[IC] Remove this please, for it is dead

[bloonewb]

Hooves clattered on the dirt. Old wheels creaked and groaned. Alexius leaned out of the window and vomited. He clutched his throbbing head, attempting futilely to will away the nausea.

"Nevermind, this is close enough. Stop the carriage," he ordered, passing the driver a bag of coins. He hurtled himself out of the rickety wooden torture chamber, and barely restrained himself from heaving up another meal. With the carriage slowly receding into the distance, he began to walk.

The hill, dotted with caves, loomed over him. This all felt familiar, both joyous and saddening. He picked a space that looked as good as any, opened up the dusty book in his bag, and began to preach.

[geminironin]

Just outside one of the entrances at the bottom of the hillside, Gruul was whiling away another shift of guard duty, carving a long piece of briarwood that he planned to turn into a new pipe. He heard a voice coming from not too far away and looked up to see another kobold, talking to the air with an open book in hand.

"Now what the hells is he going on about? And why do I get the feeling I'd rather not know?"

He sighed, picked up the spear that lay on the ground beside him, and approached the stranger.

"Oi! Who goes there, and what's your business?"

[Aristocles]

Not far from the hillside stood a series of caves. Most led into the hill itself, including one particularly long and smooth-floored tunnel which led down to a tribe of kobolds. Most of the other tunnels were dead ends. In fact, there was only one entrance to the tribe's home cavern, a fact which meant that they could be easily besieged and cut off from the surface if an attacking force were to station itself there. This was unacceptable for the tribe's chief, and he ordered that connecting tunnels be cut to connect the dead end caverns to the main one.

Unfortunately, there was only one kobold fit for such a task. It was him or assign a dozen others to work for weeks. Arjun stood at the end of one of the side tunnels and extended his clawed hands at the wall. Willing his magic to activate, a gout of flame burst from his hands, burning the wall and gradually extending the side tunnel to the main one. Before long, he'd reach the surface, but it would take a few minutes.

[Silver Carrot]

"Of course! That's something that separates a Kobold from a non-kobold. If we ever need to rest, we will either sit on the ground or on a large stone. So, if I make a trap that appears to be a low, bench-like log, an invader would be the only kind of person to sit on it. Then again...I hear some former members of the tribe are returning in the coming days. I should build a non-lethal version if this trap idea, and if they all ignore it, I'll know that even those of us who have adopted other lifestyles will still not even think to use the log as a chair. It's just not in our nature, after all."

---

The test trap was built, and carefully placed besides the path to the caves, at a point where Grek himself personally started to feel in need of rest as he walked from the bottom of the hill to the cave mouth.

Grek had come to the edge of the cover of the forest. The rest of the hill was open, all the way up to the caves. He watched one of his kin exit from a carriage and start to make their way up the hill, but then stopped, and began reading a book to himself.

"I will never understand how the outside world thinks," he thought to himself as he watched impatiently for the Kobold to carry on making progress, but then a guard approached him. Grek cursed to himself. He would continue to wait for now, but he did not want his work to be wasted, and if he had to, he would lure the outsider up the hill himself.

[kittyluna45]

Something was coming. They were not sure what was going on, but the two creatures in the forest were looking through the bushes with curious eyes. The ground was moving slightly as hooves clattered on the ground. A carriage was bringing someone, or something towards the kobold tribe home. Both creatures sets of eyes narrowed a bit.

As Kimi saw another kobold exit the carriage, she let out a sigh and gently petted Mariki. "Stand down girl... it is not dinner, or anyone that would threaten us." The cat let out a curious purr, and nuzzled up to her mistress. She watched as the other Kobold got out of the carriage and then started to...

"What is he doing? What on Earth is that little one doing?" She stepped out of the forest and gestured to her companion to follow her. They sat down on the edge of the hill and listened for a moment, wondering what was happening.

[bloonewb]

Alexius had been preaching for awhile now, but no audience came before him. Honestly, he was beginning to be a little peeved. He was standing here, throwing salvation at their ears, yet they don't even take a second to hear it! Hold on, there's someone coming. An fellow armed with a spear. "Oi! Who goes there, and what's your business?" he shouts. Finally, at least someone is listening.

"Do you have a moment to speak of our Gods?" Alexius asks, trying not to think about the spear's point. "What's your name? What faith do you believe in?" In his head though, he was really just hoping that the spear is kept pointing away from him.

[Aristocles]

Arjun finished burning through the tunnel and could see daylight on the surface. His eyes were stung by the brightness of the sun at first, but he adjusted after a few minutes.

"Do you have a moment to speak of our Gods?" He heard a voice that he hadn't heard in a long time. Padding his way up and out of the cave, Arjun stepped onto the soft dirt and looked straight ahead, recognizing the sight and scent of the newcomer.

"Kutur? Is it really you?"

[geminironin]

Gruul rested the spear at his side. This stranger was certainly an odd one, but he seemed rather harmless. And he was a kobold, so not that much of an outsider, at least by his reckoning.

"My name is Gruul, and my faith is my own to hold. But if you're going to preach here, you'd best talk it over with the Chief."

In truth, Gruul was quite devoted to the Holy Mother, Tiamat, but getting into a theological debate was not something he wanted to do.

"Come on then, best bring you to-"

"Kutur? Is it really you?"

He was interrupted by Arjun popping out of a fresh hole in the hillside, and decided to just take a step back and see what played out.

[bloonewb]

". . . Arjun?" Alexius called, closing the book with a dull thump. He left the spearman to his devices, and approached the hole to get a closer look. "Arjun!" he shouted, recognizing the face. He rushed over to the hole. Arjun was covered in muck, some liquified and dripping down his face. Alexius offers his hand to pull him up. "You would not believe the things I've seen away from home. Absence is only a couple dozen Dragontails that way, further is Constantsea, and the buildings there are huge! There was this one you see . . ." he said, beginning to ramble. He had already forgotten about the spearman.

[Silver Carrot]

Another kobold arrived, and this one seemed to be his friend. Grek signed in resignation. He'd better go and retrieve the trap and try again later. Besides, this design was relying too much on chance. There had to be a more obvious way to sort the walking habits of the kobold from those of other races.

He began to make his way out of the cover of the forest, still deep in thought and not really looking where he was going. As he covered the crest of the hill, he immediately saw another kobold with their back to him, with a cat-like creature by their side. He cursed as he tried to stop himself but slipped on the dewey grass and slid down straight into her back.

His first thought was "Well, looks like I'm going to get beaten up again..." and he closed his eyes and braced himself.

[Aristocles]

Arjun wiped some of the rock from his face. It had been liquefied by the heat he had generated, and he was indeed stained by it.

"Wha-? Oh, Alexius" he extended a clawed hand as his friend helped him up. "Thanks for the hand. Glad to see you again. Tribe's still the same as before. You haven't missed much. Workers still working hard. Mines still full of metal. Most of us still live in caves. I got myself a hut though. So, I assume you've seen that they have privacy up here, in the surface. Never been to Absence or Constantsea myself."

[kittyluna45]

Kimi had been content on being ignored for the first few moments as it seemed that Arjun knew the other kobold that was ranting at them. She shrugged a bit as she watched them and then was distracted by another kobold slam into her back. She nearly fell over and turned to look at him. "Oye, don't you watch where you're going?" She said.

Her companion hissed at the other kobold but Kimi held out her hand. "Calm yourself Mariki... it was an accident. I'm sure if he was trying to kill me he would have done a better job than just ram into me." She stood up and dusted herself off and then stood up and looked at Arjun and Alexius. "So what is even going on here today?" She said, noticing that this one Kobold had apparently drawn so many people out that day.

[Silver Carrot]

Grek scrambled to his feet, grateful for being spared a beating or mauling, though still cautious about the...pet...?

"I'm really sorry. Couldn't see you over the top of the hill. Are you okay?" The weak-looking bag of bones of a kobold muttered nervously. He watched on as she calmed her companion down, waiting patiently, and glad the focus was partly off him, even temporarily. He wasn't comfortable being the centre of attention at the best of times, and that went double if he'd just made a mistake.

The kobold's attention had returned to the newcomer. He looked down at the scene as well. "Well, there was a rumour that an old member of the tribe was returning today. Still, I was expecting some kind of seasoned travelling warrior or mercenary, not....a door to door preacher."

[Aristocles]

Arjun turned to Grek and Kimi. "Is it just me, or did we all just happen to show up at the same place at the same time" he said, speaking loudly enough for all to hear. "For those who don't know, Alexius and I are friends. You might have heard of him by the name 'Kutur', but I'll let him explain more about that. And before I forget to mention it, nobody is going to beat anybody right now." He let out a small stream of flame rise out of the palm of his right hand for just a moment.

[bloonewb]

Suddenly, a loud crash, followed by muffled conversation, resonated through the area. Alexius mentally kicked himself. Stupid, stupid! Of course, with every newcomer there was probably three tribesmen stalking him!

"There, see?" he called towards the general direction of the noise. "You can come out now!" Secretly, he was feeling a little giddy. Four people listened to his preaching! That was a new personal record, if you don't count the time he fed a kennel of wargs while praying not to die.

[Aristocles]

"I'm here! Don't have to yell, Kutur. Gotta calm down a bit" Arjun replied, stepping up to Alexius, who had been known to Arjun as Kutur. "Just be careful with what you say. I'm not sure our shaman would appreciate all of your words."

[Silver Carrot]

Grek flinched a little from Arjun's little pyrotechnics display. He was not keen on getting threatened, but conversation resumed, again focused on the strange returning Kobold.

Grek crossed his arms. "I'm not sure half the tribe would appreciate it, honestly. Religion...Nothing but trouble if you ask me. Look at him, prattling on. I'm listening to what he's saying, but even if none of us were, I don't think he'd notice. He'd just carry on..."

[Aristocles]

"Did I startle you? Sorry." Arjun extinguished his flames. "Grek, is it? Well, I assure you, Kutur here is harmless. At least to his fellow kobolds. Not sure why he's dressed so heavily, but they do things differently on the surface. He seems to have picked up surfacer habits." He briefly stood on one foot, raising his other leg to gently scratch his right sole before setting it down on the soft ground again.

[bloonewb]

Alexius most certainly didn't want to see the chief. He was large and well spoken, and likely won't be defeated by healing his scars. His only option now was to try and stall everyone until they forget what they wanted to do. Which is good, because he was good at stalling.

"Umm, well if no one's going to convert today, then guess I'll try tomorrow. Whoo, traveling's no easy task. So is my cave still here?" He looked around for his cave, which he remembered he took because it was far away from the new mine complex.

[Aristocles]

"The caves are still here, although we've excavated more since you left and even built a few huts with sticks and dried grass taken down from the surface" Arjun explained. "The shrine is still there and our shaman's still tending it, as he was before. Oh, and before I forget to mention it, I doubt you'll win many converts. Most of us don't trust those who dress like humans, but I don't really care how you dress, as long as you don't put clothes on your feet. That's just too weird."