THE BELLMAKER'S TOMB
A dungeon for 3-6 characters of levels 2-4. System-agnostic, OSR-compatible.
Oskar Vane made bells. He made the carillon in the Cathedral of St. Emmund. He made the harbor bell at Portmaw, the one sailors still use to time the tides. He made seventeen other bells across the Reach, and when he was dying he asked to be buried inside the largest bell he ever cast: a bronze monster, nine feet across at the mouth, never hung, never rung. His guild obliged. They dug a hole in the hill behind his workshop, lowered the bell in mouth-up, sealed him inside with his tools, and filled in the earth.
That was sixty years ago. The hill has settled. The seal has cracked. And three expeditions have gone down into the bell in the last decade, drawn by rumors of Vane's tools (which could supposedly repair anything, even flesh) and the bronze fortune he was buried with. None of the three parties came back whole. The last one, four years ago, sent one survivor to the surface. She could not stop shaking and would not say what happened below.
The entrance is a fissure in the hillside where the earth has pulled away from the bell's lip. It smells like cold metal.
THE BELL
The dungeon is a bell, buried upside-down in the earth. The mouth faces up. The rooms are carved into the stone around the bell's exterior, connected to the bell's interior by doorways cut through the bronze wall. The central shaft, where sound would normally resonate, runs the full sixty-foot depth. The clapper still hangs from its original fitting at the top (which is now the ceiling of the shaft, since the bell is inverted), suspended on a bronze chain.
The clapper can swing. If it strikes the bell wall, it rings.
CROSS-SECTION (facing east)
~~~ ground level ~~~~~~~~~~~
// \\
// FISSURE (entry) \\
||________________________________||
|| ||
|| 1. THE LIP ||
|| : ||
||. . . . . : . . . . . . . . . .||
|| : ||
|| 2. SMALL : 3. FORGE ||
|| BELLS : ||
||. . . . . : . . . . . . . . . .||
|| : ||
|| 4. THE : 5. THE ||
|| EAR : CELL ||
||. . . . . : . . . . . . . . . .||
|| : ||
|| 6. THE MOLD ROOM ||
|| : ||
||. . . . . : . . . . . . . . . .||
|| : ||
|| 7. RESONANCE HALL ||
|| : ||
|| [===] <- clapper head ||
|| : ||
||. . . . . : . . . . . . . . . .||
|| : ||
|| 8. THE BONE SHELF ||
|| : ||
||. . . . . : . . . . . . . . . .||
|| : ||
|| 9. THE CASTING PIT ||
|| : ||
\\________/:\________//
:
(solid earth)
|| = bell wall (bronze)
: = central shaft (open air,
60' top to bottom)
[===] = clapper head (heavy bronze,
hangs on chain from ceiling)
TOP-DOWN (Level of Rooms 4 & 5)
N
|
+-------+-------+
| . |
| 4. . 5. |
| THE . THE |
| EAR . CELL |
| . |
+--[ ]--+--[ ]--+
| . |
| . |
| (central |
| shaft) |
| . |
+--[ ]--+--[ ]--+
| . |
| to 2 . to 3 |
| . |
+-------+-------+
[ ] = doorway through bronze wall
. = open to central shaft
THE CENTRAL MECHANIC: RINGING
The clapper hangs on a fifteen-foot chain in the central shaft. It is heavy (400 lbs) and does not move easily, but it can be set swinging by:
- Deliberately pushing or striking it
- Dropping something heavy (50+ lbs) onto it from above
- Combat in the Resonance Hall (Room 7), where weapon impacts on the bronze walls transmit vibration to the clapper. Each round of melee combat in Room 7, roll 1-in-6. On a 1, the clapper swings enough to ring.
- A chain reaction from the small bells in Room 2 (see that entry)
When the bell rings, all dead things in the dungeon animate for 2d6 turns. This includes:
- Oskar Vane (Room 9), who is not hostile (see his entry)
- The apprentice Pelle (Room 5), who does not know he is dead
- The dead adventurers on the Bone Shelf (Room 8): 2d4 skeletons in rusted armor, confused, trying to find the exit. One of them (roll randomly) remembers being killed by another party member and attacks that skeleton instead of the PCs.
- Any creature the party has killed since entering the dungeon
- 3d6 dead rats scattered throughout the dungeon, harmless and confused
- Anything else that has died here, at the referee's discretion
The animated dead are not undead in the clerical sense. Turn undead does not affect them. They are temporarily alive. They breathe (or try to). They feel pain. They can speak. They die again when the duration expires, and they remember nothing between ringings. Vane has been rung awake dozens of times. To him, each waking feels like the first.
The bell can ring more than once. If it rings while things are already animate, the duration resets.
RUMORS
Roll or pick when players ask around town about the tomb.
| d6 | Rumor |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vane's tools can mend anything. Broken swords, shattered bones, torn cloth. A blacksmith in Portmaw will pay 500gp for them, no questions. (True. The tools are in Room 3.) |
| 2 | The bell is cursed. It killed Vane. He was sealed inside alive and the ringing drove him mad. (False. He died of illness. He asked to be buried there.) |
| 3 | The last survivor, Marga, lives in a convent east of town. She doesn't talk about it, but she flinches at church bells. (True.) |
| 4 | There's a fortune in bronze down there. The bell alone is worth thousands if you could get it out. You can't. (True on both counts.) |
| 5 | Something lives in the shaft. Some kind of spider, but wrong. Makes the webs hum. (True. Bell spiders, Room 7.) |
| 6 | The dead walk down there. Not like zombies. They walk around and talk. One of Marga's party members came back to life and asked her for water. (True.) |
WANDERING ENCOUNTERS
Check every 2 turns. Encounter on 1-in-6.
| d6 | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1d3 resonance worms crawling through a wall crack. Drawn here by noise the party made three rooms ago. |
| 2 | A dead rat animated by a previous ringing, wandering in circles. Harmless. Dies (again) in 1d6 turns. |
| 3 | Dripping bronze. The party notices condensation on the bell wall. The drops are slightly greenish. Not dangerous, but tastes metallic and bitter. |
| 4 | Distant sound. A faint, low hum from deeper in the dungeon. No source identifiable. (It is the bell wall contracting as temperature changes. Harmless, but players won't know that.) |
| 5 | A previously cleared room has changed. Something small has been moved. A door the party left open is now closed. (A resonance worm passed through.) |
| 6 | Vibration. The floor trembles for a few seconds. The clapper sways but does not ring. This time. |
ROOM KEY
1. The Lip
The entry. A crack in the hillside, three feet wide, opens onto the interior rim of the bell's mouth. The bronze lip is green with verdigris and slippery. Below, the shaft drops sixty feet to the bottom of the bell. A knotted rope (left by a previous expedition) is tied to a root at the fissure's edge and hangs down the interior of the shaft about twenty feet, reaching the level of Rooms 2 and 3. The rope is frayed. It holds 150 lbs before snapping. Two climbers at once will break it.
From the lip, the clapper is visible below, hanging in the shaft. Bell spider webs glint in the dark between the clapper and the walls around Room 7.
A wooden piton is hammered into the bronze just below the lip. Scratched into the metal beside it: "NO LOUD NOISES. -M." (Marga's expedition.)
2. The Gallery of Small Bells
A display room. Three stone shelves along the east wall hold twenty-seven small bells, each between the size of a fist and a human head. They are Vane's early work: practice pieces, experiments, rejects. All are bronze. Most are dull and cracked. A few still ring true.
Trap. Seven of the bells are strung with fine wire connected to a bronze plate set into the wall. Pulling a bell from the shelf tugs the wire, which vibrates the plate, which resonates through the wall. Roll 1-in-6 chance that this resonance reaches the clapper and rings the great bell. A careful search (standard detection) finds the wires before they are tripped.
Treasure. Three of the bells are valuable to a collector: one has Vane's maker's mark (50gp), one produces a tone that does not fade for a full minute (100gp to a wizard or instrument maker), and one is a miniature replica of the great bell itself (150gp, or more to someone who knows the story).
3. The Forge
Vane's workshop. A cold furnace built into the stone wall. A stone workbench with bronze filings still in the cracks. Tongs, hammers, files, molds, a crucible.
Vane's Tools. In a leather roll on the workbench: a set of seven precision instruments. Three are recognizable (a jeweler's hammer, a fine chisel, a pair of calipers). Four are not, and their function is unclear without experimentation or asking Vane himself. Together, the tools can repair any broken non-magical object given an hour of work and appropriate raw materials. A broken sword re-forged with these tools is stronger than the original. A shattered bone set with these tools heals without a limp. They are worth 500gp to the right buyer, or considerably more if the party figures out what they do.
A journal page is tucked under the crucible. It reads: "The tone is wrong. Bb when it should be C. I have remade the mold three times. I think the error is in the alloy. Pelle says I am hearing things. Pelle is seventeen and has the ear of a stone."
4. The Ear
A small, domed room. The acoustics are perfect. A whisper in this room can be heard clearly. More usefully, sounds from elsewhere in the dungeon carry here. A character who sits quietly for one turn hears:
- The drip of condensation in the shaft
- The faint scratching of resonance worms in the walls below
- (If bell spiders are present in Room 7) a high, thin humming
- (If any animated dead are active) shuffling footsteps, and possibly speech
The room is empty. The dome is painted with an image of an ear, done in the simple style of a guild sign.
5. The Apprentice's Cell
A small room with a stone cot, a desk, and a stool. At the desk sits Pelle, Vane's apprentice. He is a skeleton. His hands rest on an open journal. He is not animate unless the bell has rung.
Pelle's Journal. Thirty pages. Most of it is mundane: supply lists, complaints about the food, observations about bell acoustics. The last four entries matter.
Entry 26: "Master says the bell is finished. He will not ring it. He says it is too perfect and the sound would break something. I think he is afraid of it."
Entry 27: "Master is very ill. He cannot leave his cot. He made me promise that if he dies, I am to seal myself in with him and tend the bell. I said yes because he was crying."
Entry 28: "He is dead. I have moved him to the pit. The guild will come to seal the entrance. I have food for two weeks."
Entry 29: (undated, handwriting deteriorated) "No one came."
If the bell rings: Pelle animates. He is seventeen, frightened, and does not realize he is dead. He asks if the guild has finally sent someone. He is helpful and will answer questions about the dungeon, though his information is sixty years out of date. If told he is dead or shown his own skeleton, he must save vs. spells (or WIS check) or attack whoever told him in a panic. He has the stats of a normal human (1 HD, no armor, improvised weapon 1d4). If he survives the ringing's duration, he slumps back into bones mid-sentence.
6. The Mold Room
Clay molds for bells of various sizes line the walls on wooden racks. The air is dry and smells of chalk. Most of the molds are bell-shaped, ranging from hand-sized to four feet across.
One mold, in the back corner, is human-shaped. Life-sized. It is a casting mold for a human body: arms at the sides, head slightly tilted, eyes closed. The detail is extraordinary. Individual fingers. Eyelashes in the clay.
There is no indication of who the mold depicts or why it was made. Vane, if animated and asked, says he made it "to see if he could." He will not elaborate. The mold is too fragile to move without breaking.
THE MOLD (detail)
,---.
/ o o \
| (_) |
\ - /
,--+---+--.
/ | | \
| | | |
| | | |
\ | | /
`--+ +--'
| |
| |
| |
/| |\
/ | | \
/ | | \
'---' '---'
(clay, intact, no seams)
7. The Resonance Hall
The largest room in the dungeon. The central shaft is fully exposed here: the bronze wall of the bell has openings on all sides, and the clapper hangs in the middle of the room at chest height, suspended on its chain. The chain runs up and vanishes into the dark above.
Bell spiders have built webs across the shaft here, connecting the clapper chain to the bell walls. There are 1d4+1 bell spiders in the webs. They are not aggressive unless their webs are disturbed. The webs vibrate at a constant low frequency. Walking through this room without touching a web requires a DEX check (or equivalent) for each 10 feet crossed.
If a web is broken, the vibration pattern changes and all spiders attack the nearest creature. If a creature is caught in a web and struggles, there is a 2-in-6 chance per round that the transmitted vibration swings the clapper into the wall and rings the bell.
Treasure. One spider has wrapped a previous adventurer's hand in silk. The hand still wears a gold ring (75gp) set with a small garnet.
BELL SPIDER
/ ^ \
/ /_\ \
\ | (O)(O) | /
\-+--. .--+-/
/ / |'-'| \ \
/ / | | \ \
/ ' ' \
/ / | | \ \
/ | | \
' '
Size: Large dog
Webs hum when plucked
Pale bronze coloring
8. The Bone Shelf
A low-ceilinged room, neatly organized. Against the walls: human bones, sorted by type. Skulls on one shelf. Femurs on another. Ribcages stacked. Finger bones in a clay bowl. Equipment is piled in the center: rusted swords, rotted packs, a crushed helmet, four bedrolls (one still usable), a dented lantern with no oil.
There are enough bones here for six to eight humans. They are from at least two separate expeditions, based on the equipment. Someone, or something, has sorted them after death.
(It was Vane. Each time the bell rings, he wakes, finds the new dead, and tidies them. He considers it a basic courtesy. He does not remember doing it.)
If the bell rings: 2d4 skeletons assemble themselves from the sorted bones and stand up, confused. They are not hostile. Most try to find the exit. One (roll randomly) looks at another skeleton, says "You," and attacks. The others ignore this. Stats as standard skeletons, armed with the rusted weapons from the pile.
Treasure. Buried under the equipment pile: a scroll case (waterproof, intact) containing a map of a different dungeon entirely (referee's choice, or use as a hook for the next adventure). Also: 23gp, a silver holy symbol bent in half (15gp), and a potion of healing with a cracked label that reads "FOR MARGA."
9. The Casting Pit
The bottom of the bell. The bronze curves inward here to a point. The floor is stone, cut flat, ten feet in diameter. Sitting in a bronze chair against the curved wall is Oskar Vane. He is a skeleton in a leather apron, seated upright, hands in his lap. At his feet: a wooden chest.
The clapper hangs directly above this room. Its shadow covers the chair.
Oskar Vane. Not animate unless the bell rings. When animate, he is a calm, elderly man (in his own perception). He speaks slowly. He asks three questions of anyone he meets: (1) What year is it? (2) Are his bells in the cathedral still ringing? (3) Is Pelle all right? He takes bad news with quiet resignation. He has received it many times, though he does not remember the previous times.
Vane is not hostile. He will not fight to protect the treasure. ("Take it. I certainly don't need it.") He will fight to protect his tools in Room 3 ("Those are not yours") and to protect Pelle ("He is a boy. Leave him alone.") In combat: HD 3, AC as leather, strikes with a bronze hammer for 1d6+1.
He knows everything about the dungeon's construction and will answer questions honestly. He does not know about the bell spiders or the bone shelf. He does not know the bell wakes the dead. He thinks he has been asleep.
OSKAR VANE (animated)
.---.
/ - - \
| ___ |
\_____/
____|____
/ | | \
/ | ~ | \ <- leather apron
| | | |
\ | ~ | /
\ |___| /
\_______/
| |
| |
/| |\
/ | | \
/ ' ' \
' '
Treasure. The chest is unlocked. Inside: 340gp in loose coin (mixed denominations, sixty years out of date, worth face value or more to a collector), a bronze ingot worth 50gp, a letter from the Cathedral of St. Emmund commissioning a bell that was never built (worth nothing monetarily, but a good hook), and a tuning fork made of an unknown silver metal that, when struck, produces a tone that calms any agitated creature within 30 feet for 1 round (save negates, single use per encounter, works on animals, people, and animated dead alike).
BESTIARY
Bell Spider
Pale bronze, dog-sized, eight legs with fine hairs that sense vibration. Builds webs that hum.
HD 1+1 | AC 7 [12] | Atk 1 bite (1d4 + grab) | Mv 120' (web), 60' (ground) Save F1 | Morale 7 (flees if 2+ spiders killed)
Web Grab. A bitten target must save vs. paralysis (or STR check) or be stuck in webbing. Struggling in webbing within the Resonance Hall: 2-in-6 chance per round of ringing the bell.
Vibration Sense. Cannot be surprised. Detects movement within 60' regardless of light.
Resonant Webs. The webs produce a constant low hum. Destroying a web (1 hp, fire destroys instantly) changes the pitch and alerts all spiders in the room.
Resonance Worm
Pale, eyeless, segmented, about three feet long. Burrows through stone. Drawn to sound.
RESONANCE WORM
_ _ _
/ \ / \ / \
/ \ / \ / \ ~
| o \_/ \_/ \__/
\ mouth tail
(eyeless, ~3 ft long)
HD 2 | AC 5 [14] | Atk 1 bite (1d6) | Mv 30' (burrow), 60' (ground) Save F1 | Morale 6
Sound-Drawn. Any loud noise in the dungeon (combat, bell ringing, shouting) draws 1d3 resonance worms from the surrounding earth. They arrive in 1d4 turns, chewing through the walls.
Tremorsense. Blind. Detects vibration within 30'. Completely still characters are invisible to them.
Stone Eater. Can burrow through worked stone at 30' per turn, leaving tunnels too narrow for humans. Over months, their tunnels weaken dungeon walls. Some rooms have hairline cracks from past burrowing.
DESIGN NOTES FOR THE REFEREE
The bell is the adventure. Everything else exists to create situations where the bell might ring, where the players have to decide whether to risk it ringing, or where it has already rung and they are dealing with the consequences.
The ideal session involves the bell ringing at least once, probably by accident. The players meet Pelle, or Vane, or both. They realize the dead are not enemies. Then they have to decide whether to ring the bell again on purpose (to talk to Vane about the tools, to get Pelle to guide them, to reanimate a dead party member long enough to say goodbye) knowing that it also wakes the angry skeletons and anything else they have killed.
If the bell never rings, the dungeon still works as a short crawl with some creepy empty rooms, a spider nest, and a treasure hoard. But it is a better session if the bell rings. Consider placing the entry rope so that it snaps and drops a heavy character onto the clapper chain. Consider having a bell spider cut a web strand that whips the clapper. Give the bell reasons to ring.
The treasure is modest by design. The real value is the tuning fork (a useful, non-disposable magic item) and Vane's tools (which are a narrative engine: what do the players repair? A broken bridge? A dying NPC? Themselves?). The scroll case with the map to another dungeon is a hook. Use it or don't.
Levels. Designed for levels 2-4. At level 1, the bell spiders are a serious threat and the ringing mechanic may kill the party by overwhelming them with animated dead. At level 5+, there is little danger. Adjust spider numbers and skeleton counts as needed. The real difficulty is not combat but the cascading consequences of noise.
Fin
Nikhil Saxena
Founder, Destrier Studios
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