Castellana Caves
In southern Apulia, there is a small town and manor called Castellana. The town is mostly unremarkable except for the deep pit in its outskirt. The locals simply call it “The Grave”, its typically avoided—and for good reason too. As the deep cave is an entrance to Hell.
In the town people have guessed at the truth. Too many accidents and strange occurrences have made the inhabitants vary. The elder generation is dutiful in warning their children of the bats and fumes escaping into the light from the subterranean chambers—yet this has also given the place a certain alure, and its not uncommon for test of courage to be attempted on its edges.
The opening is surrounded by twisted holly oaks—the trees are unusual in that their acorns are black as sot. The edge of the pit has an infernal aura of 1. Getting down into the cave is no easy task, the opening doesn’t have any walls and certainly require tools and an experienced spelunker. The fall would be steep, and an unwholesome fumes and bat are likely to harass anyone attempting the descent. Explorers are unwise to try to rely on the oaks for securing ropes, many would-be explores have lost their life in such trust.
The cave system is enormous. It’s a place of clear supernatural wonder, strange stalagmites and other rock formation claw at the skin of someone attempting to move through them. There is a sort of eerie beauty in the crystals, but also a frequent resemblance of wailing faces. Bats and piles of guano is everywhere. These are largely Corrupted Beasts, seeking to attack and swarm anyone who disturbs their home. The aura of the cave is magical 3 during the day, but as night sets its overpowered by an infernal aura of 4.
The grandest of the chthonic chambers is at its deepest part. Here the walls and ceiling are covered by white and translucent stalagmites and a sickly pale coral. The room has a basin of water, which a drip from the ceiling constantly feeds. Deceptively, the water in the basin is close to boiling, though it appears perfectly tranquil. Anyone determined enough to walk into the waters’ centre passes into a Tartaran regio of strength 8.
The regio resemblance the outer cave but with even more foul smoke. Like in all Tartaran regiones there is fire and heat everywhere—quite the change from the darkness of the caves further up. Its very steep and leads downwards in a spiral path. The end of the regio delivers an explorer to one of the antechambers of Hell itself. The regio is inhabited by demons of the order: Avengers of Evil. They are tasked with preventing the sinners from escaping Hell through the cave. They claim due to some undefined weakness or flaw, this portion of the Internal Realm has many escape attempts. These sinners are almost always those who committed suicide. Sometimes these spirits can be encountered outside the regio, taking the form of subterranean fumes or a distant wailing. Naturally, there is some reason to doubt the demon's account of the site and its purpose, both theological and practical.
Story Seed: Buried Evil
The true horror of the location is it's complete and unexplainable existence. No great battles or especially grim tales are tied to this region, so why should a wound leading to Hell itself be located here?Does the infernal forces plan something to warrant this policy of anonymity? Player character exploring some entirely mundane and domestic mystery migh accidentally end up in the caves and get caught up in an escape attempt.