The last Bell Toll is the introductory adventure to Sagenlund, a setting I’m designing for use with the ShadowDark RPG. Sagenlund is a setting where stories have power — where myths, once told and retold, are transcribed by a god called The Collector, and in being written down, become true.

This is a short adventure (3–4 hours) designed for 3–5 first-level characters, and it captures the tone of Sagenlund well: grimdark fairy tales filtered through the grim lethality of Shadowdark.

Over countless ages, myths have gathered around the town of Grimvale — whispered stories of perpetual darkness, of a shadow that always comes. The PCs arrive just days before the darkness descends. They are quickly pointed toward a cave in a dark forest at the edge of town. What awaits them inside is a dungeon full of opportunities: moments where the heroes themselves can decide what it means to have solved the problem, and sing their own deeds back into the story to rewrite it.

If that kind of emergent, player-driven resolution isn’t your style, don’t worry — the dungeon ends with a boss who walks through shadows. Killing him should be enough to stop the darkness from spreading.

If you end up trying it out, let me know if you have any enjoyed it or have any feedback!

I’m also working on the first part of the actual hex-crawl portion of the world. Excited to reveal some of the dynamic story mechanics I’m including in it, that will only require tracking a single score for each of a handful of factions to determine everything.