The Drowned Litany of Mercy and Chains

The chamber lies beneath a flooded plaza in the sunken city, a circular sanctum of coral-scarred marble where pale sea-light filters through cracks overhead and drifts over a black basin rimmed in brass. Five shell-stelae stand around the water like broken choir stalls, their glyphs glowing faintly whenever the tide shifts. Above the basin hangs a bronze halo clasped to a cold iron chain, and within the depths two shapes, one radiant and one horned, sleep in uneasy suspension. Every few breaths the chamber exhales a low hymn, and the seal answers with a shiver that sends silver bubbles and ash-like motes upward, warning that something below is beginning to stir.

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Puzzle EntryRitualLevel5Moderate

The Drowned Litany of Mercy and Chains

5LevelModerateDifficultyRitualType

LevelLevel 5

DifficultyModerate

TypeRitual

Components5 parts

Time LimitThe seal weakens over 3 rounds of active ritual work, or immediately if the party triggers three consecutive missteps.

Primary DCDC 15

Overview

Discovery

Characters who inspect the room immediately notice the ritual is still active. A successful DC 14 Religion or Arcana check reveals it is a containment rite with a missing balancing step, not a simple lock or puzzle box. The hymn tablets, salt trough, and rotating collars make it clear the party can interact with the scene rather than merely read it.

Puzzle Handout

what the players see

Hymn of the Drowned Seal

Mercy to the wing, and mercy to the horn. Name the sleeping bright one first.

Shackles to the claw, and shackles to the blaze. Name the sleeping dark one second.

Salt to the east, and silence to the tide. Let the chain be taut, and let the throat be still.

Turn wake to sleep, and sleep to wake no more. What was shared must remain divided.

Then lay both hands upon the twin reliquaries, and speak the closing oath:

By the drowned oath, remain beneath the world.

Brass Collar Markings

Mercy faces the white feather.
Shackles face the black ember.
Salt drinks the eastern line.
Wake turns inward.
Two hands, one vow.

Glyph Chart

Glyph	Meaning	Category
Winged teardrop	Mercy or appeasement	Virtue
Broken chain loop	Binding or restraint	Constraint
Open eye	Wakefulness	Phase
Closed eye	Sleep	Phase
Eastward wave	Salt channel and tidal silence	Direction

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