The crisp air that Michael had been fishing in slowly gave way to a warm breeze. the air still relaxing as he watched each rod with the grace of a bird in flight. Every movement with purpose, every shift within a hair of where it needed to be. He was focused.
It took only an hour or so before he had caught himself a few delicious looking trout. He had planned on making a meal for 5 so these would be perfect for the base. Quickly the rods were drawn in as he was going to take a break anyways. Now the magic would begin.
With a simple turning around of his tacklebox Michael would proceed to open seemingly an entirely different box. Inside was the implements of cooking and they all looked beyond pristine. Not a single blade looked to have ever been used and not a single pan showed it had ever been over a heat source. The rolling pins looked as if they had just finished drying from getting their seal coat. Yet with all that Michael smiled and spoke quietly to himself.
"It's good to see you again old friends... lets make a wonderful meal again."
With those words his battle began. a folding table now wider than his seat and no longer than his pole was set up in seconds. He laid out the fish he planned to use and removed the intestines with practiced perfection. Removing the scales came next and it took him a single swipe with a knife that looked older than the head priest, a man of nearly 90 years.
The flash of the knife continued onward as he gracefully sliced the fish. Before long they became perfectly sized fillets ready to be cooked and plated. However he looked around the lake and sighed. He had forgotten the most important part. He forgot the rice. Not having time to return home Michael tried to find a suitable substitute, but he was running out of time.
A string of expletive's escaped his lips as he ran around like a bolt of lightening. He tried to identify every herb and plant he found, but he lacked any skill to appraise them. So he ended up going off of random guesses.
After a few minutes he had an assortment of plants, mushrooms and herbs laid out with the fish. He nervously looked them over as he tried to identify what would go well together. Throwing out a few of the more colorful plants assuming them to be poisonous he drew a small hatchet. A fire would be needed from here on out.
He approached the treeline looking over each tree like he would find a specific type with ease. Unfortunately he couldn't identify the difference between them all. So he casually swung the hatchet at a tree felling it with ease. Most would only know a rogue or fighter to be able to do such a feat. However Michael was just a fisherman.
Having acquired wood he would begin to process it down in a few swings into a pile of firewood. More than he'd ever need for todays project, but he could always bring the extra to the guild and have them hand it out to the townsfolk. He smiled setting up his cooking station. A spice rack was pulled out and he grabbed a wonderful flawless wok. He looked to the path where the people came from last time and sighed. They had left the path and saw him approaching with a smile. He was not ready for them yet.
"Hello there Michael how are you this fine afternoon?"
"I'm doing fine. Though I was hoping you'd be by in an hour or so... I wanted to finish..." Michael spoke with a bit of sadness in his tone.
"Oh, well we can always return later if that would help, we do have a job to get done anyways."
"That would be perfect! If you could find a good bread or pasta or rice that would be great!" His tone immediately flipped to excited.
The party as if this was normal walked to go around the lake.
The woman clad in a fine piece of chainmail looked at the cleric. She stood a tall 6'4" tall, a normal characteristic for her race of Amazon. A race known for its height and strength and born rarely from humans. They often were given the job of farmer, smith, and fighter. Sometimes if the parents were very devout they'd even become a paladin or knight.
She looked at the cleric and sighed "you know you're too kind? He's a loner, generous, but a loner. Why do you entertain him like that?"
Another woman dressed in a leather chestpiece and battle skirt nodded. She wasn't anywhere near the height of the fighter, however she was slender, but muscular. Her natural beauty only drawing more attention to her pointed ears. Not nearly as pointed as a full blooded elf. A half elf though she truly embodied the idea of a nature herald. Her leather armor wasn't made from animal hide, rather it was made from a monsters hide. Her casual garb being that of plants though the cleric adamantly opposed her going out like that due to it being rather revealing.
The half elf ranger continued to nod "isn't it mean to get his hopes up? I know we are in search of a rogue, but he's clearly not it. We nearly got him hurt when we dragged those goblins to the lake."
"Nonsense. We have an obligation to spread cheer to all. We are here under our lords grace to help everyone. We can grow into a heroic party. Befriending such a kind man should lead us to a rather nice outing." He spoke with confidence as they walked towards the forest.
The party confidently approached the forests edge, but the fighter immediately stopped at the edge. Her butch voice coming out with a tone of fear. "I... I don't sense any goblins left... just... something... it's strong."
The cleric looked confused "are you saying something strong wiped out the goblins? Our job was to go and finish off the den of those beasts!"
A sound erupted from the forest. A roar as fierce as a lion and as loud as rolling thunder. The ground trembled with fear as the feeling the approaching calamity came near.
Back at the fire cooking with a smile Michael happily worked. The wok was heated thoroughly and a little oil was thrown in. He watched as it reached the appropriate temperature and the oil faintly began to smoke. He was happily cooking away as he felt the ground shake. Figuring that the adventurers would have it handled he continued onto his task.
First throwing in his aromatic ingredients he let them become fragrant filling the air with an already mouthwatering level of flavor. With a rogues grace he flipped and stirred not spilling even a tiny morsel of the dish he was preparing. Once the aromatics were nearly golden he took the fish fillets and added them to the wonderous concoction. The flesh of the fish immediately began to cook absorbing the flavor as he let them cook on both sides to a perfect golden color.
Unfortunately his efforts seemed to be in vain. While he was cooking away he was rudely interrupted by the sounds of terrified screams.