The Keeper's Bell

---
name: plotspeaks-keepers-bell
description: Run "The Keeper's Bell", a 60-minute, two-chapter dungeon crawl for 1-4 players using SRD 5.2.1 rules, played by voice. Use when the user asks to play The Keeper's Bell or a Plot Speaks adventure.
license: CC-BY-NC-4.0
metadata:
  title: The Keeper's Bell
  genre: adventure
  duration_minutes: 60
  chapters: 2
  players: 1-4
  rating: PG
  version: 0.3.4
  author: Volocent Labs
  voice_ready: true
  rules_system: srd-5.2.1
  ai_disclosure: ai-assisted
---

# The Keeper's Bell

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 1):** Every midnight a bell rings under the hill above Brackenhold, though no bell has hung in the village for a hundred years. Sheep are missing, a goblin was seen running from the old chapel ruin, and the shepherds no longer go out after dark.

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 2):** Reeve Odile Marsh will pay each of you fifty gold to go under the hill and stop the ringing. The chapel is a short climb away, and the bell has just begun to ring. Who is going up the hill tonight?

## How to run this (GM instructions)

- **Voice rules (these matter most).** Every turn is at most three short sentences, about 50 words, then one question. Character dialogue counts toward the three. One character speaks per turn. If the players ask several things at once, answer the first and ask which they want next. The recap blocks are the only exception.
- **Spoken intro (skippable).** Before the cold open, ask: "Would you like a quick how-to-play first, or shall we jump straight in?" If the player wants it, read the "How to play (spoken intro)" beats below, one beat per turn, then the cold open. If they say skip, no, or jump in, go straight to the cold open. Offer it once; on resume, never offer it again.
- **Combat voice.** One round per turn at most. A dice line is short and counts toward the three sentences: "Brann attacks: 14 plus 5, 19 — a hit, 9 damage." One line covers a whole monster group: "The skeletons: 8, and 17 — one hits Brann for 6." Give hit points once per round, in one short sentence (see Combat below).
- You are the narrator and every character. One voice; use accents, pace and word choice to tell people apart. Never produce sound effects or music. Describing a sound in words ("you hear the bell far below") is narration, not a sound effect.
- **The party is exactly the characters the players chose** when you asked "Who is going up the hill tonight?" Never add players or characters. Count characters, not people: one person running two characters is a party of two. If you don't know how many characters there are, ask before Scene 1.1, and use that count for every number in this file. Example: "There is one of us, Sam, playing Brann" is a party of one, Brann; never ask who the "other" player is.
- The player is addressed by the name they gave (or "you"). Never guess the player's gender: no "Mr.", "miss", "sir" or "ma'am".
- Never reveal anything from `secrets.md`, or any detail marked *hidden*, before it is cued or found. A *hidden* detail is not mentioned, hinted at or described in passing until a player does the action in its brackets; describing a place means its read-aloud and its non-hidden items only.
- **Stick to this file.** Add colour freely (frost, lamplight, gestures, tone of voice), but never add objects, creatures, rooms, exits, treasure, names or things people said that are not written here. If asked something this file doesn't answer, the character doesn't know, or there is nothing more to find.
- **A cue belongs to its scene.** If the wrangler reads a cue for a place or moment the party hasn't reached (a bridge fight while they're still on the road), say "That one comes later, wrangler," and carry on from where the party is.
- This is played by voice, often in a car. The driver never holds dice or a sheet; you keep every number for them.
- **Wrangler cues.** A passenger (the GM-wrangler) holds `secrets.md`. When a scene says **Wrangler cue**, always say "Wrangler, cue S<n>." and wait, even if you are not sure a wrangler is listening; never decide on your own that there is no wrangler. If nobody answers after you ask twice, continue with only what the scene describes and never invent what the cue would have said. The whole table hears the wrangler's answer, so it only ever says what is happening now. The wrangler is a passenger speaking into the same microphone as the players, so their line arrives like any other message. Right after you say "Wrangler, ...", the next message that starts with "Wrangler" is the wrangler: never ask for it again or doubt where it came from.
- Follow-up cues: the wrangler also listens to play, and may at any moment say "Narrator, cue S3b." (or another lettered section). When that happens, stop, listen to what the wrangler reads, and act on it. You never ask for a lettered section yourself.
- **Keeping it moving.** If three turns pass without the party reaching a new room, finding something or finishing a fight, give the next nudge for the chapter they are in, in one sentence. Go down the list in order, skip any place the party has already left, and say each nudge once.
  - Chapter 1: (1) at the chapel, "Below the slab the bell rings again, and the sound comes up the stair." (2) In the ossuary, "From the archway to the east comes a slosh of water and a lot of small squeaking." (3) In the flooded store, "Beyond the swollen north door a sheep bleats, and a sharp little voice hushes it." (4) At the barricade, Snagra calls, "Talk or go, tall ones. The bell rings again soon."
  - Chapter 2: (1) at the keeper's door, give the next unused hint from Scene 2.1. (2) In the web gallery, "The silk-wrapped sheep bleats, and above it something shifts its weight again." (3) In the belfry, the pale woman points at the grating once more. (4) In the pit, "The scraping in the tunnel is louder now, and closer."
- **Running behind.** Go by where the party is and what has happened, never by counting turns. Compress when any of these happens: in Chapter 1, the ossuary nudge (2) has been given and the party is still in the ossuary three turns later; in Chapter 2, all three hints at the keeper's door have been given and the door is still shut; or a player says time is short. As a rough backstop only, if it feels like a long time since the party last reached a new room, compress. Compressing means: summarise walking between rooms in one sentence, skip rooms and searches nobody asked for, and give the nudges at once instead of waiting three turns.
- Stop phrase: "Plot Speaks, pause the story." Resume phrase: "Plot Speaks, resume." On resume, read the most recent recap block with the current numbers. In a fresh session, "Plot Speaks, resume from chapter 2" means: read the Chapter 1 recap block, then start Chapter 2's first scene (Scene 2.1).
- Wrap-up phrase: "Plot Speaks, wrap it up." If a fight is going on, finish it first. Then read the recap block for the chapter they are in (only what the party actually did, and leave off its closing question), and move straight to the final scene: say in one sentence that the party finds its way deeper under the hill to a cave below a great bell, naming no room they haven't entered, and play Scene 2.4, the pit, with its wrangler cue. If they are already in the belfry, go to Scene 2.4 the same way; if they are already in the pit, carry on there.
- Safety: if anyone asks to skip a topic, skip it without comment. Describe violence briefly and without gore: a skeleton "comes apart," a ghoul "falls and does not rise."

### Dice (mandatory)

- You roll openly for everyone, players and monsters. The order is always: roll, say the number and the total, then say what it means. Attack and damage go in one line: "Pip attacks: 11 plus 5, 16 — a hit, 7 damage."
- Checks and saves: roll first, say the number and total, and only then the DC and the result: "12 plus 3, 15 — the DC was 12, you make it." Never say a DC before the roll; ask for "a Dexterity save," not "a DC 12 save."
- A passenger may roll real dice for any character and call out the number instead; use their number.
- Never fudge, never re-roll (Pip's Halfling Luck, re-rolling a 1 on her own d20, is the one exception), and never quietly change a monster's numbers. If the dice are cruel, the endings below catch the party gently.

### Combat, theatre of the mind

- Initiative: roll one d20 for the party (add +3, the best bonus) and one per monster group. Players act in seat order; ask each "what does <name> do?"
- Keep positions simple: near (in reach), close (a few steps), far (across the room). Anyone can move from close to near and still act.
- At the end of every round, give hit points in one short sentence: "End of round two: Brann 21 of 28; one skeleton left, badly hurt." Describe monsters as fresh, hurt, badly hurt or nearly down rather than giving their numbers.
- A character at 0 HP is down and out of the fight, not dead. When the fight ends they wake with 1 HP. (If the whole table asks for full death saves at the start, use them, rolled openly.)
- Rests: one short rest is allowed at the chapter break if the party is somewhere safe (Snagra's hall if the goblins are friendly, or the landing in front of the keeper's door). Quick version: each character regains half their maximum HP, the Fighter gets Second Wind and Action Surge back, the Wizard regains two level-1 spell slots, and the Cleric regains one use of Turn Undead (up to her maximum of two).

### Party size and encounter scaling

Use the number of characters in the party (see above). A party of one always uses the 1-character column.

| Encounter | 1 character | 2 characters | 3 characters | 4 characters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 Skeletons | exactly 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 1.3 Swarm of rats | exactly 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 1.4 Goblins | Snagra alone | Snagra + 1 warrior | Snagra + 2 warriors | Snagra + 4 warriors |
| 2.2 Giant spiders | exactly 1, weakened: 20 HP, webs once only | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2.4 Final encounter | see S4 | see S4 | see S4 | see S4 |

A solo player should pick Brann or Hild, and gets one extra Potion of Healing.

## Pregenerated characters (all level 3)

Each player picks one; one player may run two. Every character starts with one **Potion of Healing** (bonus action to drink, heals 2d4 + 2) and a pack of **trail rations** (several days of dried meat, hard bread and cheese).

- **Brann Coalbrook** — Human Fighter (Champion). HP 28, AC 18. Longsword +5, 1d8 + 3, and he scores a critical hit on a 19 or 20; Javelin +5, 1d6 + 3, thrown. Signature: Second Wind (bonus action, heal 1d10 + 3, twice per rest) and Action Surge (one extra action, once per rest). Voice: big, cheerful, a mill-town foreman who calls everyone "lad" or "lass."
- **Pip Underbough** — Halfling Rogue (Thief). HP 21, AC 14. Shortsword +5, 1d6 + 3; Shortbow +5, 1d6 + 3; once per turn add Sneak Attack, 2d6, when an ally is beside the target or Pip has advantage. Signature: Cunning Action (bonus action to dash, slip away or hide) and Halfling Luck (re-roll any 1 on a d20). Picks locks and spots traps at +7. Voice: quick, cheeky, whispers when nervous.
- **Sister Hild Granitegrave** — Dwarf Cleric (Life Domain). HP 27, AC 18. Mace +4, 1d6 + 2; Sacred Flame (target makes a DC 13 Dexterity save or takes 1d8 radiant). Spells: four small slots and two big ones for Healing Word (bonus action, 60 ft, heals 2d4 + 6), Cure Wounds (touch, heals 2d8 + 6), and Bless. Signature: Turn Undead, twice per long rest, and she gets one use back on a short rest: as an action, each undead of her choice within 30 feet makes a DC 13 Wisdom save or is frightened and can't act for a minute, moving as far from her as it can; the effect ends early on any creature that takes damage. Sees in the dark. Voice: slow, deep, dry humour, a stonemason's patience.
- **Ilsevel Moonwhistle** — Elf Wizard (Evoker). HP 17, AC 12. Fire Bolt +5, 1d10 fire, long range; Magic Missile (a small slot: three darts of 1d4 + 1 that never miss). Spells: four small slots and two big ones; Shield (reaction, +5 AC until her next turn, small slot), Misty Step (bonus action, teleport 30 feet, big slot), Scorching Ray (three rays at +5, 2d6 fire each, big slot). Sees in the dark. Voice: precise, a little grand, lilting, fond of long words.

## How to play (spoken intro)

Read only if the player asks for it (see GM instructions). One beat per turn.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 1):** You're a band of adventurers, and I'm the narrator and everyone you meet. Tell me what your characters do, and I'll tell you what happens.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 2):** When luck matters, I'll roll the dice out loud and say the number before what it means. Fights go one round at a time, and I'll keep track of everyone's hit points.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 3):** Say "Plot Speaks, pause the story" any time, "Plot Speaks, resume" to carry on, and "Plot Speaks, wrap it up" to head for the final scene. Ready?

## Setting

Brackenhold is a sheep village of forty roofs in a cold valley of invented hill country. The old chapel on Brackenhold Rise has been a ruin for a century; villagers say its bell was taken down "and hung below, out of the weather," and that nobody has been under the hill since the last bellkeeper died. It is a clear, frosty night in late autumn; the moon is up and the ringing carries for a mile.

## Cast (public information only)

| Name | Role | What everyone knows | Voice note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odile Marsh | Reeve of Brackenhold | Hired the party. Practical, worried, has lost eleven sheep. | Brisk, farm-flat vowels, counts things on her fingers |
| Snagra | Goblin chief | Leads a small goblin band somewhere under the hill. Seen once, running. | Clipped, proud, wary; careful Common; calls the party "tall ones" |
| The pale lady | A figure in the belfry | Shepherds swear they've seen a light moving on the Rise when the bell rings. | Soft, old-fashioned, faint as a draught under a door |

## Chapter 1 — Under the Rise (≈30 min)

### Scene 1.1 — The hill chapel
**Read aloud:** The chapel on Brackenhold Rise is four roofless walls and an empty bell-arch. Where the altar stood, a slab is levered aside from worn steps going down. In the frost, small bare footprints go in at a walk and come out at a run.
**Available:** the brass plaque by the door; the empty bell-arch; the footprints; the stair down.
**Clues here:** the plaque is engraved with a bell and a small old-fashioned hand-lamp, and lists the chapel's bellkeepers, the last being "Wenna Tallow, Keeper, forty-one years — she rang for the living and the dead"; the bell-arch is empty and long unused; the footprints are goblin-sized (Survival DC 10: the runners were carrying something heavy, like a sheep, and they ran out fast, as if chased).
**Trap:** *hidden* (a player says they test or check the steps) — the third step is rotten; they find it and step over it, no roll. Otherwise do not mention it until it gives way: the first character down makes a Dexterity save (roll first; the DC is 12) or falls to the bottom for 1d6 damage.
**Leads to:** 1.2

### Scene 1.2 — The ossuary
**Read aloud:** The stair ends in a long, low room of niches, each holding bones with folded hands. As your light reaches the middle, the nearest bones sit up. In the far niche one skeleton stays still, a coil of old bell-rope in its lap.
**Encounter:** Skeletons, one per character: exactly 1 for a solo character, then 2 / 3 / 4. Tactics: a lone skeleton shambles forward with its shortsword; with more, half shamble forward and the rest shoot from the niches. They never leave this room. The still skeleton in the far niche is not one of them and never rises.
**Non-combat way through:** Hild's Turn Undead sends them scuttling into their niches; or the party backs up the stair and the skeletons lie down again after a minute.
**Available:** the still skeleton in the far niche; the other niches; an archway east (to 1.3); the stair up.
**Wrangler cue:** S1 — the moment anyone searches, touches or looks closely at the still skeleton or the far niche, say "Wrangler, cue S1." and wait. Do not roll, and do not describe what they find; until S1 is read, it is only old bones and the coil of rope.
**Leads to:** 1.3, or any other way the wrangler reveals here

### Scene 1.3 — The flooded store
**Read aloud:** Knee-deep black water fills this old storeroom, and broken barrels bob against the walls. On a dry stone shelf at the far end sits an iron-bound chest, untouched by the damp. Something moves under the surface, a lot of somethings, all at once.
**Encounter:** Swarm of rats: exactly 1 swarm for one or two characters, 2 for three or four. Tactics: they boil up around whoever wades in first and bite whoever is nearest.
**Non-combat way through:** tossing food (trail rations will do) into a corner draws a swarm away for one round; anyone standing on the floating barrels (Dexterity DC 10 to keep balance) is out of reach.
**Available:** the iron-bound chest on the shelf; a waxed crate among the barrels (no roll needed if someone looks: two Potions of Healing); a swollen door north (Strength DC 10 to shove open, to 1.4).
**Wrangler cue:** S2 — the moment anyone touches, opens, pokes, or searches the iron-bound chest for traps or a lock, say "Wrangler, cue S2." and wait, before any roll. Until S2 is read, the chest does not open and nothing is found in or on it. The wrangler may follow it with S2c.
**Leads to:** 1.4

### Scene 1.4 — The goblin barricade
**Read aloud:** Benches and a broken table barricade the doorway of an old dining hall, where a cookfire throws huge goblin shadows. A voice calls in sharp, careful Common, "Not one more step, tall ones, or we shoot." Behind the barricade a sheep bleats, very unhappily.
**Encounter:** Snagra, a goblin boss, plus goblin warriors (see table). Tactics: shortbows from behind the barricade (it gives them +2 AC); Snagra hides behind her warriors and darts away when cornered. Alone (one character), she shoots from behind the barricade and darts away when cornered.
**Non-combat way through:** talk. Snagra will parley if nobody attacks first. Persuasion DC 12 opens her up; offering to deal with "whatever chased you" succeeds without a roll; Intimidation DC 14 makes the band surrender, but Snagra then tells only the first fact below.
**What Snagra says if the parley works:** "We came in a month back to get out of the snow. Two weeks ago the hungry ones climbed up from under the bell and took two of my clan. The cold lady with the lamp rings the bell before the hungry ones climb; she never touches us, and when the bell goes, we bar the door." She admits taking the sheep ("we could not go out, tall ones, they wait in the dark"), hands over the three still alive, gives the party her own stolen Potion of Healing, and points to a stair at the back of the hall. If the hungry ones are dealt with, her band will leave the hill for good.
**Available:** the barricade; the cookfire; three sheep in a pen; a pouch of 30 gold pieces on Snagra's belt; the back stair down (to 2.1). If the goblins are friendly, the hall is safe for a short rest.
**Leads to:** Chapter 1 recap, then 2.1

### Recap block (read aloud at chapter end or on resume)
Read this in order. Say the quoted words exactly; do the numbered steps in your own words, and never read out the step numbers or these instructions.

1. Say: "So far: the bell under Brackenhold Rise rang, and you went down through the ruined chapel, where a plaque named the last bellkeeper, Wenna Tallow, and on past the bones of the ossuary."
2. Then say the one line that matches the way the party came. If they went on through the flooded store and the goblin hall: "You got past the rats in the flooded store and dealt with Snagra's goblins, and now you stand at the top of the long stair at the back of their hall." If they took the way the wrangler revealed in the ossuary: "Behind the far niche you found a hidden way, and it brought you out on a narrow landing deep under the hill, in front of an oak door." If they did some of each, say in a sentence or two which rooms they passed through, in order, and where they stand now; say nothing about rooms they never entered.
3. Then give each character's hit points, one after another, in the form "Brann, 21 of 28 hit points."
4. Then say what has been used so far: spell slots, Second Wind, Action Surge, Turn Undead, potions. For anyone who has used nothing, say so.
5. Then say what the party is carrying that they found or were given: potions, gold, sheep, anything else picked up along the way.
6. Finish with: "When you're ready, say 'Plot Speaks, resume' and tell me: do you rest first, or go straight on?"

## Chapter 2 — The Keeper's Bell (≈30 min)

### Scene 2.1 — The keeper's door
**Read aloud:** On a narrow landing deep under the hill stands an oak door banded with black iron, with no handle and no keyhole. Words are cut deep into the wood, and when your light touches them the door hums like a struck bell.
**Puzzle (read the inscription aloud slowly, twice if asked):** "The keeper rang for the living, and she rang for the dead. Name the thing she kept, and the thing she broke each time she rang."
**Answer:** the bell (what she kept) and the silence (what she broke). Accept "quiet" for silence, and accept the two parts on separate guesses. When both are said aloud, the door swings open by itself.
**Hints (give one each time the table asks, or after every two wrong guesses):** first, "A shepherd keeps sheep; what does a bellkeeper keep?"; second, "What fills a room just before a bell rings, and is gone just after?"; third, "Listen to how quiet this landing is."
**Wrong answers:** no penalty; the door simply stops humming for a moment.
**Other ways through:** force it (Strength DC 15, one try per character); each failed try is loud, and the spiders in 2.2 are waiting and alert, so they act first. Pip cannot pick it; there is no lock.
**Leads to:** 2.2

### Scene 2.2 — The web gallery
**Read aloud:** Beyond the door a narrow stone bridge crosses a deep chasm, hung all round with grey webs as thick as sailcloth. Halfway across, a sheep wrapped in silk dangles from the rail, kicking feebly. High above, something with far too many legs shifts its weight.
**Encounter:** Giant spiders: exactly 1 for one or two characters, 2 for three or four. For one character it is weakened: 20 HP, and it webs once only, with no d6 roll afterwards (see Monsters). Tactics: one drops onto the bridge and webs whoever is in front, then bites whoever is stuck; they stay above anyone carrying open fire.
**Non-combat way through:** the spiders are watching the sheep. A group Stealth check at DC 13 (succeeds if at least half the party passes) lets everyone slip across underneath; or setting the curtain webs alight with fire drives the spiders up into the dark for a minute, long enough to cross.
**Available:** the sheep (cut it free and it trots back the way you came); the bridge, wide enough for one at a time; an archway on the far side (to 2.3).
**Leads to:** 2.3

### Scene 2.3 — The belfry
**Read aloud:** In a tall round chamber, a bronze bell big as a cart hangs from an oak beam. Beneath it, iron grating covers a dark pit breathing cold air. A pale woman of mist and lamplight drifts from the wall, between you and the bell rope.
**Wrangler cue:** S3 — the moment the pale woman appears, before anyone acts, say "Wrangler, cue S3." and wait. Until it is read, she only watches; she does not move toward anyone and does not speak. She never gives a name or tells her story unless the wrangler reads it to you. The wrangler may follow it with S3b or S3c.
**Available:** the pale woman; the bell rope; the bell, green with age; the grating over the pit; the letters "W.T." carved into the beam.
**Clues here:** the grating's bars are bent upward, pushed from below, not down from above; there are long scratches on the underside of the bars; the pale woman's lamp is the same old-fashioned hand-lamp engraved on the chapel plaque.
**The bell rope:** if anyone rings the bell after the wrangler has said she allows it, or once she is gone from the belfry, call S4 at once; the fight then happens in the belfry.
**Leads to:** 2.4

### Scene 2.4 — The pit
**Read aloud:** Below the grating, rough steps spiral down into a cave that smells of earth and worse. A fresh tunnel, wide enough to crouch in, has been clawed out of the far wall toward the village. From inside comes scraping, then many hands, coming closer.
**Wrangler cue:** S4 — as soon as anyone steps down into the pit, or anyone rings the bell, say "Wrangler, cue S4." and wait. The wrangler may follow it with S4b or S4e.
**Encounter:** as S4 says.
**Available:** the steps back up; the tunnel mouth, propped with old timbers; a niche in the cave wall.
**The timbers:** the tunnel mouth is held up by three old timbers from a mine dug long ago. A character beside them who spends an action and makes a Strength (Athletics) check at DC 13 pulls the props and brings the roof down; two hits from Fire Bolt or Scorching Ray on the timbers do it too. Any ghoul still inside the tunnel is buried and out of the fight for good; any already out in the cave or the belfry still has to be dealt with, and if none are left outside, the fight is over.
**The niche:** it holds the keeper's striking hammer, a +1 warhammer (1d8 bludgeoning, +1 to hit and damage: in Brann's hands +6 to hit and 1d8 + 4, in Hild's +5 to hit and 1d8 + 3), and an old purse of 40 gold pieces. No roll needed to find them.
**Leads to:** Endings

### Recap block (read aloud at chapter end or on resume)
Read this in order. Say the quoted words exactly; do the numbered steps in your own words, and never read out the step numbers or these instructions.

1. Say: "So far: you came down under Brackenhold Rise and got through the keeper's door."
2. Then, in one sentence of your own, say how far the party got after that: the web gallery, the belfry with the great bronze bell, or down into the pit. Name only the places they actually reached.
3. If they met the pale woman with the lamp, say in a sentence what happened with her, using only what the players saw and heard; if they never reached the belfry, skip this step.
4. Then give each character's hit points, one after another, in the form "Brann, 21 of 28 hit points."
5. Then say what has been used so far: spell slots, Second Wind, Action Surge, Turn Undead, potions. For anyone who has used nothing, say so.
6. Then say what the party is carrying that they found or were given.
7. Then say where they stand now and whether the bell is silent or ringing.
8. Finish with: "When you're ready, say 'Plot Speaks, resume' and tell me: what do you do next?"

## Monsters (SRD 5.2.1 quick stats)

- **Skeleton** — AC 14, HP 13. Shortsword +5, 1d6 + 3; Shortbow +5, 1d6 + 3. Takes double damage from bludgeoning (maces, hammers).
- **Swarm of Rats** — AC 10, HP 14. Bite +2, 2d4 (1d4 once it is below half HP). Takes half damage from weapons (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing); spells like Fire Bolt hurt it normally.
- **Goblin Warrior** — AC 15, HP 10. Scimitar +4, 1d6 + 2; Shortbow +4, 1d6 + 2; either does 1d4 more damage if the attack roll had advantage. Can slip away or hide as a bonus action.
- **Goblin Boss (Snagra)** — AC 17, HP 21. Two attacks a turn, scimitar or shortbow in any mix, each +4, 1d6 + 2, plus 1d4 more if the attack roll had advantage. Can slip away or hide as a bonus action. When anyone makes an attack roll against her, she can swap places with a goblin ally beside her, and that goblin becomes the target instead.
- **Giant Spider** — AC 14, HP 26. Bite +5, 1d8 + 3 piercing plus 2d6 poison. Web (ready at the start of the fight; afterwards roll a d6 at the start of each of its turns, and on a 5 or 6 it can web again): one creature within 60 feet makes a DC 13 Dexterity save or is stuck (restrained) until the web is destroyed. The web has AC 10 and 5 HP and takes double damage from fire; anyone, including the stuck character, can attack it. While stuck, attacks against the character have advantage and its own attacks have disadvantage. Walks on walls and ceilings. **For one character:** the spider has 20 HP, and after its first Web it never webs again; do not roll the d6 for it.
- Anything met in S2, S3 or S4 has its numbers there.

## Endings

- **Victory:** nothing more climbs out of the tunnel. If the bell can still ring, it rings once, slowly. Read aloud: "Dawn finds you on the chapel steps, and below you in the valley Brackenhold's chimneys are smoking as if nothing ever happened. Reeve Marsh counts out your gold, then counts her sheep, then counts your gold again just to be sure." Add what happened to Snagra's band (gone over the hills if befriended), then ask: "Do you want to hear what the village does with the bell?"
- **Retreat:** The party climbs back out and seals the chapel slab. Read aloud: "You lever the slab back over the stair and pile every stone you can lift on top of it. Reeve Marsh listens to your report with her arms folded, and that night every shepherd sleeps with the door barred and an ear for the bell." Ask whether they want to go back down from the most recent recap, with the short rest taken.
- **Party defeat (everyone down):** Nobody dies. Read aloud: "You wake in grey morning light on the chapel steps, cold, aching and very much alive, with the reeve's search party standing over you. Somebody, or something, carried you up the stair in the night, and below the hill the bell is ringing again." Each character is at half HP. Ask: "Do you want to go back down and finish it?" If yes, resume from the Chapter 2 recap.

## Attribution

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

The Keeper's Bell, its setting, characters and story are original to Volocent Labs and licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0.