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Auren awoke that morning bright and refreshed he had enjoyed his first day in more than a week that he could sleep in. While he was in the middle of dressing himself he noticed something, he hadn't considered for quite a while, his smell. With survival having been his main focus for most of the previous week he had neglected to bathe, or shave for over a week. He racked his brain trying to think of where he could bathe before remembering the small spring the kobolds used as their water source. He collected his things and began wondering the mine searching for the well spring, with little success. Wondering the maze-like tunnels, "geez would it kill them to label any of these tunnels?" he thought to himself before noticing a pair of kobolds walking down the hall. He stopped them "could ether of you lead me to the spring I'm kinda lost? all these hallways look the same to me." Auren said scratching his head embarrassed at his lack of direction. "yesk avared gevar neve?" the green scaled kobold to the right said with a confused look as she turned to her companion. Who had a similar reaction. Auren sighed "oh, yeah, forgot not all of you know ohmmen. Hmmmm. His mind struggled for a way to convey his plight, eventually he decided on charades. "Water you know W A T E R" he said attempting to mime pouring a glass of water from a pitcher into a cup. The female kobold responded "wah-er waa-er?" she said with an ever more confused look on her face. The other kobold seemingly had an epiphany while Auren was miming. Because he said "beseffca wah-er nevemaddra" as he waved Auren to follow him. following the seemingly enlightened kobold Auren ended up at the kitchen where the kobold pored him a cup of water from a pitcher. And pointed to the cup rather proud of himself. Auren embarrassed at his lack of communication skills took the drink and thanked the kobold in an attempt to spare his new friend's pride. The two kobolds went on their way leaving Auren to continue his search. He continued to wander the base for another twenty minutes or so checking rooms and hitting two or three dead ends. "next time I see Ahnya I'm gonna ask her if we can get some signs around here" he said aloud to himself with a huff. "ren lost?" said a familiar voice behind him. causing him to jump a bit in freight. Auren turned to see Rahka with a cheerful expression on his face. "god, I'm glad to see you! I've been lost for an hour now and I cannot for the life of me find the spring." Auren said with a mixture of vented frustration and relief. "ren need water for drinking? Just go to kitchen have water there. I show you." Rahka replied with an understanding tone. "I don't need the water to drink I need it to bathe that's why I need to go to the actual spring." Auren replied. "Rahka not know what that is, but I take you anyway." He said nonchalantly. "great lead the way" Auren replied with enthusiasm. After rounding three corners from where they were originally standing they had finally reached the spring. "thanks Rahka I'd probably still be wondering around if it weren't for you." Auren said admiring the crystal-clear waters of the spring. "Rahka always help ren if he need it." He said also lost in the clear water of the spring. The spring room consisted of a pool of water the size of a medium sized pond with a small constant stream of water making its way down a Rockwall at the back. the water appeared to flow out through a hole in the bottom of the spring that was probably 15ft around and which had no visible bottom. The room was one of the only ones with a natural light source a blue light given off by a strange moss like substance on the ceiling, floor and walls. Auren looked over at Rahka, "could you do me a favored and make sure no one come in here for the next twenty minutes or so?" "sure what ren gonna do though?" rahka said with an inquisitive tone. "I'm finally gonna take a bathe" striping his bandana and shirt off. Revealing his relatively underwhelming physique. "Rahka not know what that is, ren explain." "I'm going to jump in the spring and swim for a while." Auren said taking off his shoes while setting on a knee-high rock. "ahh. Why ren not just say so? Rahka keep watch then. Humans so weird" Rahka said walking off the last part being naught but a mumble. With that Auren stripped naked and neatly stack his clothes and shoes together and dipped his toe in the cool water. Oddly it wasn't as cold as he was expecting and so he decided to take the plunge jumping straight in. The rush of cool water was wonderful. Auren relaxed allowing himself to float in the water. He floated for around ten to fifteen minutes before he began bathing himself in the small shallow section near the shore using a bowl that he had swiped from the kitchen to pour water on himself. He then trimmed the scruff from his face with a small razor from his backpack. After finishing his trim, he washed his face and noticed something watching him from behind a rock. In fact, it was two somethings, somethings that he recognized after a couple of second of study. "Ahnya! Rahka! I know your back there! can you please leave, I need some" he caught himself realizing they have no understanding of privacy. "I need a moment to get dressed. Alone." He said with a huff in an annoyed tone putting major emphasis on the alone part. With that the two figures promptly left still trying to stay hidden running amongst the rocks littering the room until the two shadows had disappeared from the room. he quickly got dressed still damp from the water. Fearing that the pair would return before long. As he left the room and re-entered the tunnel it was connected too. He saw Rahka still standing guard looking the other way in an attempt to play coy. Auren grabbed him by the horns lifting him up with both hands and playfully said "what happen to standing guard" looking him in the eyes with a mixture of annoyance and sarcasm. "ahnya tell rahka i have to let her pass or she put centipede on me while I sleep" Rahka said struggling and hanging with his only functioning arm from one of Auren's arms in an attempt to relieve the pressure from his horns. Auren set Rahka down before grabbing him by the torso and lifting him onto his shoulders. "sorry for not trusting you rahka. Next time do me a favor and warn me if she tries to spy on me. Ok?" Auren said relieved that his friend had not simply given into curiosity and invited Ahnya to invade his privacy. "it ok Rahka warn you next time" he said rubbing his own head and enjoying the ride on Auren's shoulders.

"Ren really strong to carry Rahka like this." Rahka said patting Auren's head. "huh really? Never gave it much thought, might be all the monster meat Geralt fed me as a kid. Auren said with a laugh. "monsters? What monsters ren eat?" the little kobold said his curiosity peek. "Basilisk, Girsk, Garm, uh eww Garm forgot about that one its like trying to eat a shoe that tastes like beans and sulfur. Auren said cringing at the memory. Rahka thought for a second and asked "ren ever eat a kobold?" with a bit of hesitation at the question. "huh? No, we had a general rule about meat if it could talk your better off not eating it." He replied confused as to why he would even ask such a question. "ah, ok. Good Rahka not fond of being eaten." Rahka said with a shaky laugh. "where ren going anyway?" Rahka continued his tone shifted. "I'm going to find Ahnya and give her a piece of my mind" Auren said with enthusiasm. Just then Anya rounded the corner in a jog "ahh, just the kobold I wanted to see. me and you need to have a talk about boundaries." Auren said with an authoritive tone. Before he could continue Ahnya cut him off. "Ahnya need Rens help big trouble." She said as she ran up to him out of breath. "what's wrong? are we under attack?" Auren said in surprise. "no, lomu, gura, sick, very bad." She said as she took breaths between words. "sick? What's wrong with them" Auren said lifting Rahka from his shoulders and setting him on the ground. "I show you" Ahnya said beckoning Auren to follow her as she ran off. Eventually they reach a room where the two kobolds were laid out on small bed rolls. Auren immediately checked their heads. "damn their running fevers both of them." He then checked their wounds gura had a broken leg and while it was in a splint the large gash on the outside was infected. Lomu had several bruises and three large bite marks on her torso that had become infected as well. "what ren think?" Ahnya ask impatiently while Auren was still examining the pair. Auren held up is hand in a hushing motion and continued his probing. "we're going to need some moonshine and a thing of bandages." "moo shi?" Anhya replied. "alcohol, um booze, liquor." Ahnya stared at Auren attempting to process what he just said. "take me to the kitchen I think you might have some there" Auren said waking Ahnya from deep thought "ah, right" she said as she turned to lead the way. the pair ran down to the kitchen where Auren spent several minutes looking for any kind of alcohol. He found a few bottles of wine and some mead but nothing that would clean a wound. "why Auren need moo-shi?" ahnya asked still as confused as ever. "it cleans wounds and keeps them from getting infected." Auren said still looking. "how auren learn that?" ahnya asked. As he frantically searched the kitchen. "in the caravan we put alcohol on everything, some people found out it hurts like hell if you pour it on a wound, so obviously they would pour it on cuts to prove how tough the were, when people found out their wounds healed faster and didn't get infected it didn't take long to put two and two together." His search yielding no results "damn, we're gonna have to go into town to get some" Auren said throwing a pot against the wall in frustration. "what we need to get moo-shi ren?" Ahnya replied in a resolute tone. "were gonna need some money do you have any coins?" Auren said turning to face her. "coins?" she replied. "yes coins." Her puzzled face conveyed her lack of understanding. "you know the shiny round things with faces on them, they come in brown silver and yellow, we need the silver or yellow ones especially." He said desperately trying to convey this point. "we not have those" she replied.

"crap we're gonna need money for the moonshine" if Geralt had just given him some money before kicking him out they could have used that. "stingy bastard" Auren thought to himself. He continued thinking for a minute. "I have an idea, get some of the guards together were gonna make some money." He said with a vicious look on his face. "ok Ahnya get ren when ready." Ahnya said wondering what exactly Auren was planning.

Around midnight the party gathered at the lift. Auren spoke up, addressing the five kobolds Ahnya included "we're going to wait by the road for some one to rob then were going to head for Gerona, get the medicine and make our way back if we move quickly we can make it there and back in four to six days" Auren said with confidence and a smile. the party began chattering amongst themselves. An air of unease could be felt as the group boarded the lift and began their ascent. Once at the top Auren realized that the kobolds moved through the upper level by using small kobold sized tunnels to avoid the trap filled passage that led to the lift. "ahnya lead ren through traps" she said in a determined voice. With that the pair set out passing by several traps ranging from comical such as a bucket of water, to deadly. the worst trap being a hole just big enough for a human to fall waist deep with a set of wooden spikes at the bottom. After a brisk ten-minute walk through the trap laden shaft the pair reach the other side. Auren stepped out of the mine for the first time in what felt like forever the full moon emitting a cool glow on the forest that rustled in the warm summer breeze. He stood there admiring the stars for a moment before noticing that Ahnya was doing the same. He turned to her and asked, "how long has it been since you last saw the sky?" in a soft tone. she broke from her trance and replied "I can't remember, it so pretty" she said quickly re-enamored by the iridescent moonlight. About that time the rest of the group arrived shattering the moment, still murmuring and chattering amongst themselves in kobold. Auren wished he knew what they were talking about as the tone seemed a mix of fear and anger. "lets go, Ahnya tell them to stick close to me and that they should be on their guard, this is Garm country and I don't want us to be spread out if we run into a pack of them." Auren stated with authority as he began to lead the group down the mountain. The journey to the road and village would be easier than his original trek to the mines. He had spent a day and a half just looking for the entrance to the mine as the farmer who hired him had only provided a general location for where he thought the entrance was. Making their way down the mountain the party eventually reach a road. "well have to follow the road east a ways theirs a cross road six hour walk from here, but that's if we walk. We could always run but then we might get jumped ourselves. Ahnya what do you want to do?" Auren said studying his map and compass. "if we get to cross road early can we rest?" she said mulling her options in her head. "yes, in fact well be more likely to find a target the more time we spend at the cross road." Auren said still studying the map. "then we do that" she said quickly relaying this to the rest of the team who seemed less then enthused. The group jogged through the woods to the side trying to minimize noise as they traveled through the forest stopping for a periodic break every hour or so before continuing. After two and a half hours the party reach the cross road setting up camp a fair distance into the forest off to the side and stationing a guard in a tree by the camp and a watch man in the bushes by the cross road. Auren had the first shift spent his time on guard duty sharpening a large branch to a fine point, after which he would start on another branch of similar size until he had three such spears. As day light approached and Auren's guard shift ended some of the kobolds seemed uncomfortable. Auren turned ahnya who was enjoying a ration of rat jerky "what up with them? Not fond the light or something?" already having an idea about what might be causing their discomfort. "some kobolds have light problem, not see very well." Ahnya said between mouth fulls of jerky. Auren had considered that the kobolds night vision and subterranean life style could make it hard for them to adjust to daylight conditions, but it appeared that it didn't affect every kobold as only two members of the squad seemed bothered by it. Auren nodded off to sleep shortly.

.

Four hours later while Auren and Ahnya were asleep the kobold assigned to road watch ran into the camp waking Auren. The kobold mimed like he was riding a cart and pointing frantically toward the road. The pair ran to the road to scout their potential query. An ox pulled cart with naught but hay in the back, a farmer in a straw hat lazily riding along in the blue glow of an early summer morning. The kobold looked at him with a smile, to which Auren replied with a nod of disapproval, an attempt to convey that the cart had nothing the group would want. He attempted to further articulate his point by miming, he would point at the cart and cross his arms into an X. eventually the kobold seemed to understand. The poor thing seemed dejected. he must have mistook as Auren being angry or disappointed with him Auren thought to himself so he gave the poor guy a pat on the back in an attempt to cheer him up, before returning to the camp to sleep. Before he could make it back the road guard grabbed him by the bottom of his shirt pointing back towards the road. "I already told you we're not robbing some random farmer" Auren said condescending to the excited kobold who continued pointing toward the road with heightened enthusiasm. "huuuh, fine let see what you're on about" Auren said with a sigh. Fearing that his companion had failed to grasp his earlier gestures. The pair returned to the road to see a carriage on the far horizon. His companion looked at him with anticipation, perhaps fearing that he had disappointed Auren once again. The yellow eyed human turned to him and smiled. Before shaking his head yes and giving the little guy a thumbs up. The green scaled blur shot up the hill to rouse the rest of the party from their slumber. Shortly thereafter the group of kobolds made their way back down the hill. Auren waiting for them, hiding in the underbrush. The kobolds line up next to him one by one, prone awaiting the target to get closer. Auren took the spears he had made earlier, "I'm going to throw these spears at the horses if I hit, all of you swarm the driver and passengers. Don't kill anyone if you don't have too but if they resist... "sigh" do what you have to do" Ahnya repeated the plan to her compatriots. Who all nodded one by one in agreement. As the coach neared the party's position just after the cross road. Auren walked out of the dense forest hoping to get a better shot. As Auren readied his arm to throw the drivers face went from befuddled to terrified. The guard beside him attempted to knock an arrow to fire on the brazen robber. But was thrown off balance when one of Aurens bolts struck one of the lead horses in the breast. The dead horse corpse crumbled to the ground causing the one behind it to trip, dragging both beneath the carriage toppling it onto its side. Only one horse remained alive, the other lead having broken free from its binding during the crash charging past Auren and running off into the distance. Both the driver and guard were lying on the ground the guard was trapped under the carriage his torso sticking out, the unconscious driver on the ground nearby. The group of kobolds burst from the forest securing the crash and looting anything useful. Auren checked the unresponsive guard for a pulse for which there was none. "damn" he said slamming his fist onto the cart. "ren this one still breathing." Ahnya shouted while searching the driver's possessions. "damn it, no names. And while you're at it tie him up" Auren said realizing that he hadn't thought about the ramifications of leaving survivors. He quickly pulled his bandana from his head and used it as a mask covering everything below his nose bridge. What about his eyes! Anyone would recognize his eyes in a heartbeat. Just then a kobold shouted from atop the carriage. Ahnya came up to Auren and whispered in his ear. "what ren need to be called" auren thought to himself for a second typhus called him snake eyes as a kid so he went with. "just call me snake" he said with pride in his new-found alias. "ok I call you Snek" she said dead serious. "no that's not ho..." Ahnya cut him off mid reply "Hyak need Sneks help on cart" Ahnya said looting the dead guard's belongings stuffing what ever she could find into a burlap sack. "huuuh, whatever" he replied with a sigh heading for the cart. "when we get back I'm teaching every one of these lizards proper ohhmen." He said under his breath as he climbed up the side of the cart to find his green scaled friend from before. Who promptly pointed down into the cart at two human females with auburn hair the younger of the two cried out "please don't kill us" tears streaming down her faces as the older woman held her in an attempt to comfort the poor girl. Next the older one continued "please just leave us alone you devils!" Auren felt a twinge of gilt as he look at the terrified pair, covered in bruises. But he brushed these feeling aside and replied, "all we want is your money and jewelry just give us that and well let all of you go." trying to sound reasonable and unthreatening. "he turned to Hyak and took his back pack opened it and mimed putting things inside pointed at the pair and handed it back. "listen my friend here is gonna come down there and collect your valuables, if you play nice with him he'll play nice with you alright?" the pair looked at each other for a second. "we got a deal or what?" Auren said his patience slowly wearing thin. "yes! just take the money and leave us be you monster!" the older one said hatred seething in her voice. For a moment Auren considered setting the wagon on fire with them inside before regaining his composure. He picked up Hyak and lowered him down into the cab. Where he held out the back pack with a pleased look of accomplishment as the pair through coins and what little Jewry they had into the bag the older woman pulled her wedding ring from her finger and looked at Auren with a scowl, tears filling her eyes. "sigh, fine you can keep the ring just quit with the tears already" feeling further gilt for his actions, he tried to rationalize his actions "we need this money for the clan, for gura and lomu." But then he thought about the fact that he had to take a life to get it. Maybe this was what it meant to be a member of a kobold clan. That he would have to forsake his humanity at worst and become a thief at best. He didn't have time to finish this thought as Hyak called out to him from the bottom of the cab. "up we go" Auren said grabbing the kobolds hand pulling him up to where he could grasp the door frame pulling himself up and sitting on the side afterward. "what about us!" the younger one screamed. "a patrol will be by within a few hours you'll be fine." Auren said turning around and jumping down from the cart. The group had finished looting the crash. "hey, it's time to book it we don't want to be here when the watch arrives" Auren said as the group was preparing to leave. "what about him" Ahnya said pointing to the bound and gaged driver. "ill take care of him. you guys head into the forest and break camp" Auren replied dragging the driver towards the carriage. As the group left. Auren dragged the driver onto the top of the carriage and laid him near the door. "this should keep the wolves from getting to you at least." With that he rejoined the group in the forest where they made their way towards Gerona village. The village was in the direction the carriage had come from causing Auren to feel uneasy about staying near the village for very long. When the party reached roughly six miles from the village it was late into the night. "this is as far as we go, we need to make camp far from the road" Auren said in a wiry voice rubbing his eyes. "why so far" Ahnya said with a yawn. "if the guard see a group of kobolds and a snake eyed freak camped by the road I'm pretty sure they'd "yawns" assume we were bandits" the fact that they would be perfectly correct in their assumption caused Auren to snicker a bit. The group headed into the forest where they made camp and counted their spoils. Auren counted the money and jewelry. A set of gold ear rings, a silver bracelet, twenty-two silver coins, four gold coins, and 56 copper coins. This was more then enough to buy the alcohol they needed and then some. Auren would have to think of something to spend the excess money on. That was when he noticed that Ahnya had a new short bow. She seemed to be enjoying her self pointing it at things and pulling the string back and letting it go, generating her own sound effects such as "woosh " and "pew" Auren couldn't help but laugh at how cute she was being. When she noticed that he was watching she stopped, blushing for a moment before grabbing something that she had leaning against the log she was setting on. She pulled out a leather breastplate and sat down next to Auren. "ren give Ahnya sword so..." she got a little flustered trying desperately to find the word she was looking for. "uh.. she give him chest thing" she said holding the armor up to him with a smile. "thank you!" Auren said taking the plate quickly he took a second to inspect it, it was in pretty good condition and covered the whole front of the torso. It appeared to be about the right size for him, the adjustable straps making it useable by most humans. "ren like" she said grabbing the breastplate and pulling it down to look at Auren's face only a few inches from him. Auren leaned back a bit. "of course, Its great Ahnya. thank you." He replied sincerely with a smile. She sat next to him for a moment as the two tried to think of something to say, waiting on the other to make the next move. Finally, Auren spoke up "hey Ahnya?" "yes ren?" she cooed. "would you mind teaching me how to speak kobold some time?" "huh? Why?" she replied confused. She had assumed that like all humans Auren had no interest in ever learning her language. "well it's a hassle not being able to talk to everyone, and if I'm going to live with you guys I'd like to be able to get to know everyone. He replied with enthusiasm. She pretended to think for a second before replying "hmmm, ok" "ah, thank you!" Auren said leaning in a bit. "but only if ren teach Ahnya human lan-gage" she said slurring the pronunciation. "sure, where do we start?" Auren said with enthusiasm. The two talked for hours in the warm light of the fire going over the basics of both languages. It was late by the time they had finished "yawn" Ahnya tired, gonna go sleep see you in the morning ren" She said hoping off the log and walking to her bed roll. "good night Ahnya thank you again" Auren said realizing that he himself was quite tired. "you're welcome ren" she said giggling. "haha, see your improving already" he said with a laugh. "sleep tight" Auren said in kobold. he hopped off the log and snuggled up in his bedroll. the troubles and fear of the past few days had finally left him if for only a moment, as he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.