The Bell Beneath the Waves
The Bell Beneath the Waves
Read aloud
A salt-stiff survivor staggers into Greyhaven carrying a ship's bell clapper and a message: the Saint Orra is still afloat, but its bell is ringing from beneath the waves. Factor Oren Pell offers a reward for a rescue crew willing to sail into the Shatterwake before the next tide turns. The survivors insist that someone is still alive aboard.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Find the stranded Saint Orra in the Shatterwake.
- 2Rescue the ship's surviving crew.
- 3Recover the manifest and settle the wreck's unfinished debt.Optional
The clock
The next spring tide arrives in two days. After that, the Saint Orra will likely break apart or be swallowed by the reef field. Each major delay, failed navigation attempt, or extended rest should bring the wreck closer to its final grounding.
Scenes
- 0:00A Contract in Saltwater
- 0:45Channels That Move
- 1:35The Price of Passage
- 2:35The Ship That Still Rings
- 3:35An Oath in the Deep
Cast
- Mara VennWitness and survivor
- Factor Oren PellQuestgiver
- Sister CaldraAlly and ship's chaplain
- The Bell-WardenAntagonist and custom sea-spirit
The hook
Set the scene
Begin in Factor Pell's counting room as Mara Venn gives her account. The clapper in her hands rings softly whenever she describes the wreck. Pell offers the terms of the rescue, while Sister Caldra warns that the Saint Orra's bell should not be answered. Let the players ask questions, negotiate supplies, and decide whether to take Mara aboard.
How Factor Oren Pell asks
Factor Pell approaches the party through Greyhaven's harbor office.
He offers a written contract, a seaworthy vessel, and an advance for supplies. He is guarded about the manifest but does not forbid the party from asking the survivors what happened.
Rumours
Scenes
about 5 hours0:00
45 min
socialThe table is here
1. A Contract in Saltwater
Greyhaven harbor office, crowded with wet charts, shipping ledgers, and anxious relatives of the missing crew.
The party hears Mara's account, negotiates with Pell, and chooses supplies or additional help. A successful social approach can win a useful chart or learn that the bell was removed from a shrine.
NextPell provides a vessel and a rough chart. The party sails for the Shatterwake as the weather begins to turn.
0:45
50 min
skill
2. Channels That Move
The Shatterwake, a maze of reefs, floating debris, and currents that pull in opposing directions.
The characters steer through shifting channels using charts, survivor testimony, and practical seamanship. Success finds a safe route; failure costs time or triggers a complication from the d6 table.
NextA reef scavenger skiff approaches the party's vessel, claiming the wreck and its cargo as salvage.
1:35
60 min
combat
3. The Price of Passage
Beside a broken reef marker, with the party's vessel and the scavenger skiff rocking in close quarters.
The scavengers demand the party turn back. The party can parley, trade information, or fight across the cramped decks. Survivors may reveal that the raiders heard the bell too.
Raiders on the LifeboatNextThe scavengers' information or the party's own search leads to the Saint Orra, wedged against a reef with its cargo hold partly flooded.
2:35
60 min
exploration
4. The Ship That Still Rings
The Saint Orra's tilted deck, dark cabins, and half-flooded hold.
The party searches the ship for survivors, the manifest, and the source of the bell. It can find clues about the stolen shrine bell and the crew's promise before confronting the spirit below.
NextThe bell sounds from the flooded hold. The Bell-Warden appears and demands that the crew fulfill its oath.
3:35
75 min
combat
5. An Oath in the Deep
The flooded cargo hold, where the bell swings above the water and drowned sailors stir among the crates.
The party faces the Bell-Warden, but violence is not the only solution. The spirit accepts a convincing promise, an honest confession from the captain or survivors, or the return of the bell and a proper naming of the dead.
The Bell BelowNextThe ship's survivors return to Greyhaven. Pell pays the reward, and the party decides what to do with the manifest and the truth it contains.
Behind it
What people believe
A merchant ship called the Saint Orra has gone missing in the Shatterwake, a treacherous reef field.
Survivors report that the vessel remains afloat and that its bell rings beneath the waves. Factor Oren Pell has hired a rescue crew to find the ship, save anyone still aboard, and recover its sealed cargo manifest.
Background
The merchant brigantine Saint Orra vanished during a calm-weather crossing six days ago.
Its last known position was near the Shatterwake, a field of reefs and drifting wreckage where currents run in conflicting directions. A battered lifeboat has since reached the harbor of Greyhaven with a handful of survivors and a plea for help.
The stakes
If the party fails to act before the next dangerous tide, the Saint Orra may break apart against the reef.
The survivors could drown, the trapped dead may remain bound, and the Shatterwake will continue to endanger coastal traffic. Recovering the manifest may expose the reason the ship was carrying a stolen shrine bell.
Encounters
2Raiders on the Lifeboat
Combat
The cramped deck of the party's rescue vessel, with stacked crates, loose ropes, a waist-high rail, and open water on every side.
Foes
2 reef scavengers, using appropriate low-level beast or humanoid statistics
1 reef scavenger captain, using an appropriate low-level leader stat block
ComplicationThe deck pitches with each wave. At the end of each round, a creature that moved quickly across the slick deck must succeed on a suitable balance or Dexterity check or fall prone. A character can use an action to secure a rope line, reducing this risk for nearby allies.
ScalingFor a party near level 2, use only two scavengers. For a party near level 7, add two scavengers and give the captain a sturdy, appropriate mid-level stat block. Keep the fight on the deck and avoid forced movement into deep water unless the group has ways to recover.
The Bell Below
Combat
A half-flooded cargo hold with tilted crates, knee-deep water, a ladder to the deck, and a bronze bell fixed to a cracked timber frame.
Foes
The Bell-Warden, a custom spirit using a suitable undead or elemental stat block
2 drowned deckhands, using suitable low-threat undead statistics
ComplicationThe Bell-Warden can ring the wreck's bell once during the encounter. Each creature that hears it must resist fear or be unable to willingly move closer to the bell until the end of its next turn. Characters who silence, muffle, or physically restrain the bell prevent this effect. This is a custom encounter feature, not an official D&D 5E rule.
ScalingAt levels 2 to 3, the Bell-Warden bargains rather than fights to the death, and use only one drowned deckhand. At levels 4 to 5, use the listed foes. At levels 6 to 7, add two drowned deckhands or increase the spirit's durability. The Bell-Warden yields if the crew's oath is fulfilled.
Cast
4Mara Venn
Witness and survivor
WantsFind her missing brother, a deckhand aboard the Saint Orra, and ensure the remaining survivors are believed.
“The sea is quiet now. It was not quiet when the bell started ringing beneath us.”
Factor Oren Pell
QuestgiverQuestgiver
WantsRecover the ship's cargo manifest before a rival trading house learns what it contains.
“I am paying for a rescue, not a funeral. Bring back the crew if you can, but bring back the sealed manifest either way.”
Sister Caldra
Ally and ship's chaplain
WantsKeep the sea-spirit bound to the wreck until the crew can be released from their oath.
“The wreck is not empty. Something has learned to answer the bell.”
The Bell-Warden
Antagonist and custom sea-spirit
WantsProtect the Shatterwake's old shrine and force the living to honor the drowned sailors.
“No one stole your ship. The tide simply called in a debt.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A brass tide compass that points toward the nearest safe anchorage, a custom wondrous item with no combat benefit.
A sealed oilskin chart of the Shatterwake, showing one reliable channel through the reef.
On a win
The party rescues the Saint Orra's surviving crew and reaches a resolution with the Bell-Warden.
Returning the shrine bell and naming the drowned sailors releases the spirit and calms the reef passage. Factor Pell pays the agreed reward for the rescue; recovering the manifest earns the additional promised payment, though its contents may create new political trouble.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to navigate the Shatterwake on the first attempt.
- The Saint Orra slips farther into the reef field. The party can still reach it, but loses daylight and must face one additional sea complication before arriving.
- The party withdraws without resolving the oath or defeating the Bell-Warden.
- The injured survivors are rescued, but the missing sailors remain bound to the wreck. Greyhaven's families blame the party, and the Bell-Warden continues to haunt the route.
- The party does not recover the sealed manifest.
- The manifest is lost to the sea or taken by the raiders. Factor Pell pays only the agreed rescue fee and a rival gains leverage over his trading house.
- The party destroys the spirit before learning what binds it to the wreck.
- If the Bell-Warden is destroyed without the oath being resolved, the wreck's trapped spirits scatter. The Shatterwake remains dangerous, and reports of strange lights spread along the coast.
Complications (d6)
- 1A squall tears loose one sail. The party must spend time securing it or accept slower travel and a harder approach to the wreck.
- 2A barrel of fresh water cracks open and leaks into the bilge. The crew has enough water for one fewer day than expected.
- 3A survivor spots a lantern blinking from an apparently empty wreck. Following it reveals a trapped sailor, but costs an hour and exposes the boat to the reef current.
- 4A school of needlefish thrashes against the hull, damaging a rudder line. Repairing it requires tools and a successful relevant check, or the vessel becomes difficult to steer.
- 5A crew member hears their name spoken from below deck and goes searching alone. The party must find them before they reach the water.
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