Pirate Cove

1 Floating Tunnel

The only entrance to the cove is through a small tunnel in the rocky base of the island of Harpy Point, among the choppy water. This tunnel is only passable or even visible during low tide when the water receeds. A ratty rope has been installed along the top of the tunnel -- the most ideal entrance is in a small skiff, where one of the boaters pulls the rope for leverage, propelling the boat into the grotto within. The passage is 300' long.

2 Grotto

The light that filters into this grotto makes the water a translucent light blue. The space opens into a rounded 100'x100' room. Along one end is a sturdy wooden dock, back from which stretches a tunnel deeper into the rock.

If the characters study the dock, they realize that the timbers are ancient and the wide trunks that make up the posts must have come from Elsemere Wood. If the characters search the grotto floor at the bottom of the 50' of water, they discover an old pirate vessel, the Hierotecles. The ship contains around 10,000 gold dubloons as well as the skeletal remains of the pirate crew, complete with rapiers and cutlasses. Three of the pirates have on their remains a cutless cutlass. Everything seems relatively well preserved by the location in the sheltered saltwater grotto.

3 Back of Grotto

Near the back of the grotto, a bunch of split boards have been cast aside and a thousand muddy footprints head into the tunnel.

Any time that the party spends here will shed more light onto the situation. It's obvious that this is where the begotten of the old ones have ended up, climbing out of the water and heading into the deep passage within.

4 Long Tunnel

Part-way down the tunnel, there is a branch to the left. The main tunnel continues downward, taking on more natural cavernous form.

5 Pirate Cache

This 10'x15' niche in the rock is packed with corpses, treasures and other goods.

This niche is also where the begotten, digging over the long centuries of their labor, have come to finally die. As such it is littered with horrible corpses of almost-man-things in various stages of decay.

Anyone clambering over or moving aside the dead fish-men's bodies to examine the treasure runs the risk of catching the shakes (DC 13 Fortitude) or slimy doom (DC 14 Fortitude). The incubation period for each is one day, so characters will not notice if they are infected right away.

Among the goods are crates of shovels, picks, and other implements of destruction, including torches and two rare powder kegs.

6 Deeper tunnel

The tunnel runs deeper here, and the ground grows ever muddier.

As the characters enter, they feel a cold draft. The smell of lemon and brine wafts in from the deeper depths.

7 Steep slope

The tunnel grows very steep here, the walls ever more moist and the ground ever more slick. A low murmuring can be heard down the corridor.

This tunnel continues down to the Lair of the Old Ones. Everyone should roll a significant Balance check (DC 30) to avoid sliding down the shaft into the lair.