The Thirteenth Toll
The Thirteenth Toll
“Before the thirteenth toll, decide whether the bell is a warning, a prison, or a weapon.”
— Hook · Mystery, supernatural investigation, ritual interruption
“Every night at dusk, the abandoned bell tower rings once, though no one has entered it in forty years. Since the ringing began, villagers have vanished into the Gloamwood and returned speaking in voices that are not their own. The village council will pay you to find the source before the bell rings thirteen times on the next moonless night.”
— Hook · Mystery, supernatural investigation, ritual interruption
Read aloud: Bellwether's streets are empty despite the hour. Every window is shuttered, every lantern burns low, and a deep bronze note rolls down from the hill. As the sound fades, a woman stumbles from an alley, clutching a scorched strip of parchment. She looks at you and says, "It rang again. This time, something answered."
Mara Venn
Mara Venn approaches the characters shortly after the opening bell toll, carrying a lantern and a sealed council writ. She offers an advance payment, access to village supplies, and a larger reward if the characters prevent bloodshed among the possessed villagers.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01The bell tower burned forty years ago, but its stones are still warm at night.
- 02People who vanish into the Gloamwood return with mud under their fingernails and no memory of where they went.
- 03A woman in a gray veil has been buying lamp oil, grave candles, and old maps from the village market.
- 04The bell once warned Bellwether whenever monsters approached from the forest.
- 05Nessa Vale's missing son was last seen carrying a bronze key shaped like a crescent moon.
If the thirteenth toll sounds, every living creature in Bellwether is drawn into a shared dream controlled by the ancient entity beneath the hill. If the characters fail completely, the entity gains a foothold in the waking world and begins spreading through dreams to nearby settlements.
Background Lore
Long ago, the hill settlement of Bellwether was protected by a bronze signal bell known as the Dawn Bell. Its chime could be heard for miles and was said to repel creatures from the nearby Gloamwood. The bell vanished during a fire forty years ago, and the village slowly declined. Recently, miners uncovered the buried bell beneath an abandoned watchtower. Since then, villagers have suffered shared nightmares, livestock have disappeared, and a black mist has begun creeping from the forest at dusk.
The abandoned Dawn Bell has begun ringing each night, causing nightmares, disappearances, and strange behavior throughout Bellwether. The village council believes someone is using the bell to terrorize the settlement, while the nearby Gloamwood has become increasingly dangerous. The characters must investigate the watchtower, seek help from the forest, and stop the bell before its thirteenth toll.
