When the flash of the lightning vanished, a smell of burnt flesh covered the area. Bonnie and Runir poked out of the trees. Hera and the others were all hiding behind a crescent-shaped rock formation.
"Is everyone ok?" Bonnie rushed from behind the tree. She yelled, but no one heard. The thunder was so loud that everyone's ears were ringing.
Hera started coughing. The spell had created a large dust cloud from the point of impact. Even the stone barrier that she made with her weapon was damaged by the force of the lightning. There were large cracks in the formation, and parts of the rocks on the top were blown away. All this destruction was the result of the secondary damage. The kobold mage's body, where the main impact occurred, had almost been completely reduced to ashes. Only a small piece of its skull and some ribs remained. The other kobolds' bodies were still around, but the spell's force sent them flying in different directions. Oddly enough, they didn't dissolve like monsters inside a dungeon normally would.
"Is anyone hurt?" Runir asked, but no one could hear. He typed the question on his tablet and poked the group who were still recovering from the scare.
They shook their heads, but that didn't stop Runir from trying to heal their ears to recover everyone's hearing. His spells had some effect, but it still would take several minutes before the ringing stopped. While their hearing had yet to return, the group communicating by text. They didn't understand why the corpses were still there, and there was no loot drop.
Another issue they were trying to understand was what the kobolds were doing here. Why making a spell in a rock was such an important task? And why would the mage be willing to kill themselves for it? Bonnie did her best to identify the magic, but it was built in a way that she couldn't understand. The engravings were not a formula but a complex language that was based on drawings. Even with their combined efforts, no one was well versed enough in linguistics to even begin to understand what was going on in the carving.
There was a silver lining in all that. Hera heard part of their conversation, allowing the group to come to some conclusions. First, the Wolves of the Night had a higher mastery of speech than the lizard kobolds. Second, they seem to have some sort of code of conduct but, at the same time, were doing something that went against it. Third, they appeared to be heavily underestimating the Dragon Kin, even comparing them with children.
Hera's group had spent around ten minutes discussing the possibilities when the corpses that still lingered started to liquefy and dissolve back to the ground, leaving behind some fur and a few arrows. The mage didn't drop any loot, maybe because of the spell it used or just by bad luck. There was no way to know for sure in these conditions. They moved back to where they had left the wheelbarrows as their hearing started to return.
"Was that one of the random events?" Blue asked.
"There was no system notification, but I don't know," Hera yelled in response.
"We have no way of knowing if those events happened now. Maybe when we finish the quest," Bonnie shouted from the back.
"You guys should stop talking. We can barely hear, but I can tell you are all yelling. What if there are more kobolds around?" Alex warned.
With that, the group went silent. Hera would only make hand motions to warn if something was in the way, mostly large rocks or holes that they had to maneuver around. In close to five minutes, they were already by the river filling the barrels with water. Even at the creek's deepest part, it was only enough to cover their ankles, meaning that each barrel could only be filled to half by using the stream. They could quickly fill the rest but had to use another cask to top off the previous one. Even with six people, it took them about thirty minutes to finish all eight barrels. The last one being the most tiresome, since they had to use other ways to put water inside it after placing it up. It was only when Bonnie thought about using her ice fist as a bowl that the process became somewhat smoother.
Heading back to the camp took longer than expected. Controlling the wheelbarrows with the casks filled with water was an ordeal. Not just for the muscles, but for their patience as well. The barrels could spill the water or even tip over and fall down if moving too fast, but moving too slow made it impossible for anyone's arms to hold on. This time, even Bonnie and Hera took turns pushing the carts, and after what felt like an eternity, they reached the Dragon Kin camp once more.
"You back. Good good. How many fill?" Galva inspected the barrels, "Many thanks. Much more than expect!" the small kobold moved around the group, shaking everyone's hand.
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Quest Complete
Refill the water supply – Galva's Request
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
You have filled up seven barrels out of eight with water for the camp.
You have foiled the Wolves of the Night sabotage plans.
High increase to camp's morale
+ 30% to Dragon Kin Kobold attributes.
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"What do you mean seven?" Blue huffed and opened the barrels. Although they had been filled to the brim, all the casks lost some water during the travel, leaving the total amount enough for about seven barrels.
"Yeah, I kind of figured," Bonnie sighed, turning to Galva, "Do you know anyone else who might need help?"
"Everyone, we at war. Much to do. Traps to make, tosser to build, weapon to sharpen. Ask around. And when you get hungry, come find Galva. I give special dish as thanks."
Galva waved to a few other kobolds, who grabbed the casks and moved to the kitchen tent. The group offered to help, but the creatures didn't reply.
"Ok, so who we try to help now?" Runir asked.
"It might be wise to move individually for the moment. Gather more information before deciding what to do," Tom suggested.
"I agree. And if we find something to do inside here, we should do it, even if we are alone," Bonnie said.
"Why?" Alex turned to Bonnie.
"The quest reward. Let's say a kobold has 10 strength. The buff will make it be 13, but what if the other quests give similar buffs? We are facing 2 thousand. If we can make each kobold three times as strong as the ones coming, we have a much better shot at completing this dungeon. Not to mention we might get other things. Maybe the buff will be to the traps, or someone has a way to make the enemy weaker. I think the more quests we complete here, the better."
"Ok, but I'm going to stay away from the command tent. Don't want anyone calling me light fur again," Hera said.
"Tom and I can check that area. If we get a quest to leave the camp, we ignore it for now."
The group nodded and split off. Hera headed towards the gate and found the barracks where most of the smaller kobolds were training and running errands. Unlike the commanders, they were more curious and didn't mind her eyes. It didn't take long for her to find a frustrated captain who couldn't teach his soldiers any group combat tactics.
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Teach a combat maneuver – Kobold Captain's Request
A group of kobolds is struggling to understand how to fight as a team. Teach them a way to work together. The effectiveness of the strategy will affect the reward.
Time limit: Two hours.
Failure condition, not teaching a proper way to fight as a group.
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Before accepting the quest, Hera called her friends using the communicator and asked if she could stay away for 2 hours. They all agreed. Bonnie was discussing how to improve the design of the catapults the kobolds had made, Runir was in the healer's tent helping the wounded, Blue was talking with a kobold alchemist, and it would take some time to help him. Outside the city, Alex was taking care of hiding the traps, and Tom was in the command tent giving public speech lessons to the commanders of the army. They all found quests that would take some time. Feeling better about staying that long here doing this quest, Hera read the notification again.
It was a weird quest, and Hera had very little knowledge of warfare. What they did during the rampage wouldn't work for these creatures, and there were too many to mirror any strategy that her party used. Thinking about big wars and stories she read, her mind wandered towards Leo. He worked for a more militaristic organization and would undoubtedly have an excellent way to deal with this. Still, his name gave her an idea.
Hera showed them how to create a shield wall. Since the kobolds were very small, each of them would have a job. Some would carry shields and hold back anything that tried to break the formation, while others used spears supported by the shields to face any incoming threats.
For the next two hours, Hera practiced the formation with the kobolds. She didn't teach just how to hold it but also how to create the formation and what to do if attacked by arrows. The spear bearers would have smaller shields on their back and use them to make a roof on the formation if arrows were coming. They were smart and quick to learn, and it was a good thing that her strategy consisted of them being stationary because Hera had no idea how to move a shield wall formation. By the end of the training drill, the team of 20 kobolds made a shield wall strong enough that not even Hera and the Kobold Captain working together could breakthrough.
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You have completed a quest
Teach a combat maneuver – Kobold Captain's Request
The kobolds under your tutelage have learned how to make a shield wall.
Small morale increase
+80% to Dragon Kin Kobold attributes while performing a shield wall.
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Hera barely finished reading the notification when Bonnie's voice came through her earpiece.
"Who completed that one?"
"I did. Why?" Hera asked.
"You taught the kobolds how to make a shield wall?" Bonnie sounded surprised.
"Yeah. They are fast learners. I honestly expected to fail."
"Did you do something else? That buff is amazing!" Blue gasped.
"Not really. I just did what I could. But I think the buff only works for the team I trained."
"I'm more curious about what the morale will do. Did anyone find something out?" Runir asked.
"No."
"Not me."
"I have yet to discover something."
"I got nothing, but I guess we will find out later. If no one needs any help, I'm going to look for more quests," Hera replied.
Leaving the training grounds, Hera stopped by the armory with a kobold working alone to sharpen the weapons.
"I'm skilled with weapon maintenance, can I help you?" she asked.
"You help? Yes yes. Too much to do alone," the kobold replied.
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Weapon Maintenance – Dragon Kin Kobold
Help to prepare the weapons for the Dragon Kin army.
The more weapons you prepare, the better the reward.
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Hera sat by the kobold and started to work. By her side, the creature began to talk about its life, saying it was born in a cave and wanted to become a tailor but never had enough time to practice since the war started. It was weird to hear that type of thing from a kobold and even stranger from a creature inside a dungeon, but it helped to have someone to talk to while working. After a while, the kobold even asked about Hera's life, and she replied without a worry. It was oddly comforting to talk with someone who wouldn't remember a thing.