Samuel examined the dead gargantuan spider with a snarling expression. Brak stood nearby, eyebrow raised interestedly, while his panther sat up, alert. Camellia gripped her staff tightly, eyes wide with fear, while Obsidian kept looking around for threats. Rai wore a frown as he looked the spider over from a short distance.
“This was done,” Samuel said, “by a monster.”
“I believe you mean that the damage was inflicted by what appears to have been a halberd sized for someone of my height… and there aren’t any gnomes living out here,” Brak said. “So… a kobold or a goblin.”
“Like I said: a monster.”
“A kobold or goblin beat that on its own?” Rai said incredulously.
“I don’t see the signs of any other weapons, so yes,” Brak replied.
“Which means we’re dealing with a monster champion, or a very strong combat master… or what passes for such among the little bastards.”
“But it’s odd… the smaller spiders had signs of something like acid damage in addition to weapon marks, and there’s burning on this one, too, but only in the halberd wounds. A combat artist that’s also a mage, perhaps?”
“That’s rare,” Obsidian said. “Makes ‘em kinda like you, Rai.”
“I suppose so. Even so, though… to tackle a spider this gigantic… they have to be either brave or stupid. Have either of you ever heard of spiders getting this big?”
“Never,” Samuel said immediately.
“No, I haven’t,” Brak said. “Which has me very curious about where it came from.”
“Who cares where it came from? The monster that killed it is the problem!” Samuel ground his teeth. “Kobolds or goblins…”
“No, I’m pretty sure the risk of there being more of these things is the real problem,” Rai said, frowning again. “I don’t know what happened in your past, Samuel, but we’re not here to exterminate kobolds or goblins. Besides, I’d rather not make an enemy out of whoever did this.”
“You say that like they’re a person. They’re worse than wild beasts and should all be wiped out!”
“They’re intelligent enough to talk; I think that—”
Samuel whirled around, taking a step toward Rai. “You have no idea what you’re talking about! They’re monsters plain and simple!”
“Right now, you’re the one behaving like a wild beast,” Rai said with a scowl. “Calm down, or at least shut up. You’re being paid to escort and guard me; doing anything that interferes with my work is a violation of contract. We might need the help of the kobolds or goblins to find the ruins we’re looking for. Which means you need to rein yourself in.”
The wind shifted direction and Brak’s panther perked up.
Brak noticed. “What is it, boy?”
The cat stepped around the spider and began prowling toward the nearby trees. Obsidian readied his axe and followed, Brak trailing behind, and Samuel took his bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, circling around the spider to get a clear shot at whatever had captured the panther’s interest. Camellia stayed right where she was. Curious, Rai moved to the side so he could see better.
Just as the panther approached within twenty feet of a tree, Isa stepped out from behind it, holding her halberd defensively.
Dragons burn it! Isa cursed mentally. There’s no way I can take on all of them, especially when I’m low on spells and still weakened from the venom! And the one with the bow was just talking about killing all kobolds!
“A halberd…” Rai said quietly. “Wait! Don’t attack the kobold!”
“Stop,” Brak commanded the panther, which immediately halted its approach.
“You sure about that?” Obsidian asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. I—”
An arrow whistled through the air and glanced off Isa’s scales.
“I said don’t attack!” Rai yelled at Samuel. “I’m the leader of this expedition! You follow my orders! Obsidian, restrain Samuel!”
“Got it.”
Obsidian stepped over and tripped Samuel before putting him in a headlock. “Don’t struggle, boy.”
“Damn you both!” Samuel screamed.
Obsidian put his mouth up to Samuel’s ear and whispered something. The ranger immediately calmed down, though he still glared hatefully at Isa.
Rai strode forward, passing the others and coming to a stop less than a dozen feet away from Isa. Placing his right fist over his heart, he inclined his head.
“I deeply apologize for my contracted employee’s actions,” he said. “It is not my intention to invite violence between us. I can’t help but notice that you carry a halberd. Are you the one who slew that spider?”
Isa scrutinized Rai. This one seems sincere, she thought. It’s a male, right? All of them have the same sort of body structure except the one hiding back there with its large chest… humans and their kind are mammalian, so… maybe the hiding one is a female? I’ve never seen humans before, so it’s just a guess. I’ll assume the others are all male. This one said he’s the leader, though he called the hateful one a contracted employee, whatever that means. Talking may be the only way to get out of this alive.
“Yes,” she said. “I am. I killed it earlier today. Who are you people? You’re within the greater territory of the Blackfang Tribe.”
“I am called Rai Flamme. I am a scholar – as well as a swordsman and a mage. I study an ancient period known as the Tower Era, and I have reason to believe that this area was the site of an ancient city. I’m looking for the ruins. The others are people that my sponsor hired to keep me safe, with the exception of Brak here who is our wilderness guide, as he is a spirit mage.”
“A scholar? What’s that?” Isa said, unable to contain her curiosity.
“A scholar is a person who devotes themselves to study and learning.”
“A knowledge-keeper, then?”
“Yes.” Rai nodded.
Isa hissed thoughtfully. “You’re looking for the ruins of an ancient city?”
“That’s right. Do you know anything about it?”
Isa shrugged. “Sure. We’re in the middle of it. Most of it’s probably completely covered by plants and dirt, though. There’s a few walls here and there, and a couple of partially-intact buildings, but if you’re looking for loot, I found a hole in the ground that leads to a big underground building today.” She crossed her arms. “But I found it first, which means I get first dibs on the treasure.”
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“Can you guide us there?”
“I could… but I want to get home before nightfall, and home is in a different direction.”
“Then why not guide us to your home?” Brak suggested suddenly. “We can offer some treasures to your tribe in exchange for your assistance tomorrow… and as an apology for this one’s earlier behavior.”
Isa’s eyes narrowed. That one is untrustworthy. He’s planning something.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Rai said brightly, clearly not sharing Isa’s concerns. “Kobolds like gold and silver, right? And we have a few items from the city that are probably more advanced than what you have out here. I’d love to have the chance to talk to your, er, knowledge-keepers, too. The chance to interview a remote kobold tribe that hasn’t had contact with humans in a long time doesn’t come every day, after all. Considering that your tribe lives on the site of a Tower Era city, who knows what sorts of hidden gems of information I might come across?” He looked at her hopefully. “Please?”
Isa blinked. Is he really as clueless as he seems to be? He’s as bad as Torval. Inviting the hateful person into the warren is just asking for trouble, but… if I say no, they might follow me anyway. I’d rather have them where I can see them than behind my back.
“I can’t promise you’ll be allowed in. I’m not exactly the leader of the tribe. But… I think that Torval and Sesson would like to meet you, at least.” She pointed her halberd at Samuel. “Know that I have my eyes on you.”
Samuel snarled wordlessly at her.
“So, what’s your name?” Rai asked as the group walked alongside the kobold, who made sure to keep Rai in between herself and the others.
“Isa Bloodscale.”
“So, are you a mage as well as a warrior?”
“I am. I am a blood mage.”
“I’m a soul mage. We’re kind of similar types – my magic is tied to my soul, while yours is tied to your blood. Either way, we don’t need to study for our spells or acquire them through contracts with other entities, and we have access to similar types of magic.”
“…Are you always this chatty with people?”
“Only if they seem interesting.”
“I seem interesting to you?” she said skeptically.
“Sure you do. You know, I’ve never actually met a kobold before, but I’ve heard that they’re a weak race that usually fights with traps and relies on stealth. But you’re strong – strong enough to defeat that spider in a straight fight. That’s amazing, and marks you as someone special.”
“If you say so.”
The trip back to the kobold warren, the series of caves and underground tunnels that had been excavated for use as a village (and which included the interior of some house remnants), took over three hours, annoying Isa, who was the fastest person in the group and had to slow her pace to accommodate the plodding dwarf and short-limbed gnome. She hadn’t ever thought of kobolds as particularly fleet-footed, but even her fellow tribespeople, who were slower than she was, were faster than those two. When she reached the entrance, she found it completely deserted.
“Klik!” she yelled.
“I’m not napping!” a young voice called from inside. “I’m definitely awake!”
A few seconds later, a young kobold with black scales who was a full half foot shorter than Isa appeared out of shadow and into the light of the setting sun, blinking blearily. He stopped short the moment his brain caught up to his eyes and he noticed the very-obviously-not-kobolds with Isa.
“Uh… Isa?” he said hesitantly, staring at them.
“Yes, Klik?”
“Are those humans?”
Obsidian snorted.
“I’m a dwarf, she’s an elf, and he’s a gnome. Only those two are humans,” he said.
So I was right; the big-chested one is female. An elf, huh? Isa thought. A dwarf and a gnome… so the two tall males are humans. I guess that explains the drastically different heights.
“They wish to offer treasure in exchange for speaking to our knowledge-keepers and having me serve as a guide for them tomorrow,” she said. “Run and tell the chief and the elders. We’ll wait here.”
“R-right!”
Klik turned and scurried back into the cave.
“So kobolds really do live in underground caves,” Rai said excitedly. “Say, will the tunnels really be big enough for us?”
“Most of them,” Isa replied. “And the ones that aren’t, you could still crawl through. Despite our size and the fact we live underground, we don’t actually like tight spaces, so everything is somewhere between roomy and wide open by our standards.”
The sun slowly sank beneath the horizon while they waited.
“Sure is taking a while,” Obsidian commented.
“I’m sure the elders are debating on whether to let you in or not.”
Seconds after Isa said that, Klik reappeared, running to the edge of the cave’s mouth. “They said to tell you to bring the human-kin in and lead them to the meeting room,” he panted.
“Come on then,” she said to Rai.
Neither of them noticed the glance that Obsidian and Samuel shared behind their backs… or the wicked smirk that crossed Samuel’s face for just an instant.
The cave system was a winding maze, and in most of the tunnels the two humans and elf had to duck, crouch, or crawl, even though most of the actual rooms were tall enough for them to stand comfortably. While kobolds could see in darkness (at a limited distance), the rest of them needed the magical lights that Isa and Rai had summoned. Eventually, they reached a large chamber some sixty feet to a side and half that tall, where over a dozen kobolds had gathered, seated on seats made of stone, all in a row, and a couple more dozen kobolds had gathered around the edges of the room, watching. The collection of kobolds were of various different heights and colors, but none were shorter than two feet or taller than three. One of the seated kobolds wore a feathered headdress, while the others all had necklaces with stones or animal teeth.
“Isa Bloodscale,” the gray-scaled headdress-wearing kobold said, projecting his voice. “You have brought humans and their kind into our home, saying that they wish to offer us treasure. Is this true?”
“It is, chief.”
“Bring out the truth-seeker!” he commanded.
A yellow kobold woman wearing a skirt made of leaves approached, carrying a measuring scale made of copper with upturned hands. One side of the scale had a cube-shaped weight with a glowing blue picture of an eye; the other had one with a red snake. The kobold reverently placed the scale on top of a circular stone pedestal about two feet high that was in front of the chief (who sat a foot higher, thanks to his elevated seat). Then she stepped away.
Rai’s eyes began to glow as he silently cast “Mage Sight.” The glow and flow of magic permeated the scale, as he’d suspected.
“This is the truth-seeker, a sacred artifact passed down in our tribe for countless generations,” the chief said, and the eye-marked weight sank down, its glow brightening, while the snake-marked weight on the other side rose, its glow fading. “As you can see, it reacts to statements to indicate their truth or falsehood. With this, we will know whether you are telling the truth. Now, who is your representative?”
“I am, chief of the Blackfang tribe. My name is Rai Flamme, and I am a scholar, mage, and swordsman.”
The chief stared pointedly at the scale, which hadn’t moved.
“And what are your intentions?” he asked after a moment.
“I am here because I wish to find the lost ancient city of the Tower Era. Isa has told me she discovered an underground entrance, and I wish to enlist her aid as a guide. I also wish to provide your tribe with payment for this, and speak with your knowledge-keepers to see what I may learn.”
The scale didn’t budge.
“And what of your companions?”
“They were paid to work as guards, healer, and wilderness guide for me.”
“So they are paid to work for you? They are not actual companions of yours?”
Rai held back a grimace. “That is correct.”
“Say, chief,” Obsidian said. “You got other sacred artifacts?”
“We do. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, just curious.”
The scale immediately changed, the blue glow fading as the eye-weight rose and the red glow shining brightly as the snake-weight fell.
“You lie!” the chief shouted. “You lie about your reasons!”
The scale reacted to the chief’s words, shifting back to indicate truth.
“Is the farce over?” Samuel said. “Because I’m itching to kill some lizards!” He drew his swords.
Obsidian pulled out his axe. “Yeah, yeah. Just remember that I get the treasure. Rare magic items are worth a fortune.”
The watching kobolds let out gasps, hisses, and screams and started running away, and kobolds with spears began appearing on ledges partially up the walls.
“I knew it!” Isa cried. “I knew you weren’t going to come in peace!” She readied her halberd, facing Obsidian.
“How dare you?!” Rai screamed, drawing his sword and pointing it at Samuel. “And you, Obsidian! You’re siding with him?!”
“What do you think I told him to get him to calm down, boy? I said that if he just held on a bit, he’d be able to fight the whole tribe. All I want is gold, and if these lizards have magic items, then that’s a good start! Hey, elf!”
“Y-yes!” Camellia chirped frightenedly.
“You’re gonna stick to us and heal us in this fight, or I’ll cut you down myself!”
“Y-yes!”
“Hm. So that’s how it is,” Brak said. “Sorry, but I’ll not be joining in here; it’s not what I was paid for. Stay, boy. Chief, I recommend you have your warriors stay out of this if you don’t want them to risk death.”
“Chief! The human leader and I will handle this!” Isa said. “Keep the warriors on standby!” I hope I’m making the right call… without offensive spells and missing my strength, I don’t know if I can take the dwarf on and win, especially if the healer interferes, she thought.
“Force Armor!”
“Armor of Blood!”
The mercenaries attacked.