The troll that Zevrack had struck was, surprisingly, not dead. It swung its working arm around wildly, downing a nearby tree, and nearly killing one of the kobolds that was attempting to finish it off. I drew my sword and summoned two invisible steps, using them to quickly reach the troll’s head. I leapt onto it, using its stringy hair as a handhold, and drove my blade into the soft flesh on the back of its neck. Black blood poured from the wound, thick and syrupy, and when the creature tried to scream, it instead choked, and fell forward, drowning in its own blood. I rolled off and found myself in the midst of the strange kobolds we’d encountered.

The kobolds who had been attacking the troll looked briefly at us in confusion. I looked at them, and pointed at the remaining trolls with my sword. They exchanged glances, then nodded at me, and we all started toward the nearest, massive troll, who was engaged in fierce combat.

Zevrack took to the sky, his wings unfolding, and headed straight for it. That drew gasps from the kobolds around us, and when he started unleashing his poisoned needles at the massive beast, it let out a roar of confusion and pain. This was foolish, as it let Zev unleash a barrage of those needles directly down its throat.

With Zev committed to that one, Patience, Nica, and I turned our attention to the next nearest one. Nica immediately started sending arrows at it. Her Perfect aim allowed her to fire them just next to the kobold’s that were climbing it, without doing them any harm.

Patience surprised me by overtaking me before I could reach the next troll. While it was distracted by the kobolds that were climbing up it, she made her way toward his feet, sliding between his legs as she reached him. From there she made two, brutal and quick incisions at its achilles tendons. The troll howled in pain and fell to its knees, briefly stopping its attempts to remove the kobolds from its body.

In that gap in its attention, the kobolds were able to reach his head and shoulders, where they began to stab their spears, knives, and swords into its flesh, some of them even tearing off chunks of it with their teeth. Before I could even reach the creature, it let out its death knell, and fell forward. Crushing an unfortunate Kobold that hadn’t moved off of it in time.

Then there was only one left. Zevrack was swooping down on him, covering him with needles, or breaths of fire with each pass, and staying just out of reach as he did so. The kobolds that had been attacking that one were now too busy staring at Zevrack with a mixture of awe and confusion to help, and I noticed that the troll’s swipes were getting a little closer to Zev each time, as if he was figuring out how to gauge his speed.

I ran in, activating a ¼th stone toss and aiming it at the troll’s head. It bounced off his thick skull, but it did provide enough of a distraction for Zevrack to manage an additional pass without being hit. I closed the distance, yelling to keep the troll’s attention on me, and when that stopped working, I changed to insults.

“Your tusks look like shit and I had your mother last night!” I yelled, and immediately regretted it.

The troll turned his attention completely to me and his eyes turned red. He let out a powerful roar and charged me. I recognized his expression immediately. It was just like that one I’d seen on Rancor when he’d attacked us in the woods. I’d accidentally triggered the troll’s rage.

I went from running toward him, to dodging around him. I ducked between trees, rolled out of the way of club strikes, and generally did my best not to get hit. The soreness from the last time I’d been struck by a man in a rage was screaming at me as I did so.

When the troll’s long stride got it close enough that I could smell its breath, I started to panic, luckily it was at that moment that Zevrack reappeared. He let out a surprisingly loud roar and dove for the troll’s back. He lifted his right claw, and a contraption that was on his arm extended outward, revealing a massive replica of a dragon’s claw which he used to rend a massive cut in the troll's back.

The troll screamed, and whipped around to strike Zev, but before he could Zev opened his mouth and let out another of the concentrated beams of heat into the troll’s back. The beast opened its eyes wide in surprise, the rage fading from them, then he fell down, dead.

I moved quickly to where Zevrack was still hanging. He looked exhausted, but he was looking at the claw extension he’d used to rake the troll’s back with and smiling. He looked up at me as I approached. “The claw worked very well. Just need to work on making it retract.” He emphasized what he was saying by tugging at the claw, seemingly unable to make it budge.

“I’ll help you out.” I bent down and started helping him remove the claw. By the time we were done, the kobolds we’d encountered had all gathered near us. Nica and Patience stood a little ways behind us, trying not to draw attention even though they were clearly ready to keep fighting if it came to it.

One of the kobolds, a slightly larger one with a plainer pattern, approached Zevrack and started to sniff at him. Zevrack began to do the same. They circled one another, then Zev and the other one paused. They both got off the body of the troll, then Zev removed his gear. The other one followed suit and they closed in on each other aggressively. I was about to try and intervene, when they both dropped down and started doing push ups. The other kobolds around them began clapping, once for each push up, as a way for them to keep rhythm and count.

I looked over at Nica and Patience, who looked back with the same confusion I was sure I was wearing on my own face. I carefully walked around whatever strange ritual was occurring so that I could stand with them.

“So, just to be clear, no one knows what’s happening here?” I asked.

They both shook their heads.

“Perhaps I should go tell the others what is happening,” suggested Nica.

I nodded. “Yeah…that’s probably a good idea. Maybe we’ll be lucky and Millicent will know what the hell is happening.”

Nica nodded and slipped back into the woods towards the rest of the group, leaving Patience and I to watch as Zev and his opponent passed what was easily their hundredth rep with no signs of stopping. I checked my notifications while I was waiting.

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Feint!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Acrobatics!

Congratulations! You and your party have slain three Trolls (lvls 6-9)! You gain 350 xp!

About what I expected. The trolls were surprisingly high level, but I guessed that with the xp shared among my party and the kobolds, that stretched things pretty thin. The skill gains were good though. As I dismissed the notifications, I noticed the clapping the kobolds were doing began to slow. Both Zevrack, and his opponent looked exhausted, but Zev’s teeth were gritted and I saw a fire in his eyes I knew from when I saw him engrossed completely in what he was doing. Whatever was happening, Zev would win, I was sure of it.

My confidence was rewarded, when after another dozen reps, Zev’s opponent fell forward on his face. Zev himself finished two more before himself collapsing, and then the clapping fell silent.

I moved carefully over to Zev and offered him my waterskin. He accepted it gratefully, and took a long sip before standing himself up. Before I could ask what the hell had just happened, the other kobold’s surrounded us.

I reached for my sword, but before I drew it, they all gave a respectful bow. The one that had competed with Zevrack came closer to us and bowed as well before speaking. “We of the Snow-Burrowers, acknowledge your clan. You may travel here freely and we shall aid you as we can.”

I looked at Zevrack. “So, that was an introduction of sorts then?” I asked.

He cocked his head and looked at me. “Yes. All kobold clans must compete for acknowledgement when they first meet.”

“What would’ve happened if you’d lost?” I asked.

“They would’ve tried to kill us most likely.”

I let out a breath and counted the more than two dozen kobolds that now surrounded us. “Oh. Well. Glad you don’t skip chest day.”