Grimpaw: The Adventure's End

Grimpaw and the Kobolds broke camp when the sun rose upon them. They had been making good time to Rarity's garden, and had no trouble foraging for food.

Of course, most of this was for Grimpaw's presence. He had saved no less than three of the Kobold younglings from eating poisonous berries, and showed them and the others how to tell the difference as his father had taught him.

But berries could only get the group so far. And thus they had stopped at a small lake, intent on claiming fish.

Grimpaw waded into the water without his sword. The Eldest, as the only Kobold capable of hunting, stepped cautiously into the shallows ten feet from him, his crude spear held in front of him for protection as well as hunting.

Scales gleamed in the sunlight beneath the surface of the water. Whether it was prey to hunt or a predator to fear, the Eldest thrusted his spear at it as fast as he could.

The thrust went wide and the fish swam away...into the waiting claws of Grimpaw.

The Gnoll had seen the fish before the Eldest and planned accordingly, slowly sinking his arm beneath the water so he could snatch the fish up if it escaped the Eldest. Grimpaw had hoped that the young tribe leader would fair better, but it seems the boy has a lot left to learn.

The Eldest and the other Kobolds watched with awe as Grimpaw carried the foot and a half long fish in one hand with his claws embedded in its skull before tossing it lightly onto the shore.

"...Want use spear?" The Eldest asked while holding out his spear. Grimpaw turned and stared at the weapon for a moment. "...No. I hunt as nature intended." Without turning his eyes back to the lake, he closed his clawed fingers in and around another fish and threw it atop the first.

The Eldest looked in confusion at the Gnoll, if they needed food, why make it harder to claim it when he already used a sword to face the Adventurers?

Grimpaw claimed another fish, and the Eldest felt one brush against his leg and swung his spear at it frantically. The fish avoided this attack easily and swam away, motivating the Eldest to focus on the task at hand.

After an hour and a half, the Eldest had managed to spear a single fish while Grimpaw had one for every youngling and four for himself.

The Gnoll patted the Eldest's back. "You will learn in time."

The Kobold nodded. He may have been unsure about his place as Eldest, but he was certain he would learn how to forage for food at least.

Gnolls and Kobolds alike did not need to cook meat before eating it, so no fire was needed. The younglings began enjoying their meal while Grimpaw looked at the sun. "Midday. Must hurry."

The Gnoll began scarfing down his fish at a rate that would see him finish before even the most ravenous of the younglings. The Eldest watched him silently, questions burning in his mind.

Grimpaw paused in the midst of his third fish. "Speak."

"...Why not use spear?" The Kobold asked.

"Not need it." The Gnoll answered.

"But spear make hunting easier." The Eldest stated.

"Nature gave Gnolls claws and fangs to hunt. I need no more than this." Grimpaw finished his third fish and picked his last one.

"...Then why use sword?" Grimpaw froze, his teeth barely touching the fish's scales, before putting it down and looking into the Eldest's eyes.

"Adventurers use more than nature gave them to take more than they need. I tried to face them as nature intended...but I couldn't." He turned away and looked at the sword laying beside him.

"This sword is evil. It was made to let Adventurers defy nature and take everything from others...like your gold." Grimpaw returned his gaze to the Eldest, his eyes heavy with disappointment...at himself.

The Eldest understood. Grimpaw considered his use of weapons a sin. He was not to be deadlier than his teeth and claws, but he could not stop the Adventurers with his natural weapons alone.

"...No. NO!" The Eldest shouted, drawing the attention of the younglings away from their food. "YOU ARE NOT LIKE THEM! IF GNOLLS AND KOBOLDS WERE NOT MEANT TO USE WEAPONS, GNOLLS AND KOBOLDS WOULD NOT HAVE HANDS!!! WEAPONS ARE NOT EVIL! ADVENTURERS ARE EVIL!!!"

Grimpaw snorted, unconvinced. "Tell other Gnolls. I am traitor to nature." With that, Grimpaw picked up his last fish and started walking. "Break is over. We move now"

Elsewhere

A day and a half had passed since the raid on the Kobold den. Any who knew of the bloodshed that had taken place there would've been forgiven for thinking greater time would pass before the silence of the cave ceased, but it was broken with the dawn.

A trio of Adventurers, far older than those slain here, with the sun catching their golden badges, entered the cave. At their head was an Elven Ranger, his eyes enchanted to reduce the decay of time upon a chosen target's trail.

Just behind him came two robed humans. One, robed in white with an ivory staff that bore the image of the Serpent, while the other was robed in black and carried an ornamental spear.

They came to the end of the cave and found the broken bodies of Sunburst and Limestone. "So that confims it. Grimpaw has taken another group."

The white robed human grit his teeth. "Damn monster, he preys on children while evading seasoned Adventurers. He shows himself for the coward that he is."

The Ranger turned an emotionless eye to his ally. "He also shows his intelligence by picking his fights. Pharynx, you're up. We can't lose him this time."

Pharynx, the black robed human, strode forth. "I will see if their souls wish to return."

Pharynx moved first to Limestone. After a moment of examining the Dwarf's body, Pharynx began to speak in the Eldritch tongue.

The Ranger and white robed human both winced as the cave pulsated as Pharynx communed with otherworldly beings of unspeakable horror. Beings who filled Limestone's lifeless body with their energy and reanimated her.

The Dwarf shaped creature breathed in the air of the cave, taking in every smell and deciphering the sent of it's host's killer before crying out with an unholy shriek and sprinting out of the cave.

Pharynx gathered up the Dwarf's weapons. When their task was concluded, they would bury Limestone's body with her party, weapons in hand. But until then, they would leave magical beacons at the other two bodies and press on. Grimpaw would not be allowed to kill again.