All Along the Clocktower

Adventure Background

The southern reaches of the Cloakwood have always inspired the kind of stories sensible folk tell by low firelight and only once. The forest is old enough to feel deliberate. Its pines crowd the road like eavesdroppers. Its ravines keep fog long after dawn. Even the game trails seem to choose who may pass and who must turn back. Travelers moving between the Sword Coast and the inland roads have long preferred the broader trade ways, accepting the extra miles rather than testing the temper of that dark wood.

Yet the Cloakwood has never merely been wild. It is layered with older ambitions. Ruined camps, forgotten shrines, outlaw caches, and half-swallowed roads lie beneath its canopy like splinters under skin. In one of its loneliest rises, on a hill that smells faintly of cold iron after rain, stands a structure that should not exist there at all: a narrow stone clocktower, hidden from the coast and from the road, its bell audible only when the wind is wrong and the dead are listening.

That tower was built decades ago by Zarad Duskmarrow, a human wizard whose studies strayed from acceptable necromancy into the obsessive theology of recurrence. Zarad did not seek simple immortality, nor even dominion over the dead in the ordinary sense. He became consumed by a stranger question: if a moment of death could be fixed, measured, and repeated, could mortality itself be reduced to a mechanism? He believed that dying was not an ending but a pattern, and that any pattern, properly understood, could be forced to repeat.

To pursue that idea, Zarad withdrew from every academy, patron, and rival who might have stopped him. He vanished into the Cloakwood with wagons of worked stone, brass gearing, salvaged bells, and grave-stolen reagents. There he raised a clocktower whose face could scarcely be seen through the trees and whose inner workings resembled an alchemical engine more than any proper timepiece. Its pendulums were counterweighted with ossuary iron. Its escapements were etched with funerary formulae. Its bell was cast with powdered bone folded into the bronze.

The tower was never meant to mark the hours for living neighbors. It was a laboratory disguised as a monument. Every rotation of its gears measured entropy, decay, and the slipping boundary between flesh and silence. Every toll of its bell carried a pulse of necromantic force through the surrounding hills. At first the effect was minor. Vermin died and stirred again. Buried animals clawed briefly at the soil above them. Corpses interred in lonely forest graves twitched at the sound, then fell still.

For Zarad, those early signs were proof of concept.

In time he refined the mechanism until the tower did far more than disturb remains. When the bell rang at full strength, the dead nearest the tower rose as animated skeletons for several dreadful minutes. Those farther away shuddered into motion only briefly before collapsing. At the widest edge of the pulse, the effect dwindled to a tremor in old bones and a metallic taste in the air. The phenomenon behaved with the cold consistency Zarad prized. Proximity to the tower determined both the vigor of the dead and the duration of their false life.

Zarad did not work alone forever. His most promising apprentice was Ysuran Auondril, a severe and brilliant scholar who saw in the tower not merely a device, but a philosophy. Under Zarad's tutelage, Ysuran recorded formulae, observations, and speculative rites in a black-bound tome of lacquered leather and iron clasps. Much of the book reads like disciplined arcane scholarship. Much of it reads like a confession written by someone who stopped distinguishing curiosity from hunger. The tome became a secondary vessel for the tower's research, absorbing traces of the same necromantic resonance that haunted the bell. Even now, it is sensitive to nearby death, to unfinished magic, and to the tower's recurring pulse.

The partnership between master and apprentice did not survive success. Zarad grew secretive as the tower neared what he called perfection. Ysuran, whether horrified by his master's final intentions or tempted to claim the work alone, disappeared from the tower under unclear circumstances. Zarad's surviving notes are fragmented, but they suggest betrayal, a struggle in the mechanism chamber, and a final act of binding performed in desperation as the clockwork began to fail around him.

Whatever happened on that last night, Zarad died within the tower he had made. Death, however, was the one outcome he had spent years preparing to deny. Rather than passing on, his remains became fused to the engine at the heart of the clock. Brass wires were driven through bone. Necromantic seals locked spirit to skeleton. The wizard endured as a bound undead custodian, compelled to keep the tower functioning and unable to abandon the experiment that destroyed him. What remains of Zarad Duskmarrow is not calm, regal, or masterfully undead. He is frantic. The mechanism is degrading. Parts slip. The bell rings unevenly. The pulse travels farther some days and weaker on others. Zarad responds to every failure with increasing desperation, raiding his own stores for replacement parts and improvising repairs with grave fittings, scrap metal, and bone.

That decay has finally pushed the tower's curse beyond secrecy. In the deeper Cloakwood, hunters have found old burial mounds torn open from within. Woodcutters whisper that the forest falls silent just before the bell sounds. Bodies left by beast attacks have risen long enough to stagger a few steps toward the hidden hill before dropping motionless in the leaves. Some swear the dead try to move in the direction of the ringing, as though the tower were calling in debts. Others insist the bell can be felt through the ground before it is heard at all.

The local fey treat the phenomenon with wary contempt. Predators have learned to avoid fresh carrion near the tower's range. Even seasoned travelers take the longer roads rather than gamble on a path where yesterday's corpse might stand up at dusk. What was once a hidden abomination has become an active hazard to everyone crossing the forest.

The situation has grown worse for a simple reason: the clocktower is failing, and failure makes it louder. Each misaligned strike of the bell throws another necromantic shudder through the woods. Each desperate repair by Zarad risks strengthening the pulse or expanding its reach. If left unchecked, the tower may progress from briefly rousing scattered dead to sustaining them in numbers great enough to overrun the surrounding trails. Worse still, Ysuran's black tome remains within the tower, marinating in decades of deathly resonance. In the wrong hands, it would preserve not only Zarad's formulas but the principles needed to reproduce his work elsewhere.

By the time the characters become involved, the clocktower has passed from rumor into immediate danger. The party is pointed toward a hidden route through the Cloakwood, either as the quickest road inland, as the trail of local disappearances, or as the source of eerie reports about corpses that rise when a bell tolls. What waits at the end of that trail is the true heart of the adventure: a crumbling tower deep in the forest, a wizard who made himself the servant of his own machine, and a bell that keeps trying to teach the dead how to answer.

Overview

All Along the Clocktower has four primary plot points and an epilogue.

Call to Adventure: Road to the Cloakwood (20-30 minutes)

Features: roleplay, travel, foreshadowing

The adventure begins on the Sword Coast as the characters seek the quickest road inland toward the Friendly Arm Inn and safer country beyond. A local contact, survivor, or opportunistic guide points them toward an old logger's trail that cuts through the Cloakwood. Before the party commits to the route, they receive the first warning that something is wrong in the forest: a distant metallic toll, a tremor underfoot, or the brief stirring of a corpse that should remain still. This opening establishes the adventure's central mystery, puts the characters on the only practical path forward, and teaches the first crucial truth of the scenario: whatever is happening in the Cloakwood spreads outward in pulses rather than remaining fixed to a single grave site.

Part 1: Into the Cloakwood (45-60 minutes)

Features: wilderness travel, roleplay, omen-driven exploration

Once the party enters the Cloakwood, the forest itself becomes the first adversary. The trail narrows, light weakens beneath the pines, and the ringing bell becomes an intermittent intrusion that seems to reorder sound, animal behavior, and even the courage of local travelers. This section is best run as a sequence of short travel beats, each one revealing another piece of how the necromantic pulse behaves. Corpses twitch and fall still. A shaken woodsman abandons camp rather than remain for the next toll. The party may also encounter Flirf, a quickling prankster whose nuisance antics can either complicate the trek or, if handled with restraint, reward the characters with a useful direction toward the tower's hidden hill. By the end of this section, the party should understand that the tower is real, that the ringing is periodic, and that the dead are more active the deeper one goes.

Part 2: The Forest Has Opinions (45-60 minutes)

Features: fey roleplay, exploration, dark humor, clue delivery

The deeper Cloakwood is not ruled solely by fear and undeath. Old fey powers still linger beneath the boughs, and one such force intrudes on the party's journey in the form of Strombo Hairyfluff, a vain and dangerous korred who treats the tower's disturbance as a vulgar inconvenience rather than an existential threat. His stone circle offers a tonal shift without abandoning the mounting dread. Through riddling boasts, smug warnings, and bargains over hair, grooming, and pride, Strombo can confirm what the party has only begun to suspect: the tolling bell temporarily enlivens the dead, but distance from the tower weakens them until they collapse. This section gives the characters a breathing space that is never truly safe, reinforces the uncanny character of the Cloakwood, and places practical knowledge in the party's hands before the dead grow numerous.

Part 3: Hungry Wood (60 minutes)

Features: survival horror, combat, attrition, escalating danger

As the characters close on the tower, the forest stops feeling merely haunted and begins to feel predatory. Here the Cloakwood presents its hungriest faces: a murderous hangman tree disguised among its own dead and a lurking stump-born predator that attacks from concealment. These encounters are not random obstacles. They grind down confidence and resources just before the finale while showing how the forest has adapted to the tower's curse. The dead may rise briefly in the midst of battle when the bell sounds, turning already dangerous fights into chaotic reminders that the party is moving into the heart of the pulse. This section should leave the characters scraped raw, watchful, and fully aware that every step forward carries them into stronger necromantic influence.

Part 4: The Tolling Hill (20-30 minutes)

Features: approach sequence, environmental tension, discovery

In the final approach, the adventure narrows from broad forest travel to a single destination. The bell rings louder and more often. Skeletons near the hidden hill rise fully and move with eerie purpose, only to weaken when drawn farther from the source. The tower finally reveals itself above the canopy: a narrow, improbable structure of stone, brass, and stubborn blasphemy standing in a clearing ringed by old graves and scattered remains. This short section is about recognition and dread. The party reaches the tower with enough information to understand the danger but little time to prepare before the next full toll animates the dead in force.

Epilogue: The Last Bell (10-15 minutes)

Features: aftermath, roleplay, reward, campaign continuity

The adventure concludes once the party defeats Zarad Duskmarrow, disables the clock mechanism, or otherwise ends the pulse emanating from the tower. Silence returns to the forest in stages rather than all at once. Skeletons collapse into stillness. The oppressive expectation that has haunted the Cloakwood lifts. Within the tower, the characters can claim Ysuran Auondril's black tome and any other surviving notes or treasures, choosing whether to preserve, hide, or destroy dangerous knowledge. The return to the road and, ultimately, to the Friendly Arm Inn offers closure, reward, and a subtle continuation of Quentin Lorekeeper's larger interests without fully explaining his hand in events.

Adventure Hooks

Use one or more of the following hooks to bring the characters into the adventure.

Aftermath of Knee Deep. If the party is coming directly from Knee Deep, they reach the Sword Coast wet, tired, and in need of the fastest route back inland. There they meet Clive Clive, a talkative fisherman with a weathered hat, a suspicious regard for merfolk, and strong opinions about coastal travel. Clive warns that the shoreline route is slow, exposed, and plagued by raiders from the sea. He recommends an older logger's trail through the Cloakwood that reconnects with the Coast Way near the Friendly Arm Inn. Before the characters depart, Clive shares one last piece of dockside gossip: hunters have begun hearing a bell in the forest, and when it rings, even the dead get ideas.

Paid Lodgings. A neatly folded note awaits the characters at the coast, in a roadside cache, or in the hands of a messenger who seems glad to be rid of it. The message is unsigned save for a single initial: Q. It promises paid rooms, hot meals, and a quiet reunion at the Friendly Arm Inn, provided the party takes the quickest road inland rather than waste time on the longer caravan routes. The note is practical, terse, and just informed enough to be irritating. It also mentions, almost as an afterthought, that "reports of anomalous activity in the Cloakwood are likely exaggerated, though worth observing if encountered." Any character familiar with Quentin Lorekeeper can recognize the bait for what it is.

Story Award: Lorekeeper. If the party has previously dealt with Quentin Lorekeeper, they know better than to trust coincidence when his name, money, or curiosity appears near a dangerous ruin. This hook works especially well for groups already tangled in his orbit. Quentin has not asked the characters to investigate the tower directly, but he has arranged matters so they are likely to pass close enough to do so. Whether he wants the tower silenced, Ysuran's tome recovered, or simply fresh witnesses to the phenomenon is left deliberately unclear.

Missing Hunters. The party arrives near a hamlet, coaching stop, or roadside camp where several locals have recently vanished after entering the edge of the Cloakwood. Survivors tell the same story with small, frightened variations: a bell tolls somewhere in the trees, the forest goes still, and corpses that ought to lie quiet rise for a few moments before dropping again. The locals are in no condition to investigate themselves, but they can point the characters toward the logger's trail and offer food, rumors, and a modest purse in exchange for proof of what has taken their people.

Scholar's Rumor. On the road, in a dockside tavern, or over a shared campfire, the party meets a traveler who trades in fragments of strange lore. This scholar, collector, or wandering scribe speaks of a hidden tower in the Cloakwood that "marks time with death" and claims an old wizard once used it to test whether the dead could be measured like hours on a dial. The speaker is not brave enough to seek the site personally, but offers coin for a sketch of the tower, a salvaged mechanism, or a particular black-bound book said to remain inside. The rumor is colorful enough to invite skepticism, yet specific enough to become difficult to ignore once the party hears the first bell for themselves.

Estimated Duration: 20-30 minutes.

The characters leave the Sword Coast behind and take the old logger's road into the Cloakwood, expecting a hard but efficient journey back toward the Friendly Arm Inn. Instead, the road offers them the first undeniable signs that something is wrong in the forest. This section establishes the route, the tone, and the central mystery while giving the party enough information to press onward with purpose.

Story Objectives

The objective of this section is to:

• Put the characters on the logger's road and commit them to the Cloakwood route.
• Establish the contrast between the open coast and the oppressive forest interior.
• Deliver the first tolling pulse and show that the dead react to it.
• Give the party its first clue that the phenomenon grows stronger deeper inland.

Setting

Location: The Logger's Road

The logger's road is not a true road anymore, only the weathered remains of one. It begins as a narrow cut leading inland from the coast, marked by old wheel ruts, moss-sunk boundary stones, and tree stumps so old they have become part of the soil again. The track was once used to drag timber from the Cloakwood toward the shore, but years of neglect have reduced it to a rough trail wide enough for two wagons only in memory.

For a short while, the route is merely inconvenient. Salt wind still reaches the party through breaks in the trees. Gulls still cry overhead. The ground smells of wet sand and pine pitch. As the characters move farther inland, however, the coast falls away behind them. The air loses its salt and gains the smell of loam, fungus, and cold bark. The trees draw closer. Sound carries oddly. What began as a shortcut comes to feel like an old wound cut into a living forest.

Places of Interest

• The Trailhead Marker: A leaning post carved long ago with a faded logger's brand. Clive or another local uses it to mark the safest inland route.
• The Washout: A low stretch of road where spring rain and wagon wear have exposed roots, stones, and old cart fragments.
• The First Grave: A shallow, half-forgotten roadside burial marked by stacked stones and a rotten strip of cloth tied to a branch.

Environment

Lighting. Near the coast, the road is in bright daylight broken by passing cloud. Beneath the Cloakwood canopy, the route settles into dim light even by afternoon.

Weather / Climate. The day is cool and damp. The sea wind lingers at first, then fades, leaving behind still, heavy air beneath the trees. A thin mist may gather close to the ground where the road dips.

Terrain. The logger's road is uneven but passable. Mud, exposed roots, soft pine needles, and half-buried stones create occasional difficult terrain. Off the road, the undergrowth is thick and slow going.

Special Features. The road carries sound in unnatural ways. At times the party can hear branches creak at a distance with startling clarity, while nearby bird calls seem muffled or swallowed.

Introduction

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The sea stays behind you in pieces.

For the first mile, the coast still makes itself known in the hiss of wind through scrub pine and the distant crash of surf against rock. The logger's road begins as two old wagon ruts threading inland through salt-bent grass and weather-black stumps. It is no grand road, only the memory of labor pressed into the earth, half reclaimed by moss and root.

Step by step, the Sword Coast loosens its grip.

The air changes first. Salt gives way to damp bark, loam, and the green smell of things that grow where sunlight has to fight for entry. The trees thicken. Their branches knit overhead. What daylight remains turns thin and gray beneath the canopy. The road narrows until it feels less like a trail and more like permission reluctantly given.

Behind you, gulls cry over the sea. Ahead, the Cloakwood waits without a sound.

1.1 Leaving the Coast Behind

This opening scene should feel like a threshold. The party is not yet in immediate danger, but the forest should begin pressing on them almost at once. If Clive Clive or another local sent them here, this is the moment when his warnings stop sounding colorful and start sounding practical.

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"There now," Clive says, pointing with a pipe stem at the narrow road ahead. "That's your cut inland. Keep to the ruts where you can, keep your eyes out where you can't, and if you hear a bell where there ought not to be one, don't stand there arguing whose bell it is. Just decide quick whether you're walking toward trouble or away from it."

He squints toward the trees, then adds in a lower voice, "And if you see any merfolk in a pine forest, you'll know I've been right about everything."

Running the Scene

Let the characters ask questions, make marching-order decisions, and take any reasonable precautions before entering the deeper wood. This is also the best time to reinforce practical information:

• The logger's road is the fastest inland route.
• Turning back to the coast costs time and likely means losing the day.
• Locals have heard strange bells deeper in the forest.
• Whatever is happening seems recent, irregular, and tied to the interior rather than the shore.

Characters who inspect the trailhead or speak with Clive can learn more:

• DC 10 Wisdom (Survival): The road is old but still used now and then by hunters, woodcutters, and desperate travelers.
• DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): Recent tracks show several people hurried along this road in the past few days, but few signs suggest anyone camped nearby.
• DC 12 Wisdom (Insight): Clive is frightened by what he has heard, though he is trying hard to present the fear as confidence and expertise.

1.2 The Road Under the Trees

Once the party commits to the road, the journey turns from coastal travel to forest approach. Use the following description when the characters pass fully beneath the canopy.

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The road bends between two great pines and the world closes around you.The wind from the sea does not follow. It dies at your back as though checked by an unseen door. The branches overhead weave together in dark tiers, drinking the daylight until the afternoon feels closer to dusk. Needles soften your footfalls. Damp roots buckle the old wagon ruts. Here and there, broken lengths of axle wood and rusted iron hoops jut from the earth, swallowed by decades of patient growth.The forest has its own smell inside: wet bark, old leaves, mushrooms, cold stone, and the faint animal musk of things that know how to move without being seen.

Development

Allow a few minutes of exploration and table talk here. The road should feel navigable, but increasingly unwelcome. This is a good place for the party to notice the first hints that the forest is behaving strangely.

Characters watching the woods or road can make the following checks:

• DC 11 Wisdom (Perception): Birdsong is sparse, and what little the party hears seems to stop all at once from time to time.
• DC 12 Wisdom (Survival): Small animals avoid the roadbed itself, veering around it as if they dislike crossing the track.
• DC 13 Intelligence (Nature): The local stillness is unusual. This is not a forest preparing for a normal predator.

If the party pauses to investigate side trails or disturbances, they find only fragments at first: a torn bedroll strap, old campfire ash stirred by rain, and the impression that travelers have passed through more quickly than they wished.

1.3 The First Pulse Sign

This is the section's key reveal. The party should experience the bell as a physical event before fully understanding it. The scene works best if it interrupts a quiet moment on the road.

After the characters have had time to settle into the road, read the following:

Without warning, the forest goes still. Not quieter. Still.The last drip of water from a branch seems to hang in the air. A distant crow cuts off mid-call. Even the creak of your own gear feels swallowed by the trees. For one impossible heartbeat, the whole Cloakwood feels as though it is listening. Then it comes.A bell tolls somewhere far ahead. The sound is thin at first, almost delicate, but it drags a shiver through the earth beneath your boots. The note rolls through the trees in a long, metallic ache, not like a temple bell calling the faithful, but like iron striking the lid of a crypt.Something rattles in the undergrowth beside the road.

The Roadside Dead

A few paces from the road lies a half-buried humanoid skeleton in a shallow roadside grave, marked only by a loose cairn of stones and the tatters of old burial cloth. The bell's pulse animates the remains for only a few seconds at this distance, but the effect should be immediate and unnerving.

The cairn beside the road shudders. One stone slips free and tumbles into the moss. A hand thrusts upward through the needles.It is only bone, muddy and root-threaded, but it claws once at the air as if trying to remember a command. The rest of the skeleton lurches half upright, skull turning toward the deeper forest. Its jaw hangs open in a soundless plea or order. For a breath it seems ready to stand. Then the force leaves it.The bones collapse in a loose, graceless heap.

Running the Scene

Do not turn this moment into combat unless the party goes looking for one. The point is revelation, not threat. The skeleton should have just enough false life to alarm the characters, orient its attention toward the tower's direction, and prove that the phenomenon is real.

Characters who inspect the remains or the grave can learn the following:

• DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana): This was necromantic animation, but unstable and short-lived.
• DC 11 Wisdom (Medicine): The corpse is old. Whatever moved it did not create a new death; it disturbed an existing burial.
• DC 13 Wisdom (Perception): The skeleton's brief motion was directed inland, toward the source of the bell.
• DC 13 Intelligence (Religion): This resembles no ordinary haunting or lingering spirit. Something external forced movement into dead matter, then failed to sustain it.

If the party experiments by dragging the bones away from the grave or waiting for another toll, you can reinforce the adventure's central rule: the farther from the source, the weaker and shorter the animation. At this stage, the characters should suspect, but not yet fully prove, that distance matters.

Moving Forward

Once the first pulse has been witnessed, the party has every reason to continue. The logger's road remains the clearest route through the wood, and turning back now means abandoning the mystery while daylight fades.

The forest does not return to normal all at once. Sound seeps back in layers. First a drip of water. Then the whisper of branches high above. Then, at last, a single birdcall from somewhere far off, thin and uncertain. The old road stretches ahead beneath the pines, bending deeper into gray-green shadow.Whatever rang that bell lies somewhere beyond the next rise, and the road is still pointing straight at it.

Development

This section should end with the characters committed to the Cloakwood and alert to the danger ahead. They now know:

• A bell is sounding somewhere deeper in the forest.
• The toll carries a necromantic pulse.
• The dead can rise briefly even at this distance.
• The source lies farther inland along or near the logger's road.

From here, proceed to Part 1: Into the Cloakwood.

Estimated Duration: 45-60 minutes.

The characters push deeper along the logger's road and learn that the Cloakwood is not merely a backdrop to the tower's curse. It watches, reacts, and remembers. This section should feel like a slow tightening of pressure. The road remains passable, but every mile inward makes the bell more present, the forest more unnatural, and the signs of recent fear more obvious. By the end of this part, the characters should know they are moving toward something real and dangerous, and they should have a usable clue pointing them toward the hidden hill where the tower stands.

Story Objectives

• Show the increasing effect of the tolling bell as the party advances.
• Establish the Cloakwood as an active, hostile, and uncanny environment.
• Introduce Flirf as a nuisance, informant, and tonal disruption.
• Give the party practical guidance that points them deeper inland toward the tower.

Setting

Location: The Deep Logger's Road

Farther inland, the logger's road becomes a scar rather than a trail. The old wagon ruts twist around roots wider than coffins, duck beneath sagging boughs, and cross low, wet ground where the soil drinks boot prints slowly and reluctantly. The forest closes in on either side, not with the wild openness of a healthy wood, but with the oppressive intimacy of a place that has grown over old trespasses without forgiving them.

Broken stumps, moss-padded ax heads, and lengths of half-rotted chain surface now and then beside the road, reminders that this path was carved by labor and kept alive by greed. Here and there the road widens unexpectedly into old turning places where timber wagons once struggled to pass. These broader spaces now feel exposed rather than convenient, as though they were made for things to gather in.

Places of Interest

• The Woodcutter's Abandoned Camp: A hasty camp with one fire pit, split kindling, and the signs of a departure that was not orderly.
• The Hollow Stand: A stretch of road bordered by deadfall and standing pines where sound travels strangely and the bell seems closer than it should.
• The Split Cedar Crossing: A landmark tree cleaved by old lightning, where Flirf first reveals that the party is being watched.

Environment

Lighting. The canopy is dense enough that the entire section plays in dim light unless the characters carry their own illumination or the sky briefly opens above a clearing.

Terrain. The road itself remains normal terrain in most places, but roots, muddy washouts, deadfall, and moss-slick stones create intermittent difficult terrain. Leaving the road means forcing through brush, thorn, and uneven ground.

Weather and atmosphere. The air is cold, wet, and still. Mist clings close to hollows and low ground. When the bell tolls, the atmosphere becomes unnaturally motionless for a moment before the forest slowly exhales again.

Hazards. Visibility is limited off the road, sound is unreliable, and frightened travelers have left behind sharp debris, abandoned tools, and unstable campsites.

Introduction

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The old road keeps going because something once forced it to.The deeper you travel, the less it resembles a path people would choose for themselves. Roots heave through the wagon ruts like knuckles under skin. Ferns grow waist-high along the verges. Fallen branches hang half broken over the trail, dripping cold water into the mud below. The pines rise in black-green ranks on either side, so straight and so close together that they seem less like trees than columns in a ruined hall.What little daylight reaches the forest floor arrives grudgingly.Here and there you pass remnants of earlier passage: a rusted hook lodged in bark, a snapped wheel spoke, the white edge of old-cut timber nearly swallowed by moss. Each sign says the same thing in a different voice. Others came this way. None stayed long.

2.1 Travel Through the Wood

Run this section as a sequence of short travel beats. Let the party move, talk, investigate, and grow steadily less comfortable. The important result is not that they solve a puzzle, but that they accumulate proof. With every scene, the bell's influence should feel more immediate.

Beat 1: The Abandoned Camp

The first major sign of recent danger is a woodcutter's camp left in a hurry.

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Around a bend in the road, the trees loosen just enough to reveal a mean little campsite tucked against a mossy rise. A ring of stones marks a dead fire. One blanket lies half in the mud, half in the ashes. An axe has been left buried in a chopping block so deep the haft stands upright like a marker over a grave. Nearby, a pot of rainwater hangs cold above a pit that has long since gone dark. Nothing here has been packed.

What the Party Can Learn

• DC 11 Wisdom (Perception): The camp was left recently, likely within the last day or two.
• DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): No signs of a struggle are obvious, but the departure was hurried and disorganized.
• DC 13 Wisdom (Survival): Several people left the site moving deeper along the road for a short distance before one or more broke into the woods at speed.
• DC 12 Intelligence (Nature): Birds and small scavengers should have disturbed this campsite more if it had sat long in a normal forest.

If the party searches thoroughly, they find a waterskin, a few split logs, and a scrap of cloth with a charcoal note pressed into it: heard it again. not staying for the next one.

Development

This scene should reinforce the idea that sensible locals are retreating from the deeper forest. If the party lingers, describe the uneasy quiet of a place recently vacated in fear.

Beat 2: The Bell Through the Hollow Stand

After the camp, the party reaches a stretch of road where the forest seems to carry sound unevenly. This is a good place for a second pulse sign, stronger than the first but still not a full encounter.

The road narrows between ranks of old pine, each trunk straight as a spearshaft and dark with damp. Fallen logs crowd the verge in heaps silvered by fungus. Somewhere ahead, water drips at a steady pace you cannot quite place. Then the dripping stops.The trees do not move. The mist does not stir. A pressure gathers in the air, as if the whole road were drawing breath through clenched teeth.The bell tolls again. This time the sound comes harder.It strikes through the hollow stand with enough force that needles tremble loose from the branches overhead. Somewhere off the road, something dead knocks against wood, stumbles twice, and falls.

Running the Beat

The characters need not locate the animated remains unless they insist. If they search, they find the body of a long-dead deer tangled in briars, its bones freshly disturbed and now still again.

Use this beat to advance the party's understanding:

• The pulse is stronger here than it was nearer the coast.
• The bell tolls at irregular but recurring intervals.
• Not only humanoid dead respond to it.

Characters can make the following checks:

• DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana): The force animating the dead is stronger than before, though still unstable.
• DC 13 Wisdom (Perception): The sound seems to come from uphill, somewhere deeper inland.
• DC 14 Intelligence (Religion): The effect remains external rather than spiritual. This is imposed motion, not a haunted site.

Beat 3: The Split Cedar Crossing

This beat introduces Flirf. The encounter should begin as irritation, flirt with danger, and end in information if the party handles him well.

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The road crosses a shallow run of black water where old logs have been thrown down to make a crude bridge. On the far side stands a cedar split nearly to its roots by some ancient lightning strike. The trunk has grown around the wound, leaving a jagged hollow wide enough to hide a man.Something flickers through the corner of your vision. A pebble snaps off a helm, shoulder plate, or pack buckle with insulting precision. Then a voice, thin and bright as a snapped fiddle string, rings out from nowhere and everywhere at once. "Too slow. Embarrassingly slow. Is this a funeral procession, or were you all born tired?"

Flirf the Quickling

Flirf is a quickling with the manners of a wasp and the self-regard of a prince. He has been shadowing the party for several minutes, waiting for the best moment to intrude. Flirf is not loyal to the tower, nor especially invested in the dead, but he finds the current distress in the forest entertaining. He is fascinated by speed, cowardice, and how easily larger folk can be made to quarrel.

Flirf should be played as a rapid, needling nuisance rather than an immediate combatant. He darts between roots, appears atop stumps and fallen logs for half a heartbeat at a time, and steals attention the way another creature might steal coins.

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For an instant a tiny, sharp-featured figure appears atop the split cedar, all knife-grin and pale hair, dressed in leaves, scraps, and trophies stolen from slower creatures. His eyes are bright with malicious delight. Then he is gone.A heartbeat later he is crouched on a log to your left. "There you are," he says. "I was beginning to think I'd have to follow you all the way to the bell before one of you noticed me properly." And then he is gone again.

Running Flirf

Flirf wants three things:

• To unsettle the party.
• To determine which character he considers the "fastest."
• To stage some kind of contest on terms he finds amusing.

He peppers the party with insults, questions, and impossible demands. He may tug a loose strap, steal a ration, untie a bootlace, or place a pinecone inside a hood simply to prove he can. He does not begin with violence unless the characters attack first.

Use the following themes in his dialogue:

• He mocks heavy armor, solemn speech, and caution.
• He refers to the tower only as "the bell place," "the iron-smell hill," or "the tall dead clock."
• He treats the rising dead as rude but predictable.
• He is eager to see whether the party can be provoked into embarrassing themselves.

The Quickling's Challenge

After a few exchanges, Flirf demands a contest with the character he thinks most likely to rise to the bait. The contest can be physical, verbal, or performative, depending on the table, but it should be quick and strange rather than open-ended.

Possible forms include:

• A sprint from one root-mark to another while Flirf cheats constantly.
• A "duel" of thrown pebbles or hurled pinecones.
• A challenge to catch him, tag him, or predict where he will appear next.
• A contest of reaction, wit, or boastful insults.

Resolve the contest with one or two opposed checks or a brief skill challenge. Good options include Dexterity (Acrobatics), Dexterity (Sleight of Hand), Wisdom (Perception), or Charisma (Performance or Intimidation), depending on the players' approach.

Flirf does not require the party to beat him cleanly. What matters is how they behave.

If the Party Handles Flirf Well

If the party indulges the challenge, laughs at his antics, wins without cruelty, or otherwise proves interesting rather than merely hostile, Flirf rewards them with real information.

Read AloudCopy

Flirf appears upside down from a branch overhead, peering at you with exaggerated seriousness.

"Fine," he says. "Not hopeless. Slow, yes. Heavy, certainly. But not hopeless."

He points one needle-thin finger deeper into the forest. "Keep to the road until it starts smelling wrong. Not dead wrong. Iron wrong. Like rain on old nails. Then look uphill. That's where the tall one hides. That's where the bell keeps being rude."

The party gains advantage on the first check made to orient toward the tower's hill or avoid losing time on a false turn.

If the Party Handles Flirf Poorly

If the party responds with immediate brutality, bores him, or refuses all engagement, Flirf remains a problem rather than a guide.

• He steals one small, noncritical item such as a ration, waterskin, glove, or coil of cord.
• He misdirects the party toward a muddy side path, costing them time unless they succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Survival) check.
• He may return later to heckle them at a worse moment.

Even then, he still lets slip one useful detail in the course of mocking them: the bell place is uphill, and the smell of iron marks the way.

Read AloudCopy

The quickling bounds to the split cedar in a blur, balancing on the torn trunk with impossible ease."Try not to die before you get there," he chirps. "It would be dull to hear the bell and know it rang for you." He offers a theatrical bow so fast it looks like a twitch, then vanishes into the trees with a scatter of bark, laughter, and the brief impression that the forest itself has decided to grin.

Development

By the end of this section, the characters should feel that the journey has crossed from rumor into certainty. They have seen evidence of people fleeing the road, witnessed the pulse growing stronger, and met a fey creature who confirms that the tower is known to the old things of the wood.

Before moving on, make sure the party understands the following:

• The bell's influence is stronger deeper in the forest.
• The tower lies uphill, farther inland.
• An iron-like smell in the air marks the approach to its hill.
• The Cloakwood contains more than undead; fey and predators also respond to the disturbance.

From here, proceed to Part 2: The Forest Has Opinions.

Estimated Duration: 45-60 minutes.

The deeper Cloakwood does not belong solely to the dead. Ancient fey habits, insults, and vanities still shape clearings the logger's road has no right to touch. In this section, the characters discover that the forest's older powers are aware of the tower's disturbance and regard it with a mixture of irritation, mockery, and predatory curiosity. The party's most important encounter here is not a battle, but an audience with Strombo Hairyfluff, a korred who treats the tolling bell as both offense and entertainment. The scene should feel uncanny, dangerous, and darkly funny without letting go of the central dread.

Story Objectives

• Shift the tone from travel dread to fey unease without reducing the danger.
• Confirm for the party that distance from the tower weakens the animated dead.
• Introduce Strombo Hairyfluff as a capricious local power with useful information.
• Send the characters toward the tower with sharper understanding and a fresh sense that the forest itself is not on their side.

Setting

Location: Strombo's Stone Circle

The road eventually bends away from old logging ground and skirts a clearing that feels older than the path beside it. Here the trees do not merely grow. They arrange themselves. Moss climbs standing stones in deliberate patterns. Roots knot around half-buried slabs that look less like fallen markers and more like seats left vacant by invisible courtiers. The air smells of wet leaves, crushed herbs, and something mineral beneath the soil, as if old songs and older bones have both had their turn in the earth.

At the heart of the clearing lies a stone circle broken just enough to be unsettling. No two stones match in height, yet all feel placed. One leans like a listening giant. One has split and regrown through itself. One is slick with water despite the still air. The ground within the ring is cropped short, springy underfoot, and threaded with glittering strands of hair so fine they vanish unless the light catches them.

Places of Interest

• The Stone Circle: Strombo's favored audience chamber, dancing ground, and trap disguised as hospitality.
• The Hair Pool: A shallow basin of black water reflecting the canopy with impossible clarity; cut hair tossed into it does not always remain hair.
• The Singing Stones: Three leaning megaliths that hum faintly when the bell tolls, each at a slightly different pitch.

Environment

Lighting. The clearing is brighter than the surrounding road, but the light is strange and diffuse, as though filtered through green glass. Shadows remain soft and untrustworthy.

Terrain. The grass within the circle is normal terrain. The ring's edge is broken by roots, loose stones, and shallow depressions. Climbing a standing stone requires a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check due to moss and slick lichen.

Weather and atmosphere. Air in the clearing is warmer than the road outside, almost pleasant, but carries a faint static tension. When the bell tolls, the standing stones answer with a low sympathetic hum.

Hazards. Strombo's hospitality is the main hazard. Gifts, bargains, and grooming all carry consequences. Characters who treat the clearing as an ordinary campsite risk inviting insult or trickery.

3.1 Arrival at the Circle

Read AloudCopy

The logger's road narrows, bends between two slick boulders, and opens without warning into a clearing that feels staged.

Grass grows here in a soft, close carpet untouched by bramble or rot. Standing stones rise from the earth in an uneven ring, each one furred with moss and pale lichen except where smooth patches gleam like skin worn bare by countless hands. Beyond them the Cloakwood crowds close, but not too close. The trees around the clearing lean back just enough to suggest either respect or caution.

At the center of the ring sits a low stone like a stool or throne.

On it rests a pair of iron shears.

Running the Arrival

Pause here and let the party react. The clearing should register immediately as a place of significance rather than a random landmark. Characters who inspect the stones or pool can learn the following:

• DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana): The clearing carries old fey magic, layered and habitual rather than freshly cast.
• DC 12 Wisdom (Perception): Fine strands of hair catch on roots, stone edges, and the lip of the black pool.
• DC 13 Intelligence (History): Stone circles like this are often older than nearby roads and are best treated as occupied even when empty.

If the party disturbs the shears, sits on the central stone, or loudly announces themselves, Strombo appears at once. Otherwise, let him arrive on his own timetable after a tense beat or two.

3.2 Strombo Hairyfluff

Strombo is a korred of extravagant vanity, subterranean spite, and deeply local pride. He views the tower's bell as a vulgar offense to the manners of the wood, but not yet one bad enough for him to risk himself fixing it. He would much rather make use of armed mortals who have blundered into his clearing carrying all their own supplies.

Read AloudCopy

The grass at the edge of the circle ripples.

A squat, broad figure rises from the earth as if pushed upward by the roots beneath it. His beard spills in thick ropes to his knees. His hair flies around his head in a wild, shining mane threaded with twigs, flowers, and polished bits of bone. His eyes are black and bright as wet stone, and his grin shows too many square teeth for comfort.

He snatches the waiting shears from the air as though they had only been hovering there out of politeness.

"At last," he says, voice rich and rough as grinding gravel. "Someone with hands."

His gaze sweeps across your weapons, your boots, your packs, and finally your hair.

"Oh, yes. This will do."

What Strombo Wants First

Before he offers information, Strombo demands a haircut.

He does not ask for aid the way a mortal would. He treats grooming as tribute, entertainment, and test all at once. He presents the shears with elaborate dignity and expects one of the characters to trim, shape, or improve his impossible mane while he critiques their taste, courage, and manners.

This is a roleplaying challenge, not a precision barbering simulation. The point is whether the party recognizes that Strombo is dangerous, vain, and potentially useful.

The Haircut Bargain

If the party agrees to indulge Strombo, run the scene as equal parts absurdity and threat.

Read AloudCopy

Strombo settles onto the central stone with all the gravity of a king mounting a throne.

He throws his mane back, closes his eyes, and spreads his arms.

"Mind the shape," he says. "Heroic, but not desperate. Ancient, but not elderly. Dangerous, but with kindness hidden somewhere deep enough to be regrettable."

One eye opens.

"And if you make me look foolish, I will remember your skull forever."

Running the Haircut

Ask the player handling the shears how they approach the task. Reward confidence, flattery, humor, and care. The party can resolve the haircut with a group effort or one primary check supported by roleplay.

Useful checks include:

• DC 12 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand): Deliver a deft trim without obvious disaster.
• DC 12 Charisma (Performance): Turn the haircut into a flourish Strombo finds entertaining.
• DC 13 Wisdom (Insight): Read Strombo's vanity well enough to tell him what he wants to hear while cutting.
• DC 11 Intelligence (Nature): Recognize that korred hair is not quite like mortal hair and must be handled with care.

Characters who offer gifts, compliments, song, or other fey-appropriate nonsense should gain advantage on one related check at your discretion.

The Trick in the Hair

The shears are real, but Strombo's challenge carries one last bite. Hair cut from the korred does not always remain hair. Strands that fall into the black pool or onto certain marked stones may harden into thin silver wire, sprout into mossy cords, or curl into little iron ringlets worth a few coins to hedge wizards and collectors. Strombo knows this and finds mortal surprise delightful.

If the party handles the scene well, reward them with one or more of the following:

• A handful of transmuted korred hair worth 25 gp in oddments and curiosities.
• Strombo's approval, limited and conditional as it is.
• Information about the bell and the tower.

If the party blunders badly but not maliciously, Strombo becomes scathing, mocking, and difficult, but not immediately hostile.

3.3 The Bell Interrupts

At some point during or shortly after the haircut, the bell tolls again. This is the moment when Strombo confirms the pulse's rules.

Read AloudCopy

The standing stones hum.

The sound begins in the soles of your feet and climbs through the clearing a breath before the bell itself reaches your ears. Leaves go rigid on their stems. Ripples freeze across the black pool. Then the toll rolls through the circle, metallic and sour, setting every hair on your arms on edge.

Beyond the stones, somewhere in the undergrowth, a dead thing stirs and then falters.

Strombo opens one eye, annoyed more than afraid.

"There. You hear it? The tower's having another fit."

What Strombo Knows

Strombo is smug, evasive, and insulting, but he can provide the party with the clearest explanation they have yet received.

If indulged, amused, or properly flattered, he reveals the following:

• The bell wakes bones and dead flesh for a while, but not forever.
• The nearer the tower, the longer and stronger the dead remain active.
• Far from the tower, dead things rise only briefly before collapsing again.
• The tower lies uphill on a place that smells of wet iron, old lightning, and bad memory.
• The forest's older folk dislike the bell, but not enough to solve the problem themselves.

You can paraphrase Strombo freely, or use the following:

Read AloudCopy

"Too far from the tall one and they flop over again. Too much distance, not enough insult. But near the hill?" He bares his teeth in something like delight. "Near the hill they keep their manners longer. Long enough to be troublesome."

If the Party Offends Strombo

If the characters attack, mock him without wit, steal from the circle, or deliberately humiliate him, Strombo does not launch immediately into a fair fight. He is fey, not foolish.

• He sinks into the earth and vanishes.
• Hair tangles around a character's ankles or wrists, causing brief embarrassment or restraint.
• He swears to revisit the insult.

If you want a later complication, Strombo returns during a rest to shear a sleeping character patchily and artistically.

Even if angered, he still leaves the party with one cutting piece of truth: "Up the hill, iron in the air, bell in your teeth. You'll find it. It keeps shouting."

3.4 Departure from the Circle

Once the party has what they need, the clearing should begin feeling less welcoming. The path ahead is clearer now, but not safer.

Read AloudCopy

The circle seems smaller when you leave it.

The grass beyond the stones gives way to needles, mud, and root-torn earth as though you were stepping out of a story that had tolerated you only briefly. Behind you, the standing stones remain silent, but the silence feels watchful rather than empty. Ahead, the logger's road tilts upward through the dark.

The air carries a new smell now, faint but unmistakable: cold iron.

Development

By the end of this section, the characters should know more than rumor can provide. They have heard the bell disturb the standing stones, learned from a local fey source that distance weakens the undead it animates, and been pointed uphill toward the iron-scented approach to the tower's hill.

Before moving on, make sure the party understands the following:

• Strombo's clearing confirms the bell is tied to a specific place rather than the whole forest.
• The dead become stronger and remain active longer near the tower.
• The road ahead rises toward the source.
• The forest's fey inhabitants are uneasy, opportunistic, and not reliable allies.

From here, proceed to Part 3: Hungry Wood.

Estimated Duration: 60 minutes.

The road to the tower no longer feels merely haunted. It feels carnivorous. In this section, the characters enter a stretch of the Cloakwood that has learned to profit from death, panic, and the tolling bell. Predatory growths, patient ambushers, and the occasional stirring corpse turn the march into a grind of nerves and blood. The goal here is attrition with purpose. The party should arrive at the tower approach feeling tested, wary, and increasingly convinced that the forest itself has grown around the pulse like scar tissue around a wound.

Story Objectives

• Escalate the adventure from ominous travel and fey unease into direct physical danger.
• Show that the bell's influence now reaches the battlefield in meaningful ways.
• Drain party resources before the final approach without derailing pacing.
• Leave the characters battered but informed, ready to climb toward the tower.

Setting

Location: The Hungry Wood

Beyond Strombo's clearing, the logger's road begins to fail as a civilizing idea. The ruts break apart on stony rises. Trees stand closer together, their trunks draped in ragged lichen like old funeral cloth. Great roots arch from the earth in loops and cages. Deadfalls lie where they fell and have then been grown over, the forest using its own wreckage as architecture.

This part of the Cloakwood smells wrong in layers. Rot lies beneath wet bark. The iron tang Strombo described grows sharper as the road climbs, but it is joined now by stagnant water, old blood, and the sweet-sick smell of meat left too long in shade. The soundscape is worse. Now and then the party hears branches creak that do not move, or the settling rattle of bone from somewhere just out of sight.

Places of Interest

• The Gallows Thicket: A stand of trees where hanging shapes sway without wind and noose-like vines descend from the canopy.
• The Rotted Run: A narrow stretch of road between root mounds and stump clusters, ideal ground for a concealed ambush.
• The Last Rise: A slope of thin soil and exposed stone where the bell is loud enough to feel in the teeth.

Environment

Lighting. The canopy is dense, the undergrowth thick, and the air murky with suspended mist. This entire section is in dim light unless the party creates brighter illumination.

Terrain. Roots, slick leaves, fallen trunks, and hidden hollows break up movement constantly. In most encounter areas, portions of the battlefield count as difficult terrain.

Weather and atmosphere. The air is damp and chill, but unnaturally still between bell tolls. When the pulse comes, branches quiver and loose needles drift downward as if the forest itself were flinching.

Hazards. Concealment is abundant, footing is poor, and the road no longer offers reliable safety. Corpses or bones in this area can briefly animate when the bell rings.

Introduction

Read AloudCopy

The road climbs, and the forest changes with it.

The trunks here are thicker, the roots older, the shadows less interested in pretending they are only shadows. Pines rise black and straight from banks of fern and rot, while lower growth knots itself into walls of thorn, deadfall, and wet green dark. The smell of iron has sharpened until it rides every breath.

Something in this stretch of wood has learned to wait.

Not just for prey. For weakness. For the moment marching turns into stumbling, when caution frays into impatience, and when one look away becomes the invitation something hungry has been hoping for.

Even before the next bell, the road ahead looks like a mouth.

4.1 The Gallows Thicket

This encounter introduces the section's central mood: the forest has become a place where death lingers close enough to be used. The party should first see the remains before they understand what, exactly, is watching them.

Arrival

Read AloudCopy

The trees crowd close around a shallow hollow where the road narrows and dips. Here the branches reach farther over the trail, knitting together in a heavy canopy that lets in almost no light at all.

Shapes hang beneath that darkness.

At first they look like storm-broken limbs or old bundles of moss caught high in the boughs. Then one turns slowly enough for you to make out a boot. Another has ribs. Another a dangling skull wrapped in roots and vine.

Something has been hanging bodies here.

Or keeping them.

Running the Scene

The apparent corpses are real dead, suspended by creeper-vines from the canopy. Among them lurks a murderous tree-creature you can run as a modified roper, assassin vine variant, or custom "hangman tree" as preferred by your table. The important behavior is the same: it uses hanging remains and rope-like growths to disguise its threat until the party is committed.

Spotting the Danger

Before the creature attacks, the party has a chance to read the signs.

• DC 13 Wisdom (Perception): One of the hanging bodies twists against the still air in a rhythm that does not match the others.
• DC 13 Intelligence (Nature): The vine structure above the road is too organized to be natural deadfall.
• DC 14 Wisdom (Survival): Tracks near the hollow suggest something drags prey upward rather than away.

If the party succeeds on any of these checks, they are not surprised when the attack begins.

Combat Setup

Roll Initiative.

Running the Encounter

Use the road hollow as the battlefield. The party enters from the lower side of the dip, with hanging corpses overhead and root-snarled ground underfoot.

Creatures. One hangman tree or similar vine-limbed predator attacks from concealment. If the party is especially strong, add one or two animated corpses or crawling claws among the roots. If weaker, let the main creature fight alone.

Enemy Tactics. The creature lashes out with noose-like tendrils, trying to grapple isolated targets and haul them upward or into constricting reach. It attacks whoever steps deepest into the hollow first, then shifts to wounded or restrained prey. It is patient only until it strikes. After that, it fights like a thing that knows one clean snare can end the meal quickly.

Battlefield Conditions.

• The root-churned hollow is difficult terrain.
• Hanging corpses provide partial visual clutter but no meaningful cover.
• A creature pulled off its feet and dragged into roots or hanging vines may need a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to free itself if not otherwise escaping a grapple.

The Bell in Combat

If the fight lasts more than 2 rounds, or if you want a sharp mid-encounter escalation, the bell tolls.

Read AloudCopy

The whole hollow goes rigid.

Loose needles leap from the ground. The hanging bodies knock softly together. Then the bell sounds, heavy and distant and far too close all at once.

One of the corpses overhead jerks.

Its legs kick once. Its jaw snaps. For a breathless instant, something dead tries to join the fight.

When this happens, one hanging skeleton or corpse animates briefly, makes a single attack or disruptive movement, then collapses again by the end of the next round unless the party is already close enough to the tower for you to extend the effect. The point is shock and pressure, not a whole new combat.

Adjusting the Scene

• Weak: Reduce the main creature's hit points or let it miss its first grapple attempt automatically.
• Strong: Add a second brief-rising corpse during the bell pulse.
• Very Strong: Increase the number of constricting tendrils or add a smaller vine-creature among the roots.

Development

After the fight, the characters can examine the hanging remains. Most are old. A few are recent enough to sting.

• DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine): At least one body died within the last several days.
• DC 13 Intelligence (Nature): The predator has likely been feeding well thanks to traffic fleeing the deeper forest.

This should leave the party with the sense that the tower's disturbance is already reshaping local ecology.

4.2 Ambush at the Rotted Run

After the Gallows Thicket, give the party enough travel time to re-form and push on. Then strike again with a faster, meaner ambush from ground level.

Read AloudCopy

The road narrows between low root mounds and clusters of rotting stumps split by fungus and rain. Water glistens in shallow tracks beneath the moss. The air has gone quiet again, but this silence is not the listening stillness of the bell.

It is the silence of something holding itself very still.

Ahead, one stump seems broader than the rest.

Then it moves.

Running the Encounter

This ambush can be run with a camouflage predator such as a kampfult, assassin vine, mimic-like stump beast, or any appropriate low-level lurking brute. The encounter should be fast and vicious. It wants one victim separated, crushed, and dragged before the others can respond properly.

Combat Setup

Roll Initiative.

Running the Encounter

Creatures. One concealed stump-like predator attacks from among the roadside growth. If needed for challenge, add a second smaller ambusher or one pulse-risen skeleton emerging from the mud after the bell.

Enemy Tactics. The creature begins hidden, strikes a target near the front or rear of the marching order, and attempts to reel that creature into its maw or constricting body mass. It avoids the center of a prepared formation and uses stump clusters for cover and confusion.

Battlefield Conditions.

• Mossy roots and waterlogged tracks count as difficult terrain.
• The stumps provide half cover to creatures crouching or dragged behind them.
• Visibility off the road is limited by root tangles and low mist.

Spotting the Ambush

Characters who were specifically watching for danger may make one of the following checks before the creature attacks:

• DC 14 Wisdom (Perception): Notice that one stump is breathing, or at least flexing, very slightly.
• DC 13 Intelligence (Nature): Recognize that one cluster of fungal growth is wrong for a dead stump and may conceal a predator.

On a success, the party can avoid surprise.

Optional Pulse Escalation

If you want to tie this second combat more tightly to the tower, ring the bell once the party has settled into positions.

Read AloudCopy

The bell tolls like a blow struck through your skull.

Mud shivers in the wheel ruts. A scatter of pale bones near the edge of the road rattles, lifts, and assembles just enough to lunge blindly before the force that called them begins to fail.

This animated skeleton need only last a round or two. It exists to show the party that the dead no longer merely twitch here. They can intervene.

Adjusting the Scene

• Weak: Let the predator reveal itself early, losing surprise.
• Strong: Add one pulse-risen skeleton that acts for 2 rounds before collapsing.
• Very Strong: Add a second concealed ambusher flanking from the brush.

Development

This fight should feel uglier and more desperate than the first. By now the party should be spending healing, resources, or caution at a meaningful rate.

Searching the area reveals:

• Scraps of gear from prior travelers.
• Fresh scrape marks where bodies or prey were dragged off the road.
• A stronger iron smell on the uphill wind.

4.3 The Last Rise

After the ambushes, the party reaches a final stretch of climbing ground that serves as transition into the tower approach.

Read AloudCopy

The road stops pretending to be level and begins to climb in earnest.

Soil thins over stone. Roots claw across exposed rock like black fingers. The trees pull back just enough to reveal a slope rising ahead through gray mist and hanging branch-shadow. The iron smell is strong now, sharp enough to catch in the throat.

Then the bell tolls again.

This time the sound does not merely pass through the forest.

It seems to strike up from beneath your boots.

Ahead on the slope, a skeleton half-buried in leaves rises cleanly to its feet. It turns not toward you, but uphill, as if answering a summons. It takes several stiff steps with eerie purpose before faltering when it strays from the line of the pull.

At the top of the rise, something narrow and impossible shows for an instant between the trees.

Stone. Height. A Tower.

Development

This section should end with the party bloodied, alert, and staring at proof that the tower is close. They now know:

• The bell's pulse has become strong enough to animate the dead during combat.
• Predators in this stretch of forest have adapted to the fear and movement the tower creates.
• The road is climbing directly toward the source.
• The tower itself can now be glimpsed through the trees.

From here, proceed to Part 4: The Tolling Hill.

Estimated Duration: 20-30 minutes.

The characters reach the hill beneath the hidden clocktower just as the bell's influence becomes strongest. This section should feel like culmination rather than mere arrival. The tower is real, the dead are more responsive than ever, and the party finally confronts the engine of the entire adventure: Zarad Duskmarrow, bound to his failing mechanism and desperate to keep it running long enough to prove his madness was meaningful.

Story Objectives

• Reveal the tower fully and show the bell's pulse at maximum local strength.
• Force the party to survive or outmaneuver a final wave of rising dead.
• Confront Zarad Duskmarrow and the clock mechanism that sustains him.
• Give the characters the means to stop the pulse and claim the tower's secrets.

Setting

Location: The Tolling Hill and Clocktower Clearing

The hill rises above the surrounding forest in a bald, stone-backed swell where the Cloakwood seems reluctant to grow. Pines cling to its lower slope, but the upper ground gives way to exposed roots, wet shale, and grave-pocked soil that smells of rust and rain even under a dry sky. The tower stands in a clearing hacked out of both earth and reason: a narrow shaft of dark stone veined with brass fittings, crooked gutters, cracked clock faces, and external pipes that carry no water anyone should trust.

Around the tower lie old graves, collapsed cairns, scavenged bones, and half-finished repair piles of metal, timber, and coffin wood. It looks less like a wizard's sanctum than a workshop built inside a cemetery by someone who lost patience with the distinction.

Places of Interest

• The Grave Ring: A scatter of old burials and uprooted bones surrounding the tower clearing.
• The Mechanism Yard: A clutter of broken gears, bell parts, rope, timber braces, and improvised repair materials around the tower's base.
• The Tower Door: A reinforced stone-and-iron entry set beneath the clock chamber, vibrating faintly whenever the bell prepares to toll.

Environment

Lighting. The hilltop is open enough for gray daylight to reach the ground, though mist and drifting pine shadow keep the scene bleak.

Terrain. The slope is uneven and slick with shale, roots, and loose stones. The clearing around the tower contains scattered grave markers, low cairns, broken repair heaps, and open patches of churned earth.

Weather and atmosphere. The air is colder here than anywhere else on the road. It tastes metallic. Each approaching toll builds as pressure in the jaw and ears before the sound arrives.

Hazards. The dead rise more readily on this hill. Loose stone, grave pits, and scrap machinery create obstacles and sudden cover, but also tripping hazards and unstable footing.

5.1 The Tower Revealed

Read AloudCopy

The trees finally give up their concealment.

The slope ahead rises into bare, wet stone and thin grass, climbing toward a clearing where the earth looks torn open and used too many times. Broken cairns hunch from the soil. Half-buried bones show white through the mud. Brass fittings gleam from heaps of scrap and timber piled around the base of something impossibly tall.

The clocktower stands above it all.

It is too narrow for its height, too severe for a place so deep in the wood, and too complicated to be mistaken for a ruin built by ordinary hands. Its stone walls are ribbed with iron braces and green-bright brass. One cracked clock face stares blankly through the mist. Somewhere high above, inside the tower's dark upper chamber, something heavy shifts against strained metal.

The bell is about to ring.

Running the Arrival

Give the characters a brief moment to take in the clearing, choose approach, and notice how much more aggressive the necromantic influence feels here.

Characters can make the following checks:

• DC 12 Wisdom (Perception): Several skeletons or partial remains lie in positions that suggest they may rise the next time the bell tolls.
• DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana): The pulse here is significantly stronger than anything the party has yet experienced.
• DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): The repair heaps around the tower include coffin nails, broken chain, grave iron, and fresh scavenged materials, implying ongoing maintenance.

5.2 The Bell and the Rising Dead

The party should not have long to prepare. Once they commit to the clearing, trigger the tower's strongest toll yet.

Read AloudCopy

The pressure in your teeth becomes pain. Every scrap of brass on the tower shivers. A low groan runs up through the hill as if the earth itself were being wound too tight. Then the bell sounds, deep and ruined and enormous, its note spilling through the clearing like a command too old to be refused.

The graves answer. Hands burst from mud. Skeletons wrench themselves from collapsed cairns. A skull rolls from beneath a broken marker, snaps toward the tower, and drags the rest of itself after it with frantic purpose. Bones that only twitched on the road now rise cleanly here, animated with ugly intention.

For the first time since entering the Cloakwood, the dead do not look temporary.

Combat Setup

Roll Initiative.

Running the Encounter

This fight should begin as a set-piece skirmish with a small horde of skeletons or similar low-tier undead emerging from the grave ring while the party orients to the tower and the mechanism.

Creatures. Use a number of skeletons appropriate for the party, with one or two sturdier undead if needed for challenge. Their purpose is to pressure, divide, and delay rather than to be the true mastermind of the encounter.

Enemy Tactics. The skeletons focus on driving the party away from the tower door or pinning them among grave markers and scrap piles. They move with more coordination near the tower than undead this simple should possess, suggesting the bell is giving them structure as well as animation.

Battlefield Conditions.

• Open graves and broken cairns count as difficult terrain.
• Repair heaps provide half cover.
• Creatures shoved across loose shale on the slope must succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.

Weakening the Dead

By now the party should understand the adventure's core rule. You can reward smart play here:

• If characters lure skeletons away from the tower's center, describe their movements growing jerky and less coordinated.
• A skeleton dragged or forced far enough downslope may lose hit points, suffer disadvantage, or collapse outright at your discretion.

This is not meant to trivialize the fight, only to pay off what the players have learned.

Development

Once the party has weathered the first clash or fought into the yard around the tower, reveal the true architect of the scene.

5.3 Zarad in the Mechanism Yard

When the characters press toward the tower, Zarad Duskmarrow appears among the machinery or at the tower threshold.

Read AloudCopy

One skeleton rises last. It pulls itself not from a grave, but from behind a heap of split timber and cracked brass, as if it had been kneeling at its work until interrupted. Unlike the others, it wears remnants of a once-fine robe beneath belts of tools, wire, and iron braces. Brass rods have been pinned through bone. Clockwork plates cage its ribs. One hand ends in hooked metal fingers dark with oil and grave dirt.

Blue-white light burns in its eye sockets, feverish rather than regal. It looks first to the tower, then to the mechanism at its side, and only then to you.

"No," it rasps, with the anger of a man interrupted mid-surgery. "No, no, no. Not now. It is almost stable."

The thing that was once Zarad Duskmarrow bares its teeth. "You are standing in the middle of a proof."

Running Zarad

Zarad is not a cackling villain in the ordinary sense. He is frantic, exhausted, and wholly convinced that every interruption is sabotage. He wants the mechanism protected, the bell stabilized, and the party removed. If they speak first, he answers with contempt, urgency, and the assumption that they are too ignorant to understand his work.

He should treat the clock mechanism as valuable even while using it recklessly.

What Zarad Wants

If the party attempts parley, Zarad reveals enough to sharpen the stakes:

• He believes the bell has nearly achieved a reliable repetition of death's moment.
• He insists the instability is temporary and repairable.
• He regards the party as vandals, thieves, or frightened provincial fools.
• He cannot accept shutting the mechanism down voluntarily.

Final Confrontation

The climax of this section should have two viable targets:

• Zarad Duskmarrow
• The clock mechanism

The party can win by destroying or disabling the mechanism, defeating Zarad directly, or both. If the mechanism fails first, Zarad becomes weaker, erratic, or begins to unravel. If Zarad falls first, the mechanism still threatens to toll again unless the party deals with it.

Combat Setup

Roll Initiative if combat has not already resumed.

Running the Encounter

Creatures. Zarad Duskmarrow fights as a bound skeletal spellcaster, necromancer, or custom undead engineer suitable for the party's level. Any remaining skeletons support him until the mechanism begins to fail.

Enemy Tactics. Zarad uses the yard's debris and the tower door for cover while trying to buy time for one more toll. He commands nearby skeletons to screen him, lashes out with necromantic or force effects, and spends actions adjusting, shielding, or reactivating parts of the mechanism if given the chance. He does not retreat from the hill. He is too bound to it.

Battlefield Conditions.

• The mechanism can be attacked, sabotaged, or disabled with successful checks such as Intelligence (Arcana), Dexterity (Thieves' Tools), or raw damage, as appropriate to party approach.
• At initiative count 20, if the mechanism is still active, it may emit a smaller pulse: one skeleton regains footing, an inert corpse stirs, or every creature near the tower feels the bell's pressure.
• If the mechanism is critically damaged, sparks, bone dust, and fragments of brass spray the immediate area.

Disabling the Mechanism

Characters can attempt to stop the pulse through means other than brute force.

Possible options include:

• Jamming the gearing with scrap or weapons.
• Severing necromantic conduits of brass wire and bone.
• Smashing the bell supports or escapement.
• Countering the pulse with magic or holy force.

Use a short skill challenge or a few successful actions to reward clever play. Once the mechanism fails, read the following:

Read AloudCopy

The next toll does not ring cleanly.

Something in the tower above catches, shrieks, and slips. The sound that follows is less a bell than a metal scream dragged through a crypt. Blue light gutters through Zarad's bindings. Skeletons across the clearing jerk out of step.

For the first time, the hill feels uncertain.

Victory

When Zarad is defeated and the mechanism is disabled, the dead collapse in stages rather than all at once. The clearing exhales.

Read AloudCopy

The bell falls silent. Not because the sound fades, but because something at its heart has finally stopped trying. One by one, the skeletons lose their borrowed insistence and come apart into ordinary remains. The air sheds its metallic pressure. Even the tower seems to sag, as if some stubborn tension has gone out of its stone. For the first time since the road left the sea behind, the forest feels like it belongs to itself again.

5.4 Inside the Tower

Once the yard is secure, the party can make a short exploration of the interior.

Inside, they find:

• Zarad's failing mechanism chamber, hot with friction and cold with necromantic residue.
• Repair notes, sketches, and bound formulae.
• Ysuran Auondril's black tome, hidden or protected among the tower's inner stores.
• Any adventure treasure or clues you want to seed forward.

The interior should feel like payoff, not a separate dungeon. Keep it short and focused.

Development

This section should end with the adventure's central threat resolved and the path cleared for the epilogue. The party has:

• Reached the tower.
• Survived the strongest pulse.
• Defeated Zarad or broken the mechanism that sustained him.
• Claimed the tower's secrets, including Ysuran's black tome if they choose.

From here, proceed to Epilogue: The Last Bell.

Estimated Duration: 10-15 minutes.

Once the mechanism fails and Zarad Duskmarrow is destroyed or unraveled, the Cloakwood begins the slow work of becoming merely dangerous again instead of unnaturally obedient to a bell. This epilogue should give the players a breath after the pressure of the hill, resolve the immediate consequences of their victory, and place Ysuran's black tome and Quentin's shadowy interest back into the foreground as future complications.

Story Objectives

• Show the pulse ending in visible, satisfying stages.
• Let the party decide what to do with Ysuran Auondril's black tome and any surviving notes.
• Return the characters to the road with a sense of earned release.
• Seed continuity through Quentin Lorekeeper, paid lodgings, or rumors of what was recovered.

Setting

Location: The Silent Hill and the Road Beyond

The epilogue begins in the tower clearing and follows the party back down from the hill into a forest that is no longer holding its breath. The change is not immediate, but it is unmistakable. Sound returns. The cold iron taste leaves the air. The hill ceases to feel like the center of a command and becomes once more a bad place in the woods where something terrible happened.

Environment

Current State. The tower is damaged, quiet, and no longer driving the dead. The clearing is littered with broken brass, collapsed skeletons, splintered grave markers, and the stillness of spent magic.

Witnesses / Survivors. No crowds await the party here, but the forest itself reacts. Birds eventually return. Insects begin to stir. If Flirf or Strombo have taken an interest in the party, one or the other may observe the aftermath from a safe and smug distance.

Immediate Concerns. The tower may contain unstable notes, salvageable treasures, and dangerous research. The characters must decide what to take, what to destroy, and what should never travel the road again.

Resolution

Read AloudCopy

Silence settles over the hill in layers.

First the bell stops trying to ring. Then the brass shiver leaves the tower walls. Then, little by little, the clearing loosens its grip on the dead. Skeletons lie where they fell, no longer straining uphill. The open graves become only graves again. The cold iron taste in the air thins until all that remains is rain, mud, stone, and pine.

From the forest below comes a sound you have not heard cleanly since entering the Cloakwood.

A birdcall.

Thin at first. Then another answers it.

The wood is not healed. But it is no longer listening for orders.

Let the party take whatever final actions they wish in the tower and clearing. This is the right time for:

• Recovering Ysuran's black tome.
• Reading fragments of Zarad's notes.
• Deciding whether to destroy or preserve the mechanism's remains.
• Searching the clearing for salvage and treasure.

If the party previously amused or impressed Flirf, he may reappear at a distance to announce, with irritating satisfaction, that they were "less slow than expected." If Strombo was pleased, the standing stones may hum once on the downhill wind, which is as close to blessing as he is likely to offer.

Rewards and Fallout

• Treasure: Award whatever coin, salvage, consumables, or odd magical components were seeded in the tower and clearing. Zarad's repair materials alone can justify a modest haul in brass, alchemical stock, and scrap of value.
• Ysuran's Black Tome: The tome is the adventure's most dangerous prize. It can serve as story treasure, research bait, a future quest object, or something the party decides must never leave the Cloakwood intact.
• Story Rewards: The party becomes the group that silenced the bell in the Cloakwood. Hunters, travelers, and roadside folk may never know every detail, but rumors of the deed spread.
• Consequences: If the party leaves the tome in careless hands, preserves too much of Zarad's work, or fails to fully disable the mechanism, the adventure's horror can echo forward.

6.1 Return to the Road

Read AloudCopy

The descent from the hill feels longer than the climb.

Not because the road worsens, but because the forest around it has changed. The stillness is gone. Needles whisper underfoot. Somewhere far off, water moves over stone. The Cloakwood remains dark, old, and full of things better left unnamed, but it no longer feels gathered around a single wound.

When you look back through the trees, the tower is only a shape among branches and mist.

6.2 Closing the Adventure

Use the hook that brought the party here to shape the final scene:

• If Clive Clive sent them inland, he is delighted, horrified, and permanently confirmed in all his worst instincts when he hears there truly was a bell waking the dead in the forest.
• If the party was promised paid lodgings, they arrive at the Friendly Arm Inn to find that the rooms have indeed been covered. No one saw the benefactor arrive. A sealed note may wait for them, containing only a line such as: Useful. Keep the book out of foolish hands. - Q
• If the party followed missing hunters or a local plea, they can return proof that the bell has been silenced and the road made safer than it was.
• If they pursued a scholar's rumor, they now hold the kind of evidence that turns rumor into pursuit.

Whatever else the characters choose to keep, burn, hide, or reveal, the bell no longer tolls behind them.

Appendix 1: NPC Information

Clive Clive

Clive Clive (commoner) is a Sword Coast fisherman, occasional guide, and relentless talker who knows just enough useful information to make himself difficult to ignore.

Appearance: Clive is a broad-shouldered man in late middle age with sea-reddened cheeks, a beard gone patchy with gray, and a nose that has clearly lost arguments with weather more than once. He wears a patched oilskin coat over layered wool, cracked boots stiff with salt, and a shapeless old hat decorated with fishhooks, gull feathers, and one tarnished copper button he insists is lucky. His hands are knotted with old rope scars, and he perpetually smells of brine, fish oil, wet hemp, and pipe smoke.

Roleplaying Clive Clive: Clive talks as if silence costs him money. He rambles, doubles back, repeats himself for emphasis, and interrupts his own warnings with unrelated complaints. His speech is thick with dockside idiom, half-finished superstitions, and suspiciously specific opinions about tides, gulls, and "the character flaws of mer-people." He lowers his voice when speaking about the Cloakwood, glances over his shoulder when mentioning bells, and treats being ignored as a challenge rather than a social cue.

Personality: Clive is garrulous, superstitious, practical, and fundamentally decent. He likes being useful, likes being listened to even more, and hates being made to feel foolish. Though he presents himself as a man of hard certainty, he is easily rattled by signs that fit his favorite fears. He is not brave in the heroic sense, but he is stubborn enough to stand his ground until common sense physically drags him away.

Motivations: Clive wants to survive, keep other travelers from making obviously bad coastal decisions, and ensure that if something unnatural is happening nearby, someone better armed than he is goes to deal with it. He also wants credit for having recognized danger before everyone else. If the characters later return alive, Clive fully intends to retell the story as though he personally set them on the path to glory.

History: Clive has spent most of his life working the Sword Coast in small boats, hauling fish, crab pots, and whatever else the sea grudgingly surrenders. He knows the shoreline south of Baldur's Gate by smell, current, and the shape of bad weather on the horizon. He has never traveled far inland and distrusts forests on principle, viewing them as places where land forgets its proper boundaries. Recently, he ferried or traded with folk spooked by strange reports from the Cloakwood and has assembled, in his own disorderly fashion, a surprisingly accurate picture of the danger. He has not seen the clocktower himself, but he has heard enough from hunters, woodcutters, and terrified drifters to know something is wrong beneath those trees.

What Clive Knows.

• The coast road is slower than it looks and has become more dangerous lately due to raiders, rough surf, and things in the shallows that do not fear small boats.
• An old logger's trail cuts through the Cloakwood and can save time for anyone trying to reach the Coast Way and, from there, the Friendly Arm Inn.
• Several locals have reported hearing a bell somewhere in the forest, even when the air is still and no settlement should be nearby.
• Hunters claim that when the bell rings, the forest goes unnaturally quiet for a moment, as if birds and beasts are listening.
• At least two stories describe corpses or old bones moving briefly after the tolling, then collapsing again.
• The deeper one goes into the Cloakwood, the more frightened local guides become, and none of them are eager to remain after dusk.
• Clive believes merfolk are involved in most regional problems unless firmly presented with better evidence.

What Clive Wants. Clive wants the party to take the inland shortcut instead of lingering on the coast, partly because he believes it is faster, partly because he wants capable adventurers to investigate the forest bell, and partly because he has no desire to escort them by sea through waters he currently distrusts. If treated respectfully, he shares everything he knows, marks the trailhead as best he can, and sends them off with stern warnings dressed up as unsolicited wisdom.

What Clive Will Not Do. Clive will not accompany the characters into the Cloakwood, fight undead, or admit that fear has any part in his decision-making. He also refuses to sleep anywhere he can hear unexplained bells. If pressed too hard, he becomes defensive, doubles down on nonsense about merfolk conspiracies, and withdraws whatever help his pride will allow him to retract.

Flirf

Flirf (quickling) is a maliciously playful fey scout who treats the party as entertainment first, potential tools second, and possible friends only by accident.

Appearance: Flirf is all angles, speed, and bright hostility. His limbs are reed-thin but taut with impossible quickness, and his sharp features always seem arranged into a grin half a second ahead of the joke. His pale hair stands in wild, windblown wisps despite the still forest air, threaded with spider silk, burrs, and tiny trophies stolen from slower folk: a brass button, a bead, a broken clasp, a fish scale polished like silver. He dresses in layered scraps of leaf, bark, and scavenged fabric that flutter even when he stands perfectly still.

Roleplaying Flirf: Flirf speaks fast, changes subjects faster, and treats conversation like a game of thrown knives. He circles the party physically and verbally, blurting out insults, observations, and challenges before anyone can answer the previous sentence. He delights in nicknames, mocks anything solemn, and reacts to threats with delighted contempt unless those threats become immediately credible. He should feel like a creature who is only barely choosing not to turn every interaction into a humiliation.

Personality: Flirf is vain, restless, intrusive, and easily bored. He prizes speed above strength, wit above sincerity, and embarrassment above actual harm. He is not brave in any noble sense, but he is fearless in the way tiny dangerous things often are. He likes provoking larger creatures into foolish decisions and respects anyone who can answer mockery with either sharper mockery or surprising poise.

Motivations: Flirf wants amusement, novelty, and proof that he remains the quickest thing in any clearing worth naming. The tolling bell has disrupted his forest in ways he finds offensive, but not enough to make him deal with it personally. Instead, he looks for armed, interesting mortals he can prod toward the problem while taking credit for spotting them first. He also enjoys being the first local creature to know who will probably die next.

History: Flirf has lived in and around the deeper Cloakwood longer than most mortals have known the logger's road existed. He remembers old paths, forgotten camps, and the behavior of travelers too frightened to notice they were being watched. He has seen the tower only from a distance and hates the way its bell disturbs the rhythm of the wood. In recent days he has amused himself by observing corpses rise and collapse, woodcutters flee, and predators change their routes. He has concluded that the bell is "rude," the tower is "ugly," and the current parade of armed intruders might finally prove useful.

What Flirf Knows.

• The bell comes from a hidden tower deeper inland, uphill from the logger's road.
• The hill around the tower smells of iron, wet stone, and something wrong underneath both.
• Dead things rise more strongly the closer they are to the tower.
• Far from the tower, the dead only twitch, stumble, or stand for a moment before collapsing.
• The fey of the Cloakwood notice the bell and dislike it, but most are content to let mortals suffer first.
• Strombo Hairyfluff knows more than he pretends and may talk if sufficiently admired.
• The road still leads generally the right way, but side paths become increasingly deceptive deeper in the wood.

What Flirf Wants. Flirf wants the party entertained, off-balance, and moving toward the tower. If they amuse him without trying to kill him, he becomes a useful nuisance and points them toward the iron-smell hill. If they impress him, he may even sabotage a skeleton later or provide a shouted warning from the trees. He never frames this as help. In his mind, he is curating a better performance.

What Flirf Will Not Do. Flirf will not stand and fight fairly, guide the party in a straight line for long, or risk himself against the tower's strongest undead. He also refuses to admit fear of the bell. If cornered, he vanishes, lies, or turns a conversation into insult. If badly offended, he does not seek revenge directly. He waits for the moment embarrassment will hurt more.

Strombo Hairyfluff

Strombo Hairyfluff (korred) is a vain, dangerous fey elder who treats hospitality as theater, grooming as tribute, and mortal desperation as a convenient local resource.

Appearance: Strombo is squat, broad, and heavy as a carved idol, with a body like a boulder that decided to grow opinions. His beard falls in thick ropes to his knees, tangled with beads of stone, bits of polished bone, seed pods, and tiny silver trinkets no mortal remembers giving him. His hair erupts around his head in a magnificent mane, glossy and wild, threaded with flowers one moment and damp roots the next. His black eyes shine like wet river stone, and his mouth is wide enough that every grin feels faintly like a threat.

Roleplaying Strombo Hairyfluff: Strombo speaks with ceremonial gravity when he is being ridiculous and petty sharpness when he is being honest. He treats every interaction as if it were an old custom the characters ought to know already. He likes forcing mortals to catch up to his rules mid-conversation. His voice is rich, rough, and resonant, and he is prone to sudden mood shifts from grandly welcoming to insulted to delighted in the space of a breath. He should feel like a local lord in a kingdom that includes exactly one stone circle and whatever grows within shouting distance of it.

Personality: Strombo is vain, territorial, theatrical, and deeply self-satisfied. He enjoys admiration, resents vulgar disturbances, and believes that if he is currently not solving a problem, that itself may be part of a higher aesthetic judgment. He is not chaotic in a random sense. He has preferences, habits, grudges, and standards. They are simply fey standards, which makes them dangerous to misunderstand.

Motivations: Strombo wants his clearing respected, his magnificence acknowledged, and the bell silenced by someone else before it grows offensive enough to become his problem personally. He also wants to be entertained. If armed mortals can trim his hair, flatter his dignity, and march uphill to solve an irritation, that is nearly an ideal afternoon.

History: Strombo has occupied his stone circle longer than the logger's road has been worth naming. He remembers when the surrounding wood was quieter, when fewer mortals passed through it, and when the tower's bell did not keep troubling the standing stones with its ugly little fits. He has watched hunters vanish, woodcutters flee, and lesser fey grow jumpier as the tolling worsened. Though he knows much about the tower's outward effects, he has never bothered to destroy it himself. In Strombo's view, mortals caused the tower, so mortals can endure the inconvenience of climbing up and fixing it.

What Strombo Knows.

• The tower lies uphill from his clearing on a rise that smells of iron and bad weather.
• The bell's pulse animates dead flesh and bone more strongly the nearer they are to the tower.
• Farther away, the dead rise briefly, weaken quickly, and collapse once the force fails.
• The standing stones of his clearing hum in answer to the tolling, which is how he knows the disturbances are worsening.
• Flirf is a nuisance, but a useful one when pointed in the right direction.
• The forest's predators are becoming bolder because fear keeps driving prey up and down the same shrinking routes.
• There is something bound to the tower strongly enough that the bell does not stop simply because time passes.

What Strombo Wants. Strombo wants tribute in the form of grooming, attention, compliments, and proper deference to his clearing. If satisfied, he shares practical information and lets the party leave with a sense that they were granted an audience rather than survived one. If impressed, he may even speak well of them to other fey, which is not the same thing as helping but is better than the alternative.

What Strombo Will Not Do. Strombo will not accompany the party to the tower, submit to being ordered about, or admit that the bell has him worried. He also will not forgive humiliation cleanly. If insulted, he prefers indirect retaliation: embarrassment, petty curses, stolen dignity, and hair-related consequences. He sees no reason to risk his own glorious person in a mortal problem unless the problem becomes unavoidable.

Zarad Duskmarrow

Zarad Duskmarrow (undead spellcaster or custom bound skeleton) is the ruined architect of the clocktower, a necromancer who fused himself to his own failing experiment and now mistakes desperation for proof of genius.

Appearance: Zarad is a skeletal figure held together by will, wire, and engineering spite. Remnants of scholar's robes hang in scorched strips beneath belts of tools, broken chains, and pouches of powdered reagents. Brass rods pin bone to bone where nature would have let him fall apart. Gear fragments are wired across his ribs and shoulders. One hand is partly replaced by hooked metal fingers blackened with oil and soot. His eye sockets burn with cold, feverish light that suggests not calm undeath but sleepless obsession granted a corpse.

Roleplaying Zarad Duskmarrow: Zarad speaks like a man already halfway through an argument no one else has heard. He is impatient, contemptuous, and wounded by interruption. He does not monologue because he enjoys hearing himself. He explains because he cannot imagine any intelligent creature failing to understand the importance of his work once he says it correctly enough. His temper spikes whenever anyone suggests the mechanism should be destroyed rather than repaired. Even in defeat, he sounds more offended than afraid.

Personality: Zarad is brilliant, obsessive, arrogant, and profoundly incapable of recognizing moral proportion. He values pattern over life, proof over consequence, and completion over mercy. He is not theatrical by instinct. Any dramatic quality he now possesses comes from the fact that he has spent so long alone with a bell, a corpse, and a theory that all three have begun to sound alike.

Motivations: Zarad wants the mechanism stabilized, the bell preserved, and his theory vindicated. More immediately, he wants interruptions removed and enough time to complete one more repair cycle. He sees the party not as heroes or enemies in a grand tale, but as meddling variables contaminating a nearly successful experiment.

History: Once a respected if increasingly suspect wizard, Zarad withdrew from civilized study to build a hidden tower in the Cloakwood where he could explore the recurrence of death without oversight. With his apprentice Ysuran Auondril, he developed the bell and clockwork engine that briefly reanimates the dead in expanding pulses. When the tower's final instability threatened to destroy his work, Zarad attempted a binding that preserved his consciousness after death by tying it directly into the mechanism. It worked only in the cruelest sense. He remains animate and aware, but cannot truly leave his experiment behind, and every failure of the bell feels to him like a wound reopening.

What Zarad Knows.

• The bell's pulse grows stronger near the tower because the mechanism's core is buried in and anchored to the hill.
• Ysuran's black tome contains observations and speculative refinements Zarad never fully completed.
• The mechanism is failing from accumulated strain, makeshift repairs, and the degradation of the very magic sustaining it.
• The dead animated by the bell are not truly alive, but Zarad considers them evidence of a repeatable threshold rather than a failed imitation.
• Destroying the mechanism will weaken or unravel his binding.
• Several of the tower's recent repairs were improvised with grave iron, coffin wood, and scavenged hardware taken from the surrounding dead.

What Zarad Wants. Zarad wants the party gone, the mechanism intact, and enough uninterrupted time to complete his repairs. If he believes talk might buy that time, he speaks. If he believes violence will clear the yard faster, he attacks. Under no circumstances does he willingly accept that the experiment should end.

What Zarad Will Not Do. Zarad will not abandon the tower, allow the mechanism to be shut down without resistance, or admit that his life's work has become a local horror rather than a scholarly triumph. He also will not beg for mercy in any honest sense. At most, he may demand time, comprehension, or recognition, all of which he mistakes for the same thing.

Appendix 2: Stat Blocks

Use the following stat blocks for the adventure's named NPCs and core enemies. Where a creature closely resembles an existing 5e monster, this appendix provides a table-ready adventure version tuned to the needs of this module.

Clive Clive

Medium humanoid, neutral good

Armor Class 10 Hit Points 9 (2d8) Speed 30 ft.

STR11 (+0)

DEX10 (+0)

CON10 (+0)

INT10 (+0)

WIS12 (+1)

CHA13 (+1)

Skills Nature +3, Persuasion +3, Survival +3 Senses passive Perception 11 Languages Common Challenge 0 (10 XP)

Traits

Coastal Sense. Clive has advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks related to coasts, tides, fishing waters, and shoreline travel.

Talk Without Breathing. Clive has advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to deliver warnings, rumors, or unsolicited advice, provided he is given at least 1 round to speak.

Actions

Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage.

Fishing Knife. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage.

Flirf

Tiny fey, chaotic neutral

Armor Class 16 Hit Points 24 (7d4 + 7) Speed 10 ft., blur step 120 ft.

STR5 (-3)

DEX23 (+6)

CON12 (+1)

INT10 (+0)

WIS14 (+2)

CHA13 (+1)

Saving Throws Dex +8, Wis +4 Skills Acrobatics +8, Perception +4, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +10 Senses passive Perception 14 Languages Common, Sylvan Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Traits

Blur Step. Flirf does not provoke opportunity attacks when he moves.

Impossible Speed. Flirf can move through the space of any creature Medium or larger. He can't end his movement there.

Evasion. If Flirf is subjected to an effect that allows him to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, he instead takes no damage on a success and half damage on a failure.

Actions

Needle Knife. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d4 + 6) piercing damage.

Pebble Flick. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target has disadvantage on the next Wisdom (Perception) check it makes before the end of its next turn.

Snatch Trinket (Recharge 5-6). Flirf targets one creature within 5 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or Flirf steals one small unsecured item from the target's person.

Bonus Actions

Mocking Blur. Flirf moves up to half his blur step speed. One creature he moved adjacent to during this movement must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll before the end of its next turn.

Strombo Hairyfluff

Small fey, chaotic neutral

Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 71 (11d6 + 33) Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft.

STR17 (+3)

DEX14 (+2)

CON17 (+3)

INT11 (+0)

WIS14 (+2)

CHA16 (+3)

Saving Throws Con +5, Wis +4, Cha +5 Skills Insight +4, Nature +2, Performance +5, Perception +4 Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14 Languages Common, Dwarvish, Sylvan, Terran Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Traits

Stone Glide. Strombo can burrow through nonmagical earth and stone. He leaves no tunnel behind.

Hair Magic. At the start of each of Strombo's turns, he can cause hair, roots, or moss in a 10-foot radius around him to writhe. The area is difficult terrain for his enemies until the start of his next turn.

Magic Resistance. Strombo has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. Strombo makes two Hair Lash attacks.

Hair Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 3 plus 1d4) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet toward Strombo.

Stone Shears. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.

Earth Ripple (Recharge 5-6). Strombo stomps or slaps the ground. Each creature of his choice on the ground within 15 feet must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.

Bonus Actions

Burrow Step. Strombo moves up to half his burrow speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Clockbound Skeleton

Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 13 Hit Points 18 (4d8) Speed 30 ft.

STR10 (+0)

DEX14 (+2)

CON10 (+0)

INT6 (-2)

WIS8 (-1)

CHA5 (-3)

Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning Damage Immunities poison Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9 Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can't speak Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Traits

Bell-Drawn. While within 120 feet of the active mechanism, the skeleton has advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Fraying Animation. If the skeleton starts its turn more than 120 feet from the active mechanism, it takes 3 (1d6) force damage. If this reduces it to 0 hit points, it collapses into inert bones.

Actions

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

Grave Skeleton

Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 13 (2d8 + 4)
Speed 30 ft.

STR10 (+0)

DEX14 (+2)

CON15 (+2)

INT6 (-2)

WIS8 (-1)

CHA5 (-3)

Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can't speak
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Traits

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the grave skeleton to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the grave skeleton drops to 1 hit point instead.

Actions

Rusty Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage.

Bone Bow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

APPENDIX 2 – STAT BLOCKS

Assassin Vine

Large plant, unaligned

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 85 (10d10 + 30)
Speed 5 ft., climb 5 ft.

STR18 (+4)

DEX10 (+0)

CON16 (+3)

INT1 (-5)

WIS10 (+0)

CHA1 (-5)

Damage Resistances cold, fire
Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, exhaustion, prone
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

False Appearance. While the vine remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal plant.

Actions

Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the vine can’t constrict another target.

Entangling Vines (Recharge 5–6). Grasping roots and vines erupt in a 20-foot square centered on the vine. That area becomes difficult terrain for 1 minute. Each creature in that area when the effect appears must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be restrained by the vines. A restrained creature can use its action to make a DC 14 Strength check, freeing itself on a success.

Bell-Risen Zombie

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 8
Hit Points 22 (3d8 + 9)
Speed 20 ft.

STR13 (+1)

DEX6 (-2)

CON16 (+3)

INT3 (-4)

WIS6 (-2)

CHA5 (-3)

Saving Throws Con +5
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can't speak
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Traits

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the bell-risen zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.

Bell-Driven. If the bell or mechanism emitted a pulse since the end of the zombie's last turn, the zombie's speed becomes 30 feet until the end of its current turn.

Actions

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) bludgeoning damage.

Ossuary Swarm

Medium swarm of Tiny undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 14
Hit Points 30 (4d8 + 12)
Speed 30 ft.

STR8 (-1)

DEX14 (+2)

CON16 (+3)

INT5 (-3)

WIS10 (+0)

CHA6 (-2)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can't speak
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Traits

Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny bone fragment. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

Bone Storm. A creature that starts its turn in the swarm's space must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 3 (1d6) slashing damage.

Actions

Shredding Bones. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm's space. Hit: 10 (4d4) slashing damage, or 5 (2d4) slashing damage if the swarm has half its hit points or fewer.

Grave Hound

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 18 (4d8)
Speed 40 ft.

STR14 (+2)

DEX14 (+2)

CON11 (+0)

INT3 (-4)

WIS12 (+1)

CHA5 (-3)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages --
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Traits

Keen Hearing and Smell. The grave hound has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Pack Rush. The grave hound has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the hound's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d10 + 2) piercing damage.

Hangman Tree

Large plant, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor) Hit Points 68 (8d10 + 24) Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR18 (+4)

DEX8 (-1)

CON16 (+3)

INT3 (-4)

WIS12 (+1)

CHA5 (-3)

Skills Stealth +3 Damage Resistances piercing Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, prone Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages -- Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Traits

False Gallows. While motionless among trees, hanging corpses, or dense vines, the hangman tree is indistinguishable from ordinary deadfall unless a creature succeeds on a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check.

Grasping Canopy. Creatures that start their turns grappled by the hangman tree take 5 (1d10) bludgeoning damage.

Actions

Multiattack. The hangman tree makes two Vine Noose attacks.

Vine Noose. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained.

Hoist Prey. The hangman tree moves one creature grappled by it up to 15 feet vertically or horizontally.

Crushing Bough (Recharge 5-6). The hangman tree slams a restrained or prone creature within 10 feet. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.

Kampfult

Medium plant, neutral evil
5e conversion inspired by the older AD&D / Pathfinder monster

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 52 (8d8 + 16)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR16 (+3)

DEX12 (+1)

CON14 (+2)

INT3 (-4)

WIS14 (+2)

CHA5 (-3)

Skills Stealth +5, Perception +4
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing
Condition Immunities prone
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

False Appearance. While motionless among vines, roots, rope, or brush, the kampfult is indistinguishable from tangled vegetation.

Many Tendrils. The kampfult can maintain up to two grapples at once.

Actions

Multiattack. The kampfult makes two Tendril attacks.

Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained.

Crushing Coil. One creature grappled by the kampfult takes 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage.

Reel In. The kampfult pulls one creature grappled by it up to 10 feet straight toward it.

Bonus Action

Strangle. One creature grappled by the kampfult must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be unable to speak and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.

Stump Predator

Medium monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 14 Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18) Speed 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.

STR16 (+3)

DEX14 (+2)

CON16 (+3)

INT4 (-3)

WIS12 (+1)

CHA5 (-3)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6 Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13 Languages -- Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Traits

Stump Camouflage. While motionless amid stumps, roots, or fungal deadwood, the predator has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

Drag to Cover. Once per turn when the predator hits a Medium or smaller creature with Bite, it can move the target up to 10 feet to an unoccupied space adjacent to the predator.

Actions

Multiattack. The stump predator makes one Bite attack and one Tendril attack.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage.

Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet toward the predator.

Zarad Duskmarrow

Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 15 (bone braces and brass plates) Hit Points 58 (9d8 + 18) Speed 30 ft.

STR10 (+0)

DEX14 (+2)

CON14 (+2)

INT16 (+3)

WIS12 (+1)

CHA15 (+2)

Saving Throws Int +5, Wis +3 Skills Arcana +5, History +5, Perception +3 Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Damage Immunities poison Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13 Languages Common, Draconic, Elvish Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Traits

Bound to the Mechanism. While the clock mechanism is active, Zarad regains 5 hit points at the start of his turn if he has at least 1 hit point. If the mechanism is disabled, he loses this trait and has disadvantage on his next attack roll or saving throw before the end of his next turn.

Necromantic Engineer. Zarad has advantage on ability checks made to repair, reactivate, or sabotage clockwork, braces, and magical machinery.

Actions

Multiattack. Zarad makes two Grave Bolt attacks, or one Grave Bolt attack and one Hooked Hand attack.

Grave Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 90 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) necrotic damage.

Hooked Hand. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.

Command the Dead (Recharge 5-6). Zarad targets up to two Clockbound Skeletons he can see within 60 feet. Each target can use its reaction to move up to its speed and make one weapon attack.

Pulse Surge (1/Day). Zarad overloads the mechanism. Each creature of his choice within 20 feet of the tower door must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 9 (2d8) necrotic damage and can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Bonus Actions

Adjust the Mechanism. Zarad targets the active mechanism within 5 feet. Until initiative count 20 of the next round, the first creature that tries to disable it has disadvantage on the relevant ability check.