Of Kobolds and Wyverns

Kobolds are not known for their intelligence. They have a reputation as simple miners, scrounging out a living from their dusty tunnels, happy to trade whatever valuable ore they find for the food and supplies they need to survive. They live largely uncomplicated lives, far removed from the politics and infighting of the other races of Lumios.

But Dirkrook was not like other Kobolds.

Dirkrook saw the vast cities and strange technology of the surface races, and was keen to learn their secrets. His lust for knowledge led him to master strange surface-dweller magics, exploring foreign concepts such as “math” and “economics.” He looked at his fellow Kobolds, living in the squalor of their underground hovels, and he knew they could do better.

So when Dirkrook’s tribe discovered an Old Empire ruin high in the mountains, he convinced them to claim it as their new home. And when his brethren came to him, crying out in fear because of a nest of baby Wyverns, he did not order them to kill the creatures. Because Dirkrook, you see, had learned the secret surface-dweller art of “business.”

Many Kobolds died in the attempt to raise the Wyverns. Many fingers were lost learning the proper way to feed them. But Dirkrook and his tribe persisted, taming the beasts and using them to pull their carts as they cleared the rubble from the ruins. Soon the young Kobold Chief had an army of the creatures to protect his new home. And for the first time in living memory, the Kobolds lived without fear.

But Dirkrook had greater goals than this. From his studies, he knew that trained Wyverns were illegal in the surface kingdoms. And like all forbidden things, there would be those willing to pay for them. So when a group of Human smugglers approached his tribe, interested in purchasing some of his loyal beasts, the clever chief happily agreed.

Thus began The Agreement. Wolfgang and his smugglers would pay the Kobolds for their Wyvern eggs, selling them on the black market to be trained as deadly animals of war. Dirkook and his tribe would continue to tend their hidden flock, ensuring fresh clutches of eggs for the Humans to sell. In this way his tribe grew fat and wealthy in their ruined fortress, reveling in the chests of gold that their new business brought.

But wealth leads to excess, and excess leads to arrogance. And no Kobold has ever been as arrogant as the great chieftain, Dirkrook. As the years passed, he began to demand great feasts to sate his growing appetites. He sent his warriors further and further afield, seeking new unfortunate creatures for his chefs to prepare in their infernal kitchens.

Peppered Pixie wings. Ear of Ippin soup. Monstrous meals that only a Kobold could enjoy. And as more and more of the local villages lost loved ones to his fiendish appetites, the cry went out for a brave group of heroes to free them from the shadow of the Kobold lair.

Do you have what it takes to defeat the Kobold Chieftain and his deadly flock? Or will you fail, and end up as the latest course in his endless, gruesome feast? Only time will tell. Chief Dirkrook waits for you in the crumbling halls of his mountain home… and he is always hungry.