The Dark Cogs
Location: Mechanus
Now every berk knows that Mechanus is the plane of pure Law, where superfluous concepts like Good and Evil are held in check by the rigid rules of the plane. However, if enough evil people go to Mechanus, and there aren’t enough good people around to balance them out, there’s a chance that the plane might be tipped into the Lower Planes. The Mechanical mediators are supposed to make sure that doesn’t happen—but what if they can’t, or don’t?
Recently a group of adventures found a large cog made of a hard metal, dark as night. It didn’t require divination magic to realise that it was evil, chant goes they could feel the evil emanating from it. That cog was just the beginning. Another cog adjacent to the first recently turned black. Some graybeards are saying that there should be cogs of pure radiant metal elsewhere in Mechanus to balance these out, but none have been found. Either the cogs of good are well hidden, or this is a sign that Mechanus is starting to slip into the Lower Planes—which would surely be catastrophic: If Mechanus descended into the Lower Planes, then perhaps its denizens would also lawful evil. The now evil modrons would no doubt join forces with the baatezu, which would mean the tanar’ri would be forced into a defensive battle. Of course the tanar’ri might start thinking about tipping Limbo in their favour… the bashers of Limbo, even the slaadi, wouldn’t be happy about that idea. And of course, that might just all be hysterical screed—but in the Outer Planes where beliefs can become reality, who’s to say?
Now none of the local powers, or other high-ups of importance (modrons, parai, gear spirits, even petitioners) are saying anything, quickly changing the subject when asked or just ignoring the question. The Athar are having a field day with this, saying that if the powers of Mechanus were truly gods, they would be able to wave their hands and get rid of the dark cogs.
Description: The first dark cog is about 3000 feet across and the second is about 2000 feet across. They are both made of an obsidian-coloured metal. However, no one has been able to break, crack, or even scratch the metal. The two cogs are completely bare on the outside, but there are tunnel openings on the surface which apparently lead to a network of tunnels. Chant goes that a group of adventures went into the smaller of the two cogs and reported that they’d encountered many rogue quadrones. One of the fighters had been captured, and when he was found he was strapped onto a table being tortured by a kocrachon. No one has gone into the other cog yet.
The Dark of the Cogs: The Dark Cogs are indeed a manifestation of the evil in Mechanus, and are also inhabited by corrupted evil modrons, mostly quadrones, pentadrones, and decatons. There are also a few kocrachons and hamatula, which strongly suggests that the baatezu have something to do with the situation. Their ruler is a hexton, but he is taking commands from a higher, fiendish source. Any modron of septon rank or lower which touches the metal of the Dark Cogs is at risk of reprogramming. If they fail a saving throw they’re rapidly converted to lawful evil, and forced to enter the cogs to join the ranks of evil modrons.
An interesting effect of the cogs (or maybe their purpose) is its effect of the fabric of the plane. The cogs are slowly wearing away at the boundary between Mechanus and its neighbour, Acheron. When it rips, a huge portal will be opened between Mechanus and Acheron, allowing the eternal war to spill into the clockwork plane. Whether the extreme balance of Mechanus would also cause a gate to open to Arcadia, now that would be interesting. And not interesting in a god way—the denizens of Mechanus want to be good exactly as much as they want to be evil.
Unknown to pretty much everyone, the yugoloths have also set up a base nearby too. It is extremely important to them that they stop the baatezu’s plans. They wouldn’t tell anyone, but they worried that the baatezu slipped this past them unnoticed. They are starting to get nervous, and wouldn’t mind if a group of adventures would be willing to see what is happening inside the cogs.
Adventure Ideas
Saving the Saviours: An adventuring party calling themselves the ‘Saviours of Chaos’ recently formed, aiming to destroy the Dark Cogs. They recently went into the larger cog and were captured by the rogue modron gang. Sarjor (planar male priest of the Great Unknown [he/him] / Athar / CN) was the only one who managed to escape. He is willing to reward anyone who will him save his friends.
Modron Malfunction: A quinton and twelve pentadrones come to investigate the Dark Cogs—this is the first time the modrons have been seen investigating the Dark Cogs. As the group nears their destination, ten of the pentadrones suddenly turn on the quinton. The PCS are the only ones close enough to save the quinton. If saved he might answer some questions about the Dark Cogs, he knows very little except that the evil modron leader is a hexton.
Source: Andrew Griffiths