Greed God chapter 180

April 4th 2016 Brightedge City, Undercity, 2:00 PM EDT

I  rushed slightly leaving the bar, mostly because I was kind of freaked  out. I wasn't a history nerd, and I never really got much into folklore,  but I had a damn good memory even before the mental upgrade from the  Blood of Apophis, and I remembered bits and pieces from a few  mythologies. Some Norse, Greek, etc. I remembered very few things from  Celtic myth, but one of the only things I DID remember, was the story of  Tam Lin.

The Scottish Ballad was a foundational fairy  tale, and one of the most retold stories from the mythology of the  Celtic pantheon. Tam Lin was a bard that got stolen by a Faerie Queen  who loved his music. His true love busted him out later in some  versions, but in some he stayed. If he was still around NOW, especially  given what I'd just been told about him knowing more about Tsaritsa,  that meant that A, he was immortal and had survived thousands of years  as the consort of a fae Queen, and B, that story had taken place a LOT  longer ago than it sounded like it had in the song.

It  hadn't been hard to get Bridger to tell me where Tamlin was. The rock  troll seemed pretty confident that the old bard would kill me. Of  course, I wasn't quite so sure, but if he was as old as someone like the  Sun King there was a non-zero chance he might be strong enough. I had  to approach him diplomatically. After I left the tavern, I made my way  deeper into the Brightedge underground, running into a few people here  or there, but not being bothered.

I was shifted into full  hybrid dragonkin mode, with my body covered in scales, and all the fae  and science experiments down here were smart enough not to pick a fight  with a dragon. I followed the road through the underground city, seeing  all the buildings stacked on top of each other. I was sure that a whole  lot of the fae and others had died in the merge, killed to make this  place functional, or maybe not. Given what I'd seen from Bridger, maybe  Tamlin just enforced order and the others accepted.

Following  the road I eventually came to a massive manor house at the end of the  cavern. Unlike the other places, the manor was the only thing occupying  this section, having been too big to fit other buildings on top of. The  expansive dark wood building looked almost natural here, as if it had  been built beneath the earth. Standing outside the building were a pair  of absolutely massive trolls.

A quick appraisal showed  they were both E rankers, Mountain Trolls instead of the more common  Rock Troll like Bridger. When I came to a stop in front of them, the one  on the left glared down and said in a rumbling bass. "Halt. State your  business outsider. Who approaches the royal residence?" The glowing ruby  eyes set into their mammoth grey skulls glared balefully down at me  like they hoped to crush me under the weight of their annoyance.

They  didn't, obviously. I was a fucking dragon, so I just glared right back.  "You can call me Lord. I'm here to speak to Tamlin the Falconer." I  really needed a better alias. Primordius was way too pretentious even  for me, but 'Lord' just sounded stupid.

Mountain Troll 1  just glared harder, while Mountain Troll 2 turned to lumber inside to  inform his boss. It made sense really, it wasn't exactly a minions place  to turn away visitors of a certain standing. As a dragon I was owed at  least this much courtesy. Disrespecting dragons tended to end poorly for  most people. We had long memories and bad tempers. The appropriate  response to meeting a dragon was usually either sycophancy or murder.  Sometimes both.

"You wait here." MT1 grunted. His ruby  eyes had blazed up brighter, and I considered gouging them out to see if  they wer worth anything, but I felt like it might be a poor first  impression. I needed to meet with Tamlin and get him on my side, or at  least open communications. I needed information about my dear old mom,  because I just KNEW she was going to get out sooner rather than later.  My life was too dramatic for the universe to miss that kind of chance.

So  I did NOT eviscerate the annoying troll after it talked down to me.  Despite being both ready and able to do so. I just glared up at him,  yawning expansively and showing off my very sharp draconic teeth. Just  to be an asshole. I could chew through rock and he knew it, so he should  be at least a bit intimidated.

Finally, MT2 came back. He  kept walking until he came to a complete stop and resumed his prior  position, only speaking once he had stopped moving. "His majesty accepts  your request for visitation. You will be granted an audience. Proceed  inside and follow the hallway to the receiving chamber." His eyes flared  up like the other one's had. "Do not touch anything, lest you incur his  majesty's wrath."

That really made me want to steal  something, but I wasn't a kid, so I restrained myself. I could take some  of his shit later if he wasn't as strong as I expected. If he was I  could just have Cherry rob him when I knew he wasn't here. As I walked  down the hallway though, I became more and more sure that he WAS going  to be powerful. I could feel a subtle shift in the energy around me, as  if it was being disturbed a rock in a giant mystical lake. Ripples of  disruption flowing from the room ahead.

I stopped outside  the massive wood door to the receiving room, waiting patiently until a  melodic voice called out. "You may enter." I reached out to push open  the door, stepping into the room that held the man I was almost sure was  Tamlin the Falconer, even before I used my appraisal on him. Before my  hand could reach the wood, the massive doors creaked and slid away,  retreating from my touch and opening up the room ahead. Creepy ghost  doors? What a try-hard.

As the door swung open, a room was  revealed. Well, room might not be the best word. Glade was probably  better. At least, it looked like a glade. A moonlit clearing, walled  with trees and carpeted with green grass and a couple of ponds. Magic  was definitely at work. I could see a blue sky above through the  grasping branches of the canopy of trees, and the pools were filled with  bathing nymphs frolicking with dryads shyly approaching from their  nearby trees. I raised an eyebrow. Tamlin might be old school, but the  guy was a fantastic decorator. This place was great, and I wasn't just  saying that because of all the blue and green titties.

The  falconer himself sat amidst the glade, head tilted back as he stared up  into the magical sky in boredom. A pair of green girls who looked like  twins were cuddled up against either leg, but the scruffy, long haired  blonde man ignored them, not even noticing the curvy viridian bodies  grinding against him. I shot off a quick appraisal as he came into view.

[Appraisal  function activated. Treasure detected. Tamlin the Falconer- C rank  immortal bard. A former lover of Titania and the father of her  illegitimate child, Tim Hunter, Tamlin retreated in shame from his lady  when she chose Oberon, her husband and king, over him and sent their son  away to parts unknown to be raised by mortals. Millennia in faerie  eating fairy food altered Tamlin's body, granting him eternal youth, and  his constant exposure to wild magic warped him into a powerful  sorcerer, but Tamlin lacks all drive. Passing his days in a blur of  decadence and self pity, Tamlin tries to lose himself in sensation to  dull the pain of his lost family.]

Huh. Ok. C  rank wasn't...as bad as expected. Still, having seen the variation in  power between ranks outside Gemworld, it was tough to say what that even  meant. He might be like Zee, magically terrifying and physically frail.  It was better to err on the side of caution. As I approached, Tamlin's  brown eyes lowered from the ceiling, boring into me in a cold, distant  fashion. "A dragonkin. Vernacht warned me of your coming, yet I still  underestimated the stature of my guest. Your progenitor was no wyrm of  middling power. I sense true strength from you. What brings you here?"

I  ran through everything I had seen, had heard, and had just read. I  considered all the angles and what I could offer him, and then, I went  with my gut. I knew greed. Knew how it could drive you, wriggle itself  into your gut and hollow you out. Tamlin was greedy, greedy for his lost  love and family. I could use that. I swept into a formal, aristocratic  bow. "Lord Tamlin, I bid you greetings. I come with two points of  business. An offer, and a question. Which would you hear first?"

Though  I was almost positive my plan was valid, I couldn't be too hasty here.  This next part was going to be delicate. I did have something he wanted,  but I needed to frame it in such a way that he didn't decide to try and  TAKE that thing. I could give him what he was after, but only if I was  in control. Plus, having a C-ranker on side would be massive. Granted, I  doubted I would be able to Brand him too quickly, even with the promise  of his family. But I could still demonstrate my value through my other  minions so he knew I could follow through.

He cocked his  head, curious in a lazy, bored way. "An offer? For me? I am curious,  little dragon, what one such as you seeks to offer me. Dragons are such  limited creatures, despite their vastness within those limits. Do you  offer me gold and jewels? A sharp claw to conduct my violence? Or  perhaps this is to be a threat masquerading as a kindness. Will you  offer me my own life?" His lips twitched as if amused at the thought,  though the bitterness on his face made me wonder if he was amused by the  perceived threat, or the idea of me carrying it out.

I  put up both hands to demonstrate my lack of hostility. "Nothing of the  sort. I bring an offer in good faith. Might we speak alone?" I glanced  around at the dozens of naked multicolored women. "Not that the view  isn't great, but I have very personal matters to address, and I'm not  comfortable spreading such things too widely."

Tamlin  smiled. "You need not worry about my fair ones. Their loyalty to me is  unquestioned.: He reached down to stroke one of the dryads at his feet,  and she mewled lustily and wriggled against his leg. I almost rolled my  eyes but knew it wouldn't be polite. Seeing how unimpressed I was,  Tamlin sighed in exasperation. "Fine." He said in annoyance. "We will be unheard withing this place, until such time as I intend differently."  His voice didn't change exactly as he spoke, not audibly, but something  shifted in the air and energy around us, the world moving to obey his  words.

I shrugged, figuring that would have to do. "I came  to ask after a subject known to be taboo, but only to prevent a certain  being from ever returning. We have...business. Before that though, my  offer. It is only polite to give before I take." I shot him a wide  draconic grin. "In return for information about my enemy, the might  behind the mirror, I offer you, Tamlin, one thing. Nothing short of  ascension to the ranks of fae royalty, and a chance to reclaim your love  and family. What say you?"