Session Zero Heroes - A TTRPG Actual Play Podcast
Speaker A: Last time on Benders and Brews an.
Speaker B: Avatar Legends Podcast mr. Oklahron, who owns this tea shop, he calls out. I am running out to the back to check the inventory. I will be right back if anything goes wrong. I'm sure you guys can handle it. Shortly after, from the front door, a mid 40s man stumbles into the tea shop. What? Can I get a drink here? What kind of booze you dad the obviously intoxicated man, he just loudly starts singing. I went to basic.
Speaker C: I know how to handle this. So you want some alcohol? I know the best place. It's not here. Go across the street. We're going to take a right. Go down some stairs. I'll walk you to the door. We can sing a song. how's that sound?
Speaker B: I've been to a lot of the bars in the state. I don't remember that one. And then he climbs up onto his table and he just starts shouting this lady right here, she's a liar. And the table wobbles a little bit and he falls off the table and just crashes onto the ground. And he looks at Bill and he takes a swing at you.
Speaker D: I grab a cup and I fill it with hot dirty dishwater.
Speaker B: Hey Mr. Your drinks ready. And he picks up the cup and he downs it.
Speaker D: Oh, hey, Mr. That was a dirty drink, but it was dirty dishwater.
Speaker B: This giant, muscular, double bearded 17 year old comes stepping out from the back.
Speaker D: Sir, do you really want to get into an altercation now? Look at all these nice people. You're messing up their evenings. Why don't you just head outside?
Speaker B: So as he swings his fist, you expertly dodge out of the way and push him ever so slightly towards the door as he lands outside and kind of just rolls onto the ground. And then all of a sudden, all the people in the restaurant start to cheer and clap. Mr. Okuron enters through the back of the shop. What in the world is going on?
Speaker C: We kicked out a drunken this young man.
Speaker B: So he steps into the shop. I need to have a word with you outside, old man. The guy says you owed us the money for the whole month and you haven't paid up yet. You have until tomorrow. Please. That's not going to be enough time to get the money together. Okay, fine. I'll give you to this weekend. But if you don't pay me by then, I'm trashing the tea shop and taking whatever I want. Wild coyote boars. Let's roll out. They're a group that offers protection services. I've always been able to make the payments, but this month a customer called in a fairly large and expensive order. It was going to be a, catering job for a very wealthy individual here in town. They bailed on the order and canceled it. And now I'm stuck with all these incredibly expensive ingredients. I don't know what else to do.
Speaker C: I want to talk to the rich people.
Speaker B: He finds very large, nice house, and on the decorative mailbox it says Shifu family.
Speaker C: And I knock on a door.
Speaker B: A man dressed in a long robe.
Speaker E: Says, welcome to the Sifu residence. My name is Sebastian.
Speaker B: you've mentioned something about some sort of tea deal that the Master and the mistress have ordered for the party tonight.
Speaker C: Yeah, there's a miscommunication.
Speaker B: Maybe I could retrieve the order form and, if you want to write notes on it, and I could have it sent off to the master, wherever he's at.
Speaker C: Why he's out of the room. I'm pickpottking their couch cushion.
Speaker B: He comes in and he hands you a sheet of paper. It is a tea ordering form from some company called Hot Leaf Juice.
Speaker D: Oh, hey there, mister. Got a squid delivery. I walk around the house trying to find any sort of storm doors.
Speaker B: Yeah, you do find kind of a storm cellar.
Speaker D: I want to go in there. I try to just smash the lot and I try to go in through and close the door behind me.
Speaker C: There was a problem with the Hot Leaf Juice not having all the proper tea that they needed, so that they needed our help. The blissful brew to kind of restock what they have, and you guys give us the rest of the payment.
Speaker B: So he writes that down and, he says, I will have this mailed off right away. Stuck in the basement. Who is Hot leaf juice? How will the Master and mistress use this squid? And then the real question will Brock.
Speaker C: Lee ever get out of the basement? He's stuck there to enjoy his time with his new friend, the squid.
Speaker D: We're getting the M money?
Speaker C: Yeah, we're getting some money. Well, we're delivering half of our tea.
Speaker D: To the people having that big party there. Yeah, it's like, hey, isn't that the squid that Guajan just bought? So Earth bends a little makeshift box, scooping up the squid, make a lid for it. I now have the squid in my possession. Are there any other spots in the basement that haven't been explored yet?
Speaker B: One room. It looks to be some sort of a study.
Speaker D: Can I go check out that one room?
Speaker B: You take a look over at the, main desk and sure enough, there is a note sitting there. This also signed the Hot Leaf Juice Company. The basic gist of what it's saying is, we appreciate your assistance in choosing the Hot Leaf Juice for your party instead of the competition in your area. Here is the promised rebate from your order. The rest will follow after the proceedings of tonight's event. Hey, guys, I got the squid back and I.
Speaker D: Gotta give this little guy a name. Yeah, and this is I like that.
Speaker B: Dilbert the squid. The Squid. Okay, you finally make it back to, the blissful brew. Suddenly you hear the sound of glass shattering from inside the blissful brew. There's a rock on the ground that seems to have been thrown in through one of the windows. There seems to be a note attached to the rock. the note, it says, you.
Speaker C: Have to tell us the shop or I'll fight. You know who.
Speaker B: I recently had somebody tried to offer to buy the shop from me. They were very adamant about it. It's my old employer, Hot Leaf Juice. Bump, bump. Mr. Oguron says yes. It was probably my old employer, Hot Leaf Juice 30 years ago. But essentially I co owned Hot Leaf Juice when it first started with, at the time, my business partner, Madame Yang. She stabbed me in the back. Literally. Since then, I've exited the company because I didn't agree with a lot of their policies and sort of the direction things were going and decided to go off and start my own tea shop. She was not happy about that. And she's always been after me for it. Well, admittedly, Gaoling is one of the few larger cities in the entire Earth kingdom that doesn't currently have a Hot Leaf Juice. I'm the one thing standing in our way from really taking over the entire land.
Speaker C: Well, Mr. Okuron, I have some great news for you. You're going in half these for the party.
Speaker D: I found this note in their study. And it says here that Hot Leaf Juice was in with the Shifu family and they paid the Shifu family to not use our business and to switch over.
Speaker B: the Hot Leaf Juice is going to be here in town. I'm going to get the ingredients prepped and ready. We will show our professional capabilities and our tea quality will be superior.
Speaker D: Meaning we need to ditch half their supply. Hot Leaf Juice doesn't know what we look like. A couple of us could just act like we're working for the Shifu family and we're going to help them unload their stuff for them. And by unload, I mean we take it the wrong way and then just ditch it somewhere. We just pose as hot leaf juice the entire time. So Mika and I will be hot leaf juice. We could have dilbert ink in their teeth.
Speaker B: You watch them pull in in their cart. As soon as it pulls over, you see a few people get out. And then this woman steps out, very tall, very intimidating as she looks over at you guys in your booth. And she just gets this little curl of a smile in the corner of her lips. And she starts walking towards you. Mika, you've got a big old Voss of muddy duck and fish poop water.
Speaker C: I want to find a way to put my water into those pots.
Speaker D: I'll walk up to the Hot Leaf Juice on the car, just act like I own it. Walk up, grab a box.
Speaker B: So, sure enough, nobody really questions anything that you're doing. You just grab a box.
Speaker D: I want to take the two tea boxes. I'll earth bend a card for them. I'm going to wheel it around the building and just catapult them over the hedge maze. with my crates now in the maze, I just nonchalantly walk inside, and I take a post up at the Hot Juice stand.
Speaker B: You see this woman walking towards your friends who are setting up the booth for the Blissful Brew?
Speaker F: Well, the blissful brew. I wasn't expecting to see your company here. My name is Madame Yang, owner and CEO of Hot Leaf Juice. I'm sure your boss, Mr. Okuron, probably mentioned me.
Speaker D: Can't two companies coexist at the same?
Speaker F: Hmm? Well, I suppose we have no choice now, don't we?
Speaker B: You suddenly see the familiar face of Mr. Okaron making his way down towards you with a small cart filled with.
Speaker F: Various well, well, I was told he would show up eventually.
Speaker B: Oh, Madam Yang.
Speaker F: Oh, you can say it, you old fool. You're not happy to see me. And believe me, the same can be said for you.
Speaker B: No, it's, good to see you. We used to study together under a tea master. She was from a wealthy family. I very passionate from a young age, even about tea. Her parents were not happy with the fact that a tea master that they had hired to tutor her were allowing me to sit in on those lessons and also learn. And so they did everything in their power to make sure that I was unable to do so. She stabbed me in the back, fairly literally. So I had to flee. But, thankfully, that's where I was able to travel around the world and learn the tea skills and arts of so many different cultures and groups.
Speaker F: I think it's you who wouldn't understand, given that you're little more than an employee at a dying tea shop.
Speaker B: After all, we've got two individuals, Bill and Guo, who are both helping Mr. Okuron set up. On the other hand, we have Rock and Mika, who have disguised themselves like members of the Hot Leaf Juice.
Speaker C: Take a banana.
Speaker F: You and you. I need you to go with Coval into town and bring me back some very important tea ingredients. He has the list.
Speaker C: She points at me. Yes, I'm going to drop my banana peel and I'm going to step on it. And then I'm going to be very dramatic in falling in hopes that I knock some of their tea glasses over.
Speaker B: Yep, sure enough, you come crashing down, knocking down a pretty hefty handful of cups.
Speaker F: One more slip up like that and you're fired. Now get out there and get me those ingredients.
Speaker C: I'm going to turn to the guy who has the list, and I'm going to say, why don't we divide up, things on the list so we can get more work done faster.
Speaker B: He kind of just tears the list in half and then hands you guys one half.
Speaker C: I take it.
Speaker B: See, I remember everyone getting into the.
Speaker A: Cart back in Boston, say, and I don't remember seeing you.
Speaker B: And then he takes up a fighting stand. You better give me that paper. And then scram. And so you use your sweat and you subtly bend it underneath you to make a puddle of mud, and you slap that paper into the mud and run away. Over at the Blissful Brew stand if you could come with me, we, are having the opening ceremony. He has, a few words he'd like to say in thanks to, everyone that has made this party possible.
Speaker D: Sure, I'll go. Hip Hackett. I'll stay and defend those things.
Speaker B: All right.
Speaker E: Welcome, one and all, to the annual summer bash.
Speaker B: Do you want to come up on stage with me? Yeah.
Speaker E: We have a much more quaint tea shop. Mr. Okeron's Blissful Brew.
Speaker D: I, like, kind of raise my fist.
Speaker B: People kind of dig the energy. They're like, okay. The applause kind of grows just a little bit.
Speaker E: as many of you know, I am an avid mask collector. So, as a special event tonight, take yourself a mask and put it on. The game will play like this. It is your duty to determine those behind their masks. Though only one masked, member M, remains, that individual will be pronounced the winner and take home a, nice bag of 250 yuan.
Speaker B: There's a table set up, a whole bunch of spirit masks.
Speaker C: Obviously, I'm going to steal one. I am going to go into some of the rooms of the house looking for a different piece of clothing.
Speaker B: The party is in full swing at this point during the opening ceremony. The owner of the house, Mr. Yotaku, he presented a game, sort of a masquerade game. There's a monetary prize going out to whoever can sort of, be the last mask standing. Madame Yang is pacing back and forth. She's very, frustrated about missing ingredients.
Speaker D: So I'm filling the teacups. in my left hand, I have the little bag of tiny rocks. I sneakily put one tiny rock in each cup. As the thing is pouring, I earth bend the rock back to me, breaking the cup and spilling tea everywhere.
Speaker F: I want everyone's attention. Earlier, I discovered there was a mole among our regs, and I have a theory that she was not working alone. So I'm going to have a little sit down with everyone.
Speaker B: You watch as they start walking through the ballroom and over kind of out of sight.
Speaker E: Feel free to pick any of the masks that are in the room.
Speaker D: I'm a grab just a regular black and white kabuki mask.
Speaker B: You guys are over at the Blissful Brew. With all the failure that hot leaf juice has been experiencing, you guys have experienced a lot of that success from that that guy from earlier. That guy that you saw that looked a little sketchy. He's still kind of scouting around the.
Speaker D: Area, and I just give him, like, a death glare. Now I'm going to go confront this firebender.
Speaker B: Oh, yes. My name is Timothy.
Speaker D: I have a feeling you've got to be here for some reason.
Speaker B: No. I am here on behest of Madame Yang.
Speaker D: I'm, going to try to nonchalantly follow Madame Yang.
Speaker B: What should I be on the lookout for? So you should be on the lookout for some sketchy individuals who might be trying to, at this very moment, steal your tea ingredients from right out of the hand cart.
Speaker D: I'm going to take a couple cups of tea and pretend to trip and throw it on the car.
Speaker B: Okay. Hot tea.
Speaker D: Back off, or, else you're going to get a stick to the head.
Speaker B: As you're listening, you can hear Madame Yang through the wall.
Speaker C: Very good.
Speaker F: Now get back out there and do what I've hollered you to do.
Speaker D: I would like to use my Earth sinking ability to trap her underground.
Speaker B: Okay. You hear sort of a crash.
Speaker D: Got Madame Yang in a hole, so I'm gonna Earth bend a lid on top of the hole that I just.
Speaker B: Put Madame Yang in.
Speaker F: Let me out. Let me out this instant.
Speaker D: I'm gonna go talk to that guy that said he was with Madame Yang in the last episode. I opened the door, or I let him go first.
Speaker B: He opens the door, and immediately a fist flies out and just punches him right square in the face. And then they grab him, pulls him into the room, slams him up against the wall, at which case you reseal. Whoa. Bill, we have a bit of a problem. We're running out of ingredients.
Speaker D: Well, it just so happens I know where some ingredients are. They may or may not have been launched into the, topiary maze in the backyard. We find one cart, we can find them all. How good are you with mazes? oh, I'm a natural. with that, Bill starts leaving to go to the maze.
Speaker C: I'm headed to the maze.
Speaker B: Oh, are you going to go into the maze today? Yeah, I'm going right just to forewarn you, there are rumors that a spirit lives inside of this maze. The spirit lost things, and they say if you find it, it will help you find something that you've lost, but only if you can solve its riddle. You successfully just kind of start plowing through these walls in this maze.
Speaker D: Bill just kind of walks around and just starts looking for a crate.
Speaker B: You quickly find the crate.
Speaker E: Is this alcoholic tea?
Speaker D: I mean, it can be if you supply your own.
Speaker B: You'll ask Elvan.
Speaker E: Bring us raspberry cold. Oh. Oh, this is quite electable.
Speaker B: Mika, who is currently wandering through the maze. Where are you going?
Speaker C: center of the maze, she finds.
Speaker B: A strange glowing, like a cloudy wisp that leads her, through the maze, you are able to find your way to the center of the maze. And in the center of the maze is a spirit. Its head turns like an owl all the way around to look at you with its giant eyes.
Speaker G: Hello, my name is Ushide. Welcome to the center of my maze.
Speaker B: Earlier, a servant that told you that there is a spirit of lost things that resides inside of this maze.
Speaker G: Hello. My name is Ushidai. Welcome to the center of my maze. Ude can help you find things, but before you do, you have to answer my riddle.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker G: If you successfully answer my riddle, then I will take you to something that you've lost. But if you get it wrong,
Speaker C: You will find that something has gone missing.
Speaker G: My riddle is what can be seen during the day, but is lost in the night.
Speaker C: Your shadow.
Speaker G: Very good. So what is it that you've lost that you wish to find?
Speaker C: Came across a little fox, dog pup. One I lost.
Speaker B: He literally stands up m off his pedestal and from behind, Roddens the fox dog. And it runs up to you. You trapped Madame Yang. You trapped her associate.
Speaker D: Once this party's over, I'm gonna need some help in dealing with Madame Yang. Will she even be alive by then?
Speaker B: Schrodinger is Madam mr. Yotaku, he comes out and he says if there's anybody.
Speaker E: Still participating in the mass game, could you please come to the front, please? We're gonna have to finish this game off.
Speaker C: I guess that's me.
Speaker D: And me. I guess.
Speaker B: So what now? You're down to, seven people, including the two of you? There is one young lady. I got a gang.
Speaker C: Oh, yeah? I've heard of few gangs. The Coyote Boars.
Speaker B: The Wild Coyote Boars my gang.
Speaker C: What, your gang isn't looking for a new affiliate?
Speaker A: Maybe you got what it takes.
Speaker C: I might have what it takes.
Speaker E: All right, the game m is over. Six people. That works out too bad. Let's just say 41 coins apiece.
Speaker B: But Steven with a PH, he comes rushing to the Blissful Brew booth, and he gives you guys your other 250 coins.
Speaker D: Could I persuade you to give us the hot leaf juice half? Because I noticed we had a lot more customers at our booth than hot.
Speaker B: Leaf juice, and I think we pulled.
Speaker D: Way more weight than they did.
Speaker B: Yes, I am willing to compensate you a, percentage of the, hot, leaf juice's profit, since they did not live up to the contract they had signed. Give them the other half. This is not the last you will hear of Madam Yang, Mr. O'crunt.
Speaker D: How much did you owe them?
Speaker B: I think it was about a thousand yuan. Okay, we're still short.
Speaker D: We have a second option.
Speaker B: What's that?
Speaker D: We just beat them up. But tomorrow when a, gang shows up, well, I'll beat them up too.
Speaker B: I have heard reports from other businesses in the area saying that they, too, were harassed by this gang.
Speaker D: We could go around to the other shops that have been harassed and build a little army before tomorrow, stand a better chance. Not a bad idea.
Speaker B: Hey, maybe if the, whole town is standing up against these bullies, maybe they'll stop without even having to initiate any violence.
Speaker E: As much as I regret not being able to help Mr. Oak Ron after I kind of betrayed him, I have to say I feel bad about it, but there's nothing I could do.
Speaker B: But you do go out and you speak with some of the business owners, and they are fed up with the situation. They're sick of it. And, a pretty decent handful of them agree that, hey, if we stand up to these guys once and for all, we can shut them down. You were able to amass a pretty decent group. And sure enough, noon comes around and a group of four angry looking, rough looking teenagers, and the four of them come up and they see this entire group of people that are standing in front of them. And the leader, the rockabilly guy, he comes stepping forward and he goes, what's all this about? we're here to pick up our money, old man.
Speaker D: Well, you could say you brewed up something stronger than you expected. That's a good one.
Speaker B: That is a good one. What's that supposed to mean?
Speaker D: It means we're not gonna take it anymore.
Speaker B: All the people in your group, they like, take a really intimidating step forward and they stomp their ground. Mr. Okran leans over to Bill and he says, so did we decide if we're going to pay them?
Speaker D: Mr. Okra, if we were going to pay them, we wouldn't have gotten this small arm.
Speaker B: Well, no, I figured they were, like, into it. Like, hey, this is your last payment. Get out of here. They don't deserve payment. They're bullies. Oh, right.
Speaker E: Okay.
Speaker B: I'll run this back inside.
Speaker D: Okay.
Speaker B: Are you going to initiate combat? He does. Bill, dore you're about to engage in combat with the leader guy of the Wild Coyote boars. He's obviously an Earthbender.
Speaker D: I'll go up to the big guy and just say, like, hey, bro, how many teeth he got? I'd like to change that right now. And so I'm going to use my overwhelm. Throw a punch with all your weight behind it. The Coyote Boar gang is being kind of riled up over there. He's like, I got to keep this crowd on our side. energized here, bill basically just says.
Speaker B: I'll donkey real good.
Speaker D: Folds a staff, like, above his head, like a down position, okay? And he just, starts just like.
Speaker B: Brock wanted to do, wanted to do.
Speaker D: The earth sinking on the big guy.
Speaker B: And he all of a sudden just drops like 3ft just straight into the ground a little bit. And then Bill, you are going to do an additional approach. You use this opportunity to lurch forward, strike out sort of like in a stabbing motion to really reach past his defenses of his, wooden katana and slam him right in the chest with a nice just, sort of jab attack. this knocks him backwards and he falls to the ground and lands on his back.
Speaker D: Imagine this image of Bill standing over this guy knocked down and he's standing there with his bow staff. And then the rest of the wild koidivores look over at Bill as he's standing there.
Speaker B: And then he points his bow staff at them.
Speaker D: And right when he points like all over his head.
Speaker B: But we'll drop the gang. Or at least I'll drop the gang. I can guarantee that much. You guys did it. You guys defeated the Wild Coyote Boars. As far as you know, they will be disbanded.
Speaker D: I guess we all head inside as.
Speaker B: you guys step, inside of the shop. You're a bit surprised. you notice that the inside of the shop is very disheveled. You hear a moaning from behind a table that's been like slammed up against the wall kind of at an angle behind the table. You see Mr. Okran lying on the ground and he has a dagger protruding from his back. Take care of the shop and lets out a, last deep breath as he dies.
Speaker C: What?
Speaker B: No. And with that, we will leave that at a massive cliffhanger to lead us into season two.
Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening to our show. Of course, don't forget to follow or subscribe to our podcast through whatever podcast site that you're using, such as itunes, Spotify, YouTube, and others. Additionally, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Just look for the social media icons. Following us on social media gives you access to all news announcements and of course, new episodes as they are released. You can check out our website, Bendersonbrews.com, which will feature all of our episodes as well as news announcements and even cool character and player profiles. It's a great hub of information for the Benders and Brews podcast. And finally, we would be truly humbled if you would be willing to take the time to leave us a review. If your podcast site allows you to do so, such as on itunes or in the case of YouTube, you can hit the like and subscribe button and drop us a comment. Tell us about what you thought about our podcast episodes. It sure would mean a lot to us. Avatar Legends is a tabletop role playing game created by Magpie Games, Nickelodeon, Avatar, and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International, Inc. All rights reserved. I also want to thank the following artists who you can find on fiver for their amazing creative work on this podcast. Character art was done by Alicio Papa. Draw background art by Konichi. Music by Joe Tims. Two one five. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker B: Bye.