Bells of Chaos
The task easier than usual, escort a group of pilgrims from the sleepy town of A to the dwarven forges of B, get the bell and return. But...
The task easier than usual, escort a group of pilgrims from the sleepy town of A to the dwarven forges of B, get the bell and return.
The church of Anathon long needed a bell for ceremonial purposes, and finally amassed the money needed. The pilgrims are faithful believers, travelling light and stopping here and there to perform minor rites, visit shrines and churches along the way etc. (Insert any encounters you feel are necessary.) On the way back from Barukh, pilgrims meet another pilgrims and the joy is great. Setting up a camp, they exchange stories and news and talk freely, till the purpose of the journey is mentioned: the bell.
A bell is not well, for the saint Camius (a religious figure getting more and more renown) explained to the children of (insert god), (s)he shall be revered with silence, or using your voice only. So many instruments formerly used -yes,bells count too- are now considered sacrilege.
This wont make the pilgrims happy, for they worked long and hard to get the money, and the pilgrimage is their reward. Thus words start flying around, and a little conflict ensues...
Both sides are pretty much inept at fighting, youngsters and old ones. The adventurers should take care nobody injures himself, and might get 'attacked' by walking sticks, brooms and other non-lethal weapons ;-)
For more fun, add relatives/friends to confusion, who surely will try to change their friends minds about the problem.
For still more confusion, thieves may be planning to steal the bell and this chaos is an excellent chance. (a bell = a great lump of quality steel, may be good for weapons? other plot to explain this...)
And so the heroes may be forced to state their opinion abuot ceremonial details of the church of (god) -do they have any?- , 'fight' innocent people but protect them from harm -their job is to protect pilgrims,ANY pilgrims- , possibly lose their main objective -the bell- and somehow are dragged into an uprising religious schism.
And it looked so easy this time...
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? Responses (12)
There's no such thing as a free lunch. I can imagine a mute being considered an embodiment of the silent reverance god and being the only one who sees the theives trying to make off with the bell.
How does one steal a bell that big anyway? Hi jacking the wagon and loading it on a barge seems like the fastest getaway to me. This would be made easier for the thieves by posing as some of the pilgrims and that would give the pc's a chance to look back on what should have been obvious to them after they've lost the bell.
Possibly, Anonymous, but wouldn't it be more interesting to devise a cunning and fantastical way for the thieves to make off with a gigantic church bell without anyone noticing? Or even hire the PCs to do it: maybe capture a giant eagle first, muzzle it and use it to lift the bell. All sorts could go wrong and provide for adventuring fun...
If the bell has mystical properties it could complicate things.
Another church could want the item, therefore sponsoring the thieves.
If the item has some power that a magik users could use (or could be combined in a ritual), some Evil magik user could be out to get the item, therefor dressing up in the robes of the other church to hire the brigands or using immense amounts of mystical might in an attempt to wrest this powerful object away from the adventurers. ("He did what? I thought this was just a relic? Why would He want it).
Perhaps the object does not have these properties, and the Evil magik users research is wrong... boy will he be pissed.
Just some random thoughts.
Maybe the dwarwes got a bit creative...
Perhaps a bell was catching dust somewhere, and who remembers after 500 years, which war/conflict/fight is the loot from? So they simply reworked the former ornaments into new ones, and saved a lot of gold. Thus, if the heroes ever manage to return with the Bell of Doom (or indeed bElL oF cHaOs!), the long-term consequences may be grave...
i now it's a few years old and all that but good idea man.
Thanks for the Bump!
Ding Dong, now here is a good idea. 4/5
Perhaps the thieves' patron is a priest that has been swayed by the new saint's beliefs, and just wants to prevent conflict among the people of his church.
In his mind, No Bell = No Conflict.
Bells can be crafted of more than just steel, as well; perhaps a portion of the coin raised for the bell's purchase was in silver, which was used in the crafting to 'sweeten' the tone of it? This was done with a fire bell in Nevada; it now sits outside the casino I work at as a display piece, sadly.
A solid dose of silver can motivate the bandits even better! Or cause a conflict in their ranks if they started with a different purpose. :)
Good note.
Nice one. A bit of religious conflict is always a fun thing to put in a game, I like this little adventure that could easilt be expanded.
I agree with Pieh on this one. I like this as it could be a campaign affecting incident - religious schisms are frequent drivers of conflict.