2
Unfortunately, this kobold is not as well travelled as others; in particular her friend Greegjil, who was obliterated in your first blast. Oh well. She does tell you what she does know, though. The swamps, which seem to stretch for many miles before they cross into jungle to the south, sea to the east, plains to the west and mountains to the north, are inhabited primarily by kobolds as the main sapient species. Kobolds don't really live in towns, but they have many hundreds of homesteads concealed amidst the swamps; by keeping their steads small and population thinly spread, they reduce the chance of being found and killed. The creatures of the swamp don't seem to be their main worry, although plenty enough of them eat kobolds. The big problem is that when large numbers of kobolds gather together, expeditions are sent either by the humans of the eastern plains or the dwarves of the northern mountains to kill them all. Your informant doesn't know how many kobolds there are overall in the swamps, nor how many villages or anything about the lands beyond the swamp beyond the details thus gleaned.
She does know that villages tend to have thirty to fifty homesteads attached to them over a wide area, and that kobolds support themselves through a mixture of subsistence farming and hunting/gathering and trapping - lots of animal trapping. There are many poisonous fruits and plants in the swamp, but some are good for eating and they gather those, as well as planting and harvesting fields of rice which have the benefit of high yields and low footprints, as well as surviving nicely in the flooded terrain. With regards to wealth, she knows that kobolds sometimes make nice statuettes and pretty beads, but her people are pretty poor. Occasionally armed bands of humans will trek through the swamp on their way to the sea, with horses laden down with all kinds of nice things, but generally even a large kobold raiding party would have trouble taking down such a caravan if they don't fall for traps.
The biggest danger, apart from the raptors and the acid lizards, this kobold considers to come from either ophidians (who don't leave their tombs, it seems) and something she calls the Swamp Wraith. You ask her what the Swamp Wraith is; she doesn't know, it's apparently very fast, comes at night and likes to steal away and devour livestock, children and solitary adult kobolds. It has been known to devour raptors and spitter lizards on occasion as well. The good news is, there only seems to be one and it roams all around the swamps, so usually kobold homesteads are fine for most of the year and suffer about a week of nightmarish terror before it carries on.
This seems to be about all the kobold can tell you. On a whim, you ask it its name. "Gugujib," she replies.
"Now here's the thing, Gugujib. I have two uses for you. One is an immediate use, because I'm still hungry. The other is longer term, requires your unquestioning loyalty, and means I have to go looking for more breakfast. The main problem for you in this decision is the fact that I am
ravenous and you woke me up before I was ready, so I'm pissed as well. Now, are you a dependable sort of kobold, or are you brunch?"
7!
Gugujib immediately begins a torrent of begging and pleading and pledging herself to your service eternal that is both deeply flattering and probably sincere. You let the supernatural fear of your draconic gaze bed itself into her eyes for a few moments, then withdraw your claw. She scrambles to her feet, looks once at the exit, then awkwardly picks up her bow and sets it before you, prostrating herself in obedience.
Hmm. Minion. But what to do with her?
A) Use Gugujib as a spy; send her back to her own people with instructions to gather information on defences, locations and likely targets as well as figures of interest and importance.
B) Use Gugujib as a servant; she is a capable archer and huntress and can gather a bit of extra food for you while you sleep, not to mention tidy the lair up a bit and act as a lookout.
C) Use Gugujib as a warrior; she isn't the strongest of her people, but she is good with a bow and a spear and could be taught. If she remained with you and devoted herself entirely to training at your behest she could improve.
D) Something else?
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Topic: SPAMDRAGON: Swamp Baron (Read 39556 times)