The courtyard outside the tower was filled with rowdy trolls – without the troll king’s influence, they had reverted back to their normal behavior, which is to say they were trying to eat each other. The courtyard was a nightmare of trolls fighting and biting, punching and munching, kicking and licking. Troll limbs – only some of which were still attached to their owners – were flying through the air like a tempest of bad taste.

“How do we get past that?” Rotcel ‘Loc said, peering out of the tower’s door.

A troll arm slammed into the wall beside her, and she hissed in surprise.

“Run?” Nanoc suggested.

Rotcel sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that. Okay, on three. One, two—”

Nanoc sprinted off, kicking trolls as he ran past them. Rotcel sighed, then grabbed Dren by the robe and pulled the scholar through the mayhem and out of the castle. It wasn’t so hard, in the end: the trolls were more interested in each other than the adventurers. Within a few minutes, the trio of friends had escaped the castle and stood, panting, outside the walls.

“Right then,” Nanoc said brightly. “That was fun, but it’s probably time to leave. I could use a healing potion or ten.”

“And a bath,” Rotcel ‘Loc muttered.

“And a pie,” Nanoc added. “Let’s go back and see the king, he’ll be so pleased that we’ve returned… and he owes us a little something, too.”

They hadn’t gone very far when Dren froze in his place.

“Wait,” the elf called out.

He turned back and stared at the troll fortress and frowned deeply. As a devoted follower of the god of truth, the troll farm offended Dren in a place deep within his soul. Knowledge was a gentle god whose approach to wayward mortals was to lecture rather than smite, but even he had limits, and the troll farm could not be left to stand as it was. Yet Dren had always lived by the motto ‘read and let live,’ and his spirit was one of collation rather than destruction.

So it was just lucky for him that he wasn’t traveling alone.

“Nanoc,” Dren said.

“Yes?”

“Do you know, the walls of this fortress are built of copperbark timber, which is most flammable.”

“The fortress is flammable?” Nanoc asked with sudden interest.

“Extremely. The troll king was very unwise. Do you think, perhaps, you could do me a favor and use your pet fire elemental to burn this fortress down? Just a little?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Just a little?”

“Yes, if you could.”

“He’ll probably end up burning the whole forest down while we’re still in it,” Rotcel ‘Loc warned. “You know how his elemental can be. We defeated the troll king, Dren, and the trolls will end up pulling the fortress down themselves. Let’s just leave it.”

Dren shook his head. “Do you know, its very existence cuts my heart. I cannot leave, knowing what still lies beyond those fortress walls.”

“I’ll do it,” Nanoc said.

“Please listen to me before saying no,” Dren explained passionately. “The trolls are evil. They intentionally abused the truth for their own selfish ends, and they’re destroying this kingdom and its people. It cannot be allowed.”

“I said ‘okay,’” Nanoc replied. “I’m happy to do it.”

“Do you know,” Dren continued, his emotion getting the better of him, “Evil wins when good elves do nothing, gnome, and I will not be so weak as to—”

“Dren!”

“What?”

“I’ll do it. It will be fun.”

“I think most of the trolls have already run away,” Rotcel ‘Loc pointed out.

“Do you know, it’s the principle of the thing. So can you…”

Nanoc summoned his fire elemental onto the ground by his feet. The little elemental danced eagerly up and down until he pointed it at the fortress.

“Burn the fortress down,” he said to it. “But just the fortress, you hear me? And then come straight back. Don’t go playing in the forest or anything. Right?”

The little elemental nodded insincerely, smiling and chuckling to itself in the way all fires do.

“Come right back, or there won’t be any marshmallows for dessert,” Nanoc warned it.

The elemental shrank down a little, sad at the very thought of such a punishment. It raced off, eager to burn something down.

They watched it climb the fortress walls. A moment later, flames erupted over the walls and angry, panicked shouts were heard. The last few trolls still in the fortress flung themselves over the walls and raced off into the forest. One ran right past Dren, who knocked it unconscious with a big book of spells. Thunk.

It was not long before the whole fortress was a torch, and all the lies that had been taught within its walls were burnt to ashes which were carried into the sky by the fire and allowed to fall elsewhere in the world.

“That elemental is going to get you into trouble one day,” Rotcel ‘Loc said.

“That thing? Nah, my little flame is a good little flame.”

Dren shot his friend a disapproving look. He did not like lies, even after asking for a favor.

“It’s good… most of the time?” Nanoc tried.

The elven scholar made an unhappy grumble.

“Some of the time, anyway,” Nanoc corrected himself. “Look, it’s burning the fortress down, which is what you wanted.”

It was true. Justice – albeit the type that leaves a smoking crater – had been served. The kingdom was saved.

“Do you know, we’ve done it,” Dren said triumphantly. “The king will be so pleased. I bet he’ll want to reward us. You can have his crown, Rotcel! He might even have another truly fascinating book for my collection.”

“We’ll see,” Rotcel ‘Loc said glumly.

“What do you mean by that?” Nanoc asked. “Surely the king will be true to his word?”

Rotcel ‘Loc sighed. “Rich people like to stay rich, gnome, and they don’t do that by sharing their money. We should have gotten a contract.”

“Well, we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.”

“Wait,” Nanoc said, turning back to the burning fortress. “Are we forgetting something?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Rotcel ‘Loc said. “I definitely stole everything of value I could find.”

“I mean… no, it’s okay. I just feel like there was something important we were supposed to do.”

“We did,” Dren said, with some satisfaction. “Look, the trolls are defeated and their fortress is in flames! Who would have thought that three people could achieve such greatness!”

“Three?” Rotcel ‘Loc said, then frowned. “Captain Toirtap definitely got out of the fortress before you burned it down, right? Right?”