TEXT: Midnight is a world of grim survival. Its occupants, once peaceful
  and proud, have been trampled under the heel of a divine warlord
  of hatred and evil. This being, Izrador, was barred from the heavens
  and cast down by his fellow gods to the world of Aryth... and in
  the ultimate trickery stole their world from underneath them.
  Now he is the only god that answers prayers, and is the only rule
  in a world cast deeply into shadow.
  NOTE: MIDNIGHT characters are more powerful on average than core D&D char-
  acters. If this adventure is played with characters not created using the midnight
  core rulebook the party should be at least 3rd level.
  .Introduction
  The characters have come, together or alone, to meet with a
  man named Audmid, a supposedly simple herbalist that scrapes a
  living from gathering the moss, lichen, and hardy roots and herbs
  that grow in the Northlands. In reality the man is an ally of the
  underground that resists the Shadow in the North. Feel free to
  work with the players to determine the precise reason for their
  attempt to contact Audmid. Unfortunately, an informant has sold
  Audmid out for knowing the locations of nexuses of power as
  well as the identities of several rebels. He has been taken prisoner
  by a hunter squad of orcs lead by Grigg, an ogre fighter who
  plans to deliver him to a legate the next morning at a pre-arranged
  meeting place. The goblins garrisoned at the town have instruc-
  tions to watch Audmid’s home.
  Encounter 1 (EL 6): Cold Reception 
  The characters should all arrive in town at about noon of the day
  they are to meet with Audmid. There is very little to the hamlet:
  several houses, the goblin garrison, two taverns, a boarding
  house, and a wainwright (see Map 1). Those that stop and gather
  information in the town will be able to avoid the following
  encounter; proceed directly to Encounter 2. Audmid’s hovel is off
  by itself to the northwest of town. Any characters approaching
  the hovel will see the following:
  Let the characters take whatever precautions they wish as they
  approach. When they get closer, read the following: 
  What You Don’t Know...
  An introductory MIDNIGHT adventure for 
  2nd - 3rd level characters, by Rob Vaughn
  It’s been a hard autumn, as seasons in the Northlands go. First the
  brutal end-of-summer rains churned up the ground and washed next
  year’s thin planting soil into the rivers. Then the first cold froze the
  ruts in the roads into deep troughs which now hide beneath snow,
  eager to trap wagon wheels and break the legs of horse and 
  man alike.
  The scything cold is at least a benefit in that it’s not strange for one
  to travel covered head to toe in furs, cloths, and bundles. Underneath
  all that clothing, who can tell whether any man is in fact a hunted elf,
  any child a halfling slave on the run. Even weapons, contraband as
  they are, can be carried without much trouble.
  Whatever a person’s reason, Sickle is an easy place to hide and a good
  place to meet. The small hamlet lies at a crossroads just south of the
  enemy-controlled Keep Nalford, east of the elvish forest of Veradeen, and
  northwest of the sacked city of Cale. It’s dangerously close to the
  enemy’s homeland, true... but that’s the last place they’d think to look.
  Audmid’s hovel is constructed of the same heavy white lime-
  stone that all Northland buildings are made of, though its 
  covering of sod make its look ruder and meaner than most.
  From the edge of town you see that it’s surrounded by muted
  patches of green and brown: a last crop of resilient herbs and
  tubers grows around the structure in a makeshift garden, the
  smaller plants spreading onto the sloped walls and roof of the 
  home itself.
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  Ducking into the tavern (Mill’s Tavern) is the characters’ best
  option at this point. The goblins are under orders to question any-
  one approaching the hovel and to apprehend them if they seem
  suspicious. Let the characters describe how they react to noticing
  the goblins, but make it clear that engaging the goblins in melee
  is tantamount to signing their own death warrants. It is under-
  stood that attacking Izrador’s forces in civilized areas is suicide.
  Should they do so anyway, let them battle the goblins, but keep
  in mind that the characters will be branded outlaws and hunted
  tirelessly from that day forward. Surviving in occupied lands
  should become nearly impossible for them as soon as one week
  from the day of the battle. Survival in Midnight is not just about
  fighting well... it’s about choosing your battles.
  Creatures: Running, attacking, or attempting to investigate
  Audmid’s hovel will draw the 4 goblins present after the character,
  followed eventually by reinforcements. A new goblin wolfrider
  will arrive every round, attracted by the sounds of combat and the
  goblins’ high-pitched shrieks, until the entire garrison of 12 
  goblins arrives.
  Goblins (4): hp 4, 5, 5, 7; MM 107.
  Wolves (4, trained for riding): hp 12, 14, 16, 18; MM 204.
  Encounter 2: The Skinny
  If the characters willfully enter combat with the goblins, the
  townsfolk will become violent after the battle and go so far as to
  begin pelting them with rocks and attempting to drive them away.
  They do so because the PCs’actions will probably cause the ham-
  let to be razed within the month. If the PCs avoided combat the
  townsfolk will still be close-lipped and fearful. The only excep-
  tion will be Halbjorn, an aging and crippled Dornish resistance
  fighter. The PCs will encounter him in Mill’s, the dirtier of the
  town’s two taverns.
  Mill’s is a dirty, dark, stuffy, stinking hole with watered down
  ale and overpriced food. In fact, it’s quite similar to a goblin
  hovel, and therefore the one place the goblins do not wish to go.
  Halbjorn and the few others with fight left in them come here for
  just that reason.
  Halbjorn was part of the nomad resistance band under the
  deposed Dornish lord Roland Redgard, until an axe wound to the
  leg crippled him. He has continued to participate in the resistance
  by reporting troop movements and hiding criminals. If the PCs
  can convince him that they are friends of the resistance he will
  explain that Audmid provides healing herbs and supplies to the
  resistance. That in itself will get you killed, but not taken prisoner.
  The more important fact is that Audmid has also discovered 
  several local nexuses of arcane power in his roaming for herbs.
  Nexuses are the few places left in the world where magical power
  can be harnessed and used, and are essential for the resistance.
  The legates, the priestly servants of Izrador, value such infor-
  mation highly, and it’s Halbjorn’s opinion that this knowledge is
  what got Audmid captured. He can tell the PCs that Grigg is the
  legates’ local muscle, and that he and his band of orcs smashed
  up Audmid’s home earlier this morning, about 4 hours before the
  PCs arrived. Audmid managed to get a few arrows into Grigg
  before the orcs clubbed him into unconsciousness. They killed
  Audmid’s wife, stuck Audmid himself in a sack, and marched off
  with them to the north. Before they left, Halbjorn saw Grigg
  remove a medallion from his neck and hold it up to the sky for
  several minutes; eventually a crow descended, landed on his fist,
  and seemed to receive some instructions from the ogre before fly-
  ing off again to the north. Halbjorn has sent word to Redgard and
  his band of the event, but doesn’t believe any help will arrive in
  time to prevent the transfer of Audmid from Grigg to the far more
  dangerous legate.
  He will end his conversation with this:
  Of course, being heroes, the PCs should probably balk at this
  course of action. Whether they accept his strategy blindly and prag-
  matically 
  or
  resolve to rescue
  Audmid alive will
  depend 
  on 
  the
  mettle of the char-
  acters. 
  Halbjorn
  will be doubtful
  about any other
  alternatives, but is
  helpless 
  to 
  do 
  anything if the
  characters refuse his
  suggestion. Either
  way, he will tell
  the PCs that Grigg
  is likely headed for
  Balnida’s Helm. 
  You choke on a cloud of acrid smoke as you enter. There is no light
  in the low-ceilinged room except for a meager blaze in the hearth,
  fueled by dung. A few bloodshot pairs of eyes look up at you from
  their solitary stations about the room, glaring at you until you wrestle
  the door shut against the wind. Before you can make a move toward
  the bar, a slurred voice mutters "Outsiders. C’mere." Turning, you
  see an old man with a warped wooden crutch stationed in the corner.
  His pale blue eyes and large frame, though emaciated by age, mark
  him as a pureblood Dorn.
  "I say this, outsiders: a legate is coming. Grigg and his man-eaters
  are going north to meet one, and there Aumid will be lost. The places
  he found are our places. My comrades need those places to heal and
  rest, and to forge weapons against the man-eaters. If the legates find
  those places they will either use them up or twist them, sure as snow
  is cold. And then we’ll be done." Halbjorn leans in more closely and
  looks at you intently. "Even if you could rescue him," he says, seem-
  ing to head off any such suggestion, "the legate is on his way, and
  he’d track you down. No, by the old gods no, there is only one thing
  to do." The old man pauses, places his hands flat on the table as if
  for emphasis and stability, and says "You must kill Aumid before he
  can be made to talk. It is what he would want."
  Now that you’re closer, you can see that it looks partially col-
  lapsed, as if a very large club bashed in one of the walls. The
  door is broken open and there is a distinctly red patch of snow
  outside. Several of the town’s goblins seem to be roaming the
  area on their wolves, not-too-subtly keeping an eye on the
  hovel. It might be best not to approach just now, but changing
  direction at this point might be suspicious. Luckily, you’re
  also passing directly by the back door of a seedy looking tavern.
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  Encounter 3 (EL 5): The Rescue 
  Grigg and his minions have followed a snow-covered path
  northeast to a small rock outcropping called Balnida’s Helm.
  Their trail will be fairly easy to Track (DC 10) or Spot (DC 14)
  as the humanoids are breaking a trail through fresh snow. It
  should take the PCs six hours by foot to reach Balnida’s Helm,
  longer if any party members move slower than 20 ft. per round.
  Either way, by the time the PCs arrive night will have fallen and
  the enemy will have set up camp and posted sentries. The PCs
  have one night to rescue Audmid before the legate and his com-
  pany arrive at dawn.
  Balnida’s Helm is a dirty white outcropping of the same lime-
  stone that is quarried throughout the northlands and used to build
  homes. This particular rock is part of legend, being the place to
  which the Dornish maid Balnida evacuated her town’s women
  and children after the men fell in combat with marauding orcs.
  From their high vantage point the women and children defended
  themselves for days. Rather than escaping when the orcs relent-
  ed, they taunted their opponents suggestively, using their bodies
  as bait and their children's’ flesh as potentially tasty meals, driv-
  ing the orcs into such a fury that they threw themselves against
  the defenders and were destroyed to the last man.
  The rock itself is 30 ft. high and scalable, though not easily. It
  is also the only windbreak for miles around, which is why Grigg
  and his group like to camp on the western side, despite the strate-
  gic superiority of camping on top. 
  Creatures: Grigg and his troops are gathered around the fire,
  happily tormenting Audmid and munching
  on his wife. The ogre is overconfident
  from having had the run of the
  Northlands for so many years, and has
  only posted two sentries with the band’s
  10 javelins atop the rock. Their position
  will be more of a hindrance to Grigg
  than help, as they will be unable to
  enter combat immediately. The
  bright fire and the orcs’ laughter
  will alert the PCs as to the 
  whereabouts of the camp
  long before they might 
  be 
  spotted.
  Anyone within
  30 ft. of Grigg
  will be able to
  make a Spot check (DC
  12) to see that he is
  wounded; a Heal
  check (DC 15)
  will reveal that
  he is at less than
  half his normal 
  hit points. 
  Orc Warriors (5): hp 7, 7, 8, 10, 10; see Grigg’s Gang at end 
  of article.
  Grigg, Male Ogre Fighter 1: CR 2; Large Giant; HD
  4d8+1d10; hp 12 of 27 (wounded); Init +1 (Dex); Spd. 30 ft.; AC
  18, touch 10, flat-footed 16; Atk +8 melee (2d8+6, Huge
  greatsword) or +4 ranged (1d8+2, mighty composite longbow); 5
  ft. by 5 ft./10 ft.; AL NE; SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1; Str 19,
  Dex 13, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 7.
  Skills: Climb +6, Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Combat Reflexes,
  Iron Will, Weapon Focus (Huge greatsword).
  Possessions: Amulet of Animal Messenger, Huge greatsword,
  mighty composite longbow (+2 str bonus), large studded leather
  armor, camping equipment.
  Audmid, Male Human Expert 3: CR 2; Medium-size
  Humanoid; HD 3d6; hp 9 (11 subdual); Init +3 (Dex); Spd. 30 ft.;
  AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10; Atk +2 unarmed (1d3, unarmed);
  AL CG; SV Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +5; Str 10, Dex 17, Con 9, Int
  11, Wis 15, Cha 10.
  Skills: Alchemy +6, Knowledge (Arcana) +4, Knowledge
  (Herbalism) +6, Knowledge (Nature) +6, Listen +4, Spellcraft
  +4, Spot +4, Wilderness Lore +8. Feats: Track, Magecraft
  (Spiritual: cure minor wounds 5/day).
  Tactics: If the PCs take out Grigg immediately, the fight should
  be difficult but winable. If they do not, they will have a very dif-
  ficult time and may need to retreat or strongly consider
  Halbjorn’s suggestion of assassination. The orcs at the campfire
  are oblivious, while the sentries’ darkvision is somewhat inhibit-
  ed by the glare of the fire. Characters attempting to sneak closer
  than 60’ must make Hide and Move Silently checks (DC 10) to
  escape the sentries’ notice. If alerted, the sentries will cry out and
  begin to throw javelins; if the sentries begin to miss consistently
  they will take 2 rounds to clamber down the rock so they can
  enter melee. Grigg and the others will most likely keep their
  backs against the rock, Audmid behind them, and wait for the
  characters to come into melee. The orcs will suffer a -1 to attacks
  the first round since they were looking into the fire. Grigg prefers
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  to let enemies come to him so he may make use of his reach and
  Combat Reflexes. Note that even if he is caught flat-footed Grigg
  will be able to take attacks of opportunity. If the characters stand
  back and fire missile weapons, Grigg will order his orcs to charge
  while he picks up Audmid and moves around the rock for cover. 
  Development: If the PCs revive Audmid and explain what
  occurred, he will be grateful but despairing. He saw his wife mur-
  dered before his own eyes, he has lost his home, and he sees no
  chance of escaping the soon-to-arrive legate. He will know
  enough about the Amulet of the Crow to tell the characters its
  basic capabilities, but also that the legate will be able to track
  anyone carrying it thanks to his astirax demonic companion (asti-
  raxes can sense magic up to a mile away).
  The PCs have several options, all of which will lead to further
  adventures. First, they can stand and fight. The legate, who
  should be a 5th-8th level cleric, will arrive at dawn with a squad
  of orcs and likely kill the heroes and capture Audmid. Second,
  they can try to escape. If they take the Amulet with them the
  legate will be able to track them with his astirax. If they do not
  take amulet the legate will track them with worgs, just more
  slowly. Their best escape route is west to Veradeen in the hopes
  that they can make it to the defended lands of the elves. 
  Finally, the characters may try to escape while using the
  Amulet as bait. A familiar or animal companion, for instance,
  could be instructed to carry the Amulet south as the legate draws
  near, leading him past the PCs so they may escape. Of course, the
  animal’s life may then be forfeit. PCs with the Track feat (DC 18)
  or that Search (DC 20) may notice orc footprints that lead to a
  small break at the southern base of the rock. Inside this break
  flows a small but rapid underground stream. The amulet is light
  enough that it may be tied in a bundle and dropped within to flow
  south toward the Sea of Pelluria, leading the legate and his forces
  with it. This is the most likely tactic to succeed without losing
  Audmid or a party member.
  Whatever their choice, the PCs are now inescapably embroiled
  in the fight against Izrador for the freedom of Aryth. They are
  fugitives in the world of Midnight.
  Grigg’s Gang
  Orcs in MIDNIGHT are much more dangerous than the run-of-
  the-mill d20 System variety. They are huge, brutal, and organ-
  ized; in short, they are bred purely for war. They also tend to be
  better-equipped than traditional tribal orcs. Grigg’s orcs use the
  following statistics:
  Amulet of the Crow
  This useful amulet consists of a crow skull attached to a leather
  thong. Once per month, the wearer may call down the nearest
  crow from the skies and whisper a message in its ear. It will go
  to the place that the possessor is envisioning while whispering
  the message and wait there for 3 days or until someone
  approaches it and extends his hand. When this occurs, the crow
  will hop to the shoulder of the person and whisper the message
  into his ear, then depart.
  The amulet radiates faint
  enchantment magic.
  Male Orc Warrior 1: CR 1; Medium-size Humanoid; HD
  1d8+2; Init +0; Spd. 20 ft.(breastplate); AC 16, touch 9, flat-
  footed 14; Atk +5 melee (1d8+3, longsword), or +0 ranged
  (1d6+3, javelin); SQ +1 attack vs. dwarves, +2 to saves against
  spells and spell-like effects, cold resistance 5, darkvision, light
  sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +4, Ref -1, Will +0; Str 16, Dex
  11, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  Skills: Climb +6, Listen +1, Spot +1, Wilderness Lore +2.
  Feats: Weapon Focus: longsword. 
  Possessions: longsword, 2 javelins, scale mail, large steel
  shield, camping equipment.
  Want more MIDNIGHT? Go to www.fantasyflightgames.com for info!
  Maps by Scott Nicely, Illustrations by Tyler
  Walpole, Scott Schomburg, and Mitch Cotie
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Midnight/Midnight What You Don't Know.pdf