Free-Form Fantasy

Serris · **Reply #680 on:** February 26, 2010, 07:36:34 PM

The Struth been unhitched from the wagon and was carrying supplies. He had followed them down to the pit.

A four Kobolds armed with rusty mining tools suddenly appeared.

They chattered excitedly amongst themselves.

Torvin readied his iron bar.

"Torvin, Cassia, keep an eye on them," the Strutho said.

A Kobold went up to the Strutho and tried to cut the pack harness. The Strutho kicked the Kobold so hard it tumbled through the air and fell off the cliff.

The three Kobolds immediately rushed the three adventurers.

Noname · **Reply #681 on:** February 26, 2010, 10:08:34 PM

Cassia saw the first of the little assailants. Standing at only one meter tall, they were nowhere near as large as the equines. These little guys had sharp weapons, as well as sharp claws and fangs, but were too small to do much damage with them. Although they had fairly tough skin, none of the kobolds were well-armored, due to their light clothing and lack of armor. Indeed, all these kobolds had on was a piece of cloth around their privates, and an iron-tipped spear in their hands.

Wielding her rapier with amazing skill, the female equine sliced the top off of the spear of one of the kobolds. "Ha! What are ya gonna do now, squirt?!" He boasting got the better of her and the kobold, enraged at the loss of his most prized possession, leaped onto her leg and dug in his claws, then bit her. It was more painful than harmful, but Cassia was sent running and screaming, desperately trying to throw the kobold off of her leg.

Serris · **Reply #682 on:** February 26, 2010, 10:14:52 PM

"I got him!" Torvin said, with one swift downward blow of his steel bar, he smashed the Kobold against the rocky ground, killing it immediately.

"Cassia! Torvin! Some help!" the Strutho shouted. The body of another Kobold lay at his feet. The last Kobold had cut a strap and was running away with some of the goods.

"Give that back!" the Strutho shouted. He chased after thieving Kobold.

Torvin joined in the chase.

Noname · **Reply #683 on:** February 26, 2010, 10:28:02 PM

Cassia quickly bounded after the kobold on her swift hooves, and in no time was ahead of all the others. She made it look so easy. Drawing her rapier, the kobold stopped ahead of her, and dropped to the ground, begging for its life.

"Pleasepleasedonthurtme! I'm with eggs and I needed to feed my young! I'll give the stuff back, just don't hurt me!"

Cassia was not impressed.

"Are you even female? I think your just making stuff up." Than again, this kobold looked a little bloated, as if gravid with eggs, or maybe just fattened off of ill-gotten gains.

"Torvin, what do you think?" The female equine wanted to know what he thought of this.

Serris · **Reply #684 on:** February 26, 2010, 10:37:36 PM

The Strutho sniffed at the Kobold. "He's lying," the Strutho said coldly.

"Give my stuff back and we'll spare you," Torvin said, raising the steel bar which had some traces of Kobold blood on it.

Noname · **Reply #685 on:** February 26, 2010, 11:20:52 PM

"I'm not lying!" The kobold shouted in a high-pitched tone, squealing as it stamped its feet on the hard ground. "I'll even show you that I'm female!" After a few awkward moments of proving it, the kobold put her garment back on. Yes, this one was truly female. Cassia knew the difference externally between the two kinds if she saw it. How she knew that was her own business.

"Okay, so you're female. Fine. If you need help, get the father to feed your kids." The reply was swift and sad. "Equine, I don't know who is the father of all these eggs. Odds are, there were several fathers for several of my children, and all of them are dead, killed by you looters who enter our home!"

"Looters?! Excuse me, this is a Dracon mine. I don't see a sign welcoming in the kobolds."

"This mine is abandoned. No one uses it. Years ago, some 50 or so kobolds escaped from slavery in Minbenthac and came here. They had kids, and those kids had kids, and I'm part of the fifth generation of them since the escape. Some of the sixth generation is in me right now."

Serris · **Reply #686 on:** February 26, 2010, 11:44:22 PM

The Srutho glared at the Kobold. "Maybe if you didn't try to steal our stuff we would be more willing to help you," he said.

"Struth, forget it," Torvin said. He knelt down to the Kobold's level. "How much in exchange for letting us explore the mine for treasure?" he asked.

Noname · **Reply #687 on:** February 26, 2010, 11:50:09 PM

"I don't want your stuff, only food. I was hoping that the things you had would have something to eat in them." The kobold responded. "If I had to grab whatever I could reach and hope that a bit of it had something to eat, so be it. Did you really think I use money? There are treasures in here, but not of the kind you would expect."

Taking a deep breath into her little ribcage, the kobold continued.

"In any case, there's nowhere to buy food around here, Equine, and those who have something to eat rarely trade it for anything. As it is, I'm not in charge of this mine. You can go in, if you want. I can't stop you. The others won't listen to me if I told them not to attack. I can warn you that... oh... I'll let you know where all the traps I know of are if you give me something to eat, alright? I can't guarantee your safety. And just remember who is coming here to loot this place? Don't call ME a thief!"

Serris · **Reply #688 on:** February 26, 2010, 11:52:56 PM

Torvin reached inside a pack and grabbed a a small loaf of a dense dark bread. He handed it to the Kobold. "Here you are," he said,

"Torvin, you're giving food to those filthy creatures?!" the Strutho exclaimed.

"Struth, be nice!" Torvin scolded. He then turned to the Kobold. "We did not know that there were actually inhabitants here," he added.

Noname · **Reply #689 on:** February 26, 2010, 11:57:02 PM

The female kobold grabbed the bread and smelled it, then took a taste to make sure it was still fresh. After ripping it into two pieces, she ate the first half in one bite, then stabbed the other piece onto her speak, despite it missing a tip. She picked up the spear and proceeded to fulfill her end of the deal.

"My name is Alima. It is the only thing I inherited from my mother, who died not long after I was born. I'll tell you where the traps are, at least, the ones I know about. The first one is on the right of the..."

After about 15 minutes, Alima had told them about the traps to the best of her knowledge.

"... and that's all I know. Can I go now?"

Serris · **Reply #690 on:** February 27, 2010, 12:02:22 AM

Torvin nodded. "You are free to go, Alima," he said.

Torvin then continued down the rocky path. The path was steep but he was strong and surefooted as was the Strutho.

"Can we trust her?" the Strutho asked.

"Don't see why she had a reason to lie to us," Torvin replied.

Noname · **Reply #691 on:** February 27, 2010, 12:11:50 AM

Almia's word was good. The traps she had mentioned appeared right where she said they would. Cassia cut the tripwires with her rapier, disarming them harmlessly. After an hour of climbing down the mine, the party finally caught a glimpse of some treasure! From the distance, on a lower level in the mine, the equines saw a yellow flash in the distance.

"Look at that, Torvie. Gold! Did I just call you- never mind. Let's just go get it!" Cassia bounded off in the direction of the metal, as fast as a mare. Well, she was a mare, but hated having to clarify that she wasn't a four-legged one.

Serris · **Reply #692 on:** February 27, 2010, 12:58:21 AM

The Strutho and Torvin ran after Cassia.

"Cassia, the gold's nice but I came here looking for exotic metals," Torvin said when they arrived in front of the pile of gold coins. The pile was not massive but it was decently sized.

"You mean something like this?" the Strutho said, gently pushing a large piece of rock with his feet towards them. He then delivered a powerful stomp to the top of the rock, splitting it in two and revealing veins of a beautiful blue-silver metal running through the rock.

"Struth, that's mithril! How did you know?" Torvin asked.

The Strutho chuckled. "After working with me for so long, you still don't know that Struthos have an inherent ability to seek metals?"

Noname · **Reply #693 on:** February 27, 2010, 02:58:55 AM

Cassia began to take some of the gold for herself and the others. It certainly was easy... so easy... too easy. What was all this gold doing in an iron mine? Where did the kobolds get this from? A sinking feeling came over Cassia as she realized two things. First, upon closer inspection, the metal was iron pyrite, commonly known as fool's gold. Second, there was no good reason that this gold would be here, out in the open, unless it was a lure, a piece of bait, as in bait for a-

"It's a trap! Torvin, Strutho, we've got to get out of here!" Cassia saw the kobolds burst out of their hiding places moments after her realization. There were over a dozen of them, armed and angry.

Serris · **Reply #694 on:** February 27, 2010, 03:39:52 AM

Torvin quickly picked up the mithril and placed it in his rucksack. He noticed another exit that led to the surface. "Cassia! Over there!" he shouted pointing to the exit. A large rock narrowly missed his head.

The Strutho was hit with a small rock; in retaliation, he kicked a large rock at the guilty Kobold killing it instantly.

Noname · **Reply #695 on:** February 27, 2010, 03:48:50 AM

In truth, the mithril was the only real treasure in the pile. All of the iron pyrite was worth very little. As the three adventurers ran out of the pit, two more kobolds dropped a rock to block that path too. They were cornered.

"Well, Torvin, I guess this is it. I suppose I'd better say it now or never; no male has ever excited me as much as you. Now, if this mare is to die, she will die fighting!" Cassia drew her rapier and prepared for a huge struggle. Meanwhile, up above, someone was watching the struggle from the shadows with great interest...

Serris · **Reply #696 on:** February 27, 2010, 03:58:36 AM

The Strutho turned to the Kobolds. "Bring it, you filthy beasts!" he spat. A Kobold armed with a pickax rushed him. A kick from the Strutho snapped the pickax handle, another kick pulverized his ribs and sent him flying back a few feet.

Torvin said nothing but readied his steel bar. He even focused his magic into the steel so that it glowed red hot.

Noname · **Reply #697 on:** February 27, 2010, 04:03:31 AM

The trio fought well, but it was ultimately a losing fight. They could not hold out forever. They had just one chance left, but none of them knew it. Leaping out of the shadows, Alima landed in front of the kobold hoard, holding a rope in her hand. The other kobolds knew what that would do if she pulled it, but everyone was too stunned to react.

"When the fireworks begin, run to the north and don't stop until you are out of the mine, got it?" Before Cassia could react to Alima's directions, the female kobold pulled the rope, detonating an explosive which set off a bright flash and a loud bang. A flashbang. The hoard of kobolds was stunned by this and very much unable to give pursuit to the three, now four, adventurers who fled from the mine, mithril in tow.

Serris · **Reply #698 on:** February 27, 2010, 07:38:53 PM

Torvin and the Struth stood at the entrance to the Brimspark Iron Mines. Both of them were panting heavily.

"Thank you Alima," the Strutho said.

Torvin was bandaging a cut on his arm caused by a Kobold's short sword.

Noname · **Reply #699 on:** February 27, 2010, 07:43:16 PM

Cassia looked back. The kobolds did not bother to pursue them.

"It looks like we got away" The female equine told the others as she panted. "Thanks Alima. I suppose you were good to your word after all."

Alima turned the the others and told them what was on her mind.

"It was more than that. I wanted to get out of there, anyway. The others weren't so good to me. They never let me do much of anything, and kept pressuring me to- well, I guess that happens when there are twice as many males as females in the group. I can't go back there now. I turned on them, and they'd kill me if I were to show my face. Uh... I don't suppose you'd let me join you?"