This is the summary of the D&D 5th Edition homebrew adventure we played today (April 9, 2017) at The Dice Latte. It was inspired by the South Korean short animation “Green Light”(2016) by director Kim Seongmin which features a character named Mari, a survivor of a nuclear war who tries to rebuild and plant seeds with the help of a robot soldier.

*Image: Green Light

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Setting: Eberron
Character Level: 3rd

Players
Jihyena – Fire Ash, androgynous dragonborn sorcerer
Eden – Habarigani, female human cleric of Arawai
Anna – Rion Vant, male human fighter
Static Crab – Morlag, male human barbarian
Louis – Crow, male human druid
Ken – Morris, male human druid

A young elf wizard named John Doe hired a group of adventurers to deliver a locked chest to his childhood friend, an elf druid named Mari. Her last known location was the vicinity of the ruins of Metrol, the former capital of the once beautiful kingdom of Cyre which is now the vast waste known as the Mournland. Both John and Mari were refugees from Cyre and survivors of the war and devastation that brought doom their homeland. Mari was said to be a druid artificer whose interest in artificial means of promoting natural growth led to her being ostracized by other mainstream druids. She returned to her homeland to prove that her systems and ideas could restore nature in even the most hostile environment.

Fire Ash, a dragonborn sorcerer, had received premonitions from an Oracle who advised the sorcerer to join this quest.

Habarigani, a human cleric of Arawai (goddess of fertility), was intrigued by reports that Mari was engaged in a project of reforestation in the famously hostile environment of the Mournland, where the healing power of nature itself is said to be kept at bay by the arcane force that brought ruin to Cyre.

Crow, a human druid and friend of Habarigani, joined the quest in the hopes of finding clues related to a legendary seed of life that is said to be able to conjure a tropical forest.

Rion Vant, a human fighter and mercenary, was interested in the reward for completing the delivery – 150 gold galifars up front and 500 more upon successfully completing the mission.

Morlag, a human barbarian from the outlands who was helped by Rion to adjust to urban life, joined his friend on the quest.

The five of them traveled to the frontier town of Vathirond on the border between the kingdom of Breland and the Mournland. There they met Morris, a human druid who was introduced to them by the local barkeep as a companion and local guide.

Together, the six companions joined a caravan of dwarven treasure hunters hired by the exiled refugees of Cyre who wished to restore the remnants of their lost homeland’s culture and heritage. The dwarves had been tasked with collecting Cyran relics and artifacts from the Mournland. They offered the six companions 25 gold galifars each for those who help to protect the caravans and survive the journey.

The caravan passed through the dead grey mist on the border of the Mournland. They passed the ruins of a small town beyond which lied a great battlefield. The twisted magic of the Mournland kept the bodies of the dead soldiers from rotting. The corpses frozen in time and their wounds looked as fresh as they were on the Day of Mourning when Cyre was destroyed.

Broggin Boarhelm, the intrepid leader of the dwarven expedition, felt this was a good place to camp for the night. As the dwarves struck camp, the companions warned the dwarves with the dark words they had heard from an old priest at a visit to the shrine of the Sovereign Host in Vathirond. He was an old man with many scars who spoke with the gruff directness of an old soldier, and he had warned them, “Do not disturb the dead.”

The six companions got ready to take their shifts. But nearly as soon as the dwarves began to snore loudly, Habarigani the first watchman heard loud clanking noises as two of the dwarves tried to sneak out of their caravans while making a great deal of noise. She managed to catch one of them and convince him to return to the camp, but the other dwarf disappeared in the meantime.

The companions followed the dwarf’s tracks to a part of the battlefield occupied by platoons of skeleton and zombie soldiers. They seemed dormant or inactive, but many still stood and carried aloft the banners of Karrnath, one of the great nations in the battle and the country most famous for using undead soldiers in its armies. Behind the front lines of the Karrnathi soldiers, there was a large palanquin carried by four ogre zombies that were also inactive. The cloth on all sides were covered with runes and a symbol of a closed and bleeding eye.

Fire Ash guessed correctly that it contained a dangerous weapon used by the Karrnathi forces. As the companions drew the cloth apart to see what was inside, a stone statue of a dwarf fell out. It looked just like the dwarf who had snuck away from the camp. A gust of wind parted the cloth of the palaquin, revealing a hideous floating monstrosity with many blinking eye stalks that were rotting with putrid flesh. It was a beholder zombie, and it laid its glassy eyes upon the companions.

The party fought bravely while waiting for the dwarves to arrive. At last, beholder zombie had fallen, but not before paralyzing or frightening off a third of the group. When the dwarves finally came, they were kept at bay by strange twig creatures that were wrapped around the bones of the skeleton soldiers and seemed to animate them. The companions and dwarves fought off the twig monsters and then breathed a sigh of relief.

As they prepared to return to the camp, Crow discovered a set of strangely winding tracks that led to a clearing. Feeling a draft of air coming up from the ground, the companions began to dig. After several hours, they discovered a strange wooden hatch that led to a tunnel deep in the earth. The companions left the dwarves to investigate the tunnel.

The party discovered an old train at the end of a long underground passage. The lightning elemental engine was deactivated and there were all sorts of strange alterations made to it. The train was being cared for by warforged engineers who were animated by vines much like the bones encountered on the battlefield. They weren’t hostile but seemed to carry on their final tasks of caring for the train. Most of them wouldn’t speak when addressed, but a few of them would repeat only the word “Metrol” when spoke to, presumably the train’s destination. The party decided to board the train and see where it led.

As soon as they were settled in, the tunnel filled with a current of water that propelled the train forward at remarkable speed. Within three days, they had traveled the length of the Mournland all the way to the far north. On the way, Mr. Dustly (Crow’s pet rat) discovered a letter from one of the compartments. It seemed to be weathered and water had spoiled most of the writing, but it was written by the elf wizard John Doe to his friend Mari. The legible parts said…

“…I am sending you what you require… please do not act hastily… Remember and do not forget… I will always…… ”

The train stopped at a ruined train station in the city of Metrol. The ruins of the city were covered with withered and twisted vines, much like the twig bone creatures. The companions believed this was the home of the druid Mari. They were on their guard and decided to draw out the druid to them and wait for her in hiding. Using magic, they wrote a message in the sky announcing their intention to deliver their package and asked the druid to meet them upon a bridge. The Druid did not come but a lone warforged wearing the white robe of a pilgrim of the silver flame emerged. But the warforged wore no holy symbol and carried no silver spectre as priests of the silver flame were known to do. Instead, he carried an oaken staff, much like a druid’s.

The warforged led the party to a grand temple of the Sovereign Host whose windows glowed with a green light. When the large doors opened, inside the great hall the interior was filled with a green luminescence and a garden of many strange plants and trees. Everything was green and even the great pillars were wrapped completely in vines. Here and there were many strange contraptions and devices of artifice that served unknown functions. Perhaps they were gauges to detect the moisture or temperature and levers to control various aspects of the environment. The plants and devices were cared for by warforged pilgrims seemingly of various faiths, but all carrying only the same oaken staff.

Finally, where the altar ought to have been, there was a large capsule flanked on either side by two warforged. One was an immense warforged juggernaut the size of an ogre, which the party had heard only rumors of from the Last War. These warforged had long been outlawed as weapons of great destruction. It looked dormant, but seemed to be guarding the capsule. The other was a smaller and older model warforged, perhaps a former soldier. He was peering inside the capsule.

When the party asked about Mari the Druid, the older warforged gestured towards the capsule. Inside was a young elven woman, her body covered with vines that seemed to grow into her limbs and veins like tubes. The vines were connected to various contraptions inside the capsule that appeared to lead into the earth.

The warforged then explained that Mari had discovered a way to create vast energy without resorting to elemental spirits which were bound in order to power most technological devices such as the Lightning Rail and airships. She replaced that power with her own life essence in order to power the artificial system she had created to give life to plants in the Mournland. She had experimented with various plant creatures, including twig blights and other species of vegetation, to restore movement to warforged and skeleton hosts. But her grand project was a reforestation of the Mournland which required a much greater power source. Therefore she sacrificed her own life essence to make her project a reality. But her own life essence was not enough to fully realize the project. In order to help her, John Doe had sent the package which contained the means to complete the final step of Mari’s plan. But now that the chest had been delivered, the warforged who was tasked with carrying out the final step seemed hesitant.

Despite being an older model, he was a far more thoughtful creature than most other warforged, and perhaps many fleshbound philosophers. He was now trapped in a great philosophical dilemma. On the one hand, the contents of the chest could complete the project, and in doing so Mari’s life essence would no longer be needed. But her body was part of the system now, and to disconnect her would result in her death. On the other hand, whatever was inside the box could restore life to Mari and remove her from her frozen state, but in doing so the fragile system that operated on her life essence would cease to function and wither away. The warforged seemed unable to make a decision and his thought programs seemed to run on an endless loop.

The party offered their opinion, saying that to revive her to the ruin of her life’s work would bring her only sorrow. If this was what she wanted, perhaps it was better to help her fulfill her dream. The eyes of the warforged glowed with a green light of understanding. The decision was made. Before opening the chest, Rion and Fire Ash wished to leave and return to John Doe to gather their reward. They received a final letter from Mari addressed to her friend John Doe as a token of their successful delivery. The letter read…

“Dear John,
By the time you receive this message, I will be gone. Perhaps I will be in a faraway place in the stars, or dreaming forever with our sleeping ancestors. Wherever our souls go beyond the grey mist of this world, I will always remember you. Do not be sorrowful, for I do this to leave behind a better world. Even in the long lifetimes of elvenkind, you or I may not see the fruits of my labor, but I hope that new generations may someday reap the harvest of a brighter and more beautiful future.
With love always,
Mari”

Crow, Morris, Morlag, and Habarigani remained to witness what would transpire. The warforged opened the chest, and it released a cool wind like the salty breeze upon the sea. A waterfall exploded upward from the chest, and when it receded there stood before them a beautiful figure of a maiden formed from water. It was a powerful elemental creature, and the warforged spoke with her in the language of the ocean, their voices rising and falling like the tide upon the shore. They spoke for an entire day and night. When their conversation had ended, it seemed that the elemental had made a decision. Looking down at Mari, the elemental seemed to breath a deep sigh. Then she melted and flowed into the capsule, passing into the tubelike vines and down into the earth. There was a brief rumble and then stillness. The warforged simply said, “It is done.” Then facing Mari and bringing his fist to its chest plate, he saluted the druid whose spirit had departed. Within days the tubelike vines withered and fell to dust, but Mari’s body remained preserved and frozen in state. The warforged explained the twisted power of the Mournland kept her corpse from rotting, but as the power of nature took root, the power that preserved Mari would fade and so too would her remains.

As days and weeks passed, the remaining companions saw that the vines and rambles covering the ruins of the city began to brighten in their hue. They became greener and more vibrant, and small sprouts began to emerge from the cracks along the streets. In time, the city of Metrol would become a great woodland reclaimed by nature. In a thousand years, after kingdoms had risen and fallen, future generations would visit this remote part of what was once called the Mournland and find a vast forest teeming with life.

Inside, they would discover an overgrown ruin of a temple long forgotten, where a rusted and ancient warforged sat guarding a weathered and empty capsule. He would be roused by the presence of visitors. He would weakly raise his shaking fist to his chest plate in one final salute before the green light in his eyes grew dim and his arm fell, moving no more.

The End