The Ninth Limehouse
A bronze bell swings over a pit of upright coffins, and the dust on every plaque is warm.
The Ninth Limehouse is a cramped burial complex built beneath an abandoned mortuary trade quarter. Its sealed dead have begun rearranging themselves, turning crypt halls into a shifting maze of bones, bells, and impossible funerary machinery.
Cold lime dust clings to the tongue, mixed with the sour smell of old incense and wet iron. Green witchfire burns in wall niches, while bells ring without ropes and muffled knocking travels through the stone whenever the crypt's guardian stirs.
☠ Threat
Osk Vardis, the deathless guild master, now rules the crypt as the Lime Judge. His body is wrapped in kiln-hardened funeral cloth, and his jaw is wired shut with silver thread. He commands disturbed corpses, rings the burial bells to distort the passages, and forces intruders to answer questions about their past crimes. Each false answer strengthens him.
History
The Ninth Limehouse was cut by the Guild of Lime-Burners, who processed plague dead and sealed dangerous corpses beneath their works. During the old fever years, guild master Osk Vardis used the lowest vault to imprison a corpse that could name every murderer in the city. The guild numbered the crypts on a military survey to hide the work, then collapsed the entrance and abandoned the trade.
Encounter Table
CRA procession of headless corpse-porters carrying an empty coffin and searching for a name to place inside.
A crawling funeral bier with six iron legs and a body strapped beneath its lid.
A cloud of pale moths carrying scraps of funeral script on their wings. Their bites cause brief visions of the dungeon's past.
A drowned survey officer dragging a chain of numbered coffin plates through the black water.
Rumours & Whispers
The cemetery's ninth register lists people who are still alive, and every listed person has begun dreaming of bells.
A dead soldier guards a vault beneath the old lime sheds and challenges anyone who carries a military map.
The sealed crypt rearranges its doors when the ninth bell rings, so a familiar route may not exist twice.
A guild master buried himself alive to escape judgment, then continued judging everyone who entered.
A black candle from the crypt can reveal ghosts, but it also lets the ghosts see the person carrying it.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Daro Pell's sister, Pema
A cemetery clerk named Daro Pell has vanished after discovering that new corpses are being entered under old tally numbers. The party must find him before the Lime Judge adds his name to the crypt's living ledger.
A city burial writ, 150 gold pieces, and a favor from the cemetery wardens.
Quest giver: Gela Sorn, bellmaker
A bellmaker's apprentice stole a bronze clapper from the sealed crypt and has begun sleepwalking toward the cemetery each night. Returning the clapper may calm the dungeon, but it also awakens the guardian's full strength.
A masterwork handbell that can disrupt undead commands once per day.
Quest giver: Corin Vale, veteran of the Third Survey
The party is hired to recover the remains of a soldier buried under a false name. The remains lie in room-5, but removing them causes every unquiet corpse in the dungeon to rise.
A silver military pass and a relic weapon from the soldier's sealed coffin.
Quest giver: The Lime Judge
The Lime Judge offers each character one truthful answer about a personal death, but demands that they first carry a living candle through room-8 without letting its flame go out.
A secret about a character's past, plus a black candle that reveals invisible undead.
Corridor Notes
Small bronze burial plaques have been pried from the walls and nailed back in crooked patterns. Several bear fresh fingerprints in gray grave dust.
A waist-high drainage channel carries black water toward the deeper crypts. Something with too many joints occasionally splashes beneath its surface.
The corridor stones tilt at different angles, creating the sensation that the dungeon is slowly turning. Loose coins roll uphill whenever the bell in Room 9 sounds.
Strips of funeral cloth hang from iron hooks, each marked with a different tally number. One strip is warm to the touch and whispers a character's name when torn.
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