There is a degree of frantic, hushed argument amongst the kobolds at your request. They each seem to be trying to avoid bringing you to their own settlements, and pretty quickly all of them agree that this is the council of elders' problem, not theirs, so they might as well lead you straight there. You agree, which shakes them; they didn't think you could hear them.
It takes a little under two hours (at kobold speed) to reach the settlement they have chosen to bring you to, one Igrylligus (the kobold language is fairly nonsensical, but you don't need to know it to speak it). This actually appears to be a full village, with rather more sturdy wooden walls encircling the village (actual walls, rather than fences), itself built onto one of the natural hillocks that seem to rise infrequently out of the swamp. Most of the buildings here are either wood or mud, but there is a slightly larger roundhouse at the top of the village that is built out of baked mud (adobe) bricks. The rice paddies surrounding the village are much more extensive, there are pigs running through the gaps between houses and even wooden enclosures with dull-coloured domesticated fowl (chickens, your memories supply). On top of that, there are perhaps two or three hundred kobolds in this village, with an unknown amount out hunting like the party that has brought you back. Aside from the young, most carry flint knives or other simple weapons, and a large number run for bows and spears when you appear. You raise a scaled brow at your entourage, who begin desperately crying for their companions to lower their weapons and summon the elders.
You are escorted up the main path through the village to the adobe roundhouse, where fearful and wondrous kobolds gather at the edges of the path to stare at your shimmering silver glory. You are about three to four times larger than any of them, after all. By the time you crest the hill, three elderly kobolds are waiting at the entrance to the adobe roundhouse, one garbed in boiled leather armour with a spear (tufted with red and black raptor feathers), one bent-backed and holding onto a walking staff, and the other holding onto a staff ringed with small bone trinkets and feathers at intervals.
"Greetings, O dragon," says the most decrepit kobold in a surprisingly steady voice. "What brings you to our humble village?"
A) Frame this as a matter of fealty. You are strong and they are weak, and should place themselves under your protection.
B) Frame this as a matter of religion. You are a superior being, possessed of great power, and they should prostrate themselves before you and offer prayer and propitiation.
C) Frame this as a simple extortion. You are capable of ruining everything they hold dear, so cough up regular tribute or face the consequences.
D) Frame this as an offer of protection. In return for tribute and favours, you will protect them against the dangers of the swamp and their enemies.
E) Kill and eat the leadership, since they've gathered themselves so conveniently right in front of you, then destroy the village's defenders and demand the survivors submit as your slaves.
F) Something Else?
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Topic: SPAMDRAGON: Swamp Baron (Read 39562 times)