Names Beneath the Bell
Names Beneath the Bell
“Every name buried in Bellwether is a promise that someone will remember.”
— Hook · mystery
“Three people have vanished from Bellwether, and each was listed among the town's dead before disappearing. Their names now appear in fresh ink on walls across town, always beside the same symbol: a silver bell beneath a black river. The keeper of the Lantern Archive will pay you to find the missing before the bell rings again at midnight.”
— Hook · mystery
Mara Venn receives the characters in a locked records room beneath the Lantern Archive. She shows them three case files: a dockworker, a schoolteacher, and a retired mason. Each victim's name has vanished from the memorial ledger, and each home bears the same silver bell symbol. Mara admits that the archive has hidden records older than Bellwether itself, but refuses to open them until the characters prove the disappearances are connected.
Mara Venn
Mara Venn approaches the characters privately after observing that they are capable outsiders. She offers an immediate advance, access to restricted town records, and legal authority to question witnesses. She insists that the investigation remain discreet to prevent a panic before the midnight ceremony.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01The archive keeper never allows anyone to touch the oldest ledger.
- 02A drowned woman has been seen walking through the east market before dawn.
- 03The missing dockworker owed money to a wealthy patron, but the debt was paid the day before he vanished.
- 04The old counting house has been locked since the flood, yet someone lights lamps there every night.
- 05Children dare one another to write their names beside the silver bell symbol.
If the characters fail, Aldren's ritual will erase the memories and identities of dozens of Bellwether residents descended from the town's founders. Even success forces the town to confront a deliberate mass sacrifice hidden beneath its founding legend.
Background Lore
For three generations, the riverside town of Bellwether has kept the Lantern Archive, a sealed memorial vault containing the names of everyone who died during the Ashwater Flood. The archive's silver bell is rung once each year to remember the dead. Over the last month, people whose names appear in the archive have begun disappearing, while their names vanish from the memorial ledger and reappear written in fresh ink on the walls of abandoned buildings.
Bellwether's Lantern Archive preserves the names of those lost in the Ashwater Flood. Recently, several townspeople connected to the memorial ledger have disappeared, and their names have appeared in strange inscriptions around town. The characters are hired to investigate before the archive's annual midnight bell ceremony, when the town gathers to remember the dead.
