The Bell Beneath Bellwether
The Bell Beneath Bellwether
Read aloud
The Greywater has risen six feet in a clear-skied night, and the town's flood bell is missing from its locked tower. Reeve Mara Venn offers payment to find it before the market and lower streets are swallowed. As she speaks, a blue light flickers beneath the waterline outside her window.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Discover who took the flood bell and where they went.
- 2Recover the bell from the ruined shrine.
- 3Stabilize the shrine's failing ward before the Greywater Keeper breaks free.
- 4Resolve the town's responsibility for the shrine's damage.Optional
The clock
After each major scene, the Greywater rises another foot. If the party spends too long resting or pursues unrelated leads, the market district floods before they reach the shrine.
Scenes
- 0:00A Bell Gone Missing
- 0:45Witness at the Waterline
- 1:25The Drowned Storehouse
- 2:15The Bell's True Purpose
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver
- Sister CaldraAlly
- Orren ValeAntagonist
- Pip RuskWitness
The hook
Set the scene
Read the hook aloud. Mara meets the party in the reeve's flooded office, where a town map is weighted under a brass inkwell. She explains that the bell was locked in its tower and the door shows no sign of forced entry. She asks the party to investigate discreetly before fear turns into a flight from town. Sister Caldra waits outside with a water-stained rubbing of an inscription she believes is relevant.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara makes a direct offer of payment and asks the party to keep the investigation quiet until they know whether the theft was an inside job.
Rumours
Scenes
about 3.5 hours0:00
45 min
socialThe table is here
1. A Bell Gone Missing
Reeve's office and the flood bell tower in Bellwether
Mara hires the party and presents the locked tower, a list of witnesses, and the promise of payment. The door is intact, but the bell's mounting has fresh scratches and damp footprints lead toward a side window.
NextThe footprints and witness statements point toward Pip Rusk at the ferry landing.
0:45
40 min
skill
2. Witness at the Waterline
The ferry landing and muddy river steps
Pip describes seeing lanterns on a skiff, then admits that the sound beneath the water seemed to come from the old shrine. Caldra can identify the bell's scratches as marks left by dragging it on stone. The party can gain the location by reassuring Pip, examining the riverbank, or comparing accounts.
NextA trail of drag marks leads to a half-submerged storehouse where the thieves have taken shelter.
1:25
50 min
combat
3. The Drowned Storehouse
A flooded riverside storehouse
The party confronts the bell thieves in the flooded storehouse. The encounter can become a fight, a negotiation, or a chase. A captured thief reveals that Orren took the bell to the shrine and says the theft was meant to expose a forgotten crime.
The Drowned StorehouseNextThe thieves' trail descends along the river to the ruined shrine.
2:15
70 min
exploration
4. The Bell's True Purpose
A ruined riverside shrine, partly underwater
At the shrine, the party finds Orren beside the bell and learns enough from the inscriptions to understand that the bell's return alone may not be enough. They must decide whether to fight, negotiate, or work with Orren to restore the brace while the ward's defenders stir.
The Shrine's Last WardNextIf the party restores the ward, the Greywater begins to recede; if not, the water surges into Bellwether and the characters must choose whether to retreat or attempt another solution.
Behind it
What people believe
Bellwether's flood bell has been stolen just as the Greywater begins rising without warning.
Reeve Mara Venn hires the party to investigate the theft, find the bell, and prevent a disaster. Witness reports point toward an abandoned riverside shrine, where the thieves may be hiding.
Background
For generations, the river town of Bellwether has rung its bronze flood bell whenever the Greywater rises.
Three nights ago, the bell vanished from its locked tower. Since then, the water has risen despite clear skies, and the town's old flood marks have begun to glow faintly blue. The bell was cast from salvaged metal taken from a ruined riverside shrine, and local records disagree about what the shrine was built to contain.
The stakes
If the party fails, Bellwether's lower streets flood and the shrine's ward may break.
If they succeed without addressing the town's past, the immediate danger passes but the damage and resentment remain.
Encounters
2The Drowned Storehouse
Combat
A riverside storehouse with waist-deep water, floating crates, slick walkways, and a narrow loft. Use the bandit and bandit captain stat blocks from the 2014 D&D 5E core rules.
Foes
2 bandits
1 bandit captain, or use the bandit stat block for a less difficult fight
ComplicationThe flooded ground is difficult terrain in patches. On initiative count 20, a surge shifts loose debris; creatures in the marked channel must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet.
ScalingFor a smaller or lower-level party, use 2 bandits and have them flee when one is defeated. For a larger or higher-level party, add 2 bandits and give the captain 15 additional hit points.
The Shrine's Last Ward
Combat
A partly submerged shrine chamber with broken columns, waist-deep water, and a raised stone dais holding the bell. The water is difficult terrain for creatures without a swimming speed.
Foes
2 skeletons
1 ghoul
ComplicationThe bell's vibration destabilizes the chamber. At the end of each round, one creature standing on a cracked stone shelf must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone as stones break away.
ScalingFor a smaller or lower-level party, remove the ghoul. For a larger or higher-level party, add 2 skeletons. Use the skeleton and ghoul stat blocks from the 2014 D&D 5E core rules.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver, Bellwether's reeve
WantsProtect Bellwether and prevent a panic, while concealing that she authorized an illegal search of the old shrine years ago.
“Find the bell before the river reaches the market. I do not care whose pride you bruise along the way.”
Sister Caldra
Ally, caretaker of the riverside shrine
WantsStop the town from repeating the mistake of disturbing the shrine, and persuade the party to treat its inscriptions as warnings rather than treasure.
“The water is answering something beneath the shrine. The bell did not make the river angry; it kept it asleep.”
Orren Vale
Antagonist, former bellfounder's apprentice and leader of the bell thieves
WantsUse the missing bell to expose the town's past theft from the shrine and force Bellwether to abandon the riverbank.
“A town that forgets its debts deserves to drown in them.”
Pip Rusk
Witness, young ferryman's helper
WantsBe believed and keep their family safe from retaliation for witnessing the theft.
“I saw the lanterns go downriver, but I also heard someone singing from under the water.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A silvered river-token worth 25 gp, given by Sister Caldra
A stamped letter of safe passage and hospitality in Bellwether
On a win
The bell is returned to its dais and the shrine's brace is restored, calming the Greywater and ending the immediate flood threat.
The town is safe for now, though the party must decide whether Bellwether's leaders should answer for the damage that caused the crisis.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party cannot recover the bell before the next major rise.
- The Greywater spills into the market district. Bellwether loses its riverside stores, several families are displaced, and the reeve's authority is weakened.
- The party fails to capture or persuade Orren at the shrine.
- Orren escapes with the bell and becomes a recurring adversary. He may seek another way to expose the town's old wrongdoing.
- The party removes the bell without completing the shrine's restoration.
- The shrine's ward remains unstable. The river calms temporarily, but strange blue lights and unnatural currents continue around Bellwether.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sudden surge floods the lowest street. Anyone pursuing through it must find a safe route or risk being swept into a cellar drain.
- 2A frightened crowd mistakes the party for the bell thieves and blocks the nearest bridge until someone calms them or presents convincing evidence.
- 3A blue glow appears in a nearby flood mark. Anyone who touches it hears the bell toll once and briefly sees the shrine entrance beneath dark water.
- 4Orren's lookout recognizes the party and sends a warning downriver, making the thieves more prepared at the next location.
- 5A frightened town guard arrests Pip as a suspected accomplice, forcing the party to intervene or lose access to the witness.
- 6The missing bell rings from somewhere below the river. The sound draws two waterlogged dead from the nearest flooded passage.
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