How to Survive

The bell by the Last Chance chapel cracked, and now it rings like it's asking a question. Lonnie, the chapel's pianist, says the old mission up on the Anvil, the flat-topped mesa at the west end of the Divide, still has its bell, half buried where its belfry fell. Dig it out with a pickaxe and carry it back to Lonnie. It's heavy: no running, no boats, and a hard hit will knock it out of your arms.

Steps

  1. Dig the old mission bell out with a pickaxe, up on the Anvil at the west end of the Divide · the old mission on the Anvil
  2. Carry the bell back to Lonnie at the Last Chance chapel. It's heavy: no running, no boats · Last Chance

Reward

500 gold, XP and Blessed (more gold and XP, and mending, for 20 minutes). Ring the chapel bell for a blessing every day

Dialogue

Starting it

  1. “The chapel bell cracked. Now when I ring it, it goes up at the end. Like it's asking a question. Nobody wants a church bell that asks questions.”
  2. “I'd go get a new one myself. But these are piano hands. I carry a bell across the desert, come Sunday the hymn sounds like a complaint.”
  3. “There's an old mission up on the Anvil, the flat rock at the end of the Divide. Been empty longer than this town's been here. It still has its bell.”
  4. “Well. It has it on the ground. The belfry gave up first. So it'll be half buried by now. Take a pickaxe.”
  5. “And it's heavy. You won't be running with it. You won't be getting on a boat with it. You'll mostly be walking and thinking about your choices.”
  6. “Something hits you hard, you'll drop it. And careful. That bell's a little unruly. It gets loose, it goes. Like my first wife.”
  7. “The Anvil's at the west end of the Divide, the long ridge that splits the island. Bring it back here. I'll be at the piano. I'm always at the piano.”

Talking to them again

  1. “Up on the Anvil, at the west end of the Divide. The flat one. The mission's the only thing up there that isn't sky.”
  2. “Take a pickaxe. That bell's been in the dirt so long it thinks it's a rock. Don't argue with it. Dig.”

Handing it in

  1. “Now that's a bell. Look at it. Two hundred years in the dirt and not a crack on it. I've been out here three years and I've got four.”
  2. “Listen to that. It doesn't ask you anything. It just tells you. That's all I ever wanted from a church bell.”
  3. “Here's for your trouble. It's the collection plate. The preacher took the old one. He'd have taken this one too, but it was nailed down.”

After it is done

  1. “Rang the bell Sunday. Clear as anything. Three people came. Two were lost. The third was the preacher, back for the plate.”
  2. “Folks say the bell sounds better than the piano now. I say good. Something in here ought to.”

At the hand-in without the item

  1. “No bell? Then it's still out there somewhere, lying in the sand. Go get it. It's not coming on its own. It's a bell. They don't.”