Demonic Insects

Magna had been cooking as usual and this time he had decided to go with a rather simple dish, but one which had a lot of flavour and textural impact. It was a river fish fried in a light batter of crushed kaki seeds and eggs whites served with a fluffy tamago no moto sauce. It was a rather fragrant and tasty dish and one which he had been trying to perfect and improve for none other than Kaya. As a feline it was likely she enjoyed fish dishes more than most other dishes and so because of that he had tried to come up with a full course just for his feline friend. He'd also been working on full courses for each of his friends and allies. Well, except Kakuma as she would never appreciate it. With a simple motion he placed the plate down for Kaya and took the flyer.

"Demons?" Magna said surprised. He'd not dealt with anything really close to demons since the dark principal situation. He took a deep breath and then nodded. "We best get going. Should we try and find anyone else?" He picked up his special frying pan and it shrunk down in his hand and vanished. He also collapsed his chef hat and put it in his pocket. "I am ready when you are." Magna said heading towards the door. "I'll go inform Sophie, you go let Fira know and we'll meet at the docks. If you see anyone else then bring them along. I have a feeling we could do with the help."

With that he headed off to go find Sophie and inform her of the job request. Once that was done a determined and serious Magna headed down towards the docks to meet Jin. They would have to head off ASAP. When he reached the docks he used some of his funds to requesition a ship to get them as close to the phoenix mountains as possible rather than its usual route to Hargeon. It would be more efficient and mean they didn't have to waste time finding other methods of transport.

The three companions boarded the ship which immediately set sail. Jin had used his influence and Magna some of his own in order to get the ship to not only sail to a location it normally wouldn't but also to sail at full speed and to leave immediately. In this situation there was no time to waste. They had to hurry and get to the location and defeat this demon before its toxins further evolved and began to contaminate more. This was not a job for hesitation or holding back. This was a job where they would be forced to go all out. Not only to complete the job quickly, but also just to survive. He focused and the knife at his side began to glow brightly before forming into the living armor known as Aegis, or more affecitionately by Kaya as 'guardy'. He nodded to the knight who nodded back at him. Often that was all their conversations were. He wasn't exactly a talkative individual except when it came to Kaya.

Magna then focused and conjured up some cooking equipment. The ship was soon alive with the smells of delicious cooking, but there was a seriousness to his cooking that was rarely seen. Normally, his cooking was an elegant dance, but now there was almost something more primal to it. His seriousness was flowing into his cooking and when he finished he presented both Kaya and Jin with a dish prepared especially for them.

For Jin it was a rather unique dish that was was shaped like a yin yang symbol, but was red and white instead of black and white. These symbolised heat and cold, the concepts behind his magic. The meal itself was in fact more than just a symbol. The red side was curry, hot in both spiciness(though not to extremes) and in temperature. The white side was rice. The meal itself was made of some rare ingredients including the meat of a watiger, a creature that could only be hunted in direct sunlight or its body was too liquid to capture. It was a meal to provide strength to the eater.

For Kaya it was sushi made from the madam fish. A rare and delicious ingredient that was said to be almost phantasmal. IT was nearly impossible to catch, but Magna had been lucky and due to the seriousness of this job he had brought it out for Kaya as it was said to bring great luck to those who ate it.

"May these meals bring you strength and luck." Magna said seriously whilst eating for himself, what appeared to be a simple apple.

Magna was more serious than he could ever remember being. Even more serious than when he was on the dark principal job. That had involved saving children. This one could potentially involve saving the world. It was just the four of them again. The fate of the world in their hands. A situation Magna had not ever asked for or wanted. He just wanted to cook and make people happy. His eyes had changed from their usual golden hue to one of dark red almost mimicking the blood they might have to spill this day. He would do his best to keep the group alive and to complete this job. If the world ended and he somehow survived then what reason would he have to exist? Still, was he really ready for such a job? Such a heavy responsibility?

He looked at Aegis who was pretending to be dragged by Kaya towards her food. It was quite entertaining or at least it would of been if it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation. Aegis understood that, but around Kaya he seemed unable to be his usual stoic self. Or perhaps this was his true self? Kaya on the other hand probably didn't understand the seriousness of the situation. She was like a small child always happy and joyful until it came to a fight. She was like a shining beacon amidst the seriousness of the ship.

Magna was truly worried about this job. Like Jin he did not kill or at least he only did so if he intended to use that creature for food. It only seemed right in his opinion. However, today he would have to kill wouldn't he? In order to save people. In order to protect his friends, no, in order to protect his family. "I don't like it, but I have no choice. I won't let them die due to my weakness." he said to himself a note of determination in his voice. He turned to the others who had finished their meals.

"Today is probably our toughest challenge yet. I wish this burden had never come to me, but...I will do my best to complete this job." he said and exhaled deeply. "I wish the others were here."

"Depends really." Magna said with a shrug. "Some insects you lure out. Others you have to take them out at the source, destroy the nest." he explained. He himself hadn't really had to deal with it much, but he remembred one place he stayed and cooked in for a month that had a big wasp problem. You couldn't just lure the wasps out. You had to destroy the nest. That was what they might have to do. He didn't know what kind of bugs they were up against. Jin was right that they might have to camp to at have themselves fully rested and ready for this job. The problem was they didn't have supplies for camping. However, with the weather how it was it was possible they might not need much. Still perhaps they could at least set up some sort of perimter or something.

"Well we have tools." Magna said thoughtfully. "Perhaps if we can't get find supplies we can cut down some trees or something for a rough shelter?" However, as he said these words Jin was already gone. Magna sighed deeply. Had he been talking to himself the whole time? That was somewhat depressing. The ship would dock soon and then they would have to do the last bit of the journey on foot. Still, it would be dark before they got there. Not really enough time to set up a shelter. Perhaps a fire and some wooden stakes surrounding the campsite or something. Perhaps the creatures would swarm like moths. However, with Kaya's nose it was unlikely anything would sneak up on them. It might just be enough.


Staying in the mountain was something that was needed. Luring the insects would be great. However, if that didn't work they could likely use Kaya's sense of smell to find the nest and exterminate them at the source. Fire would be a good thing for that or perhaps cold. Both might work equally well. They would have to see

The member 'Okura Jin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

As they were about to dock it seemed that they had been spotted for one of their target creatures decided to make their presence known. Perhaps luring them out might work? Or was this a scout that just happened to spot them and decided to try and bring them down before they even got close to the nest? It was difficult. He didn't know whether the targets were of a hivemind like ant or bees or more like wasps. This one appeared to be a beetle of some kind and he didn't really have much knowledge of those except that they tended to come in groups. Or maybe that was just scarabs?

Either way it seemed this creature had some intelligence because it had come down hard on the ship almost as if it was trying to break the ship in two. Fortunately, the ships were sturdier than that but he could still see it straining and cracking. If they didn't bring this down now then it might take down the ship and everyone on it. The main issue was that a lot of his spells that might be effective were in fact fire based and fire on a ship was never a good idea. The creature lumbered towards the two mages, but was suddenly struck in the side so hard that it fell over.

Who hit the creature? Well that was simple. It was Aegis who had immediately summoned up Rex and gone in for a powerful swing to try and bifurcate the creature. Unfortunately, it seemed that this creature's shell was very tough and that whilst the axe had damaged it the damage was not sufficient to bring the creature down. Magna decided to take this chance whilst it was down and struggling to get back up to launch his own attack.

He rubbed his hands together and strangely their seemed to be almost a metallic chime as he did so. Then with a swing of his hands he launched off two constructs. A large fork from his left hand and a large knife from his right. Unlike Aegis who had gone for a side blow Magna decided to go for a more precise blow in the one area he knew wouldn't be armored. The eyes. Unfortunately, the creature managed to get up at the last moment and avoided getting by both. However, the fork managed to catch it in its right eye causing it to roar out in pain in a change clattering fashion.

"This reminds me of those insects we fought with Rei." Magna said offhandedly to Aegis who nodded and there was a twinkle in his eyes almost indicating that he might be grinning if he had a mouth to grin with.

It seemed that Kaya had wisely decided to stay back because her techniques were up close and personal and whatever was on this creature's skin did not look healthy. In fact as Jin had struck with his strange heat magic armor enhanced body a few small globules had flown off of its body and when it hit the side of the deck it began to fizzle. It seemed to be some sort of naturally occuring acid. "Keep clear of that liquid. Its certainly not safe to eat." Magna said perhaps just stating the obvious, but the others might not have seen the acid so it was a good safety measure. It seemed though that the combined force of Aegis' axe, Magna's fork and Jin's ice based magic was not quite enough to bring the creature down though. Magna was about to conjur up some more spells when suddenly a large box hit the creature in the side and sent it towards the edged of the ship. It was as that happened that Aegis came in thrust his axe forward and pushing the creature one last time causing it to topple off the ship. The surprise caused it to hit the water and as Magna knew from his observances of nature insects struggled to fly when their wings were wet. Aegis had taken it out, but given it the chance to survive. That was oddly held back for him. Then again he had obviously seen the acid and knew the ship was at risk if he cut it to pieces so knocking it off the ship was the wisest move.

"Good work Aegis." he said and looked over at Jin. "Looks like the insects might be beetles of some kind. Some of those run solo, some in groups. I don't think they have much of a hive structure though. So luring them out might be our best bet." It might not work, but it might do. It was worth trying out at least. Bring the enemies to them rather than wasting energy hunting. "If they don't come out we can use tonight to recover and prepare and then strike them in the morning. Rotating watches I think."

Aegis just reached down and ruffled the fur of Kaya but did not say a further word for the time being. He was slowly opening up, but in truth it would still likely be a while before the doors on his heart were fully opened. Kaya however did seem to be the key whilst the team were the force that was pushing or pulling open those doors. It was nice to see and he was happy to see it. He just wished he'd been enough to do that himself. He felt lacking in some way. However, it seemed that Kaya too was evolving or perhaps maturing was a better term in her case. She was still hyper active and child-like, but seemed less spoiled. This was too likely due to team Kvasir, but he had a feeling that like Kaya was the key to Aegis' advancement, Aegis was the key to Kaya's maturing. He wondered if Jin felt that way or if he was just seeing that and using it to make himself feel better about Kaya being the one to unlock Aegis' heart instead of him.

"Traps would be good." Magna said nodding in agreement as the ship docked and at the word of Jin they began to head out. "However, considering these insects, or at least that type, can fly i'm wondering what sort of traps would be suitable. Perhaps stuff we can manually activate rather than trip wires or the like?" He considered what he could do with his own magic. Would anything he could do be useful in setting up traps? His skills mostly lied in cooking and cooking wasn't exactly the sort of occupation that provided you with trapping knowledge. Being a gourmet hunter did though. He often went out on dangerous missions to find ingredients or recipes. He'd learned a lot in his time. "Perhaps we could try to lure them into some cage's or something with bait." AS they walked Magna paused for a second and looked around. "Jin...do you get the feeling we are being watched?"

The member 'Shard' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

There was no easy way to set up any concrete traps. Cages would be hard to build to a level that was strong enough to deal with these creatures. At least if they were as strong as the one on the ship. The only likely way was to bait them into a pit or something and then fill it in. That might work. Or perhaps...bugs couldn't really fly in water. Perhaps lure them into a water pit or something? It seemed that they wouldn't have time to plan things out though because there really was something watching them. Just a single entity fortunately, at least according to Kaya and Jin. They needed to get in range to take it out before it alerted other creatures. Magna looked up at the trees an idea coming to his mind. Without even hesitating he leapt up at a branch and swung up into a tree before catching another branch with his tail. Something Jin wouldn't have seen before, but as a fellow ace he would know what it meant. He swung through the trees almost silently until he was a lot closer to the creature. They didn't have time for a proper plan.

However, getting in closer like this allowed him to at least scout what it was. He focused and connected his mind to Aegis who spoke out what Magna saw.

"Magna says there is just one creature. Its smaller than the previous one and doesn't look as heavily armored. It looks faster though and like the others it can probably fly." Aegis spoke calmly. "He says he can attack it or at least try to distract it for you to get in close. He wants to know what you want him to do. I'll relay it to him"

Magna stood calmly observing the creature which was looking around and buzzing occasionally. It was looking for something. Perhaps them? Or perhaps food? It wasn't clear. Its actions weren't exactly obvious.

As he received word from Jin via Aegis Magna prepared his move. He seemed to drop forward from the tree, but grabbed it with his tail and began to swing slowly building up momentum. Fortunately, the tree was sturdy and was making too much sound. When he deemed he had a sufficient amount of speed he launched himself off coming from the left with a powerful double kick. He wasn't the strongest in terms of physicality, but the momentum from the attack would help. It caused the creature to stumble and Magna propelled himself off. With the extra balance from his tail it seemed he had a lot more acrobatic skill. A benefit for sure. As he propelled off he flipped and launched off another set of knives and forks stabbing it in the side. Once more it stumbled and that gave Jin his opening.

With the words 'Searing beam' a beam of heat was launched that hit the creature hard and set it abalze. In order to prevent it running about and setting things on fire Magna quickly slammed his hands to the ground and a pit formed beneath the creature which it dropped into before the top sealed up. It wouldn't hold the creature for long if it survived Jin's attack, but it would certainly prevent any fires occuring in the trees. That was the last thing they wanted.

"Nice work Jin." Magna said appreciatively. THat spell was beyond anything Magna's magic could do. Well, yes and no on that. He had some pretty powerful spells that might be able to match or exceed it, but not in such a way. "Hopefully the lack of oxygen will stop the flames burning it to death, but the pit should keep it trapped for long enough...I think." It was not a perfect plan, but he had to improvise and he felt he had done a good job. Using the mental link he and Aegis shared to relay information had been particularly effective or so he felt.

Magic:

Feeling that it had been long enough, and that any creature really, would of been taken down by now Magna deactived the spell and the top of his 'cooking pit' vanished revealing a rather roasted creature. He stared at it for a moment trying to see any signs of life. "If its alive then it isn't going anywhere without help." he said thoughtfully with a note of sadness and also pride in his voice. He really couldn't tell if it was alive or not and he hated killing for no reason. "Our best bet is to set up camp nearby so we can keep an eye on it."

They were in a clearing and there was a small hillside nearby which looked like it might offer some shelter from the wind and weather if anything happened. It might also be a good hiding spot. "Let's do paired watches, me and you first then Jin and Kaya" Magna said as he headed over towards the hill side. Once he was there he summoned up a simple camping stove and began to boil some ingredients in it. He didn't say what it was and it wasn't really possible to tell by looking, but it was clearly some kind of stew.

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Eventually once the stew had been eaten and the watch of Magna and Jin too the two laid down to rest and prepare whilst the watch was taken over by Aegis and Kaya. The two 'pets' but in truth they were the two companions. They were not pets. They were stalwart allies and without them neither Magna nor Jin would probably be standing there right now. He had his axe read and stood there calmly. He looked down at Kaya and smiled.

"So you enjoyed the stew?" he asked knowing the answer, but still making conversation

The member 'Okura Jin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

The questioning style was quite normal for Kaya. SHe was quite hyper active and she had just woken up as well so was full of energy. It did not bother 'guardy' in the slightest. He liked her hyper active personality. It was a change from Magna and himself who were quite serious though in different ways.

"I have no need to eat little one and no desire." Aegis replied and there was a strange metallic sound as he said this. Almost as if Aegis was laughing? Or at least trying to. "Sorry, the thought of someone who does not have the desire to eat or the need being partnered with a chef as skilled as Magna was....humorous." He was about to say something else when he suddenly perked up and looked around. Something was out there. "Kaya do you smell something?" Aegis asked summoning up his axe and assuming a fighting stance. There was something in the distance, but it might just be an animal of some kind. It didn't necessarily have to be an enemy. However, something told Aegis that it was something dangerous.

"Let's not wake Magna and Jin...we can handle this." he said and then looked at Kaya and there was a twinkle to his eye as an idea came to his mind. "Want to try out the new technique I've been working on? If so then its time to get big little one." He took a step forward and then saw what it was. Two insects. One looked similar to the one burning in the hole, or that had burned in the hole as the fire was long since extinguished. The other though appeared smaller and possibly weaker. Easily something the pair could deal with, but it was also the ideal time to test out his new technique made specially to work with Kaya. Test it out now whilst it was safe for them...then they could master it for later use in more dangerous battles. "Let's do this."