I'm a little rusty on the regular ol' storytelling front, but here's a little something. Tell me what you guys think.
Eight gods sat gathered in a strange ethereal locale, as did the emaciated spirits of two long slain plague wraiths, chained beside the thrown of the god of speech, Lim. Across from Lim sat Rulush, the snake god of oceans, seas, and rivers. To Lim's right, Avuz Carminemines the goddess of gems and minerals (and surrounded by sacks of such thing,) and to his left Stettad the god of wealth, his purple finery cascading off of his unnecessarily opulent chair. Across from them were Uz, the god of war and the god most concerned with mortal matters (the matters of mortal battles that is,) and the god of various metals Lurit on Rulush's left and right. Between the two groups sat Tath, the god of lies, who sat in a blue painted chair of some nondescript stone chipping away at a strange iron slab on the left and Kogan, the most surly of the bunch, on the right.
"This is unacceptable, you all now it!" Lim blurted out angrily, getting to his feet. "That thing has no right being worshipped by our people!" Came his following shout, angrily pointing at Rulush.
"Oh? And what exactly is wrong with them turning to worship me?" The snake said back in a smooth voice, one that nearly mimicked Lim's usual tone of professionalism with ahint of a suave talker. Avuz looked slightly confused by the Asp god's lake of a lisp that so many snakes had when they spoke.
"Everything!" Came Stettad's response, his ire reflecting the standing god of speech's.
"They are not elves, they are dwarves." Lim continued "They shouldn't be worshipping some water-loving lizard."
"Please, I'm a snake, not a lizard." Rulush said, showing no sign of annoyance. "There is a difference, unless of course the ad hominim was intentional."
"It was."
"I thought as much. Well, if they shouldn't be worshipping me, perhaps you should let one of the gods of death take your little toys." The asp said, gesturing to the two irate wraiths chained to Lim's throne. "After all, they claim almost as many potential followers as I." Some of the gods mumbled agreement; many prayed to the plague wraiths in hopes to keep their spirits quiet, and so long as they remained Lim's tools they could not, and the dwarves knew that the creatures' vengeful spirits watched them, seeking to cause mayhem as they did in life. The only ones who seemed to not care all that much were Tath, absorbed in his slab,and Uz who had been silent since they'd all arrived and shared small talk.
"They will stay so long as those foolish cretins continue to desecrate my temples!" Lim spat back in anger, stepping towards the asp.
"One time that happened, Lim." Kogan said, raising a hand with a finger raised. "One. And the fool was simply stumbling home. I do applaud you for causing such suffering, but you must let that go."
"Oh, and the god of torture and misery is the voice of reason?" Avuz said with no shortage of sarcasm. "And yet you sent those whispers to the dwarves that caused that great war that only ended so recently. And for what?"
Kogan shrugged. "Simple, to cause our followers misery and anguish as well as spur the craft of metals, leather, and bone, which thrive in times of war."
"And drive our people to follow that warmongering cur in the process, as well as the ruination of many merchants as their shops were commandeered for the war and their heirs died in battle." Stettad said with a wave of his hand at Uz. Kogan had a retort ready, stating that is was a simple side effect.
"And then I ended it with a few sweet words whispered to orc warlords, promissing them great wealth to be had if they drew away the automaton's fleshy minions across my mighty rivers and over Lurit's treasured mountains." Rulush said with a smug tone. "And Lurit was all to happy to stay disaster so that the automaton's mightiest warriors could die facing the orcs and their drowish shadowsnipers." Lim turned an angry look upon the god of mountains and caverns.
"Is this true?" Lim demanded.
"Aye, it is. What of it." He sounded most like a dwarf of them all: A deep voice, with an accent of one who spoke more dwarven than anything else, and he looked quite inebriated.
Lim and Avuz looked as if they couldn't believe what they had just heard. "Do you have any idea what you did you fool!?" Lim shouted in disbelief.
Lurit glared his fellow god down. "I saved our people from destroying themselves in a war that was slowly bleeding them white. Had Rulush and I not done what we did, we would all be forgotten gods, known by none but scattered survivors, folktales only archaeologists centuries later would possibly know." The two stared hatefully at eachother for a long and silent minute before Lim finally sat back down.
Lim finally sighed and looked at Uz. "What of you Uz, do you care that our people have turned to such an elvish deity?"
Uz grunted and sat up. When he finally spoke, his voice was similar to Lurit's, though less drunk sounded and slightly clearer. "My concerns are not with your petty squabbles Lim. It is with our people's warriors. They found me only in their darkest hour, and I did my best to guide them to victory. Rulush is a god of rivers and seas, and many rivers, large and small, cut through our people's land and he bestows his blessings upon those who fight and live upon the waterways. It is this that makes me indifferent to him. He helps protect our people, and more importantly he protects their warriors as much as I."
"That I do, Uz. Thank you." Rulush said, turning to the war god. He then leveld his gaze on the other gods in front of him. "When was the last time any of you did anything for our people?"
They all sat in silence, pondering.
"I can answer you all: Nothing. Especially you Lim. In fact, more dwarves may have died in that horrid conflict because of that wretched disease you afflicted that poor dwarf with. Wracked with disease, they died in droves fighting the automatons in a crippled state." Rulush sounded cold now, hateful.
Lim looked angered first, and then like he'd been struck by an absolutely horrid epiphany. That damned snake was right.
Oh sweet Armok he was right.