The Under-Realm dismissed it as rot-gut hallucination. Then a dark elf slaver, a notoriously reliable witness, confirmed the sighting. Then a wererat. Then a deep gnome.
Snikk scratched her chin. She closed her eyes.
Not a metaphor. Not a temporary arrangement. According to three independent sources within the Warrens of Gruth, the legendary nymph-touched being known as Aphrodite—said to be a lost daughter of a minor love deity, or perhaps a mortal so beautiful that gods themselves grew jealous—now wears a tarnished iron collar and sleeps at the feet of a one-eyed goblin named Snikk. aphrodite the goblins pet
When asked why she stays, witnesses claim she simply smiled and said, “For the first time in a thousand years, no one wants anything from me. Snikk just wants me to keep his feet warm.”
If you are outlining a story involving this trope, here is the standard progression: The Under-Realm dismissed it as rot-gut hallucination
His profession? Rat-catcher. Occasionally, he sharpens knives for the Redcap mob. He lives in a repurposed drainage pipe behind the Sludge Mermaid tavern. His only notable possession before this affair was a three-legged cave lizard named Profit.
If you were looking for a specific existing work, you might be thinking of: Then a deep gnome
Snikk refused. His reason? “She gets scared of loud noises. Also, she sheds on my good blanket.”
As this correspondent writes, Aphrodite is reportedly napping in a sunbeam (filtered through a crack in the cavern ceiling) while Snikk grooms her hair with a bone comb and mutters about rat prices.