“Captain, Mr Bill says we’ll hit land in the next few minutes.” Melandra said as she knocked on Captain Marco Colombo’s cabin doors.
The Amazon waited for a moment but heard no response so decided to go look inside. She opened the door wide and saw the adventuring captain sitting on his bed with a rather solemn look on his face, his hat sitting by his side and holding a small painting in his hands which had seemingly come from the open chest that normally lay beneath his bed.
“Is everything alright?” the Amazon asked as she came inside and saw that this chest was filled with stray trinkets made from gold, broken trinkets of Lustrian design to be exact. “Old trophies from your adventures?”
“Something like that.” Colombo responded while still looking down at the painting in his thick, Tilean accent.
“Okay then. What’s the matter?”
“I just needed some time alone, I’ve been reminiscing about her.” Colombo responded, still not even looking up at Melandra.
“Ooh, there’s a her? Well I have to see what you’re holding now.” Melandra spoke as she crossed the room to see that the painting was a portrait of a young woman in her early twenties, wearing a knee-length honey coloured summer dress tightly bound round her waist by corset, with a tan-olive skin complexion, inflated bust thanks to the corset and her chestnut hair tightly contained in an updo. “Ooh, she’s pretty. Is she your girlfriend?”
Colombo huffed for a second before replying “There was a time when I would have wished for nothing more. Her name was Alissa, I knew her back in Tilea when I was a young man,I never could confess my feelings to her then.”
“Well there you go. Once we finish all this business in Ind we should go visit her. I’ve never been to any of the border free states.” Melandra replied enthusiastically, hoping to raise Marco’s spirits.
“She’s dead, my dear.” he retorted.
“Oh. I’m so sorry-“
“Nothing to be sorry for, that’s all in the past now.” he replied as he stood up from the bed, put the painting back in the chest with the broken trinkets and shoved them back under his bed. “Come, we’ll be landing soon.”
….
The ship continued to sail for another 20 minutes or so, all while Marco seemed more preoccupied using his telescope to view the ocean’s horizon than he did the island they would soon depart at, until finally they arrived. The ship moored just off of the beach and the crew rode to shore. And so the crew ventured inland into the island’s nebulous jungles, Tullaris leading the way with his greatsword followed by Senor Montero and Signore Petrochilo each armed with pistols and a cutlass, Colombo with his crossbow, Melandra with nothing more than a knife (she refused to carry a gun) and Mr Bill at the back with two rifles slung over his shoulders and his swivel gun in his arms with his pet, a tiny salamander he called “Lizzy” on top. The crew waded through the exotic jungle terrain for some time, moving large plants to the side and swatting away strange insects until Tullaris motioned for them to stop moving. He sensed they were being watched.
Suddenly, a tiny amphibian creature leapt from the bushes and ran past Melandra’s exposed legs on all fours. A pistol shot was fired but missed and it seemed the creature would get away only for its movement to suddenly be halted as Tullaris’ murderous senses took over, he leapt towards it and thrust his blade through its back.
The creature fell and now that it was no longer moving so quick, they discovered it was some kind of skink, though it had evolved to run on both its arms and legs, had a small set of tusks emerging from its mouth and had exceptionally long nails for a skink, almost like the talons of a bird. Upon seeing what it was, Melandra immediately cried “Why did you do that? It was running away! It was terrified!”
She ran over to the now dying skink and sat behind its head, trying to comfort it as she made her best attempt to communicate in its language. “Pohpoloui tehuantin.” She said, meaning ‘forgive us’ in Saurian before looking back to the crew. “It was terrified…and you killed it. Pohpoloui tehuantin.” she repeated as it died in her hands, having shoen no visible sign of understanding her. Melandra stood up and walked off in a huff, saying she needed to be alone for a moment.
“I’ll take care of her.” Tullaris said as he chased after her. After a few minutes off walking, he caught up with the Amazon who was sat on a tree stump sobbing quietly.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
“I have many skill-sets, tracking people fleeing from me happens to be one of them. What’s wrong?” Tullaris responded.
“What’s wrong? Seriously, what’s wrong? I’ve never watched something die like that before.” she said in between her sobs.
“When we first met, you saw me kill a whole legion of colonial marines.”
“That was different.”
“How?” Tullaris replied curiously.
“They were trying to kill us already.”
“In my experience, that isn’t a particularly useful distinction. Just because something doesn’t intend to kill you now doesn’t mean it won’t go on to or find someone who will do it for them.”
“If you say so… I’m sure you think you’re very clever. But you’ve always a been a soldier, I imagine you saw plenty die before then.” she replied.
“Of course.” Tullaris noted matter of factly.
“And do you? Do you still care when you kill people? Do you show even the vaguest hint of remorse?” she asked.
“Of course I care.”
“Really? Tell me how many then?” she asked in an expanding serious tone.
“How many what?” Tullaris responded.
“If you still claim to care so much, tell me how many people you’ve killed.” she responded sternly.
Tullaris took a step back for a second before replying “I don’t know.”
“Alright then. How many people did you kill before you lost count?”
“I do care, Mel, but I know when to grieve and when to move on.”
“Yes, how quickly?” she asked, slightly frightened by his cold demeanour.
“I don’t understand why you’re angry with me. Am I not supposed to protect you and the others when potential threats jump out of bushes?” Tullaris began before being interrupted once more.
“Have you killed civilians before? I saw you use them as shields back when we met… I’ve been afraid to wonder whether that was your first time…Have you?”
“There have been occasions when the options available to me were limited.” Tullaris replied trying to divert her question.
“Answer my question.”
“Sometimes one’s choices are-“
“That’s not what I asked you!” Melandra yelled.
Tullaris smirked for a second, impressed by her to the point questioning, before replying “Yes. Of course.”
“How many?” she asked again only for him to not reply. “Oh let me guess. You moved on too quick to count.”
Tullaris frowned and looked up for a second before turning back to her. “Alright then. Seeing as you want to know so much about me, shall I tell you what would happen if I didn’t move on? It’s simple really, more people would die. I was the Crone of Har Ganeth’s chief executioner. I killed more people in a day than most soldiers would have the chance to in a lifetime, we would destroy whole towns and villages just because my Mistress didn’t care for their names and it was my job, no matter how violent or cruel I needed to be to fulfil that job, to always complete my orders to the letter, both for my Mistress and for my God. I had a duty to both of them and I served each with unparalleled distinction.
But regardless of that fact, we are here now – in the present. We are on an island unknown to our captain’s maps and who knows what the others might come across? I’ll try not to rush to combat if you wish but if it does come down to it, I won’t have you stopping me from doing my job. So, do you want to help me and the others? Or do you just want to sit here stamping your foot and protesting in vain? Because let me tell you something. I’m almost four thousand years old, I’ve lived longer than your entire family tree has existed, I’ve seen nations rise and fall and in all that time, whether I’ve been acting for good or evil, I have never had the time for the luxury of moral outrage. So make up your mind. I’m rejoining the others.”
….

• Sad React: Despite their conversation, Melandra remained unconvinced and refused to return to the group. Eventually Tullaris gave up trying to convince her and left her behind. (If this option wins, Melandra stays behind and the rest of the story is determined by whichever other react option gets the second largest number of votes.)

….
A few minutes later Melandra returned to the party and the adventurers continued to make their way through the jungle. They stayed vigilant, making sure to cover all angles for sudden ambushes as Melandra brought up the fact the skink from earlier never responded to her…as if it couldn’t understand her when she spoke in its tongue. “I don’t think these lizards are quite the same as the ones back home” she posited to the captain out loud.
Still they continued their trek, moving through the underbrush until they suddenly heard a set of roaring in the distance. The group followed the sound, as more sounds entered their awareness; the sounds of large ‘thuds’ against trees, the snapping sounds of bites, the sound of nails scratching their way into tree bark, yet they continued to follow the sound.
Eventually they came across what they were looking for. A local brawl between a feral carnosaur and an equally ferocious stegadon, the two great beasts of the jungle duking it out as they knocked each other too and fro among their surroundings until the carnosaur began to gain the upper hand, having evaded a horn charge and delivered a snapping bite of its jaws to the stegadon’s neck. The two giants continued their fight, the carnosaur back the stegadon into a tree to reduce its manouverability until finally it instigated its killing blow. The carnosaur dug its teeth into the deceased stegadon and proceeded to feast on its meal when suddenly it stopped and directed its nostrils in the adventurers’ direction.
“Run!” Colombo yelled as the carnosaur took off after them and the party ducked in and out of shrubbery to evade capture when suddenly, a great booming roar came from the distance.
The carnosaur immediately ended its pursuit, turned tail and ran away as the ground beneath the explorers began to quake. Instinctively, Melandra clambered up a nearby tree to gain an aerial view of the situation. It couldn’t be, her mother had described them to her as a child but she always figured they were merely the figments of bed-time stories meant to scare disruptive teens who no longer feared the likes of carnosaurs. Well, her beliefs were clearly wrong as only a mile or so away Melandra saw the immense body of a Thunder Lizard, a saurian behemoth measuring up to eight times the height of this jungle’s trees.
Though there was no way this creature was after them specifically, Melandra felt that, just as an ant harboured no quarrel with the boot thst squashes it, so too could this thing crush every single one of the crew beneath its limbs or under the trees which fell around it without ever knowing they were there on account of its frankly ridiculous size.
Melandra descended from the leaves and the group proceeded to run back to the ship as fast as they possibly could with the group.
….

• Angry React: The crew ran as fast as they could but in the end stood no chance against the towering behemoth whose every step matched a dozen or two of theirs in terms of distance covered.

Eventually the creature cought up to them, with Melandra and most of Colombo’s crew members being crushed by trees and falling debris. Upon seeing her hurt, Tullaris Dreadbringer went into a frenzy, allowing the madness of Khaine to consume him as he spun toward the beast and hacked his blade against one of the Thunder Lizard’s broad feet. However, his blade merely ricocheted off the creature as it passed.
Finally, the giant saurian reached the coastline where it trampled its way over Colombo’s ship, cracking it in two, before bringing its long neck down to take a large sip of salt water.
Tullaris and Marco went on to regroup and begin thinking of a plan of survival. However, with their crew dead, their ship destroyed, Luthor Harkon’s leviathan still after them and the threat of the island’s wildlife still present, how long could these two really survive?
….

• Laugh React: The crew ran for their lives and fortunately, managed to make their way back to the ship before the Thunder Lizard could reach it. Knowing they stood no chance of disembarking before this ginormous beast could reach them, especially since the tide was out, Tullaris and Montero instead helped Mr Bill to move one of their cannons to the bow of their vessel so they could line up a clear shot against the megabeast approaching them.

They waited for it to draw closer, knowing they couldn’t afford to miss, until finally Colombo gave the order and Mr Bill yanked on Lizzy’s tail, causing it to belch up a flame which lit the cannon’s fuse. The cannon fired and hit the Thunder Lizard in the chest.
Though the creature was far from killed, the shell merely bruising its elongated bodice as it bounced off into the trees behind it, the irritation caused by the cannon shot was enough to get the Thunder Lizard to turn around and look around for somewhere else to drink.
With the saurians imminent threat curtailed, Colombo gave the order to raise the anchor and hoist the sails as soon as possible. Certainly, something very weird was going on in these Isles to attract such strange fauna but this crew would not be the ones to discover what as they set sail once more to Ind!

….

(Prelude to both Wow and Love React)

Colombo’s crew were running as fast as they possibly could back to the ship in an effort to get there before the wandering Thunder Lizard could. However, just as they were about to finally reach their ship a second booming groan sounded, this time coming from the sea as an immense undead promethean emerged from the ocean waves and tore Marco’s ship the Bronzed Saber appart beneath its immense frame. As the rest looked on in shock and confused horror, Colombo knew exactly what was going on. This was Luthor Harkon’s Deep Sea Devourer, an ancient rotting leviathan far larger than most of its kind and a creature the anglers around Swamp Town believe carried thousands of eggs before it died, making it one of the progenitors for the race of prometheans that now dwell along the coastlines of Lustria. Regardless of its precise familial lineage, one thing remained certain, it had been sent here by Harkon and his first-mate, Captain Drekla to punish Colombo for falling behind on his debts.

The leviathan crushed the decks of Colombo’s ship, even getting part of the ship’s hull caught on its carapace as it searched for its prey before taking notice of the immense Thunder Lizard coming its way.

The two monsters clashed in a titanic brawl, the crustacean clenching its pincers around the great saurians’ neck while the giant dinosaur simply tried to step on the promethean’s armoured shell or bash it with its long neck, much like a giraffe belonging to the Southlands pygmies would only with far greater force: As the two monsters traded blows, Melandra suggested seeking shelter somewhere in the jungle but Marco Colombo had other ideas of his own as he ran straight toward his desolated ship in search of salvage. He kept covered, hoping not to be seen by the monsters as he darted from one piece of debris to another.

….

• Wow React: Sadly for Colombo, his efforts were in vain as the promethean’s senses did notice him. Indeed, rotting leviathans were known for being able to detect their prey even in the darkest abysses of the seabed so detecting a human running on the beach, sand moving with every step, blood and sweat pumping due to his nerves, made for an easy giveaway.

Thus as the Leviathan still had the Thunder Lizard’s neck caught in one of its pincers, it reached around with the rest of its body and skewered Colombo on the end of one of its legs, killing him in a single stroke.
….

• Love React: Distracted by its battle with the Thunder Lizard, especially on account of the loud roars the saurian made on each attack, the leviathan never noticed Colombo as he made his way to the ship.

Marco searched the decks and made his way to his cabin quarters before soon returning to his peers with a treasure chest in his hands containing all manner of secrets and treasures he wouldn’t want to lose.
As the great battle between the two titans went on Colombo and his crew returned to the jungle, intent on finding shelter, a way of escaping these isles and perhaps even some answers to what exactly was going on here. However, as a pack of feral sauri and cold ones (roaming the jungles on all-fours as opposed to adhering to their usual relationship of riders and mounts) closed in on them, one thing remained certain. Colombo, Melandra and Tullaris’ adventures in the Dragon Isles were far from over…

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