Prologue
Few except the Quall N’drone really understood the Fire Giants of the Dimension of Kyr’pos. Despite their hard cracked skin and dripping magma-like secretions which ignited the air when they were angry, Fire Giants were not really giants at all. They were spirits, elementally attuned ephemeral beings that had evolved on the continents of the fire sea between the land of the Quall N’drone and the islands of the Aegelis.
The greatest of the Fire spirits had been called Fire Giants, due to their immense size by the K’iorn warriors who faced them. The Olgogs during the K’ias Wars knew them as the Kalokyyan, but that name had faded in use since the old culture was lost during the Goblin Genocide. Each of the Fire Giants ruled over many minor fire spirits which they treated much like hunting dogs. They hunted Quall and Aegelis, and hunted each other with little thought beyond the primal needs of the moment.
One such Fire Giant suffered a strange set of cirumstances over the course of a few weeks. Each morning as he awoke another of his pet fire spirits disappeared. Now for Fire Giants having a minor fire spirit disappear for an hour or even a day or two was not a rare thing. They knew that summoners on other dimensions regularly called away their pets for some mayhem. Overall the Fire Giants didn’t mind, because their pets usually returned well fed.
By the end of the second week, though, the Fire Giant was angry at the theft of his pets. By two months over thirty of his pets were gone, and he noticed, oh he noticed. So finally he decided he would find whomever was stealing his pets.
He waited until he saw the telltale flicker of Fire Leyas as it swirled around one of his pack, and he grabbed for it. At the same time the production of the Balgogs was increasing again into new varieties deep in a hidden Lur Union production site. An artificer botched his summoning so badly he never realized the mistake and pulled the Fire Giant directly into the Balgog body. It functioned to animate the Balgog much as a minor fire spirit would.
Not surprisingly that Balgog went rogue, ripping apart nearby guards and escaping violently from the depths of the mountain.
It wandered the lands near Tla’loc’al trying understand what was happening. A full scale production facility like this was beyond his limited understanding. He also knew if he didn’t return to Kyr’pos the rest of his pack of spirits would be taken by other denizens of that dimension. An old Kalokgog in soot-covered robes and a young Olgog in an earther-style suit met him as he wandered.
The old Kalokgog smiled and said, “Welcome Kalokyyan, to Der’al of the Olgogs. These lands are ripe for conquest, and ripped apart by many different different warring factions.”
“I don’t want conquest,” snarled the rogue Balgog, “I want my pets back.”
“Don’t want conquest but…” said the old Kalokgog only to be cut off the younger Olgog in the suit.
“Sir, who took your pets?” asked the olgog clone of the Old VLAD, as he adjusted the lapels of his suit.
“I…I…don’t know,” said the Rogue Balgog, “They had a mountain and inside it a place where they were trapping my pets inside these…these…shells.”
The rogue balgog motioned helplessly at his own artificed prison.
The Old VLAD motioned to the Kalokgog and said, “Off with you, follow his tracks back to the place he was made. And if possible, do the usual.”
“Replace a local with one of our own?” asked the Kalokgog.
“If any jobs open up, make sure they are filled with someone who reports back to me,” said the Old VLAD as he smoothed back his fur.
“What about the Kalokyyan?” the old gog questioned.
“None of your business,” said the Old VLAD, “Now on your way.”
The Kalokgog bowed and disappeared into a nearby shadow. The Old VLAD turned back to the Rogue Balgog and said, “What you need is something to draw your enemies out… Now they don’t quite know why you escaped do they? Then you have an advantage. Let’s go leave them a trail to follow, my new friend, and gather some incentives.”
“What are you called?” asked the Rogue Balgog.
“You can just call me Vlad.”
