Battlemap
Bellmold Crypt
The first thing you hear is a bell ringing beneath the floor, followed by the scrape of something waking in its grave.
Bellmold Crypt is a compact burial vault built beneath a ruined chapel, its halls packed with barred cells, guard quarters, and sealed family tombs. The dead no longer lie quietly here, and every disturbance sends a muted bell tone through the stone.
Cold, stale air presses through the crypt, carrying the smell of wet limestone, old tallow, and sweet rot. A faint bell tone trembles through the walls whenever the deeper dead awaken, while blue corpse-lights flicker in iron brackets and footsteps echo from rooms that should be empty.
☠ Threat
At the crypt's heart lies Varkesh, once a plague lord and now a corpse bound inside a bronze-lined sarcophagus. His voice travels through the bells, promising strength to the dead and turning every preserved corpse into a possible servant. He is not yet free, but each opened lock, broken ward, and spilled measure of silver salt weakens the prison.
History
Bellmold Crypt was cut beneath a hilltop chapel by the undertaker-priest Gavrek Sorn, who feared that a plague-stricken noble would rise after burial. Gavrek built cells for the noble's servants, quarters for armed wardens, and a bell chamber to enforce the final seal. The chapel fell, the wardens died, and the sealed noble learned to call the bells without touching them.
Encounter Table
CRA patrol of dead wardens dragging a chain of empty manacles.
A swollen corpse leaking blue vapor from its mouth and eye sockets.
A cloud of moths with tiny human teeth and scraps of burial cloth caught in their wings.
Rumours & Whispers
The ruined chapel bell rings on moonless nights, though the chapel has no bell tower.
A gravedigger swears that the dead beneath the hill have begun wearing fresh iron collars.
A noble family wants its ancestor's signet ring recovered, but refuses to say why it matters.
Travelers hear a second set of footsteps whenever they pass the chapel after sunset.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Olya, a soft-spoken gravedigger from the nearby hamlet
A gravedigger named Olya reports that fresh handprints appear on sealed graves, and her missing apprentice was last seen near the ruined chapel.
A rare silver-inlaid weapon and the chapel's recovered burial fund
Quest giver: Kett Varg, a one-eyed relic hunter
Kett Varg, a hard-edged relic hunter, hires the party to retrieve a bronze warding bell from the crypt before a rival expedition reaches it.
A share of the relic sale and a bell that can command undead once per dawn
Quest giver: Doma Velik, a measured envoy of the noble household
A noble family offers payment to recover the signet ring of their ancestor, unaware that the ring is the final key to Varkesh's prison.
Rare gemstones, a formal pardon, and one favor from the household
Corridor Notes
Small bronze bells hang from black cords above several doorways. None have clappers, but they ring softly when undead pass nearby.
The flagstones are marked with muddy handprints that begin near Room 4 and end at the locked door to Room 7.
Niches hold clay jars filled with gray salt. Several have been smashed from within, leaving salt trails across the floor.
A thin draft smells of roses and grave soil, despite there being no visible opening in the stonework.
Turn Bellmold Crypt into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.