One Year Later
Revan continued moving, despite being exhausted from days of travel. He couldn't afford to stop. Not with the clan behind him.
Revan the greater kobold was leading his people in an excursion, an exodus. Revan had read that in a book once time, as a form of great departure, fleeing from what was once their home. How fitting, throwing everything away in search of a new life.
They didn't have a choice, however. Even now the humans stormed their old home, which had been long hidden from man. Now though? Now they had come to burn all that they had built over generations. And for the other kobolds, it was abandoning everything they had ever built. Their ancestral burials, the dens that had stood longer than they had lived. Were it under any other circumstance, Revan was sure the kobolds would've stubbornly stayed behind, to defend their homes.
But these were humans. Revan knew man better than any amongst his group, as a former human himself. Humans saw kobolds as nothing short of a infestation, meant to be wiped out at any moment. No matter how hard they tried, there was no way to repel them. They had numbers, they had better equipment, and worst of all, no matter what they threw at them, the humans would always have something stronger. As an ex-adventurer, once privy to some of the guild's secrets, he knew they had some big guns, and nothing Revan could do could ever possibly compare.
Revan chuckled internally, admiring the irony of perspective, from seeing them as nothing more than another monster, to realizing how civilized they were. Kobolds of course. He did not think the same of goblins, no matter how hard he tried.
And so here they were, on a retreat from their home, with humans hot on their tracks, and Revan wasn't sure what to do.
Seek another kobold settlement? He had no clue where to look. Kobold clans seemed to rarely, if ever communicate. And from what the clan elder had told him, half of all kobold kind would never welcome him anyway. The scaled ones, as the elder called them, despised their canine relatives, so they could seek no aid from them.
Fleeing was not a permanent solution until their pursuers stopped pursuing them, and that didn't seem likely anytime soon. They had been a few weeks behind originally. Now? They were only a few days away.
They could try gambling, and heading into areas with higher concentrations of mana, but that was a whole different gamble there, and relied on them heading deep enough to lose the adventurers, while also avoiding anything that would absolutely crush them.
No matter what Revan did, there were no good solutions.
Revan may have experience, but none of it pertained to leading. He wasn't a leader, he was a hunter.
Sadly, all the more capable fighters had stayed behind to distract the humans, and they were likely long dead. Only Revan and his generation remained. He would have to make the hard choices.
However, as if the Heavens had answered an unthought prayer, something descended from the heavens and...
THWACK!
... Ran headfirst into a tree, before landing on a branch.
Alerted to a sudden movement, Revan whistled, calling a small group of his brothers together, and they prepared their weapons with held breaths.
The creature wobbled around on the branch, pressing it's hand(?) against it's temple, trying to regain it's balance.
[Race: Korvold]
[Lvl: 15/25]
[Hp: 60]
[spd:200]
[ATK: 150]
Revan's eyes narrowed, as he clenched his weapon harder. Contrary to the creature's foolhardy appearance, it was far stronger than it let on, and this was clearly an act.
On the other hand, the fact that it was putting an act on could be good or bad, depending on its intent.
Revan took note of its race name, korvold, and could not help but notice the similarities to kobold, as well as visual appearances.
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The creature admittedly resembled a scaled one more than it did one of their own, but it held common traits with other kobolds. The hind legs similar to a dog, the short stature, and the 4 fingered appendages.
It's tail, while resembling a reptilian tail, was also covered in feathers, much like the rest of its body, ending in a rather beautiful end feather, and on the other side it's snout was a weird cross between other reptilian monsters, and a bird's beak, which was fascinating.
What was equally fascinating, was how thin it's arms were, and how they resembled a birds wings more than anything, though unlike many bird monsters, ended in hands, rather then more feathers. Revan could only assume that the arms were fragile, or at the very least not as strong as a normal arm could be, so the atk likely referred to another part of the body. It's tail, perhaps? Maybe the mouth, or it perhaps specialized in air attacks. Not knowing the mana capacity of unknown creatures could be frustrating at times.
The creature, seemingly done with its act and finishing its reorientation, and Revan now noticed the beast had a satchel and a cap. How odd.
"Hi there! Woah, calm yourselves, I happen to be a fellow kobold, just like you! I'm here to help." The creature cracked as it put its arms up placatingly.
The elder eyed the avian kobold suspiciously. "You look like no kobold I've ever heard of?" He retorted.
The korvold gave them a crooked grin. "New kind. We just started popping up a year ago." The elder seemed unsatisfied, and the warriors unsure, but Revan indicated for them to put their arms down.
"Very well then. Speak quickly. We don't have much time."
The korvold clicked its tongue. "So I see. The humans have been catching up haven't they?" Said the beast as it looked at them sympathetically. Revan ckicked his tongue, thinking about how the critter already reminded him of merchants from his last life. How troublesome.
"Well, you see, I might just be able to help with that." That pricked their ears, and even Revan's ears perked up. That was something Revan would hear out.
Seeing he had their attention, he continued. The korvold pointed off into the distance. "Me and my clan found a cave system, over yonder, that empties out into a few plains, sparsely populated. If you'd be willing, we'd take you over there with us, and help you escape these damn people." He waved his feathered claws. "Wings, y'see. Easier to outpace them on these than legs."
Revan squinted, and asked: "And what would you get from this? Why not explore it on your own?"
"Well, y'see, we just started popping out little over a year ago, and there ain't that many of us. It'd be a great help to us if we had backup, say, someone to partner up with and scout out potential lands. Besides," he adds, "I'd argue a favor is moe than worth saving you, hmm? Well, what do you say? You in or not." \
Revan didn't really have many options but to say yes; this option seemed to be the best they had at this point. And if the elder was right,, in that there has been no such kobold in recent times, and the korvold wasn't lying, there was feasible reason for the korvold to help them.
Life requires a gamble or two. Hopefully Revan made the right choice.
"Very well then. As the current representative of our clan, I, Revan, request aid of our fellow kobolds."
"Wonderful! All right, hold on tight."
Hm?
Multiple korvolds popped out of nowhere, coming in many shapes and they each grabbed a kobold with their hind legs before flying away, with the larger ones holding the incoming mothers, before flying away, with Raven being held by the first one, feeling sick as he flew them away,
He really hoped this was the right choice.
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In the swamp, a legend starts spreading
"Salamander people? Ridiculous! I've never heard of such a thing."
"I swear it. Saw it with my own eyes. They call themselves axobodl's, and call themselves a form of kobold!"
"Doesn't that make them some sort of monster then? Goddamn subhuman creatures. I hope they don't start asking for rights too." Ptoo
"Wouldn't say that to them if I were you. They claim they're related to kobolds, but I'm more inclined to connect them to their dragon ancestors than their kobold relatives. Bastards are like twice the size of a man!"
Another man pops in. "Did they attack you? How strong were they?"
The second man shook his head. "Luckily, they seem pretty peaceful. They've settled amongst the lizardmen, and conform to their rules."
"Great, now the inhuman beasts are teaming up, I oughta put up a admission for the guild to put down those unruly-"
Roooooaaaaaar!
"The hell was that!" Exclaimed the first man.
"That" grimly responded the second man, "was a sign that their leader is hunting."
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In the far distance of the swamps, a dragon faced off with a lumbering monster, a mix between axolotl, kobold, and something else, the kul'vador, an evolution of the axobodl, holding a bone axe in it's hand, it's axe the size of its own arm.
The dragon hissed. "A mere kobold dares face me?! No matter how different you are, you are just a mere kobold!"
The kul'vador cracked its neck, as it looked at the dragon calmly. "You have been trying to force my brethren under your hand." He sighed regretfully. "I have no choice but to end you."
The kul'vador emitted a killing intent so concentrated that the dragon got nervous for a second, before returning to a calm face. "Bold words. Lets see you bac them up." The dragon immediately breathed fire, attempting to burn down the arrogant critter, but the kul'vador burst through the flames, it's burnt skin falling off, revealing a new layer of the gelatin-like skin, ready for battle, and the being leaped up, plunging the axe into the dragon's skin, who squealed in pain, trying to get the thing piercing its skin.
...
In the end, the kul'vador left the battle with a meal for its people that night.
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The poor system now had two new races to deal with, and while it could ignore the shrooms, the kobold races were going to have a major impact on the flow of the world.
There are few things the system is bothered by.
[Aaaaargh!!!]
It's partner Grant is certainly one of those things.