Dungeons of Cloudtop Castle

[Havard]

Bob! Welcome back!

Robert the Bald retired to Cloudtop to study artifacts that he had recovered earlier. It was these studies that pushed him up to a level that prompted the gods to welcome him to their ranks (that means that I reached the highest levels allowed in the rules). IIRC the last adventure for him was when John and Richard talked me into investigating some strange things happening in some caverns in the area. That ended badly, with us desperately trying to escape the colored mist.

This is pure gold!
I remember your story about Robert the Bald's ascent to godhood. I think later published material sort of postponed that since they wanted to use Robert the Bald as an NPC. Or maybe he is already a God, just posing as a mortal? The colored mist thing I only know about because it is briefly mentioned in the FFC. Hearing about it from your point of view is extremely interesting though!

I did carry away some items that were part of my studies. I would suggest that you use those caverns as the basis for your adventures. They were not completely explored and could be something he would be interested in, perhaps to find things that would answer questions he would have about the artifacts he carried away. I seem to remember this as having something to do with the Valley of the Gods (that is, something from a space faring race). The mist might have been a defensive mechanism that was triggered, or perhaps a leak from a spacecraft of some type. You would have complete licence to set out any scenario you wished to do. You could even set it up as adventurers hearing about the strange happenings independently of Robert the Bald, but seeking this in the hopes of an award from him.

Love these ideas! I had never even considered the mists being of a technological origin, but that totally makes sense. I like the idea of the strange events being the hook for the adventure instead of Robert himself. Thanks for your approval of developing this by the way. That is greatly appreciated!

By the way, something that is rarely mentioned is that I had raised a fighting force when I had settled there that was patterned after the riders of Rohan. This force was used to put down a peasant revolt that overthrew a couple of the other players (I believe it was Dale and Chuck, but I do not really remember any more). That force was borrowed by the Great Svenny and used with the rest of the forces to create an army that smashed the invasion at the pass. They never returned to Cloudtop, but a group of elves came to my area and settled there, probably replacing the families of the soldiers who left to be with their men. You might want to account for them in your adventure.

Okay, this is completely new to me. I love hearing about these things. I wonder how much of this fighting force was changed into parts of the Peshwa in published material. I think the FFC describes the peasant revolts so I can check who that was. Do you remember what invasion Svenny was fighting at the time? (or maybe Greg can pitch in?) I am definitely borrowing the elves bit as well. If the Horsemen are gone, I wonder if some kind of trace of them could be found?

-Havard