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• Anathema Haniel – Tiefling Paladin (Oath of Redemption)
• Grace Obadiah – Aasimar Cleric (Twilight)
• Kasumi Makaio Iolani – Goliath Monk (Way of the Four Elements)
• Skrizz – Tabaxi Rogue (Soul Knife) – Played Remotely

• The Mud Giant reared up, astonishing the party…

• Skrizz lunges forward at the abomination and strikes with psychic blade and lands additional damage with sneak damage; then quickly disengages and steps out of the way
• The Mud Giant stares at Grace, who had been the one who had unintentionally awakened him when she had shaped into an Earth Elemental thanks to the Hollowing (see Session 3 for more) and slams his fist down upon her landing a critical strike! (Natural 20!)
• Anathema Haniel unleashes a Rebuke the Violent – however, remarkably the Mud Hulk rolls another Natural 20 on it’s save – taking half the damage, back upon itself, that it had unleashed on Grace!
• She then follows up with a cut from her short sword across the mud hulk’s knees!
• Kasumi manages to unleash a flurry of blows striking the mud hulk
• Graces reaches into her muddy robes and pulls out her holy symbol and casts Twilight Sanctuary so that those within 30 feet around her gain temporary hit points
• Skrizz kepts his attack up – and lands a Critical Strike – Natural 20! – adding in with the Sneak Damage
  • DM Note: The Mud Hulk had 68 points of damage and had taken 67 points of damage, and still had 1 hit point – and it was now his turn
• The Mud Hulk slams his fist down on Kasumi and does some damage, but she’s able to use a reaction and spend a Ki point to use Stone Endurance to absorb the damage and reduces the damage significantly
• Anathema Haniel uses her short sword, running up the creature’s murky body and stabs the Mud Hulk in the throat, which causes the creatures to come crashing down, and mud splashes everywhere as the creature’s mass simply becomes a wave of mud, and Grace is knocked over by the wave of mud
• Marius Vren comes out to thank the party and offers them a chance to stay in their barn
• He also explains there’s a lake nearby where he gets his water to feed his animals and they’re welcomed to go to the lake, wash up, freshen up
• The party does so, cleaning off their clothing which is drenched in mud; they ponder the Mud Hulk and knows that it’s origins trace back to Hill Giants who became so obsessed with food they would eat the very mud itself, and those who plotted against the Escholon, the Order of the Giants, were often cursed to become Mud Giants, or Mud Hulks as they’re known as
• They return to the farm and begin to rest for the night, though the Mud Hulk had been defeated much of the interior of the farm was still soggy, so they rested in the rafters of the barn
• The wagon they rode, which still had the wooden plant humanoid, Oakwood, speaking with the mechanical looking gnome, Korton, which the party had disabled to prevent it from exploding.
• A light fills the inside of the barn…

• The creature says, “My name is Kibo. The Echelon is in great jeopardy among the giant-kin. There are many threads of Fate at play here – you all have been chosen to be the needle of one of these threads. There will be much danger before you. From what I have seen this night, there is hope that the order of the Echelon can be restored with your help. If the Echelon crumbles and the giants rage war among one another it will forever change the face of the world. I have faith that you will keep that from happening.”
• They each stare at one another, wondering if this was some form of dream…
  • Fun DM Note – In another game, with the same players were given a mission by an angel to save a dryad (see Session 2 of the Arrival) however they would be distracted by fighting Bandits on the way to save the Dryad (see Session 4 of the Arrival) however, driven by that greed the Dryad is sacrificed and a fallen angel released (see Session 5 of the Arrival). This all very familiar…
• The party sleeps better than they have in a long time..
  • DM Note: Everyone gains inspiration if they don’t have it.
    • The Ki-Rin’s name is Kibo Mottekuru (which loosely translates to “Hope” “Bring” in Japanese) – but he simply goes by Kibo. The player controlling Kasumi is learning Japanese on on the app DuoLingo. The combined names of “Hope” and “Bring” is then in turn a reference to my own Tiefling Paladin in the Curse of Strahd game run by the player who controls Grace, named Talarys Hopebringer!
• When the party arrives back in the Gineva “Ginny” Bavara (whom the party met in Session 01) approached the party, a female dwarf with red hair, green eyes and a follower of Jarisfargen (often simply called “Jaris”) was excited to see the party. “You’re back!” she exclaimed, excitedly. You will be happy to know that Reilna Evershine and her family are doing well. We’ve been taking care of them.” (The party had freed her family from the captive of an Ettin in Session 2). She nervously asks, “How were things at the Farmer Marius Vren estate?”
• The party explains the unusual appearance of the Mud Hulk, to which Ginny explains it could all be tied to what the Stone Giant Dream Walker, named  Bruadar Clach had confided in her (See Session 3 for more on that) in regards to the Giant’s Echelon.
• Grace also tells Ginny about the AutoGnome, Korton in the wagon. She’s astonished by the sight, having never seen anything like that – nor has she seen anything like Oakheart, who insists on sticking to Korton’s side. Grace warns that if Korton is activated, he will begin a countdown and have “big feelings” – as in, apparently, self destruct. Ginny explains she will see if she can find any gnomes – who are far better at tinkering – to see if they can look at Korton and discover what can be done.
• Oakheart decides that he will travel with the party and “keep them safe”
• Ginny then asks, “Is there another favor I can ask of you?”
• Grace nods, “We are here to help the less fortunate.”
• Ginny laughs. “That’s good to hear. There’s a human wizard – you can find him at The Lion’s Pride – you will be able to tell who he is by his tattered red robes. Apparently, his master’s home – which is just outside the Ivory Coast was hit by another wizard – a Necromancer, that brought with him undead. He got inside the home and stole some tome. The human wizard at the tavern – said he barely managed to escape the undead. When you go there, like I said you will see him by his tattered robes. I would go and investigate this situation myself, but I have been busy in prayers with Jaris about the Echelon. The human wizard at The Lion’s Pride goes by the name of Darko Wintersage. He’s an odd one, but he’s not bad – as far as wizards go. He claims it was a blue robed wizard who commanded these undead…”
  • DM Note: Darko Wintersage, before going as far as being named, was actually supposed to be a flaming skull monster that would be fighting a group of another adventurers in my Servants of the Wizard game. He appeared in Session 18, as a flaming skull with an immovable rod shove through his head. The party ended up engaging in conversation with him and he had become a hug hit with the party, that I named him and he became an NPC that travels with that party. Because the Servants of the Wizard games takes place in an undisclosed amount of time in the future of my other games, I then had Darko Wintersage appear in another game in Session 10 or 11 where he is seen investigating a library in an abandoned city. This is prior to him being murdered. The Shadow Island also takes place slightly in the future, so I thought it would be fun to introduce him here in this game, and explain how he heads for Shadow Island in the future, and how he would end up on Eagle Rock in the Servants of the Wizard game. It’s like the Avengers movies – it’s all connected. Through sheer madness. But it’s all connected…
• The party heads for the Lion’s Pride and just as Ginny described; sitting, looking rather dejected, is a young, human wizard. He’s attractive, as far as humans go, aside from his tattered, dirty robes, and the cuts across his skin. His hair is dirty blond and his eyes are ice blue. He frequently rubs his temples and complains of a headache.
• He explains he’d been working for Mordak for several months and was in the Library preparing for his voyage to the Shadow Island for further research that Mordak was sending him on – when suddenly, several undead appeared and began attacking him.
• The party recalls, on their voyage to the Ivory Coast, the Captain of the Ship spoke of Shadow Island (see Session 1)
• Darko explains he tried to fend himself from “those dreadfully horrible undead things” – but as a novice wizard, his spells were limited and he was quickly depleted from spells (though he swears if his master would allow him to study more, he’s sure his superior mind could memorize more spells!) – but as it turned out, he was forced to flee.
• As he fled, he saw – what he suspects to be a human in blue robes commanding several undead creatures. He suspects the blue robed wizard – whom he doesn’t know – is after one of his master’s tomes. He explains Mordak is a powerful (if not sometimes, a little cruel) human wizard of great power – and his great power has brought him many great enemies.
• He asks the party to clear out the undead so that he can return back to the manor and determine what was done or taken and brace for whatever punishment Mordak might deal him for “failing him.”
• The party agrees to help Darko Wintersage; Darko explains that on horse and wagon, the manor is an hour outside of the Ivory Coast. Grace explains if there’s undead present she must spend an hour turning a vial of water into holy water, which she does
• Grace and Anathema head to the apocathary and meet Whall Mahrt (DM Note: This is because Anathema said, “Going to Walmart ya’all, need anything?”), a human merchant. The two speak to Whall, and it’s Anathema’s natural charisma that convinces him to sell his six Healing Potions for 30 gold.
• Anathema leaves from there and heads to Gourg’s General Store and steps inside and meets with a human where she purchases an Earth-Tone Brown Blanket.
• In the meantime, Kasumi heads for the weapon merchant, where she meets the human merchant, Krevin however he has nothing she can use. She then makes her way and finds a shop called Teza’s Tattoos. She notes the location and meets up with Grace and Anathema; Anathema shares her interest in a tattoo. Together the three of them meet up with Skrizz back at the Lion’s Pride to meet up with Darko Wintersage.
• The wagon rolls along with the road, pulled by two horses. The four adventurers speak very little along the way. As they draw closer a chilling cold settles around them; similar to that early morning cold that cause the bones to ache. The air begins to smell of death as the manor comes into view.

• Gazing at the gate, it’s clear the gate’s lock had been forced open
• The distance between the gate and the manor is roughly 120 ft. tall
• Grace touches Kasumi and casts Vigilent Blessing
• Anathema recalling that Darko Wintersage had mentioned undead, she steps off the wagon and closes her eyes – facing the manor – she takes a deep breath – then her senses seem to lunge forth from her body – and as she had suspected – Darko Wintersage was telling the truth – immediately she senses at least three undead with range – she zeros in on them – two of them seem the same – another, stronger, more vile, hungrier – her eyes flutter open and through the haze surrounding the manor, she briefly sees all three along the path to the manor…
• Grace, upon this, casts Protection from Good and Evil on Skrizz, protecting him from such things as the undead, giving them disadvantage on any attacks against him
• Grace then whispers, if she can get within 60 ft. of them she can try to cast Faerie Fire, or they could be risky and try to get within 30 ft., and she could try to do Turn Undead
• The party settles on Faerie Fire being the better idea for now
• Anathema and Kasumi take the front, in case any of these undead are some kind of spell caster, they should be targetted first and Grace can still do her spell; while Skrizz takes the back, his cat ears listening for anything that might try to come up behind them
• Unfortunately, as they move through the fog, each of them except Skrizz fails their Stealth check, alerting the undead to their presence – in a panic, Grace casts Faerie Fire, and it only lands on one (DM Note – the other one and the stronger one both made their save)
• As combat starts, the two ghouls rush forward, the third – the one that was distinctly stronger in power – a ghast – also rushes up tp the party. The combat is short and sweet, with minimal hurt being done to the adventuring party.
• Quickly everyone races to the front door and finds it ajar.
• Moving quietly inside the manor – the party searches from room to room on the bottom floor
• Skrizz sees – what he believes – is a shadow that seems to move on its own – disappearing into the wall; he’s not sure what to make of it

• In one of the rooms – which appears to be a study – Grace sees a book Traveling to Shadow Island: Volume III. Grace places the book in her pouch and as they get near the stairs, they hear a voice speaking in Common – however, it’s not clear what’s being said.
• They move closer and the voice says, “I’ve found the book.”
• The party rushes up and sees two shadowy figures beside a human in blue robes

• The Shadows move between the party and the blue robed wizard; who quickly casts Darkness – and then hear him casting in the shadows – the party rushes forward by the Shadow Demons engage them – when the Darkness disappates after the Shadow Demons are defeated, the blue robed wizard is nowhere to be seen.
• He had, seemingly, teleported away while the Shadow Demons kept the party busy, using the Darkness to obscure the party from being able to attack him.
• The party turns to Darko Wintersage. “What book did the wizard take?”
• Darko Wintersage explains, “It was a book of Necromancy, most foul. The binding of the book was said to be written using the flesh of a slain angel. The words, penned in the blood of the angel, and the pen which wrote it – the feather from the angel’s wing. My master, Mordak, has tried to burn it, shred it, sent it to the Plane of Fire, poured chemicals on it, everything he tried – there seemed to be no way to destroy this book. The book, from what I understand – I never read it myself, you see – I find the undead… rather dreadful. But the book documents all kinds of rituals, spells and secrets that allow one to extend one life’s for all eternity. As I understand it, the essence of the angel, who was destroyed to create the book creates a bond that allows you to siphon the angelic energies in ways most foul. It’s as if the book itself were undead.”
• For their troubles, Darko Wintersage dips into the Mordak’s treasure and gives Anathema a +1 Longsword, Grace a +1 Mace, Kasumi a +1 Quarterstaff, and Skrizz a +1 Short Sword. He explains that he will just tell Mordak that the blue robed wizard’s goons must have looted it.
• He asks the party if they will be sticking around the Ivory Coast… because if he can find out who this blue robed wizard is… he may return and ask for their help.