KOBOLDS
CHAPTER 3
populations. Kurtulmak directs such expansions to push Herald and Allies into gnome territories whenever possible, dealing the maxiKurtulmak’s herald is a fiendish kobold 5th-level cleric/ mum number of casualties to the kobolds’ racial enemy. 5th-level sorcerer/10th-level mystic theurge. His allies are horned devils, pit fiends, and salamanders. Prayers Kurtulmak’s prayers have a rhythmic quality to them that can be easily recited while swinging a pickaxe into the ground. Many of them also contain references to Finding traces of ancient kobold settlements has always dragons and reptiles, such as “O Watcher, I slither before been difficult. When kobolds exhaust the resources of a your scaly majesty.” mine, they abandon it, taking everything of value with them. Left behind is only an empty lair, rich with kobold Prayers to the Horned Sorcerer can also take the form of battle cries and promises of revenge. (“By the point of history etched into the walls. Kobolds are excellent recordKurtulmak’s spear and the tip of his poisonous tail, I will see keepers, engraving the events of their lives into the walls of every member of your family perish.”) Kobolds evoke the every new lair, regardless of how many times they migrate name of Kurtulmak when facing daunting odds or diffrom one location to the next. ficult situations. Kobolds’ abandoned mines are eventually occupied by roaming creatures that turn such lairs into their homes, making exploration dangerous. Subterranean races have Temples also been known to gut old kobold lairs, knocking down Kurtulmak’s temples are carved out of earth and solely walls and reshaping the interior. Archeologists have even used to house adepts, clerics, and the tribe’s most valuable discovered traces of kobold history engraved into the treasures. Not surprisingly, these temples are protected corridors of ancient dwarf strongholds. with small, twisting tunnels and a staggering array of deadly traps. Kobolds have a scattered history, turning up in isolated The map presented here is a small portion of the regions with absolutely no historical connection to the kobold lair known as Iejirokarthel, which is described place. Even taking the nomadic nature of kobolds into on page 52. account, moving from one mine to the next in search of additional metals and precious stones, early kobolds could not have achieved the widespread dispersal their Rites current whereabouts seem to indicate. For this reason, Kurtulmak guides the souls of hard-working kobolds back to their original lair for reincarnation. His coming-of-age some sages see divine agency or draconic influence in the ceremonies involve crafting and defeating traps. common kobold.
HISTORY AND FOLKLORE
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