The Grotto
RoomDCC 72 · p.5
Open source p.5Area 1-2 – The Grotto
The small grotto is dominated by a pool of salt water periodically fed by rolling waves. Simple steps, carved into the flowstone, climb to a passage set in the wall barred with a rusted iron gate.
Strange implements litter the shore—manacles, shackles, skull vices, spiked chairs, thumbscrews, pokers, and brands—all succumbing to rust. Just beneath the surface of the pool you can make out a pair of sunken iron maidens.
This grotto was used to interrogate and execute servants of the Horned King. The implements were used for torture and are ruined by rust.
A large lockbox stands hidden behind a sheet of stone drapery. Both the simple lock and the lid of the box are frozen with rust and must be broken open. Inside the lockbox are seven candles wrapped in oilskin, flint and steel, a moldy journal once used for recording confessions, and three ceremonial daggers. The lockbox can be found with a DC 13 Luck check, or a simple search by characters with infravision.
The iron maidens are similarly frozen with rust and must be broken open. Each contains the skeletal remains of a drowned witch. Opening the maidens causes the skeletons to move with the washing waves, but they pose no threat to the PCs.
The first skeleton wears a torc of gold wire twisted in the shape of a dragon. The torc grants a magical bonus to AC to anyone fighting with a two-handed weapon. The second witch swallowed a copper ring prior to her death, and it rolls around on the base of the maiden. Wrought in the shape of a serpent, the copper ring grants a bonus to arcane spell checks by a caster who has taken the Horned King as his patron.
Like the maidens and the lockbox, the iron gate barring passage from the grotto is rusted shut. The gate is also barred on the far side, and requires a DC 16 Strength check to break open.
PCs electing to break down the gate may notice a large silver rat watching from the far side of the gate. A familiar of the leader of the coven, the rat scampers back to area 1-6 to warn its mistress of the PCs’ arrival.
Cautious and stealthy PCs will notice the sound of keening chants from above and a flickering crimson light reflected from area 1-3.