It was chaotic. First the storm and those monsters, and now goblins!

  -They were everywhere. As soon as they drug the massive ship onto the shore, they poured out of the jungle. Ramshackle weapons in hand. Arrows flew out and peppered the crew who were only setting up their tents when they attacked.

  The captain assured the crew that the goblin threat was minimal at best. He was wrong. There were more goblins than trees here it seems as they overwhelmed them.

  Sailors were fighting all around, some fought several goblins at a time. Skillfully at that. But no matter how skilled a warrior you were- there was no fighting this. It was a battle for survival. The captain was shouting orders from atop a stack of crates on the beach. Surrounded by sailors who formed a battle line.

  "Kill the damned beasts! Gastov- Remmi- you two go pull their asses out of the fire!" he pointed to a group of sailors fighting, separated from their main force. A couple veteran sailors reacted to his command- leaping over rows of goblins towards them.

  "Sir, what about the Nymarion?", the captain looked at the sailor who had asked with a mixture of panic and fury; "The things only obligation is to the ship itself, fool! Now keep fighting!"

  The clashing of blades and yelling warriors filled the air.

  Vaz and Theo were helping the navigator set up her tent when they were attacked. Theo had just set down a crate when he heard the rustling of bushes and looked up to see several goblins rushing at him.

  [Assimilation]

  It triggered instinctively. Yosef's battle experience filled him and he plucked a sword from a nearby bin.

  "Goblins!" he and many others began to shout.

  The navigator herself ran back into her tent, as did her sister.

  "Stick close Theo- we'll protect the tent!", the goblins began to surround them- and others. Creating pockets of fighting. They snarled and laughed as they charged at the sailors.

  A goblin slashed forward at Theo, but Theo leapt to the side and beheaded it.

  Did that count? Was that the first person Theo had ever killed? A faceless goblin of thousands? He didn't feel remorse, only desperation. And whatever else [Assimilation] let him feel in this moment.

  Another one charged him- but Vaz plunged his fishermens spear into it's eye socket and out through the back of its' head.

  Then Theo found himself fighting several goblins with Vaz. They tried to cover each others backs, but there were just so many. The sand below became soaked with their blood. "There's too many!" Theo shouted as he ran his blade across the chest of a goblin- who shrieked and fell back into the horde.

  'BANG!' a shot rang out. Like a gun. Theo turned to see the navigators sister standing there- arm raised. Aiming a flintlock pistol. 'They had guns in this game?' Theo thought. Before a snickering goblin cut his leg- drawing his attention.

  The navigators sister joined them. She flipped out a machete shaped blade that came out of the handle like a large switch blade. The shiny brass metal had tiny circular holes in it that whistled as she swung it.

  She was the most armored out of any of the sailors around them. She had a pinstriped skirt on that was a bit tattered, over leather pants. Knee-high boots that were laced all down the center, like the leather corset she wore.

  The navigator herself emerged from the tent not much later- tossing Theo a weapon. "Here, point and pull the trigger!"

  "I know how guns work!" he shouted back. But she only returned a look as if to say; 'you do?'

  It was a strange gun with a solitary barrel. Like a blunderbuss. But brass and wood instead of metal. He pointed the unwieldly thing at the horde of goblins and pulled the trigger.

  The top half of the first row of goblins was shredded. Behind them- goblins grabbed at their appendages and fell down in pain- screaming. A cone of goblins in front of him was dealt with instantly.

  His jaw dropped and he looked back at the navigator.

  "Don't look at me! Reload!" she said as she was preparing another gun of some sort.

  Theo looked down at the thing while Vaz covered him. "How?" he asked after a moment. "I thought you knew how to use a gun! Grab one of the shells attached to the side, pull the lever back and you'll see a slot! Put the shell in the slot and close it!"

  'Oh of course.' he thought and racked another shell in.

  'BOOM!' another several feet of goblin bodies was shredded sending guts and blood spraying. It was like mulching grapes. For every one you crushed there were fifty more beneath it. The goblins ran over the bodies of their comrades and charged him.

  He held the shotgun like a club and smacked it across the head of one goblin. He then kicked it down and held it down with his foot as he reloaded another shell.

  "You there! Take this!" The navigator shouted to Vaz and tossed him a sack. "Whats this?" he asked.

  "Fireworks! Just light and throw them!"

  Vaz examined the sack to find it was full of spherical brass balls. Each had a cork attached.

  He pulled out a cork, and it started to spark and making a sizzling sound. His eyes widened. "Throw it!" the navigator shouted.

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  He tossed it into the goblins and not a moment too late. Theo felt the heat on his face as shrapnel pelted the sand around them. It bought them a moment of reprieve though, as the goblins around them were either dead or clutching their heads while laying prone.

  "Gods be damned!" Vaz shouted, smiling he pulled another from the bag.

  The navigators sister pulled what looked to be a winchester rifle from her back. But much more steampunk in design. It had many scopes they each would flip up from the side to make the scope more powerful. She grabbed a rack of bullets and slotted it into the side of the gun- racking it back the gun swallowed up the bullets leaving behind a thin rail which she discarded.

  'Bang!', she pulled the lever discharging the empty shell. 'Bang!', again. She repeated this process killing distant goblins. Goblins who were casting supportive spells and shooting crossbows. Their heads would explode leaving behind empty bowls of tongues and brains.

  The navigator looked towards the ship- they were too far to retreat there. The goblins were mostly ignoring them as they were a small group.

  "Fall back! Retreat!" she shouted at them. Vaz, Theo and her sister turned to look. "Retreat where?" her sister asked.

  "Down the beach, leave the ship to the goblins- there's no saving it!", her sister returned a look of fear, but then acceptance.

  They fought their way back, away from the main force of goblins. Fewer and fewer goblins pursued them as they did. They'd rather fight the sailors with more traditional weapons- who were also guarding the loot- than a few people escaping.

  They ran across the beach away from the fighting. "This shit's heavy!" Theo said. "What's in here, rocks!?"

  The navigator had tasked him and Vaz with carrying her gear. Lumpy backpacks enchanted to reduce carrying weight but were still heavy. "My lifes work! Don't drop a single thing!"

  They followed her as she led them from the ship. She was dressed differently than her leather-clad sister. She was wearing baggy pants full of pockets that hung by suspenders that went over her shoulders. She had a white shirt that revealed her mid-riff with a yellow vest over it. A headband with various magnifying glasses attached.

  The sounds of fighting was still audible, but distant. They all breathed hoarsely as they collapsed into the sand. Taking a short break before continuing on. "Where do we go?" the navigators sister asked as she checked her ammo. Her sister wiped her mouth after taking a drink from a canteen. She looked about. "I'll use my skill." she said after a moment.

  Just then the ground made a 'thumping' sound and the sand flattened 3 feet around her.

  "I see... Yes! Caves, an entrance is right over here! Come on!" she waved them to follow as she ran inland, pushing past the foliage.

  Theo didn't want to run anymore, but [Assimilation] toughened him up a bit and not to mention [Rapid Retreat] somewhat function under these conditions. So long as he was fleeing someone- he was a bit faster.

  A flock of multi-colored birds fluttered off as they pushed into a clearing. A massive cliff loomed over head, and a cave entrance below that. It was porous as if it was drilled into many times over.

  "Keep your wits about you." the navigator said. They all checked their weapons. Vaz still had his spear, but now had numerous bombs attached to a belt that hung on his shoulders.

  The inside of the cave was cooler. Humid. The entrance was narrow, but it opened up into a vast cavern within. With many different winding paths. "This way." the navigator said. "Don't worry about getting lost, I have a skill that will remember the path we took."

  Their emotions were gradually calming from the battle. But they trekked on.

  "That was a close call wasn't it?" Theo said. "I'll say. I've never seen so many goblins before in my life. How are there so many?"

  The navigator was peering ahead, checking around corners as they moved on. "Maybe in isolation they were allowed to breed to maximum capacity. Usually on the continents goblin numbers are annually culled by adventurers. And there are no adventurers here." she said.

  They went deeper, and deeper into the cave. Every now and then a hole in the ceiling would have rays of light trickle in, but they mostly relied on their [Darkvision] skills to navigate it. Vaz and the navigators sister had to stick close to them.

  The navigator has a [Geo-Sense] skill that allowed her to 'feel' the walls and earth around her. And Theo's class gave him [Darkvision] as a passive trait.

  After awhile they emerged into another cavern, which was mostly a lake under ground. They walked around the edge until they found a clearing large enough to make camp.

  "My legs feel like lead." Theo said as he plopped down. "We can rest here, I don't see any signs of goblin activity in this section. But they're definitely housed in these caves somewhere. I imagine that this island is hollowed out with many of these caves. This white stone, I've never seen anything like it. It's almost as if it fell from the sky and created this island." she said, feeling her hands across the walls.

  "Do you think the captain will fight off the goblins?" Theo asked. "Likely not. At least, not without taking serious casualties. This is a good opportunity for us." the navigator said. Her sister cocked her head to the side, "Really? How? We're stranded."

  The navigator chuckled. "I know how to get off an island if I have to. And we're all essentially glorified prisoners anyway- we have no loyalty to the black hand. We used fake names, I say we play dead and leave them behind. Unless you two would like to remain?" she asked Vaz and Theo.

  Theo shook his head. "No, you're right. I hate sailing. I never want to be on a boat again.", "That settles it then. We'll hide here." she referenced the area around them.

  The dark cavern stretched for acres. The water was still and unmoving. A thin stretch of dark sand around it. Numerous cave entrances were here also. Plenty of escape routes, and it would be difficult to sneak up on them. The navigator must have some serious skills to find a place like this in such short notice. Or good luck, one of the two.

  "It's kinda cold in here." Theo said, rubbing his shoulders. He was wearing sailors clothes now. Tattered linen pants and shit. Boots that seemed to have multiple owners.

  The navigators sister pilfered through one of the large backpacks. "I got just the thing." she produced a bronze furnace. It took up about a quarter of the bag. It was the size of a 10 gallon bucket- the shiny brass cylinder had slits in the center, and it sat on a few legs. A tiny pipe left the top for venting.

  "Do we have any firewood?" Theo asked. "Don't need it. Well, I mean it would work. But this one is already loaded with mana-oil.", Theo wanted to ask what that was. But he could assume it was just oil mixed with mana that burned much longer.

  They sat around the tiny furnace and warmed themselves in the damp cavern. "This cavern is a lot nicer than the last one we were in." Theo said after awhile. The navigator was pulling out parchment and marking them with quills. "Very true." Vaz said.

  "Oh! I'm Theo, and this is Vaz. If we're going to be surviving together and getting off this island- we should at least know each others names."

  The two steampunk sisters looked at them appraisingly. "...I suppose." the navigator said. "I'm Sorral. And this airheaded brute is Cass.", "Hey! We can't all be engineers. Somebody has to protect us." her sister Cass said.

  "Yeah, I noticed you guys have some fancy tools. Where'd you get them from?", Theo asked. Sorral smiled and Cass rolled her eyes; "Oh here we go again." she said.

  "What? You mean the guns? Oh, they're nothing special. Pretty common in our hometown actually. We're from Orrerya. Ever heard of it? Town of inventors? Biggest city in the world?" she asked probingly. After seeing their oblivious faces she shrugged. "We build things that enhance our skills and abilities. Using science. Saved out lives more times than I can count."

  "Yeah, thanks for that." Theo said sincerely. She smiled politely, "No problem. Like I said, this is actually an opportunity for us. I'm glad to be away from those misogynist bastards. No offense." She said. Vaz chuckled; "Non taken! I've spent most my life on the sea, but not for the love of sailors. Well..." he glanced at Theo. "Most sailors in any case."

  The steampunk sisters looked between the two of them. "Are you two uh...?" Cass began to ask. "No!" Theo waved his arms. "It's complicated." Vaz said quickly after. "I get it. It'd be nice if we can get off this island, I had a boyfriend back in Orrerya I'd like to get back to." Cass said, flipping her bronze colored hair behind her shoulders. Dirty blonde could be another way to describe it, but it fit their color palette.

  Theo examined the shotgun he carried. Only two shells remained. "Do we have anymore ammo for this?" he asked. "Sure. I just have to dig the ammo box. We were actually building arms for the entire crew before, guess it has a different use now." Sorral got up and started digging through the second backpack.

  "To be honest with you guys, I have someone else coming to this island to find me. They're pretty powerful, we could probably just hitch a ride back with them after we finish our mission." Theo said as he produced a piece of jerky from his pocket.

  The two sisters stopped- then looked at him. Their faces plain and unreadable.

  "What?" he asked.

  ---

  To be continued;

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6D6rOYn-2M