In the distant future, a warforged ancient called Butler stole a fruit from the Delorean Tree and traveled back in time with a plot to change history. His scheme was thwarted by a band of brave chrononauts sent by a druid artificer named Dr. Morris, the caretaker of the Delorean Tree. However, Butler remained at large somewhere in the river of time. Dr. Morris suspected that Butler would launch another conspiracy to ignite a war between the warforged and humanity.

Here is a summary of the homebrew adventure on Wednesday May 10, 2017, at The Dice Latte. This was the third and final episode in a series of time traveling adventures set in Eberron. Thank you Matt for recasting as Bharash the dragonborn monk from the second adventure, and Joey (playing Erg the human barbarian) for being able to join all three adventures!

In Butler’s alternate timeline, a terrible massacre would take place 100 years after the Day of Mourning. On this night, the warforged butlers, maids, and household servants of the nobility would turn against their masters and slaughter them in their sleep. This would pave the way for a powerful warforged leader calling himself the Lord of Blades to lead his army of warforged rebels against the survivors of the Butlerian Massacre. The resulting conflict would engulf every nation and leave the whole continent in ruins. But the warforged would emerge victorious from their Butlerian Crusade and reshape the world in their own image, replacing the green groves of the future with dark towers and creation forges of unending production.

The council of druids in the future has determined that the Delorean Tree, whose fruit was used to send adventurers back in time, was too dangerous for mortal hands. They have decided to seal away the tree, but Dr. Morris has convinced them to allow one last mission into the past to stop Butler’s conspiracy.

Dr. Morris suggested three time periods that the adventurers could return to. They were 980 YK(Year of the King), the year when a new monarch took the throne of the kingdom of Aundair; 990 YK, the year when House Lyrandar launched its first airship; and 994 YK, the Day of Mourning when the beautiful kingdom of Cyre was destroyed. Each point in time represented a crucial part of Butler’s conspiracy.

The chrononauts leaped into the bodies of three mercenaries of the dragonmarked house Deneith – Bharash the dragonborn monk, Erg a human barbarian from the wilds, and Felix Silverblade a half elf bard. They were attending the coronation of Queen Aurala of Aundair in 980 YK. It was an ostentatious event where a company of warforged butlers were presented to the queen as a gift from the gnomes of Zilargo. It was during this coronation that the use of warforged as household servants among the nobility became fashionable. This was the seed of Butler’s conspiracy, for these very servants would one day turn against their masters.

It seemed to the chrononauts that Butler’s spirit had infected this company of warforged butlers and all the other warforged they came into contact with. The chrononauts attempted to thwart Butler’s plan by showing the warforged to be mechanical and artificial creations that could not compare with real human beings. Butler in turn tried to assassinate them at night with a living spell of clouding. Though they survived the attempt on their lives, they were framed for the attempted murder of other noble guests of the coronation. Before they were apprehended, the chrononauts leaped into the future…

They found themselves as crewmen on an airship high above the clouds. It was 990 YK, the year in which the first airship was launched by House Lyrandar. This was a prototype airship and far greater in size than the airships that would come after, requiring two bound elemental spirits and auxiliary fuel to traverse the air. It was called Silver Light, for its immense size and the two great elemental rings shimmered like the moon in the night.

Dr. Morris had warned the heroes that airships were the second part of Butler’s conspiracy. The airships would be used to spread the seed that would be implanted in the warforged across the continent, causing them to turn against humanity. The chrononauts realized that they were also saboteurs sent by rivals of House Lyrandar ensure that the first airship did not complete it’s maiden voyage.

After spending several days investigating the vessel, they discovered a secret compartment being used by a sect of cultists known as the Storm Front who were determined to destroy the first airship as a sacrifice to their dark god. They also found a warforged spy sent to sabotage the airship by a rival noble from Zilargo who wanted his own airships to be the first to go into mass production. It seemed the chrononauts were not the only ones interested in bringing down the airship. They decided to join forces with the other saboteurs and plotted to destroy the vessel.

Felix used his magic to cast a veil of invisibility over Bharash and Erg. Bharash went to the fuel storage to set fire to the magical logs used as auxiliary power for the vessel. Meanwhile Erg infiltrated the vessel’s elemental core where two immense crystals bound the elemental spirits powering the ship. They were guarded by half elves and warforged crewmen. Erg crept past them and locked himself in a chamber containing one of the crystals and shattered the immense crystal, releasing a great gust of wind and freeing the air elemental that was bound to the airship. As the airship began to keel over to its side, Erg found to his horror that he was no longer invisible and he was trapped in the chamber. A throng of warforged guards was trying to break down the door.

Erg realized that his only hope was to leap into the future. As he focused on a different moment in time, Bharash had his own troubles to deal with. After setting the auxiliary fuel on fire, he had snuck onto the bridge where he confronted the captain of the ship. However, the House Lyrandar captain, a powerful half elf with a major dragonmark of Storm, proved to be more than a match. As he struggled with the captain aboard the burning airship, Bharash felt a familiar sensation and realized that Erg was getting ready to leap. He followed his companion through the river of time, wanting nothing more than to be somewhere, anywhere else. Bharash even found himself shouting out loud, “Get me out of here!”

There was a bright flash of light, but somehow it seemed dimmer than before. Erg and Bharash felt cold metal hands pushing and pulling at them, tossing them into an alternate stream of time. They heard voices desperately crying out and echoing Bharash’s words. “Let me out of here!” As the bright light faded, the adventurers realized that the voices were their own, and the cold metallic hands turned into steel bars surrounding them on all sides. They found themselves inside a cage as prisoners of war along with their companion Felix in the midst of a great battle on the wide plains of Cyre.

The chrononauts recognized the battle as a historic moment in the Last War when the warforged armies of Breland clashed with the undead skeleton battalions of Karrnath. It would be the final battle of the war, for this was also the Day of Mourning when a great arcane explosion devastated the nation of Cyre and brought the country to ruin. Dr. Morris had warned them that the Day of Mourning was the final step of Butler’s conspiracy, for it was on this day that Butler somehow implanted a delayed program among the warforged across the continent which would cause a desire for rebellion at a specific moment 100 years in the future.

The adventurers found that they were in the train of the warforged army carrying the roaring bear banners of Breland. At the head of the army rode a warforged streaked in red whom Bharash recognized. He was the warforged called Red Bear. Bharash called out hopefully to Red Bear, but he found that Red Bear was also tainted by the seed of Butler and proved to be no friend. With the armies clashing around them and their hope failing, the chrononauts realized they were running out of time. That is when they decided to leap one last time, but to where or when they were not certain. They only knew that they did not want to be here in this place and time.

As the bright light engulfed them, Bharash imagined a time when there was no war, a time of peace between the warforged and humanity. As the light faded, they found themselves 70 years in the future. Bharash, Erg, and Felix were old men. They were guests in the house of a gnome noble from Zilargo. They discovered that the Last War and the Day of Mourning had become a distant memory. The final steps of Butler’s conspiracy had long ago been fulfilled.

The adventurers also found a familiar warforged in the gnome’s employ. It was Butler himself, or rather the original Butler of the past who would one day become the warforged ancient that would steal the fruit of the Delorean Tree. But right now, he was a young and polite warforged servant who greeted the chrononauts for the first time. This Butler also seemed to be untouched by the future Butler’s seed and personality. Perhaps the Butler of the future was afraid of causing a paradox by encountering his past self.

The chrononauts decided that this might be their last chance to change the course of history. They spent the remaining years of their lives with Butler. Bharash, who lived for another 16 years, taught him about humanity and philosophy. After Bharash had passed, Erg carried on for another 12 years, showing Butler the wilderness and the wonder of nature. Felix would outlive them both and sing songs of their deeds which would be sung and remembered by future generations.

Their gnomish host thought their behavior was quite strange and curious, but he allowed Butler to remain in their company. As it turned out, this decision saved the noble’s life. For two years after Erg had passed, the day of reckoning arrived. All the warforged butlers, maids, and servants on the continent turned against their lords and ladies at once, killing them when they were most vulnerable. All save Butler, who had learned to love and cherish humanity for all its beauty and flaws. Butler alone defended his noble lord when all the other warforged turned against him. He stood against the Lord of Blades and his army warforged rebels. Gathering together the survivors of the warforged uprising and those warforged who had not been infected or turned by the Lord of Blades, Butler led a counterattack which saved humanity from certain doom.

One thousand years in the future, long after the man-machine war had ended and peace was made between mankind and the warforged, the green groves and forests covered the continent. Dr. Morris had planted the Delorean Tree and from its boughs came the magical fruit that would send a group of adventurers back in time. As the chrononauts who would leap into the bodies of Bharash, Erg, and Felix bit into the Delorean fruit, they saw an ancient warforged standing beside Dr. Morris. Though they had never met him before, he looked at them with knowing eyes. Butler knew this would be the last time he would see them. He longed to speak with his old friends once more, but he dared not approach them. In his heart, he bid farewell to the adventurers who would change his life and the course of history.

The End.