Avatar: Bounties

Desert of Tarmog

Now the trio found themselves in the Hot Dry Desert of Tarmog. The mission was no longer to finish the bounty for the chameleon skunk but to bring Nilay home at one of the air temples. Duncan and Da-Yong knew they were in debt to Nilay after he saved their lives from the Three Hunters, patched them up, and alerted them about the mantis panthers. Duncan pulled out his map and according to his calculations; they were still well-away from the air temple that Nilay was from. And so they continued on their journey towards the air temples!

Traversing through the Desert of Tarmog proved to be quite a challenge for the three young heroes. They were in short supply of food, water, and that was compounded by the blistering heat from the sun. Da-Yong was in the best shape of the three given that he was a fire bender but Duncan and Nilay were heavily feeling the effects of the heat. As they continued further, it felt like there was no end in sight and they were always tempted by the cactus plants they walked by for the cactus juice but they knew all too well the after effects of drinking such a liquid. They could see bone remains from animals that had perished and hovering above were Buzzard Raccoons (purple bounty) waiting for their prey to faint so they could swoop in for an easy meal. Our heroes were exhausted but they knew that if they were to rest and sit down, they might not have the strength to get back up and then it would be feeding time for the scavenging animals.

So they kept trudging along the desert and eventually, Da-Yong looked up and realized that the Buzzard Raccoons were no longer hovering above them. Duncan and Nilay hadn’t noticed as they were way more exhausted from the heat but Da-Yong had a very bad feeling about the situation. Surely enough, Da-Yong’s gut feeling was right. The sands in the desert began shifting and out of the desert winds emerged their next foe: the Scorpion Tiger (Brown Bounty). It had the head and legs of a tiger but the body and tail of a scorpion. “Watch out for the tail, it has poison within it.” Nilay alerted them. The only one who was in decent fighting condition was Da-Yong, as Duncan and Nilay could barely hold their battle stance. Da-Yong knew that their only course of action was for him to distract the beast while Duncan and Nilay escaped from the battle. Duncan wanted to debate the plan but he knew he was already low on energy and there weren’t many options.

“Come at me you coward!” Da-Yong yelled at the beast. The Scorpion Tiger fell for the taunt and went straight after Da-Yong. Duncan and Nilay moved as quickly as they could to disengage from the battlefield. Da-Yong was handling the beast well, dodging all its attacks, especially its tail. Eventually, he figured he bought enough time and found an opening to strike the beast on the side with a fire kick. He then followed it up by throwing two fire fists right into the face of the beast. Da-Yong had the beast on the ropes but this was its domain. When the beast realized it was under heavy pressure, it quickly swiped the sand into Da-Yong’s eyes. Da-Yong was no longer able to open his eyes and in his anger he just randomly threw fire anywhere he could. The beast was patient as it just slowly evaded the wildfire and waited for the opportunity to pounce on his prey. At last, there was an opening and the beast tackled Da-Yong into the sand. Da-Yong quickly got up and tried to rub off the sand from his eyes but still couldn’t see. The Scorpion Tiger continued its assault and struck Da-Yong with its claws leaving a huge mark across his right ribs. Da-Yong was heavily bleeding, he wouldn’t last much longer in battle and the beast showed no signs of fatigue. The creature continued to approach Da-Yong but before it could land a third attack a sand tornado appeared!

Nilay had re-engaged into the battle to assist Da-Yong. Duncan was slowly making his way back to try and assist them but he was still far from the fray. Nilay used an air funnel to direct all the sand at the Scorpion Tiger but the beast was barely affected by his attacks. It was now approaching Nilay rapidly but Da-Yong finally got most of the sand out of his eyes and attempted to attack the beast from behind. The predator was well aware of Da-Yong’s presence and was ready to strike back with his venomous tail. Nilay, realizing this, instantly used his air swipe to push Da-Yong away from the poisonous strike. The poison point had missed Da-Yong but the beast followed through with another tail swing directly at Nilay who was not prepared to defend himself. Nilay was hit with the Tiger Scorpion’s poison, Da-Yong was heavily wounded, and Duncan was absolutely dehydrated from the heat. It looked as if this was the end of a valiant journey for the three heroes and the Scorpion Tiger would have its meal.

As the creature slowly approached Da-Yong to finish him off, a coconut flew out of nowhere and hit the beast right on its forehead. The animal turned around as its attention was now directed to a man covered in a cloak. None of the three heroes recognized who this mysterious person was or if he was even an ally but he looked poised to take on the fierce beast by himself. The Scorpion Tiger ran with haste at the cloaked man with its claws and the man easily dodged all its swipes. The beast was clearly getting frustrated and desperate so it followed up by using its lethal tail sting to finish off its opponent but that was exactly what the cloaked fighter was waiting for. In an instant when he saw the tail swing coming, he drew out a sword and slashed off its tail from the body. The Scorpion Tiger was in severe pain after suffering a fatal wound and was forced to flee from the battle. The mysterious man was victorious but after witnessing the defeat of the beast, our heroes were completely exhausted. They all fell unconscious; Duncan from dehydration, DY from blood lost, and Nilay from the sting.