---
title: The Drowned Belfry
subtitle: A castellan example, levels 1-2
system: ose
map: the-drowned-belfry.svg
wandering: Belfry happenings
wandering_chance: 1
wandering_die: 6
lights: Torch 6, Lantern 24, Candle 2
---

# The Drowned Belfry

A small chapel on a flooded hill. The bell rang last night, three times, and nobody has climbed the tower in forty years. This file is an example master for castellan: everything here is invented for the purpose.

## The situation

- **Sister Wenna**, a stubborn ghost, rings the bell whenever someone in the village below is about to drown. She is trying to warn them; it reads as a curse.
- A family of **bell toads** has moved into the flooded chapel and croaks in bell tones, which makes the warning hard to hear.
- The village pays 50gp to anyone who "stops the ringing". Wenna will stop if someone listens to her.

```pace
20: Reach the nave and hear the first croak
60: Find Wenna's prayer book in the vestry
100: Climb to the belfry
```

```clock
name: The tide comes in
segments: 4
note: Fill one each hour of game time. When full, the nave floods to the knee.
```

## Happenings

Roll when castellan says so, or press the table's roll button.

```perhaps
title
  Belfry happenings

output
  [event]

event
  A bell toad hops across the floor and croaks a perfect B flat.
  Water seeps up between the flagstones, ankle deep for 1d4 turns.
  The bell rings once. Everyone saves vs spells or drops what they hold.
  2d4 drowned rats swim past, fleeing something in the chapel. ^2
  A cold hand on a shoulder. Sister Wenna, trying to point upstairs.
```

```map
1: 50, 80
2: 50, 62.5
3: 22.5, 52.5
4: 80, 47.5
5: 50, 40
6: 50, 17.5
```

## Key

### 1. Porch

> The door has swollen into its frame. Through the gap, the smell of pond water and old candle wax.

Forcing the door takes a turn and makes enough noise to roll on the happenings table.

### 2. Nave

> Pews float in a foot of black water. At the far end, steps climb out of the flood toward a tower arch.

**3 bell toads** (HP 4, 3, 2) sit on the floating pews. They flee from light and croak in chorus when scared, which can be mistaken for the bell.

```statblock
name: Bell toad
tags: Small animal, any alignment
ac: 11
hp: 1d6 (3)
saves: D12 W13 P14 B15 S16
attacks: Bite (+0, 1d3)
speed: 30, swim 40
morale: 6
xp: 5
- Chorus: three or more croaking together drown out speech within 30'.
```

### 3. Vestry

Wenna's prayer book sits in a dry cupboard. Its last page lists five village names with dates; three are crossed out. The other two are the miller's children.

### 4. Flooded chapel

> Up to the waist. Something large shifts under the water near the altar.

**Old Mother Toad** (HP 14) guards a clutch of eggs. She has a silver chalice (60gp) stuck in her throat and will trade it for a quiet exit.

```statblock
name: Old Mother Toad
tags: Large animal
ac: 12
hp: 3d8 (14)
saves: D12 W13 P14 B15 S16
attacks: Tongue (+2, 1d4, pull 10') or bite (+2, 1d8)
speed: 20, swim 40
morale: 8
xp: 50
- Gulp: a pulled target that is hit by the bite next round is swallowed (1d4 per round).
```

### 5. Stair hall

The tower stair is rotten in the middle: Dexterity check or fall 10' into the nave water for 1d6.

### 6. Belfry

> Wind through the louvres. The bell hangs still. A woman in a grey habit stands beside it, soaked to the skin, holding the rope.

Sister Wenna speaks only in bell strokes: one for yes, two for no. If the party works out the warning and sends someone to the mill, she lets go of the rope and fades. The ringing stops; the village pays.