Wyllow

Wyllow was an elf druid based in Wyllowwood in Undermountain in the 13 through 15 centuries DR.

Activities
Wyllow took care of the forest of Wyllowwood. She usually was kind but distant with visitors unless they threatened her forest.

Relationships
Wyllow had a displacer beast companion called Crissann, named after a human mercenary she had befriended many years earlier. Halaster turned the man against Wyllow and she was forced to kill the mercenary. Wyllow had mixed feelings for Halaster; she was grateful for his efforts in building Wyllowwood but also blamed him for the death of her lover. She also felt pity for the Mad Mage, who appeared trapped in a prison constructed by himself.

History
Some time in the mid–1200s DR, Wyllow met and fell in love with Yinark, a minor, later apprentice of Halaster Blackcloak, during one of his missions to the surface. She became blindly enamored of him, being unaware of his true nature. Yinark married her and took his wife down to Undermountain, where they lived as happy newlyweds for several months. But it wasn't long before Wyllow missed the sun, winds, and green life of the surface world. Worse, Wyllow grew suspicious of her husband. She wished to return to the surface, but Yinark refused her. Instead, with Halaster's permission and help, and several rings of wishes, Yinark established a garden inside one of the caverns. He grew a forest and built a gate to bring in animals, weather, and genuine sunlight, and even ensured a functioning ecosystem to keep it alive. He named it Wyllowwood after his wife. Yinark also gave Wyllow a crystal throne of dwarven make. Halaster was impressed by his work, and thereafter watched his apprentice closely.

While Wyllow was happy once more, in time, she learned of her husband's evil nature after seeing him ambush and slaughter a number of adventuring parties that wandered into Wyllowwood. In the last, Yinark killed one wielding the sword Tearulai, but two escaped. He himself was left badly wounded and unable to pursue. Wyllow confronted him and could not accept his claims they were evil and would desecrate Wyllowwood. When she tried to leave, they engaged in a battle of magic, but the druid had the upper hand in the forest environment and was ultimately the victor. Yinark was killed—the first time the gentle druid had ever taken a life.

Afterward, Halaster retrieved Yinark's body, but he too had been sick of his cruelty and ill discipline. Rather than bring him back to life, he raised him as an undead creature to serve among Undermountain's guardians. Halaster abandoned the traumatized Wyllow in the forest and left her to her own devices. In the century after, Wyllow searched Undermountain for Yinark in a futile effort to apologize for killing him, never realizing he would likely no longer understand.

By the early 1490s DR, Wyllow was fully recovered, but remained inside Undermoutain out of guilt for killing her lover.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Expedition to Undermountain • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage