The Bell Beneath Blackwake
The Bell Beneath Blackwake
“The dead are not knocking to get out. They are knocking to be remembered.”
— Hook · retrieve
“For three nights, something beneath Blackwake has knocked on the town walls. Now the knocking has stopped, and the dead are walking toward the abandoned salt mine with a black bell in their hands. Sister Veyra offers silver, shelter, and one warning: retrieve the Last Bell before the third night ends, or Blackwake will open from below.”
— Hook · retrieve
The adventure begins in Blackwake during a cold rain. Sister Veyra waits inside a shuttered shrine, with salt water dripping from the ceiling into bowls placed around a cracked stone fragment. She explains that the Last Bell was stolen from the town reliquary, that the dead have begun moving through the streets, and that only a few hours remain before the third night ends. Hobb the gravedigger can guide the party to the old mine, but he refuses to enter unless someone promises to hear what he saw.
Sister Veyra
Sister Veyra approaches the party in a locked shrine while distant knocking echoes beneath the floor. She offers immediate payment and access to the town's stores, but insists that the party must not open the reliquary or speak with the miners.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01The first miners of Blackwake were buried alive beneath the oldest shaft.
- 02Sister Veyra has never allowed anyone to inspect the town's reliquary.
- 03Mara Thrice-Buried survived three cave-ins and claims the dead speak through salt.
- 04The gravedigger hears knocking from graves that were never dug.
- 05The Bell's clapper is made from a human finger bone, but no one agrees whose.
If the Last Bell is not secured before the third night ends, the dead beneath Blackwake will merge into a single intelligence capable of animating corpses, possessing survivors, and spreading through every mine connected to the town.
Background Lore
For generations, the salt-miners of Blackwake have fed a sealed stone reliquary with offerings of teeth, coins, and names written in blood. The reliquary was built to contain the Last Bell, an artifact said to silence the dead beneath the earth. Three nights ago, the reliquary cracked during an earthquake, and the Bell was stolen by miners who believe it can end their suffering. Since then, the dead have begun knocking from inside the town walls.
Blackwake is a salt-mining settlement built over an old burial site. Its people believed the Last Bell protected them from the restless dead, but the Bell was recently stolen by miners hiding in the abandoned mine. The party must retrieve it before the third night ends, while deciding whether the miners are criminals, rebels, or desperate survivors. The town's leaders want the artifact returned, but their fear suggests they are hiding more than they admit.
