It's hard to know how long you've been working, with the sun at your back. All you know is that the progress bar is about half done, and your forelimb hurts. Also, you're thirsty, so you're perseverating. You know, because you tried early on, that you can leave the progress bar without it resetting. But the fact is, there's no water that is going to be easier to get to than the water on the other side of that progress bar. You're also starting to get hungry. You ate a small and fluffy thing in the forest yesterday, but that was both small and yesterday. Unfortunately, there would not be any food when you finished you spring.

Who knew building a lair would be so much work?

You keep working, ignoring the dryness in your throat, and the ever more frequent grumbling from your stomach, for as long as you can bear it, which isn't much longer. The bar is just over the half way point when you decide to face facts. This project might be more than you can manage in a single go. You reluctantly pull yourself away and turn to leave your newly remodelled home, intent on a quick hunt, when you spy something on the ground just outside your entranceway.

You wander over and examine the thing. As you approach, it becomes clear that it's a rabbit. One that, based on your expert opinion, was probably killed by an arrow.

You carefully remove the arrow sticking out of it and carry it into your home. It had been left almost exactly where the extra Scrap Ore had been. Normally, you live by the rule of “Two is a coincidence, three is a pattern” but this certainly feels like special circumstances. You examine the rabbit for some time, letting your reasonable perception skill do tis work and fill in as many details as it can.

Rabbit (Fresh – 11:32:16)

Oryctolagus cuniculus

The Common Rabbit is a useful source of food, fur and companionship the world over. Due to this one's lack of life, it is now only suitable for two of those roles.

You snorted a little. Sucram, the god of knowledge and who governed the perception skill, amongst others, certainly had a sense of humour. You're not sure yet what sense, but it was something. Still, you couldn't detect anything wrong with it, and you were hungry.

It's flesh was gamy and raw, and delicious. With one immediate issue taken care off, you started thinking a little clearer.

Draconic Liegelord. Monsters may give you gifts.

There weren't many monsters in this section of the mountain. From what your recalled, there were a few gryphons near the mountain's peak, a stonecrusher wurm in one of the deeper caves near the tip, and a few daemons roaming around that made up the high level creatures. None of them would ever debase themselves so low as to give you gifts, for all your new home is pleasant you are still level 5. The weaker creatures of the mountain were mostly wild animals, snakes and wolves and the like. You think there might be another drakeling on the other side somewhere, but your kind was never very social amongst themselves. Nearer the peak you think there's a kobold clan, but kobolds were both prideful and unlikely to travel this far down. You're pretty sure they acted as both the guards and worshippers for the wurm.

How you knew this was another matter, but it seemed like your memory worked fine so long as you left it alone.

You finished crunching the rabbit to nothing and decided to push through your thirst for however long the spring took. As an experiment however, as you turned back to the progress bar you remarked aloud “Gods what I wouldn't do for some water”.

As you worked, you kept an ear out for any noise from behind you. Not quite sure what you were expecting, perhaps a clatter or scraping noise, or most likely nothing at all.

What you were not expecting was the sound of footfalls, almost feather soft, pattering up behind you, and even less the sound of a voice.

“Oh great and mighty one, please accept this offering and spare this wretched life.”

The voice is definitely feminine, and you think it's speaking Draconic (Although with the strange way that Arkus handled languages it was hard to tell). What was odd about it was how small it sounds. You cease your pounding on the wall and turn to look at your visitor.

Well. She was certainly a kobold alright, with scaled skin of a mottled, rust orange that fades to yellow on her stomach and the undersides of her arms and legs. A thin tail slips out of the rear of a rough leather kilt and her breasts were small and lacked nipples, more of a concession to the rampant horniness of players from Ellebana than a biological necessity. A shortbow and a few arrows were slung over her back in a primitive looking quiver, the strap of which sat snugly between her breasts. Apart from her kilt and quiver, she looked to be naked. In her outstretched hands she help what was unmistakably a waterskin, half full and sloshing gently. Her face, with its long snout, was downturned, her eyes closed.

She was also TINY.

She couldn't have been more than two foot tall. You examined her in silence for some time, slowly seeing more and more of her character sheet.

Level 1 Kobold Runt

Monster, Kobold, Runt, Explicit

Experience to level up - 100

Attributes

Strength 13 Dexterity 32 Endurance 13

Charisma 19 Manipulation 24 Appearance 25

Perception 32 Intelligence 25 Wits 25

Skills

Archery 15

Stealth 15

Dodge 15

Athleticism 10

Awareness 10

Survival 5

Craft (Mechanism) 5

Feats

Kobold Ingenuity – Treat your craft (Mechanism) as (Your Level) higher for the purposes of crafting traps. You may count your Craft (Mechanism) as any other Craft skill at half as high when making components for traps.

Liege – You have chosen another monster to be your Liege. It is harder for you to lie to or work against your Liege. Your Liege may choose to impart a number of benefits to you.

Monstrous Appearance – when attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 20 points lower until the target gets used to you.

Runt – Strength and Endurance are lower than for an average member of your race, dexterity is raised. All social stats are halved when dealing with members of your own race. It is harder for you to raise physical stats.

Fascinating.

She was starting to squirm uncomfortably, eyes still closed, as you stared at her in silence. You kept her in uncomfortable limbo for close to a minute, before her arms started to waver, struggling with the weight of the waterskin.

In the end, you couldn’t really see a downside. And you were thirsty.

“Sure,” you say, while swiping the waterskin and inexpertly removing the cap.

The tiny kobold’s eyes sprang open and she stared at you in shock. In contrast to her orange skin, her eyes were a rich, sparkling blue. She watches you gulp your fill from the waterskin.

“What are your orders, oh lord?” she finally says, still seemingly in shock. You turn back to the progress bar.

“Help me hit this wall.”

While there are many things you’d love to ask her, water is a priority. You can talk and work.

After a few seconds, her diminutive form creeps up next to yours and hesitantly starts to beat on the wall. You work in silence for some time before you’ve marshalled your thoughts.

“Why have you come to me?”

The kobold squeaks in surprise at the suddneness of your question and you can see her blushing. It’s almost unbearably cute. After a few seconds she responds, in her small voice.

“I’m weak. I’ve never got anywhere in my tribe at the top of the mountain. And I never will. But I’m good at hiding, and I liked to sneak into our shamans hut and watch her do magic. Yesterday I overheard her and our chief talking about you, and how you had claimed land. Our chief was given a claim crystal after the update, which let us build our village back up quickly. They were worried about why you had been given one too. They think you might secretly be powerful. But you’ve never had followers before, so they decided to leave you alone unless you start to threaten them or the great tunneller.” Her voice get’s quieter as she talks, until it’s barely above a whisper. “I want to be strong, so I want to be your first follower. I want to be yours.”

At that admission, she stops working for a moment, and you turn to look at her. Her blush has darkened her rusty scales, and she fidgets under your scrutiny. You’re instantly reminded of Amanda’s blushing form and have to struggle to maintain composure for a moment.

Yeah, you seem to have a thing for embarrassed, submissive girls. Either that or they have a thing for you.

You nod, encouragingly.

“As good a reason as any other. What are you willing to offer in return for the strength you want me to give you?”

She stares up at you, meeting your eyes properly for the first time. You can see her forcing herself to stay upright rather than cringe in submission.

Gravely, in her tiny voice, she intoned with as much gravity as she could muster, “Anything.”

A small popup appears in front of you.

Accept Kobold Runt into your Lair?

You push it to the side for a moment. Her eyes follow it with a longing you’ve never seen.

“Anything?”

She seems to shrink in on herself and lets out a small sigh. Before your eyes, she removes her quiver and starts to work on her kilt. You hold up a forelimb to stop her.

“Not what I meant, although your enthusiasm is noted.”

She cowers in front of you, automatically trying to make herself smaller.

“The other kobolds, they make you do stuff like that?”

She nodded, sniffling gently. Your heart broke a little. She was just… adorable.

“Right. One day, when you’re strong, we’re going to kill them. Till then, that kind of stuff isn’t… it’s not a requirement. If anyone else joins us and tries that, you tell me.”

You’re quite surprised when the tiny kobold bursts into tears and hugs your leg, wrapping herself around it tightly. You tap accept on the popup, not quite sure what’s come over you. Maybe it’s the fact you had some of the best sex of your life yesterday and you never really got any before, but you’re not in the mood to take advantage of the bite sized creature.

A small fanfare plays, surprising both of you, and a message floats up.

Minion Fame Abilities Unlocked!

You pull up your character sheet, idly noting you’ve gained 60 experience from recruiting her, and then your fame, expanding your latest events.

Fame 23

Got a minion! + 10 (Expanded)

Got a minor Minion! + 1

First time bonus! + 5

Adoration Recruitment! + 2

Lured from another faction! + 2

Your quest was met with failure! + 10 (Expanded)

Four Hero TPK! + 12

They don’t know your name! - 1

They don’t know your lair! – 1

You blinked. While impressive, you were more interested in the minion abilities you had apparently unlocked.

There were a lot of them. “Elemental minions” sounded interesting, as did “Evolve Minion”, and “Elected Champion”. But the only ones you could currently afford were named things like “incite teamwork”. You decided to hold on to your fame for now. If things kept snowballing at this rate, you’d be sure to be able to afford the more interesting things soon, and as much as a second level in Liegelord sounded good, you weren’t sure you’d be able to cope with more adorable things showing up on your doorstep till you actually had a liveable home again.

You gently peel the Kobold from your leg. It was getting uncomfortable.

“What I meant, earlier, was would you be able to go out and gather materials for me? Mining the rocks at the top of the cliff, for instance?” You ask the still sniffling girl. She nods and picks her quiver back up. Something makes you add, as she walks from the cave, “And be careful, alright?”

She flashes you a dazzling smile and vanishes from view.

You turn back to the progress bar, which you were truly starting to loath.

Eternities later, you were broken out of your daydreaming by a soft pop, and the truly odd sensation of your limb sailing through the air where, for the last several ages, had been a wall. Your ears are met with the soft splashing of water.

The room that has just faded into existence is around a dozen feet to a side and square. The two feet around the edge of the room are stone blocks, as expected. The centre eight feet, however, is occupied by a large pit. Water is slowly welling up from somewhere, and as you watch, it levels out a few inches beneath the level of the walkway. More torches spring into guttering life around the walls

When you bend to drink, the water is cool and crisp.

You slip beneath the water with a sigh, relaxing your aching forelimb in the chill, and gently swimming a few laps. The water is plenty deep enough for you to dive, flapping your wings to power you through the water. You are capable of holding your breath for some time, and you revel in the restoration of your home. Now all you needed was a bed, and you’d finally be back where you started. You curled tour tail around your legs and settled like a stone, going still to conserve air. It was not often you got to indulge yourself like this. You stayed there for quite some time as the light slowly changed, until you saw a shadow, above you.

You pushed off from the bottom of your pool and burst from the surface, spraying water everywhere as you whipped your head back and forth, taking a great lungful of air.

The kobold gave a small scream and scrabbled backwards as you emerged, before starting to laugh.

You joined her as you settled onto the bank, before she straightened up and going quiet.

“What have you got?” you asked her, and she silently emptied her inventory. It wasn’t a particularly impressive haul, but her low strength probably worked against her, you reasoned. It was a small pile of Stone and Scrap. You carefully collected the Scrap and piled the stones up in the corner of the new room, when you noticed the kobold was holding something out to you.

“I also found this,” she whispered, and opened her hands, presenting it to you. It was a small, glittering stone. A Sapphire, your perception informed you after a second. You pick it up, and look down at the tiny kobold in front of you.

“What’s your name?” you ask on impulse.

“I never had one”

You nod, having half expected that. “Do you want one?”

“I wouldn’t know what to pick.”

You nodded again, half expecting that too. You hand the sapphire back to her. “Keep it,” you say, to her obvious bewilderment, “Sapphire.”

A small fanfare players from her, this time, and you both look at her character sheet. There, at the top, it now read

Sapphire, level 1 kobold runt

Once again, you were treated to a sudden hug, although you had anticipated this one, and thankfully it had slightly less tears than last time. You smiled to yourself, and looked out at the sky, now going dark. You realised you’d missed the sunset yet again.

“Come on, Sapphire. Time for bed.”

You gently breath flame into the pile of stones in the corner, and clamber in, settling amongst the warmth in bliss. You watch as Sapphire walks out into the entranceway and places her head on her quiver. Before long, sleep claims you, warmed by flames and lulled by the gentle lapping of water.