2 The Aftermath
Then the kobold finally fell to the ground, but to its surprise nothing hurt, and his bones weren't broken nor damaged, it simply got up and began to look around, studying his surroundings.
"Mmmmm… a cave, it seems I'm in a cave…. Wait a second, how come I can see? I'm a damn skeleton… and why is everything blue and hazy" thought the kobold while scratching his skull "I wonder... can I talk?" immediately opening his skeletal snout trying to get a sound to come out, yet only the rattling of bones could be heard.
"Ok, so no voice… I don't think there's immediate danger around… should seek for a secure and secluded place… yes… yes… yes let's get moving" then the kobold began moving, the space he was in looked like a small chamber, reserved and secluded, yet the kobold went to the corridor, and started walking next to the stonewalls, hastily crawling next to the ground using his arms as if they were paws to help himself, trying to mix with the shadows of the stone corridor when suddenly he heard a truly mechanical voice ring as an announcement
[Skill acquired! Four-legged Sneaking!]
"Hmm… strange… it sounded like a game announcement… interesting…" thought the kobold skeleton to himself, still crawling next to the walls, which looked strangely smooth for a cave, very different to the chamber from whence the kobold came.
"this is one long ass hall…. Seems artificially made, no branches so far… lest go back yes yes" said the kobold in his mind "yes yes, I didn't bear the thought that there would be something like an announcement, very interesting yes yes, maybe this world has something like a status system " as the kobold said this in his mind a window similar to a computer window appeared in front of his vision
"what in all hells is this? A window… Oh! it seems it is a status window… WAIT! I shouldn't read this out in the open like this, first let's go back… yes yes… WAIT! I should stop adding the yes yes to my speech… yes yes…. SH*T! No matter" with the rattling of bones the kobold resumed his swift retreat to the chamber at the end the hallway, just to realize that it too was man made, with walls of smooth stone that seamlessly made a beautiful vaulted ceiling, the opening that the kobold first saw was a stone archway, apparently cut by extremely adept hands, and in the center of the room laid a stone chair made with the same care as the rest of the chamber.
"Wow! I like this place, yes yes, now back to the status window" as the kobold thought that, the status window showed up again, he then began to read it.
Name: Unnamed Kobold Skeleton
Race: Skeleton Species: Kobold
Type: Humanoid Height: 87 Centimeters
Job: None Level: 0
Traits
Mana: 10 Intelligence: 16
Dexterity: 17 Constitution: 3
Strength: 16 Charisma: 16
Perception: 14 Growth Points: 0
Abilities
Qadarr's Gift Lesser Mage's Eyes
Qadarr's Gift Meager Non-Elemental Mana Affinity
Lower Draconic Language
Four-legged Sneaking (NEW!)
Resistances
Immune to Sleep
Immune to Fatigue
Immune to Hunger
Slashing damage
That was what his status window looked like, a very, very, very fragile glass mug, not even a glass cannon.
"WHAT! A constitution of 3, what in all hells is this!?!? What a cruel joke, a damn draft could kill me if I were to be alive, I wonder how old these bones are? Old enough to be this brittle I guess... and all of this status and all… feels like a VRRPG… ahh, let's stop thinking yes yes, focus on what that scaled go said, survive yes yes ".
the kobold began to explore the previously ignored chamber room, he moved towards the stone chair, a large book laid upon it, an unknown runic alphabet, made what seemed to be the title, and below it a name, apparently written in Lower Draconic, Kolztak aep Xievcryn. The kobold recognized the last word, it meant The Gifted One, he proceeded to open the book, but to his surprise it didn't budge, it was as if the pages were glued to one another and to the cover.
"it seems its sealed… Kolztak the Gifted One… Kolztak… Kolztak… sounds religious almost spiritual, yes yes..." said the kobold in his mind.
The Kobold then took the book and put it under his arm, not wanting to leave behind , and began crawling out of the chamber ready to explore, this time carefully looking at the smooth walls surrounding him, finely cut stone, with stone beams carved with animalistic themes, each with different animals, but all with a common style, Dragons dominated the highest parts of the pillars that decorated the passage, bellow them were the races born from the mating of dragons and other species such as, dragonborns, half-dragons, dragonkin and finally tuck away in a small space of the scene were the kobolds, depicted in a rather cowardly position, as if the artist thought that they were beneath the honor of being carved next to such magnificent beings, then bellow those were reptilian looking bipedals, with elongated faces and scaled bodies, with long tails and clawed hands and feet, these were occupying the entire upper middle section of most pillars looking like dignified citizens, finally one could see the a myriad of races and animals all looking like insects crawling through the mud making it difficult to differentiate races of two legged walkers.
"Seems this was a dragon cult of some kind, seeing how elaborate this place is, and the carvings, beautiful… yes yes… maybe it was a temple, yes yes, Xievcryn, The Gifted One, may have been a priest… no matter… I must keep walking yes yes" thought the kobold while crawling next to the ground just like the carved figures on the lower part of the pillars that bejeweled the hallway.
Not long after the kobold found another archway, this one had what looked like a wooden door, although a very old and uncared door, the wooden trims were all rotting on the spot, the hinges were rusted, and the iron door frame was hanging the old wooden boards with very old and almost completely rusted nails.
With his free arm the kobold pushed open the door, forgetting for a moment his earlier prudence, with a painful screech the door opened, and a spectral voice was heard.
[Ol, symael auxyut, Ist sech! ol symael auxyut!] shouted the voice in a viperine language unknown to the kobold [Dro Kolblot! Aexyt drosahl!] shouted again the spectral voice to no response from the skeletal kobold that was trembling and making rattling sounds from the shaking of his bones
"well this is what happens when you do a stupid… yes yes… I wonder... is that good and proper draconic? sounds guttural, i had expected it to have more of a drag on the pronuciation of the S... then again I can't answer since I can't talk at all… well best to try and investigate, yes yes" with that going through his mind he then crawled through the door way, trying to hide in the shadows, but he then was swiftly lifted and dragged towards the voice by a strange force [Ilk dro sah!, Dranovh! Drohl sechler ictahl!?] shouted the spectral voice while tugging the skeletal kobold towards it, suddenly the pull stopped, and another phrase was uttered [Skalk Kolblot!? Itzurdahl…] then the force that had lifted the kobold skeleton pulled again
"what... the... f**k!? A Damned ghost!" shouted in his mind the kobold while shaking and looking at a ghostly tall and muscular reptilian humanoid with clawed hands and feet, a multi-colored casque on the top of its head, a long tail, and a sacaled face with a lizard's nose and sharp narrow eyes, his body almost translucent leaving no doubt to his nature as an undead, and so did the numerous wounds that adorned it body scaled body [By Quilrrory!.. .Must I humiliate myself to be able to speak to a kobold? Tell me do you understand me now?] said the voice in a language that the skeletal kobold finally understood, it seems the ghostly man spoke Lower Draconic.
"Well now I can understand now, yes yes, good and proper Lower Draconic, yes yes" said kobold in his mind while nodding furiously his skull up and down towards the reptilian humanoid Ghost [Good, good, now can you talk skeleton?] beckoned the reptilian humanoid with a now softer and inquisitive serpentine voice "as far as I know, no I cant talk" thought the kobold while shaking his head side to side to answer the ghost.
[Interesting… I can feel that you have some amount of affinity for non-elemental magic, yet you can't project your voice… how typical of a kobold, yet quite interesting…] uttered the ghost whilst moving towards the center of the room, then proceeding to sit down in a stone chair, next to round object that was atop of an carved and decoreted stone altar.
[I don't feel in you the usual malice that comes from the skeletons inhabiting this temple… an undead yet not a soulless one… most unusual really… I wonder what you are… not a simple kobold skeleton to be sure… this may hurt a bit!] said the ghost with a small smile on his face whist moving his spectral arm towards the skeletal chest of the kobold.
