L1-2C. Refuge

Features & Checks

• Reeking Pile (difficult terrain). Moving through the midden costs 2 ft for 1 ft. The squelch imposes disadvantage on Stealth unless you move at half speed.
• Stench. On entering or when rummaging, creatures must make a CON save DC 11 or be poisoned until the start of their next turn (creatures used to filth or with poison resistance may roll with advantage).
• Vermin. Disturbing the heap (or searching it) has a 1–2 on d6 chance to stir:
• Swarm of insects (flies) erupts; or
• 2 giant rats; or
• On a 6: 1 carrion crawler grub clutch (treat as rot grubs: DC 10 CON each round to avoid 1 piercing as they bite; fire or magical healing kills them).
• Gas Pockets. Open flame or burning here forces a DC 12 Dex save for all within 10 ft as a pop of swamp gas flares (1d4 fire, ignites the heap in a slow, choking smolder; CON save DC 10 each round in the smoke or gain disadvantage on Perception until you leave).

Six-Stud Hextor Control Plate by 3orcs

Secret Doors

• West (to corridor): From inside 2C, the hairline grout is obvious: Investigation DC 10 to find; Thieves’ Tools or Sleight of Hand DC 12 to open by pressing six tiny studs in order (Hextor motif). STR DC 18 to force (loud).
• South (to 2B): Investigation DC 12 to notice the buried seam. Clearing requires 10 minutes or Athletics DC 13 (3 checks) to carve a crawlspace; each attempt risks a vermin check. Opening mechanism is identical to the west door.

Loot in the Filth (if searched, 1 minute each check)

Roll 1d4, Investigation DC 12:

1. Suel brass hinge-plate (10 gp to a collector).
2. 3d6 sp in sticky coins and a bone die (blood-rubbed pips).
3. Rusty dagger and a silver ear cuff (5 gp) tangled in rags.
4. Howling Moon token (thorn-wrapped boar tusk) and a scrap of ogre-script: “Keep skull fire stoked.”

Noise & Response (tie to Rooms 3 and 2B)

• Any loud rummaging, gas-pop, or door forcing: Room 3 listens; on d6: 3–6 two orcs investigate the east doorway (idle lines: “What? I hear somethin’.” “Smell man-flesh.”).
• Combat/noise for 2+ rounds: They shout “Found you! No more games—time to die!” and call two more from Room 3 next round.
• If the party opens the south door quietly, creatures in 2B are unaffected unless bones snap there.

Tactics & Use

• This is the sneak route if the party found it from 2B: you can bypass Room 3 by slipping through the west secret door into the corridor behind the guard post.
• Orcs almost never enter (they dump from the east doorway if they do, they fight with disadvantage the first round from gagging (same CON DC 11 stench rule).

DM Tips

• Reward clever players who mask the stench (vinegar, oil of perfume, drenched scarves) with advantage on the initial CON save.
• If the party lights the midden, treat it as light smoke spreading into Room 3 in 1d4 rounds—great for a chaotic push, but it may also pull reinforcements faster.
• Keep the orc soundscape ready: low mutters become snarls—“Bleed! Bleed and die!”—if they rush in from Room 3.