You are still determining what all you will need for this organization, but you do know you need scouts and a leader of some sort who is familiar with infiltration tactics. In addition, a thought strikes you: Why not organize some method of reconnaissance against the troglodyte horde, like this one?

But at any rate, you will need for both:

A leader
Infiltrators
Scouts

Also desirable would be:

Magicians (for discerning magical interests)
Survivalists (In case of long weeks in the deep caves)
Logistician

>>15130197
I am more interested in a foreign intelligence agency that concerns itself with military intel, like the Russian GRU and US Defense Intelligence Agency.

Keep Lt. Soth in mind for a field team leader, and begin looking for infiltrator/scouts and survivalists.
We can find field-work-minded mages from the Mages, and those good at logistics from among the Farmers, Merchants, and Accountants.

>>15130242

By the end of a long workday, you've got a good team in mind for hiring those individuals. You were interrupted part of the way through with a messenger asking you rudimentary questions about magical theory, as well as some more prying questions about casting spells with your artificial hand. You booted him out of your office and then about an hour later realized who was probably sending you those questions.

Well, shit. Guess the kid needed to study after all.

By your clock, it's half past ten. You're beat to hell. Any further plans for tonight or early plans for tomorrow?

>>15130414
Did we answer those questions for Turen? If not, send the answers to him now, or first thing tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, we should put together a proposal to be put before the Council concerning this organization; it will need funding and the cooperation of the heads of the groups for it to work.

>>15130502

You answered them, though it was mostly someone interrupting your work that got your temper to flare.

Now you feel a bit bad about chasing the poor guy out like that, but it's unavoidable. Sometimes your temper gets the better of you.

You jot down some notes, remembering that Turen's test is tomorrow. You hope your answers were of some help. Except the last one which was unnecessarily snarky and ill-mannered.

The council actually meets later in the day tomorrow. On account of the test. Yes, that was what reminded you of it. So you've got a good chunk of time to put together a presentation. About 5 hours. You'll need maybe 30 minutes, not counting in printing time.

>>15130619
Okay, sounds good. It's late at night so we should get to bed, to start nice and early in the morning.

>>15130628

You fall asleep, dream of abstract concepts and awaken the next morning.

You slept in fifteen minutes. This is unacceptable. You grumble and make do with a quick workout of about five minutes. What to do first?

>>15130675
Put together the presentation and get it printed.
Then observe the Finals, see how Turen does.

>>15130693

You put together the presentation, and send it off to be copied (Slip on my part, you don't have printing technology). You take the quick route to the finals, where you can see a large number of kobolds sitting in stadium-style stands and cheering on their kids. You manage to arrive just as the first test has started, iinvolving a number of rooms with magical traps involving confetti, temporary color changes or slight jolts that are disguised as serious spells. The job of the students is to identify them and determine the best course of action.

One kobold is already nursing a slight scortch on his hand as he proceeds back out. You recall someone else trying to disarm one as well. He was tasting rotten eggs for the rest of the day.

Some from the crowd recognize you, and are not exactly quiet about wondering why you're here.

The larger kobold you find a place next to asks you exactly that.

"Enjoying the morning off, magistrate?" He says, his voice seeming a bit loud.

>>15131008
"Always good to see how the next clutch are doing, citizen."

Pass off our attendance as just us getting a look at potential new bureaucrats and white-collar workers.

"Always good to see how the next clutch are doing, citizen." You say to him.

"Ah, civic duty and all that. Well don't you worry, we're getting on alright. I'm just here to support my kids." He says with a proud, toothy grin. "And a day off of mage work helps to rest the mind every now and then."

You wouldn't have taken him for a mage.

"It's always interesting to see how the tests have changed over the years. I took mine, oh, eighteen years ago." You say to him as a new student marches forward from the school, and begins examining the first trap.

"Eighteen? I took it twelve years ago myself." He says. "What was it like then?"

"Well, for one, the traps were real. Nothing serious, but you'd get some acid across the nose if you tried disabling it incorrectly sometimes." You reminisce. "A lot more sophisticated nowadays. Fake auras an all that."

The sutdent passes his test, and moves on to the next round. A spectacled kobold at the stand near the crowd reads off the next name. "Yomere."

The kobold next to you stands immediately, becoming a boisterous fountain of encouragement. "YEAH! SHOW 'EM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF, DARLING!"

A slender, young female kobold steps out, waving sheepishly over towards him.

>>15131202
"Your daughter, then?"
Observe the tests, and don't show any extra attention to Turen; wouldn't want to bias the tests in any way.
But, if he looks towards us and sees us, lock eyes with him and nod.

"Your daughter, then?"

He remains quiet, save a nod, focused on his daughter's progress. The girl remains quiet, focused almost entirely on the task at hand. She finally reaches around one side of the small box, causing the large kobold next to you to loudly cringe in anticipation.

She disarms it, and continues on, shaking the hand of one instructor you know to be the school's trapmaster as she walks out.

"YOU DID IT! YES! THAT'S MY GIRL! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The larger kobold stands once more, clapping and hollering. His daughter waves over at him again, looking a bit embarrassed.

His other daughter, named Ashea, comes out a few rounds later, and she fries the trap with a short-range blast of lightning. You think you hear the trapmaster curse, but it's hard to hear anything over the... enthusiasm of the man next to you. This daughter seems embarrassed as well, though a bit more than the other daughter.

After a few more kobolds, you at last hear the name you were waiting for.

"Turen."

You feel your heart up in your throat. How's he going to do? Is the recent injury going to affect his performance? What about those que-

"YEAH! GO BOY GO! YOU CAN DO IT!" The kobold standa up and shouts, as Turen walks out with a cane in one hand.

That was something else you weren't expecting out of him.

>>15131302
We must remain unflappable. No outward signs of surprise.
And if he looks at us specifically, just a simple nod of acknowledgement.

>>15131326

Turen does scan the crowd, and he manages to see you next to the flailing man. You give him a nod of acknowledgment. He has a small bandage over his left eye, and walks with some difficulty over to the trap. He scratches his chin for a bit, the bright red of his hand contrasting against his ruddy scales.

"He's a smart kid, shouldn't give him any trouble." The kobold next to you says. "But... is that a prosthetic?"

"Yes." You say to him.

The kobold seems troubled. "What happened to him? Poor kid."

Turen thinks for a bit, then waves his right hand in an opening spell, and pulls out a slender crystal from the trap. He taps the tripwire, showing that the trap is disarmed.

>society of technologically advanced kobolds.
Kobold engineers? Want

>>15131462

And more! Magitech walker tanks, prosthetics, even what basically amount to railguns with an additional steam propellant. Here is my horrifyingly bad rendition of some of the stuff and two characters.

"YEAH! NICE JOB!" The kobold shouts. You see Turen look back at you, then walk over to the exit, where the daughters of the man and another male kobold help Turen down a step.

The kobold frowns, and looks deep in thought. "What could've happened in that week he was gone? He said he was just gone on a field excercise..."

You feel a stone of guilt at the pit of your stomach.

"That poor kid's never had a thing go well for him in his life." The kobold says to you. "And, rest assured, sir, if I find the man or... whatever responsible, I'll make sure they get what's coming to 'em." He seems quiet for the first time in a while.

The kobold at the stand in front of the crowd clears his throat after the last few students finish the test. "Next will be the obstacle course. Naturally, this will take a short time to set up. You are dismissed for fifteen minutes. Please remember that talking with students is disallowed during this time." The speaker looks up at the kobold next to you with a glare, then notices you and is visibly surprised for a moment before stepping down.

The kobold continues pondering this silently in the stands along with you. You feel slightly awkward, but fortunately he breaks the silence.

"It's been years since I went here as well, but I can still feel some dread in the pit of my stomach when the exam comes up. My kids and Turen were all stressed out about it. He helped them study, though, and they helped him." He clenches his fist, which you note has a tinge of scarlet around the knuckles and the nails. "When I think about that poor kid..." He trails off, seeming a bit sad instead of the anger you had seen coming a short time ago.

The course is complete in a short time, and you can see a few old "favorites" of the soldiers here. A stone wall with a knotted rope, some far-apart stones over mud, balance beam, and of course the huge plaster "squeezing holes", a maze that leads out to the final test in basic melee combat avoidance, handled by a few trainees from the barracks. Unlike the previous test, all of the participants have been released simultaneously for a mile run. You remember being angry that another kobold had beaten you up near the front. Junta Lokas. You were friendly rivals for a while in the military, until he lost his life in a dwarven ambush about fourteen years back. You always thought he was a great scout, save his mouth. CO material if you ever saw it, though.

The kobold next to you claps as the students start running towards the obstacles, some panting harder than others.

( I have to stop taking these hour meal breaks.)

You see several of the kobolds traverse the obstacles easily, using jumping spells or supernatural speed to bypass a few of the more time-consuming ones. The few who fall behind or into the mud pits manage to get back out after a bit, one including the boisterous kobold's quiet daughter. He shouts encouragement, but still appears dismayed. You nearly join in his clapping as Turen rounds near the end of the lineup, with a larger, overweight kobold tailing him. He runs with a limp, and stops at the wall for a moment to stretch his left leg out before starting the ascent. The larger kobold is soon behind him, and the two are soon at the top. Turen grasps the top of the wall with his left hand, then detaches it, using the cable attached at the wrist to slide down quickly and safely. This buys him a bit of time that he spends reeling his hand back in.

"Guess that's one advantage, eh?" The kobold next to you says almost quietly.

They move on to the next portion, both having some trouble leaping across the rocks. Turen manages to scramble on the side of a few rocks, but manages his way across. The larger kobold falls at the next to last portion, struggling to make his way out fo the mud.

Turen stops for a moment, looking back. He turns around, crouching down and bracing his left hand in a firing position. The larger kobold looks up in surprise as Turen's hand hits the mud next to him. Turen walks back towards a pole by the balance beams, moving around it in a tight circle and bracing. The larger kobold climbs back out of the mud with the help of this brace, then yanks the hand out of the mud and gives it to Turen before rushing ahead. Turen looks carefully at the balance beams before proceeding with his arms stretched out to either side.

He walks forward a bit after taking his cane off from a small makeshift sheath on his belt, using it to balance on his right side.

You can tell he's having difficulty, walking that beam with one eye missing has got to outdo any difficulties from the prosthetics. He traverses the small islands between beams easily enough, but towards the last portion, where the beam starts to tilt off one way, his left foot slips, and he starts to slide off across his back, the cane tumbling down into the short drop.

You feel your breath cease for a moment, before you see that he's grabbed the beam with his left hand. He twists around, shuffling his way across it, but it soon becomes apparent that his right hand is getting worn down. He finally hangs, unable to pull himself back up.

The larger kobold looks back, despite his girth, apparently being quite good at keeping his balance. He walks back, his arms out to either side, all the way to the spot where Turen hangs. He sits, wrapping his legs around the beam, and pulls Turen up like a farmer pulling a carrot. He carries Turen on his back, moving quickly to the squeezing holes. Turen seems to stop for a moment as he's let down, speaking to the larger kobold, who seems to shake a fist at him. Turen leaps into the holes after a moment, while the larger kobold chants something. He suddenly halves in size, hopping into one of the lower passages. A few people in the crowd laugh at this.

"What're you laughing at?" You hear a familiar voice say. You look a few rows down from you, seeing Ghaon with his nose a few inches from another kobold's face.

It appears your friend isn't the only one who has children competing in this exam.

Turen is the first one out, quick even by comparison to the other kobolds. A soldier with a spear comes at him, and he parries it with his cane in his left hand, a blaze of vibrant violets, oranges and blues coming from his right. The soldier collapses, clutching his eyes as Turen faces off against an archer with padded arrows. He conjures a small, nearly transparent shield, deflecting the shots as he runs past to the swordsman, a kobold with a hand tucked behind his back. Turen stops, the swordsman tilting his blade downward, almost like an invitation. Turen starts to move his hand to cast a spell, and the swordsman brings his back hand to bear, a dagger flying at Turen. He manages to get his shield in the way, but his spell is disrupted. It would have been a magic missile, a classic opening attack. The swordsman rushes at him, and he rolls backwards, dodging the initial cut. The swordsman presses his attack, coming within inches of Turen before he gets his shield in the way, an audible scrape issuing from the sword as it contacts the semi-flexible force barrier. Turen begins parrying the sword, working as hard as he can to defend himself, with no range to retreat and get a spell off.

The larger, now smaller, kobold rushes out to the field, where the spearman has regained consciousness. He lunges at the smaller kobold, who ducks, grabbing the spear. He runs up the length of the spear, thrusting the shaft aside as he leaps up with a mighty overhanded crack to the soldier's skull. The soldier teeters for a moment before falling.

"YES! KEEP GOING!" You hear Ghaon shout from below you.

The archer has a hard time hitting the miniscule kobold, who proceeds over to the swordsman, where Turen has been backed up the the edge of the field. Turen lashes out, causing the swordsman to take a step back in surprise as he sees the smaller kobold starting to sneak past.

Also, is anyone reading this?

The swordsman starts at the smaller kobold, who pulls out his own weapon, a small (now smaller) shortsword. The two exchange blows, the smaller one unable to get in a cut. Turen pants for a second, before limping over past the two, seeming to chant something as he walks, moving his left hand. He tires a few times, finally succeeding as he nears the finish line. He turns, firing his hand off of his wrist and catching the swordsman in the back with a short zap. The swordsman is stunned long enough for the smaller kobold to smack him across the face, taking him down. The two cross the line to a great applause.

Next time, the final portion of the exam. And then, INTRIGUE!

Also it will be next Wednesday at 22:00.

>>15132499
Sorry, fell asleep.
Will see you next week, VKO.

>>15134065

Apparently I am awake and have no class till two hours from now. So there's still yet more if anyone feels up to it.

shameful bump

>>15136373
Oh great, NOW I read that you're back.

Anyway, everyone make sure to vote in the sup/tg/ archives; another culling is on the way.