Monster Lairs – Ettin – Den

Slab

Ettins are typically solitary creatures; their constantly bickering two heads as disagreeable with others as they are to themselves. That said, they do mate, an ordeal that involves a female ettin forcing a male to submit to her. The male then cares for and feeds her for the duration of the pregnancy before being released from servitude upon birth of the child.

This particular den belongs to such a mated pair. Here, Grimgrime takes care of his mate Bubblebobble by bringing her food, a soft leaf bed, a warm fire, and a lovely collection of large rocks to throw at any potential intruders. He even is so kind as to cook the food for her, whatever her current pregnant appetite may desire. Well, he’s so kind mostly because she will smash him over each of his heads if he doesn’t and neither Grim nor Grime likes that.  Her current craving seems to be human meat that’s been lightly cooked while still alive and fresh. If she doesn’t watch the human stop moving as it’s cooked, she doesn’t accept it as fresh enough. This has forced Grimgrime to head long distances to human farms to gather meals and they make so much noise and struggle along the walk back. Grim keeps saying they should just kill the humans before dragging them home to save the trouble, but Grime won’t let him, reminding him of the head clobbering they’ll both get if they do that…