Duval Estate.

"What's that awful smell?!" Morty shouted as he quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it firmly to his nose to prevent the rancid smell from imbedding itself further into his sinuses.

He walked towards where his men were, and watched as dozens of Red Caps were being hauled away to be buried or to receive first-aid. He quickened his pace at that, while it was obvious they had won, it was also obvious that something bad had happened.

He arrived at the front, and almost heaved at the state of the battlefield. The once open field, cleared of trees, stumps, and stone that had once filled it, was now completely foreign to him.

Remains of goblins that hadn't yet dissolved into pools were spread every which way. Several Red Caps were being dug out in semi-liquified state as they were in the process of being dissolved their green cousins' corpses into the rapidly growing spawning lake that was forming.

Then there were the piles of still smoking, and in some cases still twitching and moving, piles of troll that smelt like a three month old gym bag set ablaze. Despite the fine cloth covering his nose, the smell still seeped through and he almost retched right then and there as he mistakenly breathed through his mouth and could TASTE the awful rank!

At least the sisters were alright, Morty thought gratefully. A few scratches and scrapes, as did the bugbears, but for the most part the goblins got the worst of it. Which was fine, that was what they were for. With the size of the lake he now had it wouldn't be long before his forces were back to full strength and then some!

Overhead crows and ravens circled at the smell of death before swooping down and began to dig and pick away at the rotting dead that yet to liquify. Swarms of flies began to move in as well, drawn to either the dead or troll stench he wasn't sure.

For Morty it was one thing to think about combat, war, and death. Not like he wasn't unfamiliar with any of it. But seeing a sea of the dead was something that caused him to take a couple stiff gulps of his drink before marching over to the sisters and his scouts.

"What happened?!" Morty asked, his voice slightly muffled from the cloth.

"The trolls showed up is what happened." The scout stated as he nursed a nasty gash across his right arm as well as across his chest.

"Yeah, I could figure that out! But the dozen we saw couldn't have done all this!"

"It wasn't the dozen we saw, or were the same as them." Orga stated as the sisters took their protective guard over Morty as they switched between watching him and the far tree line for signs of the trolls.

"Well where did they come from? And where did they go?" Morty asked.

"That's what WE would like to know too!" Urga snapped as the ogres glared at the bugbears.

"Don't look at us! We would've known if they were in the area ok!" Their leader snapped back.

"Enough! Get bandaged up as quick as you can and follow after them! The sooner we find out where they are and how many there actually are the better prepared we'll be!" Morty ordered.

The bugbears grumbled a bit but returned to helping patch each other up. The healthy or lightly wounded got something to eat, drink, and patched up before heading out to follow after the fleeing trolls while the more seriously wounded stayed behind to rest and recuperate.

Morty sighed and looked at the field that was now a decent sized green lake as goblins already started to crawl out of the genepool before making their way over to the camp. From there they would be given equipment and food. At least his plans to use them as expendable, and easily replaceable, fodder was a success, he thought. Though against trolls that could regenerate almost instantly or at least within a few seconds was putting a damper on that thought.

"What do we do with that?" Morty asked as he pointed his drink towards the pool. While it was useful now to replace his troops, the idea was to use that land for food and cash crops when spring came back around. Bit hard to do when there was a giant spawning pool smack dab in the middle!

"Might I suggest keeping it around, Master?" Morty turned to the voice of his noble goblin head butler. Behind him were the heads of the nobles and several of their personal guards close behind.

While the smell didn't seem to faze the goblin, or at least he had a better time masking it, the nobles weren't as successful as several guards, and even a couple of the nobles themselves, vomited at the sight and smell.

"For now at least. But what about when we need the land?" Morty asked as he gestured about.

"That won't be for months yet. In the meantime, it is both a source of new soldiers as well as a obstacle against further assaults. Once the trolls are dealt with, we will build a bridge to aid in crossing to the other side. When spring comes around then we will see about filling in the spawning pool to make room for agriculture." The noble goblin declared with certainty.

Morty couldn't argue.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Alright then. But get started on a simple footbridge. Just big enough for us to go across."

The noble goblin bowed and went about ordering dragues and others to get to work on the bridge. The nobles themselves stepped forwards as Morty found himself available.

"We heard that you might be in need of our assistance."

"Oh I don't NEED it, but surely the thought of trolls breaking through my forces and getting into the mansion is something that would concern you wouldn't it?" Morty said.

The nobles gulped at the thought of rotted teeth chomping down on their fattening flesh.

"Of course! Which is why we are ready to lend you 2/3rd of our personal guards to assist in your efforts against the trolls!"

"I appreciate your sacrifice, Lords. Be sure that I will see to it that they are only deployed when necessary!" Morty lied.

The nobles looked a little more thankful at that. After all, until the fair, where they could get the pick of the litter for proficiently martial contestants to fill their ranks, this was all they had.

Who knows though, Morty thought. Maybe they'll prove to actually be of use in something other than dyeing in place of one of his soldiers! But that was a plan for later. Right now he needed to organize a proper defense for when they return. He turned to the sisters as the nobles left a portion of their men behind to be deployed as he saw fit.

"Do either of you have a plan in mind?"

"Trolls are weak against fire, Master." Orga stated.

"Well everything is weak against fire if you use enough of it. But that doesn't alleviate the problem in that we don't exactly have flamethrowers just laying around."

Urga walked over and lifted a bucket filled with oil.

"We use this to throw on them and then set them aflame."

"Or as traps." Orga suggested.

Morty looked at the oil then at the field/lake/spawning pool. A particularly wicked though began to form and he waved over the noble goblin as he left the line of dragues and Red Caps to the construction of the bridge.

"Yes, Master?"

"Do any of the goblins know anything about pumps?"

The noble goblin scratched a finely clawed finger against his chin in consideration for a moment.

"A few. What for, Master?"

"Because we're gonna build a flamethrower. A big one!" Morty declared and had a few Red Caps begin to bring several buckets of oil to the sides of the spawning lake.

Morty followed the noble goblin back to the workshop where the goblins had dismantled the vehicles from the former humans/bugbears. They had a good few barrels worth of oil, grease, and guzzoline. But the more the better, Morty thought.

"Road trip!" Morty declared as the four of them hopped into his Cadillac and floored it into town. He had a couple ideas of where to get some more black gold.

-----

Morty is still an asshole, Jake thought as he ran through the forest. Sure he wasn't slaving away in the mine for him anymore, yet he still found a way to rile them up. Not like it was hard to do, especially now that they weren't human and seemed to have a hair-pin trigger.

He and a few of the others stopped when they neared the stink cloud that told them the trolls weren't far now. While he hated being blamed for this fuck-up. It wasn't entirely untrue. Morty gave them a job and was paying pretty well, better than they were at the mine anyhow. On top of that the work wasn't even that bad! With their new bodies they could sprint across hills and forests with little issue!

So the idea that these slow moving creatures that stunk to high heaven somehow took them by surprise was a blow to their pride. On top of that his glorious trophy managed to wander off and get itself cooked! Jerry never did that, he thought as he recalled the poor man whose head still sat back in the cave with Bill.

Poor Bill, he thought as the bugbears moved forwards as the stink lessened enough to tell that the trolls had moved far enough ahead that they wouldn't risk being spotted.

Some of them hadn't fully abandoned Bill back in his cave. Sure they all had moved on, but a few of them would hike up to check on him. Poor guy was more beast than man right now and they had to fight just to get away from him! The closest they dared to go now was several miles from the cave at night where they would listen to him wailing and singing Solidarity Forever!

But he made his bed, and so to did they, Jake thought as they stopped once again to wait for the trolls to moved far enough away. Bill might have lead them to Morty on that fateful night, but it was they that followed, and it was just as much their fault as it was Morty they were in their current state.

Not like it didn't have its perks. He was so strong now that he could carry both his sons on his arms with ease for hours! They've tested it too! Him and his wife even joked about who he would be this year, Santa or the Grinch!

A smile formed on his face for a moment before it fell again. Not like the first few weeks he came back home wasn't without its growing pains either. His sons, even his own wife, thought he was a monster! He, and a few others, had to rent rooms at the motel in town for the first few nights until they were able to convince their loved ones that they were who they said they were.

Some were still at the motel, Jake thought as they moved on once again. Him and a few others were fortunate enough that they were able to return home and more-or-less resume their lives, looking like the Grinch's older gym-rat brother be damned. The couple women that were changed actually didn't have too big a problem coming back home! Turns out some people dig big green muscly women!

A mixed situation to be sure, and no clear villain to their story either. Was it Morty for how he treated them at the Mine? Was it Bill for leading them to the mansion that night? Was it them for following along? Who could say, but for the time being Jake was content. Now if they could only make up for this fustercluck they found themselves in before he ended up out ANOTHER job!

They neared the far end of the forest where the terrain got more and more mountainous as the land rose up into the Appalachians and the trees got a little more sparse. What they saw was more trolls. ALOT more!

The smell alone was enough to force some of them to back away from the hundreds gathering of the creatures. The few that had stronger constitutions stayed close to see anything important.

The trolls kept to themselves it would seem and formed groups around each breed. Swamp trolls formed a cluster around a muddy spring near the edge of the forest. The forest trolls formed huts and hovels in tree clusters. The stone trolls huddled around cracks and crevices higher up on the mountain, where a massive cave sat dark and foreboding.

The bugbears could hear something lurking inside the cave, whatever it was. It. Was. Big! It's snoring rumbled the earth from where the cave was to where even the bugbears hid.

They watched as a forest troll shuffled fearfully up to the cave entrance, they had to strain their ears to hear over the snoring and ruckus the trolls made.

"Cheef! Gobins! Dey fyt!"

The creature that lurked within growled.

"Away-ed trollen! Let-ed us sleepen!"

The voice sounded strange to the bugbears. It sounded as if two were speaking within the cave, yet the troll used 'chief' not 'chiefs'. The troll, while fearful, continued in making its case in its rough speech.

"Dey hab fyre! It berns us! Keel-ed us!"

A surprise yelp came from the bugbears, only masked by the trolls shouting in surprise and fear themselves, as a large meaty hand easily the size of a semi swung out and sent the troll sailing through the air into the unknown.

"Stoop-ed trollen! Beat-ed by gobins! Leaf-ed us be-ed un sleepen!"

The trolls chatted fearfully for a long moment before one of the swamp trolls shuffled forwards.

"Dey hab *croak* ogrs, Cheef!"

"Bah! Away-ed! Gobins un ogrs! Why-ed dey troobelen us?!" The voice(s) bickered and it looked like this troll would sail away like the other before it croak out something interesting to them.

"Ah hooman lead-ed dem!"

The ground shook as the creature(s) within the cave moved.

"Hooman? Sweet-meaten?"

The swamp troll croaked and nodded and gulped and shuffled back as the creature emerged from the cave and towered over the trolls. They were sorta right, the bugbears thought. It was two voices, but stuck together on one body.

The two-headed creature moved awkwardly as the left side of the creature was smaller than the right. The right side was more muscled while the left was leaner, even the heads looked different. The left was more annoyed and sleepy looking while the right snarled and looked down on the trolls with obvious contempt.

"Ware-ed-

-Sweet-meaten?"

The trolls pointed towards the mansion, and inadvertently where the bugbears were hiding and watching. The creature(s) licked their lips, revealing stained yellow and rotted black teeth as both heads matched one another in mood at the thought of acquiring 'sweet-meat'.

As the two-headed creature began to lumber forward at a leisurely, if slightly limped, pace, as well as stepping on the swamp troll with a squelch and a croak. The bugbears took that as a sign to get moving back towards the mansion. Well, at least they knew where they came from, Jake thought as they sprinted back to the mansion with due haste afforded to them by their new biology. Yet something else to be thankful for, he thought.

But now came the part of how they'll deal with whatever the hell that was. The bugbears sure hoped Morty had a plan.