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Crypt · Small · Level 7 · Hard

Split Bell Crypt

The split bell stone is cold to the touch, but a faint chime answers every footstep.
Rooms
7
Foes
9, CR 1 to 5
Traps
4
Treasure
5,300 gp
1234567Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. Bell-Stone Hall

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

Odran, the crypt's dead keeper, has become a wraith and rules from the concealed chamber beyond .

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    Chainless PrisonerCR 3

    When: A loud noise or the opening of a barred door draws it from the nearest dark passage, usually between and .A thin wraith in a prisoner's torn clothes drifts with its hands held out as if still bound.
  2. 2

    Veiled WitnessCR 4

    When: Disturbing the erased ledger or ringing a bell brings her wandering from toward the archive.A banshee's distant keening travels ahead of her; she appears as a shrouded figure with a burned patch across her veil.
  3. 3

    2× Funeral MasksCR 2

    When: They stir when a creature carries a stolen grave good through the central hall.A pair of animated funeral masks glide along the walls, their carved mouths opening and closing without sound.

Rooms

7
1

Bell-Stone Hall

2 foestreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A cracked bell stone stands in the middle of this square hall, its split down the center filled with old candle wax. Four exits lead away, including a low southern seam almost hidden by dust; every sound returns as a faint, delayed chime.

Features

  • A broken stone bier bears the Vasken crest, a bell divided by a vertical crack.
  • The archway to is wide enough for two armored creatures abreast.
  • The southern secret door opens when pressure is applied to the crest's lower half.

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Skeletal SentriesCR 1

Two skeletal sentries in corroded mail wait motionless beside the bier, their jawbones wired shut.Tactics. They block the arch to and focus attacks on anyone carrying a visible light; they pursue only as far as .

Treasure

Burial Holy Water25 gp

A stoppered vial of holy water rests inside a cracked niche beneath the bier.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

The sentries animate when a creature touches the bier or crosses the center of the room. The delayed chime can foreshadow the roaming undead. The northern door opens to the shrine in , the eastern door to the prison in , and the western arch to .

4 doors: S (locked), N (archway), W (locked), E (locked)

The place

What it is

The Split Bell Crypt lies beneath a low hill, its four-way entry hall opening onto a prison, a shrine, and a concealed archive.

Atmosphere

Cold air carries the smell of wet limestone, extinguished candles, and old pennies.

The threat

Odran, the crypt's dead keeper, has become a wraith and rules from the concealed chamber beyond .

History

The Split Bell Crypt was built by the Vasken family, local magistrates who buried their kin beneath a hill marked by a split-faced bell stone.

Rumors

1d4
Roll a rumor

  1. 1A hilltop bell rings on moonless nights, though the old stone tower above it has no bell.
  2. 2The Vasken family paid to bury their dead in separate rooms so none could accuse another.
  3. 3A grave tender claims the dead only attack after someone lies beneath the crypt's broken bell.
  4. 4A magistrate's missing ledger may prove that several respectable families bought their fortunes with false testimony.

Plot hooks

3
InvestigationNames Beneath the NamesA magistrate's clerk discovers that a family ancestor was listed among the crypt's erased witnesses and hires the party to recover proof before the records are destroyed.From: Ilyana Vesk, a meticulous town clerkReward: A rare spell scroll and the clerk's support in a future legal dispute
RecoveryThe Clapper's PriceA bell-maker hears that the crypt's missing clapper is silver and asks the party to retrieve it, unaware that it is part of the ward holding the dead in check.From: Toma, a bell-maker with a scarred handReward: A finely made silvered weapon or 500 gp
HauntingThe Name the Dead KeepA restless spirit has begun appearing in a nearby village, whispering a witness's name to grieving families. The party must find the name in the archive and lay the spirit to rest.From: Orvek, a village grave tenderReward: A rare charm against necrotic energy and a grateful village

Corridors

3

  • Between and

    A narrow runnel cut into the floor carries black water toward the prison; footprints beside it appear to walk backward when viewed from the far end.

  • Between and

    Three small bronze bells hang in a cracked alcove. They ring without moving when a creature with a heartbeat passes, alerting the dead in .

  • Between and

    The secret passage toward is marked by shallow scratches at knee height, as if someone repeatedly tried to claw their way out.

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