After defeating the Medusa the crew moved quickly past the Trollclaws hoping to avoid any encounters with said Trolls. Turinn and Karn continued to take delight in comparing their respective Fire Ball Spells, randomly hurling balls of fire and setting alight areas of brush and generally creating a racket at every opportunity. I wasn’t too worried as generally, Trolls avoid fire at all costs.
The weather had also improved with the sun shining and not a drop of rain to dampen spirits, things were looking grand when Shra our trusty Ranger and ‘finder of the path’ came to a halt and pointed ahead to a strange glowing blue orb that was floating off to the side of the road. It immediately reminded me of the reason we began this journey, the search for just such an orb. “What do you reckon, I think we should follow it” I said, Shra seemed a little doubtful but he cautiously headed off toward it.
As he approached the orb floated slowly away, keeping just out of reach. By now the rest of the crew had spotted it, it was fairly obviously heading for a small patch of forest about half a mile off the road but no matter how fast we pursued it remained just out of reach.
We entered the forest in pursuit of the orb, which deftly weaved its way among the trees. We had only gotten a short way when everyone heard a laugh and then in a guttural language someone said “See I told you it always works, everyone follows the orb, Time for Dinner” I recognised the language straight away. “TROLLS” I shouted just as three of the brutes burst forth directly in front of us.
Two were typical trolls, tall, green, violent and smelling really bad, but the middle one was noticeably larger and he was wearing an oversized pointed hat and holding what looked like some kind of staff. A wizard Troll ? I know many songs about trolls and I have read more than a few books that mention them but I have never heard of a Troll using magic of any sort.
Turinn and Karn each tried to outdo the other with the speed they got their Fire Balls off and with a Mighty Roar and a flash of fire, combat was joined. Phoenix dropped his helm and Charged Foward. As he neared the Trolls he let out a mighty battle cry and two skeletal, ghostly, flightless wings sprouted from his back as a wave of dark energy that I could clearly see burst out from him. Very impressive if somewhat unsettling. It struck the Trolls with an audible crump, one of the brutes was visibly shaken, even from a distance I could see the look of confusion on its face. The other didn’t really seem to understand the danger it was in and kept blundering forward. The Wizard Troll if that’s what it was seemed to be trying to cast a spell but its concentration was interrupted when Shra hit it with two arrows in quick succession. I glanced over at Shades who seemed to be just as stunned as the Trolls by Phoenix’s sudden transformation.
Two more fireballs struck in quick succession and then Shades shaking off the shock of seeing Phoenix engaged the other Troll with his mace, while <Aidan> snuck around its flank and got in some telling blows with his short sword. The Wizard Troll still hadn’t managed to actually cast a spell when Gondillin hit it with some kind of magic effect that caused it to physically stumble backwards momentarily stunned. My Lute was singing out a steady rhythm to bolster the courage of the crew but it hardly seemed necessary. The Trolls were totally outmatched. With another loud battle cry Phoenix made a mighty swing and decapitated his foe just as its companion succumbed to a series of blows from Shades mace and <Aidans> swords.
The Motley Crew 