Gren was dragged before the three giants by a pair of huge, dark-skinned men in armour. For some reason he couldn't quite focus on them, or on one of the three giants. The other two stuck out like sore thumbs, huge muscled men, one a deep scarlet from head to toe. That one looked livid. Before they could challenge him, the room shook with thunderous power as the goddess delivered her message.
When the aftershock had cleared the three giants began shouting at one another for several minutes before one of them pointed out the dwarf and they seemed to remember his presence.
"Who are you, dwarf?" the red one demanded. "Why do you trespass in our halls?"
"He was hardly trespassing, he was a survivor in the city below," said the lightest giant.
"And a dwarf," added the third, whose skin Gren now realised was night-black. "One of the children of Udil, and an enemy of the children of Thaneos."
Gren tries to raise his hands, but the Njortun either side of him held them down. He calmed his voice instead, focusing on the light giant. Something about that giant reassured him, even made his injuries feel less painful.
"Saving birth, I am no child of Udil. He has lost my loyalty by his deeds and lack of deeds. I came to this place seeking answers; some I found, some I did not. The spiteful act that brought you here destroyed much of what I could have learned in the library below, but some knowledge may yet survive." Gren brought himself up and shook his head slightly. "Forgive me, I forget myself. I am Gren Garnsson, and I am on a quest to try and save the world from the privations of the gods, mad as that may be.
"At first I thought merely to save it from their neglect, but the words of this goddess say otherwise. I have crossed paths with her worshippers, bloody cultists who care nothing for life. That she herself should be so callous, so mad, can be little surprise to any of us. She strives to kill us all. You say you are children of Thaneos? She will destroy you for the crime of being his kin. She will destroy me for straying from the gods; she may already have tried. It may be that war upon her could be the only course."
Gren took a deep breath and tried to match eyes with each giant before he continued.
"Yet for all this there is a threat greater still, one that even the gods fear. It drew me out upon my quest, for it seems the beast is not so strong against mere mortals as the divine. I know not its name, nor its nature, but the frightful gods have revealed to me that it lies far above us, beyond the sky. Listen now, listen to your hearts. Can you not hear something calling to us, calling from beyond that veil? I think it dares us to approach, taunts us.
"I have little cause to love the gods, you even less, but a threat that turns craven the divine is as great to us as any neglect. I ask your aid in this endeavour, to help me find a way to stop this creature and perhaps in so doing a way to turn the tide against Vanidia and her ilk. I fear that I have nothing to give you in return -" Gren's eyes suddenly lit up.
"No, wait! There is something. In the greatest days of Emeraldhome and Smoulderhome, Udil brought forth golems from his Life Stone, men built of stone and metal to serve him. These golems were powerful, but tied to the life stone itself. I am unable to build such things, but lesser creations akin to them I can. If you can provide me with metal and tools I can fashion bodies, and I have learned the trick to bind them to a life force as well. Without the life stone I cannot give them a life of their own, but a man or dwarf might be able to support two or three on his own without being seriously weakened, and command them through his connection. Something with a stronger font of life might manage more, but I know of no such beings.
"Help me and I will make these - these - homunculi for you, I will teach you how to make your own. I know not how they would fare as soldiers, but as tools and assistants they would be of great worth. Help me vanquish this great threat to us all, and I will teach you all I know of this secret. Help me, and I have no doubt you will find weapons on our quest strong enough to face Vanidia and protect yourselves from the predations of this goddess. Help me, and your names will ring through song for the rest of time. The fate of Despair, and both our kinds, depends upon you."
Gren attempts to solicit the aid of the giants in the Father's Halls on his quest to seek out Un'girlan, as promised to Corvus. If they agree, he builds homunculi for them and teaches them how to build their own, as well as loading any surviving scrolls and books from the Crowblessed temple aboard the Halls to preserve them.
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Topic: Pantheon Play Thread: In the beginning there was... (Read 85956 times)