Of Kobolds and Men

Of Kobolds and Men is a novella written by Jo'hn Silverbeak. Published before The Dragon War, it tells the story of Gorge Mil'ton and Lannie Sm'all, two displaced migrant kobold workers, who move from place to place in search of new job opportunities during a time of economic uncertainty on The Material Plane.

Plot
Two Kobold workers in a small farming district on a plantation during the poorest harvest seen for millennia - Gorge Mil'ton, an intelligent but uneducated Kobold, and Lannie Sm'all, a bulky, strong Kobold but mentally disabled—are in Astralium on their way to another part of The Material Plane. They hope to one day attain the dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lannie's part of the dream is merely to tend and pet were-rabbits on the farm, as he loves touching soft animals, although he always accidentally kills them. This dream is one of Lannie's favourite stories, which Gorge constantly retells. They had fled from the last town after Lannie grabbed a young orc's skirt and would not let go, leading to an accusation of rape. It soon becomes clear that the two are close and Gorge is Lannie's protector, despite his antics.

After being hired at a farm, the pair are confronted by Cur'ley—The Boss's small, aggressive son with a Napoleon complex who dislikes larger men, and starts to target Lannie. Cur'ley's flirtatious and provocative wife, to whom Lannie is instantly attracted, poses a problem as well. In contrast, the pair also meets Akkar, an elderly ranch handyelf with one hand and a loyal dog, and Slime, an intelligent and gentle orc jerkline-skinner whose dog has recently had a litter of puppies. Slime gives a puppy to Lannie and Akkar, whose loyal, accomplished sheep dog was put down by fellow ranch-hand Kolvar.

In spite of problems, their dream leaps towards reality when Akkar offers to pitch in 350gp with Gorge and Lannie so that they can buy a farm at the end of the month, in return for permission to live with them. The trio are ecstatic, but their joy is overshadowed when Cur'ley attacks Lannie, who defends himself by easily crushing Cur'ley's fist while urged on by Gorge.

Nevertheless, Gorge feels more relaxed, to the extent that he even leaves Lannie behind on the ranch while he goes into town with the other ranch hands. Lennie wanders into the stable, and chats with Nordal, the bitter, yet educated stable buck, who is isolated from the other workers due to being a halfling. Akkar finds them and they discuss their plans for the farm with Nordal, who cannot resist asking them if he can hoe a garden patch on the farm albeit scorning its possibility. Cur'ley's wife makes another appearance and flirts with the men, especially Lannie. However, her spiteful side is shown when she belittles them and threatens to have Nordal fired.

The next day, Lannie accidentally kills his puppy while stroking it. Cur'ley's wife enters the barn and tries to speak to Lannie, admitting that she is lonely and how her dreams of becoming a movie star are crushed, revealing her personality. After finding out about Lannie's habit, she offers to let him stroke her hair, but panics and begins to scream when she feels his strength. Lannie becomes frightened, and unintentionally breaks her neck thereafter and runs away. When the other ranch hands find the corpse, Gorge realizes that their dream is at an end. Gorge hurries to find Lannie, hoping he will be at the meeting place they designated in case he got into trouble.

Gorge meets Lannie at their camping spot before they came to the ranch. The two sit together and Gorge retells the beloved story of the dream, knowing it is something they will never share. He then euthanizes Lannie by shooting him, because he sees it as an action in Lannie's best interest. Cur'ley, Slime, and Kolvar arrive seconds after. Only Slime realizes what happened, and consolingly leads him away. Cur'ley and Kolvar look on, unable to comprehend the subdued mood of the Kobold and the Orc.