The Branches of Time Part 1. The Harvest of War Somewhere on the front lines of the Last War, the inventor of the sentient warforged, Aaren d’Cannith, wanders the battlefields. Can a band of time travelers find Aaren in the branches of time before he vanishes from history and recover a secret that can save the warforged of the distant future? A 3 to 4-hour adventure for 1st level characters by BUM LEE Cover Image: Photo by veeterzy on Unsplash.com All Artwork and Maps: Wizards of the Coast DMs Guild Creator Resource Special Thanks: Alexandre, Annie, Regina, Joey, John, Jihyena, Jung Yong, SampleLouis, Eamonn, Jason, Joey, Liezel, Lindsay, Raphael, Suhwan file DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by BUM LEE and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. Introduction The Branches of Time is a time travel campaign set in the world of Eberron. The Harvest of War is the first in a series of adventures that take place during the Last War. This adventure is designed for four to six characters of 1st level. Adventure Background Thousands of years in the future, the continent of Khorvaire is covered by a great forest. It is home to the dragonmarked warforged of House Lorien, bearers of the Mark of Time and caretakers of a the D’Lorien Tree whose magical fruit can send the eater hurtling through time and space. Adventure Overview This adventure takes place across four chapters A group of adventurers in the present day receive and takes approximately three to four hours of visions from the future and a mission: journey play. There is also a bonus mission, which can through the branches of time to the years of the modify or lengthen the adventure. Last War and find AAREN D’CANNITH, the inventor of the sentient warforged, in order to Chapter 1: Call to Action acquire the original schema used to create the first The characters are asked to time travel to the Last living constructs. War and obtain the warforged schema from Aaren d’Cannith. Running a Campaign Chapter 2: All Quiet on the Karrnathi Front If you are running this adventure as part of The The characters arrive on the front lines between Branches of Time storyline, see Appendix: Time Karrnath and an invading nation, where Aaren is Travel for a list of optional rules that can be used in exile and serving as a volunteer medic. for a time travel campaign. Chapter 3: Over the Top Using this Adventure The characters must climb over the ridges or navigate the grisly trenches that surround them. To run this adventure, you will need the D&D fifth This chapter includes the Optional Objective: Stop edition Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s the Resonator. Guide, and Monster Manual, as well as Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Xanathar’s Guide to Chapter 4: Saving Private Aaren Everything. The stat blocks for creatures and The characters must rescue Aaren from a cadaver descriptions of items that appear in this adventure collector that is harvesting bodies for Karrnath’s reference the above sources and can be found in undead army. the Appendix. Bonus Mission: Back to the Past Further Reading The characters may travel further into the past to In addition to the above books, select D&D third meet Aaren before he went into exile. edition supplements are also referenced in this adventure,Sample including Dragonmarked, The Forge of This adventure is designed primarilyfile to be played in the War, and Magic of Eberron, for their insights into “theater of the mind.” However, the Appendix provides a Eberron’s lore and history. These supplements can sample map that can be used to represent part of the be found at DMsGuild.com. trenches in Chapter 3. 3 Chapter 1: Call to Action Adventure Hooks The characters are plucked from different points (15 mins) in history (either the years of the Last War or the post-war era) to serve as time travelers. Their In the present day, the characters receive visions objectives may include exploring the distant past, of the far future when the warforged have evolved recovering ancient knowledge and relics for study, into an advanced race of dragonmarked living and correcting alterations in the timeline caused constructs and druid artificers. The oldest among by rogue time travelers. them, the Warforged Ancients, have retained their original bodies built during the Last War. The If this adventure is part of an ongoing campaign, technology to restore their antiquated bodies has the characters might receive their mission from a been lost to the eons of time. FAMILIAR FACE, a past or future version of a retired player character or known NPC, or the descendant of that character. It might be a familiar face that is preserved in temporal stasis or as a brain in a jar. Familiar Face Familiar faces are a way to reinforce the theme of time travel. Familiar faces in the past let players discover more about their favorite characters. Familiar faces in the future or their descendants show players that their actions have an impact on the timeline. If a familiar face in the past dies, something may have happened in the intervening years that restored them to life, or the person that the characters thought they knew might be an impostor. The warforged of the future have called upon a Different Choices group of brave adventurers to journey to the years The players may decide not to seek out Aaren on of the Last War when the first warforged were the battlefield and look for him further in the past. invented. These time travelers have been asked to In this case, go to Bonus Mission: Back to the Past retrieve the original warforged schema made by and skip Chapter 2, or if time permits, continue Aaren d’Cannith, a brilliant artificer and the from Chapter 2 after completing the bonus creator of the sentient living constructs. A mission. character can learn more about Aaren d’Cannith or schemas by succeeding on an appropriate skill Group Patron check (see the tables on the following page). The characters are supported by a group patron Each character receives a fruit from the D’Lorien from the far future. By default, the dragonmarked Tree, a living eldritch machine that grants the warforged of House Lorien are the group patron in power to leap through time and space (see this adventure. Alternatively, the players can Appendix: Time Travel for more information choose a different group patron that has a closer about the D’Lorien Tree). Those who eat the fruit connection to their characters. If you are running are engulfed by a flash of light as they are this adventure as part of a campaign, the group transported to the past. Following reports of when patron can provide a number of additional Samplebenefits (see Appendix: Time fileTravel for more Aaren was last seen, they arrive in the year 970 YK on the front lines of the Last War. information). 4 Who Is Aaren d’Cannith? What Is a Schema? A character can make an Intelligence (History) A character can make an Intelligence (Arcana) check to learn more about Aaren d’Cannith. The check to learn more about schemas. The information gained is cumulative. information gained is cumulative. 1d20 Information 1d20 Information Aaren was a brilliant artificer who A schema is magic in recorded form, used to discovered the schema that perfected the pass down magical knowledge or mass modern warforged in 965 YK. His father, produce magic items. Schemas are used to Merrix the Elder, was the original creator of store all manner of arcane spells, formulas, 10 or 10 or the warforged titans, immense hulking and blueprints. They are typically inscribed higher higher warmachines that preceded the sentient onto durable materials, such as stone slabs constructs, and gave the warforged their and metallic rods or sheets (you can read name. However, Aaren was foremost an more about schemas in the D&D third inventor and never wished for his miracle of edition supplement Magic of Eberron.) life to be used for war. The warforged schema was contained within Aaren petitioned the nations not to purchase the dragonmark of Aaren d’Cannith. How the the warforged for their armies, putting him schema came to manifest in the form of a at odds with his own father. He was dragonmark remains a mystery, even to eventually excoriated, or formally expelled, 15 or Aaren and the artificers of House Cannith. 15 or by his house in 970 YK. Merrix, feeling higher Aaren’s unique mark was studied and higher betrayed by his son, took the unusual step of eventually transferred into House Cannith’s ordering a true excoriation, an archaic creation forges. He was flayed partly to practice in which the dragonmark is flayed prevent the schema from falling into the from the skin (described in the D&D third hands of outsiders. edition supplement Dragonmarked). Before he was excoriated, Aaren also Aaren survived his sentence and went into developed a process to copy the schema exile, leaving behind his infant son Merrix contained in his dragonmark to a sentient the Younger (who goes on to become the construct called an astral docent.