(This chapter's a little shorter than the first, but it's more exciting. By the way, in the previous chapter I referred to J'Nah as an elf. In truth, she's a Daemonfey, but odds are Tymofarrar didn't know that. Just thought I'd comment on that. By the way, I'm still desperate for reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Neverwinter Nights. See previous chapter for more.
A/N: I'd like to thank Lissette (aka the Unknown Gender), Shadow Lark, and Guan for their reviews. This chapter is devoted to them -)
Dependence I: Heartsinger
Chapter Two
After dwelling so long in the cave's cover, the kobolds found themselves blinded by the sun's glare once out in the open. No matter how much they blinked, it was near impossible to see with the snow reflecting sunlight at every angle. They found themselves stumbling through the waist-deep snow--waist-deep on them, that is--but luckily managed to regain most of their vision by the time they got to the narrow pass leading out of the ravine which housed their cave. Most of the kobolds rushed ahead, hot-headed as ever despite the cold, but Deekin pressed himself against the ravine's side and inched his way up, teeth chattering. The other kobolds were getting sick of Deekin's procrastination, but spared no time for a tongue-lashing once Deekin reached the top, and merely continued on.
Deekin hung back just a little bit longer to admire the pale, misty sky and snow-capped mountains towering above him, and took out a sheet of paper, an inkwell and a pen. An impatient yap from somewhere in the group admonished Deekin, who scribbled a quick note on nature's majestic beauty before tucking his writing supplies back in his pack and hurrying to catch up.
After they'd been walking a while, the mountains began to thin out, dwindling until only sprawling hills were left in their stead. Deekin looked about him, then to the map Tymofarrar had given him; he was certain if they turned northwest and kept going, they would make it to Drogan's in no time. But, if Urko kept leading them straight north, they'd never make it. Deekin opted to voice his concerns, and piped up, "Urko, we be goings the wrong way!" There was some mumbling, and the group stopped; being at its back, Deekin didn't catch himself in time and crashed into the kobold before him. The backlashed kobold snarled and glared at him over its shoulder, but Deekin was too busy watching Urko wade through the group towards him to notice.
"Yip! You thinks you knows better than Urko?" Urko prompted, standing on his toes so he could look down on Deekin.
"Well, yes," Deekin replied, unimpressed but unwilling to start a fight, "because Deekin has--"
"You spends all your time in cave!" Urko reprimanded. "Urko and other kobolds is goings out and hunting while you sings for Boss and eats what he doesn't, you lazy kobold, yip yip! Who is you to knows the way better than Urko, yip?"
"Boss gives Deekin map," Deekin responded, showing Urko the map. Incredulous, Urko snatched the map from him, remarked, "Yip, why you not says so earlier?" and perused it, then rolled it up and pointed it eastwards.
"Urko finds shortcut, yip! We goes this way!" Urko declared. More yapping echoed his, and the bunch followed Urko's path. Deekin groaned, but went along anyway--he really didn't feel like being attacked by a pack of angry kobolds right now, and he undoubtedly would be if he challenged Urko's position again.
Of course, with Urko's less-than-competent map-reading skills, it wasn't long before the kobolds found themselves entirely lost, their footprints in the snow the only thing keeping them from becoming entirely disoriented. At last, Deekin managed to convince Urko to give him the the map, and led them in the right direction.
After several hours of desperation, they finally caught sight of Drogan's home, a quaint little place with a large barn, a humble, two-story house, a pack of mangy brown dogs the kobolds did their best to evade, a couple oxen and about two dozen chickens. Deekin winced at how long they'd taken; Tymofarrar would not be pleased with the delay.
"It be now or never!" Urko commanded quietly, racing to the house. "We go gets them artifacts now, yip!" The others crowded closely behind, stopping at the door. A thick lock barred their entry; one kobold took care of that, bringing their heavy staff down upon the lock and neatly breaking it. Someone else twisted the knob, and the door swung in.
The reptilians crept in as silently as they could, though their nails clattered on contact with the wooden floor and betrayed their efforts. Deekin could feel his heart leaping in his throat as he surveyed the small, cozy room, a fireplace on the far wall flickering invitingly. Several kobolds clustered about it to warm themselves, until Urko smacked their heads and reminded them why they came.
Deekin tiptoed about, terrified that they would be discovered any moment, as he tried to locate the artifacts.
"If Deekin were old dwarf, where would he hides magic artifacts?" he muttered to himself, then crashed into a heavy dresser. In response, sleek, mahogany box slid off the top and landed in Deekin's lap before he could pick himself up. Cautiously, Deekin lifted the lid back to reveal a pale, grinning mask, a shriveled hand wrapped in yellowing bandages, a dragon's bulky, rotten tooth and a black statue that looked like a castle tower.
"That works," he remarked, carefully placing the tower statue in his pack and calling the other kobolds over. Urko immediately grabbed the mummified hand, and two kobolds Deekin didn't know pocketed the tooth and the mask. Pleased at having accomplished their mission, the kobolds congratuled themselves and started to leave.
It was then that an old, white-bearded dwarven man pushed through an interior door and stepped into the living room. He looked first at the scaly intruders, then the empty box lying on the floor. He didn't look happy.
"What are you doing with my belongings?" he shouted, raising a withered staff over his head and shaking it menacingly. "Put them back and get out!"
"Aiiieee, we makes it mad!" a kobold squeaked. "Kills it, kills it!"
"No no no, maybe we just runs!" Deekin cried, but no one paid heed. He tried to sneak out the door, but Urko darted in front of it and blocked his way.
"You coward, you fights now, yip!" Urko snapped, grabbing Deekin by the collar and tossing him into the fray. With a groan, Deekin picked himself up from the floor, then rapidly backed away from the battle and hid under a table.
It was a disaster; with his spells, Drogan was more than a match for them, and kobolds were shrieking and collapsing into pools of their own blood left and right. Deekin felt his stomach knot as he saw the more mangled ones. He looked away, and focused on Urko instead. He saw Urko reaching for his belt, and remembered the dagger.
Urko yanked the toxic dagger out of his belt with a splash of poison and rushed over to Drogan, who had encased himself in a bubble of purplish magic. The enchanted barrier was not enough to save him, however, as Urko plunged the dagger through the bubble and into Drogan's side, ripping it back out with a triumphant cry as the dwarf moaned and fell to the ground, the new wound rapidly fizzing and festering. Deekin swallowed nervously at the poor man's predicament, though relieved that the battle was over...wasn't it?
An elven woman wearing a strange medley of metal armor over her clothing suddenly burst through the doorway from outside.
"Run while you can!" she yelled, casting an odd spell and killing off another kobold. Surprised, the kobolds backed away--and bumped into a golden-haired human girl, a black-mustached half-orc and a young dwarven woman that had suddenly appeared from nowhere directly behind them. Kobold blood flew, and those that weren't slain were forced to flee. Making a sound that was a mix of horror and relief, Deekin bolted to the door and left with them.
Once they were out of Drogan's home, the kobolds were too panic-stricken to do much else but dash for dear life, for fear their attackers were still after them. A couple of Drogan's dogs growled viciously, lunged out and attacked some of the kobolds, who shrieked for help but went unheeded as the others continued to run, too concerned with saving their own skins to stop and aid their comrades.
They had been running for a good while up a long, frozen dirt road leading off Drogan's property when Urko announced he was pretty sure they weren't being pursued, and dropped to the ground to rest. The other kobolds did the same, and when their aches were gone enough, they picked themselves up and plodded on at a good pace, after Urko made sure the artifacts were all there.
Before the attack, the kobolds had been laughing and chattering amongst themselves; now, they were silent in remorse for their newly dead. Sadly, they were used to it, for such was the kobold way of life.
By and by, the kobolds reached a hilly rise in the ground, and found themselves to be entering the town of Hilltop.
"Let's go around it," Deekin suggested timidly. "We not needs more trouble, and we already be late."
"Yip, Hurc thinks we shoulds goes through!" argued Hurc, an ashy kobold with a copper tinge to his scales. "We takes too long, yip, so maybe Boss be happy if we stop and loots for him!"
"Yip, me likes Hurc's idea better," Urko decided, and that was that.
Needless to say, this turned into a disaster as well. The townspeople were much stronger than the kobolds gave them credit for, and they ended up losing even more of their numbers as some were killed and others hid in buildings.
Apparently, they hadn't learned from this either, for the lucky kobolds that made it out of the Hilltop catastrophe saw fit to ambush a halfling caravan they encountered outside the town's limit. Not only did they lose any loot they accumulated, they had once again made the drastic mistake of underestimating their foes; the disgruntled halfings chased them to a cliff's edge and surrounded them, pressing them to the brink.
"What we does now?" someone whispered fearfully.
"We makes like jumpers," Urko answered simply, and with a frantic cry backflipped off the cliff, which stood above a body of water. The other kobolds stared after him as though he were insane, but quickly followed suit after one of the halflings bashed in a kobold's head. Deekin watched the others hit the water; then, with a deep breath, he plugged his nostrils and jumped in after them.
The pain as he hit the water was terrible; his stomach panged, and it was all he could do to keep from inhaling until he reached the surface. In addition to that, the water itself was unbearably frigid, and he felt his body numbing little by little as he swam after the others, shivering uncontrollably.
At last they reached shore, clambering thankfully onto dry land and wringing out their clothes. The kobolds that knew magic used fire spells and healing spell to warm and dry them and close their wounds. Finally, they all slumped to the ground in misery. Somehow, Deekin thought as he hugged himself for warmth, "I told you so" just didn't cover it.
(There you have it...I need at least one review before I post Chapter Three, preferably more :D)