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A dwarven cavern that acts as a passage with wildlife and dwarven defenses. · Medium · Medium

The Orebender Approach

The old road descends beneath the mountain, and something has begun marching back up it.
Rooms
8
Foes
17, CR 1/8 to 3
Traps
4
Treasure
1,015 gp
12345678Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. The First Descent

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

The deeper defense complex has partially awakened.

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    2-4× Cave houndsCR 1/2

    When: They hear combat, alarm bells, or loud movement in the central corridor and converge from the nearest side passage.A pack of pale cave hounds driven from the deeper defenses, their paws leaving damp prints on the stone.
  2. 2

    1 swarm× Ore mitesCR 1

    When: They emerge when old barricades, supply crates, or corroded armor are disturbed.A skittering swarm of mineral-backed insects that feeds on fungus, leather, and exposed metal.
  3. 3

    Broken patrol automatonCR 1

    When: It activates when characters carry drawn weapons past a dwarven warning marker.A damaged dwarven patrol automaton with one glowing eye and a rusted spear arm.

Rooms

8
1

The First Descent

2 foestreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A wide natural stair descends beneath a broken stone lintel bearing the worn mark of the Orebender clan. Wind from the surface dies halfway down, replaced by cold air rising from the caverns below. A toppled milestone points toward the old mine road and the fortified section beyond.

Features

  • Broken dwarven road marker
  • Blue fungus growing between stair stones
  • Old iron rings where pack animals were tethered

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Cave ratCR 1/8

Lean giant rats with mineral-crusted teeth and wet black fur.Tactics. They circle through cracks, attack isolated targets, and flee toward when injured, potentially alerting creatures there.

Treasure

Evacuation Kit15 gp

A sealed tin containing three dwarven trail rations, a flint striker, and a rough map of the upper transit level.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

This is the safest entry point. Characters can follow old cart ruts toward or investigate a narrow side crack that leads nowhere.

5 doors: E (normal), S (normal), N (normal), W (normal), E (secret)

The place

What it is

The Orebender Caverns begin as a broad dwarven road descending from a windswept surface cut into the mountain.

Atmosphere

Cold mineral air flows down from the surface, carrying the smells of wet stone, old iron, bat musk, and disturbed earth.

The threat

The deeper defense complex has partially awakened.

History

The Orebender clan carved this transit level through a rich black-vein cavern nearly four hundred years ago.

Rumors

1d5
Roll a rumor

  1. 1The old dwarves carved a road straight through the mountain, but something now walks it wearing a miner's helmet.
  2. 2Blue fungus marks safe ground, while red fungus grows where the stone remembers blood.
  3. 3A whole patrol vanished behind the black-vein gate, and their shields can still be heard knocking from the other side.
  4. 4The animals near the mine have become fearless because a deeper predator is driving them toward the surface.
  5. 5The Orebender clan left a treasure room somewhere above the sealed defenses, protected by a door that opens only for a worker's badge.

Plot hooks

3
Rescue and explorationTracks in the First DescentA mining settlement reports that its missing pack animals are being dragged into the Orebender entrance, and fresh dwarven warning bells have begun ringing underground.From: Hessa Coalhand, a worried mine forewomanReward: A choice of raw ore, 75 gp, and permission to salvage dwarven tools
Dungeon clearingThe Road Beneath the MountainA merchant caravan needs the old passage reopened to reach a lower mine before winter, but every scouting party has returned wounded by creatures wearing scraps of dwarven armor.From: Bramm Vell, a caravan masterReward: 150 gp, trade favors, and a permanent discount on mineral goods
Relic recoveryThe Missing Command RuneA scholar believes the warning inscriptions describe a lost command rune that could control the ancient defenses.From: Archivist Neral DornReward: A dwarven rune token that grants advantage on one future check involving constructs or ancient mechanisms

Corridors

4

  • Along the Orebender Approach and the first central passage

    Faded worker tallies cover the lower stones, recording ore carts, missing miners, and emergency shifts from centuries ago.

  • Beside the main corridor from to

    Shallow drainage channels cut through the floor, carrying cold water toward lower cisterns. Several are clogged with feathers, bones, and black cave slime.

  • Outside the guard chambers and defense corridor

    Rusting brackets hold fragments of red-painted warning boards. Most bear only the dwarven words for halt, seal, and beast below.

  • Near , , and the doors leading toward room-8

    Fresh claw marks overlap old chisel scars on the walls, showing that predators have been driven from deeper caverns into the upper level.

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