The Lower Cut
- Rooms
- 2
- Foes
- 7, CR 1/8 to 2
- Traps
- 2
- Treasure
- 65 gp
At a glance
The threat
The Burrow King, a huge, scarred kobold with an eastern coin on a chain at his throat, rules the warren from its deepest chamber.
Wandering monsters (1d2)
- 1
Warren runnerCR 1/8
When: The party makes a loud noise in the passage or leaves a surviving lookout behind them; the runner tries to warn the King and flee if cornered.A quick kobold runner carries messages between the entry chamber and the King's niche, wearing a belt of stolen nails. - 2
3× Dire ratsCR 1/8
When: The party spills rations, bleeds, or spends several minutes in the passage; the rats rush the nearest isolated creature.Three lean dire rats follow the smell of food through gaps in the mine props, their coats matted with dust and grease.
Rooms
2The Cart Room
What they see
Read aloud
The lower mine's old service chamber has become the warren's entry point. A mine cart loaded with rubble blocks part of the floor, while a crude curtain of hide hides the eastern door; small shapes whisper beyond it.
Features
- A handcart loaded with loose shale can be tipped to create difficult terrain or make a loud crash.
- Scraps of mail and broken tools have been nailed to the walls as trophies.
- The eastern door leads directly to the Burrow King's chamber.
What the GM knows
Monsters
4× Warren lookoutsCR 1/8
Four wary kobolds in patched mining gear crouch behind the cart. One has a sling and a belt of tin chimes; the others carry scavenged picks.Tactics. They pelt intruders from cover and retreat through the eastern door if two are defeated. A character who offers food or asks about the ogre may persuade one to talk.Traps
Toolfall BoardDC 13 bludgeoning
A pressure board beside the cart releases a suspended bundle of iron tools. The tools crash down on the first creature stepping on the board.Disarm. A character who spots the board can wedge it with a tool or pin it down; a successful Dexterity check with thieves' tools disables it.Treasure
Lookout pay18 sp and one eastern coin
A small tin box contains the lookouts' collected pay, mostly copper with one unfamiliar eastern coin.Notes
The lookouts have heard the Burrow King arguing about the ogre's demands. A character who listens at the eastern door hears a heavy scrape and a high, angry voice. The room is cramped, so larger creatures may need to squeeze around the cart.
2 doors: S (normal), N (normal)
The place
What it is
Beneath Hearthvale's lower mine tunnel, kobolds have turned abandoned workings into a cramped warren of mine gear, scavenged timber, and brittle stone.
Atmosphere
Cold damp air carries the stink of rat musk, lamp oil, and freshly broken stone.
The threat
The Burrow King, a huge, scarred kobold with an eastern coin on a chain at his throat, rules the warren from its deepest chamber.
History
The lower mine tunnel was opened by Hearthvale's quarry crews, who left behind a cramped service chamber when a seam of unstable stone made further work too dangerous.
Rumors
1d4- 1The rockslide that trapped the supply caravan came from beneath the road, not from the mountainside.
- 2People working late at the quarry hear tiny hammers under the lower tunnel, followed by the scrape of something much heavier.
- 3A kobold was seen near town carrying a strange eastern coin and asking whether the winter stores were full.
- 4The Burrow King is said to be old enough to remember when the mine was still worked, and tired enough to bargain.
Plot hooks
3Corridors
2The narrow passage between and
A length of miner's chain is strung with tin scraps; it rattles when anything passes and can be heard in both rooms.
Just inside the eastern doorway of
Fresh claw marks cross older pick scars, and a cart wheel has been wedged upright as a crude warning sign.
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