Adventure Summary: A one-session horror dungeon for four to five 8th-level characters. The party enters a newly exposed bell vault beneath a drowned cathedral, breaks a ritual that would flood every coastal grave, and decides whether to destroy, consecrate, or safely claim the Drowned Bell before sunrise.
Drowned Bell Saga: Part 4 of 4. This adventure stands alone. Previously: Beneath the Tidelocked Abbey. This concludes the Drowned Bell Saga.
Overview
At low tide, a processional gate appears in the cliff below Whitecliff. Behind it, Precentor Vael has chained the Drowned Bell above a circular vault and begun the final toll. Whether or not earlier adventures occurred, the gatekeeper explains the danger and provides a plan of the three chains.
Track Resonance from zero to four. Add one after a failed major challenge or every twenty minutes. At Resonance 2, all water is difficult terrain. At 3, the Drowned Choir gains one reaction each round. At 4, the bell rings and the final encounter begins immediately, but all three victory routes remain open.
Background
Vael was Saint Orra’s precentor and believed the abbey should command the sea rather than shelter people from it. He has gathered names, chain fragments, and floodwater into one ritual. Breaking any two of the bell’s three chains stops the toll; opening both floodgates exposes the bell to dawn; speaking Orra’s final litany can consecrate the entire vault.
Standalone hook: The coastal council offers 1,500 gp to stop the ritual. A surviving page at the entrance lists the floodgate controls, the chain weaknesses, and all five lines of Orra’s litany.
Characters
- Precentor Vael: An undead ritualist who can still be made to remember why Orra refused to ring the bell.
- Drowned Saint Orra: A protective memory that appears when the party speaks three lines of the litany or displays her reliquary.
- The Drowned Choir: A mass of named spirits bound to the gallery. Each recovered name removes one voice from the hazard.
- Bell Wraiths: Resonant spirits that move between chains and are vulnerable while a floodgate is open.
Setting
The map shows the Processional Gate, Gallery of Names, north and south floodgates, Three Chains, Drowned Choir, Bell Dais, and Saint’s Escape. The central channels are 5 feet deep and count as difficult terrain.
Each chain is AC 17 with 30 hit points, resistance to nonmagical damage, and immunity to psychic and poison damage. A character adjacent to a chain can instead make a DC 16 Athletics, Arcana, or smith’s tools check to weaken it; two successes break that chain.
Plot Outline
The party enters through the Processional Gate, recovers names in the gallery, chooses a floodgate route, crosses the Drowned Choir, disables the Three Chains, confronts Vael at the Bell Dais, and resolves the bell by destruction, consecration, or controlled removal.
1. Gallery of Names
Six plaques have been turned inward. Three DC 15 Investigation, Religion, or thieves’ tools successes restore the names and remove one Drowned Choir reaction from the finale. Each failure adds Resonance but also reveals one litany line hidden behind a plaque.
2. Two Floodgates
The party may split or choose one side. Each gate needs three DC 15 Athletics, Arcana, or thieves’ tools successes before two failures. Opening one gate suppresses Bell Wraith resistance. Opening both creates a shaft of dawn at the Bell Dais and provides one automatic victory success.
3. The Drowned Choir
The choir deals 10 (3d6) psychic damage to any creature ending its turn in the gallery, DC 15 Wisdom save for half. A restored name creates a safe 10-foot space. Three group successes using Performance, Religion, or Persuasion quiet the choir; combat can hold it back but cannot destroy it.
4. The Three Chains
Two Bell Wraiths defend the chain platforms while Vael completes the toll. Each chain can be damaged or weakened using its listed procedure. Breaking two stops the ritual. Breaking all three drops the bell onto the dais for 20 bludgeoning damage to creatures there, DC 15 Dexterity save for half, and prevents it from ever ringing again.
5. Bell Dais
Vael begins with one Wraith for each unbroken chain. The party wins by reducing him to 0 hit points, earning three DC 16 Religion or Persuasion successes with the litany, or opening both floodgates and holding the dais for three rounds. Orra appears after the third litany line and grants one automatic success. At 25 hit points, Vael stops attacking for one round and accepts proof that the named dead chose silence.
6. The Last Toll
Destroying the bell frees every spirit and leaves inert bronze. Consecrating it turns the bell into a coastal warning that rings only for natural floods. Removing its clapper creates the Dawnless Bell reward and seals the vault. All three outcomes end the threat before sunrise, save the coast, and earn the council’s payment. No later installment is required.
NPCs and Monsters
| NPC or Monster | Statistics | Key Abilities and Table Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Precentor Vael | Medium undead; AC 18, HP 132. | Tide staff +8, 2d8 + 5 cold plus 1d8 psychic. He pauses at 25 HP and can be defeated with three litany successes. |
| Drowned Choir | Large swarm of spirits; AC 15, HP 96. | Chorus +7, 4d8 psychic in a 20-foot cone. Restored names create safe spaces and three ritual successes quiet it permanently. |
| Bell Wraith | Medium undead; AC 16, HP 67. | Resonant touch +7, 3d8 + 3 thunder. It loses resistance to damage while a floodgate is open and vanishes when its chain breaks. |
| Drowned Saint Orra | Large celestial spirit; AC 15, HP 85. | She appears after three litany lines, grants one automatic success, and will not attack heroes who protect restored names. |
Rewards
- 1,500 gp from the coastal council and free passage at every harbor it governs.
- Dawnless Bell: This rare handbell can cast silence once per dawn without concentration for up to one minute. A creature that willingly enters its silence gains 8 temporary hit points, once per long rest.
Scaling the Adventure
For 7th level, reduce Vael to 110 hit points and begin with one Bell Wraith. For 9th level, give Vael two legendary resistances and add one Wraith after Resonance 3. For a shorter finale, begin with the Gallery names restored and one floodgate open. For groups avoiding mass-death imagery, describe the Choir as captured memories and the final release as returning songs to living families.
Ritual Dungeon-Themed Table Gear
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- Circular flooded-temple battle mat. Clarifies the concentric dais, water channels, and separate chain platforms.
- Metal chain-link terrain. Track which ritual chains are intact, weakened, or broken during the finale.
- Small bronze handbell prop. Present the Dawnless Bell reward and mark each Resonance increase physically.