Speaking of grave concerns, I was also concerned about more adventurers showing up. While it was possible that the green kobolds from the Groenneitr Tribe might have nothing to do with their arrival, something told me that they were somehow related. Kobolds usually took after the dragons they served.
Red dragons did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. They were straightforward. Of course, they didn’t really care what other people thought about their actions. They were the biggest, strongest, and the quickest to anger out of all dragons if they didn’t get their way. Considering they were among the most powerful types of dragons; this wasn’t good for anyone near a red dragon.
While all dragons were narcissistic, red dragons embodied this trait. They embodied arrogance and would fight to the death for their pride. They believed that those who couldn’t protect what they had didn’t deserve to have it. They were the barbarians of the dragon race, and just like barbarians, they could rage for days if they didn’t get whatever they wanted or if someone dared to cross them. If I had chosen a color for them, I might have given them a Hulk green color instead of a fiery red color.
Red kobolds were also straightforward in their ways. Give them shiny trinkets, wine, food, and females, and they would be happy for life. They didn’t scheme and plot to obtain these things though. They also knew that they weren’t strong enough to go out and take whatever they wanted like red dragons.
This brought about the main difference between red dragons and red kobolds, which was that they worked hard, very hard. Red dragons wanted someone to work hard serving their needs, to give them food, wine, and gold, while they lazed around. Bon vivants would be an apt description of both red dragons and red kobolds. The dragons could get away with it because of their power.
If I had to get technical, I might look at the Myers-Briggs personalities. Red kobolds were definitely extroverts who liked being around others. While some were sensors, most were intuitive. They often daydreamed about wild possibilities instead of concentrating on down-to-earth solutions to problems. Red kobolds were also feelers, who didn’t always think about the consequences of their actions. They just did whatever they felt like they should do. As for making plans, that wasn’t always possible since they lived at the whims of the red dragons. They were definitely perceivers who had to be aware of moods and be able to change plans at the drop of a hat.
Green dragons were quite different, however. They weren’t even close to as powerful as red dragons, but they were more cunning. While they weren’t as smart as blue dragons, they had an innate affinity for manipulation and betrayal that red dragons wouldn’t bother to learn. Also, they were just as proud and narcissistic as the red dragons. However, instead of being proud of their brawn, they were instead proud of their brains.
I couldn’t fault them for this. In my previous life, my brawn was minimal, but my brain was large. Even in middle school I was taking math classes at college. Unfortunately, my desire to daydream and be lazy far outweighed my desire to learn more. Sure, writing computer programs for fun was good when I was bored, but I had no desire to do one thing again and again. I easily got bored and often started new projects before finishing the old projects.
Realizing I had gotten off track again, I tried to remember what I had been thinking about. “Oh yeah, I remember now,” I said. “I was thinking about green dragons.”
Green dragons were the type who would pretend to be your friend and then stab you in the back as soon as it was beneficial to them. Most green dragons preferred to fight with borrowed hands. To do this, they would enslave different races to act as minions and cannon fodder for them. They loved to corrupt powerful or influential individuals whose power they could use to get what they wanted.
They were highly adept at schemes and betrayal. This also applied to green kobolds. Just like green dragons, green kobolds also tried to use their minds more than their brawn. They were generally physically weaker than red kobolds but made up for this fact by having superior mental abilities. Red kobolds definitely weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer, as evidenced by the Weather Detection Rock and Stone of Detect Invisibility magic items.
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“Hmm, maybe it was green kobolds who sold us those items instead of some greedy little gnome,” I mused. However, using I could certainly see the green kobolds spreading a rumor that my tribe had some type of treasure to lure adventurers into attacking us. Then, after we are weakened, they might swoop in and finish us off.
The more I thought about this, the more I decided I might be on the right track. I could see them telling adventurers that since the red dragon is sleeping, it would be the perfect time to raid the weak kobold city for the gold they would be offering the dragon as soon as it woke up.
In fact, that might be why the representative from the Groenneitr Tribe was in the city. Of course, there had to be more to it than that. Unless the green kobolds covered their tracks, when Einvaldskonungr woke up, he would be furious to find out that the gold his red kobolds had collected for him had been stolen. Therefore, they needed a scapegoat, or at the very least someone who was capable of injuring the red dragon enough so that Groenneitr could come in and finish him off afterwards.
Sitting back, I absently started eating as my mind raced. Even if the Groenneitr ambassador hadn’t heard about the adventurer’s failed raid on the city by now, he soon would. If I was him, what would I do? First, I needed to factor in his thoughts about the adventurers.
Considering that there actually hadn’t been enough adventurers in the raiding party for a full-scale invasion where everything is burnt to the ground, that implied it was meant to be a surgical strike. They rush in, get what they want, and get out. If that was the case, this wouldn’t directly benefit the Groenneitr Tribe. However, it would be like them to lay an ambush for the adventurers as soon as they escaped with the gold.
They could easily have lured the adventurers into attacking us. Many of the adventurers would get injured in our traps before escaping with the gold. Then the adventurers, tired and injured, but having escaped with the gold would let their guard down after getting away would fall into a trap of the Groenneitr Tribe’s making.
“Wait, there has to be more to it than that. Green kobolds love using poison. I’m sure they would have poisoned the food to soften up the tribe if they knew the adventurers were coming. Perhaps that was their plan, but the ambassador didn’t get the opportunity to poison my tribe’s food supply. More than likely, the ambassador thought he could easily fool the gullible, stupid red kobolds, but had discovered we were smarter than he gave us credit for.
“Dang, why couldn’t the ambassador have been from a tribe of blue kobolds?” That would have been much easier to deal with. Even though they were smarter and more powerful than green dragons, blue dragons had personalities that were more straightforward.
Green dragons, although they would never admit it, depended on the lesser races to make up for their inability to match up to red and blue dragons. They simply couldn’t compare. However, they did excel at using other races to their benefit. Red dragons tolerated kobolds just because they served them. Blue dragons were smart enough to know that they couldn’t fight head on against red dragons but were also able to use their intelligence to make up for this fact.
Green dragons, however, often had to rely on others to make up for their weaknesses. This was where they excelled. Red dragons didn’t care about the lesser races. Blue dragons were too proud to associate with these races. However, green dragons often interacted with other races, mostly to the detriment of whichever race they used to achieve their plans.
While I was a little hesitant to admit it, black kobolds had a worse reputation than green dragons. Black dragons were the most vicious and sadistic type of dragon. While if it came to a fight, black dragons might be able to beat a green dragon in a fight, most green dragons would have enough minions around to deal with the black dragon for them. The only dragon that was less impressive than a black dragon was a white dragon. Both of these types of dragons were seen as savages by the other dragons. Because of this, black kobolds tribes had small populations, and white kobolds were almost extinct.
Of course, technically, I wasn’t a black kobold. Black kobolds served black dragons. I would be considered a…I wasn’t really sure now that I thought about it. “Oh well, I need to concentrate on what to do next anyway,” I muttered, still feeling annoyed that I would be lumped in with black kobolds.
“I know, quite racist of me. At least I wasn’t a white kobold. Anyway, what should I do next? Should I warn the cooks to be on the lookout for someone trying to poison the food? Should I ask for some scouts to search for possible ambush sites where the green kobold tribe might be hiding? Should I go back into the tunnels and grind some experience points so that I can level-up and become more powerful?”