Flag of Gontrella

 

Allied to the Vullanese Empire, Gontrella is a wealthy Constitutional Monarchy that is slowly slipping into becoming more of a Federal Dictatorship. Known to the eastern states of Vestrisia as a hungry state, Gontrella often invaded the smaller neighbors until the VUVR was founded. Gontrella was responsible for starting several conflicts in recent decades, and funding slave business with Castaria until its fall. 

Two Goblets

 Grabbing the Goblets she wondered if this could really work. Do these goblets take you to another dimension, or to a different world? She had to find out for herself. This was too tempting to pass off as some mumbo jumbo. Was she really going through with this? As personnel of the investigative team for the enchanted, divine, occult and arcane, Agent Moonsugar had the job of collecting any artifact or trinket with some signs of magic or paranormal mixed in. Handpicked from the ranks of the Black Coats, Irene Moonsugar held experience with the undead, shapeshifters, ancient dark warlocks, some ethereal monsters, shamans, beasts from folk tales, multiverse creatures, and aliens under her belt. It was a lot to encounter in the course of four years. At the age of thirty-two she felt a little accomplished by this job. She served in the Black Coats from the age of eighteen until the age of twenty-eight. Behind her stood the mechanical dragon lord some knight took down three years ago. Her coworkers put it together, which made her snigger at them behind their backs. It took them three tries to get it right. She checked to see if anyone else was in the chamber before taking them over to her office. 

Inside a vast exhibition chamber of maroon walls and arches with black veins Agent Moonsugar had her office behind a pillar. A good and bad location. If anyone needed to find her they would have to go behind the pillar near the rest rooms at the back. Making her way up to her office she passed display cases on tables containing the most recent discoveries. With both goblets in her hands, she took a second to glance at three of the exhibits no tourist or regular citizen were allowed to see. The Black Crown of Gimassuun, Piggy Bank of  Aicila Nikkison, and the Gauntlets of Liv rested in their designated cases. Looking down at herself she wondered what everyone would do if she went missing. Everyone wanted to suckle her for hours drinking and enjoy her. That is what Moonsugar did not want to happen. Going ahead with what she was about to do, Irene entered her office. Quickly shutting the door, she locked it. Forced to tuck one of them under her arm pit she dropped a pen. Just leaving the pen there she placed the goblets on the desk. Not in the mood to receive any calls she disconnected the phone from the floor plug connection. 

Irene's office was decorated with inspirational quotes from her favorite celebrities within the country. Beatrice Voidriver the singer, Mariette Evenglide the Model-Seamstress, and Noel Icestone the clever dancer choreographer, and actress. Their quotes meant everything to her. Before she could read one of the quotes the Goblets started glowing at the embedded gems. One Goblet was decorated with a topaz, and the other had a finely carved emerald. Seeing them both glow like this freaked her out. Irene went for a bottle of wine inside the side cabinet on the wall. Inside the cabinet she had eight of her favorite drinks. Eager to get through the glowing gem situation Irene snatched up the white liquor bottle. Pouring some in the goblet with the emerald, she prepared to drink from it. Irene's world sort of stopped as her heart beats slowed then quickened. Growing louder her heartbeat thumps engulfed the room. Irene could only hear the heartbeats. Taking a drink from the Goblet she saw the other Goblet Levitate then shoot straight for her. The other one ripped out of her grasp and spun around her while the other did the same counterclockwise. Enshrouded in a whirlpool Irene stood still with amazement and fear, scared of what was happening before her eyes. She wanted to scream for them to stop, but nothing came out of her mouth. Inside a whirlpool of green, gold, and white she felt sick. Expecting her stomach to churn and force her to upchuck the wine Irene sat down. Instead of the fine carpet her hands felt she was sitting on sand. Picking up the sand in her hand she looked at it with disbelief. 

After what felt like an hour the Goblets stopped spinning to reveal her surroundings. Irene's surroundings were no longer an office, but an Oasis in what appeared to be a desert full of dunes. Getting up to check it out a figure came up to the oasis. Astride a camel creature the figure dressed in a blue desert cloak that covered them head to toe. Irene called for them, but her voice did not reach them. Was she in some kind of dream or hallucination? Moving around she discovered an abandoned village in the desert and oasis jungle. Beside the village she found a mechanical golem, shut down for some reason. Approaching this golem Irene was confused by the markings. These markings were unfamiliar to her. Recalling all the runes she studied, and saw, she could not put a finger on what these markings were. She was not on the planet she was born on. All the Golems were either nonexistent, in a museum, or torn apart and turned to scrap metal.  Searching herself Irene looked for a piece of paper and something to write on. Finding nothing to use she looked for a piece to remove and take back with her. Whatever figure she saw noticed her and called to her from the grouping of palm trees. Giving up on the markings Irene snatched up the goblets. Unsure if she recognized the language Irene still went over to the blue cloaked figure. She still tried grasping where she was or if she was sent to some other dimension. Approaching the blue cloaked figure Irene was greeted by a grouping of small green marble sized balls that emitted from their hand. Ducking down she assumed the little balls were shot at her. She was wrong about that. 

Whoever this blue cloaked figure was they sent the green marble lights towards a wooden statue that resembled a winged feathery lizard of some sort. Sitting on a stone pillar the wooden carving near the same village of the golem animated before Irene's eyes. Turning around she kept telling herself this was just a dream and clutched the two goblets. Glaring at the one she drank from Irene suspected this had something to do with a prank. Irene's profession slapped the idea out of her mind. Looking at the Blue Cloaked figure Irene made herself blind to the statue's movement. The figure pointed at her and said something she barely understood. Some dialect of desert elf. From behind the statue swooped at her. Using wooden talons, it grabbed her by the shoulders. At its animator's or conjurer's beckoning the statue brought Irene over to them. Just as it dropped her on the sand, something else burst out of the abandoned village. A brass statue, standing ten feet tall holding an instrument, came alive. Causing the base, and its foundation to shake and crack, the brass crafted statue broke itself free. Emerging from its stance it stood at a towering nineteen feet tall. This was not her day at all. Irene was expecting something different, not something that would try killing her. At least that is what she believed when seeing the wooden carving statue came to life. 

Exiting the village, the brass statue glanced around at the living figures that barely came up to its knees or so it appeared. Resembling a tribal figure with a large hat, and beard, the stature also wielding a brass tribal horn with ornaments dangling from it. Grasping its instrument, the brass put the piece to its metal lips and emitted a horrible metallic screeching sound from the instrument that looked like a horn she saw in a museum somewhere. It had holes like the instrument that was decorated in civil tribal markings. Irene had to cover her ears as did the blue cloaked figure that sent the other statue to attack the brass giant. Watching the wooden carving go after the metallic figure she wondered if the figure could also reanimate the metallic golem. When she turned to the figure another one emerged from the village in a maroon-colored robe. Irene guessed this was some enemy of the blue cloaked figure who immediately threw a knife at them with their powers. 

Irene felt herself up for a weapon but found a small handgun she always kept on her. Drawing her little pistol she shot at the maroon figure in the leg, and side. Not intending to wait for them to react Irene rushed over to the Oasis. Diving on the ground she dipped the other goblet into the water. Quickly gulping it down to see what would happen the sand swirled around her. Experiencing the same effect only with sand, pebbles, rocks, and water swirling around her Irene closed her eyes. The feeling of throwing up grew intense, and she could not hold back. Holding on to herself she waited for it bring her to wherever it took her before throwing up on the floor of her own office rug. One she swore would never get any stains on it, ever. 

Just straight from my mind and interests

During my childhood my interests in fantasy, swords, and sorcery type of genre grew. As any young boy who became nerdy my interests went towards Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Stargate, and a bunch of other movies within that realm. Even the likes of Dungeons and Dragons. Other than the movies, and video games my interests went towards home decorations that involve fantasy themes. Over the years I kept thinking back of the days when I would go to the bookstore at the mall that would have a lot of fantasy books. I did read a lot as a kid, and played a lot of video games, which inspired me to write. Creating my own world came naturally for me. As an adult I chose to collect some things I thought looked cool for my house. 

Spending time alone has given me the chance to go where I want, and write whatever I want while enjoying the day. Collecting dragon statues or dark fantasy stuff that catches my eye is only part of the collection. Deep down I would rather enter a cool shop with all of the neat fantasy stuff rather than have to order it online. 

Platform Seas Early 1844: Clearing Islands

 Eating a quick meal, the marines and their new alien friends loaded up. Forming a large fleet of seaborne craft over nine hundred Calornese and IGA paratroopers landed on two of the seven islands. Greigorsson found himself with the group landing on the island to their right. He expected heavy gunfire from machine guns, rifles, snipers, and mortars, which would no doubt lead to heavy fighting. There was also the prospect of a massacre on this island. What they found instead were five sharkmos camped out on a separate island to another with crater holes from that alien bomber. It killed the five sharkmos and destroyed some automatons on the other island that was so close to it. A rowboat could barely get through the space between the islands without running aground. Moving on ahead they find the rest of the automaton robots near an eight-story high platform making the total number of bots to forty. Finding nothing else but the blood, shattered sentries, and spilled fuel running the automatons, the Marines went for the third island. On this one they found the 146 IGA Marines who attacked the platform held by mutant monsters who took it from the Gantronese invaders. Holding up inside the platform they found the remnants of the 146 Marines that took the platforms. These Marines eliminated 276 Mutant monsters who were part of a different faction. 

Just taking a looking at these mutants they found a variety of mutants, monsters, and humanoids. Among these alien corpses they found some Cultic Fanatic, some Druid, twenty-eight raptor humanoids, humanoid guard, forty-one Demons, a Mage, thirty-three Centaurs, and a Noble who appeared to be alive. Others included some alien priest, fourteen Draconic Men, some Abjurer still breathing, one lizard scout, an Arch Druid, Arch Mage on top of a Spy, a swashbuckler, an assassin, thug, and Bard. Checking each body they found precise shots in them from the alien Marine Humanoids who also took out what appeared to be a Woadi, some centipede reptile, a Conjurer, a Mutant Veteran, Diviner, Gladiator, who covered the still breathing bodies of an Enchanter, Illusionist, and Evoker. Forcing them up they made them move ahead of them. They also identified some Woadi warrior among the corpses of a Knight of Allon, Kraken Priest, martial artist adept, some master thief, a necromancer with no nose, some four-armed transmuter, war priest, Troll warlord, and three cat folk. Among the mutants they discovered some mutant weasel, mutant vulture, mutant toad, mutant sharkmo, Scorpion man, rat man, three octopus, five snake mutants, two mutant grabs, three mutant crocs, three ape mutants, five Bear Mutants, and three Boar Mutants who were all experiments. Near the entrance to one of the platform towers they found fire beetle humanoid, a frog humanoid with its tongue cut out, a Goat man, some lizard folk, a centipede, and a Black Guard with one arm missing. Upon approaching the closest tower, a Woadi Berserker and three Warlocks attacked them. Forced to kill these humanoids the Vestrisians revealed there were more on this island. As for the rest of the CSO members a pair of wounded Gnolls, a Lizardfolk fighter, a cultist, some clueless champion, two bandits, and a female archer came out of one of the buildings. Each one allowed themselves to be taken prisoner by the IGA forces. Taking another look around the blood, and spilled guts were starting to dry on the sand, and metal floors. 

Pressing forward to the other island they overheard the Mutants took the island from the Gantronese whom still have a presence close by. On the island north of them their fellow Marines found an island held by one hundred automaton sentries that held against Gantronese, and CSO. The alien bomber took them out quickly. Hardly losing anyone else the Marines pushed on to the next three islands. Dividing their forces into three groups would strip them of their strength. On two of the islands they found seven IGA soldiers, two pilots, and forty IGA Elves who joined them. On the third island were one hundred more of those automatons that held a platform. Eliminating the remaining sentries, they spot other islands. A total of five or six more islands between them and home base. Through binoculars their commanders spotted the flags of the CSO, Order of the Beast, the Gantronese and one other faction. Greigorsson, and his fellow squad mates took a peek at these flags for themselves. In the far distance they could see the archipelago circlet they left with Yvonne. He knew days had gone by, but to him it felt like a whole month went by already. 

It was more likely half a week that went by between them leaving the archipelago and now. Under the command of Captain Eaglestone, and the Majors the Marines and allies prepared to launch an attack on one of the islands. Each had a sizeable force holding on to it. With a battalion of eight hundred fifty-two Marines, twelve alien Marines, seventy-eight Paratroopers, they attacked the closest island. A total of nine hundred forty-two or less made up a battalion that could have formed into a brigade. All the IGA forces went in first since this occupying force was more of their enemy than the Vestrisians' enemy. Forming a vanguard in the first wave, these alien marines attempted to catch the garrison of mutant brutes holding the island. Signs of the Gantronese, and Iperantosi presence was too obvious to ignore. Dozens of Iperantosi corpses lay in stacks next to a pile of Gantronese corpses. The fighting happened the moment they landed. Scores of Brutes opened fire on the landing parties. For sixteen minutes the Brutes defended their claimed island with only one hundred and one various Mutant Brutes. Wielding a variety of weapons these brutes attempted to hold their gains against a larger force. Checking out the weapons Greigorsson saw they had Gantronese Yekato Assault Rifles, Numei Katan rifles, Poisoned Flowers or PF 71s, other strange alien weapons, and a mixture of melee weapons. 

Ordered to clean up the bodies Greigorsson and his squad mates found all sorts of mutant brutes. A pair of Purple Mutant cyborg chefs who cooked skogers, nine reptilian shell mutants, crocodile mutant, two ape mutant ogres, a shark mutant, goat spider, Orc humanoid, two bat wolves, twenty-four wolverine beasts, some scaly corpse eater, fifteen four armed, big headed blemmies, sixteen brain mutants with pincer claws, a trio of Pig mutants, three mutant lizard frogs with deformities. A pair of wormlings with arms, stingers, and suckers for mouths, a mutant dire mouse with no fur, six limbs, a split head and a long tongue. One psycho mutant demon that took thirty bullets to kill, a Blue Fuzz monster, an orange scaly lizard drake with one hone called a Lizod, two tri-clops vampiric Goblin, an armored dwarf wolf, large turquoise skinned steer ogre, and an Ugly tall creature as the leader. These one hundred one mutants took down forty of the IGA marines, and three of their own. 

Only stopping to line up the dead they prepared to invade the next island. Maneuvering all the craft needed for the other island took some time due to the shape of the recently cleared island. Calling it "Mutant Island" as a pun the Marines and their new allies left no one to guard it. While they were advancing on the next island to the east, a report via radio, had orders to head back to base. Once they cleared the other three islands. The sun dropped down turning the day into dusk as they approached the next island in force. Hardly giving the defenders a chance, they overran a force of one hundred three C.S.O. members that claimed this C shaped island. Every structure and tower on that island were arranged to form a castle wall without the walls in place. None of them had any arrow slits just glass windows. Gleicherson was near a Captain Eaglestone who took out a map of the area. Under the roof of a dome shaped structure, they discovered they were closer to Colonel Gleicher's position. Two or three other islands remained in alien hands within their vicinity. Given permission to rest the Captains and Majors ordered any fresh people to collect the dead. Just seven of their marines, and paratroopers died in the fighting. Losing a Marine did hit them in the gut, but it was expected during a war like this. It was not shown among them, but most of the Marines expected to die during this expedition into unfamiliar islands on their home planet. As for the aliens they were down to one hundred forty-three Marines, and seventy-five Paratroopers. Including the pilots and soldiers their forces increased to two hundred sixty-seven. Merging their own unit of eight hundred fifty-two made up a brigade of a thousand personnel. 

That night Greigorson and some of his squad mates checked out the dead CSO members. With a flashlight or two they made out six Ghoulish Hybrid aliens, three black rat beings, and a human sized sentient crow in identical clothing. A crew of seven Goblins they killed were found near a Gantronese battle tank, one large black alien ant wore a white sand poncho, and a skeletal warrior wielded an axe, and shield before going down. Some automaton knight with more flesh than armor had to be killed with grenades. Some Ghoulish Giant that killed two of their invasion force still gripped its weapon in death. One winged Orc killed while on the roof of a tower had to be fished out of the wet sand. There was some bull-headed human beast that stood tall and angry. It lay dead with eight shots to the chest. An ugly purple haired troll with a gut, chubby limbs, and amethyst on its belly had to be decapitated in order to kill. Four dire fish humanoids were almost going to become dinner until they found some disease on them. One large Sharkmo lay nude save for a tattered shirt and collar. Five ugly, creepy fly humanoids tried swooping down to attack some members of their invasion force. Each one were blown to pieces. Dressed in armor similar to the Vorcadam Samurai, four feline humanoids lay dead near a bulldog man in a rough studded vest, and chainmail leggings. Five ape men hybrids in alien fatigues were found lined up with a Dire Beaver mutant in regular clothing, and a tall Bionic Warrior that took three grenades. Over half of this CSO force was made up of fifty-three aliens that resemble black and white flightless birds found in the glaciers. Finishing their little peek at the dead aliens they found two Death warriors in in banded mail with skulls on the shoulders, some robot cyborg sentry in green-red colors, and some tusked sea mammal Mutant. The last one dressed similar to a whaler and pirate with one leg missing. It was shot in the head as it was just waking from a nap. Wherever these aliens came from, they brought a wide variety of strange, exotic weapons to their world. 

Going for the next island to the northwest, the combined force attacked a spider shaped island. Slightly larger than two of the previous islands combined, this one was garrisoned by ninety-six Gantronese. These Gantronese clung to a platform the IGA attacked two days ago. Holding on to a keep tower shaped platform, the Gantronese here put up a decent defense. For them to take this platform, encircled by a clearing in the jungle, they had to besiege it. Snipers, and Marksmen chipped away at the garrison. Over the course of four hours ninety-six Gantronese soldiers died, and just fifty-seven of the attackers died in the fighting. Just the Gantronese Captain remained alive who put his life in their hands. Greigorson recalled how many times they took a prisoner of war who was an officer. They proved useful yet at times chose to be deceitful if they did not have the right person interrogating information out of them. In the process of burying the dead they marked this island like they did the others. Collecting their corpses would have to wait, since the main enemy still had forces in the north, and new alien factions were in the south. Before they attacked the last island that lay between them and home base they took their helmets off in honor of their fallen. Four minutes were spent praying their souls would be transported to the afterlife in peace. Putting their helmets back on, the marines, and aliens boarded their craft. Pushing to get back to base, they went ahead with their assault. 

Each man felt like they grabbed a pair of balls, and the women nerves of steel attacking the last island. Met with a hail of a multitude of different aliens wielding exotic weapons, the coalition unleashed all they had. Not caring how much ammo they used up the brigade swarmed the island held by a force of three hundred fifty-two aliens. These aliens happened to be Order of the Beast members. Forced to take cover the attackers lost forty-four of their own while killing the whole garrison, except for five. Just five aliens ran away to the south. Recalling the ferocity of the battle Greigorson walked around in order to shake off the adrenaline of the battle. Like the other islands, he got a good look at each dead alien monster. Making up the islands defense were seventy-eight Duck humanoids in alien jumpsuits, three tall hairy monster gunners, two Death Ghouls, five bunny humanoids, one orange ape man, five reptilians with back shells, thirty-four beast men, a dire sentient black cat, one toad humanoid, twenty-two bear men, an alien horned monkey beast, some orange dinosaur beast with a catapult on its back. According to the IGA marines the rest were likely offensive forces, or simple bodyguards, and scientists. Such aliens included twenty-one Centaur Beasts, three triclops aliens, four wolfmen, forty-five Gnolls, twelve wolf demons, six sea wolf beasts, four Bearded Devils, two half dragons, six orcs, thirty-one Bull Mutants, four Lion men, three skunk apes, Lizardmen, Skink Priest, twenty Beast men hybrids, some rat beast of terror and a Wyrd Demon. Other aliens included three Satyrs (Goat men), three Owl Knights, a tusked mammal humanoid, five troglotrolls, three hunchbacks often found among the Nazdar ranks of Grevaskii slave soldiers, three ape cats, three hobgoblins, four Ogres, a cyclops, and some Goblin engineer pilot. As for the rest of these alien monsters they appeared to be five mastadon warriors, a cyclops centaur, and two snake men who fought the IGA, the Gantronese, and the Vestrisians until their end. Seeing a chance to head back to base the nine hundred sixty strong force returned to base. Greigorson collapsed on his cot next to his friend, the typist, and a few others. Staring at the ceiling, he knew it was only a matter of time before the Gantronese counter attacked. 

Order of Ahmonis

 An order of Elves who seek to liberate their homelands from the invaders. 

Platform Seas Early 1844: Cooperative Villainess, More Islands

 Observing the arrangement of the buildings their Captains and Majors planned to surround the whole settlement. Pressed against one another the cylinder shaped, square shaped, dome shaped buildings reminded him of his mother's pantry. Canned vegetables, tomatoes, meats, boxes of crackers, sugar, mixes, and other condiments would be shoved in there just the way these buildings were arranged. With a few cans or boxes isolated on the five shelves of the pantry installed at the end of the kitchen furthest away from the entrance. His parents would work against him and his siblings out of love so they would be forced to get through one of them or walk across the loud creaky floor boards of the kitchen. Having his thoughts on home made things here easier to cope with. Dimitri did not think about home very often while he was in the Marines. Serving this newly formed Vestrisian Republics was new to people. This VUVR was still a young nation even if it was formed by the unification of old kingdoms and empires. Only difference in this newly formed nations was no one tried seceding from other states. Two alien races just invaded their planet half a century ago. Each nation fighting these aliens would likely fall if they did not form an alliance. Despite being from another world or the stars, these aliens did not poses overwhelming advantages. Thanks to engineers, inventers, gunsmiths, and scientists they crafted weapons that held the invaders at bay. Now they had the means to face them head on, and the numbers. 

As they approached the close nit structures several doors opened up causing the marines to stop. Forced to stop in their tracks the Marines in the front rows knelt down while the rest raised their weapons above their heads. Those situated in the back or flanks covered the outer flanks. Keeping an eye on the sliding doors the Marines held their ground with their weapons ready to fire. Out of these structures a group of seventy-two aliens exited. Dressed in different uniforms, jumpsuits, lab coats, combat armor, fatigues, traditional clothing, modern styles, and a mixture of fashions. At the lead of this group stood a scantily clad female figure. Wearing a cut up silver gray suit vest decorated in chain links, and tight rubber trousers. Her head was completely shaven. For footwear she had on red laced knee high boots one would see a noble lady or aristocrat don during the day. Checking her out Greigorsson could tell she was thin and fit looking. She appeared flat up top, curvy at the hips, and strong in the legs. Whoever this figure was she was once a prisoner, held hostage by someone. 

"Thank you, Skogers for getting rid of those zombies and mutated monsters. Those um, twenty-four aircraft belong to me. If you don't mind we will be getting out of here." the female figure said with an upraised voice. She smiled at them with her hands up as a gesture not to shoot her. Others aliens and humanoids did the same thing after taking off strange looking handcuffs from their wrists. Without checking Greigorsson recalled the twenty-four parked craft now behind them. Some appeared like crescent moons, double edged axes, headless sparrows in a diving position, and a stingray with no tail. 

"Look lady we are just exploring these islands. We will pass through this 34 mile long island, clear it of hostiles, and be on our way! Now either get out of our way or help!" One of the Majors barked at her revealing some estimations on the island were off in Greigorsson's head. 

"Easy now. You can come and go if you please. We were held prisoner until you showed up. We can-" she was cut off by the same Major who barked at her. 

"Who are you?" She demanded from the alien female. 

"The name is Ataxeen Punchen, yet I also go by the name of The Wretched Mercenary. I am for sale and seeking employment. Aside from my crew of 40 mercenary fighter pilots we have 31 others with us. Let' see who do we have." She introduced herself to the Vestrisian Marines who sort of lowered their guard a little. 

"We are all ears, Ms. Punchen who do we have here?" one of the Majors offered the floor to her. 

This Punchen "Wretched Mercenary" introduced them to the 40 crew members whose names were lost in translation. Among the others was a mixture of different races with a variety of occupations. One Pyrotechnician from Nazdar held Estoras named Bannz went rogue on the invaders. Some Mutation scientist working with her named Dr. Veeze held a goblin-bull dog appearance with blue skin. An elf Emergency Responder named Luke Greenspears with a Life Support Engineer called Helper. Both were abducted from Damis much like a Vorcadam Doctor known as Okura Naoki. A DNA Surgeon of the CSO found their way among Punchen's group. Under false names two aliens from a planet called Nerdinn held occupations such as Inventor, and Programmer. One was a half Gnome half Goblin, and the other a Chromatic Dwarf. Next to them stood a Blue Skinned Audiologist raised by another race, and a Cyborg Triclops Cyberneticist held captive then freed. In torn up clothes a monkey humanoid Chemist folded his arms when they were mentioned. On the other side of the group to her left stood a voluptuous looking female Dhampir Hologram Designer in a yellow jumpsuit named Osanna Dawn. Next to her was a purple skinned Disaster Analyst workaholic called Xeff 97. Toward the center stood a Pigloid Machinist, an Elf Memory Surgeon, a half-elf Zoologist, a female triclops AI Developer, Triclops AI supervisor, and Tan skinned Translator. In the far back was an alien humanoid sniper who chose not to shoot them, a Draconic humanoid assassin who was stuck with them, and a Mutated Lion humanoid with a missing arm. At the front of the group stood a Gnome Astronomer, a female snake lamia acting as a bodyguard, a pair of Mahadi Catfolk warriors, some Jackal Warrior, and some Satyr armed with a long sword. The rest of them included a tattooed Oni Warrior, a Bulldog warrior acting as a captive, a hybrid troll showing above average intelligence, and a Rogue Demonologist of Nazdar-Elf descent. When she was finished introducing the group of aliens and native Calornese she blurted out a word in another language. 

All humanoids except the two Mahadi, the Jackal Warrior, and the armed Satyr, dropped down. All four of these humanoids attacked the Vestrisian Marines only to be gunned down by one of the Majors. Uncertain if these others could be trusted the Marines left fifty men to keep watch over them. The rest of the battalion moved past them to search the rest of the island for more hostiles. In between two of the towers on the island they discovered an old ship. Covered in overgrowth, and completely shut down, this ship sat between an old relay tower, and an observation tower. Investigating or exploring this abandoned ship would take some time, which Colonel Gleichers forbade over the radio. Their goal here was to clear any islands of hostiles until superiors ordered them to move north. Going to the very end of the 34 mile long island brought them to their mission limit. Five other structures rested at the end of this island. A metal wall half submerged in the sea flanked four other buildings. A cone shaped building, a cube shaped bunker, a sphere shaped home raised above the ground, and cylinder shaped tower standing at eight stories high. Quickly searching each building, and finding nothing of interest, the Marines prepared to move east. 

In full force eight hundred fifty two marines sped their way to another island, north east of the airbase island. Their path took them past Yvonne's claimed island. On the way to this other island they spotted a Gantronese craft speeding away from it. Greigorsson felt the urge to shoot at them. He would be shooting over the heads of his fellow Marines. That would not go over well with them as their craft bobbed up and down in the sea. Landing on this next island revealed five other islands close by. Finding this one abandoned except for treaded alien vehicles, site of a shoot out they discovered this island was connected by bridges. One to the north, one in the center and the last in the south. On this island they found a map to some "Shrine of the Old One".  Not interested in searching for religious shrines, or cults the Majors divided their forces into companies. Company one went for the north island, Company two went for the middle, Company three went to the southern one, and Company four stayed put. Greigorsson found himself in the middle Company, which went to a platform on this central island. Getting inside this platform wasn't easy as it was barricaded on the outside. It was not the only platform on this island, but it was marked for some reason. Managing to get inside the Marines found over a hundred zombies inside this one platform. Forced to waste ammunition on the undead they cleared one five story platform of 151 zombies that wore a variety of uniforms. Not bothering to clean up they returned to the landing site. Here the other two companies returned with reports and company. In the northern island, Company one took out 272 undead humanoids on the biggest platform. Company three found a smaller company of 78 IGA paratroopers whom seized the island and its platforms after a long fight. 

According to their commanding officer, a purple skinned elf, most of the islands to the south lay empty. Each of those islands were sites to heavy fighting between them, the CSO, Order of the Beast, Toceanids, Aquanne Hitto, and Mercenaries. Not too far to the east lay seven islands past another island inhabited by automaton sentries holding some platform. To the north of this island lay two other islands with automatons and droids. Giving their name as Captain Carrus they explained there was another unit of IGA soldiers on the other side of those islands. It was a unit of 146 Marines who seized a platform island from the Gantronese. Without authorization this company was launching an attack on another island platform taken from the Gantronese by mutant monsters. Carrus offered to help them fight the Gantronese if they could help them with the Order of the Beast and CSO. Having another alien faction help out would give them an edge against the invaders. Greigorsson was in no position to make decisions. That rested on the shoulders of their commanding officers. He looked around seeing it was getting dark. This would not really stop them from moving forward, however they did need to rest. 

Pushing the decisions and mission off for tomorrow they chose to rest. Splitting up their forces they slept in a different platform on the connected islands. Aside from the usual chatter of his fellow Marines, Greigorsson listened to the sounds of the ocean waves hitting the beach. That salty smell of the ocean wafted into his nose as the cold night air blew through the open parts of the structures. Laying his head down he thought he heard rain coming down lightly on the metal structures. Adjusting himself, Greigorsson ignored all the noise while closing his eyes. Expecting everyone else to shut up and sleep he went on to his dreams. A mish mash of events was all he received as a dream until he was jolted awake by a loud engine of some craft roaring past their location. Forced to wake up around morning they got up to see what woke them up. Running outside like curious schoolboys seeing an airplane for the first time doing stunts they witnessed an alien bomber doing circles in the air. Getting a good look at this bomber Greigorsson noticed its shape resembled an elongated aspis shield connected to a  legless scarab with its wings spread out. Its bomb bay doors rested in the center of the craft. With three engines powering it, this craft also possessed four turrets. A pair of rotating turrets on the bottom, and another pair on top of an aspis shield crab shell shape. Its pilot revealed all these aspects of the air craft while making circles around each island as though it was hunting for targets. 

This new unidentified flying craft stopped making circles and dove for the seven islands further away. Eager to catch a glimpse of what it was targeting they raced across the bridges. Sporadic fire emerged from two of the islands Captain Carrus mentioned. They could see the islands lay nine miles away from their location. From the tops of the highest points and the platform towers the marines, and new found allies spotted tracer rounds from whatever was shooting at this alien bomber. Whichever faction it belonged to it had instructions to bomb two of these seven islands. Above the cheering, jeering, heckling, carousal Greigorsson thought he heard one IGA paratrooper point out an island their 146 marines took, and another island they could spot. That island was where their fellow IGA personnel attacked these mutant invaders. According to one he happened to be next to, the Gantronese were at war with them, the IGA, these CSO monsters, and the Order of the Beast. When the bomber made another dive to bomb the targets a trio of Zeykos fighters were spotted in the sky to the north. All the cheers turned to jeers, boos, and cries of disappointment. 

Watching the three Gantronese air fighters go after the alien bomber made the air tense. Everyone's eyes stuck to the skies as the bomber engaged the three Zeykos fighters. Evasions, and angel strikes were performed in the air as the four air craft fought. Each rotating turret let loose a hail of fire on the attacking Zeykos. One of the Zeykos goes down. After a few more passes a second one gets hit and is forced to disengage. The third Zeykos evaded going down in the fourth pass. Prolonging the engagement in the air the Zeykos and alien bomber performed a dance in the air. Two more circles of evasion successfully kept the bomber in the air as its turrets gunned down the last Zeykos. Seeing the dogfight was over the Captains and Majors herded their Marines back in formation. Making another round through the islands the Marines, and IGA paratroopers prepared to move on to the seven islands east of their position. 

Platform Seas Early 1844: Greigorsson vs zombies and aliens

 Right after securing the castle like platform the marines patrolled the waters around the island holding this platform. They had at least twelve more platforms to clear out. Yet it seemed their newfound friend Yvonne brought them to the edge of the platform seas. In his mind he believe they might clear out another one. Looking around the whole settlement they found plenty of essentials, weapons, junk, trinkets, food, furniture, and some vehicles belonging to the Gantronese. On the northern coastal port they found three amphibian landing craft armed with anti-aircraft guns. Using these would enable them to reach other islands. Checking the ignition of each one they found them to be in working condition. Ammunition was limited showing some more use. One of the Majors contacted Colonel Gleicher who had orders to kill any aliens who did not flock to them except for any factions of the IGC. Gleicher informed them the Gantronese still had 1,320 troops holding 8 platforms, and another 2,240 troops on some close nit islands. All those islands and platforms were up north, and one was located to the south. According to maps some Rangers found there were at least thirteen or more platforms occupied, while the rest were either empty or inhabited up north. Some former CSO and Order of the Beast members warned their former comrades, IGC and Gantronese each held islands near their location. Every other islands to the south were unoccupied and overgrown. Yvonne may not have command over them, but she was their transport. 

"Vestrisians, I bid you good luck with the rest of your mission. My Iperantosi and I are claiming this island. We need to pick up some members of a Knightly Order that landed on an islet to the southeast. They are called the Order of the Invincible Plume. Take any boats you can find there should be plenty. I bid you farewell." the tall Yvonne left them with eight extra motorboats, pointed out three heavy AA transporters on the southern part of the island. Not sure if this Yvonne could be trusted to leave men behind the Majors ordered for them to check for more vessels to use. For an hour Greigorsson patrolled one part of the island outside the castle like settlement. Ratledge and his team joined Greigorsson's platoon in the search for more vessels. This island stretched a little farther than they thought. On the southern and western sides of the island's structures lay a sizeable jungle. Appearing like the jungles of Borvados, and southern Ottante this jungle hosted flocks of creatures. Wingless furry birds roamed the area chasing each other. About three sail spine lizards crawled on the sand hissing as they prowled for prey. 

Some of the Marines shot in the air scaring the creatures away for laughs and fun. One of the Marines, Private Banappel kept shooting at the strange creatures while chuckling. Sergeant Ratledge barked for him to stop, yelling as loud as he could at the Private. Other Marines of the eleven-man group were about to tackle or snatch him away from the jungle. Greigorsson stepped over to pull him away. Two large creatures burst from the jungle in the middle of a fight. A green dire tiger and large hairless were rat creature appeared before the marines. Locked in a fight between each other the Wererat, and Dire Tiger were oblivious to the eleven marines. Banappel stopped firing at once. Everyone froze at the sight of both creatures swinging, and clawing at each other. One hissed, and screeched while the other growled. The Tiger bumped into Banappel who was frozen stiff. Backing away in a blink of an eye the Tiger pounced on him. With one claw it ripped his stomach open. Private Banappel fell backward letting his ten fellow Marines open fire on the two creatures in response to the attack.  It took a few rounds of ammunition to take down the Green Tiger and Wererat. As silence fell the group of Marines backed away in case something else jumped out. Greigorsson kept his eyes on the trees, and bushes. Just looking at these trees reminded him of the ones on Ruhonthra. Palm trees, coconut trees, fern trees, exotic oaks, a few banana trees along with the Eel trees. Greigorsson wondered if his banana would please a woman again. He hoped it would be an Uxane, or a tan Evusian. Most of the fat hogs in his town did not appear happy, but arrogantly stubborn to even maintain a good wait. He did not mind, just pondered over why they didn't push to exercise more. Sometime before the war he remembered some girl from Vorcadam whose family moved in a decade prior. He offered to meet this one at a library, but a pandemic was going on. Some large whale hog suggested they stay for 30 minutes. She was there an hour before him. With that date ruined he had no other choice than to wait patiently to see her again. 

Sporadic gunfire broke his concentration. Everyone in his squad turned to face the direction of the sound. When they heard it again they rushed over to the source of the shooting. Racing through the island they passed several metal buildings that held some overgrowth on the walls, and through the windows. Running through the enclaves or camp sized settlements they came across smaller patches of jungle to race through. Greigorsson burst out of a small patch of jungle. On the southeastern part of the island they find another squad of Vestrisian Marines engaging a group of strange humanoids wrapped up like mummies. Over the linen strips of cloth they wore tunics, collars, circlets, headdresses, green broad collars, oblong crowns, and headdresses draped over their head and shoulders. Each of these humanoids wielded a gold green staff weapon. Some appeared like green pens with gold snakes wrapping around them, and bronze trim. Others held the design of spears with thick poles. Whoever these weirdos were, they must have come from a different planet or got brainwashed. Greigorsson could only think these guys were part of some cult or ancient civilizations fanbase who got their hands on alien weapons. These new invaders surrounded a fire team of five Marines who were part of a squad of 12 marines. No more than seven of their own countrymen lay dead, and just two of the weirdos lay dead. Did these weirdos come out of the sand, scaring them or something? Greigorsson aimed his rifle at the closest one and spotted something else he should have expected. Guarding their flank lay a seaworm like centipede monster with red, dark brown-, and sand-colored scales. It's length must have stretched at least 16.7 feet in length, and a body height of 4.5 ft.  Standing on 22 legs with sharp points. Seeing this for the first time freaked the other Marine's out who started firing at the beast first. Ratledge and a few others shot up its eyes and pincers. It screeched and writhed violently, knocking down some of the mummies. As wriggled on the sand in pain the new invaders fired on their squad. 

Shooting out miniature purple, and green bullets that appeared like tracer rounds. Three more Marines fell in Greigorsson's handpicked unit. In reaction to the invader's they filled them up with lead. All thirty-three fake mummies lay dead around their captives. With not time to waste they rushed over to the group of fellow marines who were sent to patrol the island as well. Ratledge cut them off before they could even speak. No one wanted to hear any excuses or an explanation about what happened. Forced to carry their fallen countrymen they raced back to the port area where the other Marines regrouped. Major Unnose, a completely bald 5'10 figure with a strong physique who donned sunglasses took command over the whole lot through Gleichersson's permission. Looking at the twelve fallen Marines they knew it would take time to transport or bury them. Praying to the three main deities, Zuexis, Ipsul, and Gaivos to guide the souls of the dead, they buried them inside body bags. Marking the grave with their helmets the Marines prepared to move out in force. The process of digging a grave wasn't too difficult, but the very ideas of never seeing these comrades again ripped them apart inside. With Unnose in charge the 874 Marines decided to move out in force. Taking whatever floating craft they found around the island they moved south to another island 47 miles away. 

Leaving the island city abandoned gave Greigorsson a wheezing feeling in his lungs. Their new ally did not return yet. Regardless of being so far from HQ they pressed on to another island along the end of the platform seas. Looking to the right Greigorsson had to look over the heads of other Marines to see another wall of rock formations that stretched for miles. Recalling some of his schooling days Greigorsson tried spotting possible volcanos jutting out of the ocean. Castaria's southeast was flanked by island volcanos. For most of their journey to the next island he could not stop searching for a volcano among the rock formations. As the current rocked the craft up and down Greigorsson couldn't find a single volcano among the rock formations. Returning his attention to the path ahead Greigorsson spotted twenty-five islands. 

Seated on the ocean's surface in front of the Marine battalion a 32 mile long island that appeared roughly two miles wide. Much like the island Yvonne claimed behind them this one had metal alien structures among a long dense jungle. Covering most of the island the foliage and structures allowed very little vision of what lay on the island. Towering over the rest of the island stood nine Expecting to be shot at upon their approach the marines crouched down as they disembarked. Aiming their weapons and the foliage the marines split up to flank the island while checking it out. Finding nothing in the northern part of the island they pressed further. Towards the middle part of the island they found some sot of runway for aircraft, and an airport. Lined up in two rows facing each other on opposite sides of the aircraft lots sat twenty-four aircraft. Past the runway rested a small city with landing platforms. None of them could tell how many buildings there were because of the close nit construction. Their gaze went to a few other humanoids roaming around the aircraft. Seven obscure looking aliens patrolled the are. One beige skinned potato humanoid with arms, and legs, a mollusk mutant creature with a large shell, one four armed Dire Ape, one pink-yellow skinned lizard-mantis-monkey with three pincers, and six limbs formed one group. The other three were a light blue Ogre, some Shark looking humanoid called a Sharkmo, and a bronze skinned figure with ten arms. 

Taking positions the VUVR marines flanked the seven strange monsters using bayonets. Doing that wasn't easy, despite their larger numbers. Using bayonets as spears proved effective, but it cost lives against the other two, the multi-limbed alien, and the large mollusk. About six of their own were lost to the multi-limbed alien, two to the Mollusk, one to the potato creature that laid on top of the Marine, and 5 men died while taking down the Ape monster. As for the Mantis-Monkey they lost six more men. To the Blue Ogre, and Sharkmo the Marines lost two men. Each monster either crushed or tore their countrymen to pieces. Even Sgt. Jake Ratledge died at the hands of the Mollusk. It wrapped an extra eye around his throat as he stabbed it with his dagger. Losing twenty-three Marines on this island wasn't enough to break them. Experiencing war changed people. If they add the elements of monsters along with men getting torn or crushed then the experience is terrifying. Greigorsson and the rest of the unit had to shake it off as best they could. Despite some better judgements each one took a rolled up Wanda's herbs. A type of plant whose leaves can be smoked for relief. All someone had to do was roll it up, bind it with thin bark, and lit it up. From the main port of the airport settlement a horde of figures shambled their way to them. Unsure if these people were drunk, exhausted, oblivious, or drugged up they hold their fire. One of the commanding officers orders for them to halt. 

"Stop right there! That is far enough! I SAID STOP!" Major Blue shouted at the crowd of shambling figures. 

When they did not respond or show any signs of stopping their Majors barked out to discharge weapons. Pulling the triggers, the Marines obliterated the oncoming horde of shambling figures. It did not become clear what they were until they approached the fallen. At first glance these slain figures appeared human or humanoid. Upon closer inspection these figures had something off about them. Looking down at the faces Greigorsson saw no life could be seen in their eyes. Most had pale faces or or rotted faces and signs of decomposing. Estimating the number to be 527, other Marines surmised these to be zombies. Greigorsson remembered encountering one or two of these types of living dead in the streets. On a cool night, Dimitri and his pals roamed around the edges of the city limits. Along the borders of Bloodstone they came across an abandoned shed once part of private property. Most of the property burned in a fire two decades prior to his birth. Regardless of warnings they checked it out. At the back of the abandoned shed they found a figure, which they believed to be a homeless person. Realizing it wasn't a homeless person they darted out of the area screaming in the streets. Greigorsson did his best controlling a smile that tried appearing on his face. Turning his gaze up, Greigorsson kept his eyes straight ahead of them. Passing the alien aircraft the Marines reached the grouping of buildings encircling a tower. 

Mockshah in the Black Coats

 As the fifes and drums entered her ears she knew right away who was marching from the other side of the moor full of ruins. In formation and wearing black and red the Black Coats under a new Field Marshall advanced on the bloodied field of Karon Al-Addin. Some called him the Black Fox, others called him Mockshah the Pirate. Why a pirate like him was allowed to live she would never know. Her own enemies set her up and framed her. That alone forced her to pull off a Heist at Oakmont, Nahbooe. She did not trust him, because of his former pirating days. At age sixteen he first became a pirate after his sword Master died or disappeared. No one knew what happened to the great sword fighter in the galaxy. Whoever it was they must have been more important. 

Marching in formation the Black Coats went straight for the Black Dominion on the planet Gesu. On the planet Gesu was a lone Dark Sorceress harboring some old members of the MOR that escaped with some forces. On the abandoned world of platforms, the IGC captured some warlords, and mass murderers on ships trying to escape the spreading war on the CSO, Order of the Beast, and the MOR. Amassing their forces the IGC's Black Coats who really served the Kingdom of Deovina, launched their invasion. With however many troops they acquired from the many prisons of the galaxy. Most were former pirates like Mockshah himself, who was instated as a General. He was said to have been a Colonel before going AWOL on the whole galactic alliance. 

Listening to the fifes and drums, she looked out at the field before them. On the largest island on Gesu the Black Coats met the Black Dominion who outnumbered them. Her gaze went to the Mockshah figure himself who rode on a horse in his black uniform. Showing no fear in the face of this Black Dominion, Mockshah pressed his own unit of ten thousand against the various spawn, and skeletal warriors that made up the Dark Dominion. Using what rifles, and melee weapons they could grab a hold off, his own Black Coats attacked. It was as though he fought them before. 

Platform Seas Early 1844: More Islands, More aliens, More Monsters.

 Getting these aliens aboard one of the ships was not that difficult. All 28 of he renegades and the others flooded inside the vessel that was not stuck. For a single how they, the Marines of the VUVR had to help them tug the Sloop out. Once they sent these renegades and aliens on their way the Vestrisians saw other forces land on the island. Allies of theirs sent some help in terms of military personnel. No more than fifty-six allies in total arrived to hold this part of the Platform Seas despite the possibility of death. One squad of twelve Elite troops were sent from Ruhonthra to help. A fire team of Scuba divers and a special trooper from Rovantia. Sent from Malvieth a team of three marines arrive with a marksman. Meze sent over a squad of fifteen of their special marines. Three Gnome volunteers, and a pair of Elf Marines came from Sercane. It appeared to be a long stretch to go, but they managed. One Military Biologist and Chemist Marine arrived all the way from Redrin along with six of their Elite troops. Seven marines of Alagen arrived with the Rovantians. Nahem sent over a single trooper with an armored vehicle. Seeing a small force of this size warranted some skepticism from Vampeete, and Captains such as Bartwai. Losing twelve Marines on this island appeared to be the least amount they expected to lose here. Left the company with one hundred twenty-seven Marines, Vampeete's company gathered weapons, gear, and their dead comrades. Within a span of 3 hand a half hours they took their time returning to HQ. 

Upon their return to the Archipelago Vampeete's Company were greeted by the same units left to protect the circle of islands. All Marine units returned before them arriving with some losses, gathered thousands of guns and weapons. The platoon of 46 Marines who went northwest lost 4 Marines during their encounter with 17 flying mutant monkey demons on the small island's platform. In full detail they described what happened and the appearance of these demon monkeys. Each demon mutant had bat wings, fur all over their bodies except for their bellies. On their stomachs and chest they had scales. When that story was finished the 57 Marines who went south lost 6 men to the encounter of 3 blue demons, 8 spiked humanoids and their pet armored panther. The unit of 73 Marines who took a platform to the west encountered a force of 150 Ogres, and 5 Demons commanded by a weird Mastadon mutant. Losing just 5 Marines they did clear out the small platform discovering two sets of shields the Ogres prized and decorated the platform with. One set of  660 were called Perfergon Shields that looked like metal  leaves. The other set were 229 claw shaped shields called Javexo Shields. As for the unit of 81 Marines their ventures brought them to an island the Rangers missed. During their exploration they lost 6 Marines to a horse sized sentient lizard cat dwarf kaiju who was angry at the CSO. Not bothering to process how they killed it their heads went to the unit of 41 Marines that went straight for a lone tower. Under the command of a former martial arts female instructor, these marines encountered 14 armed Ghouls holding a mad scientist hostage in a tower. Apparently the mad scientist was found in the tower drilling a Green haired, tan skinned, curvy, and busty sorceress forced to be his toy. All Ghouls were shout up, and the scientist got a nice bullet between the eyes. The woman snatched the Captain's guns from her holster. Bringing her over was nothing but a couple of hours of her shooting her mouth off until she gagged with a cloth. It was to shut her up until they arrived back at HQ. Some of the female Marines expressed their jealousy through their expressions on how she looked compared to them. They lost 8 Marines to the tall Ghouls. 

Their largest group, the 253 Marines sent further south, came back at the same time as Vampeete's unit. In their encounter, they mentioned losing 7 Marines to 33 ISN marines under the command of some uptight, stubborn female Marine Captain. She shot at them first believing they served the Gantronese now. All 34 ISN members were dead now, including some lone Tessari Brute who held a dead Viceroy named Durrett. Under the command of Evusian born turncoat Captain Val 85 Marines lost 8 Marines in a single encounter with an Adult Red Dragon with an island to itself. None of them wanted to talk about the incident. Most Marines could tell the bodies were crisps by now. Whenever someone tried mentioning among them, they were slapped across the face or in the back of the head. Doing a full head count they had 869 Marines left in the battalion. For a total of five days they rested after performing the gun salute. Colonel Gleicher addressed them the day after the granted 5 day rest. Although they were here to investigate this area, their mission was to ensure the Gantronese could not use this route. Gleicher was about to speak when 4 aircraft roared overhead. Looking up at the four aircraft that cut him off they barely heard Gleicher's cursing. Greigorsson could read his lips as they insulted the aircraft that signaled the arrival of another fleet. Looking at the trident shaped wings Greigorsson identified them as Storm Titans, the preferred aircraft launched from their Carriers. He presumed a smaller aircraft carrier was here with a tiny fleet. His gaze on them could not last long as the aircraft flew towards the south. 

"Listen up Marines. Those islands we cleared are going to be under allied control. Pushing past the furthest islands, we will see how far this sea of platforms stretches." a Major addressed the battalion. Colonel Gleicher had no words to speak, he was so angry with the Navy. 

"Sir, don't we have reconnaissance planes to scout the area?" one Marine asked saluting before asking the question. 

"Yes we do, but those will either be shot down or lost in the fog that appears." the same Major who filled in for Colonel Gleicher corrected the Marine. 

"Thank you Major Mimmickson. Marines our Superiors in Ruhonthra and Home Base have sent a squad of 18 extra Marines. Everyone else are needed at the front lines. Some of the aliens who surrendered have chosen to aid us. Since they are trying to get away from the CSO and Order of the Beast we can only have one aid us, Avinne Yvonne the gunslinger. She has more cause to...kill these CSO and Order of the Beast. Her backstory involved a bit too much abuse, and violation. She will be taking you through the area." Gleicher explained to the battalion of Marines who were now rested, but uneasy about fighting these new aliens. 

"Yvonne come on out and meet the Marines you will be escorting." Gleicher called out for their gunslinger escort. 

A female standing at 8.8 feet tall with reddish hair exited one of the metal buildings. At first glanced this sexy female gunslinger appeared entirely human. When she came closer they noticed something was off aside from her height. Donning a weapons harness over a cotton green lace shirt, riding chaps over short trousers this female had a set of lizard scales in place of her eyebrows. This Yvonne had a set of four revolvers on her. Two Onway Revolvers, and two crude Vorcadam style. When looking at her hands that rested on her hips Greigorsson noticed she had seven fingers on each hand. Looking at the grips he noticed they were elongated. This Avinne Yvonne was a sight to behold, and a desirable one. If one could get past the eyebrows, and the seven fingered hands they would find her arousing. Checking her out it could be noticed the alien woman was more flat than most. 

"Alright Marines, you lot are like children compared to my height, but don't let that deter our new acquaintance. Follow me, this archipelago was once a city-state the Order of the Beast and CSO formed." Yvonne informed them and began leading them to their transports. 

With no other choice the battalion of Marines followed the giant female. Picking up gear and weapons they began their journey to the ships. When she passed all the transports and ships they realized she was transporting them by a different craft. Leading them to the  other port islands she revealed a large craft of a different, but older design. Docked at the largest port this archipelago  was some blimp airship attached to a larger craft anchored at port. Compared to the modern ships they sailed this aircraft looked outdated in the shape of a frigate. Greigorsson and a few others stopped to gaze at it like children gawping at a new bike in the window of a toy store. He had to be pushed along with the others to this immense craft they would be riding in. Through the crowd of Marines he spotted this Yvonne kick three goblins awake, who jumped into action. He was once neighbors to some Goblin family who were always prickly. They never bothered him, and he never bothered them. 

Climbing the gangway to the ships outer deck they got a good look at the crew she assembled. Showing she travelled these waters often he spotted the crew was made up of mainly 200 Iperantosi Sailors armed with heavy guns. Their olive, red, tan, and brown skin never looked more pleasing to the eye, Fellow Calornese humans  who did not side with the invaders. Under the command of their Majors and Captains, 887 Marines boarded the airship and found the passenger holds. Claiming a cot or hammock they prepared to sleep or rest while on board. Greigorsson found a yellow hammock next to where a cannon used to be. In its place was a dismantled machine gun the crew would no doubt use at some point. It took an hour for them get going since this craft was a massive beast. Laying in his hammock Greigorsson closed his eyes trying to block everyone out. 

Yvonne's own Blimp airship the Insolence took almost two hours before it stopped again. Insolence came to a slow stop that appeared to drag on for a while. Yvonne had the blimp circle around an island that flew a colorful looking flag. Insolence circled around four times before settling in the waters at an island with four platforms, and a small town sized settlement on the island. Looking out the porthole Greigorsson saw they appeared to be near the end of the platform seas. Gathering what they needed for this mission the Marines disembarked from the airship on the alien metal dock port that was constructed on the island. On the dock they were greeted by aliens and humanoids from other worlds acting oblivious to their arrival. The first thing he saw was a pair of monster humanoids sitting at a wooden table. Some bull humanoid beast grew angry and started fighting an antlered humanoid warlord. Standing guard was a skeletal looking humanoid armed with a long axe. From behind its flank a green demonic orc dog attacked if over an exposed bone. Towards some taller buildings close to the tallest platform tower were several of those freaky tall moon gazers they encountered. On their left flank they also spotted water Nymphs with the bodies of crocodiles. As the Marines poured out of the air craft their large force caught the attention of these various aliens. Near the closest tower building a female caterpillar humanoid alien sent some white ox humanoids dressed in traditional garb. Seeing the hooves on these reminded him of the Zunia-Pucks back home. These humanoids had white fur on their legs whereas the humanoids either had brown skin, brown fur, or pinkish beige. 

Yvonne's own sailors allowed the Marines to disembark completely before letting them know what was going on. Her voice echoed through a loudspeaker on the ship. In some different language she summoned the other alien inhabitants on the platform islands. Looking at each other the Marines decided to get into a loose formation with some space in between for others to fire between them. Over the course of nine or so minutes they watched 367 alien warriors of different races come see them. From behind the Marines, Yvonne's Sailors open fire on the gathered crowd. Their own Majors barked for them to open fire as well. Greigorsson did not get a chance to get a shot out as the other mowed down the crowd of aliens like a scythe cutting through hay. Checking the bodies of the dead they discovered scores of Gantronese troops among cat folk, duck humanoids, fish people, Goblina, Ogre spawn, reptilians, and various other humanoids they did not recognize. Taking a closer look at the buildings they spotted Gantronese flags draped over some doors. Dozens of survivors peaked out of the buildings to see if it was all over. One of the Iperantosi waved for them to come their way. Most looked like fox humanoids, cat folk, Dark Elves, Dwarf Goblin hybrids, and a group of 15 pirates who appeared to be putting on an act. One of them claimed to be nomadic tribes of Iperantosi. Looking over at the Iperantosi the Vestrisians could tell the big difference. A bunch of voices emerged from the crowd only to be silenced by Yvonne. Out of the smaller crowd a group of five mutant bunny humanoids pushed their way up to the vestrisians. One of them yelled up at the ship saying they had some Leviathan egg to check on. None of them knew how to fly a ship or drive a motor boat. 

Platform Seas Early 1844: Aiding brothers

 What to do with these twenty-eight remaining renegades wasn't a difficult decision to make. Force them to work in order to stay out of bondage. Making them prisoners again would require a squad to watch over them. Making them work allowed the Marines to rest and patrol the island. One day after arriving on this snowflake shaped island. Sitting on the unexplored ocean at 4 miles long and 3.5 miles wide this island had 32 other islands encircling it, and six other islands close by. Exploring those would have to wait. As many of them expecting someone else showed up on the island. From the southwest a stolen Iperantosi motorized Xebec arrived at the island in middle of the day. Crewed by 100 alien ant men, and 87 lizard folk this Xebec had a green faced figure at helm. Acting as the Captain of the Helm was some Green face humanoid in a green tunic, purple pants, gold shoes, belt and donning white hair dye. Hooked to the starboard side of the Xebec was an anti aircraft boat that belonged to the Gantronese. Whatever these humanoids were doing here they appeared intent on reclaiming this island. With a unit of 120 Marines, and 28 alien volunteers they held their ground against the 188 aliens. Using the terrain, some buildings, and the few machines they brought, these marines massacred 127 of the 188 trespassers. One platoon sized force remained of these trespassers, and about 28 of these trespassers lay wounded on the sand. Only 33 of these invaders fled back to their ship. Suffering zero casualties themselves they chased after the 33 humanoids to their Xebec. 

Getting to this Xebec was not the hard part, discovering these invaders arrived with extra help. Another company of warriors came to reclaim this island aboard a badly crafted sloop shaped vessel. How it even floats is beyond Greigorsson as he took a quick glance at it. His gaze had to be torn away as these new company of invaders covered the escape of the 33 Antmen, and lizard folk. This company consisted of 103 Purple skinned Orcs armed with maces and led by a Yellow skinned Warrior. All of these Orcs and humanoid wore identical Gantronese fatigues under plated chest plate armor. Forced to fight another group of aliens, Vampeete's Marine Company took no prisoners. Every single Orc in the Yellow Warrior's band were riddled with bullet holes from Vestrisian Marines. It felt like a waste of ammunition since some of the bullets bounced off the armor at certain portions. Gunning these Orc aliens down was the third or fourth massacre this island witnessed. Another large portion of an arm of sand soaked in blood and littered with more corpses. Looking closely among the trees and bushes some of them spotted skeletons in the sand. To most it was difficult to tell because most of the skeletons were mostly buried or covered in fresh blood and corpses. Xebec and Sloop ran aground onto the island's beach. One of them appeared stuck in between two arms of the snowflake shaped island. From the way both were parked it looked like no one among these mutant aliens knew how to steer or pilot a ship properly. 

Observing the carnage after their third massacre on this island they spotted 23 of the Xebec's crew and manpower among the dead. The ten remaining Xebec crewmembers climbed up the Xebec's portside as quickly as possible. There was no letter I in team according to some sayings. However there were was also the dangers of becoming sheep who are gullible. These Xebec crew members scrambled to get up the ropes and ladders while knocking each other off. Watching these Lizard Folk and Antmen fight each other off the portside became a spectacle to enjoy. His mother would say this was because they lacked team effort. If this was team effort getting here, then didn't they blindly follow green face like blind sheep to the slaughter? Greigorsson found himself closest to the event and raised his rifle. One by one he shot down the ones who were still clinging to the portside of the Xebec. Vampeete ordered for him and nine others to check out the Xebec and the sloop. Stepping over some extra corpses that were caught in the cross fire they hoped the sand and water could wash away the blood off their boots. Looking for a clean rope was not impossible. About four ropes were found unstained by blood. Climbing up the rough ropes felt like climbing tiny thorns and spikes that did not puncture his hands. Greigorsson climbed up the rope first discovering no cannons in the gun port traps along the starboard and portside. Instead they discovered mounted machineguns, harpoons, telescopes, and terrifying statues carved from wood. Whoever these Ant men and Lizard Folk were they could only get that information from the 28 former CSO members collaborating with them. Searching around for other passengers and clues they found plenty of used up weapons in the lower deck. Among these weapons they found five pistols, five alien rifles, and three revolvers with holsters in suitable condition. Getting through the cluttered deck would take up too much time. Turning around they went to the cabins. As they attempted to open the door it slammed shut on them. Someone else was still on the Xebec. 

"Go away!" a voice yelled. 

Sergeant Jake Ratledge scoffed angrily at this and started kicking at the door. Greigorsson was not going to argue with that idea. Ratledge was more of the older marine who still had the energy to serve his country. Whoever was still in there had to be dragged out or shot in the process. They had no time for games or hold ups. This island was considered secure according to Vampeete's logic. Once an island was secured they had orders to either come back to base or move on to the next one. Another Marine, Private George Blackburn joined Sergeant Ratledge in kicking down this door. After half a minute of kicking the door barely budged from its hinges. This wore both of them out and forced them to give up. Whatever wood this door was made from it appeared tough, and whoever held the door shut had immense strength. Looking at the eight other Marines Sergeant Ratledge nodded at them. 

"Suit yourself!" He yelled through the door hoping they would hear him. 

"Well you can just leave for all I care, Skogers!" the voice retorted back. 

Ratledge mouthed for them to open fire. As a firing squad the nine Marines lit up the door with their E-7 rifles, 7mm submachine guns, and light machine guns. Ripping holes in the door they finally got to see who was holding the door. A brown furred and black spotted dog warrior humanoid, and a blue ghostly figure with a long tail lay on the floor boards riddled in bloodied holes. Stepping over the destroyed door and corpses, Greigorsson expected an ambush. Acting fast the sent team of Marines searched the cabin for more survivors. Inside the cabin section of this Xebec, they found documents, damaged portraits, muck, sea critters, and someone else. Hiding inside the Captain's main cabin was a Purple furred alien Fox humanoid holding what appeared to be a camera recorder. Clothed in a dirty tan tunic robe. Whoever this humanoid was they did not speak a word of common Calornese, which was really a Vestrisian language spoke all over Calorn. Bringing this one was going to be difficult as they could not understand them. They kept rambling in a panicked voice with their wide eyes glued to them. Jake tried taking the camera away, but there jerked away then scratched him. As though they were just dolls or mannequins this Fox bulldozed past them. Racing to get out there this Fox humanoid dove out of a port hole they forced open. Left with no survivors they returned to Vampeete to report their discovery. He already sent a team to search the other vessel, the Sloop. On board this Sloop the team discovered 4 pesky cats, 7 nude women covered in tattoos who gasped when discovered, one talkative Nymph with tattoos on both arms, some Tortoise humanoid mutant called Adaman of the Order of the Beast, and a thin looking Alchemist who helped with fireworks. Vampeete attempted to control his irritation about all this. They already stayed here for too long to his liking. Other teams of Marines already returned to HQ in the Archipelago Circlet. 

"We move out in three and a half hours. Our job here is done! A coalition will be holding this island while we regroup at HQ then move on to the next set of islands." Vampeete ordered the lot of them. 

"Major, what about the others? The aliens we found." A Captain asked him. 

"We send them sailing around the effing sea that is what. They are free to go." Vampeete replied back with a hint of annoyance in his voice.