Yeena
“...and that’s it for the safety brief.” The colourful little wizard had finally finished his long diatribe, “If anyone has any follow-up questions feel free to ask,” blissfully, none of the others made the mistake of giving him an excuse to continue, “in that case, your jobs can begin. Congratulations on becoming adventurers, we’ll need your help with defeating the upcoming troll invasion. Here are a few hints for where you need to go next.”
He handed out two sheets of paper, one to Pelsot and one to Jesler. “How you want to approach this is up to your group to decide. Splitting up to cover more distance and solve more riddles, sticking together to have a better chance at solving them without getting stuck, or a more complex system of meeting up and splitting up. That’s just one of the sorts of conundrums adventurers often face, splitting up for gains or sticking together for protection. You have until the second bell from now, to meet back up at the troll’s lair, assuming you can find the location of it.”
The wizard took a few paces back, intent on watching how we handled this early question of how to proceed. After a few seconds, the others got the hint and huddled together to try and figure it out, with Jesler speaking up first.
He was the tallest of the group, with messy sand-coloured hair, “There’s no way we split up the party right? That’s what happens in all the tales where they end up getting defeated.”
Pelsot was the first to speak up against his worry, “Yeah sure, but that’s not really accurate to the scenario for the moment. We’re solving riddles, not rushing into battle. Better to split up and solve what we can and cover more ground.”
Mary, the older tiefling girl who was pretty obviously smitten with Pelsot, just nodded along. Did they really not see the issue with splitting up for riddles? I decided to speak up even if I was the second youngest one here, “Sure we cover more ground, but what happens when one group gets stuck with a riddle they can’t solve? They just sit around twiddling their thumbs until time runs out? If we want to split up we have to figure out how to deal with that sort of thing, and how we’d split the groups up too I guess.”
I could see the cogs turning in the heads of the three boys. Tayvra was just sort of staring at me. Was she surprised I was the one to speak up? Had she noticed the same issues I had but was too shy to speak up? I knew that she wasn’t very talkative with most of the others. It made sense, I guess, that she might have trouble speaking her mind. She tended to be more interested in burying her nose in her books than playing with a lot of our group, after all.
It was maybe half a minute before Felpirn, the oldest of the three boys, raised his hand like he was in class asking a question, “What if we set a meeting point then to meet up maybe twice during our time limit? That way you balance the time it takes for a team to be productive to backtrack to the meeting place with the risk of losing time getting stuck. We can’t really afford to spend that much time going back and forth if we want to get as much as we can. We can break up into two groups to start, one for each of the starting riddles, three to each?”
Pelsot spoke up then, “How do we pick teams, captains?” A general agreement was shared between everyone, it was how we’d often break up for whatever team games we played, so it was familiar to the group, “I’ll take one, Jesler the other. First pick is Felpirn!”
Jesler wiped his face in annoyance, it’s pretty clear both would have had Felpirn for their first pick. He turned his head to us three girls, sizing us up to figure out his pick. “Tayvra, you’re good at books and riddles and stuff, you’ll be able to solve the riddles pretty good right?”
The way she met his gaze was a bit unsettling, a little too smooth? I guess she just sort of assumed she was the second pick, “That was along the justification of Pelsot inviting me, yes.”
I don’t think that was quite the answer Jesler was looking for, but he nodded after a pause. He gestured back to Pelsot, just one pick to go, and from the looks of it, I’d be last pick.
“I guess… Mary? I know her a lot better than Yeena, she’s more Tayvra’s friend than mine.” That stung a little somehow, that I was just the hanger-on, but I schooled my features and just walked over. Pelsot and Jesler had their teams, and their riddles, so we broke off into our own little huddles to read the one we had claimed.
Jesler shook the paper a few times, flattening it out before finally reading the contents aloud, “The sleepy gate that invites the hopeful and the hopeless, for a hole that leads deep inside of dreams and the dark, many have failed and tried for riches within bright and stark.” That was… not a very obvious riddle.
The three of us adopted what were likely quite entertaining pondering poses to onlookers. Tayvra was playing with her fingers and staring down at the cobbled street we were on, but she was the first to speak up on it, “So it’s obviously a place, but not one of the city gates. It mentions a hole that goes down somewhere dark and probably dangerous.”
Jesler nodded but still looked to be thinking quite hard, “That’s basically where I was on it, but it can’t be actually that dangerous for us to go to or they wouldn’t send us there. It’s also probably within a reasonable walking distance since I doubt they want to babysit people going across the city.” Those were… good points, shame I really had nothing to bring to the table on that, it didn’t ring any bells in my head for a location that fit those descriptors.
Thank the gods Tayvra spoke up because I’m pretty sure me and Jesler were stumped, “What about the Yawning Portal? It’s a ‘sleepy gate’ in the name, and it has one of the major public entrances to the Undermountain. It fits, doesn't it?”
Jesler and I just nodded. Tayvra’s random knowledge was the reason she got invited, after all, I was just the tag along.
“Let’s go there, then,” Jesler announced, getting Pelsot’s attention with a wave, and signaling him that we had a lead on where to go. “Do we know where that is?”
“I do,” Tayvra replied, leading us northward. I couldn’t help but wonder why Tayvra knew the address to a tavern and dungeon entrance, but we fell into line behind her.
----------------------------------------
As it turned out, finding the Yawning Portal was only a little difficult, Tayvra had to ask for directions once when we were pretty close to where it was. Apparently, it was actually something of a famous landmark, an entrance to a dangerous but lucrative dungeon right in the middle of the city.
Entering the building itself, it also seemed quite the fine establishment, if catering more to the dangerous and middle class rather than being some sort of noble establishment. There was a massive hole dominating the first floor, a bit more than 10 meters eyeballing it, but the railing was nearly eye height for me, so the angle made it hard to accurately guess. There was a pretty varied amount of patrons even in the early afternoon, both in profession and race. Half-orcs, dragonborn, halflings, even some tiefling lounging about. Were all the mixed groups adventurers?
Regardless, there wasn’t anyone there clearly marked as part of their quest. The safety brief that she struggled to pay attention to had mentioned something about the people stationed wearing some sort of green-coloured bands or clothes. Unfortunately, at least the ground floor had a number of people wearing green but were also in groups that weren’t.
So Jesler did the sane thing and walked towards the person most likely to actually be able to help direct them, the barkeep. Tayvra was distracted staring towards the hole, a bit out of character given she typically had her head on a swivel in crowds, but the yawning hole deep into the earth was certainly a unique distraction. I ended up having to lead her along by the hand so our group didn’t get separated.
Jesler barely peaked over the bar, which was better than I or Tayvra could easily pull off, “Excuse me, we’re supposed to be on a troll hunting quest and we're looking for the next step? We think we solved our first riddle coming here.”
The tall man leaned over to look down at him, gesturing for Jesler to hand him over the riddle. He read it over and grumbled something that I probably shouldn’t repeat in front of my parents before giving a proper answer, “Ay, that’d be this place. Sleepy gate kind of gives it away if you know the name. Guess I better live up to my side of things and help you out.”
Jesler seemed confused by the answer, and Tayvra had finally looked away from the giant death hole. I was getting a little worried she was going to try going down there, so I decided to be the one to try and figure out more about what was happening. “Are you supposed to be the person to give us the next clue, or loot?”
The tall man gave a deep laugh for a few seconds at the question, I was worried I was mistaken or offended until he answered, “Ha, you sound like needy adventurers already. Straight to the point, I’m to grant you three things for finding the place. Your next riddle, a tool for fighting trolls, and the greatest gift of all, actual first hand advice for dealing with ‘em.”
It was at that moment that Jesler seemed a bit star struck. I don’t think any of us had really expected a random barkeep to be a retired adventurer, but it made some sense given the danger of an open hole to the undermountain and dealing with all the adventurers coming and going. “You fought trolls, sir? Then what are you doing working the bar instead of living it up?”
The man furrowed his eyebrows, taking a moment to look over all three of us, “Who’s to say what I’m doing isn’t what I want to do with my retirement kid? Going from an active life of adventure to being some lazy noble isn’t something a lot of them actually succeed at even if they try it. Ol’ Durnan is plenty satisfied running his own bar how I like it, and someone has to manage all the adventurers still trying to make their fortune.”
Tayvra spoke up for the first time since we arrived, with a seeming epiphany, “Durnan? You’re one of the adventurers who went the deepest into the Undermountain aren’t you? Went down and came out rich, only to go back down and disappear for nearly a century?” A century? How did that work, he looked like a pure human to me, no pointy ears hidden beneath his scraggly hair to signify elven blood, and he didn’t look more than maybe fifty.
If this went on though, we’d end up wasting all our time, and it wasn’t a quick walk getting here, “Interesting as his life story is, I’m a bit more concerned about the quest we’re on. We have a timetable after all.” Tayvra just gave me a bit of a look at my interjection. I know how much you love history but it’s not really the time to interview a living legend.
“The girl’s right, I’d best pass these along,” Durnam reached below the counter to pass along what seemed to be two waterskins and a folded piece of paper, “The key to dealing with most trolls is to neutralize their regeneration. You can beat them all you like but among most things, you can find they are especially good at getting back up. Best way to deal with that most of the time is fire or acid, though there are exceptions. I’ve once fought a troll that was vulnerable to the cold rather than fire for example, but the majority of cases that rule holds true. This here is ‘acid’.” I could almost hear the quotation marks as he said it, no way they’d actually hand a bunch of kids that much of something dangerous, “Sprinkle enough on the trolls and they won’t be able to get back up.”
Jesler reached up to pick up the waterskins and the new riddle, he looked ready to leave without actually saying goodbye, so naturally I had to step in, “Thanks Durnan, for the advice and the gear. I hope you don’t have to deal with any more trouble today!” With that, our merry trio left the Yawning Portal, Tayvra still distracted by the hole and Jesler nearly skipping with how merry he was at our progress. Turns out Tayvra was a good pick for a team member.
Of course, Jesler decided to uncork one of the waterskins after we got out onto the street out of curiosity, nearly spilling it all over himself as he retched from the foul smell. Not acid, but they certainly found something foul to give us as a substitute.
----------------------------------------
Pelsot
Somehow, even after rushing to the dungeon when the second afternoon bell rang, Jesler beat them to it. Did they head back early or were they just lucky to be closer when time was up? No way he actually just outpaced them with Tayvra and Yeena, their legs were too small to actually beat his group in a race.
Getting closer, it wasn’t just that they were there first, probably. Jesler and Yeena both had sacks that looked full of things they likely found during the riddle hunt. Felpirn and Mary were hardly bad at them, but maybe I should have actually picked Tayvra? It would have been an opportunity to spend more time with her, an increasingly uncommon occurrence as of late. Had I somehow insulted or hurt her and just didn’t know?
Thoughts for later, game time now.
I led Felprin and Mary over to the “dungeon” where the other three were waiting. We might not have collected quite as much as they had, but it wasn’t as if we hadn’t also succeeded at finding tools. “Damn, looks like you beat us, if your bags actually have much in them.”
Jesler just chuckled at the challenge, it seems I was right in the assumption, “Of course, I don’t actually think they expected us to solve as many riddles as we did. We actually got a few riddles leading to places you already cleared. Want to go over what we actually found and divvy it up before heading in?”
Felpirn was the designated pack mule for our group heading back, so he was the one to open our sack for the others to peer into, “I guess we’ll go first, we got some clay flasks of ‘acid’, a sword that can be set on fire,” He pulled out a wooden sword that had the blade painted orange, “there’s an acid mace too for a weapon,” this time, basically just a thick stick with the end painted green, “a few normal weapons, and a rough map of the dungeon.” It was the last one I figured would be the most useful for us. Plenty of stories told about how important it was to know what you were going into. It’s why wizards who could use their magic to scout ahead were considered invaluable.
Confidence, I’m supposed to represent my team after all even with a clear loss, “Plenty of tools to try and fight off the trolls and whatever else is in there. Even if fire and acid are needed to actually put them down, it still takes some hits to get them there. Did you guys get much for that?”
Naturally, some of that confidence was immediately chipped away when Yeena couldn’t help but giggle, along with Tayvra and Jesler clearly trying to school their faces. Yeena was the first to open her bag, with Tayvra taking the lead on explaining their loot pulling out two pretty large shields, “We got two shields, good defense is important to avoid being bashed before you can hit them. We should probably designate some of us to try and handle the frontline and hold them back using these.”
Felpirn was the first to raise his hand in response, “I should probably take one of them since I’m the biggest.”
The second was a bit of a surprise when Mary stepped forward, “I’ll take the other, I’m not exactly confident about swinging a weapon or not accidentally splashing one of us using the acid.” It was… sound logic I suppose, though being willing to volunteer to be attacked wasn’t something I’d have expected out of Mary. Normally she was happy hanging in the back.
Tayvra nodded and handed them over before continuing, “There’s also two waterskins of acid, they’ll be harder to use than your flasks but they also just have a greater capacity. We also got a few flasks though. Interestingly we only found one ‘magic’ weapon, Jesler?”
That was his cue to reveal their best find as he reached into the bag to pull out a… pickaxe? I wasn’t the only one confused by the reveal. Thankfully Jesler explained, “According to the one who gave it to us, it’s supposed to be a weapon of Giant’s Bane. Especially effective on all sorts of giants, which happens to include trolls.”
Tayvra cleared her throat, “In case that isn’t clear, weapons of bane are especially effective on whatever they are specialized against, and can range quite a bit on how specific or generic they might be. In this case, while it might not be the finishing blow, it should be more effective towards bringing them to the tipping point than anything else we have available.”
Of course they got such a find, Tayvra had always seemed to always have good luck when it came to finding things. I could tell they weren’t done though with how Jesler’s bag sagged still, “Any other interesting trinkets to share?”
Jesler puffed up his chest a little at the question, he’d be insufferable after this was done I bet. “After that, it might not seem quite as fancy. We got some ‘potions of healing’ for if we get hit. They did say during the setup that if we got hit three times we’d have to back out like we were injured or killed by the trolls. These are our ways of avoiding that. Full reset. Especially important when they said they’d be keeping track while we’re down there.”
Well, while he was right about that not quite being as good as the pick it was certainly important. Plenty of unfortunate tales of warning talked about how adventurers might have come back with the rest of the party if only they were better prepared. Not every group could have a healer in it, so potions would be the next best thing.
With the loot described, we ended up assigning gear to everyone. I claimed the fire sword and a potion. Jesler claimed the acid mace along with two of the potions. Mary and Felpirn both ended up with the shields they volunteered for earlier, along with some wooden swords and some flasks of acid.
Tayvra surprised me when she took the pickaxe and one of the waterskins full of acid. I imagine she probably talked with Jesler earlier about it before we met up. He’d normally be the type to claim the lead, but maybe it was just because he wanted to finish the trolls off with the mace.
Yeena ended up with her own wooden sword, and basically all the spare potions and containers of acid. Taking the spares was an interesting choice, but she did have some of the best aim in the group whenever we challenged ourselves to games of throwing.
Preparations made, I took the lead in opening the door to the building. The room was a mess, with overturned tables, broken crates, and what was certainly the biggest surprise so far. There was a weasel laying in the middle of the room, covered in blood and pooled around it. I was somewhat stunned walking in and seeing it, we all were. Felpirn was the first to shake off the surprise the rest of us were in as he approached and picked it up off the ground.
Then the new biggest surprise hit when the weasel started talking in a gruff voice and a foreign accent, “Ah good, another group of heroes. We were sent ahead to scout, walked into a bloodbath when they sprung their ambush on us down there. I’m pretty sure I’m the only survivor, some quick thinking and quick magic let me change into this to get away, though not unharmed. I fear switching back will do more harm than good, so forgive me for remaining in this shape.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Felpirn held it gently, trying to slip it into his shirt’s breast pocket, “If you’ve been down there, can you at least give us some advice on what to expect?”
Felpirn had turned towards us so we could all see the weasel and listen to its explanation, “Naturally, it’s the least I can do. Hopefully, my compatriots were taken alive, I’m sorry to admit my cowardice in not confirming before my escape. As far as what to expect…. When we were ambushed, there were three of the beasts waiting off to the side in a corner we couldn’t see from the door. Whether or not they attempt the same tactic I can’t be sure, but trolls are hardly famed for their intelligence or being clever.”
Well, that was… perhaps at least somewhat helpful. A chance to turn the ambush on the ambushers, and a chance to get a taste of what our group can do. I was reasonably confident in myself, Felpirn, and Jesler. We had all tried out at the various martial tourneys, even if it was to mixed results. Mary, Tayvra, and Yeena though, were mysteries.
Mary wasn’t exactly helpless, as she’d shown on occasion when they played games that involved physical contact, but she had also been the first to volunteer for a defensive position. Perhaps not quite cowardice, but an inclination towards less aggressive tactics. The off-defender most likely.
Tayvra and Yeena were basically mysteries though. Tayvra didn’t really play all that much, a good throw for her size, but she probably spent more time reading books than playing with their friend group at this point. Clearly helpful on the riddle part, but likely not as useful in an actual fight, especially being a few years younger than the rest of them and her size showing that.
Yeena was also sort of in a similar camp to Tayvra for what he knew. She tended to play more with the kids a bit younger than he interacted with, people in Tayvra’s age group, so beyond knowing about her skill at throwing things he really didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps it was better that she had taken the acid to throw and splash on the trolls, than something more active.
I stared down at our way forward, an open trapdoor revealing a stairway that pretty clearly led to some part of the sewer system based on the smell. The path was dark, but there was thankfully a nearby lantern easily lit. I went to grab for it before the others, checking to see if it actually had oil to be lit. With that confirmed, I opened it and held it back towards the group, “Hey Mary, mind lighting it? I’ll take the third position to be safe with it.” There was little disagreement from the rest of the group, and Mary did her weird tiefling magic thing to light one of her fingers like a candle to ignite the lamp.
And so we began what was honestly not that long of a descent into the dark. Jesler taking the lead with Felpirn just to his side, me a few steps back doing my best to illuminate the path for everyone, Mary nervously marching right behind me, occasionally grasping at the hem of my shirt to steady herself with the large shield, and Yeena and Tayvra hanging at the back doing gods know what.
The actual sewer area wasn’t all that bad, the air might have been stale, but there was only an empty channel in the middle of the hallway. Someone at some point probably blocked it off, likely around the time people started building secret areas down here to help deal with the smell. The docks smelt bad enough a lot of the time, the idea of being stuck down here with the channel flowing in the warmer months seemed like a nightmare.
It wasn’t long for us to reach what seemed a pretty average wooden door just sort of stuck into the wall. Jesler tried for some fancy hand signal to get us all to slow on our approach. The thought was cool, but we could all see the door and none of us were exactly hyperactive about going over to it. He spoke in a hushed whisper when the group got a few feet away from it, “Alright, I’ll open the door, Felpirn takes point with his shield just in case. Pelsot, you and I will be right behind him to strike out at whatever trolls are in there. Mary, Tayvra, Yeena, you three hang back a bit and watch for openings or cover any we have ok?”
We all nodded, trying not to make too much noise out here even if opening the door was likely to reveal us.
And like a divination, Jesler opening the door did quite a bit to reveal our location. The hinges creaking louder than any other door I think I’d had the displeasure to hear, echoing down the hallways and likely quite clearly within the room as well. I think we all sucked in a breath as he paused from the blunder, before deciding to just shove the door open with all his might. Felpirn charging in with me not far behind.
I gently placed down the lantern to the side of the door as we entered, it wouldn’t do to risk accidentally breaking it in all the confusion, as we all started scanning the room. Full of old crates, shelves, and cabinets, I could see what was meant about trolls hiding out of sight from the door.
We all shuffled in, caution raised as we made our rough formation. Certainly unpracticed, but the core of it was sound at least. Tayvra was the one to actually call out first to the group, pointing off to our right side, “Over there, pretty sure I just saw something green moving.” It was perhaps taken as a signal that their cover was blown as all of us turned to stare in that direction, with the three “Trolls” decided to make their appearance.
They at least put some effort into their costumes, their skin and hair painted in an ugly yellowish-green colour, rough torn-up clothes, and what seemed to be fake long clawed hands. The three all stood at least six feet tall, dwarfing us likely to a similar extent that a real troll would tower over adult human adventurers.
Felpirn was the first to react, I think to the surprise of the three trolls, rushing forward to shove one tumbling back over the crate it was crawling over with a shield charge. The other two, having decided to walk around some cabinets they had been hiding behind rather than taking unstable footing, approached us.
Jesler and I moved into action at that time, covering Felpirn who himself had ended up partially tangled on the crate the troll had knocked over in the chaotic fall. Two trolls, two of us. I lunged with the sword, the troll I had chosen as my target feigning some level of panic as he batted it away with those claws of his. I pulled back, analyzing things. He likely had a bit more reach than me, even with my weapon, but he was acting cautiously and not advancing quickly. Emulating how real trolls feared fire most likely.
Jesler hadn’t faired any better with his exchange, practically flailing his mace around to little avail with his opponent. It was at that moment I heard a feminine yell from behind me, Mary charging like a little creature from hell with her shield raised. Trying to emulate Felpirn most likely as she tried to slam against the troll I had failed to land a hit on.
Her attempted charge didn’t have nearly the same effect though. The lack of surprise, weight, and not catching the troll flat-footed meant that he was able to grasp the shield mid-charge to cancel her momentum. A moment of surprise was all that was afforded to her as the troll used his grip on the shield to spin and toss her bodily across the room. It was an opening though, one that I took advantage of by running up and slashing across his back. He bellowed out as he spun around, swiping his claws just above my head as I ducked. That was at least a few hits, I wasn’t sure how many they were supposed to take before they ‘died’ but it was the first progress we had really made so far.
At that moment though, while the troll was engaging me, I saw a black blur zipping down to my left. Tayvra rushing in with her pick held in her two small hands surprising both me and the troll. The troll likely moreso as he whiffed a swipe towards her and she managed to hook the pick around his ankle. I stood there somewhat agape as she then basically stomped sideways into the back of his knee, causing him to topple when she yanked his ankle out from under him. When in the hells did she learn to do that?
Still, I wasn’t one to let such a chance go past me so I decided to join in and slash a few times at him. After a few moments with me and my sister just whacking him, he laid with his face to the floor and just raised both of his hands in surrender. Good, now for the others, which weren’t going quite as well. Jesler was still struggling with his troll, seemingly disarmed at some point and just struggling with one of the basic training weapons.
The troll did clearly have some of the acid dripping off of him though, likely courtesy of Yeena still standing near the door. Mary had started to pick herself up off the floor by now, stumbling a bit from the fall, seemingly getting ready to shield charge again at the back this time. Tayvra decided to flank that one as well, either just by her instincts or having grasped that situation faster than I had.
That just left the one that Felpirn had toppled earlier. It had shifted a bit into a stalemate at this point, with the troll trying to climb over the small wall of boxes while Felpirn did his best to either bat at him with the shield or his padded club. I thought about leaping into action but decided to follow Tayvra’s example instead. Flanking around the boxes and cabinets took me only slightly longer, but the yelp of surprise as I thwacked Felpirn’s troll in the side was plenty of reward for me. The follow-ups were nearly as good as well until he just shoved the crate at Felpirn and turned to face me properly.
It was at that moment that I sort of realized what it meant to have a lot less reach when he simply caught my swing in hand. It took a half second longer to realize that I had really focused too much on those claws when I went airborne momentarily as I was kicked in the stomach. The air was knocked out of me, I just sort of laid on the ground wheezing and trying to remember what it was like to be alive again.
It was during that time that I saw Tayvra leaping over me, and at a glance saw the others all ganging up on Felpirn’s troll. They must have dispatched Jesler’s while I was learning how gravity worked. By the time I had managed to roll onto my hands and knees trying to get up, the noise had mostly stopped. I looked up to see Jesler offering me a hand up, “Ah man I think that’s going to bruise.”
“It’s likely to do more than that dude, I saw you go flying from one side of a cabinet to the other. You doing ok?” I was still wheezing as I got picked up and looked around. Seems the other two trolls were ‘dead’ with how they were laying on the ground, and I had managed to miss both of them.
Tayvra just walked over to hand me a ‘healing potion’, which was some sort of fruity-tasting juice as I chugged it down. She had turned to Felpirn, though moreso to his Weasel, “So then, you said your group got wiped out in this room right? Do you know about any of the others, or how many trolls there are?”
The weasel poked his head out of Felpirn’s pocket to respond, “That’s correct. Trolls tend to not actually accumulate in large groups in normal circumstances. More like wandering family units anywhere from three to a dozen. You probably took out close to half though, from what our investigation found. Not the boss though, she’s likely still prowling about.”
Mary was the one to ask the question on a lot of our minds with that explanation, “Wait a second, she? Why do you think the leader is a woman?”
“Trolls tend to actually follow around a matriarch socially. It’s not exactly universal and there are situations where it is simply the strongest and meanest of them, but on average it’s a good bet.”
“Well that’s a fun fact I suppose,” Tayvra said as she clasped her hands for attention, “But we should probably discuss a plan for how we want to approach the rest of whatever is down here. This encounter was pretty messy,” of course at that moment she was looking at me. I’d be a bit more ashamed if my diaphragm wasn’t pondering what dark god to worship to alleviate the pain, “So maybe rather than rushing in like that again and splitting the formation, we could draw them to us.”
Jesler just raised his hand as he sat on one of the crates, “That sounds like a great idea and all, but I have no idea how you would actually pull that off or how we really set things up in our favour.”
It was then that Tayvra made an expression I don’t think I’d ever seen on her face before, an almost vicious grin across her face as though she had some evil plots to get back at all who wronged her, “I’ve gotten a few ideas looking around the room, let’s figure out a plan…”
----------------------------------------
I decided I *really* hated this plan as I could hear a half dozen trolls trailing behind me as I ran down the corridor. Jesler and Felpirn right beside me were running out of breath. I probably had it the worst since I had to make sure the lantern wasn’t flying everywhere as we ran.
Still, the sounds of war cries from the trolls echoed behind and around me, along with muted conversation as they tried to figure out what we were doing. Tayvra had instructed the three of us to run along and start opening as many doors as we could along the way to draw the trolls back to that first room.
Well, mission accomplished. We hadn’t even taken much time with the three rooms we had opened, shoving open the doors and yelling an insult or two before taking off. Being the lantern bearer, I wasn’t actually the one going into the rooms, I’d just sort of waited out in the corridor ready to run as soon as the others started bolting, so I was pretty ignorant about what was following us.
Still, all our job was at this point was ‘run back’, and so that’s what we did. Felpirn slammed into the door rather than actually slowing down before flinging it open towards us so we could carefully get inside. The three girls had been busy while we were gone, only some of the preparations had actually been done when we had left
Felpirn was the last one at the door, and the sounds of trolls approaching was audible to all of us at this point. He slammed the door shut behind him as we all took the positions Tayvra had come up with.
I have to say, the initial payoff was pretty glorious. The sound of the trolls struggling with the door handle with their unwieldy claws, only to rush in as a mob through the door. Their initial charge was thwarted as the first two were tripped by a taut rope pulled across at ankle length by Felpirn and Jesler. Then the next two ended up tripping over the first two, ending up in one giant jumbled mess on the ground.
They all failed to get up as they scrambled against each other, almost like a bucket of crabs. Their attempts were made even more futile by the puddle strategically placed roughly where we had expected them to fall. Then came the real kicker for Tayvra’s plan, Yeena pulled on a rope to squeeze a suspended waterskin hanging above the chaotic pile to dump all of its contents.
Suffice to say, I actually kind of pitied the four on the ground even as I walked up to whack them for it to ‘count’. I wasn’t the only one of course, we were still in a bit of a hurry, so I was being assisted by Tayvra, Jesler, and even Felpirn once we had confirmed that the plan worked.
It was a good thing too, because it didn’t take long for the actual troll to walk in. Where in the hells had they gotten an actual troll for this whole thing? The first sign of its arrival was it actually yanking the door off its hinges to casually toss it back out into the corridor, only to peer around the doorframe into the room, at the pile just in front of the door, then each of us in turn.
We were stunned by it, female as the weasel had predicted, covered in a patchwork armour of different hides and furred pelts. It dragged behind it a shiny black axe made of a material I’d never really seen before but reflected the lights of the room as it dragged along the floor before getting raised up into a two-handed grip. The troll was hunched over, but still easily stood eight or nine feet tall, enough that it ended up headbutting its way through the top of the doorframe to enter.
None of us were expecting something like it, a silence falling over the room if you ignored the moaning pile. The troll chief exhaled from its nose, steam somehow visible, “So you’re the miserable brats making a mess out of things, and here I thought capturing those adventurers would have kept our presence secret. It should be fine though, we just have to eat you too and then nobody will be around to tell of us until we’ve had our fill.” The chieftain took a heavy step forward, I swear I could feel the impact through the floor. Then it took a single step going completely over the pile we were so proud of defeating, and a third had it already in the middle of our group.
Our bewilderment was broken when Tayvra nailed it right in the head with one of the clay containers of acid. It seemed somewhat surprised by the action alone, expecting intimidation to keep us frozen in place. The rest of us exploded into action at that moment, Mary and Felpirn attempting to position themselves to catch a strike from it. Felpirn standing before the obvious target Tayvra just made herself into, with Mary more to the side with me and Jesler near the center of the room. Yeena was hanging back, a glance showing she had fallen to her knees at some point, hopefully, she’d get it together before it was too late.
Their formation was short-lived when Felpirn managed to take a full-force swing from the axe likely meant for Tayvra. His shield shattered and he was sent spinning off to land roughly a ways away. What the hell happened to this being a practice scenario?!
Still, Jesler and I exploded into motion the moment the axe wasn’t in the way, silently agreeing to both go for the ankles to try and knock it over as best we could. Swinging nearly at the same time, it felt like hitting a thick tree trunk. The troll just turned around and looked down at us, smiling. I ended up lunging between her legs to get away, spinning around to swipe at the back of her knee to little effect. This wasn’t working, these toy weapons were hardly going to actually hurt a real troll, even actual weapons struggled to do much to them!
So I backed away, trying to evaluate the situation. Yeena still seemed to be panicked, but Tayvra had run over to have some sort of conversation with her. Hopefully, she had another crazy plan up her sleeve because at this point everything was falling apart. Mary had ran over to where Felpirn had fallen, doing her best to help him up. I imagine he felt how I did after being kicked, probably not a lot to expect from him for at least a little while.
That only left me and Jesler at that point, which was a far more dire situation. The chieftain seemed to have barely noticed me and was approaching Jesler taking wide axe swings that he was lucky to be narrowly avoiding. It was pushing him back rapidly though, and the mess of containers in the room meant he was about to be stuck in a corner with nowhere to go.
So I did what was likely a somewhat stupid and reckless thing to do, taking a running leap onto the troll’s back. I didn’t actually get that high up onto it, but thankfully there were enough handholds in the armour to yank myself blindly further and further until I reached the collar.
It was at that point that the flaws of my plan were made apparent as she tried to buck me off, turning the event into a rodeo. Me, hanging on for dear life, and her spinning around wildling and struggling to reach back to get a good grip to throw me off.
It did its job though. Jesler was able to aim a decently high swing to catch it across the face as he ran past it, narrowly avoiding being hit by the flailing axe. I decided to follow his lead, waiting for when she spun in the right direction to let go and land in a somewhat controlled manner a ways away from the momentum.
I took advantage of the brief moment of confusion from the troll to look around the room again. Jesler was by my side, helping me get upright. Felpirn and Mary had disappeared off somewhere, gods know where when the troll was right in front of us. I wouldn’t expect either of them to just bolt like that. Yeena seemed to have recovered but was just sort of waiting off to the side unsure of what to do. When I locked eyes with Tayvra though, it was as she was mid-throw, nailing the troll once more with that stinking acid.
I hoped she had some kind of plan for the next five seconds because that was probably all she was about to have. The chieftain paused to wipe her face off, then roared out in challenge at my little sister. Worse, she was also behind me, meaning I was in the path when the troll barreled straight at her, simply shoving me and Jesler aside instead of using its weapon with how little it paid us attention.
I had a great view as I was picking myself up off the troll winding up a giant overhead swing straight down on Tayvra. If I flinched away at that moment I probably wouldn’t have gotten to see as she somehow deftly sidestepped past the swing, into the troll’s guard only to give as big of an upward swing as her body could manage with the pick straight into the giant’s chin.
Where in the hells had she learned to do something like that?
It only got more impressive as she took advantage of how the troll was stunned by half spinning off to the side and landing two more decent hits to the troll’s side, just under the ribcage. It was almost like she was kiting a bull around, dancing side to side as the troll flailed around trying to get to her. A combination of being disoriented from that first hit and Tayvra’s newfound dexterity let my sister remain unharmed as she ducked and dodged her way through the fight.
It came to something of an end though when Tayvra was forced to block instead of dodge, a wild swing with that strange greataxe luckily caught on her little pickaxe sending her flying back and creating space. The troll stomping on the ground looking angrier and angrier at how it struggled to crush the tiny opponent in front of it. The charge was predictable and wild, the troll using its claws rather than the axe as it attempted a flying tackle with wide outstretched arms.
At that point, Jesler and I were on our feet, but we both were hesitating to jump it, to interrupt whatever was going on here. Tayvra clearly somehow knew what she was doing, to try and join that rhythm might have thrown everything off. Our hesitance was rewarded as Tayvra managed to dive under the troll as it crashed into a pile of crates and cabinets. Wait, when had there been such a big pile in the room?
Tayvra was the one to answer that as she spoke the first actual words I had heard in a while, “Now push!” A signal to Felpirn and Mary? That question was answered as the pile tumbled over onto the troll as it was picking itself up, the weight of everything burying it in an avalanche of wood and whatever various contents happened to have been in them.
It was only then that I saw Yeena running into the action, clutching our last waterskin of acid close to her chest. She turned to look at Jesler and I as she ran, calling out, “Come on, we need to expose her head!” We didn’t take long to rush to help, sheathing our weapons and running over to the pile, Tayvra joining in as well. Naturally, it must have been her plan she communicated while Jesler and I were distracting the chieftain earlier. Did she set this whole thing up in that short timeframe?
It was a bit tricky to actually get to the Troll though in the way we wanted. We didn’t want to just pull the weight off of it such that it could escape, just enough to expose the head. Made all the harder by it struggling beneath the crates shifting them about. In the end, it was Mary who managed to uncover it and yell out to the rest of us, “Got it, Yeena! It’s your turn!” I scrambled over to see what was going on. We got a good look at the Chieftain’s face, still with some of the acid marking its cheeks. Yeena spent little time shoving the waterskin into its face but was using both hands to try and get it into the resisting mouth.
It wasn’t working, I had to help. I lunged in there to grab at the Troll's face, pulling its mouth open like I used to with Jespa when she was a baby, refusing to eat her food sometimes. The opening was enough for Yeena to shove the Waterskin’s opening into, and Mary moved to squeeze it causing the ‘acid’ to spew its way into the troll’s mouth. It thrashed and struggled, I got knocked away at some point, but after maybe ten seconds of struggle it went limp beneath us.
We all collapsed to our knees then, realizing the ordeal was over.