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Lairs: The Carillon

Acolyte Lair: The Carillon: 

The Situation:

A group of villagers have been drawn to a carillon by the eerie and disturbing music it plays each evening. Each morning, those villagers found a strange substance in the grass around the carillon, dozens of small crimson rings stacked around each blade of grass. They ate the strange substance, which they called Heavens Grace, and found that doing so stripped them of hunger and thirst, while filling their eyes with fractal imagery, and their hearts with religious ecstasy. The Carillonneur keeps the acolytes from entering the carillon, calling it a holy place.


A Timeline:
  • Within Days: Yurma Darby begins to transform, her form beginning to resemble The Carillonneur (See F1 description)
  • Within a Week: The Carillonneurs transformation completes and he becomes a gibbering mouther.
  • One Week: Freddy Greiner enters the carillon seeking answers, and is eaten and assimilated by the Carillonneur
  • Two Weeks: The Twins and Layla Obalone begin to transform, Quint leaves the camp
  • Three Weeks: The rest of the group are beginning to change, including Quint who has moved elsewhere in the woods. Yurma and the Twins are assimilated into the Carillonneur. Ana and Perna flee the camp back to their home villages.
  • One Month: The Carillonneur fully assimilates everyone who stayed and begins to fill the inside of the carillon. The Everywhere Bell begins ringing incessantly
  • The End: The Carillonneur is suffused with the power of the unreal entity, causing it to grow to a massive size and ravage the countryside.


The Acolytes: 

  • a&b: Werner & Hoss Rider: Twins and the first to find the carillon upon escaping the nearest city after stealing thousands of gold pieces from a wealthy patrician. They buried their score in a chest with two locks, each of the twins carries one of the keys. Both are plotting the others murder. The twins are likely the first people newcomers talk to, and will ask them to make a grand gesture, usually forsaking the material world by burying their valuables behind the carillon. 

  • c: Perna Malone: A recent widow, her children are grown and have moved to the city. Her partner was a bellfounder, and during a walk in the woods, she heard the music of the bells and followed them, taking it as a sign. Perna is not doing well, but is heavily compensating.

  • d: Freddy & Ana Greiner: Newlyweds who are here because neither wants to end up like their parents. Freddy is trying to impress Ana. Ana is trying to prove something to herself. The twins have been probing the boundaries of Freddy and Anas relationship. 

  • e: Moe: Dodgy and blunt, laying low after a murder in the nearest city. A childhood friend of the Twins. Sneaks off in the night to dig up the buried valuables, splitting the profits with the twins. Knows about the Twins buried treasure, and if he gets the chance, he will take it and run. 

  • f: Yurma Darby: World weary, lost her friends delving into a nearby tomb, looking for peace, good with a sword though hesitant to use one. She is looking for answers and meaning in a world she sees as cruel. Heavens Grace lets her sleep, and so she indulges heavily in it.

  • g: Susan Milton: Young and optimistic, Susan is the newest arrival to the group. Idealistic, Susan wants to share Heavens Grace with the world.

  • h: Layla Obalone: A veteran cultist, this is her third cult this year, the others not being serious enough for her liking. She is excited that she got in early and likes Heavens Grace a lot, but is wondering when the dark rituals are going to start. She knows of a few and has been softly pitching them to the other members of the group.

  • i: Quint Lemure: A forest hermit drawn here by the sound of beautiful bells. Concerned about the lack of animal life in the area, which he brings up in most conversations. Knows the area well and will disappear into the woods if things get bad.

The Carillion:


Exterior:

75’ tall. The structure is made from uneven stonework, its gaps and crevices lined with thorny green vines. The door to the building is barred from the outside. Windows of stained glass adorn the walls of the first floor, and open windows on the 5th floor seem wide enough for ingress.


Floor 1: 

A keyboard stands against the north wall of the chamber, pews run the length of the room and a wooden chandelier hangs from the ceiling over the middle of the center aisle. 

  • Carilion Keyboard: 150 keys, each corresponding to a different bell above. All but one of the keys consist of a wooden handle over a metal rod, on key, is made from cold black stone. The black key rings the Everywhere Bell.

  • The Carillonneur (C4): A mass of bubblegum flesh in a thick charcoal robe, compelled to play the carillon each night by forces he does not understand. Will violently resist any who would keep him from his task.  

  • Stain Glass Windows: Red glass depicting dark figures kneeling below a hole in the sky 

  • Tapestries: Thick wool dyed black, highly flammable

  • Chandelier: Wooden wheel reinforced with iron banding, anchored to the east wall. 


Floors 2-4:

The bulk of the tower is filled with bells and the machinery required to ring them. The stairs connect to landings and maintenance catwalks on each floor allowing access to the bulk of the bells. Each floor is separated by 15 vertical feet.

  • Removing Bells: Each bell weighs 1d100*100co and is worth a tenth of its weight in gold. There are 149 bells between floors 2, 3, and 4.


Floor 5:

The peak of the tower is dominated by an enormous bell of green tinged steel, open windows look out over the surrounding area, and the center of the room is a 60’ drop to the first floor, crisscrossed by maintenance catwalks and framed by a rotting wooden railing.

  • The Everywhere Bell: A 15’ diameter bell of exquisite make, worth a fortune. The bells ringing echoes through many realities, a dinner bell of sorts, its music draws to it strange beings that live beyond the edges of the real. One such entity has heard the bell, and moves closer to this reality with each ringing, its attention stains the world, leaving behind a residue that subverts reality.


 

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