The Answering Bell
Armor Class 16 (iron casing)
Hit Points 104 (16d6+48)
Saving Throws Con +6, Wis +5
Skills Deception +5, Perception +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, prone
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
Actions
Reactions
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"Do not answer. It already knows you are home." — warning scratched into the door of Bellwether House
Lore & Description
Appearance
The Answering Bell resembles an old brass doorbell mounted on a fist-sized slab of black wood. Its metal is green with verdigris around the edges but polished bright where countless fingers have touched it. A narrow grille beneath the button resembles a smiling mouth, and a tiny iron clapper swings inside without any visible mechanism. When it rings, the sound is far louder than its size should permit, carrying through walls and down empty streets. In darkness, its button glows with a warm, inviting amber light.
Behavior & Origins
The bell is a predatory curse that attaches itself to thresholds: manor gates, roadside shrines, cellar doors, abandoned watchtowers, and even the doors of moving coaches. It rings at irregular hours, often mimicking a familiar voice calling from beyond the door. Those who answer are marked, and some are briefly dragged into the bell’s impossible collection room, a maze of doors bearing the names of everyone it has claimed. No one knows who made the first bell, but the oldest surviving example is called Hush by the residents of Bellwether House. Hush wants to be carried to a crowded city where it can mark a hundred answerers in a single night.
Running The Answering Bell
Tactics
The bell begins combat by ringing itself, using the compelled movement to draw creatures into reach while it remains mounted behind cover or within a doorway. It uses Threshold Hook to pull targets close, then relies on Door-Shaking Peal to scatter groups before collecting a marked victim. When bloodied, it prioritizes Collect the Answerer against the most isolated marked creature; it fights until reduced to 0 hit points, knowing that destruction merely gives it a new threshold.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the bell with impossible ringing, fresh fingerprints on the button, and residents who insist they heard a loved one calling from outside.
- Play it as unnervingly polite: each ring pauses as if waiting for an answer, and its clapper taps impatiently when ignored.
- Keep the collection room brief and playable; describe it as a cramped hallway of numbered doors and allow clever characters to escape through another threshold.
- For a weaker party, remove the bell’s nonmagical weapon resistance; for a stronger party, let it mark creatures within 10 feet whenever it rings.
Loot
- Verdigris Clapper — A cold green clapper that never stops swinging. Once per day, striking it against a door lets the holder hear a faint sound from the other side, even through solid walls.
- Ledger of Answerers — A water-damaged list of names, dates, and doorways. Several entries describe people who have not yet disappeared, providing clues to future appearances of the bell.
- Amber Door Button — The glowing button remains warm for 1d6 days after the bell relocates. It bears a tiny image of the next doorway where the bell will appear.
