33 The Ogresses (1/2)
The ogresses were walking in the direction of myself and my allies. They were large, unpleasant looking women, one of whom stood around three and a half meters tall and the other of whom was closer to five meters tall.
They had saggy, beige-colored skin, and wore shoddily made fur armor. The shorter ogress had light brown hair that was cut short, and the taller one had long black hair that flowed down past her shoulders. They each had the corpses of small animals slung over their shoulders, freshly killed small animals whose blood was dripping onto the armor they wore.
The women had arrogant expressions on their faces and seemed to project an air of unearned and untested confidence. There was a tiny part of me that wanted to wipe those looks off their faces, and it was surprising to me but I was easily able to ignore it.
They carried what appeared to be handmade stone clubs, which dripped what I assumed was blood, and had lazy looks in their bark-colored eyes. They couldn't see me yet, as I was roughly half a kilometer away from them.
This was because I was also approaching them. However, the distance coupled with the fact that my followers and I happened to be in a darkened part of the forest, added to their inability to see us.
I studied them, inspecting their lazy but confident saunter, their amateurishly made armor which was even at a glance probably more effective as clothing than as armor, and their brutish demeanor. It was at this point that I asked the system a question.
”You said you wanted me to make those creatures my playthings. Care to expand on that?” I asked my oldest companion, as I studied the two women that I was approaching. I heard a soft, robotic chuckle in the back of my mind.
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[You are an interesting god. So far many of your actions could be described accurately as good actions, morally speaking, even if your motivation itself isn't good. Ogres and ogresses are evil creatures, violent, malicious, and sinful. We want you to make them your servants. So you can begin to gain evil allies who aren't the undead.] My friend told me. I had never ”heard” an evil grin before, but somehow I could almost hear one in the entity's voice.
[You see... gods are influenced, subtly, by a number of things. Chief among those influences are the influences of the domains and subdomains a god has influence over. You've sort of begun to learn that already. But another thing that influences gods are the worshipers a god has. This is a much quieter influence, but it's still worth noting. We want you to have worshipers of all alignment types. Having evil, living worshipers, matters. But this isn't really about that.] The odd entity declared.
[We are not asking you to make them your worshipers. Not yet anyway. The purpose of this is for you to experiment with your powers, use them on and amaze mortals, and begin to build an awareness of who you are. We are quite curious to watch the events of the next few minutes unfold. Give us a good show, would you?] The system asked, teasingly.
I nodded, a grin on my face. That said, now that I had asked one question, I figured I ought to ask others. One other, specifically.
”What are succubi and incubi? One of my lust subdomain powers mentioned them.” I asked, curiously.
[Succubi and incubi are demons. They are demons of desire, succubi have a feminine true form and incubi have a masculine true form, though both species possess incredible shapeshifting power. They possess lust-based and dream-based abilities. You were born with lust and dream powers so there's a strong chance they'll recognize you as a god, maybe even of theirs, when you eventually encounter them.] The system explained, satisfying my curiosity.
I refocused on the scene in front of me and urged my companions onwards with renewed vigor. There was a smile on my face that spoke to a small amount of excitement and curiosity I felt, which was growing with each step I took towards the ogresses.
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I was silent as I approached the ogresses. My companions were also silent. We glided through the forest, the only noises coming from us being the eerie noises of our feet falling on the grass and dirt beneath us.
My skeletal stag remained a bit behind us. It was as if the thing was hiding. Eventually I opted to ask it about that, speaking mentally to my companion. ”Why are you behind us?” I asked it, using my necromantic connection to the thing to facilitate the communication.
”Because I am different from you. I am obviously undead. The other two are not obviously undead. This way if a living creature spots us it won't be immediately hostile.” The creature explained, demonstrating the intelligence I had heard that skeletons possessed. I nodded as I considered the thoughtfulness of its answer, grateful to have such an intelligent servant.
The ogresses noticed us when we were about 15 meters away from them, and they stopped moving and began to study us. I took that as an invitation to approach and could finally smell the creatures. When I first sniffed the air close to them, an unintentional reflex, I felt immediate regret.
The air around the ogresses smelled rancid. They had unwashed skin and were covered in the blood of what was most likely their most recent kills.
I was the only one of my companions who could smell, as I was the only one alive, and my enhancing ability to smell only served to make this a worse experience. Fortunately, the smell quickly lost its intensity, and after a few seconds ceased bothering me altogether.
I stopped walking towards them when both of our groups were about 7 meters apart. I stopped, and my followers stopped. A silence descended over the six of us. That silence didn't last long.
”Who are you?” One of the ogresses, the one named Iret, asked. I turned to her and grinned. I activated ”Apprisal”, targeting both of them and waited for the informative notification to appear before I said anything to them. I focused on the new information I would gain, not what I already knew.
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