One Curious Kobold

[lurkingkobold]

It's winter, and all is well with the tribe. Their new magic, an ability to make portals from one place to another, which was found by one of their members during the early-summer trip to meet with the other tribes in the area, let them both build up a decadent food stockpile and move to a much deeper part of the cave system without the worry of being unable to find their way back out. No-one has had to go hungry, and even the fiercest ice storm doesn't reach them; they are as content as kobolds can be.

Well, aside from their new mage, that is. She's bored, and curious. Making portals to known places is straightforward enough, with the magic she found, but that's far from the limit of what it can do... so one day, she slips away, portals off to a different cave system - one can't be too careful, after all - and experiments.

Temperature roughly the same... gravity roughly the same... air the same, not into stone or underwater or in a volcano or on top of a mountain... but, instead of patterning it after a place she knows, what happens if she only specifies those things, and lets the innate patterns of the spot she's casting on do the rest? Particularly this one part, which seems to specify the world...

She finishes the spell, and hesitates for just a moment before activating it.

Comments

[lurkingkobold]

Yup, that's pretty definitive. Huh.

"Kobold no do of name; kobold kobold."

She's still not approaching, but she seems a little more at ease now.

[of_all_trades]

Franklyn listens and then pays attention to his power. The kobold is hard to read, non-human brain after all, but he should have gotten that cultural fact.

"Why are you here?" Franklyn asks after a moment.

[lurkingkobold]

Shrug, "magic". She doesn't seem too concerned about it.

[of_all_trades]

Not exactly the kind of answer he was expecting. Franklyn focus... Some kind of teleportation magic, too big to fit through Franklyn's power.

Powers which he should be more upfront about it.

"I can do magic. Knowledge magic, copy things like language, but not personal stuff. Know how to talk to you, but not who you are or where you from..."

[lurkingkobold]

...slow blink. Dismayed noise. Deeply worried kobold.

[of_all_trades]

That must be what it feels like to kick a puppy.

"Sorry, eh..." Franklyn says "I know people find it scary, but it won't get... if you did something wrong or what you are planning to do, or how you feel about someone. It won't tell me people's names, or where they are, and with you it was hard to notice that kobolds doesn't do names. I also can turn into a bear and make people feel happy."

[lurkingkobold]

Okay, that's less worrying. She thinks some more, and realizes - "know-magic do of teach of move-magic?" This prospect is also concerning.

[of_all_trades]

"I know that you have it," Franklyn says "but it is... big, my magic can't hold it. Did you use it to come from another world? I never heard of kobolds on Earth."

The name "Earth" isn't translated to avoid confusion.

[lurkingkobold]

Oh, good.

"Move-magic is of small of new; kobold do of try of move magic, kobold do of small of thing of place, magic do of big of thing of place - magic do of here, kobold do of go of magic, do of go of here."

[of_all_trades]

Franklyn has some problem translating that, but he manages to guess. Some kind of experimentation or curiosity with magic.

"We have move-magic," Franklyn says "but not between worlds. People with magic here gain some powers, like mine, but changes from person to person."

[lurkingkobold]

"Kobold magic, person do of teach of person - person is of new of magic, magic is of danger of person," she clarifies. "Person do of magic of person, no do of teach, no danger," a pause for consideration, "hex danger, no of other of danger."

[of_all_trades]

"My magic doesn't really Hex like yours," Franklyn says "It isn't knowledge, it is a trait, we can pass on to others with effort. Usually, three magic users focus really hard for half a day, and then you get a new magic user with new powers. It also pass on from parent to child."

[lurkingkobold]

Huh.

[of_all_trades]

"And we really can't make spellbearers," Franklyn says "some powers work similar, two of my sisters do that, but isn't the same thing at all. We can make some magical devices, but the weakest one take days and only other magic users can make them."

He removes a glove and shows a thick silver ring.

"This ring does a bit of healing magic, but needs recharging even if it isn't used."

[lurkingkobold]

On the other hand she can't turn into a bear, but, still, overall she likes hers better - not that she's going to comment on that.

She moves a little closer to see if there's anything interesting about the ring.

[of_all_trades]

Franklyn take off the ring and offers with a extended hand, he sits on the ground and tries to look non-threatening.

"This is the simplest form of magic device," Franklyn explains "the silver traps the magic inside and if you open one of the caps" it has two "it will release the magic to be used."

[lurkingkobold]

...she's not going to get quite that close. (Sir, have you noticed that you are huge and can also turn into a bear? This is rather intimidating; sitting down doesn't help that much.) But she will peer at the ring from outside of easy grabbing distance.

When she's done looking at the ring, she fishes around in her belt pouch - keeping an eye on the human while she does - and pulls out a strip of leather, which she ties into a loop and spends a couple minutes concentrating on, looking up every few seconds to make sure he's not taking advantage of her distraction. When she's done, she holds the loop up to show that it's now a portal, and tosses it to him to examine.

[of_all_trades]

(Franklyn isn't the correct kind of mind-reader, so he can't reply that he is well aware of his 1,98m of intimidation. Alas, no one will ever know his hypothetical reply.)

Franklyn peers through the portal.

[lurkingkobold]

The portal shows the view from the inside of the bush the kobold was hiding in earlier. If he reaches through, he can even snap off a twig and pull it out of the portal.

[of_all_trades]

Franklyn reaches through, but doesn't snap a twig, instead he shakes the bush a bit, to see the reaction from both perspectives. Then, he twist his arm around the portal, in such way that - in the absence of portal - his hand would intersect with his chest.

"Cool."

[lurkingkobold]

[of_all_trades]

Franklyn snaps a twig and tries to balance it through the portals different gravities (which no success) for a minute before saying.

"Would you do trade?" Franklyn asks "Move-magic for things or our magic?"

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold considers this proposal.

"Human do of have of move-magic, human do of...?"

[of_all_trades]

"Move to a safer world" Franklyn says after a moment, since they can do intra-world stuff easily that shouldn't be his focus for now "Human magic was secret not long ago, some other humans didn't like it, with move-magic we could stay away from danger. Talk only with other safe humans."

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold looks briefly alarmed, then nods solemnly. "Human is of know of safe world?"