[Ouroboros' End]
Even with the temporary building he sat in facing toward where they were coming from, Darganth heard the approaching ogres long before he saw them. Trees toppled before their advance, the sound of them slamming to the ground echoing throughout the forest, and bushes or small animals that didn't escape in time were crushed underfoot as about a dozen of the four meter tall creatures marched forward in a disorganized horde. In their wake, only desolation remained as everything that wasn't trampled to death was caught in the ogre's hands and eaten, leaving barren land that did the reputation for destruction and gluttony of their species all honors.
Despite this, Darganth wasn't worried. While the group was still hidden from human sight due to the dense line of trees and other forest plants, at least some aspects of his vision weren't so limited.
Though not truly capable of perceiving everything before him like he and many of his kin like to boast, his draconic sight did go far in assuring that what Venrie had spotted with her mana sight was correct. Through its ability to peer into the underlying fabric of reality, this sight went beyond the power to replicate many mundane and supernatural types of vision as is commonly attributed to it, but instead allowed him to read reality in its fundamental state by looking past its surface layers and see through even the veil and into the sea of elemental energies that bled through it into the physical realm.
And with even this sight not revealing any further ogres, or anyone else for that matter, Darganth awaited their arrival with confidence in his knowledge of the outcome of their talks. The spike of metal elemental energy and dense mana that surrounded each of the ogres might've briefly given him pause, but that was nothing but a brief moment of surprise at the fact that the ogres were at all in possession of full plate armor sets instead of concern over the quality of the same.
Even after they entered the range of his draconic sight, it took almost another full minute before the ogres finally became visible in the treeline.
Standing at four meters in height, the hulking brutes weren't too different from an oversized human at first glance. Aside from the wider, more robust build of ogres, the limb and general body proportions of both species were quite similar. And while a second glance did unveil a tendency for rougher features, onlookers would also see that this wasn't the case in all of them and that ogres had a similar variety in appearance as humans. The only physical feature that universally differentiated their appearance from humans, apart from their size, were the two tusks that protruded up from their lower jaw.
What instead separated ogres from humanoid species, and what caused ogres to be classified as monsters by most civilizations, was their mindset. While certainly not dumb, their minds were better suited for quick information processing instead of complex problem-solving skills, making ogres both impatient and simplistic in how they solve problems. Adding to that is their high aggression and the disregard for others that their culture instills in them. Together, this makes ogres quick to choose violence as their physical superiority over most species makes it an easy solution to many troubles.
But when they stepped onto the clearing, this group of them realized that such a method of dealing with others wouldn't work now. Quickly spotting Darganth inside the spontaneously erected building, their eyes only briefly flashed with a mix of greed and hunger, not that these two things differed much for ogres, only for their bodies to tense as their instincts revolted against the thoughts that had come to them.
"So you're the ones the smugglers are afraid of? Truthfully, I expected more." Darganth said as they arrived.
Responding to his words with a sneer, the ogre at the helm of the group kept his chin held high as he stepped before Darganth. Standing tall even for his kin with almost four and a half meters in height, the humanoid monster could almost look Darganth's prone form in the eyes with a level gaze.
"Be happy that you don't see as powerful a group before you as you thought. Were more of our warhosts here, we wouldn't have to have this conversation. But as is you're in luck. With no way to contact our lord's chosen you'll get to live until we bring you to him." The ogre leader replied, his deep voice sounding rough and being accompanied by a growling undertone, while the sentences themselves were as short and to the point as Darganth was accustomed to from his kind.
These words intrigued Darganth. Though the not-so-subtle threat they contained certainly dampened his amusement over them, his frustrations over the ogre for his kind's typical way of treating others was something he could ignore, considering the information he got out of it.
"Your lord's chosen? Neither one of your gods nor the Court of Gluttony is active here, so maybe an ambitious ascendant?" He wondered out loud and with one eye focused on the ogre's reaction.
But the monster made his attempt to infer the answer both difficult and easy at the same time. Keeping the same dismissive expression on his face at the mention of each of these groups, the ogre then simply answered Darganth's question, "You're right. Our god is of the flames instead. It is his blessing through which he great chief and the master of traps gained their fire. He evolved them and they led us to victory. Now we serve in return."
This answer left Darganth with new questions. Gods of fire weren't rare, but this did at least confirm that it truly wasn't one of the ascendants he already knew to be active in the realm fragment. After all, only one of them was a god with divinity, and she made no efforts to be known as a goddess of fire. Though she also didn't advertise her beauty divinity, something that was already surprising for a god that used faith as the power gained through it depended on the believer's picture of the god or goddess in question. Still, as unlikely as this choice was, her managing to hide an unrelated divinity from the other ascendants and choosing to miss out on the power of two of her domains was exponentially more unlikely than doing the latter with one already was.
But any considerations based on this relied on the ogre telling the truth. And as the ogre's body language had proven difficult to read for Darganth, he wasn't sure how much he could rely on it despite possessing some relevant new information.
"Alright, and what does your lord's chosen want to know of me?" Darganth asked, choosing not to remain hung up on the question of the god the ogres follow for more than a moment.
"We don't know. But we invite you to our camp in his name. He is searching for something and foresaw a black scaled dragon arriving in this realm."
"As you might expect, I'm not exactly keen on walking into enemy territory on the invitation of some unknown god's chosen. Especially not with what I've already seen of this wilderness." Darganth said.
The ogre's face twisted into a savage grin in response to that.
"The lord's weapons. You've seen them. Gifted to us to us by his chosen to deal with the troublesome space mage. We scattered them among many tribes. Are a bloody surprise for that worm of a manling." The ogre said with a gleeful laugh.
Upon hearing this, Darganth frowned slightly. If what the ogre said was true, the danger of the chosen just went up greatly. Enough in fact that he wouldn't want to face him even with Venrie at his side. And that was before considering what type of servant of its god the chosen is. If it's a full-blown apostle, this estimate would go up once more.
Simultaneously, this meant that the chosen would be an even better ally if he were on their side. Whether or not they could get to that point was however questionable. And with Neandra already serving as a powerhouse they could fall back upon, the risk of entering potential hostile territory wasn't all that necessary, even if their cooperation would certainly still be a boon.
Having similar thoughts, Allaire voiced her thoughts a moment after she noticed Darganth's hesitancy, "I'd say we give them a chance. Our interests align in our opposition to the space mage's smuggler group, so I doubt this is a trick. Besides, deceit isn't a weapon often used by ogres."
"And that's if they are even dangerous to us." Venrie added, "Considering that they weren't able to beat back the smugglers without them, I give myself good chances to hold them back even if the spears manage to fully neutralize you and Yldra, which I doubt."
At Venrie's words, multiple of the ogres in the group growled in anger. For their kind, the only power they respected came in the form of physical might, even if further augmented by magical abilities. The sole exception to this were their shamans, though even then they were mainly valued for their spiritual role while their magical abilities were only tolerated for the advantages offered, or rather the disadvantages their absence caused, when fighting enemies with mages in their ranks.
Consequently, Venrie's claim was received as an insult by them. This showed even beyond the growls and angry looks, with it being noticeable in the leader's next words, even as he agreed with the assessment.
"Our chief possesses the gift of giant's might. Your magics might be special among your kin, but we ogres prevailed before and will continue to do so. So know that he would crush your feeble spells should you think of causing trouble in our hospitality. Don't, and we'll extend the same treatment in response." The ogre said with enough emphasis behind his words that, for the first time in the conversation, Darganth could at least somewhat see through him.
Thanks to that, Darganth recognized that the ogre meant what he said. While it wasn't a perfect assurance, with both the possibility that the ogre was a better liar than expected and that he wasn't privy to the full plan existing, it did go a long way in reassuring Darganth. Especially when he then used the brief moment the man was distracted to glimpse at the future and found nothing that contradicted his evaluation of him.
"As long as you keep your promise of hospitality, I have no intention of attacking. My words were merely a warning of what would happen if we were to be attacked." Venrie said, responding to the ogre just as Darganth made his decision.
With these words, Venrie accidentally provoked the ogre even further. With only superficial knowledge of their kind and no experience dealing with them, she forgot to account for the quite different way to view things that ogres have and answered based on the sensibilities of the common humanoid species.
But while humans, elves, and the like might be furious at the implication that she would start a fight with them, though few would interpret her words as such and take offense with them, for the ogres, this answer sounded like she was doubling down.
Reading the situation quickly enough, Darganth acted before the leading ogre could further escalate the situation. Dashing forward, he arrived before the ogre in practically an instant and grabbed the latter's weapon-wielding arm before he could reel it back. Keeping his other claw back but prepared to strike, he came to a stop while looming over the leader.
"How about you think a moment before you do something you'll regret. I'm inclined to accept the invitation of your lord's chosen, but I can still change my mind. Or I could just decide that I don't need you to get to that meeting. After all, the destruction your little group left in the forest should do a good job of leading me to your current camp."
Stumbling back slightly as he pulled his arm away just as Darganth opened his claw back up, the ogre briefly hesitated before lowering his weapon back down. Though still frustrated, it was obvious that obedience toward the chosen and thus his desire to have Darganth accompany him to their camp won out over his urge to fight Venrie for the perceived insult.
"Just keep her under control." The ogre said as he turned.
Dragging the rest of the ogres, in one case literally, along, the leader then started making his way toward the edge of the clearing.