I’m unsure if I can talk, I’ve never tried, not even with the humans I met after my birth, I decided it was worth a shot. My head suddenly changed, the wood suddenly extended upwards and split in multiple root type tendrils, the top of my head appeared like wooden flames. And then my mouth, if you could call it that, the wood curved and split, instead of a regular horizontal mouth it was diagonal and I couldn’t move it. If one was to look inside the mouth all they would see was an abyss of darkness, no amount of light would allow one to see inside.

“Rise.”

My voice surprised even me, it sounded almost demonic, it was deep and it sent a shiver down the spine of each individual goblin, they all obediently stood up at my command.

“Pray, do tell, what did you call me?”

I ask the presumed goblin leader the question that was on my mind ever since he spoke the word deus.

“F-Forgive me old d- n-no deus! I meant deus!”

The goblin appeared frantic, when I looked into his eyes visible fear could be seen, old deus he called me, I wonder what he meant by that.

“Old deus?”

I asked once more.

“I-I’m so-sorry great one! Please have mercy! I-It was the ancestors that betrayed you not us I swear, I never truly followed Nummir!”

The goblin was panicked beyond belief, he kept insisting that he never betrayed me and that he always accepted me as his Shepard, I could grasp at least a portion of the situation, they assumed I was their old god that was dethroned by their ancestors, presumably with the help of this god named Nummir.

But this brings up an important question, why would this god named Nummir desire control of goblins? Just by looking at these feeble creatures in front of me I can’t imagine it would be beneficial to induct them into his religion, if anything I’d imagine living beings such as these praying to him would harm his reputation rather than improving it.

Now, what to do? My goal right now is simple, find the tower, if these creatures could help speed this up perhaps they wouldn’t be as useless as I had first assumed.

“Enough, do you know of a tower?”

I went straight to the point, if these goblins didn’t know the location of it then perhaps I should kill them, or maybe just leave them alive, I see no reason in pointless slaughter. The goblins looked at each other and turned to face me, the leader being the only one brave enough to talk.

“Y-yes my deus, you speak of the tower of the ancients do you not? However, there is a slight p-problem...”

The goblin timidly let the words leave his mouth, looking up at me with eyes like a lost sheep.

“A problem?”

I asked back, curious of this so called problem, these goblins were getting more and more intriguing by the minute.

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“T-the problem my deus, is not one easily solved. The tower of the ancients was built long ago by a legendary shaman, she built the tower specifically so it would last through the tide of time. However, the tower has since become occupied by something different than goblins, the undead, to be more specific my deus, a lich.”

My anger suddenly surged up the moment those words left his lips, the goblins picked up on my visible rage and begun to cower once again. The undead, I don’t know why I have such an intense anger and revulsion towards their kind, it’s just instinctual for me to despise their very existence.

Just like how I knew what humans, goblins and multiple other creatures were the moment I saw them, I knew what a lich was. An undead caster, but not just one of the mindless undead that have low intelligence and little or even any self preservation instincts, a former living being that has found a way to retain their will and consciousness even after death, a necromancer.

Something had to be done about this, but now was not the time. A few minor undead almost killed me before with a single fireball, although it’s clear that fire is my weakness, I couldn’t even begin to imagine the extent of the damage I would receive from an intelligent and powerful caster.

“...This lich you speak of, how long has he inhabited the tower?”

If I was to even begin to formulate a plan on how to take down this lich, I would need information, and the goblins seemed perfect for collecting it.

“R-roughly ten years my deus.”

If the lich had a decade to prepare then this might be harder than I had initially thought, but I am not one to back down, even if it ends up killing me I have to know what that tower is hiding. Even if my method of taking back the tower is impersonating a deity.

“Name”

I pointed at the goblin leader and patiently waited for a response.

“M-me my deus?”

The leader cautiously asked and I calmly nodded.

“I am Ark my deus, son of the chieftain that rules the grand tribe of Grakzia!”

His chest puffed out and a hint of pride could be seen deep in his eyes, he seems like the ambitious type, I could make good use of him.

“...My memory isn’t what it used to be, do tell me all about the goblin tribes.”

I’m sure if I had eyes a predatory glint would be seen in them, plans are already forming in my head.

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The goblin, Ark I believe his name was, happily talked all about goblin society. From his loose lipped nature I was able to learn a considerable amount about his tribe, he was the third son of the current chieftain, meaning he was far away from the line of inheritance. He seemed rather bitter about it and claimed he would be a far better choice for an heir than his brothers, that ambition and his naive nature makes him perfect for my plan, it helps that he’s surrounded by yes-men just hoping to get close to him for more rations and respect among the warriors.

I found out more about their old deus, the one I’m currently impersonating. Apparently he was a nameless god, one of many, he ruled over goblins with an iron fist. Using the powers of nature in one hand and wielding a large crimson great sword in the other, he was said to be the envy of every warrior and shaman, unrivaled in single combat.

So much so that the only way to truly bring him down was to take away his source of his power, his worshipers and followers. Because a god is only considered a god as long as people are worshipping them, the only true way to kill a god would be to make them fade into obscurity.

A god is made by people’s beliefs, if those people no longer believe you exist, then you don’t, simple as that. According to Ark the god that turned the goblins against ‘me’ was Nummir, the god of envy, just like his name suggests he was envious of the power ‘I’ wielded. he starting to make empty promises of power to the greedy, he corrupted a deity’s followers slowly but surely.

And eventually when ‘my’ powers had grown weak, he started an uprising. Suddenly all the tribes of goblins that had been united rose up in revolt, those that still stayed loyal were slaughtered mercilessly and eventually my name became a mere legend, as the nameless fallen god of the goblins.

The only surviving description was simply that I was a giant made of bark with magical and martial prowess beyond any goblin, the god of envy, Nummir, having achieved his real goal of killing me abandoned the goblins, no longer needing them now that their purpose was complete, the goblins realizing their new god had abandoned them felt confused and lost.

Some regretted overthrowing me, others left the giant cave swamp to seek new lands and still, some prayed to Nummir, hoping for a day when he would return to bring them to glory. The tribes that were once united under the rule of the old deus slowly began to break apart without a god to lead them.

The largest tribe that remained mostly intact is the grand tribe of Grakzia, while most of the tribes are located in wetlands and places with shallow water that could be used to build elevated structures for the tribe such as huts. Grakzia is located just past the end of the swamp, in a relatively small bit of land considered a regular forest. This gives them a natural terrain advantage for building villages and walls, Ark claims this is why the other tribes fear them and out of respect call them the ‘grand tribe’ of Grakzia.

The current chieftain for Grakzia is called high chief Zruk, Ark’s father. Apparently he’s completely incompetent at martial matters, Ark claims he’s never even seen his father hold a weapon in his life. Even if he is incompetent when it comes to the military their army isn’t insignificant, the population of the tribe is roughly one thousand goblins, over twice the amount of the second largest tribe. About half of those goblins are battle ready, taking over the tribe by destroying their military isn’t going to happen.

I asked Ark what he thought of his father and his description of him was ‘a worthless coward, he’s better off dead.’ I told him I planned to make him the chief and his face instantly lit up, he bowed energetically and swore to accept me as his god, almost shedding tears as he thanked me, you could see him imagining being chieftain, all the other goblin yes-men guards cheered. You could tell they were thinking of the rewards if their boss became the high chief, truly, ambition and greed are not to be underestimated.

Now, let us take a page out of Nummir’s book, if I can’t beat them head on, I should take them over from the inside.