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

[lurkingkobold]

She will let him lead the way, then.

Once he's settled in, she slips off for a few minutes to get her spellbook, then settles in herself and returns to her reading efforts, quietly.

[thisvorlunatic]

Making spellbooks with wish apparently involves wearing backpacks full of zorkmids. And it's slow, at least for Miles - about three times in two hours, evenly spaced. He spends the rest of his time sitting at his comconsole, browsing the forum and reading miscellaneous other things.

[lurkingkobold]

That's kind of strange, but very pretty to magic vision.

The kobold reads, and after a while takes a break to catch up on the forum, and reads some more.

Eventually, while Leaf is busy at his comconsole, there is a loud POP and a koboldy 'eep!'

[thisvorlunatic]

...He looks over to determine whether this is a good eep or a bad eep.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold is covered in shreds of multicolored paper, her spellbook having apparently exploded.

[thisvorlunatic]

A confetti'd eep?

"Oh, you read a spellbook!"

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold nods, eeping rather more happily as she brushes off the paper shreds.

She then considers for a moment, and her face falls. "MP is of none."

[thisvorlunatic]

"That's... a little weird," he says thoughtfully. "There should be some way to get you more MP... the most obvious is for you to do magic that isn't this kind, but the kind from your world is dangerous to use, that's no good... I think I can get you another kind of magic that is safe to use, but I'll have to ask someone to help."

[lurkingkobold]

This, she needs the mirror for.

"Am want of magic." She considers. "Home magic is of safe if do of careful, do of smart; home magic need of mage of do of teach, no mage do of teach of kobold of exile. Other kind magic... say more of?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"The other magic is arcany, from Prism's world. I have a secret friend from Prism's world who told me how to do the ritual that makes someone able to use arcany. But it's only ever been humans and Prism's world's elves who've done the ritual, so I'd have to ask her to come and help me figure out how to change it so you could use it, if you wanted to. There's nine kinds of arcany, and different people get different amounts of each of the kinds. I can show you some of the things they can do, if you want."

[lurkingkobold]

"Elf magic?"

She spends several seconds considering this, with a running commentary of small sounds that range from curious to concerned, heavy on the concern.

"Say more of things of elf magic is of do?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"The kind I'm best at does moving water and air around, and changing how things move - making them faster or slower or turning them in different directions. There's another kind that does making sounds and remembering things, and another kind that does using crystals to make light and pictures and send messages, and another kind that does building things out of stone, and another kind that does changing how hot or cold things are and making lightning, and another kind that does healing and making people live longer, and another kind that does making things less easy to break, and I don't understand the last kind as well because I can't use it but I think it does things to places, like making it so that anything going fast in a certain place will slow down."

[lurkingkobold]

She has the mirror play this message back twice, and considers for another couple seconds, but seems much less concerned, just a little wary.

"Okay."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I think the kind of elves in Prism's world are different from the kind of elves in your world," he says. "I can ask my secret friend what she thinks about maple syrup if that will help."

[lurkingkobold]

"Kind is of different, word is of same, am worry of reason of word is of same." She pauses, then seems to realize something and continues. "Am worry of elf magic is of... do of elf magic is of do of bad, maybe not know, maybe elf not do of say." She shrugs. "Home elf, do of think of bad thing is of good thing, do of think of help thing is of bad thing. Do war of maple, do of kill, is bad of reason, is think is good of reason. Other elf kind, maybe same, maybe not know."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles hmms. (It's surprising how well he's adapted to simultaneously speaking and typing, but sometimes it does mean he has to take some time to plan out what he's going to say before he says it.)

"There are some bad people in that world who do bad things with their magic," he says. "My secret friend is a secret because she's hiding from the bad ones. But as far as I can tell, the magic itself isn't bad. Moving air around with arcany just moves air around and doesn't do anything else."

[lurkingkobold]

She nods, and hops down from her perch on the couch to sit at Leaf's feet and nudge his hand with her head - if he's ever met a dog, he should be able to work out what she's getting at.

[thisvorlunatic]

...She wants to be petted?

Okay, sure. Kobold scritches. Why not.

[lurkingkobold]

[thisvorlunatic]

Awwwww.