Kobold Life

Chapter 2: A New World

Waking up the following morning, I was simultaneously disappointed and excited to find the previous night hadn't been a dream. I quickly took in my surroundings to find the same cavern walls clustered around me, significantly brighter than before. My excitement and disappointment faded quickly a new feeling emerged, a familiar pressure. Thankfully, relieving myself in this new body seemed to be instinctive, the muscles similar to that of my former self, however, I quickly found myself missing a few of the comforts of home, a toilet, a sink, and most importantly toilet paper. Thank god for the large palmy leaves near the cave entrance. As I began my journey outward to the unknown, I hoped whatever civilization I may be lucky enough to find, was at least advanced enough to have that.

With that out of the way, I climbed out of the cave entrance for the second time that morning, it was still early, in the morning. I looked back into the cave once more before leaving, I had only stayed one night, but it was likely to be the best opportunity for shelter until I found civilization, which might take a while considering how bad I was at navigation, and how short my legs were, though I didn't feel much slower thanks to the spring-like step.

I had never been in any wilderness situation, before, not that I was sure it would help if I had.  The best I could figure was to go in a straight line until I made it to the edge of the forest, after all you can only walk halfway into the woods after that you are walking out so as long as I stuck to a single direction, I would reach an end eventually. Then when I reached the edge, I would find a high hill to scout on and look for buildings or smoke. I needed to be sure I was moving straight through. In a new world, the concepts of North, South, East, and West had no real bearing, there was no guarantee that natural quirks followed the same rules as earth. I couldn't guarantee which direction was which, but I figured it was at least safe to assume the sun rose from the same direction each day. I looked to my left where the sun was steadily making its ascent, attempting to note with any sense of accuracy where it was in the sky. This was a mistake, the morning light was dimmer than that of the day proper, and the forest provided some nice shade, but for a brief moment when I looked in its direction, I felt the childhood warning not to look at the sun pop into my head 1000 times over. This sun was brighter by magnitudes, and I felt almost immediately blinded in my folly as purple sunspots covered most of my vision. I stopped my walk immediately attempting to shield my eyes quickly. God the sun was so bright it hurt; I couldn't imagine how hot it must get here, nor how I would deal with the undoubtedly intense sunburns I would be sure to receive when the sun hung directly overhead in the sky.

It wasn't until most of my sight had returned, that something clicked. The sun wasn't any brighter, just like the cavern hadn't been the night before. My eyes were just more sensitive, to its effects. I had sunlight sensitivity, and it sucked way worse than I expected. It was something I rarely considered an actual detriment since pact tactics typically balanced it out. But now, I felt sorry for every kobold I had ever forced into daylight as a DM. There were several reasons we typically lived underground; this was just one.

The rest of the day, I traveled as best as I could in a straight line. Since I couldn't gauge the sun directly, instead I looked at the bases of trees, the direction of their shadows, and my own extended. Shadow to my right in the morning, shadow to my left in the evening, that was my rule, and as long as I maintained it, I would make it out of this forest. When night fell, I was surprised to find I still had a measure of energy. I had walked for what felt to be about 12 hours with only an hour of a break to separate it during the peak of the day. During the last hour of daylight, I had dedicated myself to finding suitable shelter for the night. Keeping the straight line at this point wasn't easily possible, the forest had denser and more jungle-like the longer I remained, and I doubted I would be able to find any sort of cave nearby. I attempted instead to find a suitable tree, preferably one which was not covered in insect life or other animals. The insects here buzzed with intensity, but I counted myself lucky that very few had tried to bite me, a few mosquito-like insects had landed on me, but I didn't feel the typical itch afterward, suggesting the scales which coated my body were thick enough to prevent their bites. Nonetheless, I didn't want things crawling on me while I slept. As the sun sank below the horizon, I still could see my surroundings well enough, but being unfamiliar with the stars and my view limited by the canopy it was no use to try and navigate with them. I still hadn't found a suitable place to sleep, but I was exhausted and could no longer afford to be picky.

I climbed the next tree large tree I could find, hoping to take shelter in its branches. I had been good at climbing as a human, but the experience was entirely different in the kobold body. My reach was significantly shorter than before, so my typical strategy of reaching from branch to branch was ineffective. I did weigh significantly less than I used to, and thankfully my clawed hands allowed me to grip at the bark, so after some experimentation, I found I could pull myself up the rough surface without the need for branches. The rest of the climb was simpler, after an entire day of walking, trudging through mud, and pushing through plant life, I was finally starting to get a hang of the mechanics of this body. I reached a high branch within a few minutes and felt like I could sleep for days. My body was caked with mud and grime from the day's travel, but thankfully not sweat. It was humid here, but I wasn't soaked in sweat as I would normally be, I knew that was how humans regulated temperature, so I wasn't sure whether I should be glad for its absence, I would not be able to cool down as effectively, but at least I would conserve my water.

Finally, I set to go to sleep, using the rope from the cave to tie myself into the branches as best as I could, I didn't want to fall in my sleep. A cacophony of chirps, shrill calls, rustling leaves, and other animalistic noises permeated the dense jungle, and while I had enjoyed the sounds of a new world whilst I was awake, I found the new sets of sounds from the nocturnal creatures soothing as I closed my eyes.

---End of Chapter 2---

Inventory: 0 Gold, 1 set of burlap rags, 1 roll of approximately 15ft of rope, a flint pickaxe, and 1 day's rations in a leather backpack.