The titanic clash between the Thunder Lizard and Luthor Harkon’s Deep Sea Devourer tore through the treeline of the island’s coast as neither monster could deliver a killing blow to the other. The rotting leviathan attempted to drag the saurian megasaur into the sea by clasping its the pincers around the Thunder Lizard’s neck only to find the reptile too strong as it released its neck from the crab’s grip and forced the leviathan back into the sea, heavily injuring it as the Thunder Lizard stomped on the crab’s shell with its thick legs.

As the Deep Sea Devourer slunk off into the sea to recover, Marco Colombo returned to the rest of his crew with the chest he had rescued from his now destroyed ship in hand.

“What’s in there then? Must be good if you were willing to die for it.” Signore Petrochilo suggested as Colombo placed the chest down and opened it for inspection.

Inside the chest were a series of seemingly broken metal cogs, a small token of Ranald and curiously, a lady’s ballgown.

“That? That’s what you risked your life for? No ammunition, no food or medical supplies? I never realised we were captained by such an imbecile!” Señor Montero chided, betraying a certain level of anxiety in his tone toward their present situation.

“All in tact. Thank the gods.” Colombo muttered as he inspected the metal devices and planted a kiss on his token for good fortune before turning his eye to the dress the others were confused by. “Ah yes, that thing. Funny you should ask. Call it a wedding gift. I owe it to Lady Morella d’Arlette in Zaragoz back home. Fascinating lady, not as honourable as her title suggests, rather ill-tempered if everything doesn’t go according to her plans in fact. Let’s just say she would have my head if it never reached her and that’s all I need right now.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. At least they could offer us a lift to shore on the way there.” Montero replied.

Suddenly, Montero and Colombo’s arguing was interrupted as Tullaris turned to the captain. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“Telling? What’s to tell? Freak accident isn’t it?”

“No, it certainly was not. That promethean was rotting, decaying, undead even. That suggests it was the result of necromancy, implying a necromancer of some type sent it here. So tell us captain, who do you know who harbours a grudge towards you and has access to necromantic powers?” Tullaris demanded Colombo respond.

“Uhmm… well, there’s a few actually. But to answer your question, probably Luthor Harkon.”

Everyone simultaneously sighed in resentment upon hearing Colombo utter the name of the dreaded Pirate King.

“You’re serious? Great… and why do you think it’s him who is after you?” Tullaris asked, just barely remaining calm as he did so.

“Uhmm… well, just hear me out but… I may or may not owe him the equivalent of 80,000 gold crowns…”

“What? How could one man possibly owe anyone that much? Did you spend a whole month in a Sartosan whore-house or something?” Tullaris snapped.

“Well yes and no actually, it was a long time ago and I assure you it wasn’t all spent in one go. Then again, this debt comes down to a multitude of errors I assure you…one of them being that whirlpool which saved your lives come to think of it.”

“What are you saying, Marco?”

“That you should be thanking Harkon really – or we all would have been killed by that Nehekharan warship.”

“Ever heard the expression, digging yourself into a hole, captain?” the Amazon adventuress Melandra interrupted.

“Look, it’s all a long story I would be happy to tell you another time but right now what really matters is that we are all still alive and that we need to get off these islands as soon as possible. With the Devourer hurt, it won’t be long until Drekla comes knocking again – not to mention the wildlife where we’re standing.” Colombo proposed before turning to the quartermaster Mr. Bill and requesting a munitions check.

“Between the six of us I count no more than 1 crossbow with 2 full quivers of arrows, one executioner’s sword, 3 hunting knives, 4 cutlasses, whatever poisons Tullaris is carrying, half a week’s worth of food, 2 rifles and 3 pistols with enough gunpowder for up to 30 shots… then there’s also Lizzy and the swivel gun but without the ship to resupply I can only carry two…maybe three cannonballs on me before my back starts aching.” the quartermaster informed his peers.

“Right, okay. Mr. Bill I want you to take Signore Petrochilo and Señor Montero over to that ridge over there. Find and chop wood from the sturdiest trees you can find and build us all a raft to get off this rock.”

“What are the three of us going to do?” the Amazon asked.

“Well, we do call ourselves explorers… best we start doing some actual exploring. Besides, if we all stick together it will only make it easier for predators to track our scent and kill us all. This way we can at least draw them away from the raft-building crew.” captain Colombo ordered.

“Fine, let’s do this.” the former executioner Tullaris muttered as he turned and started pacing into the jungle.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, elf? Those trees aren’t going to cut themselves and we don’t have any axes… we’re going to need that sword of yours if we have any chance of getting off this rock.” Mr. Bill declared.

Tullaris turned and glanced at Colombo who reluctantly nodded that Bill was correct before pacing over to the quartermaster and holding his sheathed sword out across his arms. “I am lending you the First Draich, a legendary weapon of my people used by the first executioners and handed down across generations of cults at Har Ganeth. Guard it with your life. Should any damage come to it, the undead will be the least of your worries.”

And so, Marco Colombo, Tullaris Dreadbringer and Melandra headed off into the jungle both as bait and to explore, armed only with Marco’s crossbow and a pair of cutlasses the elf and Amazon took with them.

---

Hours passed as the trio of explorers delved deeper into the jungles of this strange, untamed set of islands. By now they had adjusted to a certain rhythm when it came to scouting, with Melandra always travelling ahead of the two men thanks to her more inconspicuous set of attire compared to the bright yellows and purple that Colombo wore or Tullaris’ heavy plate armour as well as her ability to climb trees and navigate along tree branches more readily. Once she was confident the way was clear, she would offer a hand signal for the other two to follow.

Across their adventure the trio documented all kinds of fascinating discoveries from a type of stegadon that carried a giant clam shell attached to its back that it used as a portable home, to cold ones whose teeth extended beyond their mouths into curled tusks akin to a ram’s horns, to an immense crater containing the shed scales of another Thunder Lizard, to dragon-like creatures with leathery wings that produced harsh cries flying overhead, to a carnosaur with additional appendages, to dozens of seemingly harmless critters and even a bright pink variation on a troglodon that Tullaris theorised must carry natural toxins within its bloodstream.

Yet beyond all these weird and wonderful creatures there was one thing that kept Melandra befuddled. There was an area of jungle roughly only a mile in diameter that was shrouded in fog. The skies were clear in every other direction aside from that patch and she could see there was clear weather beyond that area as well. For whatever reason, it was just that one area they couldn’t see, something which made the explorers more curious to find out what was going on there.

However, as they grew closer to the fog ahead Melandra suddenly grew concerned when she noticed a large area of rustling bushes – not from the fog up ahead but from whence they had came. In other words, they were being tracked. Mel yelled for Marco and Tullaris to start running and just as they did, their pursuers went into the offensive. They were a pack of feral dinosaurs, mainly cold ones and wild sauri running on all fours, and based on the haste with which they were pursuing the explorers, it would appear they were very hungry indeed.

….

◙ Laugh React: The trip ran as fast as they could, the two men running through the underbrush while Melandra swung from branch to branch yet there was no escaping from such speedy predators. Soon the elf and the captain found themselves making a desperate last stand. Colombo downed a cold one with his crossbow before taking on a saurus with his sword only to find himself overwhelmed and torn to shreds as more feral saurus warriors pounded their way onto him. Tullaris lasted a bit longer thanks to his martial training but the loss of his greatsword reduced his odds of survival significantly for his cutlass had a tendency to get stuck in the flesh of defeated dinosaurs rather than sliding out quickly as his own blade would.

Having watched her friends perish, Melandra kept swinging away through the treeline though it turns out this only made her more susceptible to being noticed. While a cold one may have trouble climbing a tree, all that rustling made her a an easy target for flying creatures above. Hence it was only a matter of time before a roaming Coatl swooped down and snapped her between its jaws.

Once the remainder of the crew realised Marco, Melandra and Tullaris were not coming back, they decided to use the raft they had built to escape this island by themselves.

….

(Prelude to love, wow, like, sad and angry react)

The trio ran at the top of their lungs into the upcoming fog with the dinosaurs hot on their heels yet as they ventured deeper into those mists it became obvious to them that their pursuers were slowing down. This culminated in the trio discovering a rope bridge which the feral saurians instinctively refused to cross, instead turning around in search of other prey.

Melandra was cautious to cross this bridge in fear of whatever may lie on the other side yet Colombo insisted that whatever was ahead of them couldn’t be worse than what had just attacked them.

…

◙ Like React: Marco was wrong. For on the other end of the bridge was a hungering feral Dread Saurian that had the threesome in its sights!

Tullaris charged at the behemoth with his blade only to be gobbled up by a single swipe of the monster’s jaws. Upon watching his friend perish, Colombo demanded that he and Melandra fled back to where they came from. Alas, the saurian thought ahead of them and struck the bridge with its tail, breaking the vines & ropes that connected it thereby sending Marco and Melandra hurtling into the bleak abyss down below.

Meanwhile, the pack that had been hunting the trio had successfully detected the remainder of the crew. Mr. Bill, Señor Montero and Signore Petrochilo would subsequently be hunted down and killed long before they could finish building their raft.

….

The trio crossed the rickety bridge, delving through the mists only to discover an ancient Lizardmen city on the other side. Its great pyramids laid in ruins, its magic run dry and the bones of its inhabitants littered like dirt among its paving stones. The explorers ventured round, looking for any sign of life or civilisation, any at all, until finally they came across a single smaller pyramid emitting an ominous glow which they entered to discover a pair of canals being watched over by the corpse of a Slann Mage Priest.

As they entered, Colombo noticed a set of plaques hanging from the ceiling behind the Slann and so, he asked Melandra whether she could translate them.

The Amazon stepped forward, seemingly uneased by the presence of so much death around them, as she scraped some dust off the plaques. “They’re in some form of dialect, similar to Saurian yet… different… older I think.” She suggested.

“Can you decipher any of it?” Tullaris asked.

“I’ll give it my best shot:

‘Here lies Ul…. no, Gamkdul’Tuq… Lord of Smog… who came here from Pahuax to study the role of Dragons in the Great Plan.”

“Do they say what happened here?” Colombo interjected.

“Further down, the plaques talk of an invasion by ratmen.”

“Skaven.” Colombo interrupted again.

“In all likelihood yes…but it wasn’t the rats who did this. Not directly at least. The plaques speak of a disease mutating as the rats invaded the city’s primary Star Chamber, a virus so strong it killed lizard and rat alike. Everything it contacted perished, even the virus itself, in the end. The plaques tell how the Slann and his Skink Priests did all they could to keep the virus contained within the city, locking the city and the islands as a whole down under great sheets of fog. Once they were confident that the virus had been contained, once they knew they would almost certainly succumb to the virus themselves, Gamkdul’tuq came here to ensure these canals remained safe while his skinks drew these plaques to remember his deeds.”

“Why? What’s so special about this place?” Tullaris asked.

“Well that’s one area where I don’t need a sodding plaque to tell me what’s going on.” Colombo answered. “This is a filtration chamber, a place where lizards make sure that the water pouring through these canals into the Spawning Pools outside the city aren’t corrupted or infected. I’ve raided many Lizard temples in my time, and these places always seemed like rather easy targets.”

“Exactly.” Melandra said, interjected herself this time. “These tunnels pass water out of the city to where the Saurus creatures are born. If the tunnels had been infected with this virus, it would have certainly meant the end of any future generations of saurus and skinks on these islands.”

“So the Slann saved them?” Tullaris asked.

“The plaques suggest the Slann bound himself into the city’s geomantic web somehow, casting spells to keep the water supply safe from the contagion. He wove these spells into some kind of infinite loop, making sure they would endure long after his heart gave way. Of course, I imagine he wasn’t to know what we do. That without his guidance the creatures being spawned outside the city would devolve into the feral creatures we see now.”

“When was this?”

“I can’t be sure…but the earlier plaques spoke of a quarantine lasting tens if not hundreds of thousands of lunar cycles… so I imagine this happened a while ago.” Melandra concluded.

“Interesting. A set of islands wracked by disease, its leaders dead after doing all they could to contain it, the creatures that remain outside having turned into monsters.” Marco mused. “What are our options Tullaris?”

“Options?” the Amazon asked only to be interrupted when the Dark Elf opened his mouth. “I picked up two vials of Viper’s Kiss when we were in Sudenberg. If I poured them into the canals, it might just upset the balance between the rats’ disease and the frog’s magic enough to stop new creatures from being born.”

“Wait, what?” Melandra asked again as the elf and mortal continued to ignore her. “Alright, that’s one option. What else?”

“No! Stop this right now! Have you gone mad? How is poisoning the water supply an option?!” Melandra cried. “These are sentient creatures, beautiful creatures! How could you possibly consider doing something like that to them?”

Marco looked toward the Amazon and chuckled to himself for a moment before responding. “Beautiful creatures you say? Tell me, tree-swinger, when you were growing up on your little island being told stories about the many great deeds of your reptilian guardians, did they ever tell you about the massacres at Port Reaver? About the many human vessels sunk by their sun-fire beams? No, I doubt it. The Lizardmen are monsters, pure and simple. When they have leaders they’re bad enough, but if they lack even that basic restraint then the thought of what those creatures out there could do terrifies me!”

“Well, seeing as you’re the one being hunted down for robbing pirates, excuse me if I don’t look to you for moral authority.” Melandra replied, sternly.

“Morality? You make a claim to that? Tell me, where will your precious moral highground be when one of the Thunder Lizards out there decide to take a swim to the mainland and casually flatten a city beneath their feet?”

“Well, they’ve never done that before so what makes you think they would do it now?” Melandra responded.

Colombo sneered again, infuriating the Amazon in doing so, as he replied. “Because we are here. Read your plaques again tree-swinger. They mention the islands as a whole being surrounded in fog, not just this city. So if the mists are fading out there… if we were able to find this place… it can only mean that the Slann’s magic is failing. It can only mean that whatever has kept those dinosaurs here so far won’t last much longer.”

“You can’t be sure about that!” Mel snapped.

“Well I would rather not wait to find out. Now, what Tullaris suggested isn’t ideal. I realise that… the better strategy would involve killing these beasts wholesale in my view. Nonetheless, if saurus stopped being born that would have ramifications on the food chain. With any luck the extinction of the sauri on these islands would trickle up to the larger beasts… setting them back at least enough that they can’t make it to the mainland.”

“That’s abhorrent! What’s happened to you Marco? When did mass slaughter become an option to you?”

“When we first met me and my crew were about to be hanged by Sudenberg’s governor for ties to piracy yet you followed us any way. I’m sorry if my dashing good looks and my witty remarks made you think I was something I’m not. Nevertheless, I have always sought to do what I thought was right, even if there were consequences to my actions I would rather avoid.”

“Really? Well, I look forward to hearing your grand reasoning for teaming up with Luthor Harkon in that case.”

“Perhaps one day I will tell you, but for now I think we should stick to the matter at hand.” Marco replied before turning to the Dark Elf Executioner who was silently inspecting the waters while they had been arguing. “Elf, you’re being awfully silent. What does that god whispering in your ear think you should do?”

Tullaris stood to attention and addressed the other two. “He… he says nothing. I can’t hear him.”

“Khaine? Silenced by the pleas of an Amazon? How amusing… or then again perhaps he means to test you Tullaris. Will you continue to make the right decisions when he isn’t there for you?” Marco asked, clearly trying to push Tullaris in a certain direction.

“Tullaris, don’t do this. We can think of another way… a more compassionate way.” Melandra argued.

“Compassionate? You’re talking to a Dark Elf tree-swinger. What would the Druchii know of compassion? Besides, there’s no point in finding another way. This plan will work and I for one can’t wait to get off these rocks and back on our merry way to Ind… So come on then elf, you’re the casting vote. It’s decision time.” Marco Colombo ordered.

….

(Prelude to Wow and Angry React)

Tullaris gazed down at his two vials and realised that despite Marco’s brash insistence, there was truth in what he was saying. If left unchecked the fauna of the Dragon Isles could spiral off and wreak havoc on the world beyond.

And so, Tullaris removed the vials from his belt and decided to side with Colombo’s plan.

“Mel, what we do today will not be out of fear or because of Marco’s hatred. I want you to know that I am siding him because I don’t see another way… and I will do it in tribute to the many generations that I concede, we have failed to save.”

“You’re really going to do this?” Melandra asked, part flabbergasted, part disgusted.

“Yes… now I suggest you start running back to the others. I would prepare if you didn’t see me do this.” Tullaris requested.

The Amazon and the Tilean left the chamber, leaving Tullaris behind to make his sacrifice. He removed the caps from his vials, made a final offering to the Bloody-Handed God and thus proceeded to pour his poisons into the temple’s water supply.

The poison made contact with the water and quickly created a bubbling reaction as the poison intermingled with what remained of the Skaven virus, creating a mixture that was just toxic enough to counter the Slann’s wards. As the wards broke, the magic that lingered in this chamber died with it, causing the ceiling above to collapse as Tullaris made his exit.

However, the dissipation of the Slann’s magics didn’t only affect the water supply, it also had consequences outside the chamber. The fog around the Temple-City was lifting and as it lifted, the saurus and cold one pack outside drew in for one final hunt…

….

◙ Angry React: Tullaris ran after the two humans, catching up to them soon enough only to find the bridge they came across before was now festering with rampaging feral saurus warriors.

The saurus creatures leapt forward, followed closely by the Cold One packs as Tullaris and Melandra drew their cutlasses in an effort to keep the saurian beasts at bay while Marco loaded his crossbow. Melandra focussed her blows on simply demobilising the oncoming saurians by aiming for their legs, whereas Tullaris made sure to strike at the more vital areas of their heads and chests. Still more and more lizardmen piled in and as cold ones drew in, it only made the city a greater target of interest for the larger beasts out there.

Stegadons, Carnosaurs and the like were too large to cross the rope bridge of course but then again, that did little to lower the stakes when feral coatls, ripperdactyls and terradactyls spotted an easy meal. The flying beasts descended from the sky and before our heroes knew what was going on, Marco Colombo was being picked up by a terradactyls talons before promptly being dropped into the canyon below the rope bridge.

Tullaris and Melandra pressed on, hoping to fight their way through the horde until Melandra suddenly met her match as a feral saurus warriors slashed her from behind with its claws before dragging her off to be eaten with its teeth.

Tullaris kept fighting, kept slashing with his cutlass as more and more dinosaurs piled into combat. However, even the mighty Captain of the Har Ganeth Executioners had his limits. As soon as his cutlass broke upon hitting the carapace of a nearby razordon, he knew his end had come as dozens of saurus warriors grabbed hold and tore him apart limb from limb.

Back at the coast Mr. Bill and the others completed their raft. However, without anyone coming to join them on their voyage, the trip to Ind became a sorrowful experience indeed…

….

◙ Wow React: Tullaris ran after the two humans and together, the three of them jointly crossed the rope bridge back to the islands undetected. From there they made their way back to the coast the way they came here in the first place, with Melandra swinging ahead as a scout and giving the two men the all clear when she was confident they wouldn’t be seen by the islands’ predators.

Eventually the trio made it back to the coast where the others had finished building their raft and they all set sail to Ind together. However, rather than sailing away in joy it became a sad experience, as the trio silently stared off into the distance. Melandra couldn’t bare to even look at Tullaris after what she knew he had done back on the Dragon Isles.

….

(Prelude to Love and Sad React)

Tullaris gazed down at his poisoned vials, wondering whether he could bring himself to do it when Marco Colombo spoke. “You know what to do elf. Think about it, such slaughter …. not done in self-defence of course. No, you have the opportunity to enact slaughter as a matter of choice. Think how many pools there must be out there… think how many backs you could stab with just those two glass knives. Surely, you cannot deny that Khaine would want you to do it. Surely, you must realise this is not only the rational way, but also the Druchii way. Think how proud your kin would be back home when they heard what you did. Think how proud the Witch Queen would be.” Colombo implored. “Are you ready Tullaris? Are you ready to stand among your gods?”

Tullaris’ mental state turned dreamlike as he pondered what Colombo had said. “I could save thousands… I could kill our enemies… I could prove myself back home…”

“Yes.” Marco smirked.

“No.” Melandra replied. “No, I refuse to believe you are so simple. When you took me from Sudenberg you had the opportunity to kill me, instead you showed mercy and we became friends. We aren’t in Naggaroth, Tullaris. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. You don’t have to be who they made you. You know this is wrong… it’s never too late to choose a better path.”

Tullaris heard what the two humans had to say before retrieving the two poisoned vials from his belt. Marco smiled as he thought Tullaris was about to go ahead and poison the water supply when instead, Tullaris opened the vials and poured their contents onto the floor tiles they were standing on.

“What… what are you doing?!” Marco demanded angrily.

“I’m leaving… we all are.” Tullaris replied with a cold, serious expression.

“But the Lizard-threat!” Marco yelled again.

“Let nature take its course. Come Mel, let’s get out of here…”

The trio left the chamber as they entered it. Water still poured through the canals to the spawning pools, the Slann’s wards persisted, and the city remained drenched in its thick sheet of smog. As our heroes crossed the rope bridge back into the jungles of the Dragon Isles and made their way through the jungles undetected, they wondered whether they had made the right decision to do nothing.

….

◙ Sad React: There was one major snag in their plans though. Upon reaching the coast, the trio of explorers discovered that the rest of the crew were gone. Colombo’s treasure chest and Tullaris’ greatsword were missing. Moreover, there were clear skid marks on the sand of the beaches.

This could mean only one thing, Mr. Bill and the others had sailed off on their raft without Marco, Melandra and Tullaris. In other words, they were still stranded on the Dragon Isles after all.

….

◙ Love React: After a long trek through the jungles of the Dragon Isles, the exploring trio were finally reunited with the rest of the crew who had finished constructing the raft from chopped-down trees they needed.

As the rest of the crew lowered the raft into the water, Marco walked over to the Amazon. “Melandra… I’m sorry for what I said back there… it was needlessly callous. I still think my approach was right… though perhaps I shouldn’t have been so nasty about it… can you forg-“

“Apology accepted.” The Amazon replied, cutting Marco’s plea off right at the end. “Now come, let’s try to enjoy this voyage to Ind shall we?” Melandra asked as she grinned.

“You did what???!!!!” Tullaris screamed at Señor Montero.

“I’m sorry señor…. The trees had strong trunks, we didn’t know the damage they would do…” Señor Montero pleaded as he handed the Dark Elf back his greatsword which had been badly twisted out of shape by the tree-chopping process. As Tullaris gazed at his broken First Draich, he knew he definitely made at least one bad decision today. Trusting humans not to break an elven sword…

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