At the start of play, the characters are trekking through the wilderness and have just reached the outskirts of Blasingdell (or some other community). When you’re ready to begin, read:
Durgeddin was a master smith who forged blades of surpassing quality and power. Centuries ago, his home was sacked by orcs. Durgeddin led the remnants of his clan to the mountains north of the town of Blasingdell and established a small, secret stronghold somewhere in the trackless wilderness.
From his hidden redoubt, he waged a decades-long vendetta against all orc-kind, until his enemies discovered his fortress and attacked it after a long siege. Durgeddin and his followers perished, and much wealth was carried away by the conquering hordes. But it’s said that the deepest and best-hidden vaults and armories escaped the looting, and that some of Durgeddin’s extraordinary blades still wait in the darkness for a hand bold enough to claim one.
You’ve come to Blasingdell, a small mining town on the northern frontier, to see if there’s anything to these stories. Your map shows that the old dwarf-hold lies about three days' march to the north of the town. Dark, deeply forested hills rise beyond the town’s outskirts
The characters can spend time interacting with the townsfolk, gathering equipment and provisions, and otherwise preparing before they set out.
Wilderness Encounters and Camping
If you want to make the trek from Blasingdell to the Stone Tooth more interesting, you can create random encounters with orc raiding parties (see “Wait and Watch,") or with creatures native to forest or hills. See appendix B of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for lists of monsters by environment.
The characters might be forced to retreat outside the stronghold to recuperate after difficult battles. The party can readily find defensible campsites in the forest near the Stone Tooth.
The Stone Tooth
When the characters set forth on their journey, read:
As you travel north from the mining town of Blasingdell, you pass through brooding pine forests and deep vales. From where you stand now, you catch sight of a tall, steep hill that rises to a prominent bare knob of rock-the Stone Tooth. A thin spire of smoke rises from some unseen point high on the hill’s slopes, and you can make out a steep, narrow road or track that runs back and forth across the face of the mountainside.
Maps
The characters have several options: follow the path, scout the area, or wait and watch.
Follow the Path
At the foot of the Stone Tooth, a carefully constructed path winds up the hillside to some unseen height above. Durgeddin’s clan concealed its presence as much as possible, but years of wind and rain have eroded away its cover, leaving the path exposed and visible from the valley floor below.
The path climbs to the Mountain Door, at the location marked A on the map. This is the route used by the orcs in Great Ulfe’s tribe to come and go from their lair.
If someone checks the path for tracks, a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check reveals that four booted humanoids came down it within the last day and headed into the forest. The trail joins older tracks in the woods and becomes indistinguishable after about half a mile. These tracks belong to orc foraging parties; see “Wait and Watch,” below, for more information.
Scout the Area
Ambitious characters might choose to ignore the path and scale the Stone Tooth’s slopes. The going is very hard, with steep slopes and heavy undergrowth, reducing the characters' travel pace to roughly 100 feet per minute. Thoroughly exploring the hillside could easily take hours.
Heavy woods block the view upslope, making it difficult to ascertain the origin of the smoke (a natural chimney). Have the party’s guide make a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check when the group first enters the hillside. On a successful check, the characters travel in the general direction of the chimney. Otherwise, they lose their way (see “Becoming Lost” in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Dungeon Master’s Guide
(A) The Mountain Door
This is the front entrance to the Glitterhame. The old dwarf-path leads up to a bare shoulder of rock and then turns into a deep cleft in the hillside. If the characters enter this way, the expedition begins in area 1 of map 2.2, the Mountain Door.
(B) Chimney
When the characters reach the area marked B on the map, they can discover the source of the smoke. A natural rock chimney leads down into the caverns below, and a thin stream of smoke rises through it. The smoke spreads out and isn’t easy to pinpoint in the rugged terrain.
A character who searches for the source of the smoke finds the rock chimney with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check. If the characters pass nearby without searching, anyone who has a passive Perception score of 15 or higher notices the fissure.
If the characters descend the chimney, the expedition begins in area 7 of map, the Mountain Door.
(C) Orc Tunnel
On the other side of the Stone Tooth, a few hundred yards from the Mountain Door, the orc army burrowed into the hillside to circumvent the dwarven defenses. The tunnel is still passable, but its entrance is choked with brush and debris. If the characters enter this area, someone who has a passive Perception score of 15 or higher discovers the orc tunnel. The characters locate the tunnel automatically if anyone searches the area; it leads to area 21 of map, the Glitterhame.
The tunnel entrance is about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. Anyone who succeeds on a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check can spot old tracks passing in and out of the tunnel-reptilian footprints (from the troglodytes inhabiting the Glitterhame) and the paw prints of a very large bear.
(D) Hilltop
An hour or two of hard hiking brings the party to the summit. The Stone Tooth is about 1,450 feet in height, towering over the neighboring hills by 500 feet or more. The last 100 feet or so are a sheer point of rock, requiring DC 15 Strength (Athletics) checks to climb successfully. The view is spectacular, but the hilltop is otherwise unremarkable. (No entrance to the fortress is to be found here.)
(E) The Dark Mere
The eastern slopes of the Stone Tooth descend into a damp valley where water is trapped by the terrain. A dark tarn pools under the hill’s slopes, surrounded by numerous smaller lakes. A hidden drainage channel deep underwater connects to the subterranean Black Lake, providing access to Nightscale’s underground lair.
The opening is about 40 feet down, and it lies about 100 feet from the western lakeshore. Player characters exploring around the lake can’t find this outlet unless they conduct extensive dives to plumb the mere’s depths, requiring DC 10 Strength (Athletics) checks to swim underwater. If any characters are capable of staying this deep without suffocating and conduct a thorough search of the lake, they discover the passage with a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check. If the characters enter through this watery passage, they emerge in area 54 of map, the Black Lake.
Wait and Watch
The characters might choose to observe the path for some time before braving the Stone Tooth. When they arrive, two foraging parties from Great Ulfe’s tribe are searching the nearby hills for loot. The first party of four orcs returns two days after the characters arrive, and the second group three days after that. These orcs sleep by day and travel by night, so they arrive in the party’s vicinity just before dawn.
If the party sets up camp at least 90 feet from the path and doesn’t take any action that might draw attention, the returning orcs pass by without spotting the campsite. Otherwise, the orcs notice the camp when they come within 90 feet (or within twice as far if a campfire is burning or the party isn’t attempting to be quiet).
A lookout whose post overlooks the trail and who has a passive Perception score of 10 or higher detects the orcs as they approach. The orcs aren’t likely to notice a hidden lookout; compare their passive Perception scores to the character’s Dexterity (Stealth) check.
Four hunched humanoids in dirty hide armor approach along the trail, snarling and muttering to each other in a guttural tongue. Yellow tusks jut from their bestial faces.
If the orcs come across the camp and aren’t spotted, they attempt to take out anyone on watch or creep into the camp to attack sleeping characters.
If an orc party moves past the characters unchallenged or fights its way through, the survivors reinforce the defenses in the complex (see area 5 and area 14).
Captured orcs can describe in some detail the general arrangement of the Mountain Door. They don’t know anything about the rest of the complex, or that it’s possible to enter through the chimney. The orcs defending the Mountain Door refuse to negotiate for their return.
The characters might disguise themselves as orcs using captured gear. Doing so can let them try to bluff their way past sentries in the dungeon, using Charisma (Deception) checks contested by the orcs' Wisdom (Insight) checks.
Treasure
Each orc carries a sack of mundane supplies looted from the countryside, as well as coinage totaling 4d6 sp and 1d4 gp.
Developer’s Note:
If the party are on the ' Vanquish the Orc Raiders ' quest then some method of tracking the number of Orcs that the party dispose of is needed. Parcels, like the one below, will be found where there are Orcs. If the party are not following this quest these parcels can be ignored.
Development
No more dungeon denizens emerge from the dungeon during this time, and no more orcs leave for a week after the second patrol returns.