Avatar: Bounties

Lost Caverns

The newly formed trio were making their way through the caverns. Luckily they had Da-Yong, who was a firebender and lighted their way through the darkness of the caverns. As they were looking for a way out, Duncan was curious as to how Nilay knew about the mantis panthers before either him or Da-Yong. Nilay was extremely well trained in sensing the air movement around people, animals, and the atmosphere. When the mantis panthers approached, he sensed a change in the atmosphere and that alerted him. They also found out that the Air Nomads were well versed in medicine and healing wounds.

Duncan: What did you use to treat the wounds on our shins?

(Nilay pulls out some mushrooms)

Nilay: These white lotus mushrooms from the Air Temples have amazing healing properties.

Da-Yong: Oh, I think I see some of those white lotus mushrooms right there!

Nilay: Oh you don’t want to eat those. Those are white moon mushrooms. Extremely deadly and can cause rashes and extreme itching.

Da-Yong: What! They look the exact same!

Nilay: You can try it if you want but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Da-Yong: Why I ought to…

Duncan: Oh boy… Here we go...

The trio got to know each other quite well and shared their stories with each other while they were in the caverns. However, they came to the realization that they were going around in circles with no end in sight. Things were getting tense between the three as fear started to set in. They were doubting if they were ever going to get out. At times, they had to fend off pestering attacks from bat mosquitoes (mosquitoes with bat wings, Yellow Bounty). They weren’t dangerous, but they were just extremely annoying, especially if they bit you. But all of a sudden, they realized there were less and less bat mosquitoes in the caves. There was a rumble beginning to happen in the cave that felt sort of like an earthquake but it didn’t feel like a natural cause. Duncan and Da-Yong, being of the more curious nature, decided to walk towards the rumble while Nilay was yelling at them to turn away.

The closer they got to the rumbles the fewer animals they saw. “I changed my mind, I think I prefer the 3 deadly hunters to guide me home.” Nilay said in a reluctant voice. “Come on Nilay! Where is your sense of adventure? You have to…” Duncan paused mid-sentence as they finally found some light at the end of the caverns. The new area was very spacious, filled with sand and rocks, almost like a colosseum. They could see an exit at the other side of the colosseum but before they could even make a move, the ground began to shake again. Out in the middle of the colosseum rose their next challenge: the Salamander Badgermole (Blue Bounty). It had the head of a badgermole with the front two claws but had the legs and a tail of a salamander. The trio knew that if they were going to escape from these caverns they had to bust through their next obstacle.

Duncan had a plan all thought out and ready to go. He was about to explain it to Da-Yong when he suddenly realized that Da-Yong was no longer there. Da-Yong had already taken the first attack throwing a barrage of fire shurikens at the beast. The beast dug underground and popped out beneath Da-Yong feet slashing his claws at Da-Yong. Luckily Nilay reacted fast and used his airbending to push Da-Yong out of harm’s way. “But my plan…” Duncan said in disappointment as he readied himself for battle.

Da-Yang bounced back up and began to rush into close combat again. Duncan followed up by engaging the enemy for a frontal assault. They both leaped forward to strike their foe but the beast retaliated with the swing of its tail wiping the duo back into the sand. Nilay used this opportunity for an aerial attack by using his airbending to float above the beast and come down for a drop kick! However, the beast was not fooled, immediately a burst of fire was released from its mouth. Nilay reacted quick enough to use his airbending to redirect the fire but that threw off his balance and the beast swiped him away with its claws.

“He can breathe fire too?!” Da-Yong said in an outrage. The trio were stumped as it looked like this beast had a huge upper hand on them throughout the battle. Da-Yong once again ran for the beast forcing the beast to dig into the ground and reemerged behind Da-Yong. But Da-Yong was quick enough to dodge the surprise attack. It was at that moment that Duncan realized a possibility for defeating the beast. He hurried to Nilay to give him very quick instructions on what to do. Nilay gave Duncan a terrified look but in the absence of a better idea, he chose to go along.

Duncan yelled across the battlefield to Da-Yong instructing him to attack the beast from the front one more time. Da-Yong charged at the beast again with his fire fist ready to strike. The beast once again prepared itself to dig underground. However, this time the results played out very differently. Before the creature could burrow underneath, Nilay created an air swipe attack right at the beast to prevent it from escaping for a short time. That bought enough time for Duncan to trap the Badgermole Salamander in a water sphere prison. The beast was now trapped but only momentarily as Duncan didn’t have much water to hold the creature for long. That was enough time for Da-Yong to grab the beast by the tail and he mustered up all his strength to fling the beast against the walls.

The beast was badly injured as its head hit full on against the walls. Da-Yong came rushing in for the finishing blow as he was about to land the hit, Nilay stepped between them and intervened. Da-Yong being hot-headed ordered Nilay out of the way or he would be deemed a traitor. Before the situation could escalate Duncan drench DY with some water and told him to look to his right. Not too far away from the battlefield were a bunch of the inhabitant creatures that lived in the cave. They looked on in sadness and fear as their guardian was near defeat. That was when all three of our heroes realized that this creature they had been fighting was only trying to protect all the other animals that lived in the cave. It saw them as intruders and so it began to strike. Coming to this realization, Da-yong backed away from the creature. Duncan decided he used all he learned about healing from water bending to tend the creature’s wound with help from Nilay.

After some time, it was clear that the creature was in better condition and all the inhabitants of the cave were at ease. Some of the creatures began to carry their protector back for a full recovery while some of the animals, after seeing the grace displayed by the heroes, wanted to return the favour. A trail of glowing worm flies began to light up in a line revealing a path that would lead them out of the cave. Duncan and Nilay bowed to thank the creatures of the cave for assisting them on their quest. Meanwhile, Da-Yong was scratching his head hesitantly, “Yeah… sorry about beating up your friend…” And they parted ways from the creatures and escaped the lost cavern.