Session Zero Heroes - A TTRPG Actual Play Podcast
Skylar: jasmine, oolong, green and white. Long ago, these four teas were skillfully brewed at the blissful brew. Then everything changed when the shops popularity threatened its existence. All Mister Okaron, the shops owner and tea master, could do was to recruit four teenage orphans to learn his trade and staff his shop. A year has passed since the orphans were hired, and although their skills have progressed, they still have a lot to learn before they can brew anything. But I believe that they have the potential to make the blissful brew the greatest tea shop in the world. Last time on benders and brews, an avatar Legends podcast smash broccoli, as he's.
Cameron: Flying down the mountain, reaches behind him and earth bends a giant boulder and throws it at the carriage. I can't afford to take another 15 minutes.
Skylar: Cannot, afford it. You just hurled a giant boulder down and it busted the cart. Guru tapiq is flying down as well to try to retrieve the thing she had stolen from his temple.
Mikayla: Why do you continue to stand in my way when you're so obviously outmatched?
Skylar: She reaches into her pocket, she holds out the turtle amulet, and he's just standing there in awe, and he kind of looks at you and he looks at her, and he's like, please, whatever you do, do not let her destroy that relic.
Mikayla: Don't just stand there, you fool. Fix the cart.
Skylar: She tosses the amulet up into the air. Guru Tupik, he sees it falling through the air. He's readying himself to sort of, like, air bend, maybe pull it towards him, or at the very least, just keep it from hitting the ground. And she is going to shoot flames upwards into the airstream that is now being created by Guru Tupiq, who, as he's pulling this amulet towards him with the air, she's going to fling fire into that very air, causing it to sort of follow this flow down towards the amulet and also towards Guru Tapiq himself.
Mikayla: Well, are you going to stand there and let this old man die? it wouldn't be the first time.
Skylar: You use the earth platform that you're on and you basically just tip it over. You, like, break it at the base so that it starts to fall so that you can lunge forth and push guru to peek out of the way. Madam Yang, she's rushing towards her cart, and she's hopping on the cart, begins to move, down the mountain path. It begins to pick up speed as it kind of goes further, further down the mountain, she starts to disappear in the distance. You get to the top of the cave, you find your friends there. They've taken out all of the hot leaf juice employees. One of them is still conscious. He has his mask off, and he's, backed up against the wall, kind of in a crouched position.
Mikayla: I'm gonna slap him.
Cameron: Clearly was put into a trance or something.
Bill: She does it with all of her employees. That's why they do whatever she says.
Cameron: Let's just go to the factory. To the factory. Let's go to the factory. You don't gotta come in just when we get there. Tell us how to get in.
Skylar: And welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Benders and Bruise. Episode seven from season three, not episode seven from season two or season one. That's right, we are in season three. And if you are not followed up up to see episode seven, then you are, You are in a mess, and you need to solve that.
Mikayla: What are you doing here?
Skylar: Yeah, what are you doing here? Go back. Go back and catch up to this episode and then listen to it. Okay, I'm never going to chase you away from listening to any of session zero heroes, but at least just get caught up first. It's the right thing to do. Whatever the case, we are going to go through everybody at the table, reintroduce who you are, who you're playing, and give us an interesting character fact so that we can get back into the action, because the gang is about to go to the homeland, proverbially speaking, of their arch nemesis, madam Yang. So starting with Cameron to my left. Cameron, who are you?
Cameron: I am Bill.
Skylar: Hello, Bill. Bill, tell me an interesting fact about yourself.
Cameron: Bill's favorite smell is oranges.
Skylar: Oranges. He's a big citrus fan. He really likes stopping down over in Florida and hanging out with, the crazy people.
Cameron: What's a Florida?
Skylar: Yeah.
Mikayla: There we go.
Skylar: Good answer. Good answer. All right, well, Bill likes to smell orange.
Dave: On all his family sailing adventures. That prevented scurvy. That's right.
Skylar: That does make a lot of sense.
Cameron: Good cup of orange juice.
Skylar: Got to get your vitamin C. Awesome. All right.
Cameron: Angeli was a pirate.
Skylar: Oh, yeah. He's been on the sea a lot.
Cameron: He told them about the wonders of oranges. and then that cruise never looked better.
Skylar: I was gonna say, you guys are into the crew the second time.
Cameron: They're like, all right, we've.
Skylar: Ever since we got ahold of some.
Dave: Oranges, you'll be surprised at how much more they smile. They don't have gingivitis.
Skylar: Yes, that's true. All right, awesome. Jumping over to Connor.
Cameron: Yes, I am playing Brock Lee. the earthbender?
Skylar: Indeed.
Cameron: his, fun fact is that he secretly knows Ash's actual last name. He just pretends he doesn't know.
Skylar: Oh, okay. So he's known for a while.
Cameron: Yeah, he's known. He talks in his sleep.
Skylar: So let me ask you this. Oh, that's fair. Did Brock know who Jasper Burtney was then, or the Burtney family name?
Cameron: Sure. He, like. He monologues in his sleep.
Skylar: My father, is.
Cameron: Wait, hold on. Okay, okay. This is kind of my father. This is kind of important, because I said Bill doesn't dream. He has nightmares. The same reoccurring nightmare. Yeah, that has nothing to do with his dad or anything.
Cameron: Oh, no, you see, you're having a nightmare over here, but you're monologuing over here, okay? You talk in your sleep.
Cameron: I've never monologued my nightmare.
Cameron: No, no. My father's name was Jasper. My first name is Ash.
Skylar: My last name is Burton.
Cameron: Here's my Social Security number.
Cameron: It sounds like Brock's doing a lot of backpedaling here. Yeah, I always knew my best friend's name. You might.
Cameron: Get it. It's like when you're not always new, right?
Cameron: Right. Bill? A wink sent me. Yeah, you would have told me, right.
Cameron: Bill, aka Ash, the name of with which I already knew you went by.
Skylar: Nope.
Cameron: Wink.
Cameron: Whose father's name is Jasper.
Skylar: I wonder if he knows what your mother's name is.
Cameron: Yeah, I wonder that too.
Cameron: Of course, I can't speak it here.
Skylar: She who shall not be named. Jessica, obviously. Awesome. Well, that'll be interesting.
Cameron: He secretly knows this is gonna be.
Cameron: An interesting cart ride.
Cameron: Like no one knows he knows I knew Bill.
Mikayla: Brock barely knows he knows.
Skylar: During the cart ride, Brock just leans over to everybody else. He's like, yeah, I actually already knew about it.
Cameron: Yeah, he talks in his sleep.
Mikayla: Don't ask me why.
Cameron: Don't ask me why I'm around Bill while he's asleep. Don't ask that. But, you know, he just talks to his.
Cameron: I just realized our fun facts could just be lies, so that's cool.
Cameron: Straight up lies. Rewriting the entire story.
Skylar: Well, with that being said, michaela, who are you playing? And what's a non lie? Interesting lie?
Mikayla: Why don't I get a lie?
Skylar: No.
Mikayla: yeah, I'm Mikayla, and I play Micah. she's definitely the most loved in the group.
Skylar: Ooh, got it.
Cameron: Oh, that's a lie.
Cameron: Okay, so there's the lie.
Skylar: Out of the way. Let's go to the fun fact, to be fair.
Mikayla: Fine. She's definitely the least liked in the group. Mika's fun fact is her favorite sound, you know, just gets her really peaceful recenters. Her asmr. Absolutely not that exists. What?
Cameron: Sure.
Skylar: Anybody that can, you know, there's microphones or you can just, you can. No, no. Somebody just comes over to your house.
Cameron: Yeah, just let me just like a hypnotist.
Skylar: Yeah. There are no ways.
Mikayla: No. is just a soft, slow flowing stream.
Skylar: Oh, okay. All right. Very nice. That, you know, in a way that could kind of be asMr.
Cameron: M sounds to put, you know.
Mikayla: Sure. Skylar.
Skylar: Fantastic.
Mikayla: Moving on to the guy.
Skylar: Last but not least, Dave. Dave, who you playing was an interesting character. Fact.
Dave: Playing, well, the earth bender. And his interesting fact is that he's a, he's a big fan of daily comics in the local newspaper. he particularly likes one about what's called Bon Bon, about this, this, toad dog named Bon Bon, who's a little sarcastic. He's kind of a jerk to his owner.
Skylar: This is just Garfield hate horse days. that's great. I like that. I like that. I mean, you think about it like, in Legend of Korra, which was like the generation after Aang. I mean, they had, like, m movies. They were making movies. So, I mean, it makes sense that during Aang's era, they could absolutely have comics, books with pictures.
Dave: Yeah.
Skylar: I mean, that's.
Dave: Like 120 years later or. No, it's more than that, probably.
Cameron: Well, Qatar is still alive.
Skylar: That's true. I'd say, like, ish. Maybe 70.
Mikayla: Ish.
Cameron: 80, 90.
Skylar: Yeah, 80, 90.
Cameron: I'd say it's that big stretch.
Skylar: Yeah, I don't think so.
Dave: No, I'm.
Cameron: Yeah, definitely could be fictionalized universe. Boom. Comics created, done.
Skylar: Yes.
Cameron: You did it.
Skylar: You realistic within the universe. It makes sense. I don't see why not.
Cameron: What was secret?
Skylar: Like a millionaire from his combined kid that eats foods and he's funny. I kind of like that idea. There's got to be a little bit more to it, but I feel like they could, they could figure it out. They could.
Cameron: Fun with whoa.
Skylar: Fun with whoa.
Cameron: Yeah.
Skylar: Oh, yeah. Hey, when's, when's woe gonna start writing to the paper? His reviews?
Dave: I don't know. I mean, right now, he just keeps him in his journal. Maybe just needs to build up a little more confidence.
Cameron: I'm the confidence guy's barack. He's losing with confidence, but his, his.
Skylar: Confidence just makes him get stuff done and such. Like, he's, he's not focused on, I think, sharing.
Cameron: I think Brock would be the best mom motivational speaker in our group.
Skylar: He would be. He fits the type of motivational speakers I feel like I've ever really seen, which are like, overhyped big guys that are like, I used to play football, and I'm like, ugh, another one. I used to play football.
Cameron: Then my mom died.
Cameron: Mom died.
Skylar: I don't play football anymore, but I do these things. They always call them these things, these things. I'm scared.
Cameron: One, get out of bed. Two, eat something.
Cameron: Three, do things.
Cameron: Do things. Now, that's the three steps to success.
Skylar: It's pretty straightforward.
Cameron: I mean, every motivational speaker.
Cameron: No, like, every, like, instagram, like fitness.
Cameron: I wake up at 04:00 a.m. and then I listen to a book on double speed. Then my wife and I, we have our mushroom coffee as we do sunrise yoga.
Cameron: And then, I go stand in the shower for 2 hours straight, and.
Cameron: Then I take a nap.
Cameron: Because.
Cameron: Because who in their right mind wakes up at 04:00 a.m. yeah, they.
Cameron: Take a lot of.
Skylar: And you're like, you're like, you're like, wait, wait, wait. But how am I supposed to replicate this lifestyle? I have a job. And then he's like, you guys don't.
Skylar: Own your own companies.
Skylar: Well, what the heck are you doing?
Cameron: Your dad didn't die when you were 18 and gave you millions of dollars to live off of.
Skylar: I don't understand.
Dave: It's called drop shipping. Look it up.
Skylar: You guys have heard of nfts?
Cameron: You want to buy my book?
Cameron: That's a real kicker.
Skylar: At the end of the day, my name is Skylar. I'm the game master. I've been to probably half a dozen of these, inspirational speakers. And, yeah, it is pretty much the same concept just about every single time. They just want you to buy their book. So, do or do not buy their book as you so please. But what we will do is, and it won't cost you a penny, is we will allow you to join us for episode seven of season three. awesome. All right, welcome back to episode seven of season three. okay, so you guys all hopped into the cart, and you guys are riding off in the direction of, the end. The end.
Cameron: What? Whoa. How did we get here?
Cameron: Cliffhanger.
Skylar: You guys are just standing there. There's a blank expanse in front of you, and you guys are, like, looking over the edge of it, thinking, we did it. Found the end. But why? Why are we here? Why would we want to be here. We still have, what, five more episodes before the end? How did we get here so fast? No, no, you guys aren't at the end. You guys are on your way to the town of, Zygon. I think it's Zygon. Zygon. Zigen what sounds right.
Cameron: Zionist.
Skylar: No, I think it's Zygote.
Cameron: Zygon.
Skylar: I g a n. You're the one who spelled it. Yeah, but I didn't make it up. These are, like, actual I guns. Probably. Zygom, zag, Zygon. I like that.
Dave: That was. That's what Cameron was.
Skylar: You guys are all piled into the cart. And the hot leaf juice employee who told you last time that his name is PI. P a I, is taking you to the outskirts of the town of Zygon. The town of Zygon has a sort of industrial district. So it has a number of different facilities and factories that are kind of scattered around the outskirts of this. This small town. It's small town, but, like, the outskirts, where the factories and stuff are, is pretty booming. You guys, arrive at kind of like the top of a hill overlooking a lot of this industrial district. I would say that the factories and so on and so forth are all kind of separated pretty nicely from each other so that, you know, there's a pretty decent amount of distance between one fence line and another one's wall line. but he, At the top of this hill, you guys look down and you see one specific factory that stands out among the rest. It's very possibly one of the largest factories located in this industrial district. And he points at it, and he.
Bill: Says, that right there, that's the hot leaf juice factory. That's where I came from. Not originally. I was brought there as an orphan with a lot of other orphans, and she made us dig holes all day in the hot. No, she made us. She made us make dried tea, which she then sends out to all the other hot leaf juices that are out there. Okay, what do you. This is as far as I go. What do you guys want to know?
Mikayla: Who's the most susceptible to a clipboard?
Bill: Hold on. There's a lot of, questions going on at the same time. I can only answer so much at a time. One at a time.
Mikayla: Obviously not broccoli.
Dave: What kind of food do they serve in the break room?
Bill: Oh, it's not great. It's the stuff called. They call it hardtack. It's basically old dried bread. That's really tough.
Cameron: Yeah, you leave a pebble review for it.
Bill: They give you like, this real, just tough, stringy meat. Just a little bit of it that you can kind of try to put in your tard tack to make like, little sandwiches.
Dave: Ouch. Okay. From the jabs into my ribs. I think, someone else had a question.
Bill: Okay, where can we get in? Where can you get in? Oh, yeah, no, that's a, that's actually a pretty good question. Okay, so.
Skylar: And you guys look, so let me, let me kind of describe factor. So the factory itself sits in the midst of this big, like, walled in space, right. on the kind of northern side of this facility. There's a bunch of smaller sort of warehouse buildings. And those, you can see people in like, little carts that are like, going into the factory and then coming out with like some boxes on their little carts, taking them into these warehouses. And then they must be probably storing things there, right. over on the sort of western side of this proverbial campus, you see, a lot of small trees. And you see people that are out there harvesting either fruits or the leaves of these trees. Whatever the case is kind of the harvesting farming area for the tea production. Then you have the factory itself, which is kind of on the eastern side of this campus. you ask how you get inside.
Bill: he says, well, over at the front of the whole facility, you can see there's the front entrance.
Skylar: And you look down there and you see kind of a pathway leading from town to this facility. And you see there's a nice line of carts and what seems to be like maybe farmers or just a variety of different people that are all in this big line. They all have like, goods of different kinds, probably their harvest that they're bringing to hot leaf juice to sell. Right? And then he points to the back end of the campus, and he says.
Bill: Over there, that's where all the farmers and so on and so forth leave when they're done, when they drop off their stuff, they go there. They get paid by the gate guy, and then they leave. Well, that's, that's where they, the farmers and everybody all, they leave through there. So you kind of like bring your goods in through the front. You go around to where the warehouse is. You drop off the stuff. They. Then you go to the exit, they pay you, and then you leave.
Bill: let's see, what else? Oh, over on the harvesting side, I do remember that there was a chunk of the, the wood fence, because you.
Skylar: Guys see that there's like, there's walls on the side where the factory is, but over on the side where the harvesting is, it's more of, like, a wood fence. And, of course, you do see that there are several watchtowers. Like, one watchtower in each corner, where there's a hotleaf juice elite employee that kind of overlooks their watchtower. Whatever the case, you guys do notice, kind of over to the back corner of the harvesting area, there is a chunk of fence that looks like maybe it kind of collapsed a little bit. so there's that as an option as well. Also, just want to establish really quick, it was a bit of a ride in the cart, and I would say that you guys had some time to rest, so you guys got kind of like the lowest tier of rest, which is just like, clearing one. Fatigue. And I think one condition as well.
Mikayla: Real good. I'm not angry.
Cameron: No more insecure about my voice crack.
Skylar: You've had time to, get over it. All right. What other questions do you have for little pie?
Mikayla: Where's Madame Yang's office?
Skylar: Oh, that's a great question. right there. Any points you can actually see coming out of sort of like the center of the factory itself, the actual factory building. There's sort of like these. This glass office that kind of sticks out from the top of it.
Bill: That right there, that's Madam Yang's office. It's almost completely made of glass because she wants to be able to see out across the campus at what's going on and also see the production floor in the factory below her.
Cameron: Do they check the carts when, when you go in, or when do they check the contents of carts and farmers and such?
Bill: Yeah, there's a couple of employees that check the carts, by the gate. I don't. I never got to see how much they check them because those are the elite guys. I was inside the factory for the most part, although I did get to go to the harvesting site once in a while. But they. Yeah, they check the carts. I don't know how much they check them.
Skylar: Oh.
Bill: But they do have to swap out for lunch and stuff.
Cameron: So what I'm thinking is you're doing.
Mikayla: A, rock hailstorm onto Madame Yang's office. Perfect. I think.
Cameron: Well, I mean, if you suggest it, I'm down. We could just be, done, with it now. On our way.
Mikayla: Exactly.
Dave: I mean, and have every hot leaf juice employee after us. Well, there's thousands in here.
Cameron: I mean, they don't all have to survive the rocks.
Cameron: I think sneaking and not making loud noises Brock is our best way.
Cameron: But, like, speak up, rock.
Cameron: What?
Cameron: I'm just, like, kind of with Mika here.
Skylar: Like, we kind of just end it all, like, right now. End it all. Pretty big facility.
Cameron: We're just trying to get the will and get out.
Cameron: Yeah, but that's, like, way more work.
Cameron: That feels like less work than ended all.
Skylar: Create a siege on an entire factory facility. Filled with orphans, no less.
Mikayla: They can't escape.
Cameron: What are they gonna do, tell their parents?
Skylar: Oh, just the office.
Cameron: What are they gonna do? Tell their parents?
Dave: Oh, gosh.
Mikayla: Sheesh.
Skylar: If you're an orphanage pie standing right, I sincerely apologize.
Cameron: Okay, fine. This will sneak in.
Skylar: Dude.
Cameron: Stupid plan. Whatever.
Cameron: We don't have a plan yet. Well, it's just not what you wanted to do.
Cameron: I mean, I guess we don't have to kill everybody in the facility.
Mikayla: Well, I wasn't suggesting killing anybody.
Cameron: Well, you were. do you think that everyone's gonna be unscathed if you rain down?
Mikayla: It's literally just her office. It wouldn't take much.
Cameron: I heard lay siege to the entire factory. That's what I heard.
Mikayla: Well, maybe you need to get your ears clean, Brock. I've been telling him that for a while.
Skylar: Well, you know, I feel like it has hydration before.
Mikayla: Your monthly showers are, however, off. Did you take them? Maybe you need to do it more frequently. Just saying. Just saying.
Cameron: Just pinky in his ear and pulls out, like, an entire ear of corn.
Skylar: Oh, gosh.
Dave: What are these people? So we have the elite guards in the guard towers also checking the carts going through. are there any employees going in and out or any other personnel that we see moving around?
Skylar: So, for the most part, the people that you would see are. There's a handful of just kind of your average employees. Employees that are harvesting over in the harvest kind of area, picking fruit or leaves off of the trees. there's obviously all the farmers that are bringing goods in, things that aren't being grown at the hot leaf juice. factory facility. and then, obviously leaving. there's a handful that are. That all have, like, hand carts, and they're moving finished tea products from the factory into the warehouses for deliveries or whatever else. And then there's a very small group. Well, there's obviously the elites in the watchtowers themselves. And then there's a very small group over at the exit that are basically paying the farmers as they leave. there's, like, a little booth, and there's, like, a dude inside the booth. And then there's the two hot leaf juice elite. Whatever you want to call them. I say elite in the sense that they're wearing, like, a. More, like, full bodied, almost like the people in squid games.
Dave: No, I think what you were asking Brock about the carts. Maybe we could just hitch a ride in on one of those.
Mikayla: Yeah, we have our own carts.
Cameron: We do have our own cart pulled by some ostrich horses.
Mikayla: Couldn't we just, like, load them up and just be like, hey, what do I get for two cherries I found on this tree?
Cameron: Or we could, quote unquote commandeer, winking as loudly as I can, someone else's cart, and then just have you guys stow away in there.
Mikayla: But if they check the carts, I mean, we have plenty of carts. We wouldn't have to hide, and we could all get inside, and we wouldn't have to worry about the carts.
Dave: Well, why don't we just buy a cart for.
Mikayla: We have carts.
Dave: No, but we need a cart full of product.
Cameron: That's what I'm saying.
Dave: What if we need to have someplace to hide?
Cameron: Yeah, we can't just have a cart full of people.
Dave: Or we just pay them. We just pay them to. I don't know if they'd risk taking us in there.
Cameron: I don't know.
Mikayla: We can't just, like, take oak leaves off of a tree, fill up all of our carts, and be like, hey, this is really fine. Hibiscus, tea leaves.
Cameron: Weirder things have worked.
Mikayla: Exactly.
Cameron: Yeah.
Dave: It's not the worst idea.
Skylar: I mean, how does this work?
Cameron: So what I'm thinking is, y'all try that, and then if it doesn't work, I'll be tailing behind you with a clipboard, and I can talk our way in.
Skylar: This is exactly what I said when you guys were in the trials, and I was like, wow. You guys were like, on number four, and I said, wow, way to use trial number one solution for trial number four. And now I'm like, wow, way to use episode number whatever. Cause it was last season.
Mikayla: Bring out the whole lotion.
Cameron: Bring out the whole lotion.
Skylar: Way to use episode, eight to solve episode number seven, season three, whatever you call it.
Cameron: Laziness. I call it a callback.
Skylar: Yeah, that's true. That's true.
Mikayla: You know, it's worked before. Why can't it work again?
Cameron: Why fix what ain't broke?
Mikayla: Okay, let's go fill up our carts with leaves, and let's get out of here.
Skylar: You have plenty of trees to choose from.
Mikayla: Exactly. We all can choose a different one.
Skylar: All right, so are you guys going with that? Okay. All right, sounds good. so you guys start, you know, through a variety of methods. I'm sure, you know, Brock and glow probably use some earth bending. And Mika, maybe you're just shaking leaves. All right, sounds good. Whatever works. Hey, but whatever the case. Yeah, you get a bunch of leaves together and you start filling up your cart that you brought along with you. And yeah, you get a pretty decent amount of fill on this cart, I'd say. Yeah. Right after about like an hour.
Mikayla: Let's go get in line. Yeah, I guess.
Skylar: All right, sounds good. You guys get in line.
Cameron: Before that happens, I'm going to. While we're filling up the cart, I'm going to take pie.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: I'm gonna lead them off to the side and be like, hey, yeah, I think we're just done with you. I think you can just take off now.
Mikayla: Oh, okay.
Cameron: So.
Mikayla: Done with you.
Skylar: You made that sound dark. Yeah, no, like you.
Cameron: Thank you for helping us.
Bill: I'm glad I could help. if I could ask if you get the opportunity. I mean, those guys. I know I'm not the only one that wanted to get out of there.
Cameron: Oh, yeah, no, if we get a chance, like, to free them. Yeah, I definitely want to do that. Don't worry about that.
Bill: Hey, can I ask you a favor?
Cameron: Yeah.
Bill: Before I go.
Cameron: Yeah.
Bill: Can I borrow five yuan?
Cameron: See, the funny thing was, I was just about to give you yuan.
Bill: Oh, really?
Cameron: Yeah. I've, got ten yuan with your name on it.
Skylar: Ah.
Cameron: With one condition.
Bill: Yeah.
Cameron: And I pull out ten yuan out of my pouch I have. And I hand it to him. I said, on one condition. When you go to the fire nation, you never saw me.
Bill: Okay.
Cameron: That's it?
Bill: You don't want me to, like, say.
Cameron: Hey to your family or I'm as good as dead.
Skylar: Whoa.
Cameron: So just don't even mention you meant.
Bill: Man, I know what that's like.
Cameron: I guess. I guess you would, wouldn't you?
Bill: All right, well, I. Yeah, okay. I won't say anything anyway. I'll just. But is it all right that I. I tell him what's going on here? Like, what she's doing?
Cameron: Oh, yeah, no, I don't care about that.
Bill: Oh, okay.
Skylar: Just.
Bill: I'll leave your name.
Cameron: If you could get people to come help stop this. Go for it. Yeah, it's just I had nothing to do it. I was never here.
Bill: Okay. I can. I can.
Skylar: Yeah.
Cameron: Okay, cool. And I reach my hand out to give him a handshake.
Skylar: Oh, yeah, he's. He's eagerly. He, like, takes your hand in both hands.
Bill: He's like, thank you so much, mister. I really appreciate it. I'm.
Skylar: I'm cheap. Arachel.
Cameron: He just changed his voice and his name.
Skylar: I really like dragons. No, no. Anyway, yeah, okay, so you. Yeah, he shakes your hand, and he's got a little bit of a tear coming down his eye, and. And then he, he waves goodbye and he heads off into town, kind of like really walking the opposite direction of the, hot lead leaf juice factory.
Cameron: Okay. And so after he's leaving, I'm gonna just grab leaves off a nearby tree, and then come walking back to the cart and toss that.
Skylar: Toss a small. Everybody else has been beating the heck out of trees and filling it up, and you toss, like, a handful, and.
Cameron: You'Re like, let's go and hop in line with them. Yeah.
Skylar: All right, sounds good. Hey, everyone. Skylar here. Are you a fan of session zero heroes and the shows we produce or the characters involved? Then you should check out our epic merch we have available online, from shirts to stickers and everything in between. We worked hard on creating a variety of designs and made sure to get your favorite characters on those products as well. Whether you're looking for broccoli on a hoodie to wear to the gym with you, or maybe fizzle fingers to tote bag to stuff your ill gotten gains in, we've got you covered. Just head over to our website at session zeroheroes.com and click on our merch tab to see all the amazing products and designs that you can get. Now back to the show. All right, so you guys get in line behind the farmers. You hear, you know, some talk and stuff like that. Some of the farmers are complaining. They're like, well, they keep telling us.
Skylar: The prices are going down, but thing is, I already got a whole field full of tea stuff. Who else am I supposed to take it to?
Skylar: You know what I'm saying? They're like, yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying. You know, and they're just kind of talking back and forth, stuff like that. Finally gets your turn to get into hot leaf juice, and one of the employees steps forward, and he starts kind of looking in your, your cart, and he says, what are you. What are you guys bringing in today?
Cameron: Only the finest tea leaves on are from our side of the earth kingdom, sir.
Skylar: Okay, what kind of tea leaves.
Cameron: Don'T,
Mikayla: Hibiscus tea leaves.
Skylar: Hibiscus tea leaves. Hibiscus. all right, some peppermint he kind of, like. He, like, peeks inside. He's like, is it just mixed in there?
Mikayla: I thought, we had different carts.
Cameron: It's a patented blend.
Skylar: You only have one cart.
Cameron: It's a patented blend.
Skylar: Oh, okay. Okay. It's a patented blend of hibiscus. Hibiscus and mint.
Cameron: Yes.
Cameron: Yes.
Skylar: I don't know. Hey, you guys, do you, He goes, all right, sounds good. you guys been here before?
Cameron: no, sir. First time.
Skylar: All right, so what you're gonna want to do is follow the path here. You're gonna go around the factory, okay? And then, in the back, over by the warehouse, there's gonna be a guy that's over there, and he's gonna look over the stuff. He's just gonna double check, you know, quality control and all that. they'll load it in for you, and then once your cart's empty, you can just take it around on the exit, and they'll give, you your pay. All right?
Cameron: Okay.
Mikayla: I am cappy. Sean.
Cameron: Thank you, sir. Have a great day.
Cameron: Yes.
Skylar: You as well. Next. Then you guys go inside. You are inside the campus. you walk through the front entryway with the, watchtowers kind of high overhead of you, as the employees in them kind of look down at the people coming into their facility and kind of watch as they start making their way around to the warehouses before kind of turning their attention back to the front to see who's coming in next.
Cameron: I just realized we still have that gem. What happened to that gem?
Skylar: I have not said a single dang thing about that gem because I was curious when you'd remember that you had it. And I also was like, I wonder when he'll use it. I'm not saying that this is the time. I'm not necessarily making that claim.
Skylar: I'm just.
Skylar: I'm excited for when the opportunity arrives.
Dave: I was hoping when we were in that cave with the lake that we would have accidentally awakened the spirit, and then the spirits would have to battle each other.
Cameron: That would've been such a kaiju battle.
Skylar: Yeah, that would've been pretty cool.
Cameron: We don't know what this. Totally off topic. We don't know what the gem does.
Skylar: You.
Cameron: We just know that it was the life source of a rock mob.
Skylar: It was the heart of a mountain. The heart of a mountain or a mountain spirit?
Cameron: That is so vague.
Skylar: It is very vague.
Cameron: Mount times.
Cameron: Well, it's unleashed a mountain monster.
Mikayla: What? Absolutely not, bro.
Skylar: Why?
Cameron: Is this what you're saying? As we're pushing the cart through?
Cameron: Yeah, I was talking to the disembodied narrator voice. Didn't you hear him?
Mikayla: No. You can't just.
Skylar: No, bruh. You can't unleash a monster on, this facility.
Mikayla: Why would you do that? You're literally. We literally just said we weren't gonna kill everybody.
Cameron: I mean, you said that.
Skylar: Ah, classic brat.
Dave: Come on, bro. Give a care.
Cameron: Fine. Whatever.
Skylar: Rule for care. Where's Yang's office? Let's just.
Mikayla: That big glass thing in the sky.
Cameron: Hey, look at that. Okay, so now we just go there.
Cameron: You know what could really do some damage up there?
Cameron: Yeah, you're just gonna throw a gem up there, aren't you? I don't know what it does.
Mikayla: Absolutely not.
Cameron: It'd be funny.
Dave: All right, so we're definitely.
Mikayla: It's a heart of a monster. Mountain monster.
Cameron: It could be a good distraction. Yeah, see, there's a monster just terrorizing the fact.
Mikayla: That seems like it'd be pretty important. We don't want Madame Yang to get her hands on that. Okay?
Dave: Ooh. All right, so we don't.
Mikayla: She won't let her go once. We don't need to give her something else.
Cameron: I mean, that's fair.
Mikayla: Exactly. Okay. Yeah. but we can't just, like, leave the line because people are already inside the office.
Cameron: What line? For the office.
Cameron: We got held back, bro.
Skylar: No, no, no.
Mikayla: You guys are in line with the.
Skylar: With our car section.
Cameron: I know a shortcut.
Skylar: You know a short?
Cameron: Yes, directly towards.
Mikayla: If we leave the line. Yeah, they're gonna come after us.
Cameron: Okay, how about just one of us leave the line?
Mikayla: Okay, go ahead.
Cameron: Me. Bill, you needn't want me to go. Leave the line.
Cameron: I'll go with you.
Mikayla: It was your idea.
Dave: Let's go take out that. The guard in the watchtower, and then we can go straight to the.
Cameron: Oh, I can do that.
Skylar: Okay, go do it.
Cameron: Is there a ladder or something?
Mikayla: There's multiple in the watchtower.
Dave: Sneak up there.
Cameron: Yeah, let's sneak up there.
Mikayla: How many watchtowers are they? And how close are they?
Skylar: so there'd be, like, four watchtowers. They're pretty distanced from each other.
Cameron: Oh, sick. Oh, yeah. Climbing up one.
Skylar: Which. Which one in particular? So there's one in, like, each corner of the king closest to it.
Dave: Did you say the fields that their harvesters are working in, are those outside?
Skylar: Yes.
Dave: Compound.
Skylar: Yes. Well, they. There's no fence or wall or anything that separates it from the compound. There's a wooden fence instead of a wall that goes around the outskirts of that section. Oh, yeah. All right, so you are, bill, you are climbing the watchtower. Nearest to you, I would say, is probably there's either the one closer to the exit on the factory side or the closer to the entry on the factory side. Cause you guys are kind of closer to the factory side right now.
Cameron: Yes.
Skylar: Okay, so which of those two.
Cameron: Well, I assume we're near the entrance still.
Skylar: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the problem. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, so you sneak over towards that direction and you start to climb up the ladder to this watchtower. You, are going to, I'm gonna say, push your luck.
Cameron: Oh, boy.
Skylar: Okay, this is a risky situation, and you're attempting to get up there without the guard noticing you and basically knock him out.
Cameron: Five. Five.
Skylar: All right, so you start to make your way up the ladder, and as you come to the top, you hear somebody on top say, oh, is it.
Bill: Time for shift change?
Skylar: Hey, who are you? You're not supposed to be up here.
Cameron: What? Oh, I got lost on the tour.
Bill: You got lost on the tour and you climbed a ladder?
Cameron: Yeah, so I could get a better view of where my tour mates are.
Skylar: Oh, that's pretty good. Roll a trick. Roll a trick.
Cameron: What is this? Passion?
Skylar: Oh, no. Creativity. Creativity.
Dave: Sorry.
Cameron: Frick. Hey.
Skylar: You still get to pick one. I feel like that's the one that gets picked. Like, Nate, I'm not, I'm not disagreeing by any means, but it does just. Yeah, yeah.
Cameron: They over commit. They're deceived for some time. I feel like that works with what I said.
Skylar: He says, oh, okay. who's your group? You're one of the. You must be from, one of the farmer groups or something. Yeah. Okay, who's your. Who's your group?
Cameron: I climbed up to join them.
Skylar: Yeah, yeah.
Cameron: Okay. Yeah. I think.
Skylar: Is it that one?
Cameron: I think it's that one.
Skylar: Is it that one?
Cameron: No, I think they're over there.
Skylar: Is it that one?
Cameron: And I'm kind of like, like trying to go around the back of him to look at a different.
Skylar: Well, why would they be over there?
Cameron: I think they're over there. I don't.
Skylar: Ugh.
Cameron: look for purple. We were all wearing purple except for me.
Skylar: Yeah. Why didn't you show up in uniform today? I didn't get looking out.
Cameron: I didn't get the memo. As I step behind him and take off my bo step and I just whack him on the top of the head as I back up.
Skylar: All right, all right. I'm gonna have you do, one more push your luck.
Cameron: It's not push your luck. It's not even, like, an attack roll.
Skylar: Well, that's not really. I mean, you could do strike, but do you really want him to, like, have full fatigue and conditions?
Cameron: I just wanna knock him out.
Skylar: Yeah.
Cameron: Snooze button to the.
Skylar: You can do push your luck. And I'll give you a plus one on this one because you tricked him and he's over committing.
Cameron: 1010.
Skylar: Okay, perfect. Okay, so you succeed. Okay. So it's just full success. you, him on the head, your classic bill's, bo staff donk. And, he kind of just crumples to the ground. He's unconscious.
Cameron: Okay, now stage phase two of the ultimate phase two. I see if he's got any keys.
Skylar: No, he does not have any keys.
Cameron: What does he have?
Skylar: His uniform and a bow and quiver of arrows.
Cameron: Oh, okay. Okay. well, and I am going to take off his uniform.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: And I'm gonna put it.
Skylar: I'll just play the jazz music that we used for meeting.
Cameron: I would put on his uniform.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: And I'm gonna take. Take his bow and arrows, and I'm just gonna slide it over my shoulder. yeah, I've got it.
Skylar: It does come with a mask, too.
Cameron: Cause these are sick.
Skylar: I was gonna say these are the elite guards. These are the same type of hot leaf juice employees that you guys, like, fought that Madame Yang usually keeps close by her whenever she's in need of.
Cameron: Doing this kind of stuff. Does it happen to have anything up in this tower with them?
Skylar: there's not really much. I mean, it's really just a watchtower to keep an eye on employees. There might be, like, a notepad or something that they can take notes on.
Cameron: Rope.
Skylar: Sure. There might be, like, some safety rope? Yeah. Oh, 50ft, you know?
Cameron: Yeah, safety rope.
Skylar: All right, sounds good.
Cameron: And then after I do that, I'm gonna climb back down and quickly try to find my group.
Skylar: Okay. Wearing purple.
Cameron: Yes, but the ones wearing purple. And as I'm walking, like, towards the line, I'm walking at the line, I'm just like, oh.
Cameron: As I'm, like, moving up the line.
Skylar: Yep.
Cameron: Like, yeah. Okay, stay in line.
Skylar: Yep.
Cameron: Hey, keep moving.
Skylar: All the farmers that are, like, passing by you and stuff, they all kind of, you know, straighten up and everything.
Cameron: There's a bump there. Watch your step.
Skylar: Thank you.
Cameron: How?
Cameron: Full light. All right, I'm gonna rejoin my group. All right. Stay in line. What's up? It's me. Oh, you like my adult voice? You can tell it's me by my bo staff.
Dave: Wow.
Cameron: you guys are real quiet. Anyways, I'm gonna go sneak over to the Madam Yang's office.
Mikayla: now you only got rid of one watchman?
Cameron: Oh, now I look like one.
Mikayla: Okay.
Cameron: I mean, sure. What are we gonna do when we get to the front with just tree leaves?
Mikayla: One of us needs to go with him.
Cameron: You guys could just, like, you could follow me. Oh, good idea. Good idea. Glow. Hey, follow me, you three. This, this special cart needs to go somewhere else. And I'm gonna just, like, start, like, pointing and, like, start leading them a different direction as, like, a guard follow me. And I'm, like, waving him. And then we kind of turn off the path that we're going a different way. And I'm like, I have no idea where I'm taking you guys.
Skylar: Where are you kind of directing them just from a visual standpoint? Standpoint? Like, what are you seeing that you're, like, kind of aiming towards? So I would imagine you guys are probably coming around the factory over towards the warehouse. So you guys can see at this point where the back door of the factory where employees are bringing completed, you know, tea related products out to the manufacturer, to the warehouses. And then, of course, the farmers kind of go in between. There's, like, a stopping point where the farmers stop and get unloaded, their employees there to unload, and then they push them on through. So you're kind of at, close by, that stopping point, not quite there.
Cameron: Sure. I'll start leading them towards where Madam Yang's office overlooks stuff.
Skylar: Cause that's, like, inside the factory.
Cameron: Yeah, but I'm not going into the factory. I'm, like, leading them, to the side area.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: And then I'm going to stop. Is there randomly, any boxes just randomly setting out?
Skylar: Oh, I would say for sure.
Cameron: Okay, so I'm gonna lead them to an area near a corner, right where there's just boxes that are just sitting out.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: And I'm gonna, like, walk over and just pry one of the boxes open.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: And I'm just gonna be like, all right, start unloading. I'm just gonna play one of the boxes.
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: All right.
Skylar: And you guys got all your leaves, obviously, and so on and so forth.
Cameron: We got the leaves.
Cameron: Okay. So as I. As they. I'm gonna just stand there with my.
Skylar: Yeah, nobody seems to question you.
Cameron: Most of my bo staff just standing there looking important.
Skylar: No, most of the people that are passing by that work here are just your average hot leaf juice employees, and they see your outfit, and they're kind of like, oh, yeah, he's. Don't mess with him. He's. He's a big guy.
Cameron: Okay, and I'm gonna go. Hey, guys, go. Go a little slower so we can. So we can plan while figuring out something.
Cameron: Okay, so what's. What are we planning, dude?
Cameron: Well, say, two of you guys stay here, or even, heck, one of you, I don't care. And just slowly unload this stuff while, like, the rest of us go and retrieve the will or whatever.
Cameron: I can stay here and unload, but.
Cameron: I mean, or we all could go. I don't care. But it's like. I'm just saying, like, once we empty this cart and just start running around by ourselves, like, that would be more suspicious than, like, if a few of us stayed at the cart and just one of us went off with me in disguise.
Cameron: Where are you gonna get this other disguise?
Cameron: Oh, I didn't say there's gonna be another disguise. I mean, one guard leading one person somewhere. It's not as suspicious as, like, one guard leading three people somewhere.
Cameron: I mean, I'll stay at the cart.
Mikayla: Well, I did say earlier one of us should go with you, but.
Cameron: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Dave: Are you volunte? Are you volunteering?
Cameron: Yeah, sure. Mika, if you wanna come.
Mikayla: Sure.
Cameron: Yeah, all three can go. I can take care of it.
Dave: What name do you want? I pull out.
Mikayla: I want PI's name.
Cameron: 3702.
Dave: Yeah, that could be a girl.
Cameron: Stave.
Mikayla: Sure it was 727.
Cameron: Dang, I can't believe you remembered that.
Skylar: That's pretty good.
Cameron: In memory of Boeing, that's 737. Never mind.
Skylar: All right, so you're taking on PI's, name tag. Whoa. Are you coming with him?
Cameron: Come on. Guo.
Dave: Yeah.
Cameron: You've got the other name tag.
Skylar: What does your name tag say?
Dave: Oh, boy. Name tag says bon bon. Bon.
Cameron: Bon bon.
Skylar: It says, Skyler's.
Cameron: Like, now you goon.
Skylar: Now you,
Cameron: It's like, now you gonna feel like what it's like to make a name up on the spot, and then everybody makes funny.
Skylar: No, goon. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Yours says goon, so you got goon pie. And yours, Bill says guard number five. Guard number five.
Cameron: It's not what it says.
Skylar: Oh, okay.
Dave: It says, like, high turnover rate among guards.
Skylar: Yum, yum. Okay, so you got goon, you got yoom, and you got pie. Gon yoon pie. That's fun. Awesome. All right. So, and then, Brock, you're chilling out, unloading here.
Cameron: I'll chill out.
Cameron: Toss him the fourth one. Name tag.
Cameron: Oh, I get the name tag.
Cameron: Yeah.
Skylar: Oh, okay.
Dave: Here you go. And I toss it to you.
Skylar: What does this name tag say?
Cameron: It says choy.
Skylar: Choy. I'm not gonna remember that one, cuz it's kind of.
Cameron: It's. I'm just chilling at the car.
Skylar: Yeah, I was gonna say just in case.
Cameron: Just in case.
Skylar: Yeah.
Cameron: My name's Choy.
Skylar: Don't mess.
Cameron: Who's the world unloader over here?
Skylar: That's weird.
Cameron: Oh, he asked me to hold it for him.
Skylar: Oh.
Cameron: Troy.
Skylar: okay. Awesome. So, the three of you guys, head inside the factory. When you guys get inside the factory, you see the initial, factory floor. So you just see tons and tons of kids, teens, maybe a little bit younger, even the teens, working the factory floor. There are conveyor belts. It kind of reminds you a little bit about the factory that you guys had to disable back in Udao. So there's a whole bunch of just, you know, conveyor belts and this and that. all that kind of move various products from one end of the facility to the other. It's a hive of activity, with rows of gleaming machinery and conveyor belts stretching as far as the eye can see, the air thick with the aroma of boiling tea leaves and the sound of whirring gears and hissing steam. Workers clad in the traditional pink hot leaf juice uniforms scurry back and forth, tending to the machines and monitoring the production process. In one corner, huge vats of bubbling liquid line the walls, each labeled with the name of a different hot leaf juice. Blend pipes snake across the ceiling, transporting ingredients and finished products to various stations throughout the facility. The production process follows employees sorting through the tea leaves on a massive conveyor belt, distributing the different leaves to different belts based on their type. Then another group of employees at each one of those breakout lines picks away at the leaves on their respective belt, and they have a basket next to them filled with reject leaves. The good leaves are left on the belt when they head to a small vat of hot water where they're boiled. And once they emerge from this bath, a large, heavy metal brick stamps down on them, floor, flattening them and forcing out the flavors. They then drop off the belt onto a drying basket, where the employees spread a powdery substance over the leaves. Once the basket is full, they are dumped into a metal bin that crushes the leaves before spitting out a cube, which goes down the conveyor belt where the HLJ employees pick it up and place it inside of a large stone oven where the tea brick is dried. Once the bricks are completed, they're removed from the oven, and they're placed on another conveyor where an employee packages them into a crate. And then those crates, of course, are then taken by employees and put into the warehouses where they're stashed for distribution. Adjacent to the production floor, there's a modest cafeteria where factory workers would gather to eat and drink. It honestly, truly looks like your typical elementary school, old cafeteria kind of like setup. There's currently no employees there at the immediate moment, but as you guys are entering, you watch, as a particular employee who's just, you know, one of the many on one of the conveyor belts just suddenly looks up with eyes wide and starts screaming, where am I?
Bill: What's going on?
Skylar: Where am I? And almost instantly, as everybody kind of turns their gaze towards this employee, looking a little bit, like, kind of strange at this person's actions. a couple of the hot leaf juice elite guards rush over, grab this employee, and lead them, kind of carry them off to a room, off to the side, which has a sign that says the employee recertification room. And they just kind of disappear into that room. And as soon as they go into that room, everybody immediately turns back to their work and continues what they're doing.
Dave: Well, that was ominous.
Cameron: Yeah. And if you keep it up, that's where I'm taking you guys.
Dave: Oh, sorry, sir.
Cameron: Yeah, that's what. That's more like it. Right this way. And I start leading them even more to Adam Yang's office.
Skylar: All right, so you.
Cameron: I want to see. Is there, like, a back way to, like. I don't want to go. I don't want to. Is it just, like, a single staircase?
Skylar: Yeah, I was just gonna say exactly.
Cameron: Or is there, like, a different way?
Skylar: No, it is literally a single staircase that leads up to this glass office. Looks everything. But, here's the positive side of the fact that it's glass office. You look up there, and you do not see Madame Yang inside of the glass office at the moment.
Mikayla: We see the box.
Dave: Wait.
Skylar: Well, it a little bit more inside this glass than just a box sitting there. Yeah.
Cameron: What's up? Oh, sorry. Whoa. What's up?
Dave: Do you see worker? We need to get, like, a. Some cleaning supplies or something.
Cameron: Okay.
Dave: Because everybody can see us when we're up there, so we need to act like we're doing something.
Cameron: Oh, that's a good point. Goon.
Dave: Thanks, hume. Oh, I've taken initiative. Do you think I'll get that promotion?
Cameron: If you keep this up, goon, you will really make it far in the hot leaf juice company. Soon. You won't even see that line ever again. All.
Dave: Ah, right.
Cameron: Oh, look. Cleaning product right over here in this closet marked cleaning product.
Skylar: If you're looking for cleaning product. Yeah, you see, I don't know. You'd see some obscure stuff sitting right kind of near the entrance of the.
Cameron: Might be stuff near the cafeteria. Yeah. Yeah.
Dave: Seemed like a rag.
Cameron: Yeah. Really?
Skylar: Probably people actively, maybe a couple of people just cleaning in the cafeteria area.
Cameron: Oh, I will just walk over them and get. Hey.
Skylar: Oh, yeah.
Cameron: Can I get a couple, buckets?
Skylar: Okay.
Cameron: With water? Hot water, some soap, and some rags.
Skylar: Yes, sir. And they rush off to go get some. What do you want ours?
Cameron: I don't care. Get some extra so you can keep working. Well, yeah, of course, sir.
Skylar: And they hand you their current buckets and rags with somewhat. It's a little bit dirty, obviously, the water, because they've been cleaning with it, but. Yeah, I know. You describing for the. And then they, of course, rush off to go get fresh ones.
Cameron: All right. And I hand the buckets to hi and goon. All right, follow me. Time to get the work. Cleaning time. All right.
Skylar: And you guys start to head upstairs to Madam Yang's office, buckets in hand. All right. So I will describe for you what madam's Yang's office looks like. Okay? So located in the upper floors of the factory building, linked to the production floor by a wooden staircase, Madam Yang's office is a luxurious oasis amidst the industrial chaos below. The office is spacious and elegantly furnished with polished, well, glass floor. There is a nice plush carpet that does sit atop, a section of it, not covering all of it. And, of course, there are tasteful decorations adorning the walls in such a way that doesn't obscure too much of her view across the room.
Mikayla: I'm gonna break him.
Skylar: Okay. We'll get to that. Across her factory, campus, on the floor, the rug that I mentioned before is a ornate rug that features a map of the four nations. Of course, there are large glass windows that cover every side of the office, including. Including the floor, offering a panoramic view of the production floor below, as well as the surrounding landscape outside from her vantage point. Well, I don't know why I need to read you that part. the centerpiece of her office is a grand mahogany desk positioned directly in front of the windows to maximize Madam Yang's view. The desk is cluttered with stacks of paperwork, a gleaming brass inkwell and a golden statuette of a firebent or a, ah, dragon like from the Fire Nation, symbolizing her power and influence. While behind the desk is an equally luxurious cushioned chair which features traditional pattern work featuring the symbologies of the fire nation, reiterating her heritage and origin. So you guys step into this ornate, fancy office and there's nobody there and a box, apparently not that you see.
Skylar: Right out in the open.
Skylar: Maybe.
Mikayla: I'm gonna knock some things off the shelf while I'm quote unquote dusting.
Cameron: Good.
Skylar: Okay, you just like real casually, like you're going up with like a rag or something. Oops. And oops.
Dave: So it's the, where's the rug in relation to the desk?
Skylar: yeah. So maybe like a foot away from.
Dave: The desk, like in front of it.
Skylar: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so the desk isn't sitting on the rug, it's she wants to be.
Dave: Able to like look down while she's sitting to see everything.
Skylar: Exactly. Exactly.
Mikayla: Just punch her. What's in her desk drawers?
Skylar: All right, so you go to search her desk drawers, you find a couple.
Mikayla: Of things, something real cool.
Skylar: You find some ledgers, some books with various, as you kind of skim through it, you see various reports and accounting from the various HLJ locations scattered around the nations, as well as of course, things that show the stock and inventory of this factory itself and like how much they're producing and so on and so forth. And you notice that on the bottom of. Actually, no, I'm going to save that.
Mikayla: I'm gonna say that there's nothing about our tea shop.
Skylar: no. Cause it's not owned by them. So why would it be in their ledgers?
Mikayla: I don't know. Because she killed. She killed Mister Okarod.
Skylar: no, but on the desk you do see a couple of things. there are some correspondences from like letters and stuff. And you look through them and I mean, I don't know how much time you're taking to like read stuff.
Mikayla: I mean, I can skim pretty fast.
Skylar: Okay, so you skim pretty fast. So, within these letters you are seeing their correspondence to various orphanages in the fire nation.
Mikayla: Everyone wants to be in an orphanage.
Cameron: That's how they get you. You know, they sucker you in with the dental promises.
Mikayla: I'm gonna, say, give these to bill because. Sounds like his cup of tea. Hey, Bill.
Skylar: Ironic. Someone that doesn't like tea.
Mikayla: I mean, yoon.
Cameron: Yeah.
Mikayla: there's some, letters about all the little orphanages in the fire nation.
Skylar: And that's when Mika had a stroke.
Cameron: Here, Bill's just gonna pull off his pouch, his satchel, whatever he has, and, hand it to you and says, here, just fill it up. I am standing guard. Get to work.
Mikayla: Yeah, you're taking this boss man thing, too.
Dave: You're not gonna get a promotion.
Mikayla: Shut up.
Skylar: Cleaning like that.
Cameron: By the way, keep it up, goon. You're doing great.
Dave: And guo goon is, over there, actually cleaning.
Mikayla: I roll my eyes very dramatically.
Skylar: It's a good thing that one person's actually looking, man, because I gotta move this plot along.
Mikayla: I roll my eyes dramatically. I put the, I give a big sigh, put him in his bag, and I go back to the desk. Did I search all of the drawers?
Skylar: You, get to the last drawer.
Mikayla: Okay.
Skylar: You're just kind of, like, grabbing anything and everything. You start stuffing things, and it goes back. And sure enough, in the last drawer, you open up, and there are fragments of a broken, blissful brew teapot.
Mikayla: Punch her. She's on here.
Cameron: Why do you keep saying you want to?
Skylar: Inside of which she's a meme label. Hold on. Inside of which is the box is a box. Did you find something which is labeled the blissful brew? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I checked the episode, and I was pretty sure that I had said, and maybe it was something I wrote and I forgot to implement, but I think I had said that it was a box that you guys saw her taking.
Cameron: Yes, but you said it was supposed.
Skylar: To be a box that was inside of a teapot that was supposed to be a little bit more like you guys would recognize right off the bat, like, oh, that's a blissful brew teapot. Because we literally serve tea out of it every single day. That, I may have made a mistake there. That's my bad. A little bit of retcon real quick. So the box was inside the teapot. She shattered the teapot. There's the box. It is a little bit rude. I mean, how would you have gotten it out, though?
Mikayla: Does it, Madam Yang, look like Miss M trunchable on Matilda? Because that's how I'm picturing her.
Skylar: You know what? Go for it. Go for it. I say go for it.
Dave: Picturing more of a younger Yzma.
Cameron: Yes. That's what I've kind of been picturing.
Mikayla: I did not picture that.
Skylar: Okay, let's go with something in between.
Mikayla: Both of those treas me. Okay, well, I'm gonna put one of the teapot pieces in my skirt.
Skylar: Oh, okay.
Mikayla: Yeah, sure.
Skylar: It's a remembrance.
Mikayla: Yeah. And I'm gonna take the box just.
Skylar: In case you don't save the tea shop and you want something to remember it by.
Mikayla: Tears. there's a box. I'm gonna take the box. Is the box locked?
Skylar: No.
Mikayla: Okay, I'm gonna open it.
Skylar: Okay.
Mikayla: It's not locked. Madame Yang's already read the message.
Skylar: No, I was inside a teapot. it does look like she has opened the letter and then put it back inside. And then, there's also inside, one of the envelopes, there's a water nation whale bone comb. Like a nice, fancy, ornate one.
Mikayla: I'm gonna steal that too.
Skylar: It's in one of the letters that's literally labeled Micah. So it's like in the envelope, so you feel free to scale away your own possessions.
Mikayla: I'm gonna sit in her big, comfy chair. I'm gonna read this.
Cameron: You find it. The box.
Skylar: You're just gonna straight up read the letter in this?
Mikayla: Apparently we got time.
Cameron: I'm gonna pound my bow stuff on the grog. Oh, hey. Get back to work.
Mikayla: Shut up, you.
Cameron: Did you find the box?
Mikayla: Obviously.
Cameron: Well, where is it?
Mikayla: I'm reading. Mind your business.
Cameron: Well, grab the box.
Dave: Now she could see if she need to check if we got what we can.
Mikayla: Okay, I'm gonna toss the box, but keep the link.
Dave: Read it on the rug.
Cameron: Yeah.
Mikayla: Why?
Dave: The reading rug.
Skylar: The reading.
Cameron: The reading rug.
Mikayla: But this chair is.
Cameron: They can't see you on the rug.
Mikayla: fine, I'll get on the dang rug.
Cameron: That's an order.
Mikayla: Shut your mouth, yoon.
Cameron: Okay, on the ground.
Mikayla: Let me read it.
Skylar: So obviously there's a piece of the map.
Mikayla: There's a map. There's a map.
Skylar: Oh, okay. I was like, dude, okay. Cause there were other letters and stuff, as I mentioned before, and it's. So I wrote the letter, which I was about to read the letter that you just opened, and it says, dearest Madame Yang. And I'm like, whoa, different letter, different letter, different letter.
Mikayla: no, she put the wrong letter in the wrong envelope.
Skylar: Mister Ogaran's like, dearest Madame Yang, I.
Cameron: Know that you would have stolen this book.
Cameron: Haha.
Cameron: Got you.
Skylar: Gotcha. This is, Okay. Oh, boy, you just really left me with a big one. So one of them is labeled Brock. It's a letter to Brock.
Mikayla: He doesn't know how to read, so I'll read that one too. Yeah, read mine first.
Skylar: but the one that's labeled amiga. Okay, so you pull out the cone. Also, there was a piece of the map. Obviously, there's been one with each piece of the clue, right? So this is the second to last one that you need. One more right after this, and then you have the full map. Okay.
Skylar: It says, dear Mika, I know you and I didn't always get along. I know you've always held out hope that your father was still out there looking for you. And I assure you, I always held out hope as well. In every one of my travels since you joined our little family, I've done as much searching and asking around as I could. I'm sorry to say I still haven't found anything. And if you're reading this, it means I may have run out of the opportunity to continue the search from my end. But don't give up, because I am certain he is still alive. Let me explain. A couple of weeks ago, I traveled back to that region where I found you. I stumbled across the remains of an old village there that had since been abandoned. As I walked to the very edge of the encampment, I stumbled upon an old, burnt down cabin which featured a gravestone next to it. I decided to pay my respects to the soul that rested there. A woman named Daenerys. But I was surprised to find that there was a beautiful comb sitting atop the gravestone with a small note attached to it that simply said, micah, never stop, looking for me. I won't stop looking for you. I'll admit I didn't give it to you right away when I returned, partly out of selfishness, wanting to be the one to find your father for you and partially out of fear. Fear that you'd leave us and search for him and fear that you might have gotten hurt or lost, and we'd never be able to find you again.
Mikayla: This is why we didn't go along.
Skylar: But that was wrong of me. Your wariness of everything protects you, and it will protect those around you as well. Bravery is admirable, but there are things worth fearing in this world, and I hope that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me. And that you will find your father as well. Before I left the village, I met an old man living there just on the outskirts. He was fearful of my presence, and it took some time to calm him down. He told me he used to be the leader of the thriving village that used to exist there, but some of the animals in the area began to go wild, attacking the village and those living inside. He said it got worse and worse after the death of the woman whose gravestone I found. He said a religious zealot took over the village leadership, and they ran a man and his daughter out of the town. My heart sparked when I heard this, wondering if you might have been that girl. But nevertheless, things have apparently gotten worse and worse, and more of the beasts attacks.
Skylar: Wait.
Skylar: And more and more of the beasts attacked until the village had to flee. The man, Tutanka was his name, said he remained in the area and has done his best to survive.
Skylar: I helped cook a meal for him.
Skylar: And gave him some tea, which he appreciated. I told him of a teenage girl I had found not too far from this place named Micah, and the man broke down in tears. I told him about how, she had lost her father, and he explained that he had been saved from a crazed beast by a man that he could have sworn was Mactuk. So I do truly believe your father is out there somewhere. I sent the last clues by messenger Hawk to this man in the southern watered nation. I'm hoping you'd be able to find the ruins of the village in hopes that you head there and find more evidence of your father's whereabouts. Perhaps he can help you more than I have been able to. Yours in most humble apologies and sincerest love, Okaran.
Mikayla: You shove it in my pocket.
Skylar: Okay.
Mikayla: There's nothing of value for anybody else in this letter.
Skylar: Not in your letter.
Mikayla: Exactly. That's what I'm saying.
Skylar: I mean, there's a letter to Brock.
Mikayla: Well, do I have time to read it? Cause I'm gonna just read them all.
Skylar: Well, actually, you don't have time to read it because as, those of you that are actually cleaning or guarding, look down through the glass. You can see that the individual that had gotten the kid that got dragged into the recertification room is being brought out by two hot leaf juice, a leaf guards. And trailing behind them is Madame Yang herself. And with that, we will end out episode seven. Hey, everyone. Skylar, the game master for benders and brews, and the creative director over at session zero heroes here. I just wanted to give you a quick outro before you head over to the next episode or call it a day. Firstly, thank you so much for listening to our show. It means so much to us to have such amazing people like yourself that enjoy the content that we produce. Without you, there really wouldn't be much point in all the work that we put into recording, editing, and sharing our TTRPG sessions with all of you. With that being said, we would love it if you would throw some love our way and drop us a review or a rating or whatever it is called, wherever you're listening to the show, based on whatever platform that allows you to leave reviews and leave recommendations. It means a lot to us to get to hear why you love the show we make, and it also helps the show reach other listeners as well, allowing us to grow our community. So if you're feeling especially generous, you could even go as far as to share our show to your friends and family who also enjoy TRBG actual play podcasts. It's really expensive for us to be able to advertise and we don't do much of it, so it's a lot more help to have you guys share it with people that you know will enjoy it and then they can join in the community that we're creating. That would make you a session zero hero yourself. And additionally, we'd love to have you stop by on one of our various social platforms and interact with the channel. There you can find session Zero Heroes on Facebook, X, Instagram and Discord. We post all sorts of updates, clips, and even the occasional behind the scenes look at what we're up to. And if you're ever looking for information on SZH or you don't use a podcast streaming site but you wanna listen to our shows, you can do so by checking out our website at session zeroheroes.com. and while you're there, you can find out about the cast and the crew that make our show and provide the players voices in all of our various series. And if you're feeling especially cheeky, you can check out our merch store where we have a ton of designs and products to choose from, all of which help us pay the bills and keep the lights on. So once again, thank you all so much for listening. And remember to stay curious, stay heroic until we roll again.