The Thirteenth Toll
The Thirteenth Toll
“Every bell remembers who made it ring.”
— Hook · kill
“The bells of Bellwether Hollow have rung every night for three months, though no one has touched their ropes. Tonight, the bells sound thirteen times, and at dawn another body is found beneath the basilica with black glass growing from its mouth. Mother Caldris Venn offers you gold, sanctuary, and one warning: whatever is killing the people of Bellwether Hollow is listening for its own name.”
— Hook · kill
The heroes arrive during a hard rain as the thirteenth bell toll rolls over Bellwether Hollow. Villagers rush into the square carrying lanterns and mining tools, while a corpse is lowered from the basilica's bell tower. Black glass shines between the body's teeth. Mother Caldris Venn meets the party beneath the basilica steps, gives them the dead miner's name, and asks whether they are willing to investigate before the next toll.
Mother Caldris Venn
Mother Caldris Venn approaches the party in the rain beneath Saint Orra's Basilica immediately after the thirteenth toll. She offers a substantial advance, access to the basilica archives, and whatever supplies the settlement can spare. If questioned about the black glass, she says only that it is connected to an old mining disaster and insists that the killer must be stopped before the next nightfall.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01The bells ring when someone in town is about to die.
- 02The old quarry has no bottom, only a staircase that descends when the rain is heavy.
- 03A miner who vanished three months ago has been seen walking beneath the basilica at night.
- 04The black glass is made from melted bells.
- 05Mother Caldris Venn has never allowed anyone to read the oldest basilica records.
If the heroes fail, the Heart of the First Bell will awaken and bind the settlement's dead into a single supernatural guardian. Bellwether Hollow will become a haunted fortress ruled by the Bellwright, while the awakened toll travels across the region and calls other buried relics to life.
Background Lore
For generations, the mining settlement of Bellwether Hollow has relied on the enormous bells of Saint Orra's Basilica to warn of storms, raids, and supernatural disturbances. Three months ago, the bells began ringing without human hands. Each ringing was followed by disappearances, bodies found bloodless, and strange black glass growing in the old mine tunnels. The settlement's leaders blamed bandits and cave beasts, but the pattern points toward something older beneath the mountain: a buried relic called the Heart of the First Bell.
Bellwether Hollow is being terrorized by an unseen killer connected to the settlement's bells. The murderer leaves behind black glass and appears to be operating from the abandoned quarry or the sealed chambers beneath Saint Orra's Basilica. Mother Caldris Venn wants the killer dead before the next series of tolls triggers a mass panic. The heroes must investigate the deaths, navigate a divided settlement, descend into the mountain, and confront the force behind the bells.
