Kobolds are a reptilian humanoid monster-race distantly reted tons. Typically standing a little taller than three feet, they are physically weak, making up for this deficy with their numbers, ing, and proficy with traps. They walk upright on digitigrade taloned feet, using their tails to support their movement. While their hands are also taloned, and they possess typically reptilian fanged jaws, they tend to prefer ons such as swords, daggers, or even rocks fhting.

  Their bodies are scaly, much like their rger cousins, and they often have small horns. They have an aptitude fic simir to humans, and a variety of affihat match their draicestors. They reproduce by ying eggs. Typically, clutches of three to five at a time are id in crudely structed s of sticks, hatg in just a couple of weeks.

  Generally, they tend to i dungeons, but where they are found in the wild, they are sidered vermin, preying on farms and smaller towns for food. They reproduce fast and usually provoke a swift response from the local chapter of the Adventurers Guild before their numbers grow out of hand.

  Surprisingly, Kobolds are intelligent enough to speak draid will worship any dragon they find.

  - Excerpt from The Monster pendium, Ziba Malek, Elorthian Empire Royal Schor, Transted.

  Malika

  Malika groaned as her awareness slowly trickled bato her body amid crashing waves of pain and nausea. She rolled over, but something was wrong with her hands, and she nded on her face, almost bg out from the agonizing jolt that stabbed through her head. Her mi sluggish and foggy, and her body wasn’t responding as she expected.

  She simply y for a while, trying to endure as it washed over her. She had the distinct impression she was fetting something, but it eluded her.

  Where am I?

  She opened her eyes to a sudden dagger-like stabbing pain that lit up the right side of her field of vision like a lightning strike.

  What happened?

  Something was wrong with her head. Wherever she was, it was only barely lit, but she could see nothing iire right side of her vision, just a shimmering gray fog that flickered and pulsed with the throbbing in her head.

  I… suddenly she remembered she had healing magic. Healing… Mantra, that’s what it was. She reached out and eled her powerful skill, but nothing happened. fusion filled her addled mind as she struggled to decide what it meant.

  Did I dream that I could heal? Do I even have a css?

  She felt a sudden o of panic when she realized she didn’t remember, couldn’t remember. After a few minutes of struggling with her mind, she finally remembered she could just look. Pulling up her status, she saw that she indeed did have a css – but her status wasn’t much use to her, half of it missing in the noise of her damaged vision.

  Her eyes flickered across it, registering straails. Healing Man.., Soul Monk. My mana is zero. The details crept sluggishly through her mind before she realized she couldn’t cast anything without mana.

  No, that’s not quite right.

  She was… something. What was it? Rele… It escaped her for a while before it drifted bato her mind.

  I use stamina.

  She tried her Healing Mantra again, this time using stamina to power the skill, and suddenly a surge of burning power thrummed through her, tearing at her bruised body and sluggish mind, rearranging, repairing.

  She let out a gasp of relief as the pain vanished, her vision cleared, and her mind snapped back to normal.

  I’m Malika. I have a css.

  And I was captured by Kieran Mori and his thugs.

  She grimaced at the now clear memory – and with it came a crippling surge of guilt. She had been happy for a few days, expl her css and making friends, foolishly giving in to her hopes and dreams. And all she had done was bring the wrath of the Town Watch down on herself and her new panions.

  That’s why you ’t have friends.

  She was in some small dark room. Her hands were bound behind her bad her face ressed into a threadbare rug that stank of mold and dust, and a stale, musty odor that made her think of old warehouses that had been shuttered for too long. It sounded like there might be a wooden floor beh, but she could tell little else from where she y.

  She reized from the pointy ear and silvery hair that stuck out of the dark crumpled heap in the er – which meant he was likely alive. But she could clearly remember herself p her healing magito Mato to save his life and then watg Edrik knock him and Ali down the hole into the darkness.

  Ali? Are… they dead?

  She had no idea, but there was ohing she was certain of. It’s all my fault. If it were not for her being in their group, they would not have been dragged into this. Ali was the first person she had ected with sihe disaster, and now she was gone. Against all odds, the little Fae had earned her trust, shared her vulnerability, and bee her friend.

  Her thoughts drifted for a bit.

  Mato. You idiot.

  Malika hated Mato. No, that’s nht. I hate what he is. He seemed to have no care in the world, oblivious to the risks, simply diving in to fight whenever he felt like it. Whenever he saw someone in need. Malika had seen it a few times and almost every time it had put them in unnecessary danger.

  A, he had do for her. When she was fag Edrik – he could have just let it go and he would probably have walked out alive, but no, he had to charge in and try and save her. And now he was dead along with Ali down a hole.

  She choked back a sob. Why was there nobody to save me back then?

  Her mind pyed back the brutal years trying to survive in the slums of Myrin’s Keep, the endless shakedowns, the beatings, and her shattered dreams. It was worse that she had gotten a few days of hope, only to have them dashed to pieces once again. Brutal. Life was short and unfair.

  She closed her heart as she had always do was her only defense. He’s an idiot with a Berserker css. It was just the rage. But somehow, all she could see was the bleeding bear charging in for no other reason than to help her.

  I’m not worth helping! What were you thinking, Mato?

  She finally smmed the doors of her heart shut and struggled to sit up, earning a fresh bruise when she fot her hands were bound. Twisting around, she found that her wrists had been fastened with a pair of bck steel restraints. She used Appraise out of the er of her eye.

  Cuffs of Suppression – level 8Sturdy steel handcuffs, desigo restrain people with csses by sapping mana and stamina. Requirements: None. -8 to level requirement.-103% to Mana and Stamina regeion.Locked.Quality: Magic.Value: 1 gold, 17 silver.Created by Indacus Argyle.Hands – Handcuffs

  Well, now I know why I have no mana. Charming. She struggled briefly against the bindings but to no avail. They were quite well-crafted and sturdy. Giving up for the moment, she opened her status and queried the details of her regeion.

  Health RegeionPertage of maximum health regeed per hour.Total: 0%

  Stamina RegeionPertage of maximum stamina regeed per hour.+100% Racial (Human).+100% Relentless Aptitude.-103% Cuffs of Suppression.Total: +97%Mana RegeionPertage of maximum mana regeed per hour.+100% Racial (Human).-103% Cuffs of Suppression.Total: -3%

  She had stamina only because of her Relentless Aptitude. Her mana, oher hand, was draining at a rate of three pert per hour.

  Without warning, a door smmed open, and the shadowy outline of Edrik appeared. He shot across the room and, before she could eve, he had her pinned up against the wall by a hand arouhroat. It osition she was quite familiar with. So familiar, in fact, that it was almost ughable. He was so predictable. Idiot.

  “Adrik! Bring the other cuffs. The strong ones – the little rat is awake!”

  “You’ll kill her with that and then Mori will fy us.”

  “She has a fug regeion skill you idiot, bring it!”

  Adrik appeared holding another set of restraints which he quickly fastened around her wrists, removing the old one. Immediately Malika felt dizzy, aamina began draining away, too.

  Fuck. It was her st thought before Edrik’s fist smmed into the side of her head and the lights went out.

  Mato

  Mato groaned as awareness cwed its way bato his body, like an Umbral Panther dragging a fully-grown Bristletusk Boar up a tree. His mouth was drier than the endless sands of Brast at high-noon, and his body ached like the aftermath of being hit by a rge rock while falling down some stairs. A lot of stairs. He rolled over onto his bad slowly opened his eyes, wing at the nce of pain that stabbed through his left eye and into the back of his skull.

  What… happened? How am I alive?

  He stared unprehendingly at the smooth expanse of crafted ste-gray stone overhead, illuminated by a softly shimmering green glow, and the wide-open shaft that extended up through the roof, but he found no clues in that infinite well of darkness. The metallic st of blood mingled with the lingering acrid stench of sulfur and burnt flesh. His stomach ched in a sudden spasm of queasiness as his nose identified it as the unmistakable aroma of charred person. Is that me? Slowly, he sat up, wiping his hands on his tattered pants, grimag at the stiess of the drying blood. As he turo look around, he froze, catg sight of a small, curled-up bundle.

  By his side, Aliandra y sleeping peacefully, the soft, gentle sigh of her breath apanying the slow rise and fall of her chest. But her body was covered in dark, gealed blood and soot, and her brand-new clothing was torn and burnt in more pces than Mato could t. Damn, she only got a few hours’ use out of those.

  But his eyes were drawn to the pulsing green glow that surrouhem both, encircled by an exquisitely intricate ciragical ruhe magic, whatever it was, made him think of his mother.

  He put aside the unbelievably plex magistruct for the moment and leaned over to che his panion, but he was instantly brought up short by the sharp ctter of cws on stone. He whipped his head around to find three rats rushing toward him, baring their yellowed teeth and hissing aggressively.

  Sewer Rat – level 2 x3 (Guarding)

  He gnced back down at Aliandra and then backed away from her, and the rats immediately stood down, although they remained alert with their dark eyes trained on him.

  She must have fotten to tell them I’m her friend, he thought. Clearly, the rats were some of Ali’s summoned monsters and it seemed she had assighem guard duty while she slept.

  Something violent must have happened, judging from the enormous pool of blood, and the sorry state of Aliandra’s clothing. He studied her carefully from the opposite side of the magical ring, searg for any injuries. She seems okay, though.

  Mato turned his attention to the otherwise quiet room, trying to solve the riddle of his bnk memories. The stone walls and floor of this chamber had been scorched in several pces, but there were no other clues to help him out.

  My notifications, he thought finally, hoping that anything that might have happened would be shown there.

  Yroup has defeated Fire Mage – Kobold – level 9.Yroup has defeated Dagger Rogue – Kobold – level 8.Yroup has defeated Warrior – Kobold – level 8.

  Kobolds. I was right. There had been a fight. But against such a high-level group, it was more of a wohat he had awoken at all.

  Suddenly, he was falling forever through a dark stone shaft amid exploding cascades of golden light, desperately trying to catch Aliandra.

  Huh? He blinked as his mind snapped back to the stone room, his heart throbbing wildly from the iy of the memory. He looked up again at the stone shaft and the darkness, shocked at how long he had been struggling and falling.

  A sed vivid image exploded in bright fme and cussive detonation within his mind, and his hatred erupted at the first glimpse of a red-scaled reptilian mo the ter of the inferno. You… burned me…

  His mind lurched yet again as the fsh of memory abruptly vanished, leaving him panting in a cold sweat ba the runic circle. His hands grabbed for his side where he had felt the searing fme of the fireball, but his clothing erfectly fine, protected by his shapeshift. But more importantly, his body seemed healthy – disgustingly and pletely healthy – with not a single perceptible injury. That was impossible, surely? The fall alone should have killed them both.

  Mato examihe circle of green runes more closely, even suspiciously, realizing that the magic was like his Brutal Restoration, only it felt… gentler? How did she make this? It seemed safe to clude that the magic circle was somehow Aliandra’s doing. He didn’t know how, but it had a little of her st to it. Only then, his eyes fell upon his book, open still to a chapter on Druidic healing magic. He leaned over to s the page briefly.

  Did she copy this? Mato shook his head in bewilderment. Three-foot nothing with the insight of the A Sages. The text was a dense wall of inprehensible runes and undoubtedly teical jargon. Aliandra sure had an unusual css. Most of her magic was slow and unsuited for direbat but, if the amount of blood on the floor was anything to go by, he owed his life tenuity and resourcefulness.

  So, that’s what happened, he thought. We fell straight into the Kobolds’ den – jumped out of the frying pan to sizzle on the coals. He looked around the room again, seeing the giant sbs of stone blog the doorway and his still-sleeping panion guarded by her rats. Smart, he thought. Somehow, he and Aliandra had won against the dangerous group of much higher-level Kobolds, and then she had set up defenses and healed both of them.

  Druidic Shapeshifter has reached level 6 (+3)+30 attribute points.

  Arboreal Sanctuary has reached level 5.Brutal Restoration has reached level 6 (+3).Bear Form has reached level 4 (+2).Primal Rage has reached level 6 (+3).

  Wow!

  He stared at the notifications for a while, stunned.

  Three levels from a single fight… It was a huge leap, but their foes had been strong. His eyes lingered on his powerful Primal Rage skill, excited by how much it had grown from the fight.

  Malika hates it, he thought. Even had argued against it. But they don’t uand. It was his defining skill, like that of his father, and he felt it characterized the essence of his fighting style. The more powerful he was, the faster he could end the fights.

  Besides, it’s more enjoyable that way.

  His big hands knotted into fists as he realized he still had no clear recolle of what must have been an epic fight.

  It’ll e back, he told himself. Later. Without thinking any further, he put all of his tribute points into vitality and endurance. Whatever happened, we must have beey beat up, he thought, gng at Aliandra. I hope she’s ok.

  He reached toward her arm to che her, but the sudden hisses reminded him the rats were still being overprotective.

  In that instant, the peaceful image of his tiny friend sleeping in a circle of restoration magic was overid with her scrambling backward in abject terror, silently screaming while the matted paws of a great beast beat on a blood-and-froth-covered magical barrier until it exploded into shards. The rage and hate surged through him with such a shog power that he reeled backward from the image, falling heavily onto his side.

  What… was that?

  He cautiously sat up once again, swallowing unfortably at the sudden dryness in his mouth. His body seemed to be trembling from shock. But Aliandra still slept peacefully beside him.

  Just an image? Halluation?

  Just as he began to trust his relief that the se was gohe image returned, rage surging through his body and mind. He saw himself gripping Aliandra’s leg in his jaws, thrashiiny body bad forth oone like a cat killing its prey, while she screamed for him to stop.

  As the image mercifully faded, he found himself retg in a cold sweat.

  That ’t be real… it? Please…

  But the rage had been powerful, and the memory of her bones g under his fangs was all too real. The brutal ease with which he had thrashed her bad forth, even after her screams had fallen silent and her body limp.

  And, to his horror, he found he khe taste of her amber blood.

  Oh no! What have I done?

  ***

  Name: Mato BahrRace: Beastkin

  Css: Druidic Shapeshifter – level 6- Arboreal Sanctuary – level 5- Swipe – level 3- Brutal Restoration – level 6- Bear Form – level 4- Wolf Form – level 2- Primal Rage – level 6- [Locked]- [Locked]- [Locked]- [Locked]

  General Skills- Identify – level 4- Cooking – level 4- Wilderness Lore – level 5

  Aptitudes- Languages: o - Mana (Affinity): Nature- Strong (Racial): +7 Strength- Tough (Racial): +10 Endurance

  Attributes- Vitality: 40- Strength: 33- Endurance: 34- Dexterity: 7- Perception: 6- Intelligence: 8- Wisdom: 19

  Equipment- on: Mace – level 1- Body: Leather Vest – level 1

  Evasion: 12Dodge: 6.66%

  Health: 400/400Stamina: 340/340Mana: 190/190

  timewalk