Want to help? Consider becoming a Patreon.

• 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) – Special Guest!
  • Rides Horse: Rusty

Learn more about the origin of Shadow Island.

• As Arwynn and Arrimar come out of the tide, Arwynn spots a friend of hers by the name of Briel Nailo, who like Arwynn was a Half-Elf Druid as well. They’d grown up, bonded by the fact that they were both half elves; their friendship bloomed through mutual interests and both became Druids, studying herbalism together. They used to laugh about how they could be sisters; and often acted as such
• Arwynn is surprised to see her friend there; since when she and Arrimar were last in Avador, the small fishing village had barely survived being attacked by Merrow, Trogdolytes and Sahaugin, who were all targeting women that they were trying to drown and bring to the Sea Witch.
• Seeing Arwynn coming out of the water, she raises an eyebrow, “What are you doing there?”
• “That’s a story that needs a dry tavern,” Arwynn sighs as she tries to ring her hair. “Let’s go to the tavern – The Purple Phoenix.” A tavern well known for its fiery, purple drink made of specially enhanced grapes.
• Entering The Purple Phoenix, they hear people of the fishing village still talking about the attack and how these odd creatures were specifically targeting women to pull into the water; while they outright slain men. Arwynn tells Briel to go order drinks and that she would go find a place next to the fireplace. Briel approaches the bar, and she’s greeted by the human bartender – Dave – and orders two Purple Phoenix drinks – and offers the drinks for free, glad to see both women are alive and well after the recent attack.
• Briel meets Arwynn back at the table and places both flaming purple drinks on the table. Arwynn reaches over and grabs the drink and smiles, “Thanks. Went for the hard stuff?”
• “Looks like you had a hard day,” Briel countered, looking at Arwynn’s wet clothes. “Where’s your friend I saw coming out of the water with?”
• “He will be right back, he’s just checking on a few things,” Arwynn explained. “And it’s Arrimar. You know him.”
• “It’s been so long since I’ve seen him,” Briel explains. “While I continued on the path of being a Druid, you began taking up lessons on how to be like the wood elf rangers, have you not?”
• “I have,” Arwynn nods, “like my mother used to be. I figured Arrimar was a friend of the family and one of the Ranger Scouts of the Whispering Wood, so I began taking lessons from him.”
• “Is that the only reason you began taking lessons from him?” Briel prodded.
• “What? I don’t know what that means,” and Arwynn took a sip of her drink, after the flame had died out.
• Briel smiled, saying beneath her breath, “I’m sure you don’t,” and as she took a drink, she was surprised by the sweetness and tasted none of the very potent alcohol content within the drink and simply drank it all in one shot – and instantly realized she was intoxicated by the feywild plant drink’s potency.

• Arrimar scans the tavern, having seen Arwynn and her friend heading for the Purple Phoenix and spots them and approaches them. He extends his hand to Briel, looking at her – vaguely remembering her – but it’d been so long – and to ensure he wasn’t being rude, he smiles, “My name is Arrimar. I am,” he looked at Arwynn who shrugged when Arrimar sees that her friend is intoxicated, “Arwynn’s friend.”
• “Really?” Briel’s blurry vision tries to focus on one of the three Arrimar standing before her, as she slurs, “you’re pretty cute.” (DM Note: This was the first time the person playing Briel had ever played D&D – and I was simply amazed and blown away how quickly and easily she slipped into character!)
• Arrimar flushes red and looks at Arwynn as if she should fix this; but Arwynn giggles into her drink, purple bubbles popping near her nose. “Oh,” he clears his throat, “your friend is very kind, Arwynn. Why didn’t you introduce me to her sooner?” He scowls at her, as if believing somewhere in the back of his mind, she’d somehow engineered this to go exactly as it was going, causing Arrimar to blush repeatedly.
• She looks at Arwynn, and slurring, Briel fumbles the words, “Yeah, why didn’t ya?”
• Arwynn looks at Arrimar and laughs, “So, what did you need?”
• “Have you told her anything?” Arrimar asks.
• “What haven’t you told me?” her eyes drift between Arrimar and Arwynn expecting, in her drunken state, that there was something between them.
• “A lot,” Arwynn sighs. “But I suppose we can tell you.”
• Arrimar whispers, “If you didn’t tell her before you started drinking,” he looks back at Briel who was staring at the bottom of her glass wondering where it’d all gone – convinced Pixies and Sprites were about – drinking her drink, “I am not sure come tomorrow she’s going to remember anything you tell her tonight.”
• “I don’t even think she’s going to believe half of what happened anyway,” Arwynn shrugged. “I am still trying to process it all.” Arrimar nods in agreement.
• Arwynn begins to tell Briel about how they had defeated some kobolds and brigands and were riding back to town when they saw it on fire. They’d fought off a number of sea creatures, all of which Briel believed, because she’d seen some of the dead ones lying around the beach and town, being removed by the guards. It was right when Arwynn said, “And this mermaid came out of the water and gave us the ability to breathe underwater and we went to an underwater kingdom” where Briel shook her head and sighed, “You expect me to believe that? Breathe underwater? An underwater kingdom?”
• “Yes,” Arwynn sighed and Arrimar added with a whisper, “It’s true.”
• Briel rolled her eyes, believing Arwynn was exaggerating the story just because Briel was drunk. “Anyway,” Arwynn continued, “we helped these merfolk defeat a sea witch – or a sea hag, is what they’re commonly known as. And this sea hag has these ‘sisters’ that make up a coven. And we need to find information about them.”
• “OK,” Briel laughed, “if I am to believe this fantastic story – I would like to try and help. After all, while you went off with this hunk of a man,” Arrimar flushed red, “I spent my time studying – after all, I I work to preserve a libraries, universities, scriptoriums, or monasteries. It’s kind of what I do. So if you need to find knowledge, I can help.”
• “That would actually be great,” Arrimar said. “You know, once you sober up.”
• Arwynn shows Briel the triangle star fragment that fell out of the hag’s chest after she’d been defeated. “We need to find a way to destroy the hags and gather the stone embedded in each one; then destroy the stones – or else the coven will be restored to life. Oh,” she smiles, “and we got to ride sea horses.”
• Briel looks, “Sea horses are tiny. Now I know you’re pulling my leg.”
• Arrimar laughs, “They’re called hippocampus. They have a front torso like a horse, but their waist down is like a fish’s. Like a merfolk – but with a horse torso.”
• “You can’t expect me to believe this,” Briel slurred.
• “They really hate Merrows – which is like evil versions of the Merfolk,” Arwynn explained, “because the Merrow fed on them.”
• “I know it sounds outrageous,” Arrimar admitted. “But I promise it’s true. Neither she nor I are crazy. Well, maybe she is,” Arrimar laughed.
• “And these hippo-hippo,” Briel tries to recall the name in her intoxicated state.
• “Hippocampus,” Arrimar helps.
• “Yes, those,” Briel laughs. “Are they sentient?”
• “Yes,” Arrimar nodded. “They formed a bond with the merfolk and could understand simple commands. They were often used as beasts of burden by the merfolk.”
• “Has anyone told you that you have beautiful eyes?” Briel sighed, placing her chin on her empty tankard for support.
• Arrimar flushed red again. “Uh, no. That is, not in a long time. I can’t remember the last time someone complimented me… or my eyes,” he shrugged, feeling warm beneath his collar. Briel in her intoxicated state seemed to be looking at Arwynn to see if her friend had any reaction to her blatant, intoxicated flirting, but Arwynn only seemed to laugh into her still half full mug of Purple Phoenix. If she was jealous, it was not visible.
• Arwynn finally asked, “So what were you doing on the beach, Briel?”
• Briel shrugged, once again, looking at her empty tankard as if she had expected it to magically fill itself. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just had a feeling I was supposed to be there. Maybe the gods guided me there so I could see you both coming out of the water. And to meet your handsome friend here.” She placed her arm around Arrimar’s waist and Arrimar flushed red but did not move.
• Arwynn smirked, “Right. OK, then… What are we doing next?”
• Arrimar clears his throat, “We need to find out more about the triangle stone.”
• “Maybe the Druid Circle has information? They’d be closer than Stormthunder,” Arwynn pointed out.
• They head to Arwynn’s home so that they can get a horse for Briel. Briel smiled, “Is Rusty still around?”
• “He is,” Arwynn smiled, recalling when Rusty had been born on the farm, Briel had been the one who mended Rusty’s leg that had come out damaged with her healing magic, forming a bond between Briel and Rusty. It’d been years since she’d been back around Avador, and she was happy to hear that Rusty was still around.
• As they approach Arwynn’s home, they see her father standing outside, arms folded across his chest, looking furious. “Oh, this isn’t good,” Arrimar muttered beneath his breath.
• As they get closer, he shouts, “Why are you clothes wet, Arwynn? And why are his wet? Wait, and why are hers dry? What have you gotten into? Were you near Avador when the attacks happened? Do you realize they were targeting women? Do you realize you hadn’t checked in to let us know you were alive?”
• “Definitely not good,” Arrimar muttered again.
• “Have you been to Avador?” Arwynn asked.
• “I heard the rumblings!” he snarled.
• “Well, we were there… and they were dragging women into the ocean,” Arwynn began to explain.
• “Wait, I hadn’t heard who was doing the abducting… what do you mean dragging you into the ocean? Was it pirates? Were they trying to get you onto their boats? Was it slavers?” he blurted.
• “No, it was these sea people who were following the orders of a sea hag,” she explained. “All these sea monsters were following the command of this hag.”
• “So a hag was commanding sea monsters,” he looked dubious.
• “I didn’t believe it either,” Briel slurred out loud.
• Arrimar placed his hand on her shoulder, “You’re not helping.”
• Arwynn turned, “Arrimar back me up on this,” she pleaded.
• Arrimar’s eyes widened as Arwynn’s father’s eyes focused solely on him. “You were with him?”
• “Yes,” Arwynn said, as if it was obvious. “That’s why his clothes are wet too.”
• “He’s not a woman!” her father shouted. “Why would they pull him into the water.”
• “No,” Arwynn shook her head. “He and I went with a mermaid to help put a stop to the hag.”
• “You led my daughter into danger?” he shouted staring at Arrimar.
• “He’s never going to like me,” Arrimar muttered beneath his breath.
• “He didn’t lead me, I went on my own accord,” Arwynn countered.
• “Well he certainly didn’t stop you,” her father yelled.
• Arrimar said, “Have you ever tried to stop her from doing something?”
• This caused her father to pause in silence for a moment.
• This seemed to disarm her father’s fury. “So tell me more…”
• Arwynn began to explain what had happened; and her father commented how he’d never known that the “fish people” had a city; he’d assumed they were simply sentient fish people who had often helped fisherman who had been thrown overboard, or attacked by Sahaugin or pirates
• Her father looks at Briel, seeing that she’s dry, and swaying. He recognized her as Arwynn’s friend. He looked to Arwynn, “Why are her clothes dry? And why is she swaying like that?”
• “She wasn’t with us,” Arwynn explained. “We saw her as we came out of the water. We went to the Purple Phoenix to get warm and dry off a little, and have a drink to relax our nerves. She,” she looked back at Briel who giggled behind her hand, and shook her head. “She drank her drink a little too quickly.”
• “It’s true,” Briel slurred, trying to use Arrimar to balance herself. “I saw them coming out of the water and there was some kind of animal in the water.”
• “That was Riptide,” Arwynn nods, unsure if Briel’s comments were helping or hurting.
• “Wait! There was a riptide too! What were you doing in the water?” her father growled.
• “No, Riptide is the name of the Hippocampus I was riding,” Arwynn explains. As her father threw his arms up in frustration trying to understand all that happened, even Arrimar admitted hearing it all again – it sounded ridiculous.
• Her father’s eyes narrowed on Arwynn now (for which Arrimar was thankful that the intensity of her father’s gaze was no longer locked on him), “So to summarize, you are telling me you met some kind of fish king…”
• “Chief,” Arwynn corrected. “He called himself a Chief.”
• “Fine, a chief,” her father sighed, “and you killed some kind of Sea Hag Witch?”
• “Yes,” Arwynn said, believing her father was understanding at last.
• “Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds?” He blurted.
• “Mother would believe me,” Arwynn finally said, and called for her mother. Her mother approached and looked at the three. “Arrimar, good to see you again,” she said with a welcoming tone. “And Briel, is that you? Goodness, it’s been years since we’ve seen you. You look well. Aside, from that swaying.”
• “She’s drunk,” Arrimar whispered.
• With her mother there, the trio are able to convince Arwynn’s father to allow Breil to ride on the back of Rusty, as they need to head to the Druid Circle – though all three of them keep it from him, that if the Druid Circle doesn’t have any information – they will be riding further – much further – to the abandoned town of Stormthunder.

• As the trio mount, Arrimar sighs that Rusty seems far more welcoming to Breil – and Goliath messes with Arrimar…

• The trio ride to the edge of the woods, where they’re forced to take a first night’s rest, because the horses were beginning to get exhausted. The trio decide to camp just inside the woods, after Arwynn and Arrimar’s experience with the brigands.
• They struggle to find a comfortable place to make camp that’s large enough for the horses; and dealing with Briel who is tripping over the brush non stop – they simply agree to just make camp and lay out tents slightly spread out; earning a level of exhaustion as they had continued to search and search for a good place to rest before settling.
• Briel suggests climbing up into the trees and sleeping on the branches since the woods are so dense and thick; and Arwynn is able to do so easily. However, as the intoxicated Briel attempts to capitalize on her own idea, her intoxicated state proves to be quite the disadvantage as she falls backwards, with a scream – which was overly exaggerated due to her intoxication – and lands flat on her back, staring upwards.

• Determined, she tries again – and oddly enough, falls in the same exact area as she had last time, not having learned her lesson.

• Arrimar tries to help Briel up (cancelling out her Disadvantage) – but because of her swaying and flailing she comes tumbling down once again.

• She collapsed on top of Arrimar and he briefly wondered just how drunk she was and perhaps how much was intentional. He called out to Arwynn who was sitting on a branch giggling gleefully at what she was watching. “Do you think we can do tents tonight? I am pretty sure your friend is in no condition to climbing trees. Or walking,” he muttered the last part beneath his breath while laughing.
• They set up their tents and Briel quickly falls asleep in the tent; and Arwynn takes first watch while Arrimar sits down against a tree and nods off. After a moment, Arwynn notices that the sounds of the night birds has gone silent; and she takes notice to the rustling sound of branches above being moved. She takes a small stone and throws it at Arrimar and strikes him and he sits up, “Ouch! What was that for?” And he quickly sees that she has her finger to her lips and points to her ears then points up. After listening – he whispers, “That’s probably a giant spider; they live on the fringes of the forest and may have heard this one’s,” he points towards the tent, “screams.”
• Arwynn whispers, “Should we wake her up?”
• Arrimar nods, “Yes, in case this thing comes down. But maybe don’t throw a rock. There’s an easier way to get someone’s attention,” he mutters, rubbing his forehead where she’d struck him with the small pebble.
• Arwynn tries to wake Briel, but Briel’s too drunk to wake up

• Shaking her again – she manages to wake up Briel and quickly clasps her hand over Briel’s mouth, worried that she might still blurt something out in her intoxicated state
• The trio manage to remain stealthy so that the giant spider above, passes, still searching for the sound it’d heard of a woman in distress by the sounds of it (Briel falling from the treee)…

• The following morning Briel awakens with a hang over; and with a banged up elbow (she doesn’t recall how that happened) – and she vaguely remembers talking to Arwynn’s parents – but has no idea how she ended up in the woods – so Arwynn explains everything and how she ended up where she is now.
• Briel shakes her head and mutters, “I hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing.”
• Just then Arrimar comes back from scouting and sees Briel and smiles, flirtingly at her, and asks, “How are you feeling today?”
• Briel looks at Arwynn, her faces flushing red. “You lied.”
• “You didn’t say anything too embarrassing,” Arwynn laughs.
• They reach the Druid’s Circle which is an open field surrounded by stone

• Arrimar sits outside the circle and watches as Arwynn and Briel channel the power from the stones; pulling the energy of nature from all around them and from themselves; feeling their bodies continue to the soil, like trees who have taken root – and a moment later, the stones begin to shimmer and a number of arch-druids appear stepping through the portals that opened on the stones, answering the summons.
• Arwynn shows them the triangle stone that had fallen from the sea hag’s heart, and the arch druid explains that there are four other pieces – four other hags must be found – destroyed – then the stones destroyed – known as the Coven of the Stars or the Coven of the Fallen Star – they’re known for traveling into the feywild and corrupting all that is beautiful and pure
• He goes on to name the same five hags that Seatide had formerly named: There is Jarnius, the Sea Hag; Keeluh, the Green Hag; Bortorada, the Annis Hag; Teurur, the Night Hag and the leader of the Coven of the Fallen Star, Chillarah, the Bheur Hag.
• The Arch-Druid explains that Stormthunder was had a large library that collected tomes of knowledge from the many wizards who came to Shadow Island after the war that warped magic on the island; with wizards investigating the various portals. He explains that from the Druid Circle, Stormthunder is about three days travel to the west.
• The trio make their way west, and after a first hard day where they pushed the horses and reach the furthest mountain to the west before needing to cross the river; they make their way up a path and take shelter inside of a cave, where they are ambushed by what Druids and Rangers often call “Defilers” – but their proper name being Ettercap.

• Thankfully, the Ettercap seems to be alone; and though it manages to poison Breil with its bite, the trio are able to dispatch and burn the corpse of the creature. The party, with their horses rest for the night. When they awaken the following morning, there is a note from Breil that she was summoned by the Druid’s Circle about the hags – and that they will need her to do some research from there to assist Arwynn and Arrimar, once they have uncovered that the four hags are looking for someone with “a special mark” on their neck.