Dragon Turtle Island

Shipwrecked

Lightning cracked down from the roaring storm clouds and illuminated the churning seas. The Valiant, a two-master, was like a plaything in the chaos of the roaring waves. Its crew desperately tried to keep the ship afloat as this sudden storm knocked it about.

Inside its hull, three young passengers were thrown from their hammocks and awoken by the rough landing, followed by shouting of the crew and the sound of thunder and creaking wood.

Each of them tried to scramble up from the floor as the ship rocked violently, knocking them about. Once they managed to find their footing, they followed the crew up onto the deck. By then, the water was already up to their shins. Once they made their way onto the deck, they were met by salt water from the waves hammering the ship, and the rain that poured down immediately soaked them to the bone.

The captain, a stout dwarf, bellowed orders at the crew and held the helm. The deck was chaos, with members of the crew tying down cargo, raising the sails and trying to make their way to their posts.

A young man, a kid really, no older than 14, stood frozen in fear and slowly raised a shaking hand and pointed at the waves and the three passengers followed his terrified gaze.

A huge wave, at least thirty feet high, was barreling straight towards them. It towered over the ship and was heading straight for them. The crew shouted and the captain pulled on the wheel, trying to bring her about, but to no avail. Everybody on board braced for impact, but before the wave hit, a horrific beast, larger than anything they'd ever seen, a monster from sailor's songs and dusty legends, broke through the waves.

A face like a snapping turtle broke through the wave. It was the size of an island, its gigantic shell pushed the wave forward, its giant front legs mowed through the water as the beast headed towards them at breakneck speed.

Before the crew could react, not that there was anything they could have done, it dove down and its gigantic shell slammed into the side of the ship. Everyone on the deck, crew and passenger, lost their footing from the sudden impact and one of the two masts cracked like a twig and fell into the churning water. The ship nearly tipped over and the three passengers rolled across the deck and one by one, fell into the sea.

They struggled to stay afloat, swimming with all their strength as waves knocked into them and pulled them under, water filled their lungs and their muscles screamed as they tried to reach for air. Underwater, it was chaos, up from down were indistinguishable and they lost their bearings.

The current dragged them under the surface and the last thing they saw before everything went black was the horrific sight of this gigantic turtle tear through the hull of the ship and dragging it down below.

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Nemea woke up from the loud screeching of a seagull that was flying overhead. She wasn't dead, she realized. She spat out some sand and coughed loudly as she rolled onto her back.

Her entire body hurt and her lungs felt like they were on fire. White sand stuck to the side of her face and she now noticed that her back had dried in the blistering sun but her clothes were still half soaked. Right now, in this tropical sun, she regretted wearing only black robes.

Nemea took a good long time to gather herself before sitting up clumsily. She squinted her eyes as she looked around. One thing was very clear, they were nowhere near their intended route. This beach was pristinely white and there were palm trees and green jungle bushes everywhere. Nemea's heart sank as she sat there. She had boarded the Valiant to go north and now, she was on a tropical beach. Something had gone very, very wrong.

She suddenly had a realization and checked her pouch and pockets. 'Bugger...' she mumbled to herself as she noticed it was gone.

She got up, stumbled a bit, gathered herself and stretched before looking around. There was flotsam everywhere and even a few cargo chests. Nemea drudged through the sand to the nearest chests. It was branded with the Valiant crest!