Northern Plateaus

Plateau regions to the north of civilized society (1 coin)
Taiga (1 coin)
Inhabited by Nomadic(1 coin) Orc Tribes(1 coin) and Goblin Tribes(1 coin)

Orc Tribes that Grok their knowledge to future generations (1 Coin)

http://tribality.com/2015/01/06/system-agnostic-grokking-orcs/

There recently has been word that warring amongst the tribes has increased, as northern tribes have begun migrating southward, fleeing their ancestral lands (1).

They opress the lesser coordinated southern orcs into service. (1c) Northern Plateau Orcs wear fur, (1c) and southern orcs wear reptile skins. (1)

location:

Eye of the Destroyer(1) -- Mountain Summit(1)
-It was here that Grummsh's eye fell to the earth, when he tore out Corellon's arrow(1)
-Persistent(1) Zone of Truth(1) in effect

In times of dire change the orcs of the northern plateaux will host a chieftains' moot on this hallowed mount. Here, with all deceptions pierced by the Eye of the Destroyer, only the strongest chieftain can prevail.

Not Grummsh but Grummsh-like. (1) An emanation of Grummsh onto this plane called Muurgsh. (1) Most of the stories of Muurgsh's Eye and Reloccan's (1) Arrow remain constant throughout the planes but really all is possible in the infinite births of the Allmother.

Haha, love it.

Of course it was the burning of Reloccan's quicksilver bullet(1) that drove Muurgsh mad, digging his own eye out of his skull and casting it to earth. But the madness and hatred could not be cast away so easily.

Region:

The Red Delves (1)
Large open-pit iron mines (1) where the plateau fragments and meets the mountains to the west (1), valued for their easily-accessible hematite and magnetite deposits (1). Lodestones from these mines are particularly valued for their size and strength (1).

Nomadic Goblins: They are casters of intricate ritual magic (1c). Therefore they are highly secretive and collaborative (think slightly hive-minded) (2c). They always travel in groups divisible by three (1c). Because of the intricate protection spells they lay into their camps, traders have learned it is best to wait for the goblins to approach (1c). Most trade with them is based around spell components (1c).

The harmonic resonance of goblin magic is only in-phase when three goblins work together. When three goblins work together to cast a spell, they may make the spell attack roll with advantage, or the saving throw is made with disadvantage (1). This requires one action from each of the ritual's participants (1 shaman + 2 adjuncts) (1).

Area Map: Entrance to plateaus from the south. (1)

Tenk N (IV in Orc Notations), the Boar Rider (1)
The Nomad Goblins operate so closely (hiveminded) only because they have to try to match pace with the orcs that share knowledge in a much more intimate fashion. (1)

Tenk N Grokked knowledge of Beast Riding from an unwilling Southern Orc. (1) When Tenk N is ready to grok his knowledge on forward, it will take a considerable advantage away from the Southern Orcs (1)
The language of the Northern Orcs is a strange dialect indeed. Because of generational grokking, they have begun to drop vowel sounds from their language entirely, speaking in a guttural clip that can be vaguely identified as Orc and is no longer written in Dwarven script. A player that speaks orc can roll intelligence DC 15 to understand what they are saying. (3)

The essence of the tribe of Tenk N is Greed (1). Their thirst for power, control, and knowledge consumes all -- even their own traditional language, identity, and god. Tenk N is God. Taking is God.

The goblin nomads trade with the denizens of the Underdark Forest for quite a few of their more important ritual components (1). The trade route is a long and hazardous one (1), but pressure from the Grokking Orcs has made the acquisition of more powerful components necessary for the goblins' survival (1).

The goblins trade with duergar (1) who use their ability to enlarge to pick rare somberfruits, (1) blind oilbird eggs, (1) and occasionally will trade black diamonds. (1) The somberfruits can also be used to induce terrible but accurate dreams. (1)

Hobgoblins hold control of The Red Delves (1). Their slaves mine the iron there for the mass production of fine steal weapons (1) for their army (1).

The Hobgoblins have mobilized for war against the dwarves of the Marble City. (1) Their fires can be seen glowing in the distance (1). Their leader is a fierce masked Warlord (1) that has made a deal with a hag for longevity (1). Beneath the Red Delves lies an ancient dungeon that holds a fallen angel prisoner (1).

What if the hobgoblin warlord made a deal with a Rakshasa instead? A Rakshasa that might just have an interest in the opening of a certain fallen angel's prison.

I'm not sure the hobgoblins would even know what they possess. This was a dungeon I ran back in the day with my other group that was loosely based in the same world. If anything, the rakshasa would never directly deal with any creatures, opting to instead beguile them. That said, releasing the angel would be one of the four signs of the Apocalypse.

Yeah, I doubt they would either, but a war effort would mean both an increase in mining in the Delve and that the bulk of the hobgoblins would be somewhere else rather than hanging around the mines. Assuming that the prison could be accidentally opened by miners or a pit collapse, of course, which I suppose is a rather big assumption.

One of the battle tactics of the hobgoblins of the red delves is to strap the largest chunk of lodestone they can to a war mammoth, and send it ahead into battle. The mammoth is given large doses of dreadroot, which is known to cause horrifying hallucinations and paranoid premonitions of death. The lodestones used are strong enough to pull in steel from 30 feet away.

Dungeon: The Chamber of the Fallen

Hobgoblins acting on both the urges of an unknown benefactor and the thirst of battle, have excavated deep tunnels looking for precious ore to build their great siege weaponry. But the Hobgoblins have dug too far. Something waits at the bottom of the mountain, something put there long ago.

Players have been tracking a strange evil through the lands. A hobgoblin warlord that does not speak and wears a full hood leather mask of multiple humanoid origin is said to be working with a hag that is know as Grandmother in every native tongue.

The Hag has her own adventure but that's for another time.

Upon entering the dungeon, a small crack in the mountain that was provided from an informant inside is supposed to be a secret entrance. You have been waiting on a messenger from the informant for some time now and it is getting to be suspiciously late. Your team has decided to enter to investigate.

Upon entering and walking a fair distance through a narrow hallway, the passage widens and there is some normal dungeon fare: a fallen body in an open space. Death from above lurks here and if the players investigate the body they may meet a similar fate.

The body is that of the informant and has another letter to the outside. It is from a frightened female hobgoblin that says she fears she is soon to be found out.

The players, if they wait long enough will hear a scream from the continuing passage way. There two hobgoblins have a third in chains. An axe hangs in the air as the two argue over the third's, "the traitor" as they call her, remaining possessions. The third is immobilized and frantic. A diary is among the possessions. If the players do nothing, the two settle their argument and kill the third for being a traitor, and divide the stuff with a fancy weapon going to the executioner on the promise that the other one gets to keep the next one. After going through the more valuable possessions, they discard others in the girls things that are not of use including the diary. They return to their hovel.

If they choose to intervene, they can gain a powerful ally, the informant, to help them navigate the mines below to kill the masked rider and the Hag. But both the diary or the informant warn of something more dangerous that has been woken. Something she calls Günahkâr . . . Fallen.

By the way, I have this entire adventure planned out with maps by the way, though I'll have to find those. Or just redraw them.