The Puppet Master Behind The Events of S3 Expedition To The Barrier Peaks & GW1 Legion of Gold For Old School Campaigns

"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has recently been plagued by a rash of unusually weird and terrible monsters of an unknown sort. This western area, particularly the mountain fastness which separates the Grand Duchy from the Dry Steppes, has long been renowned for the generation of the most fearsome beasts, and it has been shunned accordingly -- save a handful of hardy souls with exceptional abilities. Within the last few months, however, a walled town not far distant from the area, and four small fortresses as well, have been destroyed by mysterious attacks! "



Artwork by Jeff Dee
Is there a strong connection between the Gamma World's Legion of Gold adventure & S3 Expedition To The Barrier Peaks?! We know that the ship that crashes into the Barrier Peaks isn't 'The Warden' of Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition rpg fame. So what ship is it;

""Barrier Peaks" is about a spaceship crashing into the world of Greyhawk. Gygax was very clear is saying that the ship was not the Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha: "The size and the technology in this vehicle should make such speculation quite misplaced, in fact. The downed space ship is far too small, and its science quite different from that of the famed starship Warden." The connection between "Barrier Peaks" and Metamorphosis Alpha is thus more of a thematic one."
My best guess is that its a science vessel that accompanied the Warden mission  & got caught in its hyperspace or planar wake. "The Grand Duchy of Geoff  is perfectly suited to Greyhawk & connects itself to any number of planes. The world of the  Flanaess  is very much in keeping with Gary Gygax's vision of Greyhawk according to Wiki; 

"In response to this, Gygax changed his mind and decided he would publish his private campaign world, but with some important changes. Rather than using his own map, which was simply the real-world Earth overwritten with his cities, towns and regions, he decided to create a new world called Oerth. Gygax joked, "Say it as Oi-th as if you were from Brooklyn, and that's the way I pronounce it. That annoys all who take a fantasy world far too seriously."^[85] Once he had sketched out the entire planet,^[86][87] Gygax decided to concentrate his first efforts on one small corner of the world. One hemisphere of Oerth was dominated by a massive continent called Oerik. Gygax asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle; the answer was 34" x 22" (86 cm x 56 cm). He found that, using the scale he desired, he could only fit the northeast corner of the continent of Oerik on two of the sheets.^[88][89] He therefore concentrated on providing details for less than a quarter of the landmass of Oerth, concentrating on the eastern part of the continent of Oerik that would be illustrated by his map"

Its not hard to imagine that the warp that carried the 'Warden' ship into the world of Greyhawk might continue to have very dangerous & lasting effects on the local space time continuum. But what if instead of just dumping monsters off into the local mountains & wilderness its trying to contact another A.I. in another close by prime material plane. What if just before crashing into Greyhawk the ship's computer tried to contact another of its kinda across the planes. What if the Reaper A.I. from Legion of Gold was actually part of a deeper & much more sinister entity?!



What if this same entity's creations have been running riot for centuries through Greyhawk, Mystara, & even Gamma Terra?! Think I'm full of manure?! The Reaper A.I. does a hell of a job converting any mutants & pure strain humans it comes across into golden armored cyber soldiers from the wasteland.  You know who else has this same style of M.O.?



Saint Stephen of The Rock from DA2 The Temple of The Frog adventure but I don't think its him that had a hand in the destruction of the 'Warden'. No I'd go back to another Mystara, Blackmoor, & Greyhawk villain of the worst stripe. I'm speaking of the ever powerful Egg of Coot . The Egg has all of the hallmarks of being the Reaper A.I.'s dad & then some. He's got a city state base on Greyhawk filled with A.I.'s & the means to planarly gate each & everyone of his creations across the dimensional bridges. And he's got the malevolent intelligence to do so!



So not only would The Egg of Coot crash 'the Warden''s science vessel into Greyhawk he'd be more then happy to open gateways between dimensions because of the chaos of a downed space craft to get his forces onto a brand new world or two. The PC's are busy dealing with the wreck of the craft & its monstrous invasive species to notice some uninvited guests slipping into the campaign world. This wonderful cover from the science fiction magazine Utopia illustrates the problem facing PC's.

 

While the PC's are facing down the monsters in comes the cyber horrors of the Egg of Coot to deal death to the world. By the time the PC's figure out what's happening then its too late! Or is it actually?! 
If the powers of Greyhawk's Blackmoor are still under the effects of the Egg then the PC's are going to need the help of  Baron Jemmas, Warder of Horn,  & The Grand Duchy of Geoff  but the Egg could extend his might over into a world of technological superiority.. This isn't going to save the characters at all. They are going to be trying to stave off the combined forces the army of the Egg of Coot & his cybernetic horrors.

Even in a modern setting the forces of the Egg are very formidable & very dangerous. This isn't a villain to be taken lightly. He's capable of using many of the futuristic & alternative Earth technologies that the player's PC's wouldn't be familiar with.


All of time & space is open to the Egg of Coot because he or it is a higher dimensional being. The monster is locked within its prison of biomechanical flesh but its capable of dealing with various world settings with alarming ease.

Even with the higher technoligcal levels of the world of Amazing Adventures! rpg this monster entity is going to test the mettle of anyone it comes across. Acting through A.I. agents, super powered horrors, & even cybernetic horrors. The Egg of Coot is absolutely evil incarnate.