In a hole in the ground there was a kobold.

[lurkingkobold]

From the outside, the cave is nearly invisible; what looks like a simple outcropping of rock hides the entry tunnel. Inside, the cave is barely more impressive - three chambers, only the largest tall enough for even a kobold to stand upright, and that littered with sand and loose stone in lieu of any more interesting rock formation.

It's obviously not a cave that sees habitation often, but it is inhabited now - off to one side of the main chamber, there's the cooling remnant of a cookfire, with the remains of a rabbit piled neatly to the side of it; leaning against a small boulder on the other side is a kobold, her feet propped up on a leather backpack obviously designed for a much larger creature, slowly sounding out words in a book by the blue light of a magic mirror.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

A secret message from Leaf arrives!

The person I brought here is settled in now. I can bring you whenever you're ready.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold's mirror flashes white; she finishes reading the sentence she's working on before she picks it up. Some muttered noises later, there is a return PM:

Am ready.

She takes a quick look around the cave to make sure she isn't forgetting anything, then shoulders the backpack.

[thisvorlunatic]

A roundish hole in the air opens up, plenty roomy enough for her to step through, with a different world on the other side of it.

If she's seen humans before, that's one. (If she's seen many humans before, that's an unusually short one.) He's standing outdoors near a house, holding a thing which may or may not look magic-mirror-ish.

[lurkingkobold]

Well, she's heard enough about humans to not be surprised at the relative hairlessness or tiny ears, anyway.

She steps through the portal and makes a little bobbing half-bow.

[thisvorlunatic]

He bows back and uses his not-a-magic-mirror to send:

Welcome to my world.

The gate closes behind her.

[lurkingkobold]

His mirror works by poking it, huh, weird, she'll have to get a closer look at that later. Anyway, mirror, rather more obvious looking around, mirror:

Is of nice.

He can probably catch enough of her and the mirror talking to each other to cast Comprehend Language, if he wants to.

[thisvorlunatic]

He does that, and permanencies it for good measure, and replies. Mirror-poking seems to be a very fast way to produce communication. It definitely takes him less time to poke out a message than it takes her mirror to say it afterwards.

I'm glad you like it. What do kobolds eat? I want to make sure I have the right kinds of food around.

[lurkingkobold]

She will definitely have to get a look at that later. So weird. So cool.

She doesn't recognize his magic, so, after a few seconds' thought, there is more mirroring:

Am have food of some of days, maybe five, maybe ten. (Is his magic more literal in its translation? It may think she's saying 'maybe hand, maybe two hands'.)

Kobold food is of many of maybe. Kobold do of need of plant, maybe of tuber, maybe of fruit, maybe of salad. Kobold do of need of meat, maybe of animal, maybe of bird, maybe of fish, maybe of bug. Kobold do of need of bone, maybe of animal, maybe of bird, bone of bird is of small of danger. Kobold do of eat of many of other, not do of need.

Leaf language do of sound? If do of sound, am do of learn.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yes, my language does sound," he says. "And I cast comprehend language on yours, so now I can understand you without the forum. There's fish in the lake already, and plenty of plants, and I can get animals with bones that are safe to eat. I have horses here but those are not for eating."

He mirrorpokes the same words at the same time and sends them when he's done talking.

[lurkingkobold]

She kind of... blinks, when the mirror gets to the bit about the horses, but recovers her composure quickly enough.

"Thank you of do of language of sound" she grins - and was that 'language' in English? "Am do of see of place?"

[thisvorlunatic]

Why yes, that was 'language' in English, well done kobold. Leaf grins back.

"Sure," he says/types, "I can show you around if you want. My house is over there." It is the only house in view. It is big.

[lurkingkobold]

She nods and, instead of answering, sets off toward the house.

[thisvorlunatic]

Leaf keeps up.

"Right now we're the only people near this house, but my mother and brother will probably be visiting today or tomorrow," he says/types.

Next to the house is a large and highly mysterious object. It looks big enough to fit several of Miles inside, and it has a pointy end and thin legs it perches on the ground with, and a curves-and-triangles sort of general structure. It does not appear to be either magical or alive.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold takes Miles' lead in reacting to the mysterious thing; if he doesn't consider it worth reacting to she will assume that she can leave figuring it out for later.

Her mirror flashes white, but as burdened as she is with the oversized backpack, it'd be hard to activate it without stopping; gathering from Leaf's tone that he's not saying anything immediately relevant, she opts not to.

[thisvorlunatic]

The mysterious thing is totally ordinary to him, and he doesn't spare it a second glance on the way into the house.

He demonstrates the switch just inside the front door that controls the lights in the front hall. It is, somehow, not magical.

[lurkingkobold]

That is very strange!

The kobold trusts her antimagic more than she trusts her magic-vision, and tests the switch herself to make sure that it is what it seems.

It appears that kobolds can giggle.

[thisvorlunatic]

"That's a lightswitch," Leaf says helpfully.

[lurkingkobold]

"Lightswitch". Nod.

Is this a suitable place for putting down the backpack? The kobold isn't picky, it almost certainly is. Backpack: removed. Mirror: activated. Ok, she can ask more about that later, what else is interesting in the house?

[thisvorlunatic]

Many things are in the house! It is full of objects - furniture, decorations, bookshelves. Leaf does not even bother naming or explaining most of the objects. Every room has one or more lightswitches with which to control its lighting.

Highlights include:

"Those are spellbooks." "Those are zorkmids."

"That's the room I sleep in." "Those are other rooms for people to sleep in."

"That's a comconsole. It's how I usually use the forum."

"That's the kitchen."

[lurkingkobold]

Many of these objects are impressive! She's particularly impressed by the spellbook collection and slightly more complicatedly impressed at the zorkmids, once she sees what they are. She opts to claim the bedroom nearest Leaf's, apparently without considering any other factor, though she certainly does explore the other rooms, making a point of looking out the windows to get an idea of where they are in relation to the outside. The comconsole, like all the other objects that she doesn't recognize and can't immediately see the purpose of, is examined but not touched. The kitchen gets an especially thorough exploration, with many requests for things to be explained.

Eventually, they run out of house. Conveniently, this happens around lunchtime.

[thisvorlunatic]

In which case, they can have lunch! Animals with bones do not feature, but Leaf pokes his not-mirror in a way that doesn't immediately result in a forum message, and asserts that he has thereby verified the presence of wild goats and pigs in the area.

(He eats strange human food for lunch - groats with maple syrup, to be specific.)

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold smells the maple syrup while it's still in the bottle, and apparently recognizes it? She certainly hasn't made that particular face at any of the other things in the house, anyway, even the other ones she was impressed by.

Is Leaf going to put a customary amount on his groats? She may faint.

[thisvorlunatic]

Of course he is.

"...Is there something weird about maple syrup?" he asks/types.

[lurkingkobold]

Leaf speaking to her sort of snaps her out of it. She consults the mirror, and it takes her a moment to work out how to reply.

"Home, elf do of war of that."

She's trying the groats, and nabbed a piece of leftover ham from the refrigerator; maple syrup does not feature, even on the groats.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Oh. There aren't any elves here," he says. "Near here there are a lot of maple forests where people make maple syrup. No one starts any wars over it."