5
Trolls
The world blurred and I found myself standing at the back of the second room rather than lying in my comfortable new bed. A quick look around confirmed all the goblins had vanished. They must have been placed in stasis as advertised, whatever being in stasis meant.
I heard shouting and grunting from the other room and snapped into action. We had made a plan but with no practice and the chaotic nature of life and death fights there was no telling how far off the rails this would go. The only thing I was sure of was that it WOULD go off the rails.
Gale came crashing through the door and stumbled over to the weapon rack. I tried to run over and offer some help but tripped and face planted immediately.
Gale looked over her shoulder at the noise and zombie moaned at me, “Quit playing around, the trolls are here hurry up!”
My pride took critical damage from being admonished by a little goblin girl. I wasn't playing around, someone left some… what HAD I tripped on? The only things in the back of the room were a table and chairs but I wasn't anywhere near them. I glanced back and saw a chest. I definitely hadn't made any chests, athough I should, the goblins would have clothes and tools and all sorts of things that would need organizing.
Why was there a chest in the middle of the walkway?
Gale had snatched up a couple weapons and scurried back to the other room apparently giving up on me. Shouting and grunting from that room made me decide to leave the chest for later and I hurried to join the fight. As I passed the weapon rack I chose one of the longer spears to take with me. I hadn't seen one of the trolls yet but the descriptions had instilled some caution in me. There was no way I wanted to get in close to fight one of those things.
I froze when I entered the first room. The descriptions the goblins had given me of the trolls were worrying, giants of muscle with huge mouths filled with oversized crushing teeth they had said. It wasn't like I didn't believe the descriptions but the goblins were small and clearly weak creatures, anything would look giant from their point of view. Well they had understated it.
The trolls were easily eight feet tall and five feet wide. Their skin was somewhere between green and brown, the smaller ones being more green and the largest being a dark brown. Their mouths were indeed unnervingly large, they split their faces from behind where their ears would be if they had human features like ears, and the teeth looked like yellow bricks. Sickly looking tufts of hair or fur sprouted randomly across their bodies but their heads were bald. And the muscles, I would be surprised if they had any fat on them whatsoever, they looked like bodybuilding gorillas with mange.
The preparations we had made suddenly seemed woefully inadequate. What was this flimsy excuse for a spear going to do to those things?
Despite my ‘playing around' earlier the trolls had yet to make it to the ground floor, they seemed more interested in screaming and roaring down at Geoff who stood shakily with a sword in hand. Geoff didn't make a sound, obviously terrified, but neither did he retreat. As Shaky as he was he stood his ground and stared down the monsters, I was impressed.
I heard a shuffling and turned to see Gale quickly climbing the ladder to her own post. Again I had to raise my estimation of the tiny goblin, she was the most calm and collected of us and had jumped straight into action when the invasion started.
The trolls seemed to also have noticed Gale and they redoubled their howling and wailing. In their excitement they seemed to give up descending the narrow stairs, instead jumping down. The fall didn't seem to phase them when they landed properly but one of the smaller ones closest to the edge had fallen badly when another troll pushed it out of the way to jump quicker.
The smaller troll landed on its head and a sickening crack filled the room, then the larger trolls landed on the fallen one crushing it underfoot. Two of the trolls slipped in the resulting gore, and while no other trolls fell or were injured the unfortunate victim ended up crushed and splattered, split literally in half.
With the trolls closer I managed to pull up the information windows.
Name: Travis
Classification: Dungeon BW Monster
Race: Troll
Level: 5
Name: Tyler
Classification: Dungeon BW Monster
Race: Troll
Level: 7
Name: Tessa
Classification: Dungeon BW Monster
Race: Troll
Level: 6
Name: Terry
Classification: Dungeon BW Monster
Race: Troll
Level: 4
Nam: Tony
Classification: Dungeon BW Monster
Race: Troll
Level: 8
Name: Terrence
Classification: Dungeon BW Monster
Race: Troll
Level: 4
Again with the names all starting with the same letter, T names for trolls and G names for goblins. Surely that couldn’t be a coincidence. Then I noticed something wrong, there were six windows. Not only did the fallen troll named Terry have a window still even though he should be dead, but his lower half also had a window and was apparently named Terrence.
As soon as I noticed that, both halves of the troll started writhing. I watched in fascinated horror as the top half sprouted tiny legs which rapidly began growing and the lower half grew a head and shoulders from its own mangled wound. Bones shifted and popped back into their proper places and before they even finished regenerating both troll halves started to stand back up.
How the hell were you supposed to kill something when crushing it in half didn’t do the trick. The fight had just gone from four on three to six on three. We were definitely screwed.
The trolls charged at Geoff who still stood firm, then I noticed that his firm stance might not be courage so much as a deer in the headlights reaction. He was completely locked into place eyes wide and inadequate sword vibrating he was shaking so much.
I head a snap and remembered the plan. Gale was definitely the most reliable of us and that snap could only mean that a multi ton rock was now in freefall over our heads. I quickly looked to the floor for the blocks that indicated the danger zone. Unfortunately the troll blood had spread so much I couldn't see the floor properly. I did know enough about Earth gravity to know that something as high as that rock would take no more than a second to fall the whole way to the floor. Maybe this world had the same gravity maybe not, but one second was both a long time and no time at all when in battle. I grabbed Geoff’s arm and dove away from the trolls toward the boss room. Before I even landed I was deafened by a crash behind me.
I still didn't know anything about geology and had no idea what kind of rock I had strung up to the ceiling but whatever kind it was shattered when it struck the ground. Tiny pieces of rock pelted me in the back as Geoff and I landed. I thanked my lucky stars that we managed to clear the landing area and none of the debris managed to crush us.
Dust clouded the room and blocked my vision. Again I counted myself lucky since I didn't have to breathe, rock dust in the lungs wouldn't be comfortable. I didn't dare hope that we had won. When the earlier invasions finished messages had immediately popped up calculating rewards, no such message had appeared and after seeing the Terry Terrence situation I worried we might be facing a very serious problem.
Finally the dust settled enough to see the carnage, and carnage was the best word for it. Chunks of troll were smeared halfway up the walls. A couple of the trolls seemed to be mostly whole, probably not in the direct path of the trap, instead they must have been struck by debris as they were knocked out bleeding from sickening dents in their heads.
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Gale landed softly on the ground having spent the time descending the ladder after dropping the meteor of death on the trolls.
“Did we win?” she asked softly
“Not yet the invasion isn’t over, we need to figure out how to kill them before they get back up" I numbly answered, apparently Geoff wasn't the only one in some kind of shock
The goblin in question finally gathered himself enough to add to the conversation, “How do we kill them? Even that one that got cut in half didn’t die.”
I really didn't have any answers. In video games trolls were often an enemy as well as in fiction. Trolls always were described as having insane regenerative capability, though being reborn from being cut in half seemed a step above even that. Their weaknesses varied from story to story and game to game, from things like fire and acid, to sunlight, to magic in general. We had none of that though with the possible exception of the torches but they would definitely not be enough, especially if they regenerated as fast as Terry had.
In the best case scenario the chunks were too small to regrow and the only trolls we had to worry about were the two unconscious ones but even those would be awake soon. I could see the caved in skulls and broken limbs of the trolls start to shift even as we spoke.
Lilith gave her suggestion, “What about zombifying them?”
I blew out a breath, “That… might work, or it might be an absolutely suicidal idea.”
When Geoff had been zombified he had died so the invasion ended, but only for a moment before a second invasion triggered. If the two trolls became zombies and then decided to continue their rampage we might only be making them tougher and smarter. Then it was also possible that turning them to zombies might cripple their regeneration. The possibilities were infinite and had no way of knowing if the result would be good or bad.
“Do we have another choice? They are about to wake up.” Gale stated.
She didn't sound afraid like Geoff, instead she clutched the knife she used to cut the rope and glared at the trolls as if she would fight them off herself if only given the word.
“I don't suppose we do, we might be able to come up with a better solution but not in time.” I grimaced
We were about to take a big risk but Gale had the right of it, we had to do something and zombification was our only immediate solution. Geoff gathered himself and stood, brushed himself off and nodded.
“I'll do it, be ready if something goes wrong"
I wasn't sure what he expected us to do, we had just decided there wasn't much we could do and that was why we resorted to this desperate play in the first place, but I didn’t say that. Geoff seemed to be trying to salvage some dignity after freezing up in fear earlier.
I wanted to tell Gale to look away as Geoff bit into the trolls necks but the look of stoic determination on her face made me stop. Seriously how was this tiny girl the most capable of us? If she had found the crown rather than me it would only have been a matter of time before the new goblin dungeon was tier eleven. Geoff did the deed and scampered back to join us as we held our breath watching to see what would happen.
The bite wounds sealed up almost immediately and I worried that the regeneration would defeat the zombie infection. I was reminded of my earlier question of whether the zombification required the target to die or it caused them to die. My answer came in a gruesome way.
The wounds on the trolls all finished healing but they stopped stirring. I briefly hoped that they would just quietly die like that but that didn't happen. The trolls were completely motionless until their eyes suddenly snapped open and their giant mouths opened in a silent scream. Their oversized muscles bulged and veins swelled nearly to bursting on their necks. Black bile flowed slowly like tar from their noses and the corners of their mouths, and then it was suddenly over.
The trolls collapsed again but their muscles and veins didn't seem to realize they were supposed to relax instead remaining swollen and strained.
Invasion defeated
Calculating results…
Invaders slain: 6
Invaders retreated: 0
Damage taken: 22
Damage dealt: 600
Minions slain: 0
Loot lost: none
Loot gained: A disturbing quantity of smeared troll, 2 troll corpses
Invasion duration: 2:37
Invasion reward: 5 copper 17 tin
Loot value: 73 tin
Convert loot to mana coins?
I quickly confirmed hoping to convert the troll corpses before they could zombify since I had no way to confirm if they would be hostile or not. Sadly the ‘Disturbing quantity of smeared troll' took quite a while to convert and the trolls began to move once more before even half had disintegrated.
Error: loot marked for conversion no longer available
Total reward for invasion: 5 copper 53 tin
Error: Dungeon cannot reopen during invasion
Dungeon Invaders detected
Invaders: 2
Dungeon construction interface locked during invasion
Dungeon entry and exit locked during invasion
The trolls bodies didn't seem like they would be relaxing any time soon and their taut muscles seemed to slow their movements but the two managed to climb to their feet in short order. I took another look to see what we were dealing with.
Name: Tessa
Classification: Unaffiliated Monster
Race: Troll Zombie
Level: 6
Name: Terry
Classification: Unaffiliated Monster
Race: Troll Zombie
Level: 4
Seems like Terry continued to refuse to die properly. I couldn't look back to old messages but looking at the unaffiliated tag tickled my memory. They had been something different before, I was sure of it. At the time I had been more concerned with there being too many of them and Terry growing a new pair of legs to focus on it but they definitely had an affiliation before dying.
Tessa spoke first, her zombie speak was something between the troll screaming and regular zombie moaning. The result was something like a pained wail but I understood it all the same.
“What happened, where am I?”
Terry followed that with a wail of his own. Half of that wail seemed to be the troll zombie language the other seemed to be a genuine wail of despair.
“Momma?!?! I don't feel good! Momma!”
Tessa scooped up the wailing Terry and started to make soft shushing noises, “Shhh baby it's alright momma's here”
What the hell was happening? I decided to voice my question aloud but Gale beat me to it.
“Momma? Are you this troll’s mother?”
Tessa seemed to notice us for the first time and looked down… way down at the tiny goblin who definitely didn't have any self preservation instincts.
“This is my baby, Terry. Say hello Terry. "
The oversized baby troll looked down at Gale as well and sniffed, “Hello, I'm Terry. What's your name?”
We all just blinked in confusion. Seriously what the hell was happening, Geoff didn't lose his memories when he turned zombie but these two didn't seem to have any idea they were in a dungeon and that we had been killing each other moments before.
Tessa broke the silence, “It's polite to introduce yourself when meeting someone new little one.”
She definitely had the air of a mother as she gently scolded Gale.
Gale didn't seem to comprehend her words but answered automatically anyway, “I’m Gale, a Dungeon minion. Nice to meet you Terry.”
Tessa's eyes widened and she quickly looked around, fortunately all the bloody mess of her troll friends had been converted before she woke up fully.
“A dungeon minion? Are we in a dungeon? I'm sorry little one, I'm afraid I don't remember much. I feel like I’ve been asleep for a long time.”
I took that as my cue to join in. I did need to either recruit or kill these two after all… That made me consider the invasion messages for a moment, they mentioned invaders retreating but that should be impossible when the door locked. Something to ask Lilith about when I didn't have incredibly dangerous amnesiac trolls in front of me.
“Ah yes, This is my dungeon. Hello by the way, I'm Rob.”
Tessa blew through her oversized lips, perhaps trying to whistle, before answering, “I’m Tessa and this is my baby boy Terry. Good to meet you, I’ve never seen a dungeon before, why is there so much rock and dust everywhere? You really should keep your home clean young man.”
I didn't really have a way to answer that, not without explaining that the rock had been the weapon used to splatter what was almost definitely more of her family.
I tried changing the topic instead, “Right, sorry about the mess I wasn't expecting visitors… So you don't remember anything?”
Tessa seemed to slump, “It's all a blur, I don't even know how much I missed… How did I get here anyway?”
“That is… a long story, but… more importantly we have a little bit of a problem.”
I really couldn't figure out a good way to frame the situation so I just clenched my fists and blew through it all at once, hoping for the best.
“You and some other trolls attacked the dungeon while you were… sleepwalking or whatever that was. We fought off the rest but we had to turn you and Terry into zombies to wake you up. Now the only way to open the locked dungeon door is for you to join the dungeon as minions.”
Tessa and Terry both gaped at me.
I quickly added the good news, “Dungeon minions get to live in the dungeon, I can make you a comfortable home. Not to mention Dungeon minions can't die so you and Terry would basically be immortal as long as you protect the dungeon.”
That didn't seem to snap them out of their stupor unfortunately. I waited for a minute before giving up and waving a hand in front of Tessa's face.
“Hello?”
She blinked and winched her terrifyingly large mouth back closed before clearing her throat and cutting right to the heart of the matter, “You… turned my baby into a zombie?”
She looked down at Terry still cradled in her arms. I was now incredibly grateful for the troll regeneration closing the wounds before turning them. Normally zombification made someone paler than they were in life and they retained the wound that killed them. The trolls had healed the wounds and their muscles and blood vessels swelled with pressure and tension. The Tension had the side effect of darkening the skin so other than muscles being tighter than usual the trolls didn't really have any signs of zombification.
I was also now fully convinced of a suspicion I had since meeting Geoff. Ordinary monsters didn't get the messages like I did when examining each other, that meant Tessa couldn't see that Terry's race had changed to Troll Zombie.
I nervously answered, “Yeah… it was the only way to bring you both back to your senses. BUT now you won't get hungry and don't have to breathe, and if you join the dungeon Terry won't be able to die unless the dungeon is destroyed.”
I kept pushing the idea of joining. Now that the trolls had regained their strength and our rock trap had been spent I suspected we wouldn't stand a chance in a fight even if their regeneration didn't work anymore, and I had no evidence one way or the other on that.
Tessa was quiet a long while apparently chewing over the idea.
Terry finally came to my rescue, “I wanna be a dungeon monster momma.”
Thank you Terry you beautiful bastard.
Tessa still hesitated but after looking at Terry and seeing the hopeful look in his eyes she caved.
“Fine, fine, how does this work?”
New minion added
Minion details:
Name: Tessa
Classification: Dungeon #32476 Monster
Race: Troll Zombie
Level: 6
Pay rate: 5 tin per day, 10 tin per slain invader
Minions detected without room assignments
Any unassigned minions will be placed in stasis during invasions
New minion added
Minion details:
Name: Terry
Classification: Dungeon #32476 Monster
Race: Troll Zombie
Level: 4
Pay rate: 3 tin per day, 6 tin per slain invader
Minions detected without room assignments
Any unassigned minions will be placed in stasis during invasions
Invasion defeated
Calculating results…
Invaders slain: 0
Invaders retreated: 0
Damage taken: 0
Damage dealt: 0
Minions slain: 0
Loot lost: none
Loot gained: none
Invasion duration: 12:01
Invasion reward: 4 tin
Loot value: 0 tin
No loot to covert
Total reward for invasion: 4 tin