-21-

When last we saw our heroes! They all watched as Buco the dye maker rushed to catch his collapsing sister. He caught her under the elbows as she fell and they slumped to the floor in a huddled mass. Buco looked down at Tes, confusion, and worry welling up in his eyes. He didn’t have time to speak before Tes interrupted him, leering and pointing towards the window in the far room. There, behind the splintered wood bars, they could see Zera loading a poison dart and poking the end of her blowdart through pointed directly at them. Buco tried to hoist Tes out of harm’s way, but he was too late. Zera’s eyes widened and she fashioned a wide grin as the dart flew through the air and sunk into the tender flesh under Tes’ shoulder. Buco ripped the dart out as quick as he could, but his speed seemed to make little difference. Tes looked up at her brother, drew a staggered breath, and succumbed to the venom as her eyes rolled back and she fell limp.

Buco frantically tried to get to his feet, but Pamuya rushed him with water and froze him where he knelt.

“What do you scoundrels want?!”

Buco pleaded.

Zukari mumbled something about not getting their snacks before Pamuya interjected and persuaded everyone to calm down. The party explained that they were investigating the unnatural plant life and corrupt spirits. They wanted to know what exactly was going on in the dye maker’s camp.

Buco, who was much more concerned about his unconscious sister than any dye secrets agreed to tell the party whatever they wanted to know in exchange for help healing his sister. The party begrudgingly agreed and Pamuya went to work on the gashes on Tes’ back. Zera clambered in through the window looking quite pleased with herself. She immediately took out her notebook and started recording Tes’ reaction to the concoction.

“Seems like my dart is working like a charm.”

She mused.

When Pamuya had finished, Tes was still white as a lily and her breathing was becoming increasingly more shallow. Pamuya confided that there was nothing else she could do for the venom, and so the whole room looked to Zera. Buco glared up at her and demanded to know what she dipped her dart in through gritted teeth.

“Hope you like a taste of your own medicine. I dipped my dart in your precious black goo. Oh.. and some viper bat venom for good measure.”

Zera candidly explained.

Buco’s eyes widened. He searched the room with his gaze until finally landing on some herbs and plants on a workbench by the fire. With all his strength he broke free from his frozen bonds and immediately got to work rummaging through their stores, and then crushing handfuls of herbs in a mortar and pestle. He boiled the medicine in water before bringing the mixture to Tes’ mouth and gingerly spooning some in. After an agonizing moment of waiting, the color rushed back to Tes’ face and her breathing returned to normal.

Buco sighed and slid to the floor with his back against the workbench. He furrowed his brow with frustration.

“We’re just dye-makers,’ if you want to know what’s happening, just look around!”

He bemoaned.

The party was not so convinced. Zukari was poised with questions aplenty to hurl at the fire-bending dye maker. As Zukari and Buco bickered about the fleeing dye workers, polluted river, and snacks, Cedar methodically perused the workshop. He came to the spot where Buco had just finished mixing his tincture when a covered bucket, marked with years of use, caught his eye. He found a stirring rod in the medley of instruments scattered around the bench and used it to carefully remove the tattered cloth covering the wooden vessel. As he did, Cedar was greeted by hundreds of scintillating indigo scales piled high. He picked one up to get a better look. It was as big as his hand.

Cedar’s find caused the rest of the party to stop bickering and the workshop fell silent. Buco winced.

Under her breath, Zera mumbled

“What are those?”

And immediately took to her scrolls and flipped through her bestiary to the “D” section.

“I have a good blasted guess.”

Cedar growled.

“You lied to us!”

Pamuya shouted, enraged.

“You tried to massacre us! Just take a scale and go if that’s what you want”

Buco countered.

Zera finally found the page she was searching for.

“ARE THESE DRAGON SCALES?”

She inquired.

The whole party looked to Buco. He looked back at them, slowly making his way towards Tes. He bolted - grabbing Tes and trying to shake her awake to make a hasty escape. But Tes was still dead weight, and Zukari was quick to draw some rope from his bag and restrain Buco.

The party collected their thoughts and agreed that the best course of action was to force Buco to show them this dragon and hopefully liberate it. They shoved Buco towards the entrance of the workshop and asked him to lead the way.

Buco trudged through the iridescent stream, explaining his family’s history to Zera as the others followed behind, scheming. They made their way further up the slope to the northern part of the village. As the brush and vines cleared they could see a crumbling tower with a small dwelling attached perched upon a hill. Just outside were the hulking, butchered carcasses of two boar-q-pines.

Buco pointed to the tower, explaining that that is where they kept their secret ingredients supplier. The party glare at him.

Cedar began to scope out the structure and Zukari began a new line of questioning.

“So what do we need to know about this dragon”

He prodded.

“Umm, it’s blue?”

Buco responded sheepishly.

Becoming impatient, Zukari smacked Buco upside the head and pushed him towards the door of the dwelling.

“What’s inside? What are you hiding?”

Zukari barked.

“I don’t know what to tell ya - it’s just a…”

As Buco opened the door, the party jumped with surprise. Clinging to the darkened doorway was Tes. She trembled with anger and pointed at the party.

“Buco! It’s been in our family for generations, we can’t let them have it!”

Tes snarled.

Cedar had had enough. Ignoring the water-bender guard he planted his stance and reached up towards the broken tower’s spire. He brought his hands down and as he did the tower ripped open from top to bottom. The stones unfurling like torn fabric. As the dust settled, the party peered inside.

Shackled by the neck and feet, was an adolescent azure dragon. It scurried to the back of its enclosure and cowered before them. It looked as though its growth had been stunted from years of imprisonment and isolation. The patches of flesh around its binds were bare and ruddy.

“You monsters!”

Zukari shouted.

“What? This is clearly a happy dragon.”

Tes sneered.

As the rest of the party berated Buco and Tes, Pamuya calmly made her way through the rubble until she was inside with the shivering creature. As she came closer, the dragon lunged towards her, snapping its jaws in self-defense. Pamuya stood her ground as the gnashing teeth came towards her. Just as the dragon was in biting distance, its chains stretched taught and caught its advance just in time. Pamuya was unphased. She reached out and laid the palm of her hand on the dragon’s cheek. The dragon’s pupils dilated, and Pamuya could sense that it knew she was no threat.

During all this, Cedar took some time to carve off some Boar-q-pine meat and enlisted Zukari’s help in a make-shift barbeque. The party thought it best to take things slow and so Pamuya joined the others and decided to make camp beside the toppled tower. As the sweet, charred smell of the roasted Boar-q-pine proved too enticing, Cedar ripped the giant hunk of meat in half. He threw the bigger portion to the dragon. It sniffed it apprehensively, before skulking back to the back of its prison and began to pace.

The rest of the party all ripped off a portion of the remaining meat and began to eat. Cedar beckoned Buco and Tes over and heartily offered them a piece as well. Tes was more apprehensive than Buco, but eventually, both of them joined the party around the fire and shared in the meal.

They all sat, staring into the flames until Cedar broke the silence. His voice lacked the usual air of boisterous confidence, and instead, was soft and humble. He explained that they were not enemies. That just because Buco and Tes had been indoctrinated into this abusive life, it does not have to define them. That they could be more. Cedar urged them to leave their ruinous family tradition behind and start again.

Buco smiled weakly and turned towards Tes. Without speaking, the two had a meaningful conversation. Begrudgingly, Tes finally submitted, and the two of them agreed. They would help liberate the dragon - and start a new life, free from hiding.

As they all sat and shared stories in the glow of the fire, the jangling of chains slowly ceased. The azure dragon had stopped pacing, and curled up in the back of the tower, ready to sleep.

-22-

When last we saw our heroes! The party, Buco and Tes all woke up drinking in the cool crisp air of Shattered Peak. Zuko stretched and rose, brushing off his cloak as his eyes drifted to the crumbled tower.

“So it’s come to this.. a dungeon, and a dragon.”

He whispered mirthfully as he stroked his beard.

Zera shuffled around the campsite to the back of the tower where she kept trying, in vain, to snag a sample scale off the annoyed azure dragon’s tail. With some forceps she procured from her bag, she finally managed to grasp a shimmering specimen - but immediately lost it as the dragon whipped its tail back around to slap her in the face, knocking her back into the brush.

She rest of the party scolded Zera as she picked prickles out from her hair and bum and called her over to join in on the early morning planning session. Their goal was simple: free the dragon from its binds, however, this take was easier said than done. The chains were too thick to fracture with ice or bend with fire - not to mention the untrusting dragon attached to the other ends.

After some discussion, it was decided that the plan was to first: pantomime their intended plan to the imprisoned beast. And second: combine their bending efforts to first heat, then cool the chains in order to weaken their structure enough to smash them apart, all the while keeping the dragon calm.

After shooing Buco and Tes to stand back in order to put the dragon at ease, the party broke into a baroque interpretive dance. The awkward display of twirling and gesturing seemed to have no effect despite Cedar’s particularly passionate performance. The dragon merely stared blankly back at the acting troupe and sniffed the air warily.

Zukari threw up his hands in frustration. This was getting them nowhere. He huffed and curtly enquired to Buco and Test if they had any other chains lying about to practice on. They pointed to the cottage workbench and in no time at all Zukari emerged dragging a length of hefty rusted chain back to the group.

He threw the chain down in the smoldering remains of precious night’s fire with a clatter. Soon the rest of the party abandoned playing charades with the timid drake and huddled over the pile of tangled metal.

With no small amount of effort and ingenuity, the Buzzard Wasps figured out a system to shatter the iron bonds. Zera and Zukari would start by blasting the weakest point in the chain with concentrated flame. Then Pamuya would immediately cool the red hot iron with a blast of ice. As the metal became brittle, Cedar jumped in and swung his lumbering kanabo down, smashing the chains to shrapnel. Zera immediately would then immediately scamper off to collect samples of the metal alloy.

As the mid-day sun beat down upon their heads, the team steeled their nerves and approached the perimeter of the crumbling tower. The chain that clattered behind the dragon, binding its hind legs was the first target. The team sprang into action! Fire, then ice, then… Smash! The dragon darted around and bucked as the first set of chains were broken.

After freeing the front legs as well, the next couple of attempts were not so lucky. Between the dragon thrashing about and Zukari nearly being slashed in two, the party was fortunate that they had made any progress at all. Frustrated, and desperate to finish the job before the dragon hurt itself or one of them, the party turned to Buco and Tes to help out, figuring it was worth the risk at this point.

Buco flanked the dragon as Zukari and Zera took their familiar positions. After a quick nod of affirmation, they all started to blast flame onto the collar around the dragon’s neck. The blue drake thrashed and whipped about until it noticed Buco. For the first time, the dragon stood up straight - now towering above the party. It snarled as its wings unfurled filling the space in an act of impressive intimidation. Suddenly, it opened its jaws wide and lunged at Buco.

The ink maker shrieked as teeth closed down on his leg and the dragon wrenched its neck dragging Buco back into the shadowy interior of the battered tower.

“Buco No! You’re too beautiful!”

Zera cried as she began to spray the dragon with a blanket of shimmering flame.

The dragon ignored her bath of fire and began to thrash Buco about. After a particularly violent jerk, the dragon let go and Buco flew through the air, slamming into the back wall of the tower. The party all looked up in a panic as the rest of the structure began to lean and sway. Small fragments of brick and stone began falling all around them. The dragon began to thrash harder.

As the tower’s crown started to cave - the party braced for the worst. But then, in an instant, the crumbling ceased. Dust and dirt hung perfectly still in the air and the party all froze as they heard footsteps approaching from behind them.

The murky cloud of dust obscured the approaching figure, but soon the party could see and feel an intense heat emanating from the ground radiating outward from its direction. They all stumbled backward and watched in awe as streams of earth beneath them started to glow and liquefy into a churning molten liquid. The snakes of lava wound their way between the party right towards the dragon. A coil of molten rock spiraled upward and clung to the iron collar around the blue drake’s neck. The dragon started to thrash, but the lava tendrils didn’t relent, and soon the iron began to soften as it began to glow. Soon the entire collar as well as the rest of the iron binds were engulfed by the hot slag and began to melt into the molten amalgamation. The Dragon reared up and spread its wings in one last act of defiance and one by one, the chains clattered to the floor, leaving behind trails of hot metal dripping off the drake’s heat-proof scales.

The azure dragon wriggled its shoulders and sprayed molten slag about the tower. Buco cowered under his apron and had to tamp out the resulting cinders before his whole outfit went up in flames. Went it had done shaking, the dragon stared past the party as the dust started to clear. The footsteps grew closer still.

The glowing rivers of lava began to cool, turning black and slick as billows of sulfurous steam wafted from their winding recesses. Through the steam and settling dust, the party saw a familiar silhouette of a broad-shouldered man with a walking stick materialize. Maso crossed his arms and stared contemplatively - meeting Zukari’s astonished gaze.

“Hey man! We had this!”

Zukari bluffed.

“Silence Zukari”

Pamuya scolded.

“What we mean to say is thank you.”

She continued, addressing the old magma-bender.

Maso brought his hand up to his thick beard and stroked it. He turned to Pamuya and gave her a deep nod of gratitude.

Pamuya smiled and hurriedly went to check on the dragon who was currently stretching its wings and turning in circles - cautiously giddy with its new-found freedom.

Zukari approached Maso, making sure to stand up straight and puff out his chest.

“I told you we’d free this village”

Zukari declared brashly.

For a moment, Maso simply stared at Zukari with sad eyes. Then he closed his eyes, pinched his brow, and spoke.

“Oh, young Zukari of Hira’a. You have not saved this town.”

“Wait.. you knew this was happening the whole time and did nothing?!”

Zukari accused as he turned around to gesture toward the tower and the dye workshop.

A thin ring of lava formed around Zukari and before he could act the earth beneath him rotated and he found himself face to face with the wrinkled face of the magma bender.

“I told you when you first arrived I was waiting for the opportune time.”

Maso rebuked.

“You may have freed this dragon young fire-bender, but you will never free yourself. I did not tell you my true name to uncover your true nature, and now am sad to say I cannot teach you. Even I, the magma master Lu Fengshi cannot turn fire to stone. You are too brash. Too fiery. Too arrogant!”

Maso bellowed. He turned his back to the party and began to walk away. Zukari looked back sheepishly to the rest of the party. They all simply looked back at one another and shrugged.

Zukari scowled and mumbled to himself, but as Maso’s footsteps trailed off down the mountain trail he turned back. Biting his lip, Zukari made the humbling decision to chase Maso down. The fire-bender left the party behind with the dragon and stumbled down the path until he caught up with Lu Fengshi.

Catching his breath, Zukari looked up and asked.

“How do you know about me?”

“As Qeline said, I know every grain of sand in the earth kingdom. My sparrowkeets told me of your quest to find me before you even step foot in Ba Sing Se. I hear you have a terrible gift, my young friend.

Fire. They say: Held in a hand you trust, it is your ally. Held in a hand you do not trust, it is your enemy. Learn the way of fire and you learn the way of the world. But what if it is your own hand you cannot trust?

I was not that different than you, a lifetime ago.”

Fengshi said as he looked up to the shattered peak with sorrowful eyes.

“I believe that it was fated that I might help you. After all, there is no such thing as coincidence. Only auspicious occasions. To master neutral jing takes great discipline and restraint. It is not an easy path, but if you are ready, we can begin now.”

-

Zukari pondered the offer. He had been searching for the master Lu Fengshi since leaving the Forgotten Valley. Would learning the ways of neutral jing help him control his "'gift”. He decided he had to try.

Putting on an air of brash confidence, Zukari responded.

“I suppose I could be ready for this. What do you have for me?”

Fengshi smiled knowingly.

“To control your azure fury, you must first control your mind. Learn restraint. Patience.”

He bent over to pick up a dry orange leaf.

“Your teachings will start here. Take a leaf every night and burn it from the inside out. Don’t let your flame reach the edge.”

As he spoke a pebble rose from the ground, liquified into a brilliant drop of sunlight, and burnt a hole through the leaf. The cinders crept towards the edge but stopped short just in time.

“Do this ten times and you may find me again. Or rather..”

Fengshi grinned as a sparrowkeet fluttered down and landed on his shoulder.

“…I’ll find you” Then we may continue your training.

He placed the leaf into Zukari’s palm and then mosied his way back to the rest of the party while Zukari stood, dumbfounded.

Fengshi joined the rest of the party in time to see the azure dragon press its forehead to Pamuya’s in a tender display of gratitude. It gave the rest of the party a noble nod, and Buco and Tes a threatening glare before beating its wings hard and fast. It rose from the ground and soon it was soaring off into the distance. The party watched in admiration until they lost sight of it as it passed between the jagged shards of the mountain’s peak.

Fengshi motioned for the party to gather around him.

“Your companion is troubled more than you all know. I have agreed to teach him, but I will need your help.”

The party looked at one another, confused.

“I have tasked him with a meditation he will attempt every night.” What I need from you all..”

He smirked.

“Is to break his concentration. Test his patience. Pester, prod and perurb him. In order to control his gift, he must be able to tune out the distractions of the outside world and learn to look within.”

Zera beamed.

“Yes! Oh strange, wise man!" I would adore to help.”

Fengshi chuckled as Zera began picking up pebbles of lava rock and pelting them at an annoyed Zukari as he made his way up back to the group.

The old magma bender placed his burly hand on Zukari’s shoulder and gave him one last meaningful look before the earth opened up once again and swallowed him whole. The party could hear rumbling underneath the trail as small birds followed in the sky.

Zera broke the silence as she turned to Buco and Tes.

“So what do you say - do you want to join the Buzzard Wasp Warriors and help us wreak hav.. erm, justice?”

Buco and Tes smiled, but Buco explained that it was time for them to start fresh - beginning by cleaning up the river and appeasing the spirits of Shattered Peak.

The dye-makers led the party back to their workshop to dress their wounds and say their good-byes. This time, they provided snacks.

-23-

When last we saw our heroes! Zukari had tried to sneak away from the rest of the group as they said their final farewells to Buco and Tes. The fire-bender walked down the stream a few paces until he found a particularly inviting rock and promptly sat down. As the mid-day sun beamed on his face he stroked his beard and crossed his legs. Taking in slow lung fulls of air he tried to center himself as he picked up a dried amber leaf preparing for his task. Focusing, he lit the center of the foliage ablaze and the ember ate its way towards the edge of the leaf. Zukari strained - willing the cinders to stop, but just then another flame erupted. It wasn’t Zukari’s. He looked up in time to see Asteria fluttering around his head erratically and Zera hurling a flume of licking flames towards his leg. Zukari couldn’t help hear (and smell) Zera let out a small emission from her backside in the commotion.

Successfully distracted, Zukari’s ember breached the leaf’s perimeter and he let out a frustrated sigh and glared towards Zera. Boshi and Cindari watched in amusement from the thatched roof of the dye maker’s workshop and Cedar and Pamuya sniggered while peering through the window, out of sight.

Still confused, Zukari joined the others as they strolled out of the workshop and geared up for their journey. They discussed whether they should try and find Lu Fengshi, or go back to Gaipan to claim their reward, but in the end, they felt like exploring the rest of Shattered Peak Village would prove beneficial. After all, there might still be loot hiding in the old ruins.

-

After trekking up the hill to see the ruined tower one last time, everyone but Zera noticed a gleaming glint shining through the rubble. The party rejoiced in finding plunder in a breached false wall of the stone structure and eagerly divvied the coins, scrolls, and artifacts amongst the gang.

As they walked back down the rocky path, Pamuya clicked her tongue and popped her shoulder up, instructing Asteria to scout ahead. The sunlight bounced off her iridescent wings as she circled overhead. As she fluttered down Pamuya could sense that the frost hawk couldn’t see anything dangerous from overhead, and so the party made their way across the stream to the precipice of one of the unexplored cottages.

The rotting timber and fallen stone skeleton of the structure seemed to indicate that it could have been a store or merchant shop of old. Large ghostly webs stretched across the lane, from the building to the trees on the north side of the road. The foreboding silk did not stop Zera. She eagerly marched towards the empty door frame and thrust her hand inside. From her open palm, she produced a glowing flame to illuminate the dark ruin. The room flooded into focus as it was bathed in the orange heat. Splintered beams and rotten fibers stood draped in wisps of sticky pale webbing. Zera tried walking in, but her foot caught in some of the gossamer strands. She reached down to grab the web, and before the rest of the party could warn her, grasped the strand and tugged hard. It stuck fast and as Zera started to flail as the network of sticky silk reverberated through the cramped ruin.

Suddenly from the dark corners of the room, two hulking Spider-Mantes scuttled their way over the interior stone walls. Their carapaces glistened with spiked, dark-green plated armor, and their front-most legs bore intimidating serrated blades that folded in on themselves. Their eight, pitch-black eyes seemed to follow the party wherever they went and the end of their abdomen trailed fine, white silk that glistened when it caught the light of Zera’s flame.

“Thank the spirits we didn’t just leave Shattered Peak.”

Pamuya muttered sarcastically as the party stood back and braced themselves for a fight.

Before she could react, the closest of the massive insects lunged towards her and closed its pointed mandibles on Zera’s shoulder. The scholar howled as she thrashed herself free. She could already feel the venom spreading from the bite. The Spider-Matis scuttled backward onto its web and Zera collapsed to her knees and tried to wriggle her trapped arm out of its webbed tomb.

The other, slightly smaller of the Spider-Matis erupted through a hole in the matted thatched roof and scurried around until its gaze landed on the rest of the party. It raised its bulbous abdomen high with its spindly legs and pointed its spinneret directly at Pamuya, Zukari, and Cedar. A wave of white globules burst forth and spread out to form a net of viscid webbing. Pamuya and Zukari dove in opposite directions and barely dodged the onslaught. Cedar merely beat his chest and roared, bracing for impact. The webbing wrapped the earth-bender into a cacoon and he grunted as he struggled to free himself.

Zukari tucked and rolled onto the path by the stream. As he righted himself he slung a fiery whip towards Zera. The flames caught the web trapping her arm and in a matter of moments she was free and the inside of the ruin began to glow as the fire spread to the other webbing.

“Somebody give me some of that!”

Cedar shouted as he saw the webbing turn to ash.

But when he saw that Zukari had become preoccupied with the Spider-Matis on the roof, and Zera was still scrambling to get up he grunted and started to flex his arms and torso.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

He huffed as he pushed his forearms against the webbing with all his might. With an alarming riiippp, the fibers tore and Cedar bellowed as fluttering remnants of the sticky prison flew in every direction. He was free. He hefted his kanabo over his back and caught the studded end with his meaty palm. Cedar looked to the Spider-Mantis atop the roof and grinned.

“I’m DYING.”

Zera moaned as she crawled out of the doorway towards the rest of the party.

“And whos fault is that? Hmm?”

Pamuya chided running over to protect the delirious fire-bender. Pamuya stood over Zera and raised her arms - soon a wave of water from the stream behind them came rushing forth and flooded the ruin. The Spider-Matis lurking within caught the full brunt of the deluge and was swept into the back room. it would have been carried away entirely, but it caught itself in the doorway just in time. The hulking insect on the roof caught some of the spray as well and they both hissed in mutual vexation.

Zera took the opportunity to make a flatulent escape. She rocketed upward, riding the thrust from a particularly explosive toot, and fumbled through the air, landing in some brush besides Cedar. Not bothering to brush the foliage from her hair - Zera immediately began rooting around her pack for a vial with her uninjured arm. Once procured, she brought it to her wound and pressed it so a fresh mixture of puss, blood, and venom gushed into the awaiting container. She corked it shut with smug satisfaction.

Back inside the structure, Pamuya turned to see where Zera had rocketed off to and promptly regretted taking her eyes off the Spider-Matis when she felt the piercing jaws of the beast sink into her thigh. She could feel the venom pulsing through the glistening fangs and quickly thrust her spear in between them. She wrenched the handle and freed herself from the gaping maw before the venom could travel into the wound.

After carefully placing the venom specimen in her pack, Zera charged towards Zukari. The Larger of the insects had clambered through a broken window frame away from Pamuya and launched itself into a tree overhead. Zera pushed Zukari out of the way and drew in a deep breath. From her mouth, she let loose a sizable fireball that sailed through the air and caught the Spider-Matis, as well as the forest canopy, on fire.

More hissing as their foe clattered out of the tree and back behind the ruin, leaving a trail of smoke and cinder.

Zukari turned his attention to the colossal insect on the fiber rafters. Thrusting his hand outward, a spiral of flame encircled the Spider-Matis. The party could hear and smell the carapace pop and blister as the heat overwhelmed the creature. The insect scuttled about in circles trying to escape, but it was all in vain. Just as the flames dissipated, Cedar charged forward. Using one hand to grasp the edge of the roof he lept into the air and brought his kanabo down onto the singed green abdomen with a repulsive crack.

The Spider-Matis’ turned on its back and its legs curled inward as viscous black goo streamed from fractures in its body and slopped down through the roof’s scaffolding onto a horrified Pamuya.

The party gathered outside the structure in time to see the remaining Spider-Mantis drag its way into the underbrush of forest beyond.

With the trees overhead on fire, Zera half-delirious with venom coursing through her blood, and the ruin in front of them swollen and flooded the party all stood and gazed upon their handy-work.

The silence was only broken when they heard a shutter fling open. They turned to see Buco spilling out of the window-frame wildly gesturing towards the billowing smoke rising from above them. It had been 15 minutes since they had said goodbye.

-24-

When last we saw our heroes! They decided to take a breather after their tussle with the giant Spider Mantes. They made a makeshift camp and Cedar wasted no time harvesting some arachnid meat and began to char it over the fire. Zukari joined in the culinary festivities, electing to make something on the sweet spectrum. He sandwiched bitter chocolate and gooey honey in between some rice cakes and toasted them on rocks near the flame until golden brown. As he passed out the treats to the rest of the group he christened them “Dragon Cookies” in honor of their liberated blue friend. Zera munched down and called out to Buco and Tes as melted chocolate dribbled down her chin.

“Booby and Tes!” Won’t you join us?”

She cooed.

The party heard the siblings bicker in hushed tones in their cottage.

“Uhh erm, no thanks”

Buco called out.

“We uh, got stuff to do. How about you all go, you know, back where you came from?”

And with that, the shutters clattered shut once more.

The afternoon passed lazily as the party and their animals basked in the sun, in their hammocks, or up leaned against the Orange Flame maple trees. As dusk arrived they felt rested and dusted off themselves off, ready to explore once more.

-

Zukari led the way as the party explored the nearby structures. Besides the dried corpse of an unfortunate prospector, they didn’t find much. As they retraced their steps towards the entrance of Shattered Peak village they came across a dwelling that looked to have been better taken care of than the rest of the ruins. Finding the door to be barred from the inside, the party elected Cedar to break through. He obliged, hefting his foot up and kicking into the timber plank. His foot flew straight through and caught as he tried to pull it back. Cedar furrowed his brow and grumbled as he grabbed the door frame and wrenched his boot free. The rest of the door broke away with it.

Once inside Cedar deduced that the cottage must have been Lu Fengshi’s makeshift home in the village due to a signature swirl of earth left behind from one of his tunnels. Upon learning this, Zera suggested that they leave him a note, telling him where they would be in case he could catch up with them and guide them to the Jade Hare Stronghold. Zukari was way ahead of her. He disappeared from the dwelling for a moment and returned with an oozing appendage of the deceased Spider Mantis. He etched a message onto the wall of the hut in the black blood seeping from the end of the leg. The macabre note told Lu Fengshi that they would be traveling back to Gai Pan and to find them there.

Once they were thoroughly satisfied breaking in and defacing Fengshi’s home, the Buzzard Wasp Warriors marched onward, pushing into the far corners of the village they hadn’t explored yet. They found some driftwood by the bank and fashioned a raft which they pushed into the deeper part of the stream and clambered on. Pamuya waved her arms in rapid arches and soon the party was rushing upstream as water underneath them surged forward. Cindari hissed and dug her claws into Zukari’s shoulder to secure herself as they made their way through a clearing.

Soon they found themselves beached on a shallow embankment, staring at what looked like the village center. In the middle of the square, leaning to one side ever so slightly was a weathered earthen statue of a warrior in a domed hat. One hand clutched a massive kanabo and her other was covered in pointed, jagged stone. Beyond the monument, there appeared to be barracks that had weathered the years better than most buildings in the village. Its rooftop featured a simple battlement, and arrow-slit windows confirmed that it was built to serve as a small keep in times of emergency. A large patinaed alarm gong rested where it fell centuries ago, leaning against a stone pillar on the roof.

As the rest of the party marveled at the stoic figure, Zera promptly took out a scroll and started skimming it feverishly. Cedar approached the stone woman and squinted up into her weathered eyes.

“This must be a statue of..”

“Palien! - the guardian of Shattered Peak!”

Zera blurted out, interrupting the earth bender.

Zera mosied over to the base of the statue and gave its base a stiff kick. She failed to notice that Asteria had flown above and perched on the sculpture’s shoulder. The vibrations startled the frost hawk and it let loose a dropping as it fluttered away. Zera cursed as she simultaneously tried to brush off the white splat from her tunic with one hand and clutched her throbbing toe with the other. Cedar pinched his brow before continuing the tale of Palien.

“From what I remember of the stories, she was a great earth bender warrior. She defeated a pack of Saber-Tooth Moose Lions in the foothills of Mt. Kuasatta when Shattered Peak was first founded.”

He chronicled as he gnawed the end of his pipe.

As the party continued to study the statue, a pulsing blue-violet light emanating from the structure beyond the village square caught Zukari’s eye. He pointed out the shifting light to the others and Zera, intrigued, began walking towards the entrance. Pamuya reached out and grabbed a fold in Zera’s cloak stopping her short. The water-bender urged caution, noting that the unearthly color reminiscent of the northern lights usually meant that spirits abounded nearby. She shuddered, remembering their last run-in with a spirit in Tienhai Manor.

But Zera had already freed herself and continued onward towards the barracks entrance. Zukari rolled his eyes and fashioned a lasso of flame, hurling it towards Zera’s feet as she broke out into a clumsy sprint. The loop of flame narrowly missed Zera’s feet and she bounded headfirst into the timber doorway. The wood door buckled and Zera tumbled into the dimly lit room as dust billowed around her. The others rushed towards the structure to join her as Zera rose to her feet and picked the splinters from her hair.

The light inside the barracks shifted and churned. The hue turning from indigo to an angry yellow-orange. Zera turned to investigate the sources and was confronted by 3 glowing, four-legged spirits. Crackling tendrils of energy stood rigid on their backs and they stared at her intensely with gleaming eyes that left faint trails of light wherever they went.

Zera stood, dumbfounded. The rest of the party made their way to the doorway, but stopped fast as Zera rose a hand directing them to halt. The rest of the party watched Zera, aglow in the harsh orange light, turn towards the spirits. She took a deep breath and lowered her hands, palms down, in a gesture of respect and pacifism. She closed her eyes and everything went silent. The spirits paced the interior of the barracks, eyeing the fire bender curiously. Then, interrupting the quiet, the abrupt sound of a toot burst from Zera’s tunic and echoed off the damp walls. The rest of the party winced, never knowing whether or not Zera’s flatulence was intended, or simply the result of nerves.

But Zera’s face remained calm and collected. She opened her eyes and beamed, outstretching her arms to the spirits in invitation. The spirits simply bristled for a moment, cocking their heads from one side to the next. A cold sweat dotted Zera’s forehead and the rest of the party’s hands hovered over their weapons. But then the light in the barracks shifted again, this time to a gentle sky blue. Zera shielded her eyes as the light shone brighter and brighter. When she was able to look once again, she gazed upon the three spirits, transformed into new, more friendly forms. Cedar, Pamuya, and Zukari warily shuffled into the doorway as one of the spirits lept up and rested its luminous paws on Zera’s shoulders. The spirits now resembled giant canine creatures with incredibly vivid colors and ornate markings comprising their fur. Tears formed in Zera’s eyes as she embraced the big furry creature and her body was filled with a queer, electric feeling that radiated outward from the spirit’s paws.

The other two gave the party a deep nod of respect and thanks, then trotted out of a hole in the back of the barracks’ wall to the stream beyond. In a flurry of light and energy, their bodies dissipated and dissolved into the water and flowed down, out of sight. The remaining spirit gave Zera’s hand an exuberant, slobbery kiss with its magenta tongue, wagged its short nub of a tail, and bounded out to join its companions.

The dead vegetation on the banks of the stream, wasted by the pollution of the dragon dye, began to glow as the last spirit drifted down. In no time at all, the withered leaves and flowers were filled full of life. They rose and bloomed - a faint glowing aura surrounding their petals.

Zera stood motionless. A single tear streamed down her cheek and she began to chuckle. Suddenly she shook her head, snapping out of the trance. She frantically began to look for a vial to capture some of the sticky saliva left behind by her new friend. As she reached into her bag, the darkness revealed that on the back of her hand was a glowing sigil, as if tattooed in radiant ink. She gasped and instead of the vial, reached for a blank scroll and feverishly began to scrawl the ornate icon into her notes. After a moment, the sigil waned, and then faded entirely - diffusing under her skin.

The rest of the party looked at each other and then at Zera, their mouths ajar. Zera looked back at them, rolled up her sleeve, and licked the length of her forearm up to her hand. She smacked her lips, discerning the flavor.

“Mmm, tastes like bacui berries.”

A bounty poster proudly featuring Pamuya - wanted for the murder of Cheiftan Anguta of the Nuliajuk Northern Water Tribe.

The rest of the party looked at the poster, then at Pamuya, then back at Riju. Cedar furrowed his brow, cooly grasping his ax handle.

Ever-perceptive, Riju noticed the party steeling for a fight and decide to quash their intentions. She rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air lazily.

“Please - I’m not after the gold. I’m not even after Pamuya. But as a denizen of the northern water tribe, I need to know.. Is it true?"

Pamuya’s eyes drifted from the poster to the ground as memories flooded her mind.

“I knew this day would come.”

She whispered under her breath.

She took a deep breath, held Asteria close, and began to reveal her story to Riju and the rest of the party.

“I was born in a nice, peaceful water tribe - we were all happy. We have always had a symbiotic relationship with the animals, both local and from afar. It all changed when our cheif died and was replaced with another, Anguta, who did not respect the animals and considered himself superior to all. Slowly, our home started to wither away and crumble because he threatened our animals anytime we stood up for ourselves. The worse things got, the more I heard whispers of violent revolt cloud our village, so I stepped in to offer to meet with the Anguta, as one of our stronger water benders, but also as the animal liason. Anguta understood what was coming of our land and also wanted to avoid war so he agreed, or so I thought. We were to meet at our old tribal meeting grounds, under the Kumoya waterfall. Only water benders can access this area, as even our small children learn - it was a sacred space where the most important decisions of our tribe are made. Anguta lied - he was planning to slay me and so, tried to arrive early. He could not water bend, much to my surprise, so when I came across his body, bloated and blue from cold - I surmised he drowned long before I arrived at our set time. In his furs, I found a bone dagger laced with polar eel venom. Before I could explain what happened a child of my tribe saw me kneeling over Anguta’s body at the base of Kamuya falls. She ran and warned the rest and now my tribe is convinced I murdered him. I know the penalty for chief slaying, and so rather than freeze in the wilds I ran. Now I live in exile, with the animals.. and now you all.”

Riju and the party listened intently as Paumya spoke in reverent, hushed tones.

She finally looked up and met Riju’s gaze.

“I assure you I am innocent.”

Riju sighed and leaned over to rest her arm on a nearby market stall. She casually swiped a yuzu fruit from the vendor’s crate and bit into it, wiping the juice from her mouth with her sleeve.

“I’m not sure I can believe you..”

She looked from Pamuya over to Zera, who was waving at her flirtatiously.

“..any of you. But I won’t take you in as bounty. I can’t couch for my fellow hunter guild members though. To be safe you’ll need to clear your name - unless you want to be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life.”

“Will you help us?”

Cedar asked earnestly.

“Sorry boulder boy, but I’m never going back, even to help another outcast.”

Riju replied.

“Wait, what does that mean? What have you done?”

Zukari interjected.

“I don’t have to tell you anything shepherd - I’m not the one on the poster.”

Riju sneered, tapping the parchment in Pamuya’s hands.

The party turned from Riju to console pamuya.

“I don’t care how many people we have to murder to prove you didn’t murder anyone. We are with you.”

Zera said patting Pamuya on the shoulder.

The rest of the party rolled their eyes, but shared her sentiment. After an awkward, but not altogether unpleasant group hug Pamuya blotted a tear from the corner of her eye and turned to address Riju once more. She searched the stall and bulletin post, but the bounty hunter had vanished, leaving only the faint smell of leather and yuzu zest.

Zera whiffed the air and smiled wistfully.

“She likes me you know.”

She mused, grinning like an idiot.

-

After ensuring that Pamuya was alright Zukari led the group through the stalls and carts and followed the familiar clank of hammer on anvil to the blacksmith’s shady plot. Akeza, dressed as always in her impeccably white yukata, spoke without looking up as the party approached.

“Ah - Sunspot, I was beginning to wonder when you would show up again. I have something for you.”

She said with a demure smirk.

Unhurriedly, she finished her current task and looked up to greet Zukari and the rest of the party with a relaxed smile. Zukari grew restless as she reached under her workbench and rooted around for his new invention. Soon she procured the ornately decorated walking cane and placed it in Zukari’s awaiting palms.

The rest of the party stood stooped over Zukari, investigating the curious contraption as Akeza explained how he should use his new boomstick.

“Simply load the end with a pebble, or another suitable round object - then pack this reservoir with black powder. Take aim, and ignite with your bending.”

She said as she gestured the correct technique.

Zukari took aim at some distant goji berry trees beyond the square. With a flick of his finger, a flame spurt out and ignited the combustive black granuals. A loud bang and a small explosion of fire and soot radiated from the end of the walking cane and a small projectile sputtered outward and spiraled towards the grove. Cindari dug her claws into Zukari’s shoulders and he yelped and whipped around to console her. The rest of the party tried to stifle their laughter. Zukari’s face was covered in soot and smoke and the tips of his mustache were still alight with smoldering flames.

Akeza leaned back in her seat and grinned.

“Might I help the rest of you out with anything?”

She asked.

“You happen to have and chief slaying weapons?”

Pamuya muttered to herself.

“By the spirits! What is going on out here in my er.. our lovely village?”

Halia appeared from the direction of the hall. She sauntered over to Akeza’s stall and confusedly sniffed at the air, which still carried the acrid, inviting smell of sulfur and flame.

The party explained the recent developments. Bounty hunters, chief slayers, the Jade Hare Stronghold, and exploding walking sticks had complicated their plans going forward. Zera proposed finding a flying bison or their dragon friend to ride to the northern water tribe or the fighting cliffs. Halia chuckled at the notion.

“Well i don’t know about all that, but for us common folk it’s best to charter a crew at the port up north in Orochi Lake or Full Moon Bay - but sure, go ahead and find yersleves a dragon.”