"The stories? I...there's too many. But I'll tell you one. Of...hmm, no maybe not, Sandrea. Feels weird when we're right here. I'll tell you a story of Waln’t, the refiner. The people that live in the valley over there got here first, like out of all the waves of population. So they have stories of ancestors and generations and stuff now.

So, one of the traders who passed by the dome told me once that he made an offering to Waln't every single day! Cuz Waln’t had saved his grandfather's life before he was born. Like wow, right? Apparently his granddad had gone out foraging for, like mushrooms and cave stuff, and stayed out too late. So he didn't have the sunlight to light up the valley and help him figure out where he was going, so he got lost. 

He was trying to find his way back when he got attacked by one of the giant cave lizards that hunt in the valley. They're hella dangerous, apparently, like big spiky tails and ceiling crawling, and sometimes venomous bites. So this guy was lost in the tunnels and was like totally gonna get eaten when all of a sudden the entire tunnel lights up like one of those old Van de Graaff generators and the lizard eats a shock right in the tummy! Like boom!"

Ailee's story is interrupted by a sound effect behind you of a much louder boom than the story she was telling. When you look, a small explosion has ripped through the caravan, which had parked itself in the wake of Sandrea. A small group of outriders, riding what appear to be shaggy yak bears, have fired a rocket launcher at the camp, and people and animals alike are scattering. 

And, perhaps most importantly, your dismount from Sandrea is made both easier and much more urgent. For the great beast responds to the explosion by gallantly leaping off the cliff, bringing what had been a high perch directly level with the ground with enough time to leap off her head. As you land on the cliffside, other animals, your jaguar friend among them, have already leapt clear as well. The ocean is shallow enough that Sandrea has not disappeared entirely, and is turning herself to flee north up the coastline. 

And behind you, the marauders are closing on the human caravan, as its members have begun to spread out and draw weapons of their own.