Deebus continued to travel north, stopping only to fill his new horse-leather water skin at a brook. After about an hour of sneaking through the bushes, Deebus came upon an unusual sight:
A massive, ruined temple made of chalk. The floor was littered with little bones. Kobold bones. Suddenly Deebus had massive misgivings about this place, and the familiar feeling of a churning lump in his stomach appeared. For Deebus's intuition was proven correct when he moved further in.
There stood Murime Murorrolvinry Daterfortur, sometimes known as the Bronze King of The Ashen Steppes. A giant of a peculiar shape, not unlike a kobold but very strange (to a kobold. To one of mankind, it would be more familiar.) Upon it's head was a great crown, and a huge stiff beard flowed from it's chin. It's adornments were part of it, the whole creature being one giant, singular mass of living metal. No kobold knew from whence it came. Some say it was created by the great spirits. Some say it was built by a strange people in their likeness, long ago in the time of the far-old fathers. Some say it was birthed by the mountains and sired by the ocean. Whatever the case, Murime was a living legend. That tyrant who ruled a kingdom of ruin filled with the bones of its slaves and the tributary treasures taken with a crushing metal fist.
It was then that, as was happening more and more, Deebus got a familiar feeling. The feeling that here was a chance to do something for his people that would live on in legends. The feeling of destiny. This was one of the mighty beasts that oppressed the kobolds and put it's heel to their faces. The skeletons of the others were testimony. The greatest heroes of the kobolds were the ones that won victory over the brute force of the great monsters with cunning and deceit:
Deebus knew that he had to steal something from this temple.
Deebus scanned around, looking for a prize. Around Murime's feet there were piles of treasure (and kobold bones). Chief among the plunder, however, were two bows of pure silver, a magnificent shiny copper drum, and an iron short sword. Deebus's mind went first to the drum, but then to the short sword; it would be much more practical. Then he realized; why take only one? He could take as much as he wanted as long as the Colossus didn't see him. After much deliberation and heart searching, Deebus decided to go for the sword first, so that if he was noticed he could at least flee with that.
With tentative steps, he approached the feet of the King. Murime was looking out to the east, with a face devoid of all emotion except cold conceit and a body devoid of movement; nevertheless, Deebus knew Murime was far from dead. All the treasure sat behind him. It seemed too good to be true.
Deebus crept closer, ever closer. The wind was in a stiff breeze, just enough to rattle through the bones in a way that made Deebus very uneasy. He had to be careful where he tread, as the skeletons were everywhere. One wrong step and the silence of the land would be broken by a loud crunch...
Slowly, so very slowly, Deebus worked his way to the very ankles of the god-like Bronze King. Very, very, very gingerly he loosed the sword from 5 skeletal fingers. He carefully placed this in his pack and stepped towards to bows--
clickDeebus felt a skull crumble under his foot. In one eternal moment, Deebus looked up at Murime, knowing a face of infinite anger looked at him, expecting to see a 20 ton fist racing towards him.
Nothing.
Murime still stared out to the east. It hadn't noticed. Deebus let out an inaudible sigh of relief and gingerly worked the bows out from the piles of bones. One was encircled with bands of oval chert cabochons, the other decorated with rat bone and hanging rings of nickel. Fine treasures which would show his tribe that the mighty Bronze King had been defrauded.
Next, Deebus scooped up the drum. It was sitting on the floor, completely unobstructed.
After eying a very nice copper cage, he decided that he couldn't possibly lift it and that he'd certainly stolen enough for it to count. Deebus made a quiet exit, then once in the grass and off the chalk flagstones, ran like Murime himself was chasing him.
History would later remember that in 201, a copper drum, a silver bow, a silver bow, and an iron short sword were stolen from Oilnail by Deebus.
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Topic: The journey of Deebus, a kobold story. (Read 193816 times)