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

[characterquarry]

"Erin is of human, is of talk-wish and sense-wish. Other person is of...?"

[lurkingkobold]

Confused, for one, at the description of the wishes, but, "kobold."

[characterquarry]

"Sense-wish shows of kind of magic. Talk-wish shows of how speak all people. Wish is of... Some say of god, some say no of god. Not sure. Person is born, person touches pool of wish, person gets wish. Can use wish when person is of twelve years... Kobold is of person, is of new kind of person. Erin is very curious."

[lurkingkobold]

Well.

"Sense-wish do of see of magic - wishes do of look of magic?"

[characterquarry]

"Wishes do of any of magic. Sense-wish of weak magic. Sense-wish see 'kobold of magic,' 'kobold magic is of move,' sense-wish no see how kobold of magic."

[lurkingkobold]

Headshake, headshake, no, that's not what she was trying to ask.

"Person do of see of magic: person do of see of wish," she points to one of the glowing spots, "do of see of magic?"

[characterquarry]

"...Erin no of understand. Kobold want of hide wish-light?"

[lurkingkobold]

Brief hesitation, and then a nod. "Tribe mage do of see of strange magic, do of worry of hex. Big trouble."

[characterquarry]

"Wish no hide of wish light. Use one wish, one wish-light gone. Use all wish, all wish-light gone."

[lurkingkobold]

Well.

It's a solvable problem, at least? The kobold is still pretty distressed, but calming down some.

[characterquarry]

"Hex is of bad kobold magic?"

[lurkingkobold]

"Hex is of bad of magic," nod. "Hex is of... mage do of magic; mage do of magic of person, person is of spellbearer; mage do of good, spellbearer do of choose of magic do of thing; mage do of bad, spellbearer no do of choose, spell is of hex. Hex spellbearer, maybe is of danger of other of person, if magic is of danger. Mage do of see of magic, no do of see of kind of magic, no do of know of danger."

[characterquarry]

Nod, nod. "Wish do of ability or power, similar of spellbearer. Erin have two wish left." She shows her right arm- right there, two little dots.

"Mage is of all person, no just of kobold?"

[lurkingkobold]

This gets an assessing look, rather than an answer.

[characterquarry]

"Human magic is of wish. Wish is of few. Human magic is of rare. If magic is no of rare, people are of happy."

[lurkingkobold]

Hm. "Mage do of teach of mage, do of teach of any of person kind. Do of learn of magic is of danger - new mage do of bad spell, no do of break of spell, mage do of die. Mage maybe is of danger of other of person - hex, trap, attack. Human tribe no is of mage; kobold do of teach of human mage, mage do of change of tribe, maybe trouble."

[characterquarry]

"Any danger, always of careful. No break of spell? Any spell, always spell no stop ever? Very very danger. No teach of person not trust very much."

"...Wish-pool give twelve wish of all person. Some person, use all wish, go of wish-pool, wish-pool give of more wishes. Wish-pool give more wishes of people who of careful, humble, kind. Erin get of more wishes... Erin no have of proof."

[lurkingkobold]

"Mage do of cast of person, spell no do of break, spell do of always. Mage do of cast of thing, thing do of break, spell do of break." But: "Mage want of cast of person, mage do of touch of person of small of time, mage do of cast of person; person no do of choose, mage do of choose. No do of trust of person, no do of teach of person."

And that's all she wants to say about that for now.

"Erin do of say of wishes? Kobold need of do of wishes, not know of do of safe of wishes."

[characterquarry]

"Wishes do of any thing. Kobold have eleven of small wish, one of medium wish. Small wish do of making of thing, or of making thing of magic, or of making person know of do thing, of other things... Medium wish do of same of small wish, but bigger. Person no think careful of all wish, person of waste wish. Wish no of danger if person no want wish of danger. Usually."

[lurkingkobold]

Hmmmmmmmm.

"If kobold do of wish of know of thing, kobold do of go of tribe, tribe mage do of look of kobold - tribe mage do of see of magic?"

[characterquarry]

"If wish is of know of do make of rope of hands, sense-wish no sense of wish. If wish is of magic make of rope of magic, sense-wish sense of wish."

[lurkingkobold]

Excellent. One last question, then, and she's probably ready to make her first wish. "If person do of wish of..." say, for example, "make of rope of hands, wish do of only of know of make of rope of hands? No do of make of rope of magic, no do of other of thing?"

[characterquarry]

"Some know of wish make of know of other thing... Wish of know of cooking, also know of gather of plants, of use knife on plants, of lighting of fire, of other cooking thing."

[lurkingkobold]

...okay, fair enough.

So, the kobold's first wish: To be properly, but non-magically, fluent in Animalperson, as if she'd spent several years living with this one especially non-awful tribe of tigerfolk.

[characterquarry]

The mote of light on her left shoulder disappears. Quite a lot of new words are available to her.

Erin startles a bit. "Oh, my speak-wish says you learned more of animalperson!"