Departure

Nekra’s tent was large and filled with animal hide scrolls and different knick knacks. In the center of the tent was a large table with seats designed for humans, with some designed for Kobolds. Currently Nekra sat at the head of the table, looking over one of the animal skin scrolls.

“Sir Rath!” Nekra said, his face turning happy, or at least that is what Rath believes. “How are you today? We don't have a meeting today do we?”

“No, no meeting.” Rath said, taking a seat across from Nekra. “I was wondering if we could discuss something.”

“Of course what is on your mind Sir Rath.” Nekra asked.

“How are you feeling as a protector?” Rath asked first. Nekra looked low, Rath choosing to continue. “Kider will be arriving into the village soon. He will be heading to Pierce after stopping through, and should return within a month. I am going to ask him to take me to Depths on his way back, I need to know where you stand as the guardian of the village.”

“Why me Sir Rath?” Nekra asked.

“You have power that others do not. You will have the aid of our archers, but we both would like it better if our people were not fighting on the front lines right?”

“You are correct.” Nekra said in a growl. “My people are not very strong like human. We don't fight well in the field.”

“Hopefully we won't have that issue soon.” Rath stated. “But someone needs to be ready to meet any Adventurers from the east, give them the warning, and fight them if they refuse it.”

“I do not know Sir Rath.” Nekra said, looking low, his hands hovering over the scroll in front of him. “I have yet to master the basics. Standing up to one of your strengths or even greater is near impossible.”

“Well, let's work on it together, what are the basics? Maybe I can help you understand it better.”

Nekra looked up at Rath, his eyes full of despair. The Kobold curled his scroll, tying it shut, and placed it amongst his racks, pulling forth another one. The scroll unrolled on the table between the two, displaying an image of four dragons.

The dragons seemed to circle each other. The dragons all looked different from the other, one with four legs, and two wings. The head of the dragon held a small horn that pointed towards the next dragon, a long serpent-like dragon with long whiskers. The whiskered dragon had no limbs to speak of, and its long snout pointed towards the next one. The next dragon sat across from the first, having two large back legs and its wings being a part of its wings, a large bulb at the end of its tail, and a head with two curved horns. The head pointed to the last dragon which too was serpent-like, but had large feathered wings and taloned limbs.

“These are the basics.” Nekra stated. He pointed to the first dragon “This is the Fire Dragon, its soul blesses us with the breath of flames.” He moved his finger to the serpent dragon. “This is the Water Dragon, who’s soul grants the Lungs of Water.” The horned dragon came next. “The Earth dragon, who grants the Scales of Earth.” He then slid to the last dragon. “The Air dragon, the granter of Dragon Wings.”

“So you have the breath of flames.” Rath said, pointing at the Fire Dragon. “What else do you have?”

“That is it.” Nekra said ashamed. “I have been training with my teacher for years and this is the most I could accomplish.”

“Well then how do we train it?” Rath asked. “We can practice what you need to learn.”

“There are several ways.” Nekra stated. “My master said that the best way is to learn from the Dragon’s soul itself. They exist around us, invisible. There are few places in the world where they can apparently speak and be seen.”

“Do you know where one is?” Rath asked.

“Not even my master knew.” Nekra sighed. “Another option is to learn from a dragon.”

“Doubt we will find any nearby.” Rath sighed. “Last time I heard about a dragon in these parts it was killed, some ways south.”

“And even that does not help as I would need to find one of the basic dragons.” Nekra sighed deeper.

“There are different kinds?” Rath asked.

“Oh yes.” Nekra said with a nod. “My master said their souls are the ones we use in Advanced training. Storm, Acid, Light, Darkness, there are many kinds out there.”

“You will be able to use them all once you master the basics?” Rath said, excited to see him summon a storm.

“Perhaps.” Nekra said. “Apparently it is hard to even channel one of those souls as they are near impossible to master. According to my peoples legends, a Kobold that can master one is considered a full fledged Shaman, while one that can master two or more is considered a god.”

“I would love to say I have a god as a friend.” Rath laughed.

“Friend?” Nekra said, hesitant.

“Sorry, I misspoke.” Rath said, brushing away his comment. “I would love to say a god is a part of my family.”

Nekra straightened up at the comment. “What do you mean Sir Rath? We share no blood?”

“So what.” Rath said, raising a large smile. “Everyone here is my family. You live in my village, that makes you family.”

Nekra looked low, hiding his toothy smile.

“So what options do we have left?” Rath asked.

“Well.” Nekra began. “Practical training, learning through trying, I have studied most of our scrolls and have found nothing of value to help me learn anything new.”

“Pull 'em out.” Rath said. “You'll have to translate for me, I don't know Kobold writing though.”

“Kobold writing?” Nekra said curiously. “We do not have writing, just art.”

“Oh great.” Rath said. “And i'm sure there isn't any that shows the step by step instructions to get wings huh.”

“Not in my records.” Nekra laughed, pulling out more scrolls.

“Can we get someone to go get some drinks?” Rath asked. “I have a feeling it's going to be a long night.”

“But Sir Rath.” Nekra began. “It's only midday?”

“My point exactly.” Rath said, pulling a scroll close to him.

“This place has really changed.” Kider said. He had only just arrived in town and set up his stall, Rath meeting him at the eastern gate that was now fully set up.

“These Kobolds work fast.” Rath said. “We just gotta watch them, they have short attention spans.”

“Well its good though. You need protection.” Kider laughed.

“Did you find anything of interest?” Rath asked.

“Plenty.” Kider laughed. “But also no not really. Most magic artifacts were being bought up by the guilds.”

“What guilds?” Rath asked.

“Oh right.” Kider said, slapping his head. “I didn't know about them either till I was at Kryit. They are groups that Adventurers have formed to have some organization, they go on large scale expeditions or just travel and fight together. Newer merchants in the area like me were bottom of the pecking order for those kinds of goods so I got very little.”

“Great.” Rath sighed. “Last thing I would want is a guild coming out this way, and they are keeping me from getting any good equipment.”

“Now I didn't say I got nothing.” Kider said. He pulled out a leather bound book. “Got this off an Artificer I encountered. Has a lot of info on crafting magic items, though mostly basic stuff.”

Rath flipped through it, seeing diagrams and detailed explanations on things, lamps that used no oil, boxes that stayed cold, just as a few he saw.

“Alright, what do I owe you.” Rath dumped his bag of coins on the cart, spreading out the collection of copper, silver, and few gold.

“I'd say ten silver for the book is enough since I couldn't get much on this trip back.” Kider said, Rath handing him twelve.

“Your commission.” Rath said, noticing Kider’s confused expression. “Figured you were going to ask anyway.”

“Actually no.” Kider said, handing the two silver back. “I got the book for nine silver, so I already got a profit, and like I said I didn't find anything too good. If I wanted a commission I would tell you.”

Rath raised an eyebrow. “You're a terrible con man.” putting the coins back in his bag.

“But I'm a great merchant.” Kider laughed. “You are my future best customer remember! I can't go ripping you off, especially when you are allowing me a special pass into your village.”

Rath laughed. “Fair enough. I have something else I would like to ask.”

“Let's hear it.” Kider said, leaning forward in his cart.

“On your way back to Depths, I want you to take me with you.” Rath said.

“Taking my advice I see?” Kider said, tossing his head back into a laugh. “Very well, It should take me a few days to get back to Pierce, I will only be there a few days, and then I will be back this way.”

“That fast?” Rath asked, astonished.

“My first trip didnt net as big of a profit as I would have hoped.” Kider said, still wearing a wide smile. “Mostly I was trying to establish connections, I got in good with a merchant guild so my next trip should be better. So i'm going to fill up back in Pierce and try again with these guys.”

Rath took a moment to think, he felt off about leaving for so long. Kider patted his shoulder and gave a wide smile.

“It's a big world out there.” Kider said. “Get out there and explore, meet people, learn new things, then bring it back here to improve your peoples lives.”

Rath smiled at the pleasant man. “We got something that might help you on your next trip.”

Kider waited for Rath to return with a wagon. The wagon held around twelve silver bars. Kider’s jaw dropped like a rock at the sight.

“Where did these come from!” Kider asked, holding up the ingots.

“The Kobolds came across them in the mines.” Rath explained, Kider still felt every inch of the bars. “The mine is full of iron and they just found some of that, they estimate that there is more and they will be digging more up in the future, this is most of what they got so far.”

“Yeah this will help.” Kider said, obviously excited. “Alright let's work this out!”

Rath smiled, taking the bar from Kider and placing it back on the wagon. “Lets see, well you're giving me a ride out there, I assume that includes food and shelter right?” Rath moved a bar away from the rest. “How much would you say the rest of this is worth?”

Kider smiled wide. “Well it depends on the market out there.”

“It's silver, is there ever not a market?” Rath asked, holding a confident expression.

“You misunderstand.” Kider laughed. “You have more value than you realize. In that book I sold you, you'll find that most Artificer goods use silver, it's very potent for channeling magic. Meaning in Kryit where people want the best magical goods, it has a higher value then in Pierce where it's more of a luxury.”

Rath smiled wide. “I think we can work this out well.”

The two made an agreement, Kider would sell the silver and give seventy percent of the profits back to the village, mostly the Kobolds in the mines. Rath made a note to hold some silver back for crafting purposes.

“You'll need a treasury if you plan to hold stuff back.” Kider stated. “Some kind of vault for valuables.”

“Our town store house is fine for now.” Rath said with a shrug.

“And when Adventurers sneak into the village to steal it?” Kider said. “It will eventually get out that you have silver here, someone is going to want it.”

“You have a point.” Rath said, rubbing his chin. “We could work on some kind of treasury.”

“Why not a fortress while you're at it?” Kider stated. “A secure place for people to fall back on incase of attack, walls are good but the more the better.”

“A fortress seems a bit excessive.” Rath said. “We have no king here, we don't need a castle.”

“Just think it over.” Kider shrugged.

Rath did think it over, quite a bit. Long into the night he had thought about it, all the ups and downs to it. He thought about it while training with Nekra. He thought about it while studying the Artificer book and practicing the craft. He thought about it up until the day when Kider returned. He had decided to put the idea on hold, because his focus was on Depths.

“Be safe.” Turv said as Rath got onto Kider’s wagon. The whole village was in attendance for Rath’s departure.

“I'm going to a dungeon full of monsters, and Adventurers.” Rath began. “How can I be?”

Nekra got up to Rath. “Sir Rath, do not worry, I shall protect our people!” Nekra shook his head. “No, our Family! Please trust me!”

“I trust you with my family's lives.” Rath said, stepping down from the cart to place a hand on Nekra’s shoulder. “Remember that includes your life too. If you need to fall back, do so. Just make sure everyone is alive when I return okay.”

“Of course Sir Rath!” Nekra said, gripping the dagger that was on his hip. A weapon crafted by Peel at Rath’s request.

Rath stood up and faced Mirv who held out a bag of food for him. “I figured you could use some.”

“Am I allowed to share it with all the Adventurer friends i'm going to make?” Rath said sarcastically.

“Lords no.” Mirv laughed. “Make sure you come back okay?”

“Of course.” Rath said matter of factly.

“I mean it.” Mirv jabbed a finger into his chest, the leather armor he wore taking the full hit. “You better be back, you tell little Nek to watch over us and keep us alive, but if you die then what's the point? He'll be protecting us forever waiting for you to come back and the second one of us dies of natural causes he will feel he failed.”

Mirv had become close to the Kobolds, being very fond of their antics, Nekra being her favorite.

“I promise I will be back.” Rath said with the most sincere smile he could muster.

“I'll accept that.” Mirv said with a smile. “Just keep that promise, or I will never forgive you.”

“Luckily if I dont keep the promise I won't have to worry about your opinion of me.” Rath laughed, Mirv slapping at his back, hitting the magic shield.

“Ass.” Mirv laughed.

Rath climbed back up in the cart. Kider tugged at the reins and Jen began to move out of the village, eastward. The village waved Rath off, and he returned the waves. Soon the village began to shrink in the distance and his arm began to hurt, so he sat down. Rath looked out east, he knew that it wouldn't be long till he reached Kryit Depths, and the surrounding town of Kryit was home to more threats than the dungeon itself. He braced for the new world he was diving head first into, the journey taking longer than he wanted it to, each second feeling like an eternity away from home.