Reporting In

[ttlanhil]

"Chief, Chief!"

"What, who..? Oh, it's you Mugwash. Get yourself a drink and come see me."

Deep underground, there are a race of peoples known as Kobolds.

"Now, what do you have to report?"

They have never been seen by those who live above ground.

"I heard some dwarves talking about expanding their cave system, in the direction of our eastern tunnels"

They are a small people, shorter than gnomes, and far thinner; they stand upright, but could be accused of a canine look.

"Hmm, this is disturbing news... Well, we'll get back to this, anything else to report?"

Kobolds are not the most intelligent of races, but they are clever, able to make nearly all they need, and occasionally stealing the few things they don't make. Some even study the magical arts.

"No chief, nothing as important. Well, there is one thing, the Human village seems to be producing more grain this year."

"Well, it's not great, but it's good news nonetheless."

"Yes Chief."

Kobolds find tunnel systems deep underground, expanding further if they need the space. They are not as great miners as the Dwarves, but they are cautious and methodical, they never have cave-ins.

"Now, back to the Dwarves, you say they are digging towards our tunnels?"

While clever, Kobolds are not good inventors, their best skill is quickly learning how something works; usually the inventions of other races.

"Yes Chief, the best I could tell is that they may be in the area of our tunnels in two to three weeks."

Kobolds are not great or even mediocre warriors, they prefer trickery and escape when confronted. Even their shamans are not much help in a fight, as they learn the magics of healing, movement, hiding, and discovery.

"Where, exactly, are they digging?"

Living nearly all of their lives in tunnels, they have a good knowledge of the underground.

"Through the sandstone deposits, Chief."

"Sandstone, eh? The same area we decided not to dig into, being weak? Interesting..."

"Chief?"

"That area is not very stable, the Dwarves should know that, why would they risk digging there?"

Kobolds are a practical race, not drawn by the thought of riches or discovery.

"I don't know what they call it, Chief, but they may be looking for some of that stuff they get excited to see."

"Oh yes, I forgot that was there. Well. It will be hard to convince them not to mine there then."

"Then what can we do?"

"Hmm... go ask the head shaman to come see me"

"Yes, Chief, at once"

"Then get some rest, you've done good work"

"Thank you, Chief"

 

The Kobolds do not really want to interfere with the other races, being happier to be left alone.

"Ah, Shaman Tromah, thank you for coming."

"Of course. Mugwash seemed worried, what's happening?"

The Kobolds who do not practice magic are sometimes somewhat suspicious of the shamans, but the shamans are an important part of the Kobold culture, and the head shaman of a clan commands similar levels of respect to the chief of a clan.

"The Dwarves are digging into the sandstone near our east tunnels"

Kobolds are not really cowards, but their small size means that they still fear the larger races.

"Oh... What shall we do?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we could dissuade them if the sandstone were to be unminable, collapsing as they dig through..."

"Yes.... yes, that could work. I assume you want magic to help work towards this?"

"Indeed, I shall also talk to several of the tunnelers, weakening the ground and destroying whatever it is in the ground the Dwarves want should drive them away."

"That sounds like a good plan. I'll go talk to the tunnelers and see what we can do."

"Would you? Thank you Shaman Tromah, I am sure you will soon have the problem resolved."

"Of course. I'll send someone to update you whenever something happens. By your leave."

"Certainly."

The Kobolds were quite correct about the Dwarves; when the sandstone turned out to be un-minable, and the riches the dwarves sought turned out to be in very short supply, the Dwarves gave up and went looking elsewhere.

So to this day, still no outsider has ever seen a Kobold.

[Roja]

Great I love it! Just 2 things:

 

1. Make line breaks inbetween the dialogue and the narration..or something to signify the difference better.

 

2. Maybe give the Kobolds more of an interesting speech pattern, or accent. Right now they talk like intelligent clean/clear humans. With a name like "mugwash" I would think their speech woudln't be so up to par...not that they lack the intelligence in fact, but just...hm... you know something like:

 

Original:

"Oh... What shall we do?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we could dissuade them if the sandstone were to be unminable, collapsing as they dig through..."

 

Changed to:

"Oh... What we do?"

"Don't know, but think if the sandstone be unminable, collapsing when dwarf dig through..."

 

Well that's not a great example..but an example nonetheless I hope you get my meaning. I'd really like to include this in the official stories.

[ttlanhil]

because the narration and conversation are all mixed up, line breaks would be too frequent.

indenting works ok, but doesn't show up on the forums using spaces. I've make do, which means indentation doesn't look as nice as it should. I might change it so naration and conversation use different fonts, it'd help seperate the two, but it's more hassle for only on the forums.

 

as far as language, the idea was that the names were rather traditional, while the kobolds became more literate. making it more perculiar would work well though

 

<update> I made some changes already, the new version may work a bit better.

The original post will repain unchanged, because that's how it was entered for the contest

 

 

. . "Chief, Chief!"

. . "eh? who calls? Ah, Mugwash. Get a drink and come my hall."

Deep underground, there are a race of peoples known as Kobolds.

. . "Good. Now, what news?"

They have never been seen by those who live above ground.

. . "I hear dwarves consider growing their cavecity, coming to our eastern tunnels"

They are a small people, shorter than gnomes, and far thinner; they stand upright, but could be accused of a canine look.

. . "Umm. This news is unhappy... Do you carry more?"

Kobolds are not the most intelligent of races, but they are clever, able to make nearly all they need, and occasionally stealing the few things they don't make. Some even study the magical arts.

. . "No chief, pretty quiet times. Um, well, one thing. Human village farmers busy, extra grain excess."

. . "Ah! No great, but good still"

. . "Yes Chief."

Kobolds find tunnel systems deep underground, expanding further if they need the space. They are not as great miners as the Dwarves, but they are cautious and methodical, they never have cave-ins.

. . "Okay, Dwarves... you say they dig our tunnels?"

While clever, Kobolds are not good inventors, their best skill is quickly learning how something works; usually the inventions of other races.

. . "Yes Chief, I think they approach area of our tunnels in two or three week."

Kobolds are not great or even mediocre warriors, they prefer trickery and escape when confronted. Even their shamans are not much help in a fight, as they learn the magics of healing, movement, hiding, and discovery.

. . "Where, exactly, do they dig?"

Living nearly all of their lives in tunnels, they have a good knowledge of the underground.

. . "Through sandstone, Chief."

. . "Eh. Sandstone. Same area we decide not to dig into, too weak? Interesting..."

. . "Chief?"

. . "That area kinda dangerous, Dwarves would know that, why they dig there?"

Kobolds are a practical race, not drawn by the thought of riches or discovery.

. . "They find that... umm... some of that stuff they excited when see."

. . "Ooh yes, I forgot that. Well. Dwarves very insistent... May be hard to convince them mine other places."

. . "What we do, Chief?"

. . "Hum. Ask head shaman to come to council"

. . "Yes, Chief"

. . "Then get rest, you do good work"

. . "Thank you Chief!"

 

The Kobolds do not really want to interfere with the other races, being happier to be left alone.

. . "Shaman Tromah! You well come to council."

. . "Mugwash was excitable, unusual for him; so sensible and calm. I help with issues weighting your shoulders?"

The Kobolds who do not practice magic are sometimes somewhat suspicious of the shamans, but the shamans are an important part of the Kobold culture, and the head shaman of a clan commands similar levels of respect to the chief of the clan.

. . "Dwarves are digging sandstone near east tunnels"

Kobolds are not really cowards, but their small size means that they still fear the larger races.

. . "Oh... What if they find us, they not know us, may be scary. What we do?"

. . "Dunno. Though... If they find the sandstone fall in, not diggable and dangerous to skull roundness..."

. . "Yes... yes, that sound good. You want magic help?"

. . "Uh-hunh. I also call on miners guild, they help too, we convince Dwarves."

. . "Sound good. I see tunnelers, work with them"

. . "Ahh? Thank you Shaman Tromah. Should be enough solve problems."

. . "I send newsbearer when something happen. Agreeable."

. . "Yes. I talk to you again soon."

The Kobolds were quite correct about the Dwarves; when the sandstone turned out to be un-minable, and the riches the dwarves sought turned out to be in very short supply, the Dwarves gave up and went looking elsewhere.

So, to this day, still no outsider has ever seen a Kobold.

Edited June 8, 2005 by ttlanhil

[Roja]

Ah great, that's better

 

 

I will definetly add this to the webpage of official stories soon.