0906 The Ruined Abbey of St Clewyd
HexDolmenwood Campaign Book · p.289
Open source p.289Sighing wind seems to emanate from face-like formations in the sides of ragged granite peaks.
⚔ Site of The Ruined Abbey of St Clewyd
Sighing wind seems to emanate from face-like formations in the sides of ragged granite peaks.
- Terrain: Craggy forest (4), Aldweald
- Lost/encounters: 3-in. Encounters are 2-in likely to be with the gloam (DMB) that lairs in the abbey ruins.
- Ley line Lamm (p18): Arcane spell-casters feel observed by a pitiless malevolence.
- ### The Ruined Abbey of St Clewyd
Close to where Swinney Road crosses the turreted Chantilope Bridge, a cobblestoned avenue diverges. Overgrown and flanked with defaced saintly statues, it leads to the shattered gate of the ruined abbey complex.
Chaotic phenomena: Manifest among the ruins: prismatic, spectral flames; iridescent lights drifting and bobbing; erratic booming from underground; twitching ears and whispering mouths sprouting from stone.
Haunted bell tower: A tall, square tower stands largely undamaged, close to the toppled gate. Dark birds roost in the belfry at the tower’s summit. A gloam haunts this place, dwelling with three charmed children.
Chapel of St Clewyd: The main chapel is damaged but largely intact. A tapestry of climbing plants conceals a series of mosaics depicting the life and deeds of St Clewyd. Twin staircases descend to the chapel’s crypts.
Disturbed graveyard: The graves of several hundred monks, surrounded by buckling, ivy-covered walls. The newest graves bear dates just over 100 years ago. Many have been carelessly dug up. There is a 2-in chance of a charmed child being present here, digging.
Inside the Bell Tower
Ground floor (chapel): A decaying chapel dedicated to St Woad, patron of bakers, bears, and hammersmiths.
1st floor (bedroom): The home of the three charmed children, living among the ramshackle remnants of the former gatewarden’s residence.
2nd floor (bell-ringing chamber): Macabre dioramas of stuffed woodland creatures with human teeth glued into their mouths, strung from the bell ropes. Disturbing the figures risks the wrath of the gloam that lurks in the belfry.
3rd floor (belfry): A great bronze bell (1,500gp). The gloam (DMB), “ Mister Rag-n-Bone,” perches in flock form among the rafters, filling the chamber with eerie shadows.
Charmed Human Children
Three children live in the bell tower, in the gloam’s thrall, tasked with digging up teeth from the graveyard.
Bilbry Worms: A waif-like, blonde boy of 5 years.
Willy Hodgeheg: A strapping lad of 8 years, whose matted black hair cascades over his glowering eyes.
Violet Harrowmoor: A dark-haired girl of 6 whose dress and speech betray her aristocratic origins—she is the missing daughter of Lady Harrowmoor (p60). The gloam charmed her away from behind her mother’s back on a visit to the fortifications at Prigwort (p181).
The Chapel Crypts
An extensive series of tombs and catacombs extends beneath the chapel. The doors from the surface lead into a vast undercroft in the eastern half of the crypts.
Chaos Rift: The eastern crypts are wracked with Chaotic energies and monsters, emanating from the dimensional rift caused by the ritual that brought about the abbey’s destruction (see History, p14).
The Order of Wardens: The western crypts, free of the Rift’s influence, are home to 50 monks—20 living, 30 undead. They have dwelt here since the abbey’s destruction, magically walling themselves in, swearing to remain until their “Charge” can be healed.
Holy magic: Provides sustenance for the monks, and resurrects those who pass away. The latter power has sometimes misfired, causing some monks to return as mindless undead (cared for by the living monks).
The “Charge”: A wretched monstrosity formed of the amalgamation of St Clewyd and Sallowbryg (see History, p14). The beast is imprisoned, its mind shattered and hateful of all life.
Mister Rag-n-Bone (Gloam)
Flock form: A swirling, noisome gyre of shrieking, decayed crows. Humanoid form: A gangly, pulsing agglomeration of tiny, broken bones, wearing a cloak of rancid feathers.
Demeanour (Neutral): Erratic, withdrawn, obsessive.
Speech: Grating whisper, clacking of beaks. Woldish.
Desires: Obsessed with creating taxidermied animals with the teeth of the devoutly religious (dug up by the children, in the abbey graveyard) carefully sewn into their jaws. Protect and nurture the foster children.