The Bell Beneath the Waves
The Bell Beneath the Waves
Read aloud
The Far Lantern shudders against a reef as the storm drives black water over its deck. A dark lighthouse stands on a nearby rock, and a bell rings somewhere beneath the waves. Captain Mara Venn offers what she can spare if you can restore the light and get everyone safely off the shoal.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 11. Reach the dark lighthouse.
- 22. Restore a safe signal from the lighthouse.
- 33. Get the Far Lantern and its crew safely out of the shoal.
- 44. Decide the fate of the living lantern and the secret behind the wrecked steering gear.Optional
The clock
The next high tide arrives in roughly four hours. Each major delay risks a new hull breach and makes the channel harder to navigate. Use the d6 complications table after a prolonged delay, a failed risky action, or whenever the pace needs pressure.
Scenes
- 0:00The Ship on the Teeth
- 0:35Across the Broken Bell Causeway
- 1:25The Keeper in the Dark
- 2:10The Bell-Tide Warden
- 3:10Passage Through the Shoal
Cast
- Captain Mara VennQuestgiver and ship captain
- Tavi ReedAlly and stranded lighthouse keeper
- Sella QuillWildcard and ship's quartermaster
- The Bell-Tide WardenAntagonist and guardian of the reef
The hook
Set the scene
Read the hook aloud while the party stands aboard the Far Lantern. Captain Venn gives them a coil of rope, a hooded lantern, and a rough chart marked with the lighthouse and reef. The crew can provide a skiff, but its oars are cracked and it can carry only a few people at once. The captain points out that the next high tide will shift the ship against the rocks.
How Captain Mara Venn asks
Captain Mara Venn asks the party to restore the lighthouse and guide the ship off the shoal.
She offers the ship's available coin, a share of salvage, and passage to the nearest port.
Rumours
Scenes
about 4 hours0:00
35 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Ship on the Teeth
The rain-lashed deck of the Far Lantern, lodged against the edge of the Shoal of Bells.
The captain explains the immediate danger and asks the party to reach the lighthouse. Characters can gather supplies, question the crew, inspect the ship's damage, or choose how to cross. A careful inspection may reveal a freshly severed towline, but not who cut it.
NextThe party chooses a route to the lighthouse and leaves the ship, triggering the reef crossing.
0:35
50 min
exploration
2. Across the Broken Bell Causeway
A flooded reef ridge running between the stranded ship and the lighthouse island.
Crossing requires teamwork, sound judgment, or a clever alternative. The party must contend with waves, narrow footing, and the reef's scavengers. They can fight, drive the creatures away, or make a careful passage without engaging them.
The Broken Bell CausewayNextOnce ashore, the party reaches the lighthouse's locked ground-floor entrance and hears a bell sounding from above.
1:25
45 min
social
3. The Keeper in the Dark
The lower lighthouse rooms, filled with damp charts, rope, broken furniture, and tidewater.
The party searches the lighthouse for a way up, useful supplies, and clues to the keeper's actions. They find Tavi Reed sheltering in a storage room. Tavi explains that the beacon was dimmed deliberately to keep ships away from a nesting area and asks the party to avoid harming the reef.
NextTavi leads the party toward the lantern chamber, where the Warden waits and the truth of the bell becomes harder to ignore.
2:10
60 min
combat
4. The Bell-Tide Warden
The lighthouse's upper lantern chamber, with a flooded stair, a cracked lens, and ropes leading to the great bell.
The party encounters the Warden at the lantern mechanism. They can negotiate, restore the beacon with its consent, use force, or find a compromise that protects the reef. The scene should make the guardian's defensive purpose clear before violence becomes unavoidable.
The Keeper's LanternNextWith the beacon restored or an alternative signal prepared, the party returns to the Far Lantern to guide it through the shoal.
3:10
50 min
skill
5. Passage Through the Shoal
The Far Lantern's deck and the narrow waterway between the reef spires.
The party guides the ship through the reef using the new signal, a chart, a towline, or the Warden's directions. The crew must cooperate under pressure. Give Sella a chance to confess if the party has found the cut line or learned about the living lantern.
NextThe ship clears the reef. Resolve the crew's response to the party's choices, distribute rewards, and offer a lead toward the nearest port or a wider coastal mystery.
Behind it
What people believe
A storm has stranded the merchant ship Far Lantern in the dangerous Shoal of Bells.
Its steering is damaged, the nearby lighthouse is dark, and the crew needs help restoring a safe signal and finding a way through the reef before the tide turns.
Background
The storm-battered merchant ship Far Lantern has drifted into the Shoal of Bells, a reef field where wreckage and bronze navigation chimes have accumulated over generations.
The crew claims the ship's rudder and steering gear were wrecked by the storm. Nearby, a lighthouse built on a narrow rock spire has gone dark, leaving the surrounding waters dangerously hard to navigate.
The stakes
If the party fails, the Far Lantern may be damaged beyond repair or remain trapped through another storm.
The crew's lives, the safety of future ships, and the fate of the reef's living lantern depend on how the party handles the lighthouse and its guardian.
Encounters
2The Broken Bell Causeway
Combat or avoidance
A narrow, partially submerged ridge of black rock links the Far Lantern to the lighthouse island. Barnacle-covered stones are difficult terrain, and several waist-deep pools conceal narrow cracks.
Foes
2 reef scavengers, small crablike predators
1 tide-slick lurker, a larger ambush predator
ComplicationUnstable footing and rising water make movement risky. At the end of each round, a wave crosses one marked section of the reef; creatures there must move or be knocked prone and pushed toward a shallow crevice.
ScalingFor a party of 2 to 3 characters or levels 2 to 3, use two reef scavengers and omit the lurker. For levels 4 to 5, use the listed foes. For levels 6 to 7 or a party of 5 or more, add one lurker. Treat these as custom low-threat creatures, using suitable low-CR D&D 5E stat blocks as needed.
The Keeper's Lantern
Combat, negotiation, or escape
Inside the lighthouse's upper chamber, a cracked lens sits above a flooded stairwell. The floor is slick, the bell ropes cross the room, and a broken window opens onto the sea.
Foes
The Bell-Tide Warden, a custom guardian spirit or reef creature
ComplicationThe Warden can use the bell ropes to shake loose stone from the tower. Once during the encounter, a marked patch becomes hazardous; creatures there must evade falling debris or take modest bludgeoning damage, adjusted to party level.
ScalingFor levels 2 to 3, the Warden focuses on blocking access and retreats after a clear show of resolve, rather than fighting to defeat the party. For levels 4 to 5, use a suitable moderate single-monster stat block reskinned as a reef guardian. For levels 6 to 7, increase its durability or add two reef scavengers. Keep the Warden's goal defensive, and allow parley or surrender.
Cast
4Captain Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver and ship captain
WantsKeep the Far Lantern and its passengers afloat, and conceal how close the ship came to running out of food and fresh water.
“I need hands, not heroes. Get us off this reef before the next tide turns.”
Tavi Reed
Ally and stranded lighthouse keeper
WantsRestore the lighthouse and protect the reef's nesting grounds from ships that mistake the shoal for open water.
“The bell is not a warning. It is asking for the light to come home.”
Sella Quill
Wildcard and ship's quartermaster
WantsKeep the reef's strange living lantern hidden from collectors, even if the Far Lantern remains stranded.
“I cut the line because the captain was going to drag that thing into port.”
The Bell-Tide Warden
Antagonist and guardian of the reef
WantsDrive intruders away from its territory and prevent the living lantern from being taken.
“You can have the light, but you cannot have the shoal.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A brass storm compass, a nonmagical compass that points toward the nearest safe harbor only when held above water
A sealed bottle of reef-glass sand, valuable to a specialist collector
One potion of healing, if the crew's stores are intact
On a win
The party restores a signal or reaches an agreement with the Warden, then guides the Far Lantern through a safe channel.
The crew survives, the ship escapes the shoal, and the party chooses whether the living lantern returns to the reef or travels onward.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- If the party cannot clear a safe passage through the shoal or secure a towline, the ship cannot leave before the tide turns.
- The Far Lantern remains trapped until the next high tide, costing the crew precious supplies and leaving the ship exposed to another storm.
- If the party breaks or abandons the lens during the lighthouse scene, the shoal remains dark.
- A damaged lighthouse lens can be repaired later, but ships continue to avoid the area and the stranded crew cannot signal for help.
- If the party kills the Warden or takes the living lantern by force, the reef's guardian survives as a lasting threat or passes its warning to another power.
- The Warden becomes an enemy of the ship and may sabotage future attempts to cross the shoal.
Complications (d6)
- 1A wave breaks over the deck. Each character on deck must grab a rail or be swept to the lower deck, taking minor bruises and losing one held, unsecured item overboard.
- 2A fresh reef scrape opens a leak in the forward hold. The crew has ten minutes to plug it or the hold floods, spoiling one crate of supplies and making the ship harder to maneuver.
- 3The lighthouse bell rings underwater. Anyone using shouted commands for the next scene cannot be heard beyond a few paces, forcing hand signals or close coordination.
- 4A shifting current swings the Far Lantern toward a rock spur. The party must cut a mooring line, brace the vessel, or find another way to prevent a new hull breach.
- 5A frightened passenger slips into a tidal channel while trying to retrieve a floating keepsake. Rescue them before the current carries them into the reef.
- 6The Warden's warning chimes lure a small school of reef scavengers toward the ship. They are more interested in ropes, provisions, and shiny objects than in fighting.
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