Avatar: Scorching Earth // Not Accepting!

As Kesuk finished off his first target, he heard Zasi yell an apology as she headed inside the cave. Kesuk rolled his eyes. When Kesuk made it inside, Lí had just taken out one of the last two attackers standing, a woman archer. The way in which Lí had knocked her out was so comical that Kesuk couldn't help but snicker. Her own bow ended up being her downfall. Literally.

That left the last man standing to Kesuk. As he moved towards the swordsman with his own staff in hand, Lí told Zasi to keep her eyes open next time. "For once, I agree with him, Zasi!" Kesuk called out. The swordsman struck at him, and he side-stepped it. A forward-strike with his staff and the man had at least several cracked ribs and wouldn't be getting up from the cave floor anytime soon. Kesuk walked back towards Lí and Zasi, leaving the man to groan in the dirt. The fight had been short, but a good outlet for his frustration. He felt a bit calmer now.

"So, where are these mushrooms we need?"

Zasi frowned a little when Lí and Kesuk mentioned her having to open her eyes when she was hitting people. She had managed to hit them, right? With a small sigh she nodded. "I'll try to keep them open next time I guess. I'm just new to this..." She waved her hands around the groaning and unconscious people. Kesuk then asked about the mushroom and Zasi scampered over to the waterbender. "They should look like the one that shop keeper gave us. Except not dried up..." She smiled a bit and glanced around. Luckily the cave entrance was wide so it gave them enough light to see a decent portion of the way inside the cave.

Lí Ren - Male - 19 - Earthbender

Tags: a precious bean and a moist child.

Lí barked out a laugh when Kesuk seconded his recommendation to Zasi- "Aha, I am winning you over one drop at a time, water boy!" Lí's sentence was punctuated with a mildly sickening thump containing a distinct 'cracking' sound as Kesuk's staff made contact with the last soldier's ribcage.

"It's alright Zasi, I feel like we're all kinda new to this, no matter what it may look like. I never actually earthbended at another person before yesterday." The last two words of Lí's sentence trailed off a bit and his eyes sank to the unconscious bodies around them. After only a second though, he shook himself a bit and said "alright, well let's find them!" in a cheery voice as he set off into the cave. While the light went a fair way into the cave, the walls were all dry and bare where the light hit. At about 20 or 30 feet into the cave, the light was significantly dimmer, though still bright enough to see, and Lí noticed at this point that the walls were becoming slightly damp. He observed, "Hmmm... I don't think we're going to find anything until we get a bit farther into the cave. It'd be nice if one of those firebenders were here."

"One drop at a time?...Water boy?" Kesuk muttered to himself as he trailed after Zasi and Lí. "I don't even waterbend that well." He shook it off, though, as they descended further into the cave. Lí mentioned that they might have to go further in to find the mushrooms. "Shockingly, I agree. Again. Let's try not to make this a habit. But anyway, we should try to follow the moisture. Mushrooms grow best in wet conditions, and they need nutrients from things like manure or rotting wood. Be on the lookout for moss, it often grows near mushrooms."

Of course, if they found manure...well, that would mean something else was down here to leave the droppings. Which would probably not be good. This was a cave in the Earth Kingdom. Earth Kingdom caves were likely to have badger moles and many other dangerous animals living inside. Kesuk kept his staff at the ready, just in case. They kept descending further into the depths of the cave, and Kesuk found himself also wishing for one of the firebenders, though he'd never admit it. In fact, he didn't like thinking about actually wanting another human nearby, so he started wishing he'd brought some matches and a torch instead. Or something that could provide them with light.

After a few more minutes, Kesuk heard the sound of rushing water. Rushing water meant dirt would be carried from the surface to wherever the underwater river pooled, and dirt meant nutrients for mushrooms. A pool of water also meant possible water source for underground animals, which would mean manure, which would mean mushrooms. But also the possibility of dangerous animals. "Our best chance is to follow the sound of the river and see if we can find where it stops. But it's dark and it could be dangerous," Kesuk said, offering up the situation for consideration.