The Bell Beneath the Ashes
The Bell Beneath the Ashes
Read aloud
For three nights, villagers have risen from their beds and walked toward the abandoned Temple of the Dawn Beneath. Now the buried bell beneath the ruins has begun ringing, and every toll makes the sleepwalkers harder to wake. Reach the temple before the final toll opens whatever the old priests sealed below.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Investigate the source of the bell and the sleepwalking outbreak.
- 2Uncover what the original order contained and what it concealed.
- 3Pass the temple's last defense.
- 4Decide the fate of the seal, the spirit, and the surrounding region.
The clock
The bell tolls once at dawn, once at midday, and once at sunset. After the third toll, the sealed sanctum opens. Every toll expands the sleepwalking outbreak and makes the plague-born manifestation stronger. If the party spends excessive time resting or arguing, advance the clock and apply a d6 complication.
Scenes
- 0:00The Road of Sleeping Feet
- 0:30Ash on the Processional Road
- 1:15Claimants at the Ash Gate
- 2:00The Warden Beneath the Nave
- 3:15The Saint in the Iron Sound
- 4:00The Final Toll
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver
- Sister CalisCompromised ally
- Seraphine ValeRival claimant
- Saint OrraWitness and supernatural patron
The hook
Set the scene
The adventure begins at Bellwether Village shortly before dawn. Several villagers stand barefoot in the road, facing the distant ruins with ash on their lips. Mara Venn asks the party to follow their tracks to the temple and bring them back if possible. She provides an old processional map, but admits that the village elders have forbidden anyone from discussing what happened at the temple generations ago. During the journey, the party finds signs of corrupted wildlife, abandoned shoes, and fresh footprints leading toward the ruin.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara Venn approaches the party at the edge of Bellwether Village, where families are trying to restrain sleepwalking relatives.
She offers practical supplies and local authority in exchange for immediate action. If questioned about the temple's past, she first gives a partial account and reveals the sacrificial history only after the party presents evidence or promises to protect the village from retaliation.
Rumours
Scenes
about 5.5 hours0:00
30 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Road of Sleeping Feet
Bellwether Village before dawn, amid frightened families, shuttered homes, and villagers facing the distant ruin.
The party meets Mara, witnesses the sleepwalkers, receives the processional map, and learns that the next toll is expected before sunset.
NextFollowing the sleepwalkers' trail leads to the temple approach. The journey reveals corrupted animals and the first signs that the wards are failing.
0:30
45 min
exploration
2. Ash on the Processional Road
A hillside of gray ash, dead orchard trees, collapsed processional roads, and cracked statues facing the buried temple.
The party crosses the unstable approach, examines broken ward-stones, and finds evidence that recent intruders breached the temple from below rather than above.
NextThe tracks converge at the Ash Gate, where Seraphine and her retinue are arguing over access to the lower stair.
1:15
45 min
social
3. Claimants at the Ash Gate
The collapsed Ash Gate, beneath toppled saint-statues and a half-buried stair sealed with three broken emblems.
The party negotiates with Seraphine, exposes her incomplete knowledge, bargains for passage, or fights through her retinue. Calis may intervene and reveal that the temple's official history was falsified.
Claimants at the Ash GateNextThe lower stair opens into the nave, where the buried bell begins to vibrate beneath the floor and the guardian awakens.
2:00
75 min
exploration
4. The Warden Beneath the Nave
A sunken nave coated in ash, with broken pews, sealed reliquaries, ward-stones, and a bell-shaped depression in the floor.
The party explores the abandoned nave, recovers records from the reliquary, and confronts the Ashbound Dawn Guardian. The records reveal that the temple contained a plague through sacrifice, while a hidden inscription suggests the bell's spirit resisted the practice.
The Warden Beneath the NaveNextA restored or broken ward reveals the descent into the buried sanctum. The next bell toll will occur when the party reaches the chamber below.
3:15
45 min
social
5. The Saint in the Iron Sound
A narrow descent lined with names of sacrifices, ash-filled alcoves, and murals that change when touched by living hands.
The party meets Saint Orra through the bell's resonance, hears conflicting memories of the sacrifices, and decides whether to trust her, Calis, Seraphine, or their own interpretation of the evidence.
NextThe sanctum doors open as the bell's chains pull taut. The plague-born choir rises from the black pool whether the party chooses violence, restoration, or a new covenant.
4:00
90 min
combat
6. The Final Toll
The sealed sanctum, a circular cavern with a black pool, broken statues, suspended bell chains, and ledges over a bottomless shaft.
The party resolves the crisis by defeating the manifestation, bargaining with Saint Orra, restoring the seal, destroying the bell, or transferring its power into a voluntary and sustainable vessel.
The Choir in the SanctumNextThe temple either falls silent, changes its tone, or collapses around the new covenant. The party returns to Bellwether Village to face the immediate consequences of its choice.
Behind it
What people believe
The abandoned Temple of the Dawn Beneath once protected the surrounding villages from a supernatural plague.
Its buried bell has begun ringing again, causing villagers to sleepwalk toward the ruins while the temple's protective wards fail. The party must enter the temple, discover the source of the disturbance, and decide whether the dangerous power beneath the sanctuary should be destroyed, restored, or placed under new control. The old order's methods were cruel, but the people now disturbing the seal may unleash something worse.
Background
The Temple of the Dawn Beneath was built over a natural cavern where a supernatural plague first emerged from the deep earth.
The temple order contained the plague by binding its essence beneath a consecrated bell and feeding the seal with the life force of selected villagers. Over generations, the sacrifice became ritualized, then concealed from the surrounding communities. When the plague finally receded, the temple was abandoned and its history was deliberately erased. Now grave-robbers and reformers have breached the outer sanctum, weakening the wards. The buried bell has begun to ring, drawing sleepers toward the ruins and stirring the plague beneath them.
The stakes
If the party succeeds, the sleepwalkers return, the temple's fate is decided, and the plague remains contained or is responsibly redirected.
If they delay, more villagers vanish, wildlife becomes corrupted, and the final toll opens the sanctum under uncontrolled conditions. The region may gain freedom from an unjust tradition, inherit a new protector, or become the first territory consumed by the returning plague.
Encounters
3The Warden Beneath the Nave
combat or social
A sunken nave filled with ash, toppled columns, hanging chains, and circular ward-stones. The buried bell vibrates beneath the floor, cracking sections of stone each time it sounds.
Foes
Ashbound Dawn Guardian
Animated Reliquary Masks
ComplicationThe guardian mistakes anyone carrying temple relics for a member of the old sacrificial order. Proving peaceful intent requires returning, breaking, or reinterpreting a stolen relic.
ScalingFor a smaller or inexperienced group, use only the guardian and reduce its endurance. For a larger or more capable group, add reliquary masks, unstable ward zones, and Seraphine's interference.
The Choir in the Sanctum
combat or skill
A circular sanctum beneath the temple, with a black pool, hanging bell chains, cracked saint-statues, and narrow ledges above a bottomless shaft.
Foes
Plague-Born Choir
Bell-Touched Sleepwalkers
ComplicationThe manifestation spreads through living hosts and can be weakened by restoring ward symbols, exposing it to consecrated light, or convincing Saint Orra to withdraw her protection.
ScalingFor a lower-threat version, the choir remains concentrated in one host. For a higher-threat version, it divides into several bodies and causes the environment to become actively infectious or hallucinatory.
Claimants at the Ash Gate
social or combat
The temple's collapsed entrance, where old processional statues form cover and a half-buried stair descends toward the bell chamber.
Foes
Seraphine Vale's Retinue
Faction Relic-Bearer
ComplicationSeraphine offers the party a deal while Calis urges them to reject it. Each faction has enough information to sound convincing, but neither knows the full truth.
ScalingIf the party has already earned trust, this becomes a social contest. If relations are hostile, use a short combat followed by negotiation. Add one elite faction champion for a stronger group.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver
WantsQuestgiver. Wants to save the sleepwalkers and prevent the ruin from becoming a regional disaster, but has concealed that the village elders helped maintain the old sacrificial records.
“Please bring my people home before they reach the temple. Whatever is ringing beneath those stones, it knows their names.”
Sister Calis
Compromised ally
WantsCompromised ally. Former archivist of the temple and secretly working with reformers who want to destroy the seal. She believes freeing the bound spirit will end the cycle of sacrifice, but she has been partially infected by the plague and is beginning to hear the bell's commands.
“The old order called murder a miracle. If the bell must break to end their lie, then let it break.”
Seraphine Vale
Rival claimant
WantsRival claimant. Claims descent from the last temple warden and intends to restore the temple's power under her faction's control. She knows how to command the guardian, but does not understand what is truly sealed below.
“You have no right to decide what remains buried. My family kept this place alive when everyone else abandoned it.”
Saint Orra
Witness and supernatural patron
WantsBound spirit. The surviving consciousness of Saint Orra, the temple's final saint, fused with the bell and the plague seal. She seeks release, but her freedom may unleash the contained manifestation.
“I remember the first bell. I remember every child who was carried below. Do not ask me to bless another cage.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Ashglass Bell Clapper, which can reveal nearby supernatural bindings when struck
Relic of the First Victim, a memorial token that grants leverage with communities harmed by the temple order
Saint Orra's Seal Fragment, useful for warding, negotiation with bound spirits, or future temple quests
On a win
The party reaches the sanctum before the final toll and makes a deliberate choice.
If they restore the bell, the sleepwalking ends and the plague is contained, but the group must establish a humane replacement for the old sacrifices. If they destroy the bell, Saint Orra is released and the old order's crime is ended, but the plague-born manifestation must be defeated, redirected, or allowed to escape. If they repurpose the bell, the party creates a new covenant with the spirit, transfers the seal into another vessel, or binds the power to a voluntary source. The best outcome is not a single solution but one in which the party accepts responsibility for the consequences.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party delays too long or abandons the outer temple without disrupting the bell.
- The villagers remain trapped in a growing sleepwalking procession, and the region loses several days of labor, trade, and security while families search for them.
- The party destroys the seal without containing or bargaining with what lies beneath it.
- The plague-born manifestation escapes into the surrounding wilderness, corrupting animals, water sources, and isolated settlements.
- The guardian is defeated but the party fails to make a deliberate choice about the bell's power.
- The temple's remaining wards collapse and the final bell toll opens the sealed sanctum under uncontrolled conditions.
- The party empowers Seraphine's faction without exposing or challenging its concealed agenda.
- A rival faction takes control of the bell and uses it to impose a new form of protection, demanding loyalty, tribute, or future sacrifices.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sleepwalking villager enters the ruin and begins ringing a smaller cracked handbell, causing nearby wards to flare and inflict disorienting visions on everyone in the chamber.
- 2Corrupted temple wildlife bursts through a collapsed passage, forcing the party to choose between fighting it and abandoning a valuable clue.
- 3Sister Calis loses control of the plague within her and briefly attacks the nearest living creature before begging the party to restrain her.
- 4A faction scout arrives with orders to seize the bell chamber, turning an investigation into a tense negotiation or a three-sided battle.
- 5The buried bell tolls once. Every sleeping villager in the region begins walking toward the temple, shortening the time available for exploration.
- 6A sealed mural opens to reveal the names of the original sacrifices, including an ancestor or former ally of one of the player characters.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Turn The Bell Beneath the Ashes into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.
