whimsywood was enveloped in a time-loop, one that resets each night at midnight and starts the previous day over again, at the exact moment when the timepiece was shattered. Stranger still, none of the residents seem to notice, and they go about their day without the memory of having already lived it. And even stranger, those who might perish during the day will wake up the next, and continue about their business as usual. It's the exact plot to the movie "Groundhogs Day", where everyone is oblivious to the time-loop.

However, there are some who are aware of this strange occurance. The power of the timepiece is still present within it's pieces: each one grants it's possessor the power to retain their memories of the previous day. It's as if the pieces of the timepiece itself are immune to the power of the time-loop. Poor Nerdsworth, having snatched a piece of the broken timepiece, has been reliving the same day in Goblin Jail for weeks now. What have the other residents been up to?

Description

Each piece consists of an intricate network of gold cogs and wheels, impossibly complex, and made even more so by their separation from each other. They have a faint, violet glow about them when their magic is being utilized, and at midnight their gears whirl as though reaching out to connect with pieces they cannot find.

Ability

Anyone in possession or near one of the four pieces of the timepiece is no longer affected by the time-loop. They'll be able to retain memories from each day to the next, but they'll still be interacting the townsfolk who are stuck in it. They're basically Bill Murray in "Groundhogs Day".

Each timepiece has a unique, powerful ability. Using it repeatedly will harm its possessor and sometimes those around them, similar to Wish. "the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong"