The Bell Beneath the River
The Bell Beneath the River
Read aloud
The bronze flood bell rings once, though the river is low and the night is clear. At dawn, the reeve offers a reward for finding three missing townspeople before the next high tide. As you enter Bellwether, a boy points at the bell tower and whispers, “It rang for my sister last.”
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Determine why the flood bell rings on clear nights and connect the disappearances to a physical location.
- 2Reach the abandoned floodworks beneath Bellwether.
- 3Rescue the missing people and decide the fate of the Drowned Listener.
- 4Uncover the founders' role in the binding and decide whether Bellwether should learn the full history.Optional
The clock
The next spring tide arrives in three nights. Each night the bell rings, the binding weakens and the Listener can draw one more person toward the sluice. If the group takes longer than three nights, the town's lower market floods and the Listener gains a chance to escape.
Scenes
- 0:00The Reeve's Offer
- 0:45The Bell's False Warning
- 1:45Names in the Ledger
- 3:00At the Sluice Mouth
- 4:30Voices Under the Water
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver
- Tovin PellAlly and witness
- Sella RuskWitness and reluctant antagonist
- The Drowned ListenerAntagonist
The hook
Set the scene
The party arrives in Bellwether on the morning after the bell's latest midnight ring. The lower market is busy, but several stalls are shuttered and the reeve has posted a reward notice at the bridge. Mara Venn meets the characters in the town hall, where a rough map shows the bell tower, ferry landing, and sealed floodworks. Tovin Pell waits outside with a scrap of blue grit wrapped in cloth.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara Venn approaches the party in the town hall after hearing they are capable travelers.
She offers a written payment agreement and asks them to keep interviews discreet until there is evidence of a danger to the town.
Rumours
Scenes
about 6.5 hours0:00
45 min
SocialThe table is here
1. The Reeve's Offer
Bellwether town hall and the covered square outside
Mara lays out the disappearances and hires the party. Tovin supplies the blue grit and says the bell rope moved without a hand on it. The characters can ask questions and choose an investigative lead.
NextThe party can inspect the tower, interview witnesses, or follow the ferry records; any lead points toward the bell tower and river landing.
0:45
60 min
Exploration
2. The Bell's False Warning
The bell tower, its cramped stair, and the river-facing roof
Examine the bell, rope, stonework, and blue grit. A careful inspection finds fresh mineral residue in a seam that leads to a bricked-up maintenance stair. A character who checks the bell's inscription notices it describes a warning signal, not a magical ward.
NextThe maintenance stair is blocked from above but opens toward the river; the ferry landing and Sella's records provide a route below.
1:45
75 min
Social
3. Names in the Ledger
The ferry office, a riverside shed, and the adjacent landing
Interview Sella, the ferrymen, and the missing people's families. The ferry ledger places a small boat at the sealed sluice on each night of a disappearance. Sella may cooperate if the party presents evidence and promises to protect the missing from public blame.
NextThe ledger or a direct search identifies the old sluice mouth and reveals that someone has used it recently.
3:00
90 min
Combat
4. At the Sluice Mouth
A spillway beneath the ferry landing
The party reaches the sluice mouth. Scavengers and a water wisp have gathered around the disturbed entrance. Characters can fight, drive them off, or use the control wheel to make a safer approach.
The Sluice MouthNextPast the spillway, the party finds fresh tracks, discarded personal effects, and a narrow path into the flooded archive.
4:30
120 min
Combat
5. Voices Under the Water
The submerged archive and its central binding ring
The party finds the missing townspeople alive and hears the Listener explain its version of events. The characters must manage the rising water, choose whether to fight or bargain, and decide how to handle the binding and the evidence.
The Flooded ArchiveNextThe resolution determines whether the party returns to town as rescuers, witnesses to a bargain, or the people who exposed a buried crime.
Behind it
What people believe
Bellwether's flood bell has begun ringing on clear nights, and three residents have vanished.
The reeve believes the disappearances may be connected to smugglers using an abandoned part of the floodworks, while the bell-founder's apprentice has found strange blue grit near the tower. The party is asked to investigate before the next high tide puts more people at risk.
Background
For generations, the river town of Bellwether has rung its bronze flood bell whenever the Graywash rises.
The bell's original inscription describes it as a warning, not a ward. Three weeks ago, the bell began ringing on clear nights, and a series of disappearances followed. Town officials blame smugglers and insist the river is safe.
The stakes
If the party does nothing, the Listener's attempts to weaken its binding will continue to draw townspeople into the archive.
If the party misjudges the situation, Bellwether may suffer a flood, the missing may remain trapped, and the spirit may escape in anger. The investigation can also expose a founding-era crime that divides the town.
Encounters
2The Sluice Mouth
Combat or negotiation
A narrow stone spillway above knee-deep water, slick steps, rusted grates, and a waist-high control wheel. The wheel can redirect the current if a character reaches it and succeeds at a suitable Strength check or uses another plausible method.
Foes
2 river scavengers, use a suitable low-threat beast or humanoid stat block
1 sluice-bound water wisp, use a suitable low-threat elemental stat block or a custom creature
ComplicationA burst of water sweeps loose objects and unsteady creatures toward the lower channel. A creature that falls prone near the channel must use movement to get clear or risk being carried into the shallow spillway. Treat this as a custom environmental hazard, not an official monster or spell effect.
ScalingFor a smaller or lower-level party, remove one river scavenger and make the water wisp retreat after taking a solid hit. For a larger or higher-level party, add one scavenger and give the wisp a second use of its water-surge hazard. Keep the encounter's terrain as the primary danger.
The Flooded Archive
Combat, with a social resolution possible
A partly submerged archive beneath the old sluice, with stone shelves, a central binding ring, floating debris, and two raised ledges. The binding ring can be disrupted by removing its three inscribed bronze pins, convincing the spirit to release it, or using another sensible approach.
Foes
The Drowned Listener, use a suitable custom spirit stat block calibrated for the party, or a reskinned low- to moderate-threat elemental
2 drowned attendants, use suitable low-threat undead stat blocks
ComplicationAt the start of each round, the chamber's rising water makes one marked section difficult terrain. After three rounds, the lowest passage is submerged; characters can still retreat through the entry tunnel, but evidence left behind may be lost.
ScalingFor levels 3 to 4, have the Listener focus on bargaining and use only one attendant; it yields when badly hurt or when its binding is disrupted. For level 5 or a strong party, use both attendants and let the Listener create one additional surge hazard. The Listener's custom abilities should be clearly signposted and should not prevent retreat.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver, town reeve
WantsShe wants the disappearances investigated without causing a panic that would empty the town before the spring market.
“The bell rang at midnight, but the river was low. Tell me what can make bronze lie.”
Tovin Pell
Ally and witness, bell-founder's apprentice
WantsHe wants to protect his sister, one of the missing, and prove that his observations matter despite his reputation as a nervous apprentice.
“I found the same blue grit in the bell tower and on the missing ferryman's coat. That's not river mud.”
Sella Rusk
Witness and reluctant antagonist, keeper of the ferry ledger
WantsShe is concealing that her family helped cover up the old floodworks and believes the truth will bring retaliation against the town.
“The old sluice is sealed for a reason. You should stop digging before you wake what the town buried.”
The Drowned Listener
Antagonist, a custom river spirit bound beneath the old sluice
WantsIt wants the ruined floodworks opened so it can escape the flooded chamber where it has been trapped for decades.
“You came all this way to ask who took them? Ask instead who taught the river their names.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A brass sluice key that opens the old floodworks and may fit related mechanisms upriver.
A waterproof case containing three potions of healing, provided by the ferrymen's guild.
The ferry ledger, if the party chooses to keep it as evidence.
On a win
The missing townspeople return alive, and the party leaves the floodworks stable enough to survive the next high tide.
The Listener's fate depends on the party's choices: it may be freed, safely rebound with its agreement, or sent away under a negotiated promise. Bellwether learns at least enough to stop the immediate danger, though the party decides whether the complete history becomes public.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party misses or dismisses the physical clues connecting the bell tower to the old floodworks.
- If the party fails to identify the sluice route, the next high tide opens it briefly and floods the lower market. The town suffers property damage and loses trust in the reeve, but the investigation can continue from the washed-out passage.
- The party confronts Sella in public before establishing why her ledger matters.
- If the party accuses Sella without corroboration, she destroys the ferry ledger and flees. The party can still recover the truth from the bell inscription and the flooded archive, but loses a useful witness and a peaceful route below.
- The party retreats without disrupting the binding or making a clear bargain with the Listener.
- If the party leaves the Listener bound and does not secure the sluice, it escapes during a later tide. One missing person returns, but the river becomes dangerous and Bellwether suffers further disappearances.
- The party breaks the binding without redirecting the water or evacuating the threatened district.
- If the party destroys the binding without stabilizing the floodworks, the missing people are freed but the archive floods and part of the lower town is damaged. The town survives, though it faces a costly recovery.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sudden squall floods the lower market. Characters must secure a mooring line, move a stranded cart, or find another route before the next scene.
- 2A frightened witness recognizes one character from a false rumor and refuses to speak until the party publicly corrects it or earns the witness's trust.
- 3A bell-rope snaps and drops a heavy clapper into the tower stairwell, blocking the quickest route and making enough noise to alert anyone nearby.
- 4A ledger page is soaked and its ink begins to run. The party has a few minutes to copy the names and dates before the evidence becomes unreadable.
- 5The Drowned Listener speaks through a puddle and offers to return one missing person if the party leaves the sluice sealed.
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