The Bell Below / field guide

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The fire is small. Sit close enough to read.

Use your browser’s Back command to return to the exact page you came from. Reading this guide costs nothing.

Your pilgrimage

You are crossing the drowned country of Morrow to stop a bell from calling the living into their graves. Collect three keys on the way down, then choose what to do with the bell.

I. THE DROWNED ROAD / \ ferryman gallows wood | / \ | warden stone mouth \__________|_________/ | wayside fire | II. THE THORN ABBEY / \ well ossuary \___________/ | Sir Edrin | the old kiln | III. THE CHOIR UNDER THE LAKE / \ choir lamp-eater |___________/ | last fire | IV. THE BELL BELOW

Blood, flame, and growth

Blood keeps you alive. At zero, that fate ends. Links that would kill you say FATAL. You can go Back to reconsider, return to a bookmark, or begin again.

Flame powers Burn and Mend in combat. It can also warm the ferryman’s lamp or the abbey well. It never drains while you read. A spent flame stays spent until you find more.

Camps offer one choice: restore up to three blood, or gather up to two flame. They are used once along a path. The abbey well can restore up to three blood for one flame; solving riddles can yield more fuel. Capacity limits apply: surplus is lost.

Entering the abbey raises your blood capacity by one. Leaving the kiln raises it by one again, and tempers your weapon for one extra might. More capacity does not heal you by itself. The status panel always shows your current blood, flame, and damage.

Read the enemy

Each enemy follows a repeating three-part rhythm. The page names the current intention before you commit. There is no hidden die roll.

• Strike deals your might. Against an opening it gains one damage, or two for the Bell Thief. Against a shield it deals none. Unless the strike kills, the enemy answers with its shown attack. The Bell Thief takes no answering damage when striking a feint.
• Ward prevents an ordinary attack. The Grave Knight also deals one counter damage. A feint slips past every calling’s Ward and costs two blood. Waiting behind a Ward can be wise when the enemy is shielded or a better opening is coming.
• Burn spends one flame, deals your spell damage, and interrupts the enemy completely. It ignores shields. The Cinder Witch begins with four spell damage; the other callings begin with three.
• Mend spends one flame and restores up to three blood, or four for the Cinder Witch. It takes a turn: the enemy still attacks. Heal during an opening when you can. The link shows the amount restored and the answering damage separately.

A killing blow ends the exchange before the enemy answers. Costs and damage are printed on every move. Refreshing the page repeats nothing: you are still looking at the same moment.

The three keys

Every keeper has something you can take and something they can give. Either opens the road. Taking usually makes you stronger now; keeping a mercy changes who will help you later.

• The first key is a reed token or a black-glass tooth. Remembering Wren lets you lower Edrin’s sword with a name. The tooth adds one flame capacity.
• The second is a white thread or an iron spur. Edrin’s oath adds one damage to every Ward against the Bellkeeper. The spur adds one might everywhere.
• The third is a last lullaby or a black tuning fork. The freed choir takes three blood from the Bellkeeper before combat begins. The tuning fork adds one damage to every Burn.

Your inventory records each key and its effect. Four endings wait below. Some ask for remembered people and a little unspent light.

Saving in Lagrange

Bookmark the page you are playing, using Lagrange’s bookmark command. The “Keep this fate” link points to that same page and can also be bookmarked from its link menu. Give the bookmark a name you will recognise, such as “Witch at the last fire”.

A bookmark saves your calling, blood, flame, keys, location, and combat position. Open it later to resume exactly there. A title-page bookmark begins a new pilgrimage; it does not track your latest move. Add a new bookmark when you want a newer save.

Back and Forward retrace your choices. Separate tabs can hold different fates. You can share a page’s address with a friend so they can continue from that moment; their choices will not alter yours.

The art lives in preformatted text blocks. If Lagrange has folded one, expand the block to see the drawing. A description accompanies every scene illustration. Your chosen browser theme supplies the colour; the book supplies the shapes.

A stricter road

For a harsher pilgrimage, make a private vow: do not go Back after choosing, and start over when you die. The book does not enforce the vow. It is between you and the bell.

Begin a pilgrimage / choose your calling

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