The Skewered Mountain (Caves of Utter Chaos, Part 3)
May 17th, 2017
Caves of Utter Chaos, Conventions, Gary Con, The WEGS Fray
As revealed in the prior post (found here), the Caves of Uttter Chaos were taking shape. Once word got out, all sorts of monsters began lining up to grab their share of space in its dark underbelly. As they fought their way for top billing on my monster list, I turned my gaze on the lands surrounding the eponymous caves. And that’s when the Skewered Mountain came into view.
Johann Stumpf, 1548 or so…
Now, I was no stranger to the Skewered Mountain. I had been there once before, the prior summer. It was the mountain where my adventure 99 Low Level Orks and Friends took place (a 24 player WEGS Old Skool event held at Gen Con 2016). In fact, the Caves of Utter Chaos were already mentioned there, as shown in my original module notes:
“Delm’s Heap sits deep below the Skewered Mountain and its Caves of Utter Chaos. The whole of the mountain is riddled with tunnels, passageways, and cave complexes filled with all sorts of nefarious bands of creature; pig-faced orks are just one of its horrid inhabitants. Plenty of other horrors dwell in the darkness there, too. One must navigate many dangers to arrive at Delm’s Heap. Few parties ever make it down to that cavern. Fewer make it back. This was all part of Delm’s design; he hated visitors.”
I believe this was the first mention ever of the Caves of Utter Chaos. I had no idea what they were at that time and the name was just thrown down to give the dungeon some righteous over-the-top flavor. Delm’s Heap was below this badass dungeon complex, which meant Delm’s Heap must be the ultimate.dungeon.encounter.ever. Right?!?
It wasn’t until months later, when I sat down to create my Gary Con IX events, that those caves reared their ugly head and demanded my attention. And now I had monsters lining up to fill its bowels… The adventure was afoot!
Next week… the Winterworn Keep appears…
