If Andreas remembered correctly, there were only two major islands around the Broken Isles: Kul Tiras and Zandalar.
Of course, at this time, the name "Kul Tiras" had not yet appeared.
Because it was not far from the Broken Isles and lay on the same shipping lane, the Night Elves had discovered this island many years ago.
However, the current island of Kul Tiras held nothing of value. A group of savage indigenous people called the Drust lived there, and Andreas had no intention of provoking them.
Excluding Kul Tiras, there was only one large, undiscovered island left...
The holy mountain of Zandalar, which had split from the main continent during the Sundering, should now be referred to as the Isle of Zandalar.
"Hmm..."
Andreas considered the situation. Although the fleet could continue sailing, the raging storm had ultimately taken its toll, and deviating from their course was one of the consequences.
"Alright, turn south. We'll dock temporarily at this unknown island."
Andreas looked up and said to Shandris, "But we must remain highly alert. We don't know what dangers lurk on the island. It's best to leave as soon as the core of the tropical cyclone passes."
It was a stroke of bad luck. The Druids had already predicted the path of the storm and planned the route in advance.
But who could have known that two independent tropical cyclones would coincidentally merge at sea to form a larger typhoon? This accident caused the fleet to completely deviate from its original destination, forcing them to temporarily dock at the island to avoid the brunt of nature's wrath.
...
The area where the fleet docked was a tropical rainforest swamp. As soon as Andreas saw the familiar environment, he knew his guess was correct.
During the War of the Ancients, in order to rescue Tyrande who was trapped in Zin-Azshari, Andreas had twice entered this humid and sweltering region.
Nazmir—the true birthplace of the Trolls and the glorious center of the ancient Troll empire, Zul'Nazman.
In his previous life, during the 8.0 expansion, Andreas hadn't played very deeply due to a busy work schedule. He had only experienced the Alliance's questline on Kul Tiras, and only knew a bit about the story of Zandalar.
The deepest impression Nazmir left on him was that nonsensical man-made... Titan-forged Old God, G'huun.
Andreas wasn't sure what had happened to this land during the peak of the Troll civilization, but what appeared before him now was a desolate wasteland of a swamp.
The fleet landed in northern Nazmir. Before the crew could even step ashore to secure the ships to the towering trees, the land offered Andreas and his party a "warm" greeting.
"Swoosh!"
A group of weirdly dressed Trolls rushed out of the forest with eerie cries and launched an attack on the sailors. No questions, no probing—it was as if these Trolls were born solely for slaughter.
"Ah!"
Although they were prepared when landing, the Trolls struck to kill without warning, and the sailors inevitably suffered some casualties.
"Trolls? And these Trolls..."
Standing at the bow, Shandris rested her long leg on the gunwale, drawing her bow and firing arrows to rescue the injured sailors one by one. She was quite surprised that Trolls would appear here.
Celeste took over the conversation, nodding with a frown. "Yes, this group of Trolls looks very abnormal."
While the two were talking, their offensive actions didn't pause for a moment. Celeste cast a series of Fireballs. The burning Trolls let out shrill screams while simultaneously increasing their attack speed.
"Fall back!"
Andreas leaped down from the bow, calling down Shadow Meteors mid-air to launch an area-of-effect attack on the Trolls.
This group of strange Trolls, who remained fierce even after being wounded, performed poorly when hit by the shadow attacks. Their minds quickly collapsed into a state of breakdown. They knelt on the ground shrieking; some even clutched their heads in agony, rolling in the dirt.
"This..."
Andreas hadn't expected his standard AoE clearing move to be so effective. When he landed on the beach, his expression was still somewhat bewildered.
Could these be the Blood Trolls corrupted by G'huun? Their minds are actually so fragile...
Andreas wasn't entirely clear on the birth of the Blood Trolls, only knowing they were followers of G'huun.
These fools treated the man-made Old God, accidentally created by the Titan Watchers, as a Loa. Quite a few Trolls actually worshipped him and were thus infected by G'huun's blood virus, turning into bloodthirsty beasts.
The Blood Troll squad attacking the fleet consisted of only about 20 people. By the time Andreas landed, except for a leader with relatively complex attire who could barely hold on, the other Trolls were already lying on the ground, rolling their eyes and twitching.
Brain dead? Fine then...
Ignoring the Trolls strewn across the ground, Andreas leaned on his staff and walked up to the masked female Troll leader, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her off the ground.
"Troll, can you speak Titan?"
"Tana'diko!"
Although he didn't know what this Troll was saying, seeing her fanatical expression as she reached toward the sky, Andreas knew she certainly wasn't saying anything pleasant.
"Crack!"
Snapping the female Troll's neck, Andreas tossed her limp corpse aside.
"If you can't talk, you have no interrogation value. Go play with your 'G'huun' master."
Shandris followed Andreas, jumping down from the bow. On her way to her boyfriend, she ruthlessly shot the still-twitching Trolls on the ground one by one with her bow.
"Wait... wait for me!"
Celeste looked at the height from the bow to the ground with some fear, but finally gathered the courage to jump, hurriedly casting Slow Fall while in mid-air.
"Eh? Ehhh!!"
Hearing the scream from behind him, Andreas turned his head in surprise.
Celeste hadn't adjusted her landing direction properly and used Slow Fall too early in the gale. Now, like a rootless drifting leaf, she was being blown eastward by the wind, screaming in terror.
"What is that little airhead doing now..."
Andreas shook his head helplessly, and Shandris was also caught between laughter and tears.
Ordering the sailors to temporarily camp in place, Andreas immediately transformed into a Gryphon and took flight. Shandris leaped onto the Gryphon's back with practiced coordination.
"Hmm?"
Flying into the air, Andreas struggled against the howling winds. At that moment, through the storm, he saw something strange.
In the direction Celeste was being blown, there was a looming, strange pyramid. Currently, Celeste was busy trying to hold down the hem of her robes in the wind to prevent an "exposure" incident, completely failing to notice she was rapidly approaching the upper section of the pyramid.
Shandris also noticed the problem and shouted urgently, "Celeste! Look out ahead!"
Unfortunately, in the roaring storm, Shandris's voice couldn't carry far. Just as Celeste was about to crash into the pyramid, a massive Pterrordax broke through the wind from the jungle, intercepting Celeste just in the nick of time.
"Oho~ little girl, you shouldn't be flying around in such terrible weather. You aren't a deity like Pa'ku who can control the winds."
Andreas looked in surprise at the Pterrordax, which was clad in golden armor and could speak the mortal tongue.
"A Loa?"