As the party continued to move through the hills, they were confronted with several more fights: a small pack of cougars, a lion, and a huge level seven bull moose.
Eventually, they began seeing signs of the troll: large droppings that had a slightly acidic smell, gashes in some of the larger rocks, and tracks that were far too large for any other humanoid creature they knew of, save maybe a small giant. They followed the tracks until they found the creature's lair: a large cave entrance set into a basalt cliff face. The rocks scattered around the entrance looked sharp and had a bit of blood on them.
Caisin pulled the group together out of earshot of the cave. "Okay, we don't really know what we are facing here, but I think we can expect a tough fight."
"Agreed," Sparky said. "I am going to guess that we should look for two things. First, trolls are traditionally weak to fire, so if any of you have any fire-based abilities, you should use them as liberally as possible. Second, trolls usually have a regeneration ability which would heal wounds and other damage rather quickly."
"Great intel, Sparky. Does anyone else have something to add?"
After a short pause, Caisin continued. "Okay, so fire spells and regeneration, how do we take it down? And do we go into the cave or wait for it to come out?"
Grog spoke up after a bit, "Given its healing abilities, I think we are going to need to do a lot of damage really fast to kill this thing. The longer the fight lasts, the greater the Troll's advantage. I think Lance needs to use fire traps throughout the fight, but especially at the end."
"I tend to agree, but that can be hard,” Lance replied. “I will be burning up stamina during the whole fight, and in the end, I may not have enough to lay a trap at all."
"Okay, so the bigger question is can we lure the troll into a final trap that we set before the fight?" Caisin said. "If we can pick our ground and then effectively move the enemy into our trap, I think that could be a winning combination."
"But will a fire trap or two be enough to end this thing?" Lance countered.
"Maybe, maybe not. Does anyone have any other trap ideas?" Caisin asked.
"We could roll a rock onto it, maybe that one over the cave entrance?" Grog offered.
Everyone looked at the large rock above the cave entrance.
"Hmm," Caisin replied. "Looks like it would be hard to move."
"Maybe I could blast it out with my lightning?" Sparky offered dubiously.
"Maybe," Caisin said, "but don't waste your mana points trying to get it free when you could be hitting the troll instead. Maybe you blow your mana, and the rock is still not free."
Sparky looked at the rock and nodded.
"Okay, then," Caisin said thoughtfully, "I think if we can, we should fight from the hillside. Sparky has a ranged attack; the rest of us could throw rocks at the troll from up there. Fighting from the high ground will give us a lot of options. Assuming the troll is in its cave, we could sneak up there and start making a lot of noise to draw it out."
The party moved until they were all on the hillside above the troll's cave. They gathered a significant pile of fist-sized rocks, which were easy to throw but heavy enough to do some damage if they hit. Once they felt ready, they started hollering and yelling. After about a minute, a
As soon as it did, Sparky let loose with a lightning bolt. The attack hit, and the troll hollered with rage but then pulled itself back into the cave. After a minute of waiting, it still did not reappear.
"Great," Caisin muttered. "I guess it is just in there healing. It is just going to run away and heal any time it is hurt. We need a new plan."
The party gathered together again and discussed the problem. If the troll was not going to come out and fight them, they needed to go in if they wanted to take it down.
As the party descended from their hill, they realized the sharp rocks outside the cave might not be natural but a prepared defense by the troll. The stones were closer together the closer they drew to the cave.
"Hey guys, if you walk like this," Sparky said, scraping the rocks aside with his feet, "we can create a pathway for escape if we need to run away."
"Great idea, Sparky!", Caisin said as he mimicked the mage's foot movements. Soon, everyone was clearing their own pathway through the stones.
Once past the cave entrance, the sharp rocks stopped, but an uneven and jagged floor of igneous rock inside was not much better. Lance thought he remembered this type of flow was called 'AA lava' from his many trips to Hawaii with his parents. The thought brought back strong memories which he worked to suppress. Not the time, he thought.
"Running away is going to be very hard here. My guess is that the troll will want us quite deep into its lair before it attacks. There is nothing for us except to proceed," Caisin said.
“And,” added Sparky, “The troll probably won't worry about walking on this stuff. I figure it can just heal as it cuts itself on sharp rocks.”
The party nodded as they moved forward cautiously. As they progressed, Sparky cast a cantrip that caused an orb of light to hover over him as he moved, illuminating a 30-foot area. The cave went back into the mountain almost completely flat, twisting and turning like a wild river.
Caisin stopped the party, "Listen, guys, we need to be in battle formation now. There are far too many blind corners and great ambush spots.” Grog moved to the front and center with Caisin right behind him. Lance and Lucinda followed, working to keep to the shadows as best they could. Polly and Sparky made up the rear guard.
"Good," Caisin said as he advanced cautiously, "look out for an ambush."
"I can smell you, little humans," a gravelly voice said, "I hear your fear, and I look forward to feasting on you, sucking the marrow from your bones." Evil laughter erupted from just ahead of the party. "Welcome to my home."
Lance saw Grog stop as his foot crunched down on something. Looking ahead, Lance could see it was a bone the orc had stepped on.
"Show yourself, coward," Caisin bellowed.
The troll, which looked much more monstrous from ground level, stepped into the light. It was clothed in nothing more than a ragged loin cloth, and in its right hand, it bore a huge dinosaur-looking bone. It splayed its left hand, displaying sharp claws.
"Hold," Caisin said, "Let it come to us."
The troll's face wrinkled into an ugly frown and then, after a moment, it leaped, clearing most of the twenty-foot distance between it and the party.
"It may have been baiting us into a trap," Lance yelled as he closed carefully to the troll's flank.
Grog shouted a taunt, but it ignored the attempt and lunged toward Polly. Seeing this, Lance dove forward, reaching his sword to slash at the creature's Achilles tendon. As he did, the troll let out a roar. Grog shield-bashed its knees and Caisin lunged around the huge creature to slash at its hamstring on the same side as Lance.
Lucinda had climbed the walls and leaped onto the back of the giant creature. As she did, she punched with all her might, embedding both of her daggers into the wrinkly green skin and muscle beneath. The creature roared as it fell to one knee. The damage from Lance and Cassin's blows weakened its leg. As it did, Lucinda pulled one of the daggers out and plunged it back into the creature's back repeatedly, the number of poison dots increasing rapidly on its nameplate.
Lance, wanting to preserve as much of his stamina as possible, stepped behind the creature and slashed at its wounded tendon over and over. "Keep it down..." Lance began to say, until a huge bone club slammed into his chest, knocking him across the tunnel into the far wall. This dazed Lance for a moment. When he came to, he saw the troll was back on both feet, working to push past Grog and Caisin to attack the squishier casters in the back row. Lucinda had also been thrown from the creature's back and looked stunned.
She got up first and dashed up to the creature's rear, plunging her dagger into its flank and adding to the half dozen dots she had already applied. All the while, Sparky was lashing out with lightning, striking the troll again and again.
Suddenly, the troll turned and leaped back down the tunnel, disappearing beyond the reach of Sparky's light spell. The exit was so sudden it left the party stunned.
"Argh," Lucinda growled, "I almost had the twelve stacks I needed. Now they’re fading every few seconds."
A soft rain fell from green clouds billowing at the ceiling, healing everyone. Noticing their upward glances, Polly said, "That is my new level 5 spell; it has the same radius as Sparky's light cantrip, so if you are in the light you will be healed. It is not as strong as a direct heal, but in a fight like this where Grog's taunt is not working, it will work to keep the rest of you healed so I can focus on Grog and Caisin."
"Awesome," Caisin said, "But we need a new plan now that we know where we will be fighting."
The party huddled together for a short while, resting. Then they set out, carefully examining their surroundings as they moved forward a little deeper into the cave, where they settled in to prepare.
**********
When the attack came, it was sudden and brutal. The party barely had time to respond as the troll leaped with a growl into the circle of light from Sparky's spell. They had renewed their mana and stamina during the wait, and they were sure the Troll had waited until it was completely healed.
The initial blow had thrown Grog and Caisin on their backs as the troll, sans its bone club, savaged the two downed fighters with blow after brutal blow using its claws. Sparky immediately responded with heavy bolts of lightning. Lucinda had repeated her feat from the last fight, dropping onto the troll's back and slamming her dagger in over and over, building up a large set of poison dots. Lance waited five feet behind the creature, doing nothing.
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"Come on!" Sparky yelled in frustration as he continued to throw lightning at the troll. Suddenly, the huge green monster stopped its attacks on Grog and Caisin, looking dumbstruck.
"Now Lance!" The caster yelled, "The stun finally proc'd."
Lance shouted, "Giant strength!" and then ran forward, shoving the troll over the wounded fighters. As he did, a fire trap erupted on the top of the pit trap the troll had tried to tempt the party into during their first encounter. As it broke through the now flaming branches and leaves that covered the trap, Lucinda lunged forward just in time to land a final blow. All of her poison dots, an even dozen, disappeared as the troll howled in pain. The now evident pit trap revealed a recently summoned bonfire at its bottom as the troll fell. As it crashed down to the bottom of its own trap directly into the waiting fire, a second fire trap engulfed the troll in overwhelming flame. Just like that the fight was over.
A severed troll head and a glowing orb also appeared as the body of the troll faded away.
A general hubbub of pleasure issued from the party as they experienced the glow of leveling up again. Everyone except Grog had gained a level, but he had been a level ahead, so now the party was all level six. Lance distributed his points in his normal pattern and then turned to the rest of the party.
Caisin jumped down into the pit, placing the troll head in his inventory and tossing the skill orb up to Lance. Grog bent down and offered the dwarf a hand to help him out of the pit.
"Okay," Lance said, "We know we can defeat a level 8 creature, but let's remember we are targeting at least one more level so we can take on a level 8 elite wraith. My guess is that it is at least that much harder than this troll.”
Caisin nodded and added, "I say we take our time heading back and pick up all of the experience we can, including turning in the quest to the dwarven god on our way back to town. We should get a good night's sleep tonight, upgrade our gear, and purchase some supplies as well before we head out tomorrow for the Canyon. I figure we can reach level seven on the way to the canyon."
"So, who gets the troll orb?" Lance asked.
"I vote for Grog, since I am going to assume it will give increased regeneration," Polly said.
"This seems wise even though he already has an orb, but let's keep our tank well away from any fire," Sparky added.
Lance tossed the dark green orb to Grog, who smiled and equipped it.
The party nodded as they carefully made their way deeper into the troll's lair. A couple of turns further in they came upon a larger, open area, shaped like a circle with a diameter of about thirty feet. Sparky stood in the middle, illuminating the entire area while the party searched. It was littered with bones, both humanoid and animal. Lucinda was looking carefully at the humanoid bones; after a few minutes she shouted triumphantly and pulled up a finger bone with a ring on it.
Lance noticed that there was a different gleam in Lucinda's eyes as she scoured the bones for any kind of treasure. Others in the party began sifting through the bones as well and, after a while, Polly pulled up a chainmail shirt. They created a pile of items at the entrance and soon they had a decent assortment of items.
Lance spent a few minutes looking over them and was able to identify all of the magical ones. The pile included a ring of Feather Fall, a chainmail shirt with magical defenses, and an amulet of Treasure Finding.
Grog got the chainmail, Lucinda got the ring, and Lance put on the amulet.
It enabled Lance to pick out a few more items among the bones, none of them magical, but Lance could feel a strong pull toward the back wall of the room.
As Lance began walking in that direction, Caisin, who was already at that end of the room, said, "Hey guys, give me a hand over here."
The fighter had found a cunningly crafted door that was blocked from their side. The party scooped away bones, clearing a way for Caisin to pull it open. It shrieked on rusted hinges and then stopped. Grog stepped in and, between the two fighters, they pulled open the door to loud metallic protests.
**********
Behind the door was a small alcove and against the back wall sat a huge chest.
Lucinda sprinted past the others to the chest and then bent down to look at the lock. "This is..." That was all she got out before the chest opened a huge mouth and shot out a tongue to slam the door shut, leaving Lucinda trapped in the room with the strange chest.
Horrible sounds issued from inside the small room as the party tried to pull the door open again. But, as they did, all they saw was a glowing orb over the chest which was now revealed to be
Caisin, who had been leading the charge to open the door, now yelled, "Shut it!"
The party pushed as hard as they could, slamming the door shut. Caisin and Grog held it shut as the bones were pushed back against the door.
"Why?" Lance said through huffing breath.
"She is going to want a piece of that thing, we need to let her respawn." was Caisin's reply.
Lance nodded.
The mimic was repeatedly slamming itself against the door but the bones plus the rusty hinges were enough to hold it in the tiny room. The party backed away until they were out of sight of the door and sat down to rest and wait.
A minute later Lucinda popped into being in front of them, "Son of a... There goes the first of my three deaths."
"Whoa there girl," Caisin broke in, "We are going to take revenge. Never you fear."
"It's not that," The tall thief said, "I was under some sort of a spell, it seemed much easier to find treasure, but man did I have a fever for it. That open door with a chest behind it was like a siren song. But yeah you try getting chewed to death inside a fake chest!” She shuddered, “What was that thing anyway?"
"It's a mimic," Sparky said, "one of the nastier denizens of any dungeon. They look like a nice fat chest, but then bam."
"Yeah," Lucinda said, "I know about the bam."
“Chomp you very much.” Cletus said, transforming into a treasure chest with huge teeth.
Lucinda swung at Cletus to slap him, but he disappeared just before she hit. “Not funny.”
"Okay," Lance said, "We need to know what happened to you. Did you put any items on that you found?"
"Nope", she replied.
"Hey," Caisin interjected. "I felt like I could almost see treasure as well, I had the same feeling back at the gnoll's cave too."
"Come to think of it I felt that too." Lance said. He thought for a moment, and then snapped his fingers. "I know what it is, This must be the second trait on the goblin leadership orb I found in the canyon."
Edie popped up in the middle of the party. "Bingo, you got it!"
"Gotcha, so the first skill we uncovered a while back it gives us all a 2% bonus on attacks. The second skill, which often has a downside, is that we all have an increased chance of finding loot, but there is a chance that we could catch loot fever. Simple solution, when we are in a loot situation, we need to be looking out for one another.
Everyone nodded.
After the party had rested and settled down a bit, they began strategizing how to take their revenge. A few minutes later, the party was back in front of the door where the creature had also settled down.
Lance stood at the door and when Caisin nodded he said, "giant strength", but nothing happened. He slapped his forehead, "Once per day."
Grog and Caisin took his place but the party cleared the bones away first. The mimmic seemed to have settled as it made no evident sounds while they prepared.
The two fighters gave a mighty pull, yanking the door open.
Polly was standing about ten feet beyond the opening door and, with a speed that would shame any frog, the mimic's tongue darted out and wrapped around her form, a scared squeak escaping her lips.
At the same time, the fighters slammed the door back in place catching the extended tongue between the door and the frame. A startled cry came from the now-trapped mimic as the party set about hacking at the creature's tongue. The mimic released Polly in a vain attempt to defend itself.
Grog heaved a mighty blow just across from Lance, attempting to sever the tongue, but the mace only left a minor wound. Then, Lance raised his sword, and with all his might, slammed the blade into the mimic’s pink tongue. The sword cut nearly halfway through the flailing member. A scream emitted from behind the closed door.
Lucinda was angrily poking her daggers into the tongue just above where Grog and Lance were at their bloody work. Lance could not tell how many dots she had applied, but he knew it must be nearing a dozen. A moment later, another scream came from the door and Lucinda stepped back satisfied. Lance lifted his sword for another blow and when it came down the tongue was severed, still having enough nerve impulse to flop around lamely on the bones.
"Open it," Caisin said.
Grog pulled the door open again and a very angry-looking chest peered out from the small room. Sparky immediately began slamming the creature with lightning as with the last of his endurance, Lance slammed his sword into the center of the beast.
The chest slumped as if dead, but Sparky yelled, "Stunned, get it!"
The party quickly moved into the room surrounding the mimic and began slamming it with blows from every side. Lucinda looked pleased the mimic had not died yet as she applied dot after dot, her daggers slamming into the false wood of its side. Finally, her twelfth dot appeared and the entire stack disappeared at once, the deadlier form of her poison being applied. The creature slumped further, disappearing in a puff of smoke and leaving a pile of treasure in its place.
"Take that, you…" Lucinda began, but Caisin grabbed her arm and calmed her down.
The party sorted through the loot, finding a new pair of "insulated boots" for Sparky, increasing the damage he was able to do with electricity. He met the good news with a dance he invented on the spot, something between the electric slide and the cabbage patch. Caisin rolled his eyes but held his peace.
Cletus appeared, joining Sparky and matching his every move. At that, Caisin groaned deeply and walked away from the dancing pair.
Grog received a magic shield that would reduce the stamina cost of his shield bashes, but the real winner was Lucinda, who received a pair of boots that would allow her to levitate for up to 15 minutes every hour. This item would have been useful to any of the party members, but since Lucinda had suffered at the hands of the mimic, everyone agreed she should have them. Silver and even some gold had poured from the beast at its death, making this a rich haul for the entire party.
After a final look around, the party departed from the troll's lair.
**********
After the fight, Caisin took on a look of grim determination and lead the party up into the mountains to the dwarven town of Then Uluhm. As they approached they passed an increasing number of dwarves and many of them gave Caisin dirty looks as they noted he was leading a band that included an Orc. But seeing his determination they let him pass.
Eventually, the party came to the temple of Laurin. They were stopped by the high-level guards at the entrance, it was clear that they were not going to allow Grog anywhere near their god. But when he showed them that they had completed a quest given by Laurin they grudgingly let them all pass.
Inside the temple were many more dwarves, some of them planning raids, some pouring over drawings of advanced weaponry, and others just standing around drinking tankards of ale. The temple had more of the feel of a meeting hall than a place of worship. Seated on his throne at the back of the temple was Laurin himself. When the god caught site of Grog he frowned, looking at the party and seeing Caisin at the head his frown deepened. By the time they reached the throne a space had been cleared for them and the dwarves were looking on with a mix of curiosity and anger.
"So," the god began in a booming voice. "The heretic returns and brings a dirty orc, a silly elf, and three purposeless humans with him. Why should I not crush all six of you this instant."
Caisin snapped a smart salute to the god and Laurin slowly returned the salute. When his hand was back at his side, Caisin said, "Lord Laurin, I honor your position of leadership, and your right to reject any from your presence, but you gave me a quest and these other adventurers have joined with me to complete it. It seems appropriate that they are here to turn in the quest with me." Caisin pulled the head of the troll out of his inventory and knelt to offer it to the god.
Lauren plucked the head from Caisin's grasp and tossed it into a pile of skulls and rotting heads behind the throne. "So," He said. "Cut off from my armies you have still found allies to battle with."
Caisin nodded but kept silent.
Laurin continued, "I accept this head as evidence of your completed quest and offer you this."The god produced an old-looking gun with a flared muzzle and handed it to Caisin who took it with awe." At the same time, I offer you this warning, unless you come in line and join my ranks you have no place here in my kingdom.
Caisin stood before the god and said, "My position has not changed, my Savior has never abandoned me and He still guides and keeps me to this day. I will never abandon him or disown his name."
The god nodded, "Then you are banished from these hills, and your companions shall bear the same mark. Most elves and humans are welcome here but you four are not." He then turned to Grog, "You intrigue me orc, but it is not worth my time to understand how this party came to be. You Grog of the orcs are doubly banned from my kingdom on pain of death if you set a single foot on my land."
Turning to the broader audience around them. "These are banned but I offer them three hours of safe passage out of my lands, after that they are anathema here. However, they have also killed a troll in my name and therefore are not to be hunted or killed by my armies."
The dwarves in the hall all snapped a salute and their God replied in kind and asked that they be at ease.
"It is time for you to depart, you will never see my face again."
Caisin nodded, turned on his heel, and lead the party out of the dwarven god's domain.