Dealing with Trolls

The next day, Damien went back to the apartment, only to get mobbed by his summons.

“Master, we missed you!” Bluey said, squishing him into her breasts.

“It was only two days!” Damien said, patting her back.

After settling them down with some kisses, everyone sat down for breakfast and filled each other in on the last two days.

“Wah...Carleen didn't mention anything about quitting her party,” Damien replied.

“Well, she probably thought you would tell her not too,” Betty sighed.

“I guess I did, but...” Damien shook his head. “It's fine, I was just hoping she could earn a bit more with them before.”

Betty nodded. “Speaking of which, we need to do some missions ourselves.”

Damien nodded (Bluey was getting pumped behind him at the talk of missions), “Are we not doing well on rent?”

Betty shook her head. “No, we're okay, but if we're going to move into a house, we need money for furniture and other items.”

“If she can afford a house, can't she buy us furniture too?” Poppy asked.

Betty blushed, “We can't just take advantage of her kindness.”

“Even if she could, we would still need to work to pay for other things too,” Damien added.

Aurora whisked her tail back and forth. “We don't want our skills to get dull, either.”

Bluey grabbed Damien's arm and started marching to the door. “Come on, let's go!”

“Can we at least eat first...”

After eating a short meal, the group left for the Guild Hall. When they arrived, they headed over to the Iron-Rank board to look at requests.

“What should we do this time? I want to fight something new?” Bluey said, pumped up.

They started looking through requests, but Betty pulled Damien aside.

“What's wrong? Do you have a specific one you want to do?”

Betty shook her head. “No. You should go say hi to Liz before we leave. You don't want her feeling lonely.”

“But, she's..” Damien looked over at her. She had a short line in front of her. “Okay, you're right.”

Betty smiled and leaned into him, so Damien gave her a quick hug before getting in line to see Liz.

The line quickly cycled through and Damien got to the front of the line. Liz blushed heavily when she saw Damien, but gave him a big smile. “What can I help you with today?”

Damien smiled bashfully. “I just wanted to come say hi. We're about to leave for a new mission.”

Liz nodded. “Good, it's been a few days so I was getting a bit worried.”

Damien shook his head. “Don't worry, we'll be back.” He lowered his voice, “Maybe we can get together again when I am?”

Liz blushed again, but gave a small nod.

Damien smiled again. “Alright, see you then!”

Liz smiled again and waved.

When Damien got back, Bluey was already holding two requests in her hands. Handing them over, Damien read. “Trolls!?”

Bluey nodded. “We haven't fought them before!”

“But...are trolls even as hard as other things we've fought? Like pterodactyls or giants?”

Betty shook her head. “Don't take them lightly. Trolls aren't as big as giants, but they're still big, and they can run a lot faster. Plus, they have a lot of HP, so it can take a while to defeat.”

“Okay. Where are they then?”

Betty pulled up her status screen Map. “Deep in the forest between here and the mountains. It's probably a multi-day trip, since it can be slow going when the forest is thick.”

Damien nodded. “Okay then. Let's go get the others.”

They walked over to the Inn, and immediately found Kara. She was in the tavern area, eating some sort of stew. She blushed slightly upon seeing Damien, but quickly regained her composure and asked, “Are we going on a new mission? I was about to come find you all once I was done eating.”

Bluey nodded, showing the mission requests.

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“Trolls? We better be careful,” Kara said. “I've heard they're dangerous, especially in groups.”

“Where's Feya?” Betty asked.

Kara blushed slightly, averting her gaze.

“What's wrong? Did something happen to her?” Betty asked.

“No...she just said she's still tired after....being with Damien...” Kara muttered.

The others looked at Damien.

“What!? I didn't do anything weird to her. Well....nothing I haven't done with you, too.”

Betty sighed. “Can you go see if you can coax her out? I'd feel better if we had two healers for this mission.”

Damien nodded, going up to the room that Feya and Kara shared. He knocked on the door, but he didn't hear any reply. Knocking again, he said, “Feya, are you alright? It's me, Damien.”

He heard a shuffling of something inside and suddenly the door swung up. Feya, in a negligee, was beaming at him and grabbed him in a tight hug. “Damien!”

Damien extricated his arms and hugged her back. “Are you okay?”

Feya looked to the side and blushed. “Yes...I'm just a bit sore from our time together still.”

Damien blushed. “Oh, I see...well, we were going to go on a mission, but-”

Feya quickly ran over and threw off her negligee, causing Damien to quickly close the door as she walked over to the closet and put on her Cleric robes and grabbed her staff. “Okay, I'm ready!” she said, running back and leaning into Damien, giving him a smooch as she leaned her breasts into him.

Damien smiled awkwardly. “Um, it's a multi-day trip, so you might need a bit more than that.”

Feya shook her head. “All I need is Damien.”

Damien sighed. “I don't think that's enough...”

They left Kara and Feya to pack while they went back and packed their own bags, then the group met up by the gate to start walking north.

After a few hours of following the road, they turned and started going into the forest, following the map towards the troll territory. When they got close, they decided to set up camp instead of potentially running into trolls at night.

As they sat around the campfire eating some basic stew, Damien reflected on the trip. We might not get too many more like these. Betty can't come if she wants to have a kid. Same with the summons. I don't even know what Feya wants to do, or Kara for that matter... He glanced over at Kara and Feya, who were sitting next to each other as they ate. He then looked over at his summons, who sat on a log together doing the same. Aurora seemed to catch his glance, and smiled at him before taking another spoonful.

Then Betty sat down next to him, leaning up against him slightly as she ate her own. Damien put an arm around her for quick hug, which earned a smile from Betty.

In the morning, they quickly packed up and made their way into the troll territory. Kara scouted slightly ahead while the others carefully followed, and she soon held up a hand to stop them.

“I see one,” she said, pointing slightly to the right through the trees.

Damien looked, and after a bit of difficulty made out the troll. Unlike the giants that were taller and more humanoid, the troll was rounder and looked closer to a goblin than a human. It was currently holding what looked like a deer haunch and eating it like a chicken drumstick.

“What's the plan?” Bluey asked.

Damien quickly looked at his surroundings, then quickly formulated a plan. “Alright, Kara and Poppy, circle around behind it. Aurora and Bluey will go opposite. I'll go straight and grab its attention. You all start attacking when it notices me.”

“What about Betty and I?” Feya asked, grabbing around his shoulders and sticking her breasts into his back.

Damien gulped but patted her arm gently. “You and Betty stay behind me, and try to Bind it if it looks like things are going badly.”

They all nodded and quickly started taking their positions. Damien walked towards it, trying to get close without startling it.

The troll seemed to not notice (or care if it did), busy with it's leg haunch that had now been almost stripped of meat.

Damien got up a bit closer, thinking of which spell he'd use. After thinking a bit, he decided on one he didn't use often. He threw a rock so the troll looked at him. The troll seemed confused by the rock, then slowly turned its head over and down towards Damien. Damien could see it's leathery green face and mossy beard distinctly now, a bit of blood around its mouth. Deciding he didn't want to wait and see what the troll decided to do, he quickly used Pixie Sparkle while the troll was looking at him.

The troll immediately clutched its eyes falling back with a loud thud and crying out in pain. The others took their queue and started throwing spells and knives at the troll as it squirmed around. Damien did too, trying to do as much as he could before it regained its bearings.

The troll seemed to shrug off the spells, finally getting to one knee and grabbing a nearby club. It still seemed to be struggling to see, but turned towards Damien and started running.

Damien was caught off guard by the quick transition, but activated Speed Boost and was able to put some distance between them.

Bluey activated her Lightning Enhancement and had run over to start punching, but ended up grabbing around its leg instead to attempt to wrestle it. This seemed somewhat effective, as the troll stopped running and tried to kick off Bluey to no avail.

The others took the opportunity and aimed attacks at its face.

The troll finally seemed to be getting injured from the attacks, and was grunting angrily and trying harder to thrash about and wrest itself free from Bluey. Suddenly, it stopped shaking, and held it's club up high.

Damien froze for a second, not sure if it was going to throw it or what its plan was. He then watched in horror as it swung down and smacked both Bluey and it's own ankle at the same time.

“Bluey!” Damien ran over as she collapsed on the ground.

Betty and Feya casted Bind on it at the same time, causing it to slowly fall over as it struggled against the spell with a hurt (potentially broken) ankle.

Damien got over to Bluey and immediately used Heal on her.

Bluey started leaning up, giving Damien a peace sign. “I'm okay.”

Damien sighed, half in relief and half at Bluey's reaction. “Are you sure?” Damien looked, but she hadn't even lost 15% of her HP.

“Squishy Membrane means I take less damage,” she explained, reminding him of her ability, and standing up.

Damien grabbed her arm, “Hold on, I'm going to heal you back up anyway.”

Bluey nodded, watching the troll as it fought against Betty and Feya's spells.

Kara ran up as he finished, shouting, “I have an idea.” She then ran over and started slashing at the hurt ankle. The troll seemed to finally break free, kicking its leg at Kara, although she was able to dodge out of the way.

Realizing this was the play, Damien turned to Bluey, “Focus that ankle too, don't let it get up.”

Bluey nodded, activating Lightning Enhancement again and running over to beat on the bleeding ankle. Aurora and Poppy were still diligently casting spells, not letting the troll orient itself properly.

After another minute of beating on it while the troll struggled to stand, its movements became more and more sluggish, until it was basically only heaving on the ground, unable to attempt to get up anymore.

“Finish it off Bluey!” Damien shouted over at her.

Bluey nodded and jumped up into the nearby trees, then jumped higher to do her diving dropkick onto the troll's chest. With a sickening crunch, it stopped moving and lay splayed out on the ground.

The party grouped up a few meters away, watching it carefully.

“It's dead, I checked our XP,” Betty said.

They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Bluey walked over, poking the troll.

“I hope you're not planning on eating that...” Damien said, feeling a bit drained as the adrenaline left his body.

Bluey shook her head. “No, it smells awful. I'm just wondering why it hurt itself.”

Aurora nodded, “I think we learned that trolls are tough, but...dumb.”

Damien nodded in agreement. “Hopefully we can use that to our advantage.”