Bell chamber · Velstraven · Morass Games Wiki

A small room of chapter 1. When you walk in, the room card reads: The signal bell will not ring; its clapper sticks and the flag stays down.

Narrated walkthrough

Bell chamber from its entrance — Bell chamber: how to solve it

Getting there

Chapter 1, ground floor, a dead end. Go east from the Entrance court through the Counterweight repair room; the octagonal Bell chamber opens off the end of its passage.

What is wrong

"The signal bell will not ring; its clapper sticks and the flag stays down." The Bearing's card: "Old resin packs the clapper's pivot bearing, cold and set hard; warmed, it would run."

What you can work

Bearing: The clapper's pivot bearing, the amber patch beside the bell, packed with hard resin.
Clapper: The bell's clapper, held stiff by the resin above it.
Pull: The bell pull; the cord runs up to the clapper.

Solution

A nudge

Heat carries warmth into the material it roots in. Warm resin softens and runs out of the pivot.

The full solution

Aim at the Bearing and cast Heat (Fire + Fire + Growth).
Heat carries warmth into the material it roots in. Warm resin softens and runs out of the pivot.
What you see: "Heat enters the resin-fouled bearing." Soon its card reads "The resin in the bearing is warm and softening."
Wait about seven seconds, until the Bearing's card says the pivot turns freely.
The resin first has to warm through, then run out. The heat stays on, so you only wait.
What you see: Bearing card: "The resin has run out of the bearing; the pivot turns freely." Room card: 1 of 2 put right, the hard resin is gone from the bearing.
Handle the Pull.
With the pivot clean, one tug swings the clapper far enough to strike the bell, and the strike raises the flag.
What you see: "The freed clapper swings on its clean bearing." The bell rings, then "Bell chamber settled."

Other ways that work

Cleanse surface (Fire + Water + Water) on the Bearing, five times: each warm rinse lifts some resin ("Warm rinse loosens removable softened resin at the bearing edge."). Then Handle the Pull.
Directed impulse (Fire + Fire + Will) on the Clapper or the Pull, again and again: each blow warms the pivot, knocks some resin loose and swings the clapper. After several blows the resin is gone and a blow or a tug rings the bell.

Watch for

Heat the Bearing, not the clapper: "Heat warms the clapper's iron; the resin sits in the bearing above, out of that warmth's reach."
A tug while resin remains only strains: "The resin-coated pivot strains against the pull."
Chill on the Bearing sets the resin harder. Repeat motion is refused: "This hand-operated clapper has no compatible thermal drive for repeating a stroke."
Suspend, Draw or Lighten on the Clapper change how it swings, but none frees a resin-locked pivot.
Do not put a Stilling ward under the clapper. It slows the swing, the opposite of what the bell needs.
The Reading lamp (Handle it, or Heat it) and the Reading shutter (Handle or Orient it) stand in every room. They only light the room to read by and work none of its fittings.

If it goes wrong

This room has no failed state. To put it back as you found it, hold R for one second (pad: Start, then Restart from autosave); that reloads the autosave made when you entered the room.

Achievements here

The Bell Speaks: Solve the Bell chamber.
One Clear Stroke: One Clear Stroke (focused): solve within 20 seconds of entering. Bind Heat before you walk in, cast it at the Bearing at once, wait the seven or so seconds, then Handle the Pull. The clock starts when you walk in; stepping out into a corridor does not reset it, but visiting another puzzle room or failing the room starts it again.
Float and Fetch: Float and Fetch (aimed): Suspend the Clapper, then Draw it within twenty seconds. Harmless here.
Light as a Feather: Light as a Feather (aimed): Lighten the Clapper, then Suspend it within twenty seconds.

Spells used

Heat, Cleanse surface, Directed impulse.