Serious: To Drive the Storm

Houarieso quickly shook his head to get the confused look off of his face. "Uh, thank you captain." He headed off to where the galley was, taking the fish with him.

The lush swell of verdant hills combined with a gentle sea breeze and abundant edible sea life in the immediate periphery made this island most appealing. It's rumored lack of habitation was only due to it's obscure and somewhat remote location. Tiny arthropods scuttled along the sand with numerous segmented limbs, pausing here and there and gather bits of rubbish along the beach. Soulless compound eyes blinked absently at the sea line, contemplating nothing, merely gathering information.

Not a step was missed by the tiny creatures as the ships were observed along the coast. The information was nothing to the creatures who did not even acknowledge what was before their eyes; they functioned as scurrying pieces of surveillance equipment, unfit for processing the data of which they obtained. Minutes later, the soft buzz of a myriad of fluttering wings was heard humming in the distance, approaching quickly. The reconnaissance information had been received; the swarm approached it's target.

Soon the ships were covered in clouds of loudly buzzing insects, swarming, stinging and biting any sentient being they found upon the ships. The attack would continue, funneling the victims toward the nearest refuge from the open air which seemed to be a sort of cave, nestled into rocky backside of one of the lush, green hills. The cave offered a dark hiding place, an alluring sight for any seeking refuge from the fury of the invading swarm of nefarious flighted fiends guarding the outside airspace.

"SWARM!" Archon shouted, seeing a veritable wall of buzzing and scuttling insects spring forth seemingly out of nowhere, deciding that he really didn't have the tools needed to deal with this kind of problem. "Get out of the ship, and run!" He yelled, drawing his sword. He didn't have the kind of time needed to make the atmosphere hostile enough for the insects to stop assaulting them, if they were inclined to do so in the first place. He swung the sword with all his strength, sending a wave of slashing air at the approaching swarm, only serving the make a slight gap, resulting only in a few insects getting pushed.

He broke into a run, seeing a surprisingly obvious escape route now that he was preoccupied in finding one, but for once feeling well and truly helpless. He sent another wave of air to properly reveal it. He ran into the tunnel, glancing back to make sure the others were behind him, and hoping that the wall of insects was not.

The other side of the island faced similar problems. But unlike Archon, Avarill had something he could use to harm a swarm of insects. A fisted hand equaled an implosion crushing several insects into paste. But there were way too many, and they seemed to know no fear. Of course they didn't.. insects...

Battle seemed less than a viable prospect, and though it was Oceana's call, he shouted a warning. "Watch out!" He would run if his captain did.

If there was one thing she hated more than heights or clowns, it was bugs. The sudden horde that swooped down on them was less than welcome. Thankfully Avarill was able to dispatch a good chunk of them, but there were still more than she would have liked to have deal with. Yelping and covering her head as a swarm came her way, she had to think quickly.

"Run!" she shrieked, "Find shelter!" Following her own orders, she ran as fast as her feet would carry her, looking desperately for a way out of the cloud of malevolent insects. So much for an enjoyable adventure.

"Captain! Over here!" Nova bellowed, motioning her over to the entrance of an underground tunnel. Something didn't feel right, but fear and agitation drowned out woman's intuition and she ducked into the tunnel, before turning sharply and poking her head out to make sure everyone else had seen.

"Come on! This way!" she beckoned desperately, hoping that the insects wouldn't follow.

Houraieso heard his captain's yell about the swarm. He ran back up on deck and saw the massive swarm of insects heading towards the ship. He saw the captain take out a section of the swarm, but not a very large one. As his captain ordered he got off the ship diving into the water. He followed the silhouette of his captain towards the cave.

Julian at first picked up and threw the rope to Archon, but then he heard the noise and saw the insects swarming from out of no where. Julian cursed as he grabbed Frostbringer and then rolled it around "ICE BARRIER!!!" He set up a temporary wall to at least give some of the crew time to run to shore and follow Archon. He then dashed for his life, and followed Archon into the cave. He then caught up with Archon using his gifted speed. He then spoke to Archon "Should i cover the cave entrance? at least ill seal it up so those things wont follow us!!!!" Julian was calcuating and getting ready to set up another ice barrier once Archon gave the ok too. He was also looking for Midori, hoping that the girl was safe and running as well.

"Do so!" Archon shouted as every last one of the crew had gotten inside, watching Julian block the cave with a layer of ice. Given some respite from the swarm, Archon looked around. Not that there was much to see. There wasn't much light. Archon sat down in a cross-legged position, pondering for a moment.

"That was not natural. I've never heard of anything like this." Archon speaks. "Hopefully there's an answer deeper in. Lets go." Archon rose up, steadily walking forth.

Uncharacteristically, Avarill ran as fast as he could, not even stopping for the random implosive blasts he fired off behind him to slow the swarm. "Yaaargh! Deeper in, deeper in!" He shouted, stinging insects on his tail. He batted randomly behind him, small blasts of air trailing his route behind him as he ran.

"I agree captain, this seemed too coordinated to be a natural occurrence." Houraieso then followed the captain farther into the cave.

After Julian made the Ice wall to block off the path of the insects from coming in. He pulled back and sighed , they were safe for now at least. Archon wasn't wrong at least. They had no food in here either. He looked to Archon "Alright then, lets get moving, the deeper we go, the better we will be..... alot of things to question anyway" Julian was also wondering about the food supplies which was in the ship. Did those bugs find a way in and eat the food supplies? Julian twirled his weapon in his hands.

Without even a second thought, she complied as fast as lightning, putting as much ground between herself and the entrance of the tunnel. It was amazing she hadn't stumbled or run into anything yet. It was gradually getting darker, and her lungs were screaming for air. Letting herself slow a little, she found herself between Nova and Avarill.

"Where in the blazes did these infernal insects come from?!" she panted, "I've never seen anything like this in my life!"

"Nor have I!" Nova exclaimed in disbelief. There was something strange going on here. That was determined the moment they arrived.

Archon was walking forth in moderate speed when he suddenly stepped on something odd. It was a tiny crunch, but his honed senses picked it up anyway. Suddenly he as painfully aware of the mass below him in the darkness.

Ants... innumerable ants. Shit.

He stopped dead in his tracks. It didn't take him two seconds to realize what this meant. The insects outside had attacked him and his crew ferociously, swarming with all their force. These might as well. And there were so many, it would be disastrous, especially without vision to aid them. A stray insect landed on him, getting reflexively slapped by the pirate captain. It stung a little. He felt the hand with the other, picking a little shard that had gotten stuck in his skin. It nearly nicked him.

It was metal.

The feeling stopped. The swarm stopped, replaced with the feeling of something thoroughly unnatural magnifying tenfold. The little shard shone in what little light there was left. It was accompanied by others, shaped into the crushed remnants of a little shell. The crumbled shape still gave it out. There was someone here. "We have an enemy here." Archon said grimly. "Someone is doing this."


The flailing Avarill continued to run as the swarm flew on their heels, keeping pace with Oceana and Nova. He skidded over around a corner, stepping on metal plate. It was a man-made hallway, with a door to the side. Avarill ripped the door open, beginning to send blasts at the swarm, trying to keep it at bay until everyone got in before slamming the door and hopefully giving them a bit of a breather.

Julian sighed as ants turned up as well. He cursed his luck with this bug epidemic they were having. AS it was in these sort of spaces, Archons weapon didnt work as well. Julian wanted to freeze the area, but who knew what the impact on the crew in this cramp cave might be if he froze the floor and walls. They could get frozen as well. So Julian stopped as he twirled his Frostbringer around yelling "ICE NAILS!! He fired multiple ice sharp projectiles. These were all in vain, but he was trying at the very least to delay. This all seemed hopeless, but he was holding his cool. He looked to Archon who had said something "Your gonna have to explain the someone else part a little better man.. we are having some serious pest control issues on this crazy island......"