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Red's character sheet
🕑 Added 2019-02-16 10:28:20 +0000 UTCThe fifth monthly character sheet has been made. This time, it's Red, the kobold fighter, which is the star of the show. This sheet, along with an NSFW version of both the sheet and the story can be found on the website over at http://www.koboldadventure.com/charsheet/index.html#red
The version number has been updated to 2.455 (Redsheet). Besides some typo fixes and the character sheet, nothing else is new. However, the sheet's backstory is over four thousand words long, the longest by far, and as such I thought it deserved at least half a version increase. Note that there is no downloadable package available for this version.
And now, without further ado, the safe for work version of the kobold's backstory. Enjoy!
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Part one: A nobleman's whims
Red, formerly known as Remi, is a short-tempered, crimson-scaled kobold living in the city of Varanar. A genetic mutt, she was born into the servitude of a noble family living in one of the richer districts. Her mother, a slave and a maid both, named Mariah by their host-family, served mainly as a piece of eye candy for man of the house, much to his wife's dismay. The human woman frequently beat her kobold maid, blaming the slave for her husband's infidelity.
And so, after many months of one-sided fooling around, Remi was born. If it were up to their mistress, the red-scaled baby's mother would have been struck down ages ago. The jealous, childless older woman complained, nagged and threatened to leave if her husband didn't get rid of the vile spawn he had conceived. But the old nobleman never heeded her much mind. To him, two maids were better than one. And it's not like they were expensive to keep. A morsel of food and some leftovers, every now and again, that was all they needed, and that was all they got.
The woman of the house was overly upset with her husband's behavior. Even when behaving, the two kobolds were liberally slapped, punched, kicked and hurt. She claimed they were taking her husband away from her, and she had a lot of pent-up frustration to vent. Mariah tried to explain that they wanted no part in the man's sick and twisted fantasies, but the woman couldn't care less.
If the kobold slaves weren't there to tempt her husband, then he would have remained loyal and faithful until the day they died. The young Remi argued that, if the human did not want them there, then she should let them go. But that was not an option. The man of the house insisted on keeping his maids, they had paid a pretty penny for her mother, and they didn't want to seem like they lacked the means to keep a pair of extra mouths. The lady's prestige meant even more to her, than her husband did.
Part two: A woman scorned
One day, the family's already intensive arguments boiled over. Shouting turned to fighting. A kitchen knife was brandished. The old man was stabbed, by his own wife nonetheless. She grieved over his bloodied corpse, weeping in disbelief at her own actions. Fearing what the deranged woman would do to them, Mariah and Remi fled to the streets, to begin their lives anew.
But the murderess still had one final blow to deal to the runaway mother and child. Normally, she'd be arrested for killing her husband in cold blood. But, she did not stab him, or so she claimed when the guards came to investigate. No, it was the kobolds! Their two slaves. They had rebelled against their masters, and fled after beating her up, and stabbing her husband. Who were they going to believe? An overgrown lizard, or a recently widowed noblewoman?
Just a few days after they had tasted freedom, a group of guardsmen came for Remi and her mom. They fled down an alleyway, where the older kobold helped her daughter climb over a slightly-too-high wall. Then, before she could cross over to safety herself, the heavily armed humans in pursuit caught up. The captain of the guard tackled her to the ground, the rest dogpiled on top. Resistance was futile. Watching through a tiny hole in the wall, Red witnessed Mariah get taken away, escorted out of the alley in cuffs. That was the last time she ever saw her mother.
Part three: Freedom
Remi was alone and afraid. In the outside world, which she had never even seen apart from staring out the window. Without Mariah to take care of her. At least the guards weren't after the young kobold child. Rumor had it, that her mother confessed to having done everything the noblewoman said she had done, but claimed to have acted on her own, so there was no reason to go after her lonesome daughter. Now, at least one of them had a chance at a normal life.
Normal, for a kobold, at least. The red-scaled kobold soon discovered that living on the streets, was a lot like how things used to be, back at the mansion. Begging for scraps left her with barely anything to eat. Roving gangs of all walks of life preyed on weak, isolated people like herself. Vicious beatings, just for fun, were a common occurrence. When they were still slaves, her mother had taught her an invaluable lesson: to stay down, instead of trying to get up. There was no point in fighting back. She'd only get hurt more.
Whenever a gang passed by, whatever coins Remi had collected were taken. Hiding the money was her first intuition. On her person, in an alleyway, hidden underneath a loose brick. They'd always find it, no matter where she'd put it. If not the gangs themselves, then some lucky passerby stumbling upon one of her meagre stashes. Eventually, she learned to spend what little she had, before others could get to her hard-earned gold.
Part four: Remi is dead
As years went by, the name Remi faded into obscurity. The kobold herself didn't like it. It reminded her of the past. Of being a slave. But that's not who she was anymore. She was free now, even if it was a pitiful existence, at the bottom of society, and at the bottom of the food chain. The few friends the rapidly growing girl had, referred to her by the color of her scales. Red. The name stuck. She's used it ever since.
All of the beatings had left her tough and hardened. She wasn't particularly good at fighting, but she could take a punch or two and come out swinging. And in some jobs, that's all you need. So, Red was hired by a shady tavern in the bad part of the kobold district of Varanar, to serve as a bouncer. The patronage was mostly kobolds, like herself. They hit a whole lot less hard than humans, but their sharp claws were a force to be reckoned with. Her scales were raked open more than once, but luckily there was always plenty of alcohol around with which to disinfect her wounds.
On top of being more agile than the people Red was used to getting beaten by, the kobolds also fought more dirty than the other races she'd gotten into scraps with. Many resorted to throwing bottles at her, attacking her while her back was turned, or throwing dust, sand, booze, or even powdery drugs in her face to disorient the bouncer-girl. While she had naturally grown to be hardy and resilient, the red-scaled kobold was not invincible. More than once, she was knocked out, only to wake up out back, in the trash.
Whenever his most brawny employee got into a fight, the tavern owner looked the other way, not getting involved no matter what happened. She was being paid plenty to get knocked senseless every now and again. Of course, the clientele knew that if they killed Red, they'd anger her boss. And someone with his connections, everyone wanted to keep on their good side. He even graciously allowed the foolish girl to sleep in the building overnight, to prevent any burglaries, and to keep her off the streets.
Part five: warm, for a while
While Red was busy increasing her proficiency as a brawler, the city guards upped their scarce presence in the kobold quarter. Most of the crime perpetrated in Varanar could be traced back to this lawless district, and as such, the newly appointed baron had ordered a crackdown on criminals living in the area, in a vain attempt to improve life for the common man. Eventually, the tavern the crimson kobold was a bouncer for, was raided at night. Red wisely stayed out of the ensuing fight between the law, and various thugs banding together out of necessity.
In the middle of the heated scrap, a lantern was thrown across the room, ending up shattering right on top of the booze stash. The burning oil set fire to the alcohol, and within minutes, the entire tavern was aflame. Everyone, including Red, evacuated the building. Some, amongst which the owner of the place, did not make it out alive.
With a heavy sigh and mixed feelings, the ex-bouncer watched as the only roof she'd slept under since regaining her freedom, burned down to the ground. Back to living on the streets. A successful raid, the guards called it. Successful in ruining everything the young woman had going for her, alright. Back to square one.
Disheartened, Red took a long, pondering stroll around town. She had enough money to last her for about a week or two, provided nobody took it from her. If she solely spent it on food, that was. Inn rooms did not come cheap. Definitely out of her budget. Getting a job outside of the kobold district was not going to happen. The humans would rather buy a slave, than a hire a kobold. With the place she'd called home for more than year still being combed through by the city guards, most of the not-so-legitimate businessmen there had temporarily closed shop. And in the kobold quarter, every businessman was not-so-legitimate.
Part six: home, sweet home
On the verge of relenting to her fate of being a homeless bum once more, the crimson kobold halted her relaxing pace in front of a peculiar building near the center of the city, with several large and brightly colored banners hanging from the roof-down, nearly all the way to the ground. While Red, being unable to read, couldn't understand the words inscribed on the wooden sign hanging above the door, it had various depictions of fists and poorly-etched illustrations of men fighting. The small lizard was captivated. The burning curiosity inherent to her species, compelled her to take a look inside. Swinging open the large and heavy door, what looked like heaven was revealed to her.
A wrestling ring. A pair of orcs casually sparring. A massive equine beating the shit out of a bale of hay, strung up from the ceiling. An oddly dressed cat performing some kind of meditation, before karate-chopping the stack of bricks in front of him, completely shattering them. A couple of dragons, practicing kicking and dodging. A large tiger, using a towel to wipe the sweat off of a chubby-looking canine, with both his eyes bruised near-shut.
The fighters' guild, or so a goblin sitting behind a small desk to the side welcomed her to. Where people come to train, to spar, to vent frustration and to pick up various job postings from legal and less legal source. Red was flabbergasted. A million thoughts flew through her mind. How the heck did she not know this existed?! It was perfect for her! Dumbstruck, the overjoyed kobold asked the first thing that came to mind: how could she join?
There was an entrance fee, a one-time payment for a lifetime membership. After counting every single last coin she had, the goblin was happy to report that that was exactly the price of admission. It was only later that the naive lizard discovered that membership was actually free, and that the goblin wasn't officially part of the guild, he just owned the building they used as their base of operations in Varanar. He never did return her money.
Part seven: the rules
A friendly mouse, the runt of the litter, someone even Red could beat up with ease, showed her around. The entire place was one big, multi-level, indoor gymnasium, stuffed to the brim with training gear and equipment, for combat styles from pugilism to armed combat. Everyone who wanted to be part of the guard, the army or even most local gangs, started out here.
While honing her skills without getting beaten to a pulp had already piqued her interest, Red could not stop herself from asking about the jobs the goblin had mentioned. The mouse explained that they were more like mercenary contracts. They often involved squeezing a debt out of someone, or retrieving some item that was stolen, or vacating squatters from empty homes. They ranged from honest work, to little more than criminal activity, but that could be said about most things in Varanar.
But, there was a catch. In order to take the jobs, the kobold had to be a part of the guild. There were no entrance exams, trials or fees involved, but she didhave to abide by some simple rules. Within the walls of the guild, there could be no fighting outside of the ring. Simple enough. When challenged to a fight by another guild member, the challenge had to be accepted. A little weird, but who'd want to fight her anyway? And finally, the winner of a fight was allowed to do anything to the loser, that they so pleased. Anything? Anything.
Killing your opponent was heavily frowned upon, but it was technically allowed. The guild, however, hadn't seen a combat-ring death, since their previous leader had his head torn off by the current guild-master. It was a pretty brutal display. Best not to go into details. So, it was pretty much a more organized version of the fights she got into at the bar, and on the streets. With less chance of being murdered, and hopefully less broken bottles being used as stabbing weapons. Great!
Part eight: good tradition
Besides the rules, there was one more thing Red needed to know. To the guild, honor meant everything. Stabbing someone in the back, was notsomething they condoned of. Fights had to be somewhat fair in terms of setup. Fists on fists, swords on swords, staves on staves. But who fights who? No restrictions there. In practice, this meant that the more powerful members of the group, often targeted the weaker ones. And after a few fights, they tended to get bored of just beating their prey to a pulp. As a result, various non-guild-approved acts had become commonplace post-combat.
The mouse was obviously speaking out of experience. But hey, it couldn't be worse than what the crimson lizard had already been through, right? And maybe she could even keep an eye out for him. She'd watch his back, and in turn, he could watch her tail. Not literally stare at her tail, but -- He understood.
Then, the rodent introduced the latest member of the guild to some of the most prominent local fighters. To Red's surprise, she already knew a bunch of these people! Or, well, they'd beat her up the past. Petty criminals, half of them. But the mouse insisted they were trying to change their ways. Still, the kobold could feel their contempt. It soon became very clear that she wasn't going to be friends with everyone here.
While kobold members were not so unheard of, this was the first time in the history of the Varanar chapter of the guild, that a female kobold was joining their ranks. This did not sit well with all of the fighters. And so, not only her old acquaintances, but also a bunch of new people came to dislike her. She'd only been in the guild for a few minutes, and she'd already racked up more enemies than during her entire lifetime on the streets.
Part nine: challenged
Still, despite generally being disliked, Red's first few days at the guild were amazing. She sparred with the few people that didn't hate her guts, she got to stay in the barracks upstairs overnight, the mouse brought in actual food for her to eat, and the assignments she accepted were easy and quick. For the first time in her entire life, the kobold truly felt at home. And with the coins she earned, she could start to repay her rodent friend, for all he'd done for her.
But the aspiring fighter was drawing more than a little unwanted attention. The other members of the guild played cruel pranks on her, openly insulted her and talked bad of her behind her back. They snatched assignments from her clutches, and were openly hostile outside of the guild hall. She even received a few death threats, telling her to get out while she still could. Not that the illiterate kobold could understand what was written on the crumpled pieces of paper that were thrown at her.
Since picking on her wasn't driving their latest member off, Red's bullies turned to more direct ways of trying to get her to leave. Acting within the rules of the guild, a big and burly, kobold-pig half-breed challenged her to a duel. She had no choice but to accept. He brutally beat her to within an inch of her life, then paraded her battered body around for all to see. Surely, that would scare her away, right?
It didn't. Prior to becoming a guildmember, being abused was a near-daily event for the crimson-scaled warrior. She was used to it by now. If anything, she thought the half-pig went easy on her. That pansy didn't even break any of her bones! Not that she wanted to get even more hurt, but based on what the mouse had told her, she imagined that was kind of the way things went around here. All-in-all, it wasn't that bad.
Part ten: like the old days
A week later, the kobold was back in action. Looks like she didn't get the message. A new challenger appeared. An orc. Large and brutish. One blow was all it took to end the fight, knocking her senseless, sending her body flying across the ring, before plummeting to the ground. Then, he crawled on top of her, and pummelled her for all the guild to see, until she was little more than a bloody mess. A small crowd formed. They cheered for him. Now this was more the way she was expecting -- and dreading -- her first loss to go.
Things only got worse from thereon out. As weeks turned to months turned to years, Red spent more time in the infirmary than she did on assignments. Every time she was beaten, her opponents came up with new ways to humiliate, hurt and degrade her. Bones were broken, her throat was squeezed shut more times than she could count, and she had to admit how she didn't belong in the guild, over and over and over again.
It's not like she could decline them their fun. She'd be kicked out of the guild. Lose her only source of income. Get booted to the streets once more. Go back to being a homeless beggar. Never again. She'd tough things out, or die trying. In time, they'd either kill her, or come to accept her. Rather the latter than the former.
While strong, for her kind, Red was still a kobold. She couldn't beat nearly any of her peers, and a lot of assignments were out of her reach. Even outside of the guild, she ended up losing several fights. It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't fun, but she made a living. An honest, decent living. And that's all that mattered. She didn't strive to be the best, and while being beaten was always a traumatic experience, she never let it keep her down.
Part eleven: love and victory
In a few, rare instances, the red-scaled kobold managed to win against her opponents. She'd leverage their size and bulk against them, and use all of the techniques and skills she'd learned to knock them down, and knock them out. Maybe their overly cruel spartan training was paying off, or perhaps she was simply growing stronger of her own accord.
Either way, the urge to kill the scumbags, that had taken advantage of her so many times, was exceedingly strong. It was within the rules, as was explained to her a long time ago. But she knew that, if she dared to even touch one of them after beating him, her next opponent would wring her neck for sure. And so, Red begrudgingly offered her hand, to pick up the men that had humiliated her in oh-so many ways. While they continued to wreck her body whenever she lost, she had to help them get back on their feet when she won. Her display of self-control still didn't manage to win her any friends.
At least, with the kobold taking the brunt of the bullying, her rodent friend was free from harm. He was the one they picked on before her arrival, and now the rest of the group had sort of forgotten about him, referring to him only as that pussy that brings food sometimes.
No matter how much she was beaten and bloodied, it always brought a smile to Red's face, when the first thing she saw upon waking up from being knocked out, was the mouse, without a scratch on his face. He tended to her wounds, fed her when she was unable to walk, and gave her whatever tips he could offer in order to prepare her for her next challenge. Because a next challenge, there would always be. Love bloomed between the two. But it was not meant to last.
Part twelve: one more job
Taking up an exceedingly dangerous job, to prove her worth to the rest of the crew, the crimson kobold set off to find a mages' guild adept, gone missing in the slums. She found her mark, taken prisoner by a nasty-looking human, running a slave-driven massage parlor. He wouldn't let go of his captive, so a fight ensued. The lashes of his barbed whip hurt. A lot. Despite all of her training, Red couldn't take it. She crumpled in pain. Passed out.
Things are blurry from that point onwards. For months on end, she was starved, tortured, kept in a tiny prison cell with little hygiene and little sunlight. While her mind never broke, eventually she became somewhat docile. Still rebellious, but tame enough to be put to work. She was forced to service the bigger species, the ones where she could put her superior strength to use, to loosen their knots and to ease their aching muscles. Like the mouse used to do for her.
A few members of the guild stopped by, every now and again. The owner of the massage parlor paid them off, promised them as much time alone with Red as they could possiby want, in return for keeping quiet about her, and the captured magic enthusiast both. The meagre pay the mages' guild was offering, paled to the thought of abusing the cocky little kobold. Word spread like wildfire, through certain circles. Some of the men she'd defeated in the ring found their way to her, and used the opportunity to enact some just revenge, by wreaking havoc on her body.
The once-proud fighter, had been reduced to nothing more than a slave, and a punching bag for the people she hated the most. While she could take losing a fight and facing the consequences, there was nothing honorable about being beaten while chained to a wall. In secret, she spent many nights punching walls, doing push-ups, and practicing her technique. One of these days. One of these days, she'd beat her slave-owner to a pulp, free her fellow captives, claim the reward from the mages' guild, and then come back to finish him off for what he'd done to her.
Will Moe free the crimson-scaled fighter, or will she be left to rot in enslavement forevermore? Will Red's revenge be snatched away from her, along with any chance she had of redeeming herself? Or will she get a chance of her own to murder that filthy swine? Only one thing remains sure. Remi is dead. And Red would rather die, than live the rest of her life as a slave.
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And that's all for now, folks. I'll put the NSFW version(s) of the image up in a bit, for patrons only. Non-patrons will have to look at the character sheets page (linked above) or the gallery to find the lewd drawings, along with the adult story.
I ended up putting a lot more work into this character sheet than I thought I would. As a result, I will not be doing the mini-update for Monday. Tomorrow, I will be posting a poll for patrons to decide what I should work on next. Until that poll finishes, I'm going to relax a bit, to make sure that I don't burn myself out. I hope you understand, I can't pump out 4000 words every two days. To put it simply: I'm taking the weekend off, instead of working triple-overtime this week.
Anyway, that's all for now, folks. NSFW version coming in a bit, full sheet with backstory on the character sheets page, and poll tomorrow, and thank you all for your interest! I'll see you all next time, on Kobold Club. And remember: rule number one of Kobold Club, is telling all of your friends about it. Rule number two, is leaving a comment down below, to let me know whether or not you liked the sheet. See yah!
Comments
Veeparlio
Liked the writeup.
I literally just encountered Red in my most recent playthrough. This explains why my arm is now broken.
