The group of Kobolds who entered the room was a varied bunch, with each one having unique traits that differentiated them from the other.

The one at the front, a female Kobold next to Vrix, had fur the same color as snow, her heterochromic eyes were purple and green and she had a height which is taller than Vrix himself and is just a few inches shy from matching Thariel's.

She was lanky compared to Thariel and the chief though, with her body being so thin that Thariel felt concerned about whether or not she was malnourished. She had a necklace of differently colored slime cores hanging from her neck and a brown fur coat over her shoulders.

Right behind behind her were two other Kobolds, also female.

One is as white and tall as the first with the same colored eyes- it was safe to assume that they were related, - while the other was orange, both in fur and eye color.

That last trait made Thariel pause. Kobolds as a whole had heterochromic eyes, with each one having two differently colored pupils which differentiated them from other Kobolds.

Thariel believed that this was universally the case among their race but it seems that she had been mistaken. The orange Kobold in front of her had a set of purely orange eyes the same shade as her fur.

She wore a contrasting white coat over her shoulders and held a wooden staff headed by the Sun Goddess's sigil in one hand. She carried her stave with pride and diginity and had an authorative feel to her overall demeanour.

Wait- was this Travik?!

... Did Zogg lie to her? What a hypocrite! Now he'll have to pay by letting her pet him until she was satisfied-

"You must be the Damphir,"

Thariel broke out of her musings and looked towards the speaker, which is the white Kobold next to Travik. She smiled at Thariel in a way that only dogs can and raised a hand adorned with a pair of bracelets made with teeth.

"I am, yes," Thariel took off her hood and returned the smile.

Thariel decided to take over the conversation then, cutting past the pleasantries and asking the names of everyone.

"I'm Thariel," she introduced herself, "and you're?.."

"Sylka," the bracelet wearing Kobold introduced, "a pleasure to meet you,"

"I feel the same way," Thariel softly replied. She turned to the other Kobolds who all had differing reactions to her indirect request of making them introduce themselves.

Vrix had a sour look on his face, the necklace wearing Kobold had a soft yet threatening smile and Travik the shaman placid's expression never changed.

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It was that last one who decided to introduce herself next, correcting Thariel's misunderstanding of her being Travik. She started by halting and then proceeding into a bow.

"I am Zyla," she introduced, "a priestess of the tribe, daughter of the chief, and its future emissary,"

Thariel frowned. Emissary? Kobolds had those? Judging by the glare that the other three sent Zyla's way it was a secret that she should have kept to herself.

So why did Zyla do this? Why announce that she was an emissary?

"Emissary?" Thariel decided to pry deeper, the dog was out of the bag anyway so she might as well, "you guys had those?"

"Yes, we often have them go to other Kobold tribes in request of aid or to send it," the slime-core necklace wearing Kobold swiftly replied, she introduced herself next, "I am Lyzvek, wife of the chief,"

Lyzvek gestured to the Kobold next to her, "- this is Vrix,"

"I can say my name just fine," the gruff Kobold rebuked without heat, and looking at the dynamic between him and his wife made Thariel think...

... Oh my god- they had so much chemistry together!

Instead of letting it get the best of her, Thariel used her excited emotions to put on her best smile. It didn't help, she felt her lips shaking.

"T-that's great actually!" She stammered, "Kobolds need to work together after all, especially when times like these are upon you,"

Vrix sat down and glared at her, "do you think we're weak?"

Thankfully, he ignored the fact that Thariel's comment on working together was way out of the blue. Honestly, Thariel preferred the suspicious looks over the awkward silence which would have followed if she was asked why she said that.

Then again, she also has no answer for this one...

Fortunately, the gruff chief's second half- a lively wife capable of tempering his emotions, - butted in seconds after Vrix started growling at Thariel, "I'm sure she doesn't think that lowly of us Vrix, she has her reasons for wording it like that,"

Thariel tilted her head, she's going to direct the conversation somewhere else, "I mean, you're all dealing with a Satyr here no? There are half-demon goblins running around the tribe he's taken over so fighting them is going to be tough,"

"And you are right," Sylka nodded sagely while Vrix just scoffed, "have you dealt with Satyrs before Thariel?"

"I have actually," in game, but they didn't need to know that, "they're fairly easy to kill,"

"That they are," Sylka's smile turned thin, did she say something wrong just now?

Sylka gestured to the chief, "Vrix, my father, has killed one himself. He can attest to how easy it is,"

"Wait, you mean the skull on the pole is?.."

"A Satyr skull yes," confirmed Lyzvek.

"Huh," Thariel turned to Vrix, well it didn't seem all that farfetched now that she thought about it.

"Killing monsters aside, what brings you to our humble tribe Thariel?" Lyzvek went ahead and put the conversation back on track.

"I'm looking for the Silken Crown and a Kobold said one of you does a pilgrimage there every year?" Thariel admitted with a small smile, "there's something in there that I need."

"Silken Crown hm?" Nodded Lyzvek, "don't your broodmates go there often?"

"For spiders yeah, but I'm not going there to tame broom-legs, I'm going there to confirm if the myth of the loveless king is actually true," will this lead to them telling her about the Amori Falls? Thariel wondered.

"The loveless king?" Zyla's orange eyes blinked in confusion, "why? There's nothing there but death,"

"Death?" Thariel turned to the priestess. Did she go to the waterfall before?

"Yes, death." Sylka butted in, her voice deadpan, "there's a myth going around our tribes about the nightly winter which permeates the land around the water fall and how it represents the coldness the king felt when he killed the heart of the spring,"

"Uhuh... Can you tell me more? I already know about the rest of the story so just tell me about that part," Thariel asked. Nightly winter? Whuu?

"The story goes like this; after the king killed his lover, a curse which causes winter to occur during the times of their death formed." Sylka explained.

"According to Trivok, this story is true as severe frost coalesces across the land whenever the sun goes down." Sylka continued. "Killing everything and anything unprepared, it is said that those who live through the event are spared by the maiden's warmth, which she expends nightly for the lives of the forest's denizens."

"It is however rumored that for the winter to stop, the king must experience the warmth of the maiden's embrace just once, but with the coldness of his heart freezing the nights, the maiden is unable to spare him anymore of it, thus repeats a nightly cycle of violence whose consequences affects the king, the maiden as well as everything around them," Sylka finished.

Thariel's eyes brightened, that kind of tragedy... "Thats so fascinating!"

She never knew that actual myths existed around here!

Did that mean this story was also in the game? Was this a scrapped idea from the developers? A hidden note in the game files? Or maybe this was only unique to this world?

She had always considered that a myth forming all on its own here was a possibility but for it to actually happen to an aspect of the game that was nigh impossible to explore during canon was just so, so cool!

"I-it is?" Sylka's calm attitude broke and a worm crept into her tone, "what made you think that?"

"Well, for one, the nymph, or the real maiden, shouldn't be alive right now- wait, is this okay for me to tell you?" Thariel murmured under her breath. It wasn't, she probably shouldn't go around breaking myths by exposing the truth behind them willy nilly.

Thariel giggled, "ahaha~ I probably shouldn't have said that,"

The Kobolds nodded in unison.