The Bells Beneath Starfall
The Bells Beneath Starfall
Read aloud
The springs of Starfall Basin are running dry, though the snowmelt has been strong. The waterkeeper offers payment to anyone who can find the source of the trouble, and a shepherd insists he heard buried bells ringing beneath the mountain. At the basin's center, a fresh crack has opened in the old observatory trail.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Find a safe route to the abandoned observatory.
- 2Discover why the basin's springs are failing.
- 3Restore the springs or make a deliberate choice about the underground reservoir.
- 4Find Tovin's sister's lost field journal.Optional
The clock
Each day of delay, another spring weakens. After three days, Mara begins rationing water; after seven, the eastern farms lose their remaining flow. Use these developments as pressure, not as a punishment for reasonable exploration or roleplay.
Scenes
- 0:00The Empty Fountain
- 0:45The Switchback Trail
- 2:00The Keeper at the Gate
- 3:00The Bell Chamber
- 4:30The Pressure Room
- 5:45Water Returns
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver and settlement waterkeeper
- Tovin ReedAlly and local guide
- Sella QuillAntagonist and self-appointed guardian of the…
- Pip OrlanWitness
The hook
Set the scene
Mara Venn meets the party beside a dry communal fountain. She shows them a map marked with three springs that have stopped flowing and offers an advance payment for finding the cause. As they talk, Pip arrives from the hills, muddy and shaken, and reports hearing bells beneath the ground. A tremor rattles the fountain, revealing a newly opened fissure in the direction of the old observatory.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara approaches the party at the communal fountain after hearing that they are capable travelers.
She offers an advance of 10 gp for supplies and promises the remainder on their safe return, with extra payment if they can restore the water flow.
Rumours
Scenes
about 6.5 hours0:00
45 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Empty Fountain
The dry communal fountain and market square of Starfall Basin
Mara offers the job, Pip reports the buried bells, and a tremor reveals the newly opened trail. The party can question the locals before setting out.
NextMara gives the party a rough map and directs them to the trailhead before the next tremor closes the fissure.
0:45
75 min
exploration
2. The Switchback Trail
A steep trail of shale, broken survey markers, and narrow ledges above a ravine
The party chooses how to cross unstable ground and can follow clues left by surveyors. Let careful planning, useful equipment, and Tovin's knowledge create alternatives to a fight.
The Broken SwitchbackNextThe trail descends into a sheltered basin where the old observatory comes into view.
2:00
60 min
social
3. The Keeper at the Gate
A weather-beaten survey camp beside the observatory's outer wall
The party investigates the abandoned camp and meets Sella. She warns them away but can be persuaded to share what she knows if they approach calmly or present evidence that the springs are failing.
NextWhether they gain Sella's help or not, the party finds a route into the exposed lower chamber.
3:00
90 min
exploration
4. The Bell Chamber
The observatory's broken dome and a chamber threaded with roots above an underground stream
The party navigates the flooded approach, investigates the bells, and deals with the blights around the root-bound chamber. Clues here point toward the controls and the true purpose of the bells.
Roots in the Bell ChamberNextThe route below the bells opens into a control room where water channels converge.
4:30
75 min
skill
5. The Pressure Room
A stone control room with three corroded channels, pressure gauges, and a sealed central sluice
The party studies the controls, compares clues, and decides how to relieve the pressure. A wrong or rushed choice has an immediate cost, but the group should have a chance to notice and correct mistakes.
NextWhen the mechanism is stabilized or abandoned, the group returns to the surface to learn how their choice affects the basin.
5:45
45 min
social
6. Water Returns
The communal fountain, now watched by the anxious residents of Starfall Basin
The springs either begin to flow or remain uncertain, and the party accounts for its choices to Mara, Tovin, and Sella. Resolve any recovered journal, damaged farms, or promises made along the way.
NextUse the outcome to open a follow-up journey toward the distant bell or another settlement served by the old system.
Behind it
What people believe
The Starfall Basin's springs are failing despite a good season of snowmelt.
The waterkeeper seeks a capable group to explore the newly exposed trail to an abandoned observatory and learn whether its old waterworks can help the settlements. Local accounts disagree about what lies beneath the mountain, and the trail is unstable.
Background
The Starfall Basin is a high valley ringed by cliffs and threaded with streams that vanish beneath the stone.
Generations ago, its settlements used a chain of bronze survey bells to warn one another about rockslides and floods. The bells have been silent for years, and recent tremors have exposed a path into the abandoned observatory at the basin's center.
The stakes
If the party cannot find and safely operate the observatory's water controls, the basin's springs may fail completely.
Forcing the wrong control can flood the lower farms, while leaving the system untouched risks worsening pressure and damaging the settlements' water supply.
Encounters
2The Broken Switchback
Combat or avoidable confrontation
A narrow mountain switchback with loose shale, a low stone wall, and a steep drop. A character who falls should face a dangerous setback rather than automatic death, unless the GM wants harsher consequences.
Foes
Goblins
ComplicationA fractured ledge divides the approach. Noise, bright light, or a failed attempt to cross quietly alerts the creatures guarding the trail.
ScalingFor a level 1 party, use two goblins and make retreat easy. For levels 2 to 3, use four goblins. For level 4, use four goblins and one goblin boss. Adjust numbers for party size and how depleted the group is.
Roots in the Bell Chamber
Combat, negotiation, or environmental challenge
A circular chamber open to the sky through a broken dome. Roots cross the floor, bronze bells hang at different heights, and one corner has collapsed into a shallow underground stream.
Foes
Twig blights
Needle blights
ComplicationIf the party attacks before learning why the blights are gathered here, they may destroy the roots holding a cracked section of floor together.
ScalingFor levels 1 to 2, use three twig blights. For levels 3 to 4, use three twig blights and two needle blights. Reduce the number if the party has spent significant resources before reaching the chamber.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver and settlement waterkeeper
WantsShe wants the springs restored before the basin's farms and settlements run out of water.
“The springs are shrinking, and every map we have says the water should be flowing the other way.”
Tovin Reed
Ally and local guide
WantsHe wants to prove his late sister's survey notes were correct and recover her field journal.
“I can show you the old trail. I cannot promise the mountain will still recognize it.”
Sella Quill
Antagonist and self-appointed guardian of the observatory
WantsShe wants to keep the observatory sealed until she understands what the tremors are waking.
“You call it a ruin. I call it a door someone has been trying to open from the wrong side.”
Pip Orlan
Witness, a young shepherd who heard the buried bells
WantsHe wants the adults to believe his warning and keep people away from the exposed trail.
“The bells rang under the ground. All of them, at once. I heard them in my sleep.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A brass trail compass that points toward the nearest marked spring, a custom nonmagical tool
A healer's kit supplied by Mara
Tovin's sister's waterproof field journal, if recovered
On a win
The party identifies the pressure problem and opens the safe vent channel.
Water returns to the basin's springs over the following day, and Mara publicly thanks the group. Sella shares what she knows about the observatory if treated fairly, while Tovin can recover his sister's field journal if the party found it.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party does not find a safe route to the observatory before the next water shortage.
- The settlements ration water, farms wither, and Mara loses standing with the basin's residents. The party can still return later with new information or another way to reach the observatory.
- The party threatens or attacks Sella without learning about the unstable mechanism.
- Sella seals the observatory's main approach. The party must seek an alternate entrance, persuade her to reopen it, or return after discovering what she fears.
- The party activates the controls without resolving the competing water channels.
- The spring's flow is redirected into the lower caves. A nearby settlement is spared, but the basin's eastern farms lose access to water until someone repairs the channel.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sudden rockslide blocks the trail behind the party. Clearing it takes an hour, while climbing around it risks separating the group.
- 2A cold spring bursts through a cracked wall and floods the lowest passage. Loose equipment floats toward a narrow drain.
- 3A frightened pack goat carrying Tovin's supplies bolts toward a cliffside ledge. Recovering it costs time and may alert nearby creatures.
- 4The observatory bells ring once without being touched. The sound draws attention from a nearby patrol of hostile creatures.
- 5A harmless-looking patch of pale moss releases spores when disturbed. Until the group rests or cleans up, the spores make their tracks easy to follow.
- 6Sella's field notes are found in a damp satchel. One crucial page has been torn out, and a fresh boot print leads toward a side passage.
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