Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.

Ruby stretched and groaned as she rolled over in bed, but Jeb wasn't next to her like he usually is. She blinked open her eyes and looked around but couldn't find Jeb. He wasn't anywhere in the room and she couldn't hear him in the bathroom.

She got out of bed and put on her shirt onesie and went out in search of Jeb. She climbed down the stairs and looked around, as she looked into the study she found the Chief! His healing has come along greatly, though there were some patches of bare flesh left. He seemed to have more energy as he took his position in the study, surrounding himself with books once more.

"I see you are feeling better!"

The Chief looked up at Ruby with a smile.

"More like I was going crazy being cooped up downstairs! But I do feel better!"

Ruby was glad he was feeling better, though she wished he rested a bit more before throwing himself back into his studious work.

"Have you seen Jeb around?"

"Hmm? Master Jeb? No. I haven't seen him." The Chief said, not taking his eyes from the various strewn books.

She left him with a shake of her head as she continued her search for Jeb. He wasn't in the main room, nor the kitchen. She climbed down the stairs into the basement. Despite the burrows being dug out, many of the tribe continued to inhabit the confines of the basement. Though it wasn't so cramped now, several tents have been set up where a few handful of kobolds would lay under each.

A barter system has appeared during their stay, once they've gotten comfortable and have gotten a bit more room they've begun to resume their daily habits. She could see several kobolds haggle over various things, screws and nails, cans of rations, bits of cloth or fabric, some game meat and furs, buttons and pens, berries and nuts. Whatever the kobolds found valuable, shiny, or just plain neat.

It was nice to see the tribe resume normal life once again. But still no Jeb. She wandered around and looked at the various "stalls" of things, it was comforting to see life come back to the tribe, even if most of the things that were being traded were Jeb's.

She left out the back and into the back yard, the kobolds have been no less productive there either! Several fires still burned near where huts made of carpeting were erected. Over by the burrows, a mix of fire torches and the electrical lights Jeb had gotten would lit the entrance once night fell. Above the burrows in the trees several blinds were constructed so that the skirmishers would be able to spot any above-ground threats better.

Along the hill she still saw several holes that led to a kobold's home, most covered with a cloth for a curtain or a canopy to keep rain out. It was out here she found Jeb. He was carrying a bundle of sticks over to a spot on the other side of the creek, where several others were already placed.

She walked over, curious as to what he was doing. She didn't say anything as she got close and just observed. He fastened several bundles together and hauled them until they were standing straight up. Her curiosity got the better of her.

"What's that?"

"Hmm? Oh! This here, is a wickerman! Or it soon will be when I'm done with him." Jeb said as he went about positioning the "appendages" of the wickerman until it looked like a person.

"What's it for?"

"Well, 'round here we don't really celebrate Halloween. Normally 'round this time of year folk would go out Trick-or-Treatin'. Except we don't get many over this way... or any for that matter. So, we have The Gatherin' instead!" Jeb said excitedly as he finished the wickerman's body and moved over to a sack nearby.

"What's Halloween, Trick-or-Treating, or The Gathering?" Ruby asked as nothing Jeb said made sense to her. Her heart leapt in her throat as Jeb pulled a bleached deer skull out of the sack! He walked over and placed the skull on the top of the wickerman, fastening the head to the body with a length of twine.

"That's a long story and differs dependin' on who your askin'. But I'll make it short. Halloween comes from a time durin' harvest season where folk would get together and celebrate the harvest, some folk would also use it to remember their dead. Its said 'round this time the veil between realms is weakest, so the spirits of the dead can cross over for the night!"

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed, even the kobolds who had wandered closer to see what Jeb was doing, and interested in what he was saying, looked worried.

"Relax! Its just a good scare for fun! Anyway, people would put on masks to ward off demons and spirits. Not sure where the gettin' candy bit comes from. But we don't have to worry about that since we don't get kids wantin' candy over this way!"

"And the wickerman?"

"Oh this is a local tradition we do instead. Left over when our ancestors came over from the old country. Its said that effigies would be put out to ward off demons, spirits, or The Wild Hunt!"

"Wild Hunt?"

"Yup! Woden, Wodan, Odin, Óðinn, or someone else dependin' on where your from leads a hunt this time of year. Comin' after the souls of the damned, or just plain unlucky folk that didn't make it home in time! The baying of hounds would cry out in the dead of night before a hunting horn sounded! Markin' to all around that the Hunt was near and comin'!" Jeb teased as he saw the fear on the kobolds faces.

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"I-i-i-is it real?!" A kobold asked fearfully.

"Naw! Its just an old tale from way back when! But old habits and traditions you know! So every year instead of kids in cheap masks askin' for candy, we put up effigies and get together and drink and eat and fight and just have a grand 'ol time!" Jeb chuckled as he pulled out a deer antler knife and carved runes into the skull. The kobolds, Ruby, and even the Trap Master who wandered over to see what new weirdness Jeb had come up with, all looked at Jeb as he finished carving and threw a dark cloth poncho over the wickerman, completing the effigy.

Jeb groaned as he threw the macabre thing over his back and hauled it to the front of the home and placed it where the dirt road and his property met. Ruby and the others, too curious to go back to their business, followed. When they came around the home they saw that several had already been completed! They were all in different shapes and sizes. Some were on all fours and had hound, cat or boar skulls, while others looked like the one Jeb just finished but were a mix of deer and bear skulls instead.

"Did you finish these all by yourself?"

Jeb looked around at them all.

"Nope. The clan will sometimes come by and deposit a couple. It acts as a boundary marker as well as a cool decoration so they set up their own around what we claim as ours, my place included."

Looking at the assorted macabre effigies, and the similarities they had to the creatures Jeb summoned in the basement when the dragon showed up, Ruby doubt it was the humans on the hill that made them. Even the other kobolds looked fearfully at the grinning assortment of skulls.

"Relax you lot! They ain't real! They're no more real than Santa!"

"Santa?"

"Another tale for another time. Point is, they're just spooks to scare away the spooks." Jeb stated and returned to his work area out back and got to work on another effigy. The kobolds looked at the effigies fearfully still. Just like the one Jeb had made, they all had runes carved into their skulls. Some even looked like some old and primal language that hurt the eyes to stare at too long. They almost seemed to move and shift the more you looked at them. One kobold jumped, startling the others.

"It moved!" He said fearfully.

The others looked to the one that he was pointing at. But it didn't move, save for a slight breeze that would rustle the sticks and cloth.

"B-b-b-b-but it did! I saw it!"

The scare however seemed to break something in the kobolds as they laughed and a few even took a couple, tentative, steps closer to the macabre things. A brave hatchling even touched one! The poor thing squealed and ran away. For the older kobolds however, they grew more and more comfortable as they realized Jeb was right, they were nothing more than decorations! Grinning, macabre, decorations, but perfectly harmless.

Some laughed and walked over and touched the things, an act of bravery before wandering away to continued their duties. Some even began to help Jeb make a couple! Even the hatchlings got in on it as they made their own, crude, stickmen. Putting rabbit and bird skulls instead and putting little scratches and etchings on them.

They even made a game of touching the wickermen. They would go over and place a claw on the scariest wickermen and see how long someone was brave enough to last. Last hatchling left was the winner.

If they had a hard time making the wicker bundle then Jeb would just puncture a hole in the skull and feed a bit of knotted twine through and hang it from a tent opening or branch on a tree.

Despite the gruesomeness of it, the tribe was having fun! The Trap Master walked over to Jeb and asked him where all the skulls came from.

"Oh, when I go huntin' I'll keep the skulls for this. Sometimes the clan will donate some if they don't have room or don't want it. Some I just find sometimes when I'm out in the woods."

"Do you use skulls for a lot of things?" Ruby asked.

"Not really, only for this. Or durin' Christmas the clan does Hoodinin'"

"What?"

"Its like trick-or-treatin'. Except with booze and pastries. I'll explain it more when it gets closer."

Just how many celebrations do the humans have that revolve around dead things, Ruby thought as another wickerman was finished and placed near its wooded kin.

"Is this all your doing?"

"Nope, when the sun gets lower I'll go up for The Gatherin'. You guys should be fine. We ain't gettin' no visitors this time of year."

"Up the mountain?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Yup. It'll be pretty mild early on. Some "light" drinkin', food and a few games. Once the sun goes down is when it gets WILD! The fightin' pit is in full swing! They bring out the good shine and everyone just goes MAD!" Jeb said excitedly at the thought of getting in the pit again.

"C-c-c-can I c-c-c-come too?" Ruby asked tentatively, she didn't want to go, but she didn't like Jeb going alone even more.

"I mean... yeah? If you want. I'm not sure if you'll have fun but you can come."

Some of the other tribe perked up when Jeb said food and games. Even the Trap Master looked mildly interested.

"Will there be shooting?"

"Yeah, there's a place to shoot at bottles, cans, and other targets if you want." Jeb said. The Trap Master was now even more interested.

The word soon spread to the rest of the tribe. A celebration! Food, drink, games, and stuff to trade! The tribe was now positively buzzing with excitement to once again spend time with the hillfolk that had come to aid them against the goblins. Ruby was a bit more apprehensive, but she wasn't going to be the one to quash their spirits when they just started to return to a measure of normalcy.

While the tribe continued in their merry making Ruby left them to resume her own duty at the hatchery, she returned to the basement as Jeb put a bear skull on his head and roared and chased several hatchlings squealing delightfully.

The hatchery was still in the basement, they decided it was better here than in the burrows. With how close they were to the goblins the tribe was a little itchy about moving their remaining eggs. She watched over the eggs with her Egg-maids. Shifting and cleaning the pale eggs near the warm stove.

For once the Egg-maids didn't pester her with their constant teasing and pushing. Since they realized Jeb could potentially be the solution to the tribes population problem they've been pushy about getting her to convince Jeb to "visit" some of the female kobolds. Something she's been more than hesitant to do. She wasn't being selfish, she knew that if Jeb truly was a solution then she couldn't condemn the tribe to extinction just so she could keep Jeb for herself.

What she was truly worried about was what the offspring would be. Even now she was noticing her belly getting more pronounced. It would still be a couple more weeks before she's ready to lay. Jeb wasn't blind either, even though she hasn't said anything she has noticed he's been looking at her belly more and more since the Chief told him that she had a clutch coming.

She should tell him herself, but with the abnormality of it she doesn't want to chance it until its time. Placing a claw on her abdomen she could feel several of the eggs, still small for now but that would change in the coming weeks. While they didn't say anything she could feel the eyes of the Egg-maids on her as she rubbed her belly.

If everything is normal than by all means, let Jeb rut the whole tribe! But she highly doubt that these eggs would be anything but normal. She wasn't even sure if they would be kobolds OR salamanders. For all she knew a horrible tentacled monster would emerge from the eggs!

But now all she was doing was worrying about something that hasn't happened... yet. She took some calming breaths and resumed her duty. But it would have to end soon. The hatch to the back yard was still open, and she could tell that the sun was going down. Which meant that Jeb would be leaving soon, and that she would be too.

She sighed and left the eggs to her Egg-maids. Or she would if they didn't follow after her while a couple others got to looking after the eggs.

"What do you think you two are doing?"

"What? You thought that we wouldn't come along? We've been cooped up down here longer than the Chief has! Its time WE had some fun!" One of them said.

"Besides, we heard Jeb talking about food and spirits!" The other continued.

"Yes. Food, spirits and GAMES!"

"We can think of a few games to play with Jeb with the help of some spirits!" One said lustfully.

Ruby rolled her eyes as the ever teasing Egg-maids followed along, whispering and talking about the various things they would do at The Gathering, most involving Jeb and plenty of spirits.

Despite her apprehension, even she was a little excited! She just hoped it wasn't like when Jeb took them "shootin'". She didn't like the gun. While Jeb did say that there was a place for shooting, he also said there were other games they could do.

As the three of them emerged from the basement Ruby saw Jeb and at least 2/3 of the tribe had gathered around and made ready to follow him up the mountain. It seemed most of the tribe was ready to celebrate!

"Everyone ready?" Jeb called to the multitude of scaly red bodies.

He got some calls of affirmation and head nods. With that he led them up the mountain and towards The Gathering.