"And who is this young fellow?" Goram had been working the forge, as his father showed the new customer around the shop, explaining the great benefit of starting a business with the Dorr workshop. "Ah, this be mah son, Goram. Say hello, boy," Hoska spoke, gesturing for Goram to speak. Setting down his hammer, Goram turned and bowed towards the stranger, giving him a gentle smile before taking the man's outstretched hand and shaking it. Once done, he returned to work at the forge, though not without hearing, "He's a simple one, always smiling..."

[center]*****[/center]

Goram continued to smile as best as he could, not wanting Mariah to become saddened again by her predicament. In this day and age, most of the nobility saw kindness as a weakness, or a tool to be used to manipulate others. Goram never understood that, never grasped it completely. He would always greet them with a smile, only to be confused as they watched him with eyes filled with disgust or suspicion. But it never stopped him, big ol' Goram. He just kept giving them that smile.

No doubt more people were slowly entering the dungeon behind him, he couldn't tell. The only thing he could sense was the sound of footsteps, varying in nature. The dark and light continued to fight as the torch flickered above them. Goram lifted his head slightly, picking out the abnormal height of the dungeon ceiling. [i]Something tells me that's for a reason.[/i]

His head lowered back down to Mariah as she spoke of her dilemma, the cold still visibly affecting her. "Perhaps Nixus knows why," he mumbled in response, before bobbing his head in a nod and muttering, "You're welcome." It was then that he heard the new voice, his head turning to look over his shoulder at the woman who had spoken. Recognising her slightly, he gave her a small wave in welcome and of course a gentle smile, before turning back to Mariah and crossing his arms over his burly, muscular chest.

Abruptly, Mariah began screaming in pain, Goram's face dropping as he watched her fall to her knees in agony. Moving to help her, he was caught off guard when that strange feeling came back, but this time with a vengeance. The ringing, the voices, the pain, it all hit him dead on, causing him to double back away from Mariah as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He could feel the change taking place, as it almost did in his bathroom back at the workshop. This time, however, he had full consciousness to witness the horror of his transformation.

First, his skin slowly became the tight, strong bark-like structure that it had been before. His arms, his legs, his face and neck. But then, he began to grow, began to expand. His body exploded out into a larger hulking mass, causing him to fall forward onto his hands and knees. His hair receded, only to be replaced by large vines growing out of his back, causing his clothes to rip into shreds, the pieces falling to the floor.

When the pain finally stopped, he was there, a towering beast of bark and wood, the vines on his back scraping across the dungeon ceiling as his height had jumped to just over 8"; and that's on all fours. His arms and legs were now thick tree trunks, the weight of them causing the dungeon floor to crack slightly, unable to handle the change in pressure.

At an excruciatingly slow pace, he began to move forward, his size taking up a lot of space in the dungeon, with only a small gap either side for people to pass around him, though they could easily walk beneath him if they lowered their head slightly. He could hear the creaking of his new bark skin as he turned his head to look over at the newly transformed Mariah, now understanding her weakness to cold, before turning back to hear Lord Nixus' words.

[i]Village. No survivors. Artifact.[/i] For some reason, Goram understood; or what was left of Goram anyway. He was the monster now, and he had orders, as horrible as they were. Even Goram, who saw the good in everyone he met, could see the danger behind the man that is Lord Nixus. He just hoped there would be a way to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but deep down he knew that if Nixus wanted death, he would get it. 

Wishing mainly to escape the confines of the dungeon, Goram began moving once more after Nixus disappeared, and [i]very[/i] slowly made his way out of the dungeon, as difficult as it was, what with his new-found size.