The kobold city was a day of uneventful travel away, spilling out from the base of a mountain at the edge of the forest. The city itself was mostly tucked back into the mountain proper but outsiders would only ever interact with this front portion, a mess of hastily made shop fronts that were ever changing. The kobolds had originally been an impoverished race and more often than not nuisances to the rest of society, but once they realized people would trade them all sorts of things for the metal ores in their mountain home they quickly developed into a powerful economic force.
Entering the city was an assault on the ears, as the little orange scaled lizards were constantly barking and shouting trying to draw in customers. The ever-changing nature of the market unfortunately made it where you had to pay attention to the shop owners' calls to have any idea if someone nearby was selling what you needed.
Eventually I was able to find a representative of the blacksmiths guild and inquire if they had any young smiths looking for a long-term contract out of the city. I didn’t have to wait long before a short, red, and incredibly muscled female kobold was standing in front of me. She was barely two feet tall with pale green eyes and a tail as long as she was tall constantly slapping the ground behind her in irritation. She had on a simple pair of small tight-fitting shorts, and a small gold ring through her left nostril.
After a terse bout of haggling, we agreed to a five-year contract paid up front. It cost me five gold marks, roughly half my money, but easily worth it for a kobold smith who would also do their own mining. She introduced herself as Zraih and after we discussed plans to purchase a handcart and stock up on supplies, she quickly started walking away before gruffly shouting back at me “Come on, follow quickly, there’s work to be done.”
By the time the sun was setting, we had a cart loaded down with Zraih’s tools, a copious amount of cheese wax, a few hundred pounds of steel Zraih had picked out, ten lanterns, and enough candles to last a lifetime. I was down to my last gold mark but seeing as I'd hardly had use for money since moving into the forest, I had a feeling it may still last me quite a while.
As we began the trip back to the goblin cave, Zraih traveled with her mallet in hand at all times. She seemed to be waiting for something or someone to give her an excuse to use it. When we set camp for the night she ate quickly and crawled under the cart to sleep with a smile on her face ignoring me all the while.
When we made it back to the cave the goblins were quick to welcome Zraih in, excited by the prospect of eventually having their own metal tools. Zraih for her part seemed a little overwhelmed by all the attention but her mood improved substantially after I told her she could have any of the side caverns other than Grak’s as her own. I passed the cheese wax off to the tribe to start preserving our meat and Viess, Ultai and Sazz helped me carry the candles and lanterns while Zraih took the cart and went to find somewhere cozy.
At dinner Zraih’s mood seemed much more lively with Ultai and her becoming fast friends, bonding over Ultai’s love to make fun of me. When Ultai regaled her with the story of how it was my own magic that had permanently left me looking like a sausage too long in the fire, Zraih slammed her tail into the cave floor so hard while laughing I began to worry about her safety.
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Laying down for the night, I was glad to once again be buried under Sazz, Ultai, and Viess. I’d grown accustomed to our sleeping habits and spending the past few nights alone hadn't allowed me to rest well. It didn’t take long before the soft breathing and quiet snoring of my trio proved to be a perfect lullaby, sending me to a blissfully peaceful sleep.
In the morning I found Zraih passed out next to the fire pit with a pile of freshly made sowing needles next to her. I gathered one of the blankets we had turned the ursaper’s hide into and covered her shaking my head all the while. I guess I will need to talk with her later about not being afraid to rest or use the available supplies, under contract or not, as long as she is helping the tribe she is part of it as far as I'm concerned.
Sazz eventually came and cuddled up next to me by the fire, passing me a cup of coffee they had apparently been able to forage in the short time I was away. Looking down at the little red headed short stack I had to admit I was nervous, things had turned out well for me with the goblins but I'd been winging it so far. I can only hope hiring Zraih is a good first step towards a more stable future for the tribe.
It was still fairly early into the morning when Grak came to get me about a possible issue with his rabbits. “They big, maybe too big.” he said clearly worried, and sure enough upon going to look at them he was right. The rabbits were easily twice as big as they should be, if they kept growing like this it wouldn’t be long until they were close to Zraih in size.
“What have you been feeding them Grak?’
“Vegetables, Lots of leafies. They Like blue leafies best.” Grak answered still clearly nervous.
“Where did you find blue leaves Grak.”
“Blue leafies grow with shiny flower in tree shell.” Grak explained
Well, that might do it, rabbits fed on overgrown aether enhanced plant life.
“Have they had any other issues you’ve noticed?”
“Nope, just big bunnies.” he said
“Then I think everything is okay just let me know if anything else changes. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to start looking for a bigger cavern to move them into when they outgrow this one.”
Grak was clearly relieved his rabbits were going to be okay, he nodded his head rapidly before scurrying off into the tunnels, most likely looking for the new cavern already. Grak could be a bit much for me at times, but I couldn’t think of a goblin with half his passion for their role in the tribe and he always left me with a smile on my face.
As I was headed back to the main cavern, I caught the smell of fresh smoke and followed it to the cavern Zraih had set her forge up in. Inside Zriah was busy stoking her forge and had rough drawings of goblin sized bearded hatchets laying next to her anvil already. At the moment the forge itself was little more than a metal box full of coals connected to a bellows, her anvil, and various tools she’d hung from spikes driven into the cave walls.
“I appreciate your work ethic but I'd appreciate it a lot more if you made sure to take care of yourself. You work with us, you have a right to some of our stuff, make sure you make a decent bed tonight please.”
“Will do, thank you, I'm busy now, talk at dinner.” was all the response I got from her as she was already loading an ingot into the forge. I decided to take that as a win and continued my way back to the main cavern where Viess, Sazz, and Ultai were still sharing breakfast. I sat down with the trio and discussed sending out a hunting party later, so we’d have plenty of leather for the new tools Zraih was making.