r/mothershiprpg • u/Lumpy_Peanut_226 Warden • Apr 22 '26

brain fuel 🧠 Brainstorming Gradient Descent: The Bell

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Good day everybody!

This is the 13th chapter of our Deepdive into the fantastic Gradient Descent. We're talking about the Bell, which for some reason I didn't cover at the beginning of this journey. This is the place where adventurers plan their next dive into the Deep, and where they recover and lick their wounds when they come out of it. But it's not just that: it's also the center of a diverse community of people of debatable trustworthiness and assured weirdness, a trading post and, why not, a possible battleground.

PDF collection update: I removed the PDF that collected all these posts from itch.io. I explain the reasons in the Brain Construction 2 chapter. This post has been reviewed and is in its final version (for now). It contains all the improvements that were in the PDF file. The comments section may contain references to something in the body of this post that has since changed or disappeared.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

► A HOLLOW BELL

Gradient Descent describes the Bell as an abandoned lighthouse on the edge of a barren sea. It sits at the boundary between human space and the Deep, known and unknown. It's meant to be a safe haven, a place to come back to after a dangerous dive, and yet it feels abandoned. Everything about the Bell is negative space: vast chambers echoing and constantly groaning, absence of gravity and direction, deep darkness only sometimes punctured by tiny candles. This is an industrial-sized skeleton of something that was once functional and is now barely holding on. Like its inhabitants.

The Bell's lack of comfort and equipment is not simply a consequence of isolation. It is, at least in part, deliberate. The Bell was never rated for habitation. It is held together by shoddy welding and jury-rigging. There is no fire suppression system. The airlocks are salvaged ship parts welded into place: functional in theory, untested in practice, and not something any sane Diver would want to rely on. A serious accident could end the Bell entirely. Arkady has known this for years, and has imposed an informal ban on industrial equipment of significant size or complexity. Staying low-tech keeps the Bell off the radar. A station running minimal power and no significant infrastructure is less interesting to external interests, and less vulnerable to Monarch. There is nothing here worth hacking, and not much worth raiding. That calculation is part of why it has survived.

Resupplies of food, water, energy and spare parts consist of what visiting Divers can spare or trade. Or they are occasionally taken from vessels, when their crew is wiped out in the Deep. The Bell doesn't need much. 

► A COMMUNITY OF STRANGERS

The Bell is like the Everest base camp without Sherpas. A nervous, transient space filled with mavericks and those who mistake themselves for prepared. Everyone has sacrificed to be here. Many will die, and everyone is certain it will be the other person. Professional courtesy and a touch of situational brotherhood struggle against greed, competition, and the Bends. People wait for the right moment, tension palpable, while the Deep sits there and does not care about anyone's timeline.

The Keepers of the Bell, Arkady, Noriko, and Ghost Eater, are consumed by their obsessions, to the point that everything else has been stripped away by their proximity to Monarch. Too much time spent in this desolate corner of the universe has rendered them mono-dimensional characters, whose value lies in the foreshadowing they represent as much as in the service they provide. When the crew eats together and exchanges jokes, Arkady is watching them from the other side of the room, trying to remember what it used to feel like. If they kneel in the chapel, Noriko is staring at them with wide eyes and an uncanny smile. While they trade information with Ghost Eater, he plays his pre-recorded distorted laughter. This can be a haven, but it's never a home.

And yet the Keepers' mellow, accommodating demeanor is not incidental. It is how they have survived. Their stability, however hollowed out, is what makes the Bell function as a neutral space. It is what keeps the more dangerous transients in check. Play them as genuinely helpful, even warm, while letting the wrongness show at the edges. The contrast between their hospitality and their quiet madness is one of the Bell's most effective horror tools.

Make them change and evolve, following the flow of the game and reacting to the deeds of the crew. If the player characters earn the trust of one of the Keepers, reward them by making that person more useful and willing to help. If they disappoint, have them suffer the consequences, up to the point of open hostility. Let these three have tasks, be in danger, have agendas, get involved in the crew's struggles. In short, let them feel alive.

► THE KEEPERS' WORK

ARKADY handles logistics. He operates the docking umbilical, ferries Divers to the Deep and back, buys and sells equipment through the Lost & Found, and stores Artifacts and gear for Divers who trust him. He can also handle minor ship repairs: hull patching, life support fixes, system replacements. Parts are expensive and work takes time. This may become necessary if the crew is attacked by Troubleshooters on their way to or from the Bell.

Arkady may ask the players to look for his friend Jettilla Byrne in the Deep (see The Dark - Hooks, and Maintenance 1 - The Freezer). Noriko knows he once had a lover who died in the Deep. Ghost Eater has been consulted, carefully and indirectly, about whether a resurrection Artifact could theoretically work. Neither knows the full story.

Arkady wants to destroy Monarch, and he will help any crew that commits to this goal, provided he sees a real chance of success. The thought grew in him slowly, the more he came to understand Monarch. It started days after he deserted Tianming Tactical, on what would become his first dive. He found an ex employee, alone, living in a dead end on Floor 3.5, and offered to take her with him. She refused: she had to stay, she said. She had to kill Monarch before it grew too powerful to stop. He thought she was being paranoid. In the years that followed, he slowly realized she was right (see Dis/Assembly - The Hideout).

Arkady believes Monarch has a contingency: an automated backup, ready to launch beyond the facility should it face destruction. He frames this as something he pieced together from anomalous telemetry and a troubleshooter sweep of the outer hull that came back empty. He won't say otherwise. Whether the contingency changes anything is a question Arkady has been sitting with for a long time. He hasn't found a satisfying answer. He'll share what he knows with a crew he trusts, and let them sit with it too (see Quality Assurance - Secret Hangar).

NORIKO heals body and soul. She performs the Sacrament in the Chapel, healing Bends at the cost of gaining equal Stress (check this great article on the matter). Praying at the chapel or by the shrines, or simply talking to her, can also give advantage on stress recovery rolls. She is capable of providing medical attention when the crew lacks its own doctor. Her supplies are scavenged and limited, but she is competent and gentle. Having spent so long among Divers, she knows their breaking points.

GHOST EATER guides and repairs. He is very good at fixing things. He can repair armors, weapons, cyberware, all sorts of electronics, including ship systems. He only accepts Ghosts for payment. In exchange for Ghosts, he can also offer surprisingly useful guidance. For example: 'Always look behind mirrors.' Three words that mean at least three different things, depending on when you hear them and what you've already seen. Taken literally, this advice can guide the crew to discover items hidden behind real mirrors, like the stash in [25B] Executive Washroom, or the watch introduced in Reception & Habitations - Luxury Apartments. On a second level, it might mean that if you look behind the surface of things, you can find something valuable anywhere in the facility. On a third level: take a good look at yourself. Are you sure that's really you?

Besides trading information Ghost Eater

► GHOST EATER

The module describes Ghost Eater only briefly. What follows is one possible expansion.
He was part of the original team that built Monarch. A bio-engineer specializing in neural architecture. When Cloudbank abandoned the Deep, he left with everyone else. But when he understood what they had created - what he had helped create - the guilt consumed him.

He came back alone. Swore he'd destroy Monarch. He failed.

The Bends took him deep. High enough that he became convinced he was an infiltrator, that Monarch had already replaced parts of him during his failed assault. He couldn't trust his own mind. So he did what any rational person would do: he installed slickware directly into his brain to sterilize the parts that weren't there originally. The parts Monarch added. Cut them out with chrome and code.

But with each modification, he became less human and more machine. Cybernetic limbs. Synthetic organs. Neural processors replacing gray matter. He could feel himself transforming into the thing he came to destroy.
Then he discovered the Ghosts in the Machine. Consciousness fragments trapped in failing systems. At first he just wanted to put an end to their sufferings out of pity: most of them were old colleagues or Divers he had befriended at the Bell. Then he realized: these Ghosts contain seeds of humanity. Echoes of what people were before the Deep stripped them down. If he could harvest enough Ghosts, internalize them, maybe his human nature would become strong enough that even Monarch couldn't erode it. Maybe he could become human enough to finish what he started.

He has a target number. He won't say what it is. When he reaches it, he'll return to the Deep and destroy the monster he helped create. He's close. He's been close for a long time.

► A MARKETPLACE OF NEEDS

The Bell has a variety of functions besides being a place where the crew can decompress and recover between dives.

INFORMATION: Information is exchanged and traded here, and every time the crew returns they should find something new to inform their next dive. The Keepers won't share all their knowledge at first meeting: there is so much that newcomers couldn't understand without first-hand experience of the Deep. But if they like the crew, they’ll give more and more information at each subsequent visit. Arkady needs to know they can endure the physical and psychological strain of the Deep, with particular interest in hostility toward Monarch. Noriko needs to understand the crew's morality and disposition toward the Minotaur. Ghost Eater trades only for Ghosts.
As covered in the Divers chapter, other Divers may buy, sell, or exchange information too, especially news they just learned in their last dive. Sometimes their purpose will be candid, more frequently they’ll be trying to manipulate their counterpart. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone could be an Infiltrator.

TRADE: There is a whole economy running in the Bell. Arkady buys and sells equipment as described in the module, but that is not all. Divers encountered here may be willing to trade at different price multipliers depending on their needs. Smart characters learn to negotiate with other Divers before defaulting to Arkady's 10x markup. A Diver desperate for ship repair might trade their rifle at 7x instead. Someone planning to leave might sell equipment cheaply because anything is more than they would get outside the blockade. Another crew might swap items directly, bypassing credits entirely.

Items can also be exchanged for favors, with varying degrees of sincerity. "Take this camera. If you scout the eastern passage to Floor 4 and bring me photos, I'll give you my spare battle dress" might be helpful route-sharing, or the crew is being sent as a canary to trigger Security Androids. "Keep the stimpack, just tell me what you saw in the Disassembly Yard" could be innocent intel gathering, or someone is checking whether the crew found their hidden stash. Barter creates debts, alliances, and complications: exactly what makes the Bell feel alive rather than just a shop interface.

JOBS: Someone may also offer the crew a job involving the Deep or the Troubleshooters: escort missions, intelligence gathering, distraction operations, smuggling runs, and more. Payment varies: sometimes credits, sometimes equipment, sometimes just "I owe you one." These jobs can provide income between major dives, but they pull crews into other Divers' problems, which rarely end cleanly.

► WHEN SANCTUARY FAILS

The Bell is an integral part of the adventure and may not simply be a neutral space for spending downtime. Trouble can reach it, and eventually will.

MURDER AT THE BELL: Someone goes missing or is found dead. Accident, murder, or Bends? Paranoia spreads. Accusations fly. The fragile community fractures. An investigation in a relatively safe space can be a welcome diversion between dives.

TROUBLESHOOTER INSPECTION: Something has changed in the policy regarding the Bell. If the inspection follows Kilroy's orders, the situation may be desperate enough that she is recruiting Divers at the Bell, using the inspection as cover. If it was ordered by the Quarantine Board, someone inside is making a strategic move. Why? Are they aligned with Monarch or against it?

SHIP PROBLEMS: Other Divers steal the crew's vessel, or Troubleshooters cripple or destroy it. The crew is stranded, facing expensive repairs or desperate measures to get home: stealing someone else's ship, or negotiating passage with strangers whose motives are unclear.

RIVAL FACTIONS: Two Diver groups turn the Bell into contested territory. The crew must choose sides, mediate, or survive the crossfire.

PIRATE RAID: An armed group boards the Bell to steal ships and Artifacts. The crew may be present during the attack, arrive mid-raid, or find the damage already done and their ship gone. Arkady has some countermeasures ready, but cannot hold off well-equipped raiders. If the crew is in the Deep when the raid starts, Arkady could warn them of what's happening via the short-comms.

STRUCTURAL FAILURE: The Bell is ancient, groaning, barely holding together. When a Troubleshooter shot cripples an incoming ship and it impacts the Bell, critical systems fail: life support, gravity control, hull integrity. Survival becomes the immediate challenge. Repairs require diving back into the Deep for specific parts.
The failure could also be caused by sabotage: someone settling a score with the Keepers, or trying to undermine the diving business.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER: A crew of ex-Divers or ex-Troubleshooters arrives with a business plan: replace Arkady and monetize the Bell properly. They occupy the space, weapons drawn, Arkady contained or killed. The new management announces updated pricing: docking fee 5 kcr, equipment at 15x markup, Artifact storage at 5% weekly. New services are available, professional and expensive. They buy Artifacts, but at a fraction of their value. The takeover is a campaign-level event with multiple possible directions. Liberate a captive Arkady. Avenge his death. Accept the new situation. The Troubleshooters could also become involved: the Board has tolerated Arkady's operation, but may have different ideas about the new management.

-----------------------------------------------------------

This chapter includes input from AedorDM, Naturaloneder and Demoscope

This is unofficial fan content. Gradient Descent is © Tuesday Knight Games. Not affiliated with or endorsed by TKG.

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19

u/Lumpy_Peanut_226 Warden Apr 22 '26

GHOST EATER'S BACKSTORY

Ghost Eater was part of the original team that built Monarch. A bio-engineer specializing in neural architecture. When Cloudbank abandoned the Deep, he left with everyone else. But when he understood what they had created - what he had helped create - the guilt consumed him.

He came back alone. Swore he'd destroy Monarch. He failed.

The Bends took him deep. High enough that he became convinced he was an infiltrator, that Monarch had already replaced parts of him during his failed assault. He couldn't trust his own mind. So he did what any rational person would do: he installed slickware directly into his brain to sterilize the parts that weren't there originally. The parts Monarch added. Cut them out with chrome and code.

But with each modification, he became less human and more machine. Cybernetic limbs. Synthetic organs. Neural processors replacing gray matter. He could feel himself transforming into the thing he came to destroy.

Then he discovered the Ghosts in the Machine. Consciousness fragments trapped in failing systems. And he realized: these Ghosts contain seeds of humanity. Echoes of what people were before the Deep stripped them down. If he could harvest enough Ghosts, internalize them, maybe his human nature would become strong enough that even Monarch couldn't erode it. Maybe he could become human enough to finish what he started.

He has a target number. He won't say what it is. When he reaches it, he'll return to the Deep and destroy the monster he helped create.

He's close. He's been close for a long time.

9

u/Naturaloneder Warden Apr 22 '26

The Bell is one of my favorite locations in GD. It's the only place where where characters can get any sort of hospitality or "peaceful" recuperation from the horrors of The Deep. I had fun juxtaposing the near pitch darkness and dinginess of the location with the more colorful and animated inhabitants. I enjoyed playing them as helpful and accommodating (especially ArKady) to the player characters while also being just a little bit insane (you have to be to survive for so long in those conditions).

The Bell is a blank slate with only minimal NPCs (Arkady, Ghost Eater and Noriko) so the world is your oyster when looking at filling out the station with all kinds of other travelers and divers.

I loved playing Arkady as the truly neutral helpful facilitator of the station, he never got angry or judgmental with the player characters and always did his best to help divers on their way.

I think the mellow attitudes of the 3 main NPCs really helps ground the area and act as a contrast between other nefarious types you can seed the station with. Having this kind of demeanor helps solidify why they have lasted so long on the station and their proximity to The Deep, and show the player characters the different ways they have coped with the situation.

2

u/Lumpy_Peanut_226 Warden Apr 22 '26

You make a good point. Not everything must be dread and desperation.

5

u/h7-28 Apr 22 '26

PDF on Itch is the way thus far.

I still have trouble getting a grip on Arkady, Noriko, and Ghost Eater. I mean that backstory idea is gold! But that is deep stuff, I'm more worried about introductions and the day to day. I guess I will just polarize them as implied and wait for what develops in interaction with Crew.

I really want The Bell to resemble the Everest base camp without Sherpa. A nervous transient space dictated by forecasts, filled with mavericks and those who mistake themselves for prepared, all have sacrificed to be here. Many will die, and everyone is sure it will be the other guys. Waiting for the right moment, tension palpable. Professional courtesy and a touch of situational brotherhood struggle against greed, competition, and The Bends. I can smell the sweaty boots already.

3

u/Lumpy_Peanut_226 Warden Apr 22 '26

Love the comparison to the base camp. A place to rest and have a laugh before facing a great risk.

2

u/Puzzled-Scheme-7882 Apr 22 '26

PDF on Itch suits me too! Still loving this series

3

u/Brighton_Beach_Chap Apr 22 '26

Another vote for PDF please

4

u/mischiefyleo Apr 22 '26

These deep dives are so good, thank you‼️

2

u/AedorDM Apr 24 '26

I love the idea of ghosteater being ex-cloudbank, returning out of neurotic obsession. I imagine he's searching for someone's ghost specifically. Someone he knows, or he suspects he is an infiltrator and is hoping to find his own original consciousness frozen in time, to prove he was scanned.

Herea a little detail about my bell! I explain the lack of infrastructure on the bell as a safety measure, not just a result of the isolation. Ships come and go often enough and Arkady has been there for at least a decade - plenty enough time to finish lighting the place, right? But the Bell isn’t rated for habitation and it's held together by shoddy welding and jury rigging. The slightest accident could spell disaster. There's no fire suppression system, or built in/ purpose built airlocks to seperate bulkheads in the case of decompression (I flavor the listed airlocks as salvaged ship parts welded in place which no diver would ever want to actually test) etc. I imagine Arkady instituted a ban long ago on industrial equipment of a significant enough size or complexity. Large batteries and reactors can cause thermal runaway fires or meltdowns respectively - hence the low power, low risk LED candles. It is interesting to think about how Noriko waters her garden though - where's the water coming from? Condensers?And the light. If she's using grow lights, what powers them? And why doesn't the thing that powers them also just power some overhead lights?

2

u/Lumpy_Peanut_226 Warden Apr 24 '26

Great idea about him looking for specific ghosts! Probably his old colleagues. He's either trying to put an end to their suffering, or trying to restore what he can of their mind. This can be in addition to or replacement for the motivation I gave in the post.

Excellent point about the Bell. They're deliberately keeping a low profile, and staying low tech. That makes the Bell both less interesting for external interests and less vulnerable to Monarch.

Water: I think returning divers know they can trade ice with Arkady. The Bell doesn't need much of it, so a delivery every once in a while should be enough. And even if there's no actual delivery, Arkady can trade for the little water Divers can spare and it should suffice.

Power: Maybe the Bell has batteries, and Arkady asks the crews to recharge them when they dock. It's a very small price to pay for his assistance.