I recently got a hold of this map by Crossheads and I was a little bummed that there wasn't a fleshed out story with it. At least that I could find!
I thought it'd be cool if I began brainstorming my own ideas, but I thought it'd be even cooler to pool a bunch of other peoples' ideas too! Of course our ideas won't all sync up thematically with each other, but that's totally fine.
Please write the number of the area, and what adventurers could expect to find there. The more detail, the better! This is a "ruins" map, but there's no reason it couldn't be an active fortress that got recently hit by an earthquake or something.
Here are a few of mine:
(Area 2) It is loud here because of the deep rumbling of a waterfall on the other side of the rock. There is a ten-foot high wall here that is in ruins. There seems to be enough room to squeeze through, but medium/large races will have to temporarily remove their armor to make it. Alternatively they can attempt to climb with a DC 15 check because of the crumbling footholds. On the other side, two sentry dwarves are sleeping. Though the dwarves won't wake easily, they will if the party misses the rudimentary string of bells tied from one side of the canyon to the other, just on the opposite side of the wall.
(Area 4) This entrance leads into the mines proper, and is guarded by a sizable force of dwarven troops. There is a tent erected, food being prepared, and weapons at-the-ready mounted on stands. Along the top ridge (Area 5), a good eye (DC 12) will reveal the presence of several archers and golems. The bridge itself is clear, though a very thorough investigation (DC 15) will reveal that it is rigged from beneath with explosives. It should be clear that there is no reasonable way for the party to survive this encounter in a fair fight.
If players can make their way stealthily across the bridge (likely through magical means), there is a hidden pathway to the right that can be found with Passive Perception above 13. It requires a climbing check of DC10 to access -- failure will still allow traversal, but a large chunk of rock will fall and alert nearby dwarves. Inside the hidden area (6), there is a tunnel slide down into darkness that leads into the mines proper. There is also an outlook overlooking the archers and the dwarf force below. A good eye (DC 12) will reveal the detonator for the fuse near these archers.
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