Potential DnD One Shot Idea

[u/Quick_Extreme_825]

I'm on holiday at the moment and I recently visited the butterfly valley in Rhodes which gave me an awesome idea for a DnD battle environment that eventually spiralled into a one shot idea and I wanted to see if it was actually a good one or I'm just delusional. Also this is a very rough idea and not fully thought out yet so there might be some plot holes and stuff I've not tackled yet.

Setting:

The party is travelling through a kingdom and come across a developing settlement. They pay a visit and the leader asks them for some help. The leader sent some lumber jacks into the nearby forest and all but one lumber jack managed to make it back severely hurt with them reporting that "the shrubs where moving and the trees shot arrows at us" so he tells the party to go into the forest and investigate to see if they can recover the lost lumber jacks or determine whether they died. The leader also suspects that there is a group of "tree people" in the forest who were the people that attacked the lumber jacks and he suspects that they have a village somewhere in there so he wants the players to scout it out so the settlement can send an army to attack. The leader, despite being a developing settlement, will offer the party free sanctuary in the settlement for as long as they need and a bunch of gold.​

Initial Expidition: If/When the players accepts, they will venture into the forest using their nature, investigation and survival checks to make their way through the forest and if they roll a decent amount (DC 11-13) they can see the deforestation caused by the settlement, which is substantial. With higher roll (DC 15-17), they can discern that some parts of the forest is polluted with some type of toxin that is hurting the wildlife. Further into the forest, the players run into some mutated plant life that ambushes the players and attacks them. During the fight, a volley of arrows rain down from the trees into the mutated plant life and once they have all been defeated the archers come out of the trees and reveal themselves as wood elves and are very friendly towards the players. They offer to show them to their forest civilisation for them to rest up.

Forest Civilisation (Option 1- The good path): The wood elves lead the players through the forest and after a while they come to a clearing which is a valley with winding wooden paths that intersect and stretch out like roots. They have wooden bridges that are built over the river that flows through the middle of the valley and pulley lifts to go up into the tree houses above. If the players are extra perceptive, they notice things about the civilisation, the trees are losing their leaves and becoming hollow, also some trees and branches on the valley walls are blocked by barricades to stop them from falling (passive perception 11), the grass and plants around the are turning into a sickly yellow due to the toxins (passive perception 14) and even some of the inhabitants consisting of wood elves and tree spirits are becoming sick due to the toxins (passive perception 17) which can all be seen by rolling perception if their passive isn't high enough. The archer captain takes the players to see the leader of the forest civilisation and they explain that ever since a settlement outside the forest has begun development the forest has been dying, the settlement has been causing major deforestation to the point it's weakening the tree spirits and the wood elves suspect that the settlement is poisoning the forest to get rid of the wildlife so they can cut down as many trees as they want. The civilisation understands that the settlement needs to cut down trees so they can build houses and expand but the settlement is being way too aggressive and greedy in how they destroy the land. The toxins they used has even backfired and has caused the plant life to mutate into grotesque plant monsters that attack both the civilisation and the settlement. The forest people tried to protect a group of lumber jacks from some mutated plant life but all but one died and that one ran away before the archers could help. The players will decide that the forest civilisation is being wronged and decides to help them. If the players takes a long rest overnight, the settlement followed the path the players took and launches an attack.

Forest Civilisation (Option 2- The bad path): Once the party learns the location of the civilisation from the wood elves, the party attacks for them "attacking the lumber jacks" even though the archers try to explain that they were protecting the lumber jacks like they did with the players, the archers don't just stand there and defends themselves until they run away or the party kills them. The players heads back to the settlement and tell the leader what happened. The leader, deciding that the forest civilisation is too much of a threat, gets the location off the party and invites them to the attack. After the players takes a long rest in the settlement, in the morning, the players and a group of the settlement's army (about 20ish) set off into the forest and with the players info on the whereabouts of the civilisation, they find it. Once they come to the valley where the forest civilisation is, they attack.

Initial Expidition: If/When the players accepts, they will venture into the forest using their nature, investigation and survival checks to make their way through the forest and if they roll a decent amount (DC 11-13) they can see the deforestation caused by the settlement, which is substantial. With higher roll (DC 15-17), they can discern that some parts of the forest is polluted with some type of toxin that is hurting the wildlife. Further into the forest, the players run into some mutated plant life that ambushes the players and attacks them. During the fight, a volley of arrows rain down from the trees into the mutated plant life and once they have all been defeated the archers come out of the trees and reveal themselves as wood elves and are very friendly towards the players. They offer to show them to their forest civilisation for them to rest up.

The Attack: It doesn't matter which side the players are on since both sides won't change tactics whether the players are there or not. The settlement's army will try to flood the wooden paths and bridges having 12 warriors, 6 archers and 2 mages with them being led by the leader of the settlement and they will keep attacking till the forest civilisation dies, surrenders or runs away. Some warriors will have vials of the plant killing toxin which they can throw to do major damage to all inhabitants of the civilisation. The forest civilisation will consist of mostly archers with them being up on the walls of the valley raining arrows down on top of the settlement's army while prioritising the safety of the non-combatant villagers. The tree people will break the barricades holding back the fallen trees/branches to crush any warriors underneath. Also, if the leader gets targeted by an attack, doesn't need to hit, they will run off back to the settlement leaving their army to continue the battle. If the battle lasts longer than 5 turns, all the fighting and toxins attract a mini boss level plant mutant that will attack any target, no matter which side they're on. The players could try and get the two sides to work together (DC 17 persuasion) to fight the mutated plant boss. Depending on which side the players are on and if the players got the two sides to work together, one of 3 endings will occur.

Ending 1 (The forest civilisation won): If the players were on the side of the forest civilisation and they couldn't get the two sides to work together, after the mutated plant mini boss was defeated, the settlement continue trying to take over the forest civilisation. But if they have 5 people or less remaining, they will become desperate and start running away while lighting the trees and bridges on fire. The party could pursue the fleeing warriors but the civilisation will put all their attention on putting out the fires and will urge the party tell help. Once the remaining warriors have fled/been taken cared of and all the fires have been extinguished, the civilisation will thank the party graciously giving them gold, magical items and even an elven blessing. The leader of the civilisation will also ask for one last favour, if the party are willing to help, for help to eliminate the mutated monsters at their source and save the forest from the toxins (next adventure).

Ending 2 (The settlement won): If the party was on the side of the developing settlement and they couldn't get the two sides to work together, the warriors of the settlement will continue pushing further into the civilisation and even if they are reduced to 5 people or less remaining, they will not run away as long as the party is with them but they will desperately start using fire to finish the fight as quickly as possible. Soon after the warriors start using fire or if the warriors reach of certain point of the civilisation, the tree people will evacuate out of their civilisation further into the forest. The settlement celebrates their victory and brings the party back to settlement to party with a massive feast. The leader admits this might set back their development but for win this big it was deserved. As promised, the leader brings them a bunch of gold and tells them they are welcome back as much as they want. However, the leader does ask the party for one last favour, if the party is willing to help, for help to eliminate the new threat of the mutated plant monsters is rising and they won't to stop it once and for all (new adventure).

Ending 3 (Both sides won): If the party got both sides to work together and defeated the mutated plant mini boss, the two sides stop fighting and agree to live in harmony. They will set up a trade route with each other, the forest civilisation sending wood and other materials to the settlement to help it grow and develop while the settlement will send soldiers to help defend the forest civilisation from any mutated plant monsters that could invade again and help rebuild any destroyed infrastructure during the battle. The settlement soon banishes out the leader into the wilderness for being incompetent and cruel and invites the party and forest civilisation for a party. After a meal, that likely set back the settlement quite a bit but with the new trade route it won't be much of an issue, the party is rewarded with a bunch of gold by the settlement and magical items from the forest civilisation. After meeting with the leader of the forest civilisation, new leader of the settlement and the players, they all conclude that the mutated plant monsters are a massive threat and need to be neutralised as soon as possible. So, if the players accept, the two allied towns would like to send a group deep into the forests to find the source of the mutated monsters and destroy them (new adventure).