Fantasy The Legend of Tiki

[The Great Sage]

Tiki's Map:



Tiki's Spells:

Current spell power: (*--------)

Twist Fate: Tiki can twist her own fate and cause attacks against her to fail inexplicably. This spell is instantaneous to cast, but is tiring.

Starfires: Tiki can call down the celestial sparks that adorn the night sky, burning and itching her enemy. This spell is not very powerful, and is more useful at distracting people than doing damage.

Blink: The next time an enemy blinks, Tiki is shifted to a completely new position nearby. This spell has little chance of working if more than one person is looking at you.

Magic Duel: Tiki can draw an enemy mage or sorcerer into a pocket realm that exists in the space between their two minds. Within, they will duel with empowered magicks made of dreams and wishes until only one is left alive. This spell has no effect on creatures that are unable to use magic.

 

[The Great Sage]

Chapter One: Lost and Alone​

A rustle in the underbrush.

Before you’re even aware of whether it was a dream or real, you’re on your feet and running; flying through the virgin, untrodden forest with as much desperate speed as you can muster. Your body is short and covered with tough scales, and so the scraping of thorny branches and bushes against your flesh doesn’t bother you at all. Your long, thick tail counterbalances you so that you can run fast while crouched over, letting you avoid low or fallen branches.

Ragged, terror-filled breath rushes through your stubby little snout as you will your exhausted limbs to work. Your muscles are aching and twitching with over-exertion. Your heart is pounding as if it would be happy to leap from your chest, and fear - like intangible forks of lighting course through your body and dissolve all reason. You feel thin and drawn. You can’t keep this up for much longer. You’ve been running for two nights and a day, and the only food or water you’ve been able to find has been the odd cricket, caterpillar and ruddy mud puddle.

You don’t know if it’s real or your imagination, but you can feel the adversaries following you. They’ve butchered the rest and now only you are left. You know that they want to come and finish the job.

You run until your legs give out and a misstep steals your feet out from under you. You fall onto the forest floor, a pathetic mess of exhausted limbs covered in brown pine needles and soft green moss. You yip involuntarily when you fall. The sound is somewhere between a whining dog and a crying child.

Your species has many names. The humans call you a forest goblin and do their best to get rid of you. The Elves call you drakken and laugh at you. The Ogrim call you sidhe and sometimes give you offerings of delicious mountain fruit.

You call yourself kobold... and now you call yourself the last of your tribe.

Your people are not intelligent. Clever, undoubtedly. Kobolds, while small, can quite easily come together to build ingenious traps out of little more than sticks, rocks and vines that will easily capture or kill creatures many times their size and strength. But you don’t write. You don’t read. You don’t craft metal and you don’t trade.

Your people are tribal. You worship fire and rain and build simple pots out of raw clay to store water. You live in natural caves and hunt and gather. Kobolds have very little culture, and most intelligent beings consider you little more than animals.

Sometimes, though, a kobold is born that is special. A kobold like you. Able to weave the mysteries of the arcane with innate grace that other creatures simply aren’t able to replicate. Humans spend years locked in isolated study to be able to cast the most simple of spells. Elves live forever and gather knowledge of magic very slowly over hundreds of years. Ogres don’t even bother to try.

You, however, were born knowing how to speak to the stars. You can smell spirits and you can listen to the stories told by rocks and trees. You are a sorcerer. One in a thousand kobolds are, which means there’s usually one or two in each tribe. You were the only one in yours, and now you’re the only one there ever will be again.

You lay on the forest floor, panting hard. Your species can’t sweat and therefore when you exert yourself you become tired and slow. Your eyes dart around, straining to pierce the veil of night as you frantically search for what had been chasing you.

A moment passes. Then another.

The rush of blood in your ears slowly fades and is replaced by the clicking of nighttime insects and the odd hooting of an owl on the hunt for his dinner.

You stand up cautiously, your tired body tense and ready to fight or flee…. Nothing. You’re alone. You’re lost. You’re starving and if you don’t find something to drink soon you’re not going to last.

You look around. This place is totally unfamiliar - a stretch of dense evergreen forest without much undergrowth. There is a fallen log nearby, but other than that this area is unremarkable.

---

You are lost.

You are dying of thirst.

You are hungry.

You need rest.

Exits are north, east, south and west - each leading farther into the unknown forest.

Hint: Your priorities should be to find water, shelter and then food. Only then should you try to find a way to escape the forest.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki did her best to try and calm her ragged breath, she did not like this place it did not smell familiar to her. She did not like it but she couldn't go back. Her stomach growled loudly causing her to panic as she looked around rapidly trying to see if anyone heard it. After a few seconds she started to slide down against the tree she was hiding behind. "Gone all gone" she mumbled to herself as she had yet to realise the large gash in her back.

Tiki wants to cry, she wants to cry that all she knew had been utterly destroyed by those stupid dwarves. But she couldn't not yet anyway, she had to eat, drink and eventually sleep before she could do anything else. She did her best to get back up "ow ow owies" she looked around and sighed again before running east in hopes of looking for water.

 

[The Great Sage]

You travel eastward. Your people are expert bushmen and keeping your bearings is easy. You look to the moss upon the trunks of the trees and the way the winds have sculpted the branches to keep your course true. The night gives way to dawn, and as it does you see a landmark appear in the distance. As you approach, the trees begin to thin and just before they break entirely you find yourself standing before a large bluff that falls into a great valley below. Upon the side of the bluff is a yawning cave.

It would be quite a climb, but you're sure that you could see for miles atop the bluff.

---

You have found a landmark, and now have your bearings.

You are dying of thirst.

You are hungry.

You need rest.

Exits are into the cave, up the bluff, down into the valley and back west from where you came.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki nodded to herself and start to climb up the bluff. It made sense to get up there to try and see where there would be water. She started to use her natural claws that were her hands and feet to dig into the bluffs face and climbed her way up to the bluff. While normally this wouldn't be that difficult for little Tiki, thanks to how tired she was she constantly lost her grip and had to take breaks just so she could she continue.

Eventually she finished climbing up onto the bluff and turns around. She sits at the edge of the bluff on all fours like a dog as she scans the valley, looking and trying to listen for any source of water to go and find to lap up some. She was panting heavily from it all as she struggled to stay awake only doing so due to her need to drink was stronger than her need to sleep.

 

[The Great Sage]

The climb takes a few hours. Your mouth is parched and dry, making the effort uncomfortable. From atop the tallest point of the bluff you can see many things. To the west, a large mountain looms in the distance. Mountains are the home of the Ogrim, which are a quiet, brooding race of law-obsessed spiritualists. Although they can often seem cold to outsiders, the Ogrim for some reason view your kind as a sort of good luck charm. You'd probably find help with the Ogres... assuming there are any there at all. The mountain is miles away though, and you estimate it'd take you at least a couple days to get there. Then there's the issue of actually climbing the mountain, which without supplies is suicidal.

Closer, inside the forest you can see a couple interesting locations. The first is a meadow in which grows a ring of mushrooms. These 'fairy rings' are locuses of power, and should you be able to get there and convince the fairies that live within to share their secrets with you, it would certainly enhance your spellcasting ability. Fairies are unpredictable, greedy creatures who often take joy in playing cruel pranks. If you go there you'd better find some sort of gift to bring.

The next point of interest is a small plume of smoke that rises up between the trees. Clearly a campfire of some sort. Campfires mean people. People mean danger - but also things. Things are good, and they are especially good to people that don't have things of their own - people like you.

Finally, you can see into the valley below. There is a small settlement of farms down there. Settlements are just like campfires, but more in every way.

With this new information you stop to consider where to go next.

---

You are dying of thirst.

You are hungry.

You need rest.

The only exit is back the way you came, down the bluff.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki couldn't help but gulp seeing that she couldn't see any natural water way, she nodded to herself and started to climb back down she knew that it would take a while but she needed to go to the camp, even if it meant putting herself in danger. After she climbed back down she would start scampering off towards where she saw the smoke, even if there was No one there, she could probably find some scraps of food to sate her hunger. "Please no people, specially no dwarves" she grumbled to herself.

The fairy circles particularly interested her as she never really knew how to use her magic properly and she never got a chance to learn it properly, mainly because she never had an elder to learn it from. So after saving herself maybe she could meet the fairies to actually learn how to use her magic. She was suffering incredibly from the constant running she was hoping terribly that the campfire she was going to had food and drink for her to keep going.

 

[The Great Sage]

You descend the bluff uneventfully. At the bottom, you glance back at the mouth of the cave. Caves are comfortable for your people, but you know that the likelihood of finding food or water there is poor. You resolve to make your way over to where you saw that lone plume of smoke.

You have to backtrack, and you pass by that same large fallen log that you saw this morning. You use it as a means of orientating yourself. From here you head north.

Here, in a particularly dense patch of forest you get the feeling that you're being watched. Glancing around, you don't see anyone... just tall pine trees... but your instincts are pretty sharp and maybe it might be worth taking a closer look at the area.... If someone is hiding it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out.

---

You get the feeling you're being watched.

You are dying of thirst.

You are hungry.

You need rest.

Exits are south to the fallen log, north to the fairy ring and west to the campfire.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki stops where she is going as she gets that feeling of being watched, she stands up on her legs fully and starts to look around quietly. She didn't want to let this stop her for too long but she would rather know if this presence was going to be helpful or hinder her. Her breath was rapid and she reasoned to herself that she needed to stop to catch her breath anyway.

She went slowly going back into all fours and started to sniff and tried to track the person using her instincts, similarly to a hunting dog. She wasn't entirely sure if this would work but she had seen some of the warriors act like this as they started a hunt. Tiki continued to sniff the ground as she crawled on all fours trying to find the presence

 

[The Great Sage]

The first thing you smell is the fresh, loamy sent of the earth covered in the sharp, clean scent of pine needles. Your nose is powerful. Just as powerful as a dog or wolf's, and as you work your way in circles around the forest floor dozens of scents reveal themselves to you; a young rabbit uses a trail here sometimes... a red fox has a den nearby... a family of mice hiding in a hollowed log... some sort of predatory bird landed here some time ago... and...

Oh. Oh no. You feel a wave of irritation wash over you, as absurd as it is to feel that way in your current condition. You sniff again. Yep. It's a cat. There's a cat here somewhere - and if it's not here somewhere now, it was very recently.

Kobolds and cats do not get along. And there's a particular breed of cat that is far worse than all the others. Worse than all the others combined. You just hope that it isn't one of those.

---

You get the feeling you're being watched and you smell a cat somewhere nearby.

You are dying of thirst.

You are hungry.

You need rest.

Exits are south to the fallen log, north to the fairy ring and west to the campfire.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Her eyes widen and her tail goes limp as she smells the cat. She didn't want to take the chance on whatever cat this would be and she decided to bolt like the wind, heading directly west. She was once again filled with dread and fear, once more her instincts had told her to run and she had listened to it. "If cat not there when I return can hunts here goods to know at least" she thought to herself

When she finally made it to wear the smoke was coming from she stopped before going into the clearing. Tiki would climb up a tree nearby to see if there were people there or if it was completly empty. "Hmm Tiki hopes water and food" she mumbled to herself as she did her best to slow her breathing from the ragged panting she was currently doing.

 

[The Great Sage]

The jolt of fear that the catsmell awakens in you is enough to convince your tired limbs to behave. You run as far as you can and then slow down. The smell is gone, but cats are good at stalking against the wind, so that's not to say for sure that you aren't being followed.

When you eventually make it to the campfire it is midday, and the fire that had guided you to the camp is now pretty much dead. No more smoke rises from the few sad cinders that resolutely radiate the last of their warmth away.

The camp has been made in a small clearing in the forest. There is a lean-to constructed out of pine boughs, and before it is the fire, which someone has surrounded with large stones. There is a spit above the firepit, and while nothing is on it now you can smell the residue of roasted fish even from your hidden spot many yards away. The lean-to is something that a kobold like you might build, but this one looks too large to be made by a kobold. You'd need to get closer to inspect it.

In any case, there doesn't seem to be anybody here at the moment.

The forest continues in every direction, seemingly endless.

---

You are dying of thirst.

You are very hungry.

You are tired.

Exits are north, south and west deeper into the forest. The dense thicket with the catsmell lies to the east.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki gulps and slides down the tree before moving into the clearing. She licks her lips as she can't help but drool from the smell of the cooked fish. As she moved around the camp fire she sniffs around and moving things looking to find any dropped or forgotten food. "Good, good no people is very good" she mumbled to herself before sighing.

She stopped sniffing for food and walked towards the lean-to and starts trying to investigate it. She didn't have much of a choice as she really wanted to take a break here, when suddenly she had a realisation about the food that was being cooked here "Waits! Fishy was cooked, fishy go glub glub that means water nearby!" She said proud of herself for figuring that fact out for herself.

 

[The Great Sage]

You smell around the campsite and find the bones of a mostly eaten fish discarded nearby. It's fresh. Probably was someone's breakfast.

The connection between fresh fish and water hits you like lightning. You search the air for any smells. There's mud and reeds and frogs and dragonflies coming from the north.

---

There is a mostly-eaten roasted fish here.

You are dying of thirst.

You are very hungry.

You are tired.

Exits are north, south and west deeper into the forest. The dense thicket with the catsmell lies to the east.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki smiles to herself genuienly for the first time since she had to run, pleased with figuring out the connection. She decides to hold off on eating the discarded fish and starts making her way north to the smell, she didn't really care what was there but if there was the smell of mud coming from that way than that would mean there would be water near it.

She walked this time since she felt she would collapse if she ran this time instead of walking it. By this point she was struggling incredibly hard to stay awake, her entire body was screaming in pain from all the running she's had to do, just to survive the massacre.

 

[The Great Sage]

The old roasted fish has been a buffet for flies and other insects for who knows how long, and despite the painful gnawing in your stomach, you just can't bring yourself to suck the few remaining morsels of meat from the forgotten bones. Although your nose is just like a dog's, your stomach certainly isn't and eating garbage might cause you to vomit, which would just cause you more problems and waste energy that you simply don't have to waste.

You leave the small campsite behind and make your way to the smell of water. It doesn't smell brisk and fresh like running water, which is safest to drink - but beggars can't be choosers and between drinking brackish water and dying of thirst, the choice is an easy one.

You pad away to the north, and before long you arrive at a small lake. Little more than a large puddle, nonetheless it's a sight for sore eyes. You stay hidden, your feet were made to move quietly in environments like this and your small size only helps you avoid detection - and it's good that it does because you aren't alone.

Standing on the bank of the lake there is a human. He's older, and his greying hair has begun to thin on top, making what remains resemble a messy halo around his head. He holds in his hand a long flyfishing rod, which he casts out into the lake every few minutes. Beside him, on a triangular support made of sticks he has a string of breams, which are a smaller type of freshwater fish. It would take a half dozen of them at least to fill the man's belly - but for you one would be enough. Two would make you full to bursting.

You stop and consider what to do.

---

There is an old human fisherman here. He hasn't noticed you.

You are hidden from sight.

You are dying of thirst.

You are very hungry.

You are tired.

Exits are north and west deeper into the forest. The small campfire lies to the south.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki whimpers as she watched the human fish for the small fish he was grabbing, she couldn't help but lick her lips at the sight of all that food that could feed her easily. She didn't want to steal from him after all he was the doing all the hard work and it wouldn't be fair if she didn't do anything to earn some. She nodded to herself and got on all fours, slowly stumbling towards the lake.

She didn't want to disturb him and so she just walked a decent distance away from the man so that he wouldn't think she was attempting to steal and started to wade into the water and started to drink from the lake. It definetly wasn't an ideal situation to drink from a stagnant lake but she needed the water more than needing specifically clean water and so she drank as she kept one eye on the Fisher and the other on the lake looking for any fish that would come near intending to snap it up in her claws.

 

[The Great Sage]

You slowly stalk up to the banks of the lake. As you enter the water, a sense of extreme relief washes over you. You drop your body into it and float for a moment before taking long gulps, drinking until your stomach feels stretched and bloated. You feel the strength that dehydration was sapping from you returning.

You stare into the lake, looking for any fish - but it's useless. The fish, simple creatures though they are, are at least clever enough to stay away from you. You'd need some sort of spear, rod or net to catch any.

"Hey!" A startled cry. You don't understand the language, but you do understand the tone - and it's not a happy one. "Hey! Get out of here, you filthy rat!" You turn to see that the fisherman is running towards you holding his fishing rod above him like some sort of absurdly long club.

The human might be old, and he might not know any magic - but he's easily four times your size and if he wanted to, he could do a lot of harm to a lone kobold like yourself with nothing but his fists and boots. You find yourself longing for the safety of numbers that a tribe would offer.

---

There is an old human fisherman here, and he is attacking.

You are very hungry.

You are tired.

Exits are north and west deeper into the forest. The small campfire lies to the south.

 

[Xcelgamer]

"Waaah!" She squeaks in panic as she is back on all fours and dashes past him. She's in tears as she hisses and attempts to dodge a swing from the fishing rod. She didn't want to but without her own tools she didn't have a choice as she stopped by where he was fishing and grabbed two of the bream before running off westwards scared of the person she hadn't even been bothering.

She continued running from the new pursurer on all fours as she held the bream in her mouth by their tails. Tiki had thought her luck had finally turned around when she managed to get some water into her but it was only temporary unfortunately. As soon as she was certain the man was no longer following her did she scramble up a tree with her prize.

 

[The Great Sage]

You might be weak compared to the fisherman, but your advantage is that you are small and nimble and the he is not as young as he once was. You are able to skitter around him with ease, and as you do the man realizes his mistake in not guarding his collection of fish. You dash towards the strung up breams and tear two off the line before you dart away into the forest. The fisherman shouts after you, enraged at the bold theft of his supper.

You disappear into the forest, followed by the fading cries of the irate fisherman.

Soon enough things are quiet again except for the ever-present natural sounds of the forest. You have two raw fish and a belly full of water to show for your efforts.

You clamber up a tree once you're sure you're safe and perch on the lowest branch that will support your meager weight. You pause to consider what to do next.

---

You have two raw fish, and cannot carry anything else.

You are very hungry.

You are tired.

Exits are north, south and west deeper into the forest. The fisherman's lake lies to the east.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki yawns widely as she sits in the tree, before looking greedily at her spoils of her adventure. It probably isnt the best idea to eat the fish raw it would probably make her situation worse again. She had to cook them somehow, Tiki knew how to make a fire but the problem was doing it somewhere she wouldn't be found easily. She could be sneaky and go around to near the fairy circle going down and around to it.

She said back down the tree having made up her mind and starts walking south carrying both fishes in her hands as she does so. She really didn't want to steal the food but after his reaction at her she really didn't have a choice in the matter. Once again she wipes her tears away from her face, it's only been about 3 days alone and she already missed the camaraderie she had with her tribe.

 

[The Great Sage]

The sun slipping down out of the sky as you make your way south seems to highlight your sense of loneliness. Kobolds are very social creatures, and dozens of them sleep in piles together at night to keep warm. If you'd been asked a week ago if you'd have missed Aura's feet in your face or Braska's sleep-yipping, you might have laughed. Not now.

These thoughts consume you as you walk. The sense of loss is finally starting to hit you hard, and your heart feels like a rock in your chest.

Your misery is dispelled for a moment when you hear a whine coming from somewhere nearby. Could it be a trap? Is someone in trouble?

---

The sun is beginning to set.

You have two raw fish, and cannot carry anything else.

You are very hungry.

You are tired.

Exits are north, south and west deeper into the forest. The fisherman's camp lies to the east.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki couldn't help but sigh as she felt her heart sink and go cold. She wiped the tears away as she did her best not to focus on it even if she did miss all of her friends and family, she had to shake her head and get back on track as she started grabbing fallen dead leaves and smaller branches. Tiki did her best to put it into a small teepee shape she needed to start a fire so she could actually eat "Hungies, needs the fire" She mumbled to herself

She turned her head towards the noise but needed to focus as she started trying to make a fire for herself using the sticks. Tiki didn't care anymore if she was to be found out by anyone she really, really needed to stop the growling and pains her stomach was feeling from the hunger.

 

[The Great Sage]

Starting fires for your people is easy. You work for several minutes gathering dry sticks, leaves, bark - anything that will light easily. Before long you have enough for a respectable fire that should last a few hours at least.

To start the fire, you rub the tip of your tongue against the bottom of your mouth to stimulate the membranes there. After a minute or two you begin to salivate a thick, clear and bitter liquid which you drool over the pile of sticks. Within seconds the dry tinder begins to smoke vigorously. It doesn't take long for the small pile to catch light and before you know it you have a pleasant fire crackling away.

This is a trick all kobolds know. There are stories of ancestors who could spit actual fire, which sounds like it would hurt, but as far as you know nobody can do it any more.

The fire dances happily, but casts very little smoke. You know the secret to building a fire in such a way as to keep the smoke away, and you're sure that nobody will be able to see the fire from a distance.

All the while, the whining coming from deeper within the underbrush continues intermittently.

---

It is sunset.

You have two raw fish, and cannot carry anything else.

You are very hungry.

You are very tired.

Exits are north, south and west deeper into the forest. The fisherman's camp lies to the east.

 

[Xcelgamer]

Tiki smiles and nods to herself eagerly, happy to have gotten a fire going. She spat out the excess liquid into the fire, not wanting to taste anymore than she needed, it was never a nice taste. Her tail wiggled excitedly as she grabbed two sticks and put them into the fishes mouth before setting next to the fire to cook. Tiki smiled as she sat down and rubbed her tired sore feet they had been aching for days and this is the first in what felt like ages that she had the chance to take her time with her feet as she flexed her toes she sighed happily "Ah feels good, can't wait for fishes to be cooked up" she said as she was already salivating from the smell of the fishes being cooked.