While hunting leprechauns in the woods, I got a red gate, which led to an inactive "Leprechaun Cave 2". This happened around 5 minutes ago. I saw a couple of dead bodies and the chest was locked.
Did you wait around for a bit? If I remember from last year you could arrive in "inactive" caves but within 5 minutes or so they would respawn the leps and the boss who would drop a key for that locked chest. It's pretty common to see corpses and loot on ground from the previous one if you get a portal as soon as one ends.
Could the gate have spawned seconds before the previous Lep Smashers beat the boss/looted the chest & it reset? That's a real pisser man
Ah, I only waited for 2 minutes. I was in a hurry to get to the next one. Edit: Next one worked just fine.
I thought the same thing the first go but even when you see dead leps or debris, the leps are spawning, give it a moment if they don't donkey punch you on the get-go!
This happened to me and some friends as well. Waited for a good 10 minutes. Never started. Was definitely a misfire cave.