the golden age come and passed

Apollo's brow and muzzle wrinkled in consternation as the massive creature laid itself down and set to scratching its itches. It didn't seem to notice him at all despite his close proximity, a blessing perhaps as the creature truly was enormous. Now that it was reclined, however, it surely could not get to its strange toeless paws to reach him before he could race away, so as long as he stayed out of reach of the odd appendage on its face and those gigantic slashing tusks, it could not harm him. It was his duty to report on it to Malleus, but at the moment he had nothing more to report than 'there is a huge furless tusked creature slashing up trees in the woods' and that told them nothing about what it was or its intentions. He had seen creatures similar here, but shorter and fatter without either tusks or facial appendage - a local had called them 'hippopotamus'. It also faintly resembled a giant, longer-nosed, hairless tapir. Perhaps it was some sort of spirit-god for one of those ugly prey species, an exaggeration of their features that sought to protect them.

He moved to plant himself more solidly in the creature's vision, where it could not possibly miss seeing the movement, but well out of reach of both tusks and appendage. "Excuse me," he said, politely but firmly. It paid to be polite to both potential spirits and large dangerous animals alike, but he wasn't going to act the sycophant either. "What are you?" It seemed a reasonable question.