The Ruby Bell Beneath Ember Gate
The Ruby Bell Beneath Ember Gate
Read aloud
Every ruby lantern in Embergate suddenly flares black, and an ancient bell rings beneath the market. Dozens of citizens collapse into the same nightmare while crimson runes crack across the nearest spire. Before midnight, the ward beneath the district will either be restored, destroyed, or remade.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Determine what caused the Ruby Bell to ring and identify the nature of the failing ward.
- 2Reach the buried shrine beneath Embergate before the ward destabilizes completely.
- 3Decide whether Embergate’s prosperity is worth the cost of continued imprisonment.
- 4Determine who controls the story of Embergate after the crisis.Optional
The clock
The next midnight bell is approximately twelve in-world hours away. Each failed major lead advances the crisis by one stage. A long rest advances it by two stages unless the party has secured a temporary stabilizing site. Stage one darkens isolated lanterns and causes minor dreamwalking. Stage two causes repeated citizen collapses, animated ash, and foundry accidents. Stage three opens cracks in the streets and empowers the unrest manifestation. Stage four begins the firestorm, making the final resolution substantially more dangerous.
Scenes
- 0:00Black Light Over the Market
- 0:45Clues in Ash and Ink
- 2:00The Price of a Door
- 3:00Below the Lantern Foundations
- 4:30The Neighborhood That Was Erased
- 6:00The Choice Beneath Crimson Stone
Cast
- Magistrate Elira VeyQuestgiver and compromised official
- Sera DhalDissident investigator and potential ally
- Jax MarrisCriminal broker and possible betrayer
- Tavi PellWitness and dreamwalking survivor
The hook
Set the scene
The party enters Embergate beneath a canopy of ruby lanterns, surrounded by shouting merchants, musicians, incense sellers, and foundry workers carrying glowing ingots. Without warning, every lantern turns black. The ancient Ruby Bell rings from somewhere below the streets, the sound passing through flesh and stone alike. Citizens collapse into shared nightmares, a crimson spire splits along its rune veins, and a wave of heat rolls through the market. Magistrate Elira Vey arrives with exhausted city enforcers and orders the district sealed. She offers the party official authority, access to restricted locations, and a substantial reward if they can reach the failing ward before the next midnight toll.
How Magistrate Elira Vey asks
Magistrate Elira Vey approaches the party after the opening disaster with a sealed civic writ and a request for discretion.
She claims the ward is an old emergency barrier built to contain a dangerous elemental breach. She omits the existence of the buried neighborhood, the falsified compact, and the sentience of the imprisoned force unless confronted with strong evidence.
Rumours
Scenes
about 8 hours0:00
45 min
socialThe table is here
1. Black Light Over the Market
Ruby Lantern Market at the heart of Embergate District
The party witnesses the black lantern flare, the shared nightmare, and the first structural failure. Magistrate Vey establishes the immediate deadline and offers official authority. Tavi Pell can be rescued from a dreamwalking crowd and provides the first clue: the nightmare always ends at a door beneath the market.
NextThe party receives three possible leads: question witnesses and incense sellers, inspect the cracked spire, or enter the civic archive with Vey’s writ. Each lead reveals part of the truth, but every failed lead advances the clock.
0:45
75 min
skill
2. Clues in Ash and Ink
Market stalls, a rune-veined spire, civic archives, and a hot-metal foundry
The party conducts a focused investigation through at least two locations. The market witnesses reveal shared dream imagery. The spire inscriptions show that the ward was altered after its creation. The civic ledgers contain erased names and repeated payments to a nonexistent neighborhood. A successful investigation identifies the Cinder Key as the object needed to control the ward.
NextThe party learns that Sera Dhal is searching for the same evidence and that Jax Marris can provide a route below the district. They must decide whether to share evidence, conceal it, or use one faction against another.
2:00
60 min
social
3. The Price of a Door
A hidden incense chapel and a smuggler route beneath the foundries
The party meets Sera Dhal in a shuttered incense chapel or negotiates with Jax Marris in a foundry-side gambling den. Sera offers testimony and the names of the buried residents if the party promises not to restore the ward unchanged. Jax offers the undercity route in exchange for the Cinder Key or a favor. The party can unite the factions, choose one, deceive both, or proceed with incomplete information.
NextThe chosen alliance provides access to the sealed underdistrict. If the party has made enemies or delayed, possessed enforcers attack as they enter, while citizens above begin dreamwalking into traffic and furnace lanes.
3:00
90 min
exploration
4. Below the Lantern Foundations
A broken maintenance shaft leading to the outer ring of the ancient ward
The party descends through a forgotten maintenance shaft into the cracked ward. They must cross the chamber while deciding whether to fight, calm, or bypass the Cinderbound Sentinel and Ashglass Hounds. The ward reveals brief visions of the buried neighborhood and tests whether the party carries the original names or only civic authorization.
The Cracked WardNextThe party reaches the buried neighborhood and sees evidence that the official history is false. A surviving memory-seal identifies Magistrate Vey’s predecessors as the architects of the Quieting. The Ruby Bell begins counting down to midnight through distant, irregular tolls.
4:30
90 min
combat
5. The Neighborhood That Was Erased
The sealed underdistrict, where abandoned homes overlap with nightmare versions of the modern market
The party navigates the buried neighborhood, protects dreamwalking survivors, and confronts the Soot-Crowned Reveler and possessed enforcers. They can defeat the unrest manifestation, expose the city’s history to the gathered dreamwalkers, or use the chaos to steal the Cinder Key. The party’s actions determine whether the final chamber begins calm, damaged, or hostile.
The Market of Borrowed FacesNextOnce the Reveler is defeated or appeased, the party obtains the final names and reaches the Ruby Bell. Above them, the surviving lanterns begin extinguishing one by one.
6:00
120 min
social
6. The Choice Beneath Crimson Stone
The ancient shrine beneath Ember Gate, above a lake of molten stone
At the final chamber, Vaul Serath manifests through the Ruby Bell and demands an answer. The party can restore the old ward, destroy it, or redirect it through a new compact. The scene can become a battle against ward avatars, a negotiation requiring confession and concessions, a skill challenge to reconfigure the runes, or a betrayal in which the party gives access to Vey, Sera, Jax, or Vaul.
The Ruby Bell BelowNextThe chosen resolution reshapes Embergate immediately. The party returns to the surface to face the public consequences, or remains below to help establish the first terms of the new order.
Behind it
What people believe
The Ruby Bell beneath Embergate has rung for the first time in generations, causing every ruby lantern to flare black and sending citizens into shared nightmares.
A sealed ward beneath the district is failing, threatening a catastrophic firestorm that could consume the market, foundries, and surrounding neighborhoods. The party must investigate the disturbance, reach the ancient ward, and decide whether to restore it, destroy it, or create a new solution before midnight.
Background
For nearly four centuries, the prosperity of Embergate District has depended on the Cinderheart Compact, a hidden bargain between Crimson City’s founders and Vaul Serath, an ancient ember-spirit imprisoned beneath the district.
Vaul’s controlled heat powers the foundries, warms the rune-veined spires, and sustains the ruby lantern network. In exchange, the founders promised to preserve the spirit’s shrine and protect the residents of the old neighborhood built above its prison. Instead, city authorities buried the neighborhood beneath new foundations, falsified the historical record, and converted the compact into a system of extraction. The spirit’s pain has accumulated in the city’s collective dreams. Now the ancient Ruby Bell has rung for the first time in a century, cracking the ward and forcing the truth toward the surface.
The stakes
If the party succeeds, thousands survive, but Embergate’s political and supernatural order changes forever.
If they fail or delay too long, a firestorm consumes major portions of the district. The deeper moral stake is whether safety purchased through exploitation can be called prosperity, and whether justice can be achieved without placing innocent lives at risk.
Encounters
3The Cracked Ward
combat or negotiation
A circular chamber beneath the district, crossed by broken bridges over a shaft of orange light. Cracked rune pillars pulse with heat, suspended chains swing above the pit, and blackened lantern glass creates areas of magical darkness.
Foes
Cinderbound Sentinel
Ashglass Hounds
ComplicationThe guardians mistake anyone carrying civic sigils or forged access papers for an architect of the betrayal. If the party has uncovered the buried names, the guardians hesitate and can be calmed through testimony, runic proof, or the return of a stolen relic.
ScalingFor a smaller or weaker party, use one Cinderbound Sentinel and one Ashglass Hound, with environmental hazards occurring every few rounds. For a stronger party, add a second Sentinel and allow the ward to animate nearby statues or chains.
The Market of Borrowed Faces
combat or social
A crowded market transformed by nightmare logic. Stalls fold into corridors, ruby lanterns show false faces, incense clouds obscure movement, and frightened civilians create difficult choices during every exchange.
Foes
Dreamscorched Enforcers
The Soot-Crowned Reveler
ComplicationThe possessed enforcers are not fully controlled. A character who invokes the names of the buried residents, destroys a memory-seal, or reaches the ward’s central sigil can briefly break the possession. If the party fails to act quickly, the enforcers ignite the archive to erase the evidence.
ScalingFor a smaller party, replace the Reveler with a lesser unrest manifestation and have only two Enforcers attack at once. For a stronger party, the Reveler can create temporary duplicates from nearby dreamwalking citizens and recover strength whenever a lantern is extinguished.
The Ruby Bell Below
combat, social, or skill
A vast subterranean shrine beneath the sealed neighborhood. The Ruby Bell hangs over a lake of molten stone, ruined homes appear within the walls, and four ward anchors connect the spirit to the district’s lantern network.
Foes
Vaul Serath, Bound Ember-Spirit
Cinderheart Ward Avatars
ComplicationVaul Serath cannot be defeated by ordinary violence without triggering a firestorm. The spirit attacks anyone who attempts to seize control but can be reached through confession, a restored name ledger, the Cinder Key, or a binding proposal that includes a genuine cost for the city.
ScalingFor a smaller party, use fewer ward avatars and let each recovered piece of evidence remove one environmental hazard. For a stronger party, Vaul manifests multiple bodies across the chamber and forces the party to protect civilians above while negotiating below.
Cast
4Magistrate Elira Vey
QuestgiverQuestgiver and compromised official
WantsOfficially, Magistrate Elira Vey wants to save Embergate’s citizens and preserve the ward. Privately, she knows the city has falsified the compact and fears that public disclosure will cause riots, economic collapse, and mass casualties. She is willing to authorize memory alteration, sacrifice a few neighborhoods, and destroy evidence if she believes it will save thousands.
“The bell is not a warning. It is a verdict, and if we do not act before midnight, the entire district may burn.”
Sera Dhal
Dissident investigator and potential ally
WantsSera Dhal, a morally driven dissident and former civic archivist, wants the compact exposed and the buried neighborhood acknowledged. She seeks a controlled liberation of Vaul Serath, but grief and anger may push her toward an uncontrolled release if the authorities continue suppressing evidence.
“They called it a foundation stone, but I found names beneath it. Hundreds of them. People were not moved from the old quarter. They were sealed inside the story.”
Jax Marris
Criminal broker and possible betrayer
WantsJax Marris controls a network of smugglers, dreamwalkers, and foundry thieves. He wants to profit from the crisis and acquire the Cinder Key, a relic capable of opening or redirecting the ward. He may betray the party to whichever faction offers him protection and a place in the new order.
“I can get you beneath Ember Gate, but every door has a price. The question is whether you pay in coin, secrets, or names.”
Tavi Pell
Witness and dreamwalking survivor
WantsTavi Pell is a young incense seller who survived a shared nightmare and accidentally saw part of the buried neighborhood. Tavi wants the nightmares to stop but is terrified of the city watch and may reveal crucial information only if protected.
“I woke beneath the market with ash in my mouth, and my dead sister was singing. When I followed her voice, the walls were breathing.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Cinder Key, a powerful ember relic that can open, redirect, or seal one bound elemental mechanism
Emberglass Lantern, which reveals hidden runes, altered memories, and supernatural contracts when its flame is fed a personal secret
Ruby Bell Shard, useful as a focus for fire resistance, spirit negotiation, or future ward magic
Compact Ledger, containing the original names and terms of the Cinderheart Compact
On a win
The party reaches the Ruby Bell and makes a deliberate choice before midnight.
Restoring the ward saves the district but preserves the old injustice unless the party forces reforms. Destroying the ward frees Vaul Serath and permanently transforms Embergate into a dangerous volcanic quarter. Redirecting the ward creates a new compact that preserves controlled heat while recognizing Vaul’s personhood and restoring the buried neighborhood’s place in the city. In every successful outcome, the district is changed permanently, and the party’s reputation depends on which truth they reveal.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to reach the Ruby Bell before midnight or loses the final confrontation without establishing a new bargain.
- The ward collapses in stages. Embergate suffers a firestorm that destroys several market blocks, hundreds of residents are displaced, and the city blames the party or the dissidents depending on which evidence survives.
- The party delays too often, destroys the evidence, or hands the Cinder Key to the authorities without negotiating protections for the bound spirit and buried residents.
- The city restores the ward through emergency measures, but the buried neighborhood is erased from public memory. Survivors retain only fragmented dreams, and Magistrate Vey gains authority to impose permanent surveillance and memory control in Embergate.
- The party frees Vaul without redirecting the ward or securing a controlled outlet for the spirit’s power.
- Vaul Serath breaks free violently. The district becomes a permanent volcanic scar surrounded by unstable ember weather. The spirit survives, but its first act is to destroy the civic towers that maintained the compact.
- The party betrays one faction to another without keeping the Cinder Key, the evidence, or the final authority to choose the ward’s fate.
- A rival faction acquires the ward’s knowledge and uses it to control the district’s lanterns, foundries, and dreams. The immediate crisis ends, but Embergate becomes the center of a new criminal or revolutionary regime.
Complications (d6)
- 1A ruby lantern flares black above the party and releases a pulse of shared memory. Each character briefly sees a different version of the buried neighborhood, creating contradictory clues and attracting a supernatural guardian.
- 2Dreamwalking citizens wander into a crowded market lane and begin reenacting the final night of the buried neighborhood. Panic spreads as some identify city officials among the dream figures.
- 3A foundry pressure line ruptures, sending a wave of scalding steam through an alley. The party must choose between rescuing trapped workers and pursuing a fleeing evidence thief.
- 4The city watch seals the district and announces that the party is responsible for the bell’s ringing. Legal access to archives, foundries, and civic towers becomes difficult until the accusation is disproved.
- 5Jax Marris’s courier is found unconscious with a fragment of the Cinder Key missing. The missing fragment is now embedded in a possessed enforcer who is searching for the party.
- 6A second bell toll sounds early. One ward pillar goes dark, causing a localized firestorm in a side street and reducing the remaining time before midnight.
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