Avatar: The Last Dicebender (A:TLA/A:LOK Quest)

They stare at you with startled eyes. Your dad is appalled by your confession, he clenched his fists and refused to speak for the last half a minute. Your mom went into more of a shock; her eyes are still wide and she barely blinked over all that time at all. Roku observes the situation calmly from the side, not exactly understanding what's going on around him. Siph is off somewhere.

Your parents became disillusioned. Why you learned to bend so fast, why you grasped meditation so quickly. It was because you were born with a natural aptitude for these things, of even greater level than most people. Dad knows you're not lying; you have no reason to, which is why the conclusion he makes is all the more painful. He speaks slowly, letting words pass through his throat one at a time, "Tié. Do you... Do you realize what this means?" He almost stuttered as he spoke.

Mom is still in shock, not contemplating the fact, but contemplating whether this all is not just a dream. You shake your head, feeling a faint discomfort in your stomach. You don't want to accept it, but you felt this could happen from the moment you told them the truth. Dad confirms your feelings and your stomach sinks:

"The White Lotus needs to know," he admits fearfully, more to himself than you. You feel a hot pain overtake your hands the moment he says that. You clank your teeth together. Dad's not really thinking about this, is he? You reject the thought.

You shake your head. "You won't tell them, will you?" You look up at him with soft lines of sorrow drawn on your face.

Dad levels a cold, disappointed look in your direction. His eyes are almost cruel, but he's just trying to endure losing his son and successor. "I am going to. It's the right thing to do." He pauses, taking a breath. "But it can wait. I want you to stay, at least until Siph has her birthday." Dad looks at mom, nudging her with his elbow.

Mom looks at you. Tears well up in her eyes but she keeps them back. She wants to speak but can't. As soon as she does, they will stream. A moment goes by, silently and unhappily. Finally, she gives up and speaks, the tears leave her eyes as she shakes her head, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

You feel guilt grasp your neck, suffocating you. You wanted to, but you doubted yourself. You feared you would have to go away, and your fear proved true. That only makes it worse. No, you made this worse; you made this worse for everyone involved. Yourself, your parents, your sister, and everyone else who might need the Avatar to be prepared in the future.

"I was afraid."

They both understand. Your parents hug you together. It's not like this is a goodbye, but it still makes the fact that you'll be going away soon very obvious to you.

---

You grin wickedly. Yesterday's reveal can't ruin your mood today. During a walk, you stumbled upon a crashed sand-slider, probably abandoned by another tribe after it turned into a wreck. You've already dragged most of the parts home with the help of a sled dragged by Roku. Over the last several months, your pet has grown to the size of a dog and is strong enough to help out like this. He doesn't mind, as you are friends. Friends help each other.

By late afternoon, you have all of the parts in your backyard. Mom brings you tea, as you begin to work. For the repairs, you'll have to fix everything on your own. Find your own nails to bring the thing together, tie up the sail and patch the holes in it, and other such operations.


Finding materials is hard. Wood and metal aren't available in the market readily. Although you buy a spare plank from Huang for several copper pieces and manage to dig around and find a few nails in the cupboard inside your house, you can't find enough to fix it for the first week. After some time of spreading information and asking around, you finally find everything you require. The items aren't of good quality , but you'll make do. You begin your work, if you can call it that.


You look at the sand-slider. You've put two weeks of work into it, but you don't feel content. What you are looking at is jury-rigged at best.

+200 XP!
+Shabby Sand-slider.
+Craft (Int)
+Obtain your own sand-slider. (+4,000 XP, +6CP.) Fulfilled! +4,000 XP! +6 CP!
Level Up!

---

"This is something you'll need if you're going out there," Dad says. You nod, you have no objections to learning this. Learning about other cultures that you will be traveling to as the Avatar will be very useful. You might learn about the customs of the other nations and thus how to fit in. Being ostracized is the last thing you need right now.

He points to the map with an open palm. "Show me what you know already."

You give him vaguely accurate nation territories; the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and where the Air Nomads used to live, as well as the United Republic of Nations. He nods, "The borders go a little different, but I can see you have the hang of this," he mentions as your finger goes across the Republic and Earth Kingdom territory. He proceeds to lecture you on how the aftermath of the Hundred-Year War affected the Earth Kingdom and the disputes over territory for the Republic. The lecture goes on for fifteen minutes. You...


Stay focused on his words. Afterward, he gives you a general overview of the other nations, their culture, and once again, how the One-Hundred-Year War affected them. Apparently, the United Republic of Nations is thriving right now. The Fire Nation is not far behind, but it's easy to discern why that is. The Earth Kingdom is pissed about what used to be its territory now belonging to someone else, while the Water Tribes try to stay out of the political turmoil and mostly trade with pretty much everyone.


You understand the lesson and grasp everything dad taught you, memorizing them.

+200 XP!
+2 Intelligence.
+2 Intelligence.
Knowledge (Int) (Earth Kingdom History): +4
Knowledge (Int) (One-Hundred-Year War): +4
Knowledge (Int) (The Nations): +2
+4 to social with Makiw.

---

"That's an 'a,' actually," you correct Huzzah, as he had come to call himself. Honestly, you call him Hue-Sar and Huzzah interchangeably. Neither of you mind, though he uses the latter in public because despite being a very excitable name, it's more natural than something with one of these fancy pauses in the middle.

He nods, then corrects the sentence. "That right?" he asks.

"More or less," you say, internally cringing at the little sloppy flaws in his writing. The sentence is meant to say 'Sun brings light,' but with the way he wrote it, it's actually read as: 'Sunkh brinks lite.' The problem seems to be on his part. Hue-Sar is inept when it comes to recognizing how sounds transfer into letters. His grammar needs a lot of work.

The two of you sit on the sentence for five more minutes, until he finally does it properly. "There, see? Not that hard. Not a line off."

Hue-Sar smiles. It's weird, teaching a person that used to be an ancient tree how to read and write. Over the past week, you've ran the alphabet with him. He has it memorized, but he makes the occasional slip or mistake, or forgets a letter and remembers it a minute later without reminding. He'll get there in a while, he's an ancient tree kami for your [Avatar's] sake!

"Anyway," you put away the writing tools for now. "What do you think of the world so far?"

"Oh!" he sounds passionately. "It's fascinating! I spoke to mortals before down in the jungle, but I never gathered much of how life is up here from such talk. I mostly talked philosophy with people, but I'll be completely honest with you-" his voice turns into a whisper "-I rarely had any idea what my own proverbs meant."

You snort at that. "Wow."

"I know, right? And people somehow bought it anyway, and thanked me for my deep wisdom. Not that I wasn't a complete fake. With age, I've gained a lot of knowledge from deduction of people's stories. I actually did become kind of wise by the time you came. I'm glad I can put down the act of an ancient spirit now."

Ah, yes. Huzzah has been most amiable. The thing that surprised you was just how quickly his personality changed from the powerful tree you conversed with. This guy you 'created' is more straightforward, simple, and frankly, much nicer. You prefer this cool dude with a beard over a big, mysterious tree. Not that you don't respect venerable spirits, that is.

+Teach Hue-Sar how to read and write. (+650 XP, +1CP.) Fulfilled! +650 XP! +1 CP!
+2 to social with Hue-Sar.

---

After wishing Siph a happy birthday, the family and friends all sit down to eat together. Bung is at the table much to your father's consternation, but to make Siph happy, dad behaves and doesn't cast any peculiar glances in his direction. Even Hue-Sar was allowed in. He finds the birthday custom weird and silently leans in, whispering to you that he finds it bizarre that humans celebrate a day reminding them they are closer to dying of old age, but shrugs and acts cheery anyway.

Other than the uncomfortable fact that the entire family knows who you are, (neither yours nor Siph's friends do, however,) there is a kind of awkward atmosphere between you and your parents, but you put it off for Siph's sake. It's her day. Everyone cheers and eats together. Homecooked meals, like giant mouse stew with onions and desert bison steak, but also desserts like pies baked by your mom, according to the family recipe. Siph gorges herself, but you barely eat a portion of the steak and then a slice pie and you're already full.

The time comes to open the birthday presents. Siph gets various things. Clothes for everyday use, some utility items, and your own gift. She's been pestering you about it for some time. Only with the help of your dad's contacts did you manage to get her a dagger from the times of the War. Your parents surprisingly didn't disapprove, mostly because she's going into the age at which carrying weapons is locally considered acceptable.

She gives you a hug and promises to give you sandbending lessons to help you out a little.

The party ends in the evening and you help your parents clean up. Instantly afterward, Siph is already bothering you to get ready for some learning from the quote 'best damn sandbender in town!' You gulp and follow her to a desert hill, where she tutors you.

Two long hours of excruciating katas pass by. She's terrible at explaining things, but when you try to mimic her movements, there is an uncanny improvement to your own techniques. You begin to notice a connection with how the sand moves and how the hands of a bender move.

Finally, she decides to take a break, and you follow in her stead. The two of you fall to the cool evening sand. The sun is not as bad in this part of the year. The stars cover the sky, giving you two a beautiful image to look at while you rest. No sand gets in your hair thanks to your garbs.

She tilts her head to you. "Hey, bro?"

"Hm?" You don't look at her, no particular reason for doing so. Maybe you just enter a lucid trance, looking at the stars.

She lets a moment pass by, then speaks. "You'll be leaving soon, won't you?"

Frustration flares in your chest. All calmness you find in the sea of light above you is pulled away from you abruptly by the question. You answer her honestly. She'd see through any of your lies and it would only make her angry. "Yeah." You want to nod, but the sand under you won't let you make the gesture clear.

She hardens at that and looks at the sky again. You take your turn to look at her. She doesn't show it, but your confirmation diminished any happiness she derived from today. You decide to fix that and say, "Hey, remember that one time I told you I want to be a police officer?"

Her lips shot open, but she's quiet. Her face and eyes move to the side, looking at you with her jaw down in complete awe, as she's not sure whether you're about to say it or not. You smile at the reaction, showing merriment. You look her straight in the eyes as you confidently reinforce your words from almost a year ago, "I intend to keep that promise I made."

A pair of tears goes down her cheeks, but she doesn't cry. She smiles back at you jovially.

You offer her to talk about anything she wants. Siph opens up and tells you some about what she feels, but her words make you feel sour and kind of bitter. Just like you, she wants to see the world beyond the Si Wong Desert. Unlike you, however, she decides to stay here with her family. A decision that you don't have because of your birthright.

With no particular emotion in your tone, you state, "I'll always remember the time a giant wolf almost left a scratch on my butt. I could always rely on you." You don't finish the sentence by saying 'but how can I pay you back for all those times if I'll be gone for, probably, my entire life and only visit you scarcely?'

"No problem!" she giggles, then extends her hand to punch you in the arm.

You snort, then smile at her, and return the punch.

"Hey, you don't hit a lady!" She becomes upset. "What's wrong with you?"

Your smile disappears into a deep neutrality and anxiety until she punches you again twice as hard and laughs at your expression, progressively getting up from the sand as she does. You growl, not maliciously, but in a mixture of irritation and weariness. You stand up after her. The two of you step back away from each other, until ten meters separate you.

"Sandbender duel, now!" she offers, or rather, challenges.

You pretend to crack your knuckles, but you honestly have no idea how, so you just replicate the movement and hope she thought that she was out of range to hear the signature cracking sound, else she might have laughed at you. "I accept!" you thunder confidently.

You get into position. Three seconds pass. The duel begins.

---

---

"Hey, Siph, on second thought," you request, "Can I meditat––––––" Before the word passes through your mouth properly, you narrowly avoid a whip composed of yellow sand. It flies horizontally from your left. You lean backward, almost dropping to the desert floor. The whip flies around you and coils back at your surprised sister, who receives a nullified blow to her side. She yelps in pain.

You shrug, stand into position, and decide to give her a taste of her own ruthlessness. You dig your foot into the ground and spin, releasing a large wave of sand that pushes Siph back and digs into her skin at high speed, also blinding her temporarily. Although the attack almost missed, it still did very impressive damage to your sister.

She groans and raises a fist, slamming it down into the air. This creates a localized explosion of sand in front of you. The powder flies toward you with force that mortal men would not imagine sand can possess. Your forearms move from the ground to the sky in a swift motion, raising a shield to protect you.

Once the attack is gone, you discard this shield and launch it at Siph much like your previous attack, but this time she manages to move her own arm and intercept with a short wave of her own before it hits. Once again, she forms a wide and long whip and tries to thrust it at you, this time from a lower angle. You jump over the strike, then bend a ball of tough sand and launch it at her. Siph receives a blow to her chest.

Siph smiles at you. "Could it be that my little brother isn't as bad as I thought?"

"You underestimate me," you answer, then move your feet back. You climb an elevation. "I have the high ground. Don't try it!"

Siph grins wickedly. "How about a taste of your own medicine?!" She lunges her arms forward in three rapid movements, bending three balls of sand identical to yours. They fly in your direction. Your eyes widen at the stunning speed at which she launches the projectiles. You sidestep the first one, then duck over the second one, only to be hit by the third one. You recover quickly, then drag your foot in a guillotine pattern across the ground, launching a traveling shockwave of sand in Siph's direction.

She doesn't even have to dodge, as she simply runs through the attack on which you lost focus to make it dangerous enough. She inches in closer, repeating the maneuver from before, which she deemed successful. Three balls of sand fly, this time from shorter range and even faster. You barely sidestep the first one, but the other two simultaneously hit you in the chest and stomach, launching you down the hill. She claims the high ground for herself and smiles.

"The high ground means jack if you don't know how to use it," she says, then demonstrates. Siph reaches to the ground and sand envelopes her entire arm. She moves it in a cutting manner and the whip slices you across the chest. It's tough like a rock and as fast as a horse, but she softens the impact in order not to invite the next Avatar into this world too early. You try to bend a sandwave at the same time she does this, but you end up falling out of balance and getting knocked to the ground.

You feel exhausted and hurt. Your muscles are agonized and depleted. Siph, just to finish you off and show you who's boss, lets one last ball of tough sand hit you in the midriff, making the rest of your body pounce up slightly with a grunt of pain.

You lay there.

She approaches, grinning victoriously.

"Sensei, you're far too cruel," you joke.

She smiles at you in response, then helps you up.

+6 to social with Siph.
+18 to Earthbending.
+Make sure that Siph's upcoming birthday is the best she had so far. (+500 XP.) Fulfilled! +500 XP!
+Get to know Siph a little better. (+200 XP, +1CP.) Fulfilled! +200 XP! +1 CP!

---

Currently: 166 AG, Spring.
NOTE: Your dad decided to inform the White Lotus next Autumn, so you have 2 more turns. Choose carefully.

Select two social focuses for the next season. You can select one option two times.
[] Dad.
[] Mom.
[] Siph.
[] Bung.
[] Hue-Sar.
[] Roku.

Select three training focuses for the next season. You can select one option numerous times.
[] Bending.
-[] Earthbending.
-[] Waterbending.
-[] Airbending.
-[] Firebending.
[] Meditation.
-[] Meditation.
-[] Chakra Control.
[] Physical exercise.
[] Geography, culture and history lessons with your dad.
[] Healing, weaving, and spirituality lessons with your mom.
[] Riding Roku.

Select additional ambitions. (3 Short-Term, 1 Mid-Term. QM Note: You can pick no ambitions at all for the time-being, if you wish.)
[] (Mid-Term) Visit someplace outside the desert. (+5,000 XP, +7CP.)
[] (Mid-Term) Beat Siph in a Sandbending Duel. (+7,500 XP, +10CP.)
[] (Mid-Term) Learn another style of Bending than Earthbending. (+6,000 XP, +8CP.)
[] (Short-Term) Convince Siph to come with you. (+500 XP. Note: Morally ambiguous/selfish.)
[] (Short-Term) Convince Hue-Sar to come with you. (+50 XP. Note: Easy.)
[] (Short-Term) Learn to ride on Roku properly. (+300 XP.)
[] (Short-Term) Teach Roku a trick. (+250 XP.)
[] (Short-Term) Can Hue-Sar bend or anything similar? Let's find out! (+500 XP, +1CP.)
[] (Short-Term) Get better at meditation. (+300 XP, +1CP.)
[] (Short-Term) Teach Hue-Sar how to fit into society. (+600 XP, +1CP.)
[] (Short-Term) Get Hue-Sar to like you as a friend. (+500 XP, +1CP.)

LEVEL 7, +1 CP!
CURRENT CP: 12

May buy the same upgrade multiple times unless stated otherwise.

[] Don't spend CP.

[] (-1 CP.) Chi Roulette: 50-50 chances to double CP or lose all of them. You win, you grin. You lose, bad news.

[] (-2 CP.) +2 Strength.
[] (-2 CP.) +2 Constitution.
[] (-1 CP.) +2 Dexterity.
[] (-1 CP.) +2 Intelligence.
[] (-1 CP.) +2 Wisdom.
[] (-1 CP.) +2 Charisma.
[] (-1 CP.) You learn to cook and make tea.
[] (-1 CP.) You hear an interesting rumor.
[] (-3 CP.) You find a book filled to the brim with proverbs. (May only be taken once.)
[] (-4 CP.) During meditation, something weird happens.
[] (-4 CP.) Make an additional training action this turn. (May only be taken once.)
[] (-5 CP.) Meet a group of travelers.
[] (-5 CP.) Your dad takes you to the Misty Palms Oasis on a trip. (May only be taken once.)
[] (-5 CP.) You find a sandbending scroll.
[] (-6 CP.) During a walk through the desert, you find a dying man and take him to the village. (May only be taken once.)
[] (-10 CP.) You can train once more every turn. (May only be taken once.)
[] (-10 CP.) You find an earthbending scroll.
[] (-15 CP.) You find a waterbending scroll.
[] (-15 CP.) You find a firebending scroll.
[] (-17 CP.) You find an airbending scroll.
[] (-50 CP.) Become one with the cosmic energy. (May only be taken once.)

---

PLEASE, VOTE BY PLAN.