Episode XV: Darker times in Fiendsguard

Veterans of the Golemech Corps are aging but still serve in fewer and fewer numbers.  

Meanwhile the children of each succeeding generation become more tainted by fiendish traits, becoming more more degenerate and less mortal generation by generation.

No cause or cure is in sight as the citizen senate debates endlessly and the military remains ominously silent.

Hanon 16 Year 62 Planar Reckoning

Special Unit (SU) Wolf Blue, Golemech Core, Fiendsguard Defense Force (FDF) received orders from General Cor Redhand of the Fiendsguard Defense Force Command to capture or execute Mage-General Galvius for the crimes of treason and sedition.  The Mage-General along with a chest of documents within his possession were to be intercepted and returned.  He had allegedly last been seen heading in the direction of the abandoned Outpost 17, aided by fiend agents.  Some indistinct impressions, as if another document had been written atop the orders, were also noted.

SU Wolf Blue in their mighty golemech armor journeyed to Outpost 17, narrowly avoiding the fiends ubiquitous to the Planes.  At Outpost 17 they attempted to arrest Galvius who refused, angrily defiant, stating that they were the traitors and they didn't even realize it.  Galvius and his companions, mostly tieflings, fought to the last man but fell before SU Wolf Blue, who subsequently recovered the black chest.  On their return trip they were beset by fiendish giant ants but managed to escape unscathed.

General Redhand accepted the chest from them personally and commended them for their action.  However, SU Wolf Blue was dissatisfied with the mission, due not only to General Redhand's suspicious manner but also since Galvius, prior to his death had been a hero of the FDF with an unquestioned record.  Seeking further answers, they sought out Galvius' friend, the tiefling Citizen-Senator Mazzua, who after learning of the Mage-General's death explained that both she and Galvius suspected the FDF Command of deliberately preventing the return of the Fiendsgaurd's citizens to the Prime Material. She further presented evidence, including intercepted messages from General Redhand.

Convinced that they had been duped and led to assassinate an innocent man, SU Wolf Blue decided to once again obtain Galvius' black chest,  but this time from Cor Redhand's private office.  Their espionage expert, Sirhc, gained entry to Redhand's office only to discover that he was in fact a fell pit fiend.  With Redhand in pursuit, SU Wolf Blue was able to reach the golemech hanger, arm their suits, and drive the pit fiend off.  The contents of the chest were found to be the location and activation words for a gate high above Fiendsguard that would return them to the Empire of Mellas in Frazeel on the Prime Material Plane.  Furthermore it revealed that Redhand and several other key military leaders were disguised fiends.  It also detailed the plans to use the people of Fiendsguard in a rapid breeding program for spies and soldiers to invade the Prime Material Plane.

Aware that an imminent attack from outside Fiendsguard was looming due to Redhand's escape, SU Wolf Blue brought this evidence to Mazzua who began organizing an evacuation.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the military, their covers blown, had disappeared.  SU Wolf Blue organized the FDF to fight a delaying action so that the citizens of Fiendsguard could escape.  As hordes of fiends poured after them, SU Wolf Blue remained at the tail of the withdrawal in the thick of the fray.  At the brink of the portal to Frazeel, Gresticar's golemech was wrestled back into the underworld.  He set the self-destruct and ejected being pulled through the dimensional portal by his unit mates.  His exploding golemech sealed the portal leaving a patch of otherworldly rock forever in the plains of Mellas.

Golemechs One-shot Introduction

Fiendsguard is a carved, ruinous dark city seemingly sculpted out of and tacked onto a huge stalagmite deep within the planar crevasses of the Blood War. Strangely, Fiendsguard is not a city of demons and devils but a decaying prime material city-state besieged by both. This misplaced city is the result of a tear that allowed the Blood War to spill into the Prime Material world of Frazeel. The Emperor of Mellas, in an effort to avert greater calamity and destruction, had the Imperial mages create a rapid seal. In doing so many cubic miles of the fortress city of Kurr and its environs were pulled through the rift and seen nevermore by any of the Empire.

But many of the distorted city survived and the military stationed there rapidly took over in this time of crisis. The old name of Kurr was forgotten and Fiendsguard was birthed from its twisted remains. The gods were heard no more and their priests cast down, their divine spell might forever gone, the connection with the gods forever sundered. In this strange new world a magical renaissance the primary result of which were warriors capable of facing a fiend on its own terms.

Today, Fiendsguard is a strangely enlightened military dictatorship protected by the elite forces of the Golemechs --hulking, manned humanoid war machines, armed to the teeth withmagical weapons and items of the finest quality. An anarchistic “senate” of civilians decides policy within the Fiendsguard but the military has control of everything that deals with the outside, battling the incessant attacks of both demons and devils. The citizenry deals with internal events that might let the creatures that lurk outside in, the military rarely if ever has to intervene.

However as each new generation is born they have become more tainted by the hellish energies of the Blood War,
becoming more fiendish with each passing year. More and more voices are clamoring to return to Mellas and
abandon Fiendsguard. The military has met these protest with ominous silence, some conspiracy minded folks believe that there is more to the military’s obstinacy, since their children too are getting more monstrous, and their young recruits more recognizable as an enemy than an ally.

The PCs are in a elite Golemech unit functioning as pilots and gunners. They can be of any generation with their stats adjusted accordingly. All classes are represented, except no clerics. Other divine-like spell casters such as druids, paladins, and rangers are still available. The PCs will adventure both outside Fiendsguard in their customized Golemech as well as deal with the political and social turmoil within the besieged city.

Generation	PC Types
“Primers”	5th level human, 64-100 y/o 5th level dwarf, 112-148 y/o 5th level elf, 182-218 y/o 5th level half-elf, 69-105 y/o
First	4th level tiefling, 48-75 y/o (MM I) 4th level maeluth, 40-60 y/o (FF)
Second	2nd level shfyt, 32-50 y/o (FF)
Third	1st level half-fiend, 16-25 y/o