On January 3, 2018, we had our first adventure in the second season of The Branches of Time, a series of homebrew time-traveling adventures set in Eberron. This season features the shifters, one of the unique races of Eberron, and the Silver Purge, an inquisition against lycanthropy set in 832 YK. The brave chrononauts were Muthak the goliath fighter, Targaryen the dragonborn sorcerer, and Jackie the warforged mystic. This is the summary of their adventure.

* Bennin Silverclaw is the ancestor of Irulan Silverclaw from Legacy of Wolves, a novel by Marsheila Rockwell.

 

THE BRANCHES OF TIME, SEASON 2: PROLOGUE

In the far future of Eberron, 5000 years after the end of the Last War, the world is a verdant utopia covered by endless green woods. Deep within the heart of the Great Forest, a mighty citadel formed by the vast trunks of trees casts its shadow upon the rivers and hills. In the depths of the citadel, sealed behind two great doors of living oak, is the legendary Delorean Tree, whose magical fruit has the power to send the eater hurtling through time and space.

Planted long ago by the druid artificer Dr. Morris, it was deemed too dangerous for mortal hands and was sealed away by the archdruids of the forest after a rogue time traveler stole its magical fruit and attempted to change history. Now, one of the archdruids himself, a shifter named Stephen, has broken into the vault of the Delorean Tree and stolen its fruit. He has leaped back in time to the decades of the great lycanthropic purge carried out by the Templars of the Silver Flame.

For fifty years, the inquisitors sought out the weretouched and all those they had infected in a ruthless attempt to cleanse the land of the lycanthropic plague whose sudden onslaught threatened the kingdom of Galifar. Stephen’s purpose was to change history, but to what end none could tell. It was up to three brave Chrononauts to pursue the rogue archdruid through time and space.

Our heroes arrived in the distant past, in the year 832 YK. In the century before the Last War, the nations of Khorvaire were still part of the United Kingdom of Galifar that spanned the length of the continent. It was the height of the inquisition, when the Keeper of the Flame had declared that Shifters and lycanthropes were alike and all needed to be purged to safeguard the realm.

The Chrononauts had leaped into the bodies of members of the Inquisition. They were Muthak the goliath fighter and folk hero from the western lands of Droamm, Targaryen the middle aged dragonborn sorcerer from the distant shores of Argonnesen, and their charge, a newly built experimental construct J-490 nicknamed “Jackie” that contained the soul of a chrononaut mystic.

The Chrononauts arrived in an inquisition camp outside the quiet town of Aruldusk. At least, it ought to have been a quiet lakeside town. For Aruldusk was one of the rare places that had been left relatively unscathed during the Purge and even throughout the Last War. It was one of the few places that would become a haven for a sizable community of shifters in later years. But that was according to the original timeline.

In this alternate history, the town was surrounded by an army of Templars and under quarantine. Reports had come in that the community was the latest to succumb to the lycanthropic plague. Now the Knights of the Silver Flame had come to cleanse the town with divine fire. They awaited the arrival of J-490, an intelligent construct that they hoped to use to scout out the community safely. Thereafter, a legion of silver pyromancers would arrive to purge the town with divine fire.

The leader of the templars was himself a shifter, a renowned inquisitor named Bennin Silverclaw. The Chrononauts sought to reason with him, arguing that the town should be scouted out to ensure that unaffected survivors could be safely evacuated. But Bennin had strict orders to maintain the quarantin. All those who entered against the commands of the Church, including fellow templars, would be considered infected and subject to the purge.

Muthak asked if Bennin would condemn an entire community of innocent people for the sake of following orders. That was when a young shifter boy entered the tent. He addressed Bennin as his father and proudly showed him a drawing he had made. Then he looked at the Chrononauts with curiosity and clung tightly to Bennin’s side. Bennin replied evenly to Muthak’s question: “Would you have me risk that which is most dear to me to save those who are already doomed?”

Targaryen insisted that there must be another alternative. Then inspiration came to the Chrononauts, and they devised a plan. They claimed that Jackie could detect lycanthropes, but this required his handlers to be close by his side. It was a lie, but it might give them a chance to approach the town altogether.

One of the templars beside Bennin flinched when he heard this. The Chrononauts noticed this and immediately began to probe the templar. When Bennin turned to speak to him, the templar suddenly thrust a poisoned dagger into his heart.

“My brother… why…” said Bennin as he collapsed to the ground.

Now, the templar showed his true colors. His muscles bulged and his hair and claws grew long as he transformed into a fearsome werewolf. The Chrononauts and other templars leapt upon him, but in the melee, the templars saw that the Chrononauts were not truly their brothers. Then knight fell upon knight with sword and magic. When the dust had settled, the werewolf and all those in the tent were dead, save for the Chrononauts and Bennin who was still unconscious.

When Bennin regained his senses, the Chrononauts had no choice but to convince him that the werewolf had massacred the templars, and it was all that they could do to subdue him without losing their own lives. As Bennin mourned the loss of his comrades, a messenger entered the tent and gasped at what he saw. Regaining his composure, he reported to Bennin that his son was missing, and scouts had spotted a shifter boy near the town.

Bennin, fearing for the one person in the world that he held most dear, broke the quarantine upon the town of Aruldusk, knowing full well that the consequences would be dire. The Church would excommunicate him, and he would be purged by divine fire. But he cared not. The Chrononauts went with him, and together they fought their way through the hordes of werewolves on the outskirts of the town. Once they arrived at the town square, they saw a local church with boarded up doors and windows. Smoke emerged from the gaps in the windows along with a terrible light, and the sound of wailing voices could be heard.

In front of the church, there stood a young boy. It was Bennin’s son. But now the Chrononauts could see clearly that an aura of time displacement surrounded the boy. He had been possessed by the archdruid Stephen. The boy spoke with the deep, reverberating voice of an elder druid who had lived for thousands of years.

“I can see the pain in your heart, Bennin Silverclaw. And it pains me just as much to do what I must do. For I have come back through the river of time to ensure that all the shifters and lycanthropes are purged by the inquisition and erased from history. Only then can we avert even greater suffering and save the future.

“Now, you have a choice. Slay your only son and save the shifters within, or take back your son and leave the shifters to die, as they surely must. The choice is yours, but know this. So long as any shifter or lycanthrope lives, your future is doomed.”

Bennin thought upon the archdruid’s cryptic words and weighed the choice before him with a heavy heart. Hearing the voices of his kin in the burning building, he wondered that he had thought to let them burn at the hands of the pyromancers. But seeing his only son possessed by an evil spirit, his heart was torn. It was in that moment that the Chrononauts suggested that there was always an alternative. There must be a way to save both his son and the people in the church. Bennin, hearing their words, stepped forward and embraced his son.

“Spirit,” he said, “Spare both my son and my people, and I shall be your host. Take me and do as you will. I will not resist you, but only if no harm comes to any shifter this day.”

Stephen considered the offer, then answered, “So be it.”

With a bright flash of light, Bennin Silverclaw was gone. The boy was left confused and bewildered, searching for his father in vain. The Chrononauts broke down the doors of the church and freed the shifters within. They were evacuated from the town of Aruldusk, and not a moment too soon. When the last of the shifters had fled to safety, a bombardment of divine fire from the silver pyromancers leveled the lakeside community.

The Chrononauts had saved Bennin’s son and the shifters of Aruldusk, but Bennin himself and the time traveler Stephen were nowhere to be seen.

To be continued…