A Daring Feat-Open to All

Yofuey walked into his small reception office for his hired hand buisness, still a little tired. He had started out his day, like always, with a rousing cup of herbal tea, and a half hour of firebending practice. He shuffled through the various offer forms that his customers filled out. He sorted these into two piles: those that were tempting, and those that were not worth his time, no matter how much the client begged. There was one offer on the top of the stack that could not be refused. The form was sparsely filled out, giving only minimal information. The job description said something like this: "Report to the Han Sing warehouse at dusk tommorrow with a team of five other skilled warriors, and I will brief you further. Be warned, once accepting, the job must be seen through, no matter the bodily danger or possible change of mind. They are watching me..." The only name given was An Old Friend. Yofuey's brow creased as he pondered this cryptic job offer. When he lloked down again the amount of money offered shocked him. There was a fortune divided 6 ways! Yofuey cinsidered his remaining funds. Aside from the amount of his inheritance he had in reserve, there was a depressing amount. He looked again at the west side of his office, covered with a calendar marked up with appointments in colored ink, and a series of giant maps with color coded pins where his assignements would take him. He took some black ones from the tray that hung from the bottom of the bulletin board, and stuck it on the locations of a few inns that wnaderers were reputed to stay at, and finally at the cryptic Han Sing warehouse, which hadn't been used for years. His calm eyes scanned the map of Yu Dao, mapping his route. Then he took a deep breath, hands on his hips, and sighed. The start of a new journey, a new mission. Yofuey shouldered his sheathed sword, and struck out for the first inn.

Yofuey came home tired. All day, and nobody more noteable than a juggler was staying at the inns in town. He would have to meet the mysterious client alone...

As Yofuey entered the warehouse at dusk, he loosed his sword in its scabbard and took the deep breaths that precede firebending. He was always expecting a fight, but this was plain spooky. Smells of rotting cargo created a cushion of air with every step. Small rodents and insects had taken over, making very short and organized work of the warehouse and its contents. This had to be the wordt job ever. Yofuey wandered the warehouse, looking over his shoulder at every corner and starting at every noise. He nearly killed the old man out of surprise. The client was a farmer wearing patched and threadbare clothes stained with mud. The sword was at his neck before Yofuey could stop himself.
"Sorry," he said, trying not to use his nose, "nerves."
"It's fine," The farmer chuckled, apparently oblivious to the stench surrounding them, "I almost started as much as you did!" Yofuey smiled at the old man and his missing teeth.
"So, you called me here for a job?"
"Yes, I was hoping for more..." The old man's wrinkled brow creased even more, his brown eyes finally showing the telltale signs of a lost hope.
"Nobody else in town. Anything I can do?"
The old man's shoulder's sagged. "Not unless you can go to the Hog Monkey Industry's lab and stop them from revealing their secrets... Five others more skilled than you have already perished discreetly and terribly in the attempt to reveal the terrible secrets I carry." This was good. A major food shipping company, a deadly secret.
"Wait, they're all the way in Ba Sing Se, aren't they?
"Yes, and as the song goes, it's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se."
Yofuey grinned. "Then we'd best be going, hadn't we?"