‘Warning!’ Bletcher muttered sleepily. ‘Evil approaches.’

Well drilled, everyone moved into position. Mila took Bletcher by the elbow and guided him away to the far edge of the camp. Pecs and The Hoffmeister went with them, ready to defend them if the plan went wrong.

Jaelin and Twerk headed in the opposite direction, until they reached a tree that provided some cover.

In pairs, the rest of the mercs did the same—retreating to hiding places, so that the centre of their camp was emptied, and surrounded. Their fire still smouldered, shedding enough light to help with visibility, and attract the trolls.

Jaelin readied his bow and arrows, while next to him Twerk had both axes in hand. They listened. He thought he heard a crunch to the south of their camp. But the trolls could conceivably arrive from any direction, which made the waiting terrifying.

Jaelin saw a faint glow of colour to his left. Redblade was warning its wielder, Fortune, of the approach of greenskins.

Only moments later, the trolls burst into the clearing. Their tactics were sound enough. They attacked in the darkness, moving at speed, heading for the centre of the camp where two figures stood on duty by the fire.

But Jaelin, Tree, and the rest of The Apples had been expecting the attack. The first troll swung with its mighty club, clattering the first figure to the ground. Only now did the attackers realise that they had targeted two suits of armour, hung up on spears driven into the ground.

ACTION ROUND

Trolls

Troll

Warrior

Action Stats

EXP Level

5

Action Points

7

Hit Points

39

Seven powerfully built trolls had stormed into the camp. Enough, if their plan had worked, to take The Apples by surprise and pulverise them. Instead, it was Stiff’s crew who were able to attack with initiative.

Tree went first. Proficiency with the bow, plus 6 Action Points, meant he could get six shots away. But now the full nature of their enemy was revealed. Five of his six shots hit their target. But only three scored damage. The tough hide, and powerful musculature of the trolls, meant it was the equivalent of trying to pierce armour. The first troll was reduced to 10 hit points.

From high in a tree behind the trolls, Smoke threw his knives. The creatures had run past his position, not realising he was there. Two sunk into the nearest troll’s back, bringing it down to 18 hit points.

It was Mental next, and Jaelin was grateful for the plan they had made. Her role was to stand beside Tree and protect him, rather than heading for the melee. If she had gone to take the trolls on, he felt sure she would have been struck down.

That meant it was Jaelin’s turn. He did well, matching Tree’s three hits from five shots. A third troll was badly injured, taken down to 9 hit points.

Those with melee weapons waited, which meant there was only The Bowman left who could shoot. One of his two shots scored damage, reducing a fourth troll to 31 hit points.

Jaelin was expecting the trolls to charge the positions of the three archers. But, perhaps revealing their intelligence, they turned and fled the way they had come. There was no conversation, or even a shout of alarm. They just lumbered away. The ambush had been so successful, their odds of winning the engagement had clearly fallen too low to persevere with it.

Smoke threw another knife, which sank into the shoulder muscle of the troll Tree had injured. But it failed to take even a single hit point.

Jaelin put an arrow to his bow, but the trolls had run past a tree on the edge of the clearing, and he had no angle to target any of them.

The Bowman was better positioned. His second arrow struck the same troll in the back, dropping its hit points to 5. Yet it still had the strength to keep running, and the trolls departed the action zone.

Fortune strode into the clearing, holding Redblade high. Everyone watched, as the red glow faded to pink, and then dulled away completely.

They waited a while longer, until they were sure the trolls weren’t going to make a return. Then they met by the fire. There was lots of excited talk about their success. It was plain that the battle fever pounding through their bodies meant no one was getting any more sleep for the rest of the night.

When daylight came, Jaelin led them across the open countryside towards the barrow. They came upon the rocky slope they had climbed last time they were here. On the other side of it was their destination. Redblade glowed once more. They had also come across the seven trolls again.

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They stood on the crest of the slope, looking down impassively as The Rotten Apples approached.

‘We’ve got company,’ Jaelin said.

‘A new tactic, it seems,’ said Tree. ‘What do you make of it?’

‘I get the impression they don’t want us to reach the barrow. I wonder if it’s their home.’

They stopped, and studied their opponents.

‘I suppose we’ll never know,’ said Tree. ‘It’s not like they’re very communicative. But I’ve always heard that trolls are practical creatures. It would be sensible for them to leave it to us.’

‘At least two of the other barrows had spells on them. It could be that, somehow, they’ve been tied to the place.’ Jaelin turned behind. ‘What do you think, Bletcher?’

‘Bletcher knows nothing of spells.’

Jaelin sighed. As answers went, it was pretty unsatisfactory.

‘Are my eyes deceiving me,’ said Tree, ‘or do those trolls have more hit points than they should?’

Jaelin looked. He was right. One of them had been taken down to 5 hit points last night. The lowest count was now 18. ‘No. You’re quite right. How could trolls get healed? Unless there is magic at the barrow? That could be why they value it.’

‘I have heard stories,’ said Twerk, ‘that trolls can regenerate after suffering injuries. But that rate of healing is pretty impressive.’

‘Whatever the reason,’ said Mental, hefting her axe, ‘looks like the bastards aren’t moving.’

‘Then we bring them onto us,’ said Tree. ‘The archers will attack first. It’ll likely draw them down off their perch. But just like last night, we don’t get involved in a melee. Retreat when they get close. Use the space we have. Each archer needs at least one guardian.’

‘This is bullshit,’ declared Smoke. ‘We fought the same boys last night. Now I’m four knives down with nothing to show for it.’

‘And your point is?’ Ashlyn asked him.

‘Just that it’s bullshit.’

Tree gave his colleague a tired look. ‘Then let the archers make the first move. Target the three with full health,’ he advised Jaelin and Christoph. ‘We want to knock their action points down.’

He placed his arrows head first into the ground before him, to make them easy to collect and shoot. Jaelin was so impressed with the idea that he did the same.

ACTION ROUND

Tree fired his arrows with similar results to last night. Five of six struck, but only two pierced their target’s hide. However, those two hits were punishing ones, taking a healthy troll down to 11 hit points.

Jaelin aimed his bow, realising the difficulty they had. Although the daylight gave him a clear view, shooting uphill was tough. Despite the technical difficulty, all five arrows struck home, three of which did damage. Another healthy troll was brought low, reduced to 8 hit points.

Unfortunately, neither of The Bowman’s shots caused damage.

That left one troll on the full 39 hit points, and his six companions ranging from 34 to 8. The rest of The Apples stood at the bottom of the slope, waiting. It must have been clear to the creatures that standing in the open was not going to work out. With their expressionless faces, they lumbered down, ready to turn the fight into a brutal slugfest.

But they were undermined by their uneven action points. Only four of them reached the line of armed mercs who defended Jaelin and the other two archers.

The first had a full four action points left. It attacked Mental, who had positioned herself in front of Tree. It landed a glancing blow on its first attempt, only causing four damage. Its second hit was more substantial, knocking Mental down to 19 hit points. It seemed to Jaelin that with such power and such a large, simple weapon, it was hard for the troll to miss its target. But Mental was then able to sidestep its final two strikes.

The next troll went straight for Fortune, perhaps drawn by the glowing Redblade. Damage of 7 & 6 with its first two strikes halved his hit points to 13. The troll also caught him with its third and final action. Another 8 damage left him with only 5 hit points. Fortune had been lucky that the damage inflicted wasn’t higher.

The last two trolls only had one action left each. Twerk, defending Jaelin, took the first strike. The troll club shook his tiny frame, stealing ten damage.

Greenblade protected The Bowman. The troll’s club thudded into her. Despite her armour, she took a huge 15 points of damage, leaving her on a mere 8 hit points.

Again, Jaelin considered how lucky Fortune and Mental had been. But the trolls had done their worst. It was the Apples’ turn again, and despite the damage they had taken, The Explorer was confident they had enough in reserve to complete the job.

Ignoring the trolls who had reached their line of defence, Tree targeted those who had fallen behind.

His first arrow dealt 10 damage and downed the troll he had targeted last round. 7 damage was enough to do the same to the one Jaelin had hit. Nine damage halved the hit points of the troll with 18 hit points. Another 7, and it too collapsed to the ground. No more of Tree’s arrows hit, but he had neutralised three of the seven trolls in one turn.

Smoke took an action to reach the uninjured troll who had hit Mental twice. He struck with his knife, aiming for the vulnerable parts of its body. Three accurate hits to its hamstring left the giant creature on its knees, with only 6 hit points left.

A horrendous, animal scream pierced the scene. Mental swung her axe, two-handed, with abandon. It was the complete opposite approach to Smoke, and although she somehow got two strikes in during one action point, neither were accurate enough to pierce troll hide. Her next strike was another failure, but the fourth caved in the troll’s skull—remarkably, the first kill of the encounter.

Mental didn’t stop, rushing across to the troll who had come so close to killing Fortune, still screeching. Whatever madness was upon her allowed her to get in another two strikes. One of them cut right through its arm above the elbow, exacting a mighty 22 points of damage.

Twerk’s height allowed Jaelin to shoot over his head, without worrying about hitting the gnome. Two successful strikes left his target on three hit points, and the troll could barely stay on its feet.

Greenblade struck twice with her sword, but neither blow was good enough to harm her mighty opponent. The Bowman, too, ended his turn in failure.

Twerk made short work of finishing off the troll Jaelin had just shot. That made it two trolls dead, three down, and only two still standing.

The Hoffmeister moved against the troll that was causing Greenblade and The Bowman trouble. Using his hammer, he managed to strike it on its bony hand with his final action. 6 damage took it down to 20.

The Bludgeoner followed Georg’s lead. With similar results, he left it on 10.

Pecs joined them, wielding Breaker. He buried the pike deep into the troll’s chest, and at last they had another kill.

Redblade burned like fire as Fortune delivered on his one chance for a strike. A mighty 24 damage was twice the amount he needed, and a fourth troll was dead. Ignoring his injuries, the warrior whooped with delight. Jaelin wondered what he would have been like if they’d finished the trolls before he got his chance.

Still screaming like a crazed woman—which, Jaelin realised, she was—Mental moved on to one of the downed trolls and proceeded to hack at it with her battle-axe.

‘It’s defeated,’ Jaelin said, upset at the sight. ‘It can’t hurt us.’

But Smoke raised a hand of warning. ‘Don’t talk to her when she’s like this. She can’t be reasoned with. All you’ll do is turn her against you.’

The merc spoke as if it was all perfectly reasonable. But those like Jaelin who were witnessing it for the first time stared at Mary Jenkins in wide-eyed horror, as she continued to run amok.