Enter the saga of Arkilten, my Kobold Scout/Fighter. Arkilten lived among the Crippler tribe of the Hellfurnaces, and he believed that the community came first. He was not evil, Lawful Neutral to be exact, and did not have the average Kobold's sadistic tendencies. He used poison, but unlike his typical brethren, who enjoyed to use such things to make their enemies suffer a slow and painful death, Arkilten believed that the faster you kill, the lower the chance the enemy has to survive and retaliate. He worships Kurtulmak, and he was not a typical kobold, except for the fact that he allowed the chieftian to make all the decisions for him. Arkilten felt out of place at times, but his use as a valued alchemist and trapsmith made him a valued member of society.
Arkilten joined a group with a Heironean Paladin, a Human Soulknife, and an Elf Healer. The group was hired to travel to the Isle of Dread to set up a colony. They had to share the boat with many other people, including a Gnomish Druid named Earl. Arkilten and Earl were frequently at odds, recently working together because they became stranded on the island, and had to work together for the survival of the group, as the community/group came first. In today's game session, the group found a pack of velociraptors attacking a baby diplodocus. Having been repeatedly attacked by velociraptors before, Arkilten waded into battle, using hit and run tactics, and Earl fought to save the baby dinosaur.
At the end of the fight, Earl apologized for his rude behavior for the past three months of travel, and asked if they could "start over and get on better terms."
This shocked Arkilten. A Gnome, apologizing to a Kobold! Arkilten was raised from day one to hate gnomes, wrongfully stealing kobold land and using fiendish magic and trickery to make the kobolds' lives miserable. Arkilten was also taught as long as the two groups existed, there would never be peace. If the Gnome is tricking him, which Arkilten assumes, then this would reinforce his belief. If the Gnome is sincere, then this would throw his entire belief system and culture into doubt, and that his entire way of life would have been wrong. Never receiving an apology, even a fake one, from a Gnome, left Arkilten confused. Arkilten replied "I'll consider it," and the module ended there.
Arkilten is a smart kobold, (Int 16 and Wis 12), and the fact that he is allied with a band of non-kobolds would make Kurtulmak disappointed at least. Arkilten joined because he was interested in the wealth and riches promised to him.
What should I do? What would a Lawful Neutral savvy Kobold do?
P.S.: This affects his view greatly; earlier in the module, when in the ruins of Tamoachan, Arkilten got petrified by a basilisk, and Earl took a potion of stone to flesh and smashed it on Arkilten's face. Even though he added insult to injury, he saved the Kobold's life. From what he was raised to believe, a Gnome would never do this. Arkilten did not know what to make of it.
Gwenfloor wrote: P.S.: This affects his view greatly; earlier in the module, when in the ruins of Tamoachan, Arkilten got petrified by a basilisk, and Earl took a potion of stone to flesh and smashed it on Arkilten's face. Even though he added insult to injury, he saved the Kobold's life. From what he was raised to believe, a Gnome would never do this. Arkilten did not know what to make of it. I see two options for Arkilten here.
The first is that his god has placed him in a trap, where he is asked to trust a gnome and throw aside all of his beliefs. Being as intelligent as he is, social traps should make sense enough and he could react as he would to a trap. Study it carefully, looking for the part that will damage you, and never commit until you are certain you can disarm it.
The second is that this kobold who never felt that he fit into his society might have his worldview shattered by realizing that he might have been decieved all along, and that his lawful support of everything he has been taught is simply upholding a lie. He could either reject the laws of his heritage, or lose faith in the dogma of his god altogether.
In either case, I see alot of fun roleplay ahead :)
Arkilten believes that if both put aside their differences temporarily, then they would be able to work together to help the group survive. Trying to gut each other's throats will only hurt the group/community, which always comes first. The problem is that Kurtulmak has taught his people to oppose Gnomes at every opportunity. The two laws of his society conflict, and being a mere scout and not a cleric, Arkilten does not know what the right thing for a proper kobold to do. Arkilten made a compromise and took out all his problems on Avener, the noble with the group, who Arkilten did not like because the human treated him poorly for no other reason than being a kobold.
Today, Arkilten and Earl became partners, but not friends. The two made a truce.
As Arkilten and Earl continue to work together their truce could develop into a friendship, like what happened in The Lord of Rings with Legolas and Gimli. Where at first they were biased against each other but later becoming very close friends.
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