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• Arwynn Liadon (Half-Elf – Druid / Ranger)
  • Rides Horse: Laska
  • Pet: Mozilla (Fire Fox)
• Arrimar Oakroot (Wood Elf – Ranger)
  • Rides Horse: Goliath
  • Pet: Chrome (Silver Wolf)
• Briel Nailo (Half-Elf – Druid) – Has Not Special Guested Yet

Learn more about the origin of Shadow Island.

• Arwynn notes that the town of Avador, where she lives seems to be abalze

• Together, Arwynn on Laska, and Arrimar (struggling to get Goliath to listen) ride quickly to Avador after leaving The Whispering Wood’s edge
• Arrimar shouts, “Arwynn! Think you can do the carrot trick? Goliath is being stubborn!” Goliath seems to “nay” at the notion that he’s the stubborn one

• Arwynn with her druidcraft is able to encourage Goliath to behave

• As the duo approach closer and closer, and the smoke rises; there’s not only screams – but also sounds of combat – Arwynn picks up a very thick, foul scent mixed in the smoke

• Arwynn spots creatures in the smoke fighting with citizens; creatures like she’s never seen before – she’s heard stories, having growing up near the fishing village – she recalls her father called such creatures Troglodytes – and her father told them how during fishing they could smell them before they could see them.

• Together they race into the town – Arwynn gets caught up in the smoke and the stench of the troglodytes as she chokes on the smell of both filling her lungs (Critical Fail) as Arrimar shouts, “We need to keep the fish people busy – so that the town’s people can help put out the fire!” And Arwynn coughs and chokes.

• As she rides into town, Arwynn tries to dismount and falls flat into the sand, with Arrimar shouting at her, “What are you doing? Why are you laying down?”
• The first troglodyte sees Arwynn lying prone and decides that she’s an easy target and pounces on her and cuts her for some minor damage
• “You need to get up!” Arrimar growls, “stop making it easy for them!”
• Seeing Arwynn in danger, Arrimar cuts deep (Natural 20!)

• The second trogdolyte tries to attack Arwynn, and critical fails – hitting his companion, killing the trogdolyte that Arrimar cut into

• Arwynn stands up and grabs her sword and cuts deep into the troglodyte (Natural 20!)

• The remaining, wounded trogdolyte attempts to flee the fight, but Arwynn is ready – and she swings her amazing scimitar – which she reminds herself needs an amazing name – and cuts through his torso and ribcage – shattering his spine, splashing her in trogdolyte’s blood and odor
• With the trogdolyte down, they fight a few more as they make their way back to Avador; the trogdolytes seem to be more interested in creating chaos rather than any organized attack
• A human by the name of Shenar Moonsail grabs Arwynn’s arm and shouts, “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here!”
• “I just got back into town! And arrived in the chaos!” she replies, shouting over the screams and combat.
• Shenar Moonsail mentions, “You must get out of here, Arwynn! The sahuagin are pulling women into the tides! And only women! We don’t know why! They’ve managed to pull three of them into the tide that we could not rescue! You must get out of here before they pull you into the tide as well!”
• Arwynn realizes that the trogdolytes are just there for chaos; while the sahuagin seem to be using the confusion to grab women and pull them into the tide. Arwynn knows that the sahuagin are extremely violent, and can blood frenzy, and have bonded with sharks in the seas; and heard the stories from her father and his friends, in dealing with the sahuagin during shipping times; but this behavior of grabbing women is something that she – nor the others – have ever heard of, leading to the idea that there might be something else behind all of this.
• Arrimar steps up and assures Shenar that no harm will come to Arwynn
• Shenar looks, “I am sorry. I don’t know who you are. Are you two an item?”
• Arrimar flushes red. “What? Her? And I? No. I mean. She’s a friend. I am teaching her how to be a ranger.”
• Shenar doesn’t seem convinced.
• “We’re the A-Team,” Arwynn says, peeking over Arrimar’s shoulder.
• “Am I the S-Team then?” Shenar asks. “Because right now that pretty much stands for Solo. Shall we go kill some sahuagin?”
• One of the sahuagin seeing the trio run up is taken by surprise

• Arwynn casts Burning Hands and burns several of the sahuagin; while the sahuagin attack and begin blood frenzying
• Arrimar and Arwynn engage in combat, cut and bleeding, but begin delivering cuts to the blood thirsty sahuagin

• But they’re not the only one delivering critical hits…

• Even as the last nearest sahuagin goes down – but not before ripping Arwynn’s shoulder badly, the chaos ensues as a large crab emerges from the water
• Shenar shouts, “You know! You keep letting them bite you on the shoulder! You should really do something about that!”
• Arwynn shouts, “Well if you could hurry up and kill them, that would also be great!”
• Shenar snarks back, “Well if you’d quit getting in the way.”

• But Arwynn immediately drops Faerie Fire on the giant crab, which it is unable to avoid and begins glowing green
• Shenar shouts, “By the way! You may want to get away from the water. There’s a giant crab coming out of the water.”
• “I see that,” Arwynn shouts, “I am the one who made him glow!”
• As Arwynn takes a step back, she quickly quaffs a potion and gets descent health back
• The crab manages to grapple Arrimar in its massive claws, “I am not a woman!” Arrimar growls, shoving his scimitar against the crab’s thick hide
• The faerie fire manages to help make hitting the giant grab much easier; and it releases Arrimar and attempts to flee, before being killed by Arwynn with an arrow to the back of its throat, shouting, “I will feed on your damn crab legs!”
• As Arrimar drops to the ground, Arwynn shouts, “You can have one of the legs later!”

• The real danger seems to make itself known as Merrow suddenly come to the surface; Merrow being corrupt Mer-People, driven mad by chaos and magic; The Merrow were a tribe of Merfolk who found an ancient idol of Demogorgon at the bottom of the ocean and unknowingly unlocked its dark magic. The tribe became murderous and began raiding other Merfolk, who had never fought in any form of war. As the weeks went on, the exposed Merfolk that had the idol began to change their appearance, becoming more and more fearsome to behold, until their bodies were completely transformed and they became their own species.
• It was not unusual to believe that the trogdolytes might be working with the sahuagin or the Merrow; but it was unusual to think that the Merror and the Sahuagin would ever work together, unless some darker force brought these two aquatic forces together, due to the blood thirsty nature of each side
• “I saw something in the water,” Arwynn shouts. “And it wasn’t a whale!”
• “There’s nothing but trogdolytes out there!” Arrimar shouts back.
• “It was like a man-cat-fish thing!” Arwynn explains, “and it wasn’t a dolphin!”
• A harpoon suddenly flies out from the tide and strikes Arwynn
• Arrimar looks shocked, “What in the blazes?”
• Arwynn feels a tug as whatever it is tries to pull her off her feet, but she manages to keep on her feet; jabbing her staff into the sand – but she can tell something’s trying to pull her into the water. “I am the daughter of a fisherman! You won’t fish me into the water that easy!”
• Arwynn quickly downs a healing potion for some minor health
• Arrimar rushes to her side and gives her a healing potion as well
• Just then the Merrow yanks Arwynn of her feet and drags her 5 feet closer to the tide
• After exchange fire with the Merrow, the Merrow sinks beneath the water and seems to vanish
• After an hour of fighting trogdolytes, the fighting seems to finally come an end; people are focusing on putting the fires out as the village burns and Arwynn notices another thing surface from the water; but swimming towards the town

• The beautiful figure that comes to sway in the tides seems to lock eyes with Arwynn then extends their hands outward towards her; as if welcoming her
• Arrimar shakes his head, “I don’t like this. This could be a trap.”
• “She does not look like the Merrow,” Arwynn explains.
• As she approaches, she pauses, “But Arrimar, pull me back if she does something bad.”
• The mermaid extends her hand to Arwynn – and Arwynn turns to Arrimar to take his hand
• As the mermaid’s hand closes over Arwynn, Arwynn hears the mermaid’s voice telepathically speaking in her mind, “Please, come with me; they take the surface people to provoke war; we need your help.”
• Arwynn, eyes wide, says, “How? I can’t breathe underwater!”
• Arwynn hears the mermaid’s voice, “I help. I help.”
• Arwynn turns, “Arrimar – she’s asking for our help. The people were abducted because they want to start a war.” And suddenly Arwynn realizes that her flesh has been shaped and her neck now has gills; the mermaid extends her hand to Arrimar and he is given gills as well
• “I guess we’re doing this,” Arrimar sighs.
• The mermaid says, “Stop us help the witch.”

TO BE CONTINUED.