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Dungeons
Ruins · Small · Level 3 · Medium

The Three-Day Bell

Blue shards glimmer around a dry basin, and a bell note trembles somewhere beneath the stones.
Rooms
3
Foes
4, CR 1/8 to 1
Traps
1
Treasure
293 gp
123Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. The Open Basin

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

The toll clerk's spirit, called the tally-keeper by those who have seen it, still guards the sealed back room.

Wandering monsters (1d2)

  1. 1

    1d3× Lantern-boneCR 1/4

    When: The party makes loud noise in the corridors or spends more than ten minutes searching a room; do not use if the skeletons are still active nearby.A skeletal toll guard with a cracked lantern and a strip of blue cloth tied around one wrist.
  2. 2

    RuinhoundCR 1/2

    When: A character opens the western arch or leaves food unattended in the corridor; it flees if wounded.A gray, half-starved wolf with dust in its fur and a copper token caught in its collar.

Rooms

3
1

The Open Basin

2 foes1 traptreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

The roof has fallen away over this squat entry chamber, leaving weeds and pale daylight around a waist-high stone basin. An archway leads north toward the keeper's room, while another opens east toward the old shrine; a thin bell note seems to come from both.

Features

  • A dry stone basin bears the worn outline of a hand.
  • The northern arch has fresh scratches at ankle height.
  • The eastern arch is rimmed with small fragments of blue glass.

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Toll skeletonsCR 1/4

Dusty skeletons in the remains of toll guards' tabards, their jawbones wired shut.Tactics. They rise when a living creature crosses the room and try to pin it between them, attacking whoever approaches the northern arch first.

Traps

Tollkeeper's SpikeDC 12 piercing damage

A loose flagstone just inside the northern arch releases a spring-loaded iron spike from the wall. The trigger is marked by a hairline gap and a dustless edge.Disarm. A character can jam the flagstone with a wedge or disable the spring through the small wall slot with a successful Dexterity check using thieves' tools.

Treasure

Silver toll token5 gp

A tarnished silver toll token stamped with a bell. It has no special power but is recognizable to anyone familiar with old road taxes.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

The skeletons do not pursue beyond the room. Their brittle tabards carry no useful insignia, but their weapons bear the same blue glass dust found near .

2 doors: N (archway), W (archway)

The place

What it is

The ruins of a roadside shrine and its keeper's chamber lie beneath a collapsed hill chapel.

Atmosphere

Cold lime dust coats the tongue.

The threat

The toll clerk's spirit, called the tally-keeper by those who have seen it, still guards the sealed back room.

History

Traveling masons raised this little sanctuary beside an old road, setting a bell above its altar so lost travelers could find shelter in fog.

Rumors

1d4
Roll a rumor

  1. 1A pale clerk asks every visitor for their name, then writes it on a wall that has no paper.
  2. 2The old bell rang once during a flood, and every traveler who heard it found the road out. That is why folk call it the Three-Day Bell.
  3. 3Blue glass from the ruins is said to warm in the hand when someone nearby is lying.
  4. 4The little chapel was never a toll station; the clerk only began collecting fees after the road was abandoned.

Plot hooks

3
RescueThe Missing SatchelA local healer's apprentice went to investigate the blue light in the ruins and has not returned. The apprentice's satchel lies near the western arch, but there is no sign of a struggle.From: Dena, the apprentice's worried auntReward: A healer's kit, 25 gp, and a rare tincture that grants advantage on one saving throw against disease
InvestigationThe Old Toll LedgerA road surveyor wants the old sanctuary cleared before a new route is marked. The surveyor offers extra pay for the clerk's account tablet, which may prove that a disputed toll was collected generations ago.From: Bram, a blunt road surveyorReward: 75 gp and a map showing a safer pass through the hills
RecoveryThe Hidden ReliquaryA pilgrim claims the shrine's original reliquary bears the mark of a saint whose relics were stolen. Recovering it could restore the sanctuary to its intended purpose.From: Sufyan, a soft-spoken wandering pilgrimReward: A rare silver reliquary worth 250 gp, or a blessing that grants one character inspiration

Corridors

3

  • Between and

    A line of shallow boot prints crosses the dust toward , though none returns. The prints stop at the archway.

  • Between and

    A narrow runnel in the floor carries rainwater toward . Tiny scraps of blue glass collect in its bends.

  • The short passage beyond the western archway of

    Three iron hooks protrude from a cracked wall; one still holds a brittle strip of ceremonial cloth.

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