History and Folklore

populations. Kurtulmak directs such expansions to push into gnome territories whenever possible, dealing the maximum number of casualties to the kobolds’ racial enemy.

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 dragons and reptiles, such as “O Watcher, I slither before your scaly majesty.” Prayers to the Horned Sorcerer can also take the form of battle cries and promises of revenge. (“By the point of

Kurtulmak’s spear and the tip of his poisonous tail, I will see every member of your family perish.”) Kobolds evoke the name of Kurtulmak when facing daunting odds or diffi cult situations.

Temples

Kurtulmak’s temples are carved out of earth and solely used to house adepts, clerics, and the tribe’s most valuable treasures. Not surprisingly, these temples are protected with small, twisting tunnels and a staggering array of deadly traps. The map presented here is a small portion of the kobold lair known as Iejirokarthel, which is described on page 52.

Rites

Kurtulmak guides the souls of hard-working kobolds back to their original lair for reincarnation. His coming-of-age ceremonies involve crafting and defeating traps. Herald and Allies

Kurtulmak’s herald is a fi endish kobold 5th-level cleric/ 5th-level sorcerer/10th-level mystic theurge. His allies are horned devils, pit fi ends, and salamanders.

Finding traces of ancient kobold settlements has always been diffi cult. When kobolds exhaust the resources of a mine, they abandon it, taking everything of value with them. Left behind is only an empty lair, rich with kobold history etched into the walls. Kobolds are excellent recordkeepers, engraving the events of their lives into the walls of every new lair, regardless of how many times they migrate from one location to the next. Kobolds’ abandoned mines are eventually occupied by roaming creatures that turn such lairs into their homes, making exploration dangerous. Subterranean races have also been known to gut old kobold lairs, knocking down walls and reshaping the interior. Archeologists have even discovered traces of kobold history engraved into the corridors of ancient dwarf strongholds. Kobolds have a scattered history, turning up in isolated regions with absolutely no historical connection to the place. Even taking the nomadic nature of kobolds into 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 current whereabouts seem to indicate. For this reason, some sages see divine agency or draconic infl uence in the common kobold.