L1-2A. Guard-Den of the Broken Secret
The smashed mouth of a once-hidden door opens into a rectangular den tiled in faded red. Whole panels of patterned ceramic have fallen from the walls and ceiling, leaving damp gaps and bare stone. Rude furnishings crowd the room—a scarred table, stools, bedrolls thrown along the walls. Four green-skinned brutes drink from sour-smelling tankards. Two more snore in a heap just inside the breach. A battered brass gong hangs near the sleepers.
From an open doorway in the east wall, you hear dice clatter, slurred boasts, and more snoring.
From an open doorway in the east wall, you hear dice clatter, slurred boasts, and more snoring.
What the party can learn at a glance
- Suel craft, defaced. Every sixth floor tile bears a hairline rune of Wee Jas (long inert). A DC 12 Arcana or Religion recognizes Suel order-wards; chanting in measured cadence gives +1 to group Stealth checks taken in this room for 10 minutes.
- Howling Moon stink. Rot-spirit bottles under the table; crude thorn marks scratched over a tiled depiction of a bear-glyph (Llerg).
- Sound carries. Any raised voices or metal on stone are plainly audible in Room 3.
Creatures (on entry)
- Orcs (4) at the table (alert, drunk but mean).
- Orcs (2) asleep near the breach (prone; Perception 8).
Use MM orcs. “Howling Moon Pack Ambush” (optional): the first orc to attack has advantage if an ally is within 5 ft of the same target.
Orc voices (use as needed):
- Idle: “Huh? A noise?” “Smell man-flesh…”
- Alert: “Found you! No more games—time to die!” “Die, metalman!”
- Battle: “Bleed! Bleed and die!” “You are weak! I am stroooonng!” “Just… stand… still!”
Stealth & Surprise
- Approach from Room 1: Group Stealth vs. DC 12 to slip past the breach. First failed check or stepping on a loose tile in 1 (the clack) wakes one sleeper and prompts a listen from Room 3.
- Sleeping orcs: Any loud action within 10 ft requires DC 10 Stealth or they stir (half speed, no armor the first round).
The Gong (alarm)
- Object: AC 12, HP 10, immune to poison/psychic.
- Strike (action): Sounds a harsh brazen note; triggers the Response Clock below and gives all orcs advantage on the next Initiative roll in Rooms 2A & 3.
- Smother: A creature adjacent can use a reaction to grab the striker (or the ringer’s wrist) and force a Contested Athletics or Sleight of Hand to prevent the strike.
- Sabotage: Sleight of Hand DC 12 to pack the cup with mud/rag; the next strike fails.
Response Clock (2A ↔ 3 ↔ deeper halls)
When obvious noise or the gong occurs, roll the following at end of each round:
- Room 3 (Main Guard Room): d6 → 3–6 sends 2 orcs to probe this doorway; 5–6 sends 4 orcs.
- If fighting lasts 3+ rounds: One runner from 3 bolts for Rooms 5a–5b (more orcs). If the party drives deeper down the main red-tiled corridor, another runner from 3 goes for Rooms 5e–5d (barracks). Reinforcements arrive in 1d4+1 rounds per distance.
- If the gong sounds twice: add +1 to all response rolls for the next 3 rounds.
Orc Tactics (2A)
- First move: Table kicked to form a low barricade; two at the table hurl javelins while one shakes the sleepers awake.
- Second move: One orc lunges for the gong if it hasn’t sounded.
- Fighting style: They try to shove intruders back toward the twisted bars in Room 1 so the ogre from Room 4 can smash if called.
- Taunts: “Bleed and die!” “Stop moving, stupid human!” “Rip! Squash! Smash!”
If morale cracks:
- At half numbers or if the gong is smothered, 1 orc breaks to fetch Room 3 (“Ha ha! Go ahead and hide, little bleeders!”).
Secret Door (north-east corner)
- Spotting: Investigation DC 14 or Stonecunning (advantage) finds a hairline frame; Perception DC 15 to note a cooler draft.
- Mechanism: Press-turn a rune tile (Wee Jas script) six times (Hextor’s “red arrows” count from NA-03 riddle) to release; otherwise Tharizdun-scarred failsafe jams it for 1 hour.
- Where it goes: A tight priest-walk parallel to the corridor (safe bypass to a landing near Room 4). The orcs are unaware of this passage. Clever PCs can flank or slip behind the ogre line.
Treasure & Trinkets
- Rot-spirit bottle (empty; stinks—useful for a disguise).
- Bone dice (carved pips blood-rubbed; 2 sp), string of copper coins (15 cp), and a Suel electrum wedged under a loose tile (2 gp).
- Howling Moon tokens: thorn-wrapped boar tusk (proof of kills for Storm-Eyes parley).
Scaling & Mercy Valve
- Lower level party: Begin with 3 alert + 1 asleep; Room 3 sends only 2 on first probe.
- Higher level party: Add 1 bugbear lurking just beyond the east doorway with advantage to Stealth in the dim.
- If the PCs are drowning: A drunk quarrel in Room 3 (d6 → 1) delays reinforcements by 2 rounds.
Howling Moon Orc Guards by 3orcs
Dimensions & Layout
- Chamber: 12 ft wide (north–south), 24 ft long (west–east). The busted secret door is in the west wall from Room 1.
- East doorway: open, no door—leads to Room 3: Main Guard Room.
- Secret door: north wall, northeast corner (the orcs don’t know it exists). Faint grout lines; Suel mechanism inside.
Quick Flow for the DM
- PCs slip/breach → check Stealth vs. DC 12.
- If noise → awakeners + gong race.
- End of each round → roll Room 3 response; dispatch runners toward 5a/5b (and 5e/5d if the fight moves down the main hall).
- If PCs find the secret door, they can bypass or flank—Howling Moon doesn’t expect it.
Use the orc voice pack liberally as the soundscape: low mutters before the breach, then “Found you! Time to die!” once steel flashes.
Type
Guard post / house
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Contested By
Orc Dialog
You hear them grumble over sour ale—short, ugly bursts:
- “slosh We’re strong. Should be with the others, crackin’ the old humanz temple, not sittin’ watch.”
- “Urzhag listens too much to the elemental humanz. Hah! They point, we march. We ain’t their dogs.”
- “Howling Moon don’t need priests in silk. We take. They write.”
- “belch Ogres get the fat cuts. We did the bleedin’. Where’s our loot?”
- “Humanz are weak—soft bellies, soft bones. Across the fens is easy meat.”
- “Why sit in stone mouth? Let’s raid the farm-thorps. Burn, grab, gone by moon.”
- “Temple humanz say ‘wait, build, guard.’ Bah. Guard is for maggots.”
- “Gruumsh made us to smash, not count tiles like book-worms.”
- “Urzhag should tell Deggum ‘no’—or bite his throat. Chiefs lead, not bow.”
- “Heh. Hear them in the deep rooms? Coins sing. Should be our song.”
- “When horn blows, we go. But if horn stays quiet… we go anyway.”
- “dice clatter I roll skulls—means blood soon. Maybe human blood from across the marsh.”
- “Tomorrow night—no orders—we slip out, take a cart, bring back three heads.”
- “Drink now. Raid later. Howling Moon strong. Humanz weak!”
Comments