Mount Brim

I’ve had Mount Brim in my notes for several years, and I’ve decided to make this the location of my mega-dungeon. Here’s what I already know about Mount Brim:

- Surdur kept a fortress atop the mountain that was the symbol of his power and influence. While in the Barrens, he warred with Beldin Mere for two centuries; the two fortresses (his and the dwarf complex) were located at opposite ends of the horizon- so maybe 20-30 miles separated them in the Barrens. During the Reckoning, Mount Brim was moved intact, while Beldin Mere was cut loose and ended up floating through the Celestial Sea for some time (upwards of a year, I’m thinking) before crossing over into the lands of Del Anon.

- Once Surdur’s forces and the dwarves realized that they had all arrived in the same realm, the battle heated up again in all of its glory; however, this time it was different, seeing as the dwarves were 20 miles up, and 200 miles away.

- Eventually, the dwarves found a way to control the movements of their aerial city, and decided to set a course for Mount Brim. They launched the final volley in their battle when they positioned Beldin Mere directly over Mount Brim- and then dropped it. I stole this image from an episode of Battlestar Galactica, wherein Adama has Galactica drop into a planet’s atmosphere.

-The dwarves succeeded in taking out the entire upper prison complex, squishing the upper levels of the caverns below and collapsing large sections. They believed at the time that they had succeeded in destroying the bulk of Surdur’s forces. If this were true, would we be talking about this right now?

- They used the last of the magic that held the fortress aloft to keep it from totally falling apart on impact; the city sustained some considerable damage, although this was minor relative to the impact of the fall. Dwarf engineers and meticulous manipulation of storm magic prevented the entire city from imploding upon impact.

- Surdur kept power by pitting his lieutenants against each other. He had dozens of powerful servitors who, since they were evil to the core, would inevitably gang up on him in an effort to seize personal power; he prevented this by keeping them pitted against each other. This means that individual sectors of the complex were personalized by the individual wardens, and many are still individual lairs of the warden and his/her/its personal entourage.

- Surdur may or may not still survive. I think that he does in some form (although almost assuredly not as a normal fire giant). However, his direct links to his former lieutenants have fallen apart, so many are either dead, acting in the ways they think Surdur would have wanted, or working to claim the complex for their own.

- It has several access points (as any good mega-dungeon should).

- Its main gates are quite powerful, and should be for heroes of level 6+. I’ll design these later, although I have some ideas/notes about that already. All in good time…

- Two access points lead into the section I’m designing… one is located below the Inn of the 99 Ears, and the other is located beneath a tree on the mountainside (outside of the city proper) that is haunted by an evil spirit. New heroes can use either access point, or ultimately both. I think that mine will be using the one through the 99 Ears (since I am working up backstory for that), but I want to include the other as an equally viable option (that leaves the heroes untied to any secret benefactor, if so desired).