The chief turned out to be a very cheerful kobold. He listened to Ryx’us’ report patiently nodding along at parts. The chief appraises Mike when Ryx’us tells him of the combat with the goblins and how Mike broke the stalemate. When Ryx’us finally finishes his report the room falls silent. The chief is clearly deep in thought. At last he turns to Mike.
“Well, it seems I have you to thank for my son’s safe return. I’ll not have it said that I am an ungrateful chief, as a token of my thanks, I gift you my own personal hunting bow.” a nearby kobold runs into a back room, within moments they return carrying an unstrung wooden bow. “It hasn’t been used in some time but with a little care it should see you right.” Mike takes the bow offered to him taking note of the dry, but still flexible, wood.
“Thank you, it is a most welcome gift.” The unfamiliar sounds of a new language still trips his mouth but the message gets across. The chief nods before continuing.
“While I am keen for you to stay with us, I must consider my people’s opinions. Our histories tell of much kobold suffering from the hands of humans. It will take more than the word of me and mine to convince them to allow you to stay for any length of time. My son can guide you further if it is your wish to stay longer. The choice is yours.” With that dismissal Mike nods to the chief and allows Ryx’us to escort him out.
Reputation with Chief Ssar increased +1000 current reputation +500 Friend
Reputation with Local Kobold Tribe +500 current reputation +0 Neutral
Mike blinks the notification away as he follows behind Ryx’us. The kobold leads him back up towards the surface. Close to the guard rooms Ryx’us takes a right and turns into a small room.
“You can stay here for a couple of days. Any longer will take effort on your part.” Mike nods as Ryx’us continues. “Now, that bow gives me a good idea how you can convince the others to think more positively. The fastest way to someone's heart is through their stomach. If you contribute to the feeding of the tribe then I’m sure they would be much more receptive to you sticking around.”
“Sounds good, although I need to brush up on my archery some.”
“Sure. There’s targets up top that you can practice on. Before that, you need to get ready.” He pulls a small wooden cylinder out of a pouch at his side. “You can take my pot of wax, I’ll get another.” With that Ryx’us goes through showing Mike how to care for the wood limbs of his new bow. Once the bow is cared for, Ryx’us leads Mike outside to a small range.
The night is illuminated well by a full moon which allows Mike to see clearly in the small clearing outside the mound. The dull moonlight isn’t bright enough to penetrate the surrounding forest canopy which leaves the mound and clearing around it stand out like in a spotlight. The mound, above the kobold warren, is unassuming although overgrown. It is clear nothing has passed over it since the burrows were dug. The clearing however is clearly well travelled and used. There is the clear imprint of a training yard to the right, although empty there are signs of frequent use. The archery field is on the left and that is where Ryx’us leads him towards.
A handful of arrows are handed over and Mike spends a little time getting used to the bow, it’s a little difficult to draw due to his reduced strength but he just about manages it. Ryx’us gives a few pointers and the first time Mike hits the target a prompt appears:
Skill Acquired
Through practice and instruction you have gained the skill Archery. Your basic understanding has increased this skill to Novice (7)
This skill provides instinctive guidance to accuracy when using bow weapons.
Skill Upgraded
Through your extensive knowledge of projectiles and experience with ranged weapons your skill Archery (7) has been upgraded to Marksmanship(26).
This skill provides increased instinctive guidance to accuracy when using projectile weapons.
Mike smiles, He is happy his previous life experience reflects in his skills. His next shot thuds into the target centre of mass, shortly followed by a third, equally accurate, shot.
“I thought you said you recently got your status?” Ryx’us exclaims in surprise.
“I have, It seems my previous experiences are taken into account when learning skills. I got the archery skill at level seven.” Before Mike can continue Ryx’us interrupts.
“Level seven is respectable but it doesn’t account for that level of accuracy.”
“If you let me finish.” Ryx’us has the grace to keep quiet this time. “It was then upgraded to Marksmanship level twenty-six due to my other previous experiences.” Mike grins.
“Level twenty-six?” Ryx’us exclaims before taking a breath. “Level twenty-six?” The kobold exclaims again. “The prime hunter is only in the thirties for archery. What other experiences do you have with ranged weapons to get such a huge change?” Ryx’us asks. Mike, realising what the introduction of advanced weapons to this world would do, decides to be mysterious.
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out.” He says with a grin. “Now, I need to learn to make more arrows.” Ryx’us complains but settles in to demonstrate and instruct Mike in fletching basic arrows. Mike picks up the process easily and before long has collected another skill.
Skill Acquired
Through practice and instruction you have gained the skill Fletching(1)
This skill provides bonus to speed and accuracy when crafting fletched projectiles.
Ryx’us looks around and, noticing the sky brightening, stands up.
“It’s starting to get light, I’m going to grab a bite to eat before turning in for the day.” Mike looks at the kobold confused for a moment before it clicks.
“You’re nocturnal?” He asks.
“Nocturnal? What’s that?” Ryx’us asks affronted.
“You wake and work at night and sleep during the day. As opposed to Diurnal who work during daylight hours and sleep at night.” Mike explains realising that Ryx’us thought Mike was calling him names.
“Ah, of course. You aren’t?” Ryx’us asks. Mike, aware that the day is about to begin, realises he has been up for close to eighteen hours already. He had gone to the antiques store in the afternoon. Still his youthful body is eager to keep going for the moment. He knows the cost shift workers pay for working nights and doesn’t feel like giving up the sunlight. Hunting is often most effective during dusk and dawn anyway, Mike decides to power through until evening. He can catch up with the kobolds before he goes to sleep.
“No, humans sleep at night. I guess I’ll head out now and catch up with you this evening. Thanks for all the help Ryx’us.”
“No worries Mike. You can just call me Ryx when we're alone though. The ‘us’ reflects my position in the tribe. Good luck hunting.” With that Ryx heads back to the mound as Mike looks out to the forest. He sighs and heads out.
*****
It is some time later that Mike has found a perfect spot. He found plenty of hoofed tracks in the clearing ahead, the wind blowing towards him. His spot is good. The sun, or whatever its called in this world, has just started to peak over the horizon and the forest starts to come alive around him. Mike lays his arrows out besides him and strings the bow before settling in to wait. His progress through the forest was punctuated by several prompts:
Skill Acquired
Through previous knowledge and practice you have gained the skill Stealth. Your previous experiences have increased this skill to Novice(13).
This skill provides instinctive guidance to minimise your visibility to others.
This was granted after he began to dull his skin with dirt and stuff grass and branches into his hair and clothing. All aimed to break up his shape and disguise his scent. Shortly afterwards he got a second prompt when he identified the first sign of tracks:
Skill Acquired
Through practice and instruction you have gained the skill Tracking. Your previous experience has increased this skill to Novice (4)
This skill highlights tracks made in the last 24 hours that have not been actively hidden.
Following this the world opened up even further to his vision. His ability to sense the mana around him was already helping him. The plants around him have higher mana concentrations than that in the air. The animals that sleep in burrows below the ground have even greater concentrations. He can sense the life around him. Insect nests and small rodents calling out to him. Now, with the tracking skill he can see the slight glow of imprints left by the animals he can sense.
Mike brings his attention back to the clearing ahead. His concentration is struggling now that he has stopped and lack of sleep begins to creep in. The peace of the clearing allows Mike the time to come to terms with his new life. He accepts that he now lives, temporarily, with a bunch of kobolds, fantasy creatures. He accepts that he is no longer on earth, despite many of the insects and animals he has seen are the same. What he refuses to accept is that he won’t see his wife again. He doesn’t know how he will do it, but he will get her here.
His focus snaps back as movement at the treeline to his left catches his eye. A head pokes out timidly and Mike finds himself silently daring it to keep moving. The deer sniffs the air, paws the ground and looks around. Something convinces it to turn back and Mike sighs and settles back down to wait some more as his thoughts turn back to his new life.
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For now his basic needs are met but the kobolds are clearly at war with these goblins. Mike thinks he can help them but he needs to get more information. How long the war has been going and what the capabilities are of the enemy. He begins to plan out what he already knows. The goblins clearly have a lower technology level than that of the kobolds. The goblins are using slings and clubs against spears and bows. This seems offset by numbers, the goblins outnumbered the kobolds two to one at least, if this carries across to all conflicts then that could be a worry. Other than that distance, direction and fortifications will need to be discussed. Another deer appears, this time to the right and Mike stops thinking to prepare.
The deer seems a little bolder than the last. It peeks out half as far again. Briefly sniffing the air and looking around intently, it decides it’s safe. It moves out several steps and Mike nocks an arrow holding steady, patient. The deer stops and looks back towards the treeline, antlers following. A short bray and it turns to continue it’s path angled slightly away from Mike’s position. As the deer continues a second follows, this one a doe. Mike draws back on the bow and begins to sight on the buck, daring it to turn enough for a clean shot. The buck is almost three quarters of the way across the clearing and Mike is starting to think it will get away. The doe notices something and pauses with a short bray. The buck starts to turn and Mike sees the opportunity. With a sharp tang the bowstring snaps forward, propelling the arrow across the distance in a heartbeat. A thud echoes back as the buck keels over.
The doe bolts back the way it came. Mike swiftly grabs an arrow and draws it but is too slow. A gray blur bounds out of the treeline and collides with the doe tackling it to the ground. Growling and braying assault his ears and he notices three other gray shapes edging out of the forest. A pack of wolves have been tracking these deer. Mike sees his work about to go to waste and he makes a snap decision. He draws back and fires a second arrow into the closest unoccupied wolf. It lands squarely, planting itself deeply into its chest. It keels over but Mike doesnt register it. A third arrow flies across the space, this one only grazes the target which yelps. The wolves have identified a danger and are not standing still now. Arrows four and five land on targets but fail to hit anything vital. When the sixth arrow penetrates deeply into the chest of the first wolf, that tackled the doe, and it collapses to the ground the two remaining wolves retreat. Mike stays tense arrow ready in case they return but after several minutes all is quiet. Mike eases the tension on the string and relaxes his shoulder. A prompt appears:
Battle Report
You have defeated:
2x Gray Wolf (+12 experience)
You now have one free attribute point to assign
Mike wonders why the deer didn’t give him any experience, he makes a point to ask Ryx tonight. The new attribute point is a bonus though and he assigns it to his strength attribute, currently his main weapon, the bow, relies heavily on strength. His muscles tense slightly before relaxing and he gives the bow another try. It pulls back easier and he smiles. He checks his status once more:
Name
Mike
Age
21
Race
Human
Level
0
Bloodline
Unknown
Mana
195
195
Attributes
0
Experience
7
Strength
8
Vitality
10
Dexterity
8
Agility
8
Intelligence
13
Wisdom
14
Abilities
Skills
Mana Sense
Examine
54
Marksmanship
26
Fletching
1
Stealth
13
Tracking
4
The first thing he notices is his new skills. Without his marksman skill that fight would have definitely gone a lot worse. Next he notices that his experience is down to seven. It should have been seventeen. If that’s true then his attribute point cost ten experience, will he get another point at the next ten experience? Finally, he is still level 0. If gaining an attribute point wasn’t considered leveling up then what was required? More questions to ask Ryx. Still Mike has work to do and the bloodbath of a clearing awaits.
Mike knows how heavy dead bodies are. Being a veteran medic he has carried his fair share of dead and wounded. Facing four bodies, two of which larger than a man, he knows he can’t get them all back to the kobolds in one go. Leaving dead animals laying around when he already knows wolves, at least, are all too willing to scavenge a kill. Mike heads over to the wolves first, the prompt said he had defeated them not necessarily killed them. He checks they are dead and retrieves his arrows. Then he locates a nearby tree with branches low enough to hoist the wolves over but high enough to keep the bodies out of reach of scavengers. After the gruesome work of moving the dead wolves Mike looks over the doe. The wolf did a real number on it and the throat is in tatters with deep claw marks along the chest. Mike would be surprised if the stomach hadn’t been ruptured along with several other organs. Mike gives up on it as a bad job and decides to use it to tempt scavengers away from the wolves. Finally he checks on the buck. The arrow took it cleanly through the heart minimising the time it suffered. He retrieves the arrow and then contemplates how he can manage to move such an animal. Luckily the buck is on the smaller side. He grasps is by the antlers and begins the slow job of dragging it back to the mound, happier in his recent addition to strength.
A journey that took fifteen minutes earlier that morning now ended up taking almost two hours. He meets two of the guard kobolds at the entrance to the mound who agree to get some of the other kobolds to take the deer down into the kitchen. Mike thanked the kobolds, excusing himself to go get the other kills. The guards look between them and one of them pulls off his dagger.
“Here, take this. We don’t need whole animals, if you toss the offal it will make the journey easier. I’ll need it back when you return though.” Mike thanked the guard and promised to return the dagger. It’s a very simple item made from sharpened bone. He secures it to his waist knowing all too well about accounting for issued kit.
*****
As he draws closer to the hunting ground he slows down. Aware that the carcasses are likely to draw in potential threats. He checks his bow, counts his arrows and secures the bone dagger. The bow is undamaged and draws smoothly, twelve arrows sit happily in his quiver and the dagger rests comfortably at his hip. He sneaks forward towards the clearing and is rewarded for his caution. He hears noises coming from the clearing and as he looks out past the edge of the woods he sees several green skinned goblins arguing and scuffling around the doe carcass. The two wolf carcasses have also been recovered and the goblins seem to be attempting, poorly, to field dress them for transport. Annoyed that his hard work was going to benefit the enemy, Mike quickly strategises before taking action.
Mike falls into his training. Recheck his ammo, twelve arrows. Recheck weapon, good condition. A quick reapplication of mud to dull his face and reduce the chance of being seen. No other equipment, radios or specialist equipment. Time to plan. A simple attack designed to kill or maim as many goblins as possible before they can close the gap forms. He makes a point to keep moving between shots to inflate his presence and bluff the size of his force. He knocks the first arrow and sights on the goblin that seems to be in charge. As soon as he releases he takes two steps to the side while knocking the second arrow. A pause to aim before the second is loosed. Another couple of steps further and a third arrow arcs across the clearing just as the first goblin cries out in pain. Mike has no time to stop and in quick succession looses a further three arrows before the enemy force begins to mobilise. As soon as the goblins start moving Mike’s accuracy falls. By the time his twelfth arrow lands he missed only two shots. Unfortunately out of the ten arrows that hit only five of the goblins were killed or seriously maimed. That left three goblins left standing. Two goblins were quickly closing the distance to Mike while the third was hobbling away trying to escape, an arrow lodged halfway down its right leg.
Mike stashed his bow and drew the knife. He took position behind a tree and listened out for the approaching goblins. Within moments they ran past his hiding place and Mike struck out at the closest one. With his greater height and mass it was easy for him to grasp the much smaller goblin and, lifting it into the air, thrust the knife repeatedly into its lower back, paying close attention to angle the knife beneath the ribs. The second goblin didn’t hang back though. It spun around and then identifying the enemy, aims a strike to his head. Mike dropps the perforated goblin and leans away from the strike. The club misses his head but hits his left forearm as Mike swings it up to keep balance. He cries out in pain briefly before hopping back and facing off against the grinning goblin, clearly unaffected at the state of it’s brethren.
The two face off against each other slowly circling and feinting attacks to check the others guard. Mike’s lack of melee experience starts to show and the goblin rushes forward. Mike takes a blow to the leg before the creature jumps on him and tackles him to the ground. A scuffle breaks out with Mike taking a large amount of blows from fist, elbow, knee and feet before he can untangle himself enough to bring his weight to bare, Gripping the goblin with one hand he rolls forcing the goblin to roll with him resulting in the goblin being pinned beneath him.
“Where is your home?” Mike asks the goblin in the kobold tongue.
“Grak na se!” the goblin punctuates the last word by spitting in Mike’s face. Mike brings his dagger up in front and uses the back of his hand to wipe the horrible green phlegm off his face.
“Tell me.” He punches the goblin in the face to emphasise his point.
“Na se!” The goblin shouts and again tries to spit. Mike having had enough drives the dagger up through the goblins chin, through the soft palate and into the creatures brain. The goblin twitches once before going limp.
Mike gets up starting to brush himself down when his hand smears a warm sticky substance down his front. He looks down to find the majority of his chest, abdomen and upper thighs are covered in goblin blood. The colour is almost black with only a slight tint of red. He takes a deep breath to calm himself and, as the adrenaline recedes, the aches and pains of combat start to make themselves known. His left forearm aches the most but he can feel a number of smaller bruises forming on his legs, side and arms. He stiffly bends forward and cleans his dagger on the dead goblin in front. As he does he notices a small bone token on a string tied around its neck.
Examine
Token of Mol’ak - This token is carved from the scapula bone of a large rat. On it is the symbol of Mol’ak, whom many believe is the preferred god of goblinoids.
Mike shruggs before taking the item to ask the kobolds about. He checks the other dead goblins, finding another three tokens before he gets back to his purpose. He unstrings his bow and collects what arrows he can find. With only seven recovered arrows he returns to the carcasses. The doe has been ruined further by the goblins who, from the looks of things, enjoyed eating the raw meat and offal before urinating and defecating over the remains. Mike, appalled, steps away and heads over to the wolves.
Upon seeing the wolf carcasses Mike knows one is already ruined. The goblins attempt at skinning it has resulted in a shredded mess of hide and bodily fluids. The second carcass, thankfully, has been left alone. Mike drags it away from the horrific smells from the other wolf and gets to work skinning the creature. Although aching, it doesn’t take long before Mike has a useful, if slightly messy, wolf hide, the bone dagger didn’t help much either. He leaves the rest of the wolf alone. What little meat is on it is tough and riddled with tendons and not worth his time. He rolls up his hide, double checks the area and begins his hobble back to the mound. It’s almost midday and Mike is starting to feel hungry.
*****
Returning to the mound with his rolled up wolf hide, Mike walks confidently towards the entrance tunnel. Once he got walking the aches and pains slowly faded as his muscles warmed. He can tell he will have a great many bruises, and his forearm still hurts when jostled. As he nears the main entrance of the kobolds home he notices the guards have switched out.
“Intruder!” The left guard calls out holding up his clawed hand in a point while the other lowers it’s spear in Mike's direction. Naturally Mike stops and holds up his hands, dropping the hide at his feet. The kobolds start to advance and Mike backs up trying to explain.
“Wait!” The Kobolds hesitate hearing their own language. “I’ve been hunting on behalf of the chief and Ryx’us.” To Mike's relief the kobolds halt. They look Mike over taking in his goblin blood soaked clothing, the bow hanging on his back and the wolf hide at his feet.
“You're covered in goblin blood.” The guard states the obvious.
“Had a little run in with them. I managed to fell a doe and some wolves that I went to retrieve. The goblins were scavenging the kills when I caught them unaware.” Mike explains and the guards seem to be relaxing a little.
“Is there anyone that can validate your story?”
“The other two guards saw me a few hours ago when I brought back my first kill.”
“Wait a moment.” The speaking kobold gestures to the other who quickly runs back into the mound. It isn’t long before two kobolds return. Mike is happy to see the guard who lent him the dagger. A short discussion later and Mike has retrieved his wolfskin, entered the main entrance and, discreetly, returned the bone dagger.
Upon entering his room Mike drops his wolfskin and, after peeling off his clothes, collapses onto the straw pile in the corner. Making a concerted effort not to fall asleep, he takes a few moments to rest before sitting back up. He checks over his injuries tending what he could. Most of the injuries are just starting to form bruises but his left forearm is what concerns him the most. After a tender probe he notes that it isn’t obviously broken. He still thinks that the arm will need longer to heal. The bone could be cracked or heavily bruised. Confident he will recover he sets off to find some food. After several minutes crouching through increasingly smaller passages he realises that the entire mound, apart from the guards, is asleep. His stomach gurgling slightly he returns to his room and adds another note to the list of things to ask Ryx’us or Chief Ssar. Mike settles in for a long wait, not wanting to head back out into the wilderness before speaking with Ryx’us.