Still Grotto
Added 2015-05-08 13:52:14 +0000 UTCToday’s map was inspired by this out-of-copyright piece from “Autour de la Méditerranée … Illustrations par A. Chapon, etc” published in 1892 (and visible on the blog post). From the picture I imagined a pirate boat heading into the grotto in order to unload secret treasure, a prisoner, or perhaps to pick something up. It could also make an interesting place to maroon someone who isn’t a strong swimmer. Fresh water coming in from nearby falls into the ocean water on the north side of the grotto, and used to flow in through what has become the small cave complex on the east before cutting a new route. But where I think it will finally turn up in one of my games is the summer lair of a dragon trying to “escape the heat” figuratively and literally. A dragon that perhaps hatched here or used this as a lair in its youth and has retreated here after its regular lair (more suited to its larger size) was ransacked by adventurers and dragon hunters, trying to recover and keep its head low until autumn when it plans to search out a better lair, further away, and preferably with something tastier than fish to hunt. I’ve included three 300dpi versions of the map on the blog – my drawing without additions, one with grid, and one with an additional halftone screen for the water (which I really like). Once again, thanks to the awesome patrons of the Dodecahedron Patreon Campaign, this map is being released under a free commercial use (and personal use) license. https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/tuesday-map-still-grotto/
