A few hours earlier-
In the Southern Water tribe, there was a convening of the council of elders. The reason for this meeting? Apparently, some people realized that the refusal to pay tribute by the Southern Earth tribe might spell a rebellion. Before the meeting, they had sent one of their shamans, Azera to investigate the reason for this almost rebellion.
"Fal Mora, you were the one who suggested we collect tribute from this small good-for-nothing tribe! Remember I had suggested we turn it upside down and flatten it to make sure!" spoke one elder, who was a grey-haired old man.
"With all due respect Elder Mahkith, I have my reasons for collecting the tribute!" replied a middle-aged man, who was wearing what looked like a crown of sorts. Actually, it counted as a crown among the local folks, but if an outsider were to see it, they'd be wondering what sins he committed for him to be punished that way.
"We all know the truth here! The only reason we actually left them alone is because we suspect they have a foundation stone!" voiced one elder, who was a middle-aged man, with tan skin.
In the hall, there were four people. One of the four people was Fal Mora, who was the chief of the Southern Water tribe. The other one was Elder Mahkith, and the one who had just spoken was Elder Peryite. The last elder was an old woman called Elder Astrid. She didn't speak much, but when she did, the room felt it.
To call the Southern Water tribe, well, a tribe, would be doing it a great injustice. It was basically a port. So why was it still called the Southern Water "tribe"? Simple. It's called politics.
Some time ago, it was just a small tribe located closer to the sea. No one cared about it that much, even the capital treated the tribe like empty air, except when they came to collect their taxes. However, as luck would have it, some ships started arriving from the continent beyond the fjords. Initially, the ships were just passing through the tribe, which survived by fishing.
As time went on, the merchants who owned the ships realized they could make a fortune selling products to this backwater tribe. Thus, trade began and gold piled up in the coffers of whoever was clever. Most of the time, it piled up in the merchants' coffers.
However, as the ships increased, the elders of the tribe saw this as an opportunity to increase the status of their backwater tribe. They began to engage the merchants in various businesses, and as a result, gold started piling up in their coffers as well. The tribe stopped relying on just fishing, but making other products as well. The tribe grew until it became a small town.
Alas, greed and envy are very powerful motivations for politicians. Seeing the unchecked growth of the tribe, the Three Kingdoms Alliance sent some officials to "govern it". This resulted in the officials becoming richer and richer, while the tribesmen were cast aside. Even the elders of the tribe could not escape this calamity. The elders even tried to have the tribe's name changed because it had outgrown its own name. However, the officials refused, saying it would cause rebellion against the King. One might ask, what rebellion? As mentioned earlier, politics.
After seeing that their business interests were getting swallowed by the Alliance officials, the elders of the tribe started looking for other ways to keep their tribe afloat. Some consider what happened next to be bad luck for the other tribes, but again, politics. One day a brown pillar of light surged to the sky in the direction of the Southern Earth tribe, well, one of the smaller branches anyways.
When the elders realized that something was happening, they decided to investigate to see the cause. However, they were too late. The light disappeared and their investigations turned up empty. The elders decided to invade the other surrounding tribes and make them vassal tribes.
The officials approved of this plan, after all, it meant more gold for them. However, what they didn't know was that the reason for this plan was speculation among the elders, that the Southern Earth tribe had a foundation stone. What was a foundation stone? To give a general idea of its importance, a certain king turned another country upside down looking for one, and he still didn't find it.
The plan was put in motion, and up until now, the only thing the water tribe gained was gold, instead of knowledge of what caused the pillar of light. All was well, until the target of the plan started absconding their tribute payments!
In order to deal with this issue, they sent one of their shamans, Azera, to investigate and obviously intimidate the vassal tribe into paying up tribute. While waiting for Azera's return, they started doing what politicians do when they have too much time to waste. They started to argue!
Chief Fal Mora suggested they wait until Azera came back to make a decision. Elder Mahkith, being chief antagonist against "The Plan", suggested they just send their shamans with some warriors and turn the whole tribe upside down. They now had a justifications of sorts.
Time is always cruel. It doesn't care what one person is doing, it always moves on. Without waiting for anyone, evening had fallen. That didn't stop the arguments though, oh no! They seemed to be increasing in intensity, until one warrior ran into the hall where the meeting was being held. As soon as he arrived, he collapsed to the ground. That seemed to have been the cure to the madness as the elders stopped their useless arguments and helped the warrior to sit up.
"T-the s-sou--"
"Take a deep breath", spoke Elder Astrid, upon which the warrior became silent.
He took one breath and then with a quivering voice, he spoke, "The Southern Earth tribe have summoned a powerful zombie! The zombie cursed shaman Azera to the abyss, and he's no more!"