The Temple of Lost Gears

Level Range: 3-5 Duration: 4-6 hours Type: Dungeon Crawl, Puzzle

Synopsis

Deep beneath the abandoned clockmaker’s workshop lies an ancient temple dedicated to a forgotten god of time and machinery. The party must navigate mechanical traps, solve gear-based puzzles, and confront clockwork guardians to recover a legendary artifact.

Adventure Hooks

• A local artificer offers a substantial reward for anyone who can retrieve the Chronometer of Infinite Moments from the temple
• The party discovers a map showing the temple’s location while investigating strange temporal anomalies
• A mechanical servant appears in town, speaking in riddles about “the gears that bind reality”

Key Encounters

The Entrance Hall

A grand chamber filled with massive bronze gears slowly turning in the walls. The party must time their movements to avoid being crushed.

The Clockwork Guardians

Three mechanical sentinels patrol the inner sanctum. They can be defeated in combat or deactivated by solving the gear puzzle.

The Time-Frozen Chamber

A room where time moves at different speeds in different areas, creating unique tactical challenges.

Rewards

• Chronometer of Infinite Moments - Legendary artifact (allows the user to rewind 6 seconds once per long rest)
• Gearwright’s Tools - Masterwork artificer tools
• 500 gp in ancient clockwork components
• Knowledge of temporal magic

Notes for the DM

This adventure works well as a one-shot or can be integrated into a larger campaign involving time manipulation or ancient civilizations.