Modron clash - need some ideas

[der_kluge]

A bit of backstory will be needed to explain where I'm going with this...

IMC, the PCs have landed on an unexplored continent. Unbeknownst to them, a great battle once took place on this continent - a battle between chaos and law. This battle, in which a great and powerful god of chaos and destruction was slain, also took the life of a god of law and nature (an odd combination to be sure). However, this battle scarred the land permanently, and even created a slight rift in the plane of law - Mechanus. As such, to this day (some 200,000 years later), there is a small (200+) contingent of modrons still living on this continent. Because the rift was imperfect, the structure of the modron order torn did not form a perfect hierarchy, and as such, there are two high-ranking modrons that are vying for control of the group.

Because modron society is rigid, and caste-like, all subordinate modrons follow the orders as presented by their superiors - unfailingly. Except there's a catch: the two modrons have diametrically opposed plans. One of the modrons was slightly tainted by the chaos during the rift, and though it is undetectable by magic, his logic has become slightly flawed.


Here's where I need some ideas. My thinking was that these modrons live in a valley of gears - gears of all sizes and shapes are scattered about the field and the modrons that are here are constantly working to try to mesh them together to form some sort of machine of law - a clock, perhaps. Tainted modron leader A believes that the clock should rotate counter-clockwise, but non-tainted perfect modron leader B believes that it should rotate (correctly) clockwise.

It doesn't have to be a clock, and where they differ doesn't have to be as simple as clockwise/counter-clockwise. But, I'm looking for something that the PCs will have to piece together, and eventually figure out that one of them is not "perfect" in some way, and that the solution will be to destroy the non-perfect modron. The modrons here have been doing and redoing whatever it is they disagree on for millenia now, and with the corrupt leader out of the way, the perfect leader will be able to finally set things right and restore the land to its harmonious ways.

But, whatever it is, should not be obvious (this modron wants this gear to turn this way, and that modron wants to turn this gear that way - which one is right?) That kind of thing.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Not sure how much this will help, but what jumped out at me is that the modrons can disagree, without either leader being "broken", so to speak. All you have to do is change an underlying assumption.

Taking the clock analogy, what if one of the leaders perceives time moving slightly faster than "normal". He wants the clock built such that it is one second faster over a 24-hour period than the other leader wants. That's such a small difference, only modron's would care. But because they do care, the pc's will have to really dig into things to: 1. determine what the dispute is all about in the first place and, 2. which of the leaders is perceiving time "wrong". Of course, if you want to be really mean, have time move at different rates depending on where in the valley you are, so that under certain circumstances both modrons are right!

 

[der_kluge]

That's a good idea - that's even more subtle than mine. But, the trick is, how do the PCs go about figuring that out? I mean, what kind of hint can I give them, or what kind of thing could they investigate that would take them a while to figure out, versus just someone making an intelligence check, or something like that?

I want it to be something that the players have to piece together, versus just rolling a dice to determine the difference. That's my real quandry.

I do like the 1 second difference, though.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Tough question - how about this?

The valley was affected by chaotic energy. What if all that energy has coalesced into an invisible vortex of chaos. The vortex floats around (randomly, of course) and affects the work of the modrons by changing time, but usually not significantly.

If the vortex tends to stay in one portion of the valley, that would explain why that particular modron leader is a bit off. Further, the modrons sent to work in that area might show slight signs of chaos (insisting that some parts are going together correctly when it is obviously assembling them upside-down or backwards). You can keep the clues subtle for a while, but if the players really aren't getting it, try having the vortex affect them. You could also have the vortex leave a visible trail of some sort, even if the vortex itself is invisible.

If you're players are like mine, they'll probably suspect some sprite or other fey having fun at the modrons' expense (which, now that I think of it, could be how the vortex came into being in the first place...), but once someone thinks to cast see invisible, things should begin to fall into place for them.

I have no idea how they fix the problem at this point, unless you use the idea that a fey created the vortex. Then the pc's have to find it (maybe it's hanging around invisibly to watch the fun) and convince it to take it's new toy elsewhere.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Just thinking out loud...

Another possibility is to have someone else studying either the modrons or the chaos in the valley. Whoever/whatever the observer is, he probably knows a lot about what is happening. At some point the pc's meet this person. If so, you can go two ways with this: the pc's eventually gain this person's help to fix the problem, or this person wants the problem to continue (for whatever reason) and covertly opposes the pc's efforts. Then it becomes a matter of the pc's figuring out that this individual is crossing them and finding a way to force him to help.

Possibilities for protagonist include:
*absent-minded sorcerer/wizard
*evil wizard/sorcerer
*quasit sent by its masters to "corrupt" the modrons with chaos, or just trapped in the valley and entertaining itself by watching their difficulties
*a fey of some sort enjoying the joke
*cleric of Olidammara having a good joke at the modron's expense
*a powerful slaad who was trapped in the valley by the same battle that created the problem in the first place. It knows how to eliminate the vortex, but it's price is the party must figure out how to get him back to the plane of chaos.

Some of these may be a bit too cliche, but they might fit better what you've set up originally.

 

[ciaran00]

But what if the twisted modron is deriving a correct solution to a problem by thinking outside the box? His death, though "logical" may be irrational

ciaran

 

[spyscribe]

This gets away from the clock theory, but what if the Modrons are working at cross-purposes on a project that doesn't have a mathematically "perfect" solution?

For example, when a modern (not modron) piano is considered "in tune" every interval is actually a little bit off the pythagorian mathematical ideal, and a careful and trained listener can hear the interference beats. It's impossible to have every interval exactly on, so convention has everything off by the same, tiny amount. It's consistent, it's reliable, Modron leader A likes it.

Modron leader B has decided everything needs to be perfectly "in tune." Trouble is, get one interval perfect, and another one refuses to line up, and in fact, sounds worse than before. Correct the one that's out of whack and the first falls out of true. (In a stupid historical note, there used to be many different temperments that were commonly put on keyboard instruments, and specific pieces were written for specific temperments, e.g. "The Well-Tempered Clavier" which avoided intervals that didn't sound good in that configuration.)

So the Modrons have been spending the millenia tuning and re-tuning a giant piano/organ/set of harmonic spheres, etc.

Possible effects might be similar mechanical devices which behave differently in different parts of the valley, if you've got a bard his or her singing or instrument might pick up sympathetic tunings.

The dillemna for the PCs is first figuring out what the problem is, and then figuring out which modron leader is the one who has been tainted by chaos. The one who accepts reliable and consistant imperfection or the one who pursues perfection that is mathematically proven to be impossible to obtain.

 

[der_kluge]

Spyscribe, that's an interesting take. So, the tainted modron might be trying to arrive a perfect conclusion that is, in fact, impossible to obtain. That's an interesting twist. I'll have to think more on that.

ciaran00, careful. You're going to make my head explode.

 

[spyscribe]

You've set up a really interesting puzzle. I hope your players have fun with it.

Walking home from work, I realized that if you use a muscial set-up, the obvious question of the players is going to be, "How would this be tuned on Mechanus?"

The confounding answer to which is, "For this very reason, Mechanus doesn't usually use a 12-tone scale."

 

[Graf]

the trick is going to making the plot interesting to the pcs.
(which is to say that I could see my group going "clock of law, yeah whatever")

The music/effect/clock whatever should have some sort of important effect that is relatively obvious.

1. Example: The group arrives during a storm which threatens to destroy a town or launch a mass flooding or something like that, but abruptly the storm dissipates. There should be telltale signs of magic....
the group investigates and finds out that the clock/organ/wha was in tune briefly yesterday causing the storm to dissipate.
The device keeps chaos and disorder down, in effect preventing extremes of weather and allowing people to farm well and consistently over time.

Or else the clock prevents chaotic monsters from getting within a certain distance of it (and thus protects towns in the area). The more in-tune the clock is the further out the protection extends.

Is it possible the device is out of tune because the material plane itself is incapable of pure law and naturally introduces imperfections?