The Bellwarden's Sequence

You find a circular records chamber hidden beneath a crowded city hall. Rainwater whispers through a channel in the floor, carrying grit and scraps of market paper toward a bronze door. Three brass tokens rest on a stone console beneath blue witchlight: a roof, an open book, and a bell. Above them, a black dial shows an empty circle, a half-filled circle, a full circle, and a crossed circle. The sealed door bears the same three civic symbols, while a silent iron bell trembles whenever anyone touches the console.

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Puzzle EntrySequence and mechanism puzzleLevelAny, suitable for a low to mid-level urban adventureModerate

The Bellwarden's Sequence

Any, suitable for a low to mid-level urban adventureLevelModerateDifficultySequence and mechanism puzzleType

LevelLevel Any, suitable for a low to mid-level urban adventure

DifficultyModerate

TypeSequence and mechanism puzzle

Components6 parts

Time LimitThe party has roughly ten minutes before the city watch reaches the false cabinet, or before the ward's accumulated resonance summons the municipal construct.

Primary DCDiscern Realities, +WIS

Quick Reference

Type

Sequence and mechanism puzzle

Difficulty

Moderate

Level

Any, suitable for a low to mid-level urban adventure

Time Limit

The party has roughly ten minutes before the city watch reaches the false cabinet, or before the ward's accumulated resonance summons the municipal construct.

Primary DC

Discern Realities, +WIS

Checks

ObservationDiscern Realities, +WIS
Notice that the three token sockets are marked by faded images of a roof, an open book, and a bell, and that the floor traffic lines point toward them in sequence.
Local historySpout Lore, +INT
Recall that the old civic oath names shelter before record and warning, or identify the Bellwarden's insignia.
MechanismTrap Expert, +INT
Understand that the red thread beneath the dial is a pressure ward and identify the safest way to test a wrong sequence.
AgilityDefy Danger, +DEX
Keep a hand from the snapping brass shutters or avoid the falling archive chains after a failed attempt.
EnduranceDefy Danger, +CON
Endure the ward's disorienting bell-tone if the sequence is entered incorrectly.

Overview

Discovery

The puzzle is found behind a false records cabinet, or revealed when the party follows a stolen civic seal into the sealed chamber. The console is clearly functional, but its inscriptions have been deliberately weathered.

Puzzle Handout

what the players see

The Clerk's Slate

A city stands beneath a roof.

Beneath the roof, every truth is counted.

When the count is honest, wake the street.

Let no warning come before shelter.

Let no record be lost before the bell is rung.

The order of service:

______________________________

Marks on the Console

A roof shelters.
An open book remembers.
A bell warns.

The rain channel runs from the entrance, past the console, and toward the sealed door.

The Phase Dial

Empty circle: sleeping
Half-filled circle: listening
Full circle: awake
Crossed circle: forbidden

Inscription on the Door

Protect the people. Keep the count. Wake the street. Then open.

Glyph Chart

Glyph	Meaning	Category
⌂	Shelter, protection, the first duty	Civic duty
▤	Record, memory, the second duty	Civic duty
♧	Warning, alarm, the final duty	Civic duty
○	Sleeping or inactive	Phase
◐	Listening or partially awakened	Phase
●	Awake or fully active	Phase
⊗	Forbidden or dangerous	Phase

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Meaning