During a relatively quiet week in Ural, the Earth Kingdom government has found new leads. Rosh shares a report with Holku, "I got this from the Chief."
Holku: "What, they found a group of firebenders selling herbs. I wonder what their motivation is."
Rosh: "That is why we're going to question them." Later that day, three firebenders wait in the Fire Nation embassy where they have been transported. They are tied to their chairs.
The Fire Nation detective waits on the other side of the room, "See what you can do." Rosh crosses his arms and Lika presses her hands against her hips.
Holku probes the suspects, "So you just casually decided to sell herbs?"
Middle Aged Firebender: "Yes, exactly. We wanted a way to make extra coin. Taxes have been high lately."
Rosh: "And where are you from? You aren't longstanding Uralan citizens."
Young firebender: "Zantin, we're from Zantin."
Rosh: "That's what I read from your passports. But it doesn't make sense, you move to sell herbs."
Middle Aged Firebender: "Like I said, taxes have been high. It was harder to make a living than we expected."
Holku: "That would have made sense IF,we didn't find a picture in one of your pockets of Oviss with the glowing flames."
Tall firebender: "That's just a circus act we enjoy."
Holku: "I've never heard of that and I've been in Ural forever."
The lanky firebender gasps, "It isn't from Ural. It is from Gasza and is an up-and-coming group. I saw them on travel and shared my card with them."
The trmeam huddles. Rosh: "Do you believe all that?"
Holku: "Of course not."
Lika: "They're obviously lying, the tall guy was running with that story. He was overexplaining things."
Rosh: "I've never heard of that guy on the cards."
Holku: "Oviss looks like a cult leader."
Rosh: "What are you thinking?"
Holku ponders, "They work for him. He is trying to help the herb selling business to hurt the earthbenders. Maybe he is an Ozai Restoration guy."
Lika: "But selling herbs also harms local firebenders."
Rosh: "I am convinced that it is a cult. I'm not sure about too much else yet."
Lika: "Let's change our search Rosh. I say we investigate this guy and see what info we find."
Holku: "That's one heck of a plan."
Filling the Puzzle
Several men and a few women gather in dark red robes outside of an old abandoned building on the Southwestern outlands of Ural. It is a particular hot and windy day.
Rosh, Lika, and Holku arrive undercover in dark red robes. A recruiter acknowledges them, "Do you seek the light?"
Rosh answers, "Absolutely, I'm hungry for it."
Holku adds, "We are so tired of the darkness." The trio are welcome in a crowd of around 30 people inside of the old building. The walls are dark red, the ceiling is white, and the ground is dusty.
A man stands across them in light red and biege stripped battle armor. Armored recruiter: "Welcome champions. You all have been brought to a new mission and purpose. We are the chosen people, the superior nationality."
The recruiter continues, "We will unite the scattered remnant of people with purpose. But first, we must strike back. Soon enough, you will see the Supreme Master."
Rosh whispers to his friends, "What a bunch of gibberish." The crew is brought to a larger room with another 90 or so followers. They are gathered in seats where around twelve armored guards stand watch.
Oviss emerges. He is bald with tan brown skin and gold eyes. Oviss is fairly tall, he stands at 6'1. The armored trooper finishes, "At last, the Supreme Master has come."
Oviss speaks, "I call you altogether on one immense task. I call you all to look at this city Ural. WHAT IS IT?!!"
A few members of the crowd reply, "An abomination."
Rosh is baffled, "What?"
Oviss looks up, "Precisely."
Lika: "This is getting strange."
Oviss: "People of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation live as equals. Two governments and systems coexist. This is disgusting!! Only one nation can rule a country, only one group of people can be dominant. Since Ural fails to understand this principle, it must be obliterated."
Oviss adds, "This is why we support the flooding of herbs into the city, to destabilize it. But we are not finished. A renowned Fire Nation conqueror named Kubaah worked on a weapon of substantial destruction called the Land Incinerator. He used it to burn cities, towns, and villages until the dreaded Avatar took him down."
Oviss continues, "But the temple still exists, infact, the Avatar never found it's location. I have by adding together several maps and compasses of the location. His followers worshipped him. They refused to use his contraption until his rumored return."
Holku: "This is getting really weird, you're right Lika."
Oviss: "Unfortunately that day did not come to be and they all died out protecting his best kept secret. Or so the legend says. We will begin our grand expedition as we go to the Land Incinerator and activate it. Decimating this city will be a true blessing to those whole in mind and spirit."
The crowd cheers. A man screams, "Burn it down."
Holku: "These people are the OPPOSITE of what we stand for."
Rosh: "Don't worry, they'll get their just treatment soon enough."
Ambitious Expedition
Several cultists gather outside as they march in the sandy and desert-like exterior of Ural. There are a few trees but they grow fewer the further out the people venture. Rocks begin to cover the ground as they press on.
Oviss leads the pack while Rosh and his companions trail around the back of the formation. A few armored members lead the way while the other followers press on in their robes.
A few robed members are given spears so they can defend themselves against any reasonable hazards. Holku takes a lance, "This isn't my style but I guess I'll need to make do."
Rosh: "It's just for a day or two Holku." A few men faint from exhastion during their march. They are given water and deemed to weak to finish the passage. The others press on toward the ancient instrument.
Holku looks out and can see a stone building. The structure has an opening in the center that is not covered by a roof. Oviss: "There it is, Kubaah's temple."
A heavy sand storm erupts and the group huddles around the building in tents. The armored man gives out another message, "Stay here my family. Oviss will go and he will take a few of you with him to enter the temple."
About six armored troops prepare to go with Oviss. Two have one sword, three are firebenders, and one of them has dual short swords. Eleven people go in robes. Six of the robbed people have spears.
Holku is called up. Rosh whispers, "Don't worry, Lika and I will be right behind you." Oviss and two of the armored soldiers take charge while the rest follow along. Rosh and Lika make a plan.
Rosh: "The men with armor get more respect so let's get a hold of that."
Lika confronts one of the armored guards, "Our tent has a rip in it."
Armored man: "I'll see if we have a spare one."
Lika persists, "Can you at least look at it?"
The man sighs, "I don't see why not." The man follows Lika into the tent and she cracks him in the helmet with a summoned earth hammer. Rosh reveals himself.
Rosh: "Looks like a good fit for me."
An armored Rosh warns an armored woman, "This way, I need your help." The lady accompanies Rosh in the tent and Lika hits in the back of the head with a stone without moving her body.
Rosh and Lika alike step away from the crowd and toward the temple in armor. Three guards stand in their way. One has a double edge sword, another is a firebender, and the other has a traditional long sword.
Firebender: "Do you need something?" Rosh looks at Lika. Since they are in a relatively isolated area, Lika goes for it. Lika flings a string of stones from behind at the long sword user and the firebender. They both are dropped from the impact of a dozen rocks.
The dual sword user hops at Rosh with a horizontal double slash at the legs. Rosh leaps back and hesitates to firebender and give away his location.
Lika sinks half of the man's body in the ground and Rosh sprints before kicking the man in the head. The soldier is knocked asleep. The duo bury the troops in the sand before continuing their march to the temple.
Oviss keeps walking until he hears a chirping noise above him. Three brown furred mega grasshoper-praying mantises. The animals are 7 feet long and one foot wide. They have razor sharp teeth and six limbs with claws
One jumps down and bisects a robbed firebender. A second beast hops and slashes a spear recruit's head off. A third animal swoops toward Oviss who pumps his hands over and fries the creature's head into mush.
One beast leaps ahead of Holku who trips from the commotion. The fighter rolls back and glides his weapon backwards through the animal's neck. Green blood oozes out from the strike.
Oviss turns and looks at the remaining predator which knocks over a hooded spear fighter and blasts the creature to pieces. The group gathers themselves with the break of silence.
Oviss notices a locked door and ways his hands intricately while flashing orange-yellow sparks of fire. The door automatically opens. The next room is dark but the firebender naturally ignites the torches.
As the troops march on, two armored warriors guard the rear formation. One has a sword, the other is a firebender. Rosh snatches the one on the left behind behind and shoves his head against the wall before dropping him.
Lika trips the other guard before stomping his head. Rosh and Lika sneak into the back of the formation in their stolen armor. Holku looks back and notices his friends. Holku briefly grins then corrects himself when a guard looks at him.
The entourage notices a opening in the center of the room that looks up to the sky. There is a brown rusted metal circular device under the opening. Oviss raises his arms and gestures, "Now I will show you something magnificent."
The firebender twirls his hands and the device glows. A ray of energy flows from the sun and sparks a beam of fire from the sky down to the sinister instrument. Rosh looks at Lika and gasps, "He's powering up the beam."
Oviss: "Alass brothers and sisters. Today Ural falls."
Rosh interupts, "NOT TODAY! Today, Ural's champions emerge. The Resolution Team has come."
Lika remarks, "Diversity is a good thing you violent weirdos."
Oviss: "A pity you are too late. Followers, destroy them!!" The four armored troopers enter their stances (two are firebenders, one has a sword, and the other has two sabers).
Eight of the hooded followers enter their battle stances.
Holku pretends to raise his guard and impales one of the armored duelists from behind. Lika kicks three rocks into an armored firebender. Rosh spreads his hands and blasts back the other two armored soldiers.
A firebender jumps behind Holku who smacks the back of his spear into the bender's nose. Another firebender springs toward him but the teen shoves his weapon through the woman's midsection before retracting his new weapon.
Lika sways left and directs a pentagon shaped stone into a charging spear fighter. The earthbender spreads her hands as she blows two firebenders back with liquified earth.
Rosh flips in the air then accelerates down with a gust of flames and pounds the floor. An eurption of fire vaporizes the other followers. Oviss realizes he will not have enough time to fire the weapon if he continues to leave himself open.
Oviss: "Not bad. Looks like I will have to use this device to amplify my powers." The cultist stretches his left hand out and pulls an aura of orange and yellow fire around himself. Oviss: "Now, you will suffer."
The firebender points his hands at Rosh as he directs a long stream of flames at him. Rosh rolls right and punches two fireballs at Oviss who catches the fireballs in the air before redirecting them at Lika who raises a barrier to block them.
Rosh: "How did you?"
Oviss: "Studying ancient firebending texts has taught me how to perform many abilities." The firebending master unleashes a volley of twenty fireballs. Oviss shoots seven at Rosh and Lika as well as six at Holku.
Holku runs and uses his spear to pole jump away from danger. The nonbender looses his grip and tumbles in the process. Lika raises an earth cocoon around herself which endures the flames.
Rosh rolls past four flames, blocks two, and one hits the left side of his back. Rosh groans but endures the pain. Oviss pushes a ray of flames into Lika's cocoon.
Rosh screams, "LIKA!!" The young woman is knocked back by a surround of flames which sends her rolling in ashes. Rosh steps forward and punches two rods of orange-red fire at the cultist.
Oviss zaps his own beam of fire into the rods. The firebender yanks his hands down and tosses a bed of flames at Rosh. The firebender zooms left with a splash of flames and makes his way past the fire bed.
Uncontrollable flames spread around the room from Oviss's attacks. Holku gets up and nods at Rosh. Rosh jumps and lands on his friend's spear. Holku flings him up and Rosh glides at Oviss before hammering his right leg into the man's chest.
Rosh enhances his kick with flames and knocks Oviss into the wall. The cultist falls asleep. Rosh sways his hands as he prevents Lika from getting burned up. Rosh: "Are you ok?"
Lika coughs and gets up, "Yeah. I'm alive, now shut that thing off." Rosh runs up to the device and concentrates.
Rosh: "Think Rosh, think." Rosh pulls with his chi and feels the fire contraption. He pulls down and can feel a potent stream of flames. Rosh: "Wow, this thing is HEAVY!"
Lika cheers him on, "You can do it Rosh."
Holku: "You got THIS!" Rosh concentrates as he pulls the fire back. Holku gasps.
Lika cheers, "You did it?"
Holku: "We should celebrate my sister makes some bomb lemonade and we can play cards. Maybe you'll do better next time."
Lika: "I'm gonna sleep in and get some aloe vera cream this weekend."
Rosh hugs Lika, "Rest up, get strong for your next mission." Lika waves and heads home.
Rosh looks at Holku, "Let's have some fun."