The next morning was an early one, just as the one before, but Thal was already getting accustomed to this. The group ate, packed their things, mounted their horses, re-joined the road and continued heading north. Not long into the day there was some excitement; they found tracks that couldn’t have been more than a day old. According to Namu they were on the tail of about a dozen men that were travelling light. If it was the escapees, this meant they were still travelling together. This was excellent news for the party; all of the escapees meant all of the reward. It was approaching midday before Boss eventually permitted the group a short break to eat dried rations and rest a little. She didn’t want to lose their quarry, not now they were so close, but she didn’t want her party fighting tired. After what seemed like less than the promised thirty minutes, the group set off again. Within an hour the tracks left the path and ran into a small cave. Boss halted the group and made a signal to everyone to be silent and dismount from their horses.

“Okay, if we’re on the right track the prisoners are in this cave, correct?”

Namu nodded, adding; “The footprints all seem to lead in, but none lead out. They’re all at least a day old, maybe older.”

Boss’ frown advertised quite clearly that she was not happy with the information.

“Either they know we’re coming and found a defensible position, or something happened to them in that cave. Either way, it’s a complication.”

She paused for a moment as she weighed their options. “We’re going in. But I want everyone alert.”

The horses were tethered to nearby trees and weapons were drawn. Thal held his wand tightly as he intoned “Chuum Shill.” A mostly-transparent barrier like something between glass and fog formed around his person, clinging to his outline exactly. For a moment Namu openly stared at the Mage’s Armour.

“How do you want to handle lighting?” Hunter asked, looking to the cave mouth through the sights of his repeating crossbow. “If we carry torches and they are hunkering down in there, we’ll be lit up nice and easy for them. Do we go in dark?”

Boss’ face tensed in thought, then she replied quickly; “If they’ve been in that cave for some time, they must have their own torches. We go in dark. Wherever we find them, the cave should be lit enough.”

“I can help” added Thal.

“How?” Boss asked. Her mechanical voice held no anger, but her face could have crushed a boulder if swung hard enough.

“I know a spell. Darkness Vision. If I cast it I’ll be able to see just fine.”

“Can you cast it on other people?”

“No.” Thal replied quickly, leaving out the fact that a better mage probably could.

A better mage could have cast Mage’s Armour on everyone as well.

“Okay, we go in dark like planned. But Thal here casts his spell and goes up front, right beside me. If you see anything, you tell me.”

She hadn’t glanced at him for more than a second before he was nodding emphatically.

“Namu, I want you holding an unlit torch. If anything happens, light it. We’re going in two by two; me and Thal at the front, then Toka and Namu in the middle and Hunter and Sun at the back. Understood?”

“Yes Boss” came the group’s unanimous reply.

Everyone got in position, Thal intoned “Duise Ze”, and they descended into the mouth of the cave.

The cave floor was steep; Thal could sense himself descending rapidly and after only a minute of walking they were beyond the reach of natural light. Thal could see the others struggling in the pitch black, unable to see even their own hands in front of them. Except Boss, that is; even in complete darkness she wore the same hard, unwavering expression. At the front of the group as he was, Thal couldn’t help but feel a little exposed. His ever-rising pulse seemed to promise that a desperate escapee would leap out at him at any second, or that an arrow would come sailing towards him from the grey nothing that lay beyond his magically assisted vision.

After nerve-wracking minutes of uneventful spelunking, Thal spotted something. Ahead, the tunnel narrowed before widening drastically into a cavern. And there was a stain of some kind its entrance. There were several stains all around the bottom of the entrance to the cavern, and there were scratches and cracks along the walls and floor. Thal didn’t want to break the silence, he didn’t want to be the reason they were found out. He also didn’t want to tap Boss on the shoulder without warning, lest she reflexively decapitate him.

“There’s something ahead” he whispered.

Boss’ grip on her axe tightened and she seethed; “What? What is it?”

Thal responded immediately and quietly, “There’s a cavern ahead, and some kind of marking on the ground.”

He could see clearly all the members of the party, still in complete darkness, brandish their weapons even more tightly.

Scared as I am, I can’t imagine doing this blind.

“Everybody move up.” Boss spoke at as close to a whisper as her voice would allow. “Thal; tell us when we’re at the markings.”

The party moved forward, extremely cautiously, and Thal stared straight ahead, afraid that if he averted his gaze from the cavern for even a second something would fly out at him. When they reached the markings, standing at the mouth of the cavern, Thal stopped them.

“Right here” he whispered.

“Namu, what in the hells is it?” Boss hissed.

Focus still on the cavern, Thal saw Namu in the corner of his eye reach down and move his hand around until he found one of the stains. He then brought his finger to his face, smelt it, and uttered one word.

“Blood.”

“I don’t like this.” Boss’ voice was bordering on shaky. “Namu, the torch…” but as she was giving the order and Namu struck the torch alight, a loud crashing sound could be heard above them. The torch lit up the cavern only momentarily, for which the party saw a barrage of rocks and boulders falling down on them from above. Thal saw Boss from his side, dive ahead further into the cave and out of the way of the rocks. He saw Namu, in the corner of his eye, vault back into the tunnel they came from. Then he felt Toka tackle him from behind, taking them both into the chamber and out of the path of the rock fall. The rocks completely blocked the narrow entrance to the chamber. A chamber that Boss, Thal and Toka now found themselves trapped in. With Namu and the others on the other side, they had no torch and no light. Thal was the only one of the three able to see, and what he saw barrelling down on them shocked him to the core.

“TROLL!”

Boss was the first in the creature’s path. She must have heard it, as she raised her shield in its direction. She was unprepared, however, and the troll struck her at full force with its huge arms, knocking her onto her back.

“Bol Lsych”

Knowing of his ally’s blindness, Thal cast a globe of illumination. Now Toka, with his sight restored, set upon the troll with his spear. He lunged and caught the monster in its belly. But the creature simply grabbed the shaft of the spear and snapped it in half, the sharp end still lodged in its gut. Toka was then caught off guard as the troll swung its powerful arms, catching him critically around the head and knocking him to the ground. Toka wasn’t moving and the monster set its sights on Thal, now the only intruder left standing.

Troll. Fire!

He tried to cast a fireball but before he could finish the incantation the beast had already swung at him. He fell backwards out of its reach, landing square on his back. As his concentration faltered the orb of illumination began to falter in turn. The light was dimmer, flickering, as Boss got back to her feet. Her shield was lost, but she came at the troll axe-in-hand. In the flashing glow of the orb, the troll pulled both of its arms up over its head and brought them down. Boss took one horizontal slash at the troll’s chest as its arms came up, then sidestepped and dodged the attack as they came back down. Her blows came strong and fast, but alone she was no match for the creature’s size and power. The beast lunged at her with its shoulder, knocking her back again.

Thal, still on his back, thought to cast another fireball. But to his horror his hands were empty; he must have lost his wand when he fell. Scrambling around the cave floor, he couldn’t see his wand in the failing, flickering light. His fumbling must have alerted the troll, as he heard its monstrous footsteps moving towards him. Having no wand, he stood to face the beast with his dagger drawn. As one of the creature’s huge arms swung towards him, he attempted to slash at the limb. His blade met flesh, but he was no fighter, and the troll hardly acknowledged the scratch he had given it. The troll caught him with a second attack and Thal was knocked back several feet and onto the rocky floor of the cavern. His Mage’s Armour absorbed the brunt of the initial force and winked out. Upon the rocky ground he landed unprotected.

Bruised, he turned over to face the beast, now almost directly on top of him. As the troll brought its enormous arms up again, in that moment Thal remembered his father’s ring. He was still wearing it. As the troll was readying to crush him, he threw his hands together in front of himself and cried “Netum kra-ki.” Instantly a great flame formed in his hands and burst forth. It was magnitudes greater than what he had produced yesterday. The troll – large as it was – became engulfed entirely by a fiery whirlwind, fuelled by Thal’s fear and adrenaline. Its scream was deafening and terrible. The light from the flame coated every corner of the cavern in a brilliant red. In the fiery light Thal saw Boss with eyes bulging – and not in fear – approach the burning creature from behind. His spell ended, and with one mighty downwards swing, she hacked one of the troll’s still-burning arms off. In the dying light he saw the thing’s black eyes, wide like a madman’s, its teeth bared as it screamed once again. Toka reappeared brandishing another spear. As the beast turned to face him, still howling, he coiled and spring every part of himself to thrust the spear into the creature’s mouth. The sound of its skull breaking echoed around the cavern as the tip of Toka’s spear emerged bloody from the back of the troll’s head. The creature fell limp, heavily onto the cave floor.

The three regrouped and stood in silence for a moment, all clutching wounds and breathing heavily, staring at the now-lifeless beast.

“Burn it” Boss uttered.

It was not a suggestion; none of the three knew exactly what healing trolls were capable of. Thal once again spoke the words; “Netum Kra-ki”, almost at a whisper. His reserves near-empty, the flames fell lazily from his hand, splashing on and around the dead troll and igniting its flesh. Shortly after one of the rocks blocking the chamber rolled out of place and Hunter emerged, gulping down air.

“Everybody okay in here?”

Toka just nodded. Thal said nothing. Boss quickly composed herself and went back to issuing orders.

“Troll’s dead. Everybody in here.”

“Troll?” Hunter asked, incredulously.

As the others climbed through the opening, each stared brazenly at the ember-ridden giant’s corpse in the centre of the cavern. The flames filled the cavern with a weak light, and a strong odour.

“Whatever’s left of the prisoners is going to be in this chamber somewhere,” Boss called, “The sooner we find something the sooner we can leave.”

Sun went straight to Toka, Boss and Thal, to see to their injuries. Thal had escaped with only scratches, so he promptly joined Namu and Hunter in searching the chamber, eager to find his wand. Namu quickly located the partially eaten remains of the prisoners. Some proof-of-kill was required to collect their reward from the city guards, so he gathered a couple of recognisable rings and keepsakes and one skull. The second Thal found his wand the party hastily departed the cave.

The troll is a real danger for anyone travelling Eldun at night. People say the beasts live in caves, and they’re right about that. Mostly. They often emerge at night and roam the lands near their dens in search of food. When this happens, a traveller not so foolish as to actually wander into the troll’s cave, but just foolish enough to travel at night, can find themselves in real danger.

The group’s first action should always be to share any source of fire between members, so that all present can have a flame in hand. It’s an old adage that a troll’s weakness is fire, and it’s true. They can heal from almost any mortal wound, and even grow a limb back if given enough time, but a burnt troll is a dead troll.

(Note: I’m assuming at this point that the reader is in a group, and at least two members are carrying torches or some similar light source. If you’re travelling alone, at night, without a light then I’m afraid not even my guidance can save you. Fare thee well into the void, sweet idiot.)

Trolls are famously aggressive and will always make the first move. They also either know about their own weakness to fire, or are instinctively afraid of it. If enough flame can be kept between the troll and the group, it should retreat eventually. The troll will be reluctant to leave without a kill to drag back to its den, so this can take some time. And even after the troll has left, keep the fires alive and remain vigilant. It is far from unheard of for a troll to return for seconds.

Erwan’s Bestiary – Step Erwan

In the forest everything was calm. Despite everything the group had just undertook, nothing outside of the cave had changed. The leaves were still green, birds were still flying, the sun was shining. In the relative calm, Namu was the one to break the silence.

“What happened in there? How did you kill that beast?”

“Thal burned it, I took off an arm and Toka put a spear in its brain.”

She should compose a poem on the matter.

Hunter was next to join in on the questioning; “And how did he do, our new wizard friend?”

“Better than expected.” It was a brief summary, but Thal considered it high praise compared to Boss’ previous review of his work.

Later that evening Thal was on watch with Toka once again. The two sat on a log, quite peacefully, for a while. Thal was reading his book while Toka simply sat. Briefly, Thal glanced sideways at his stoic companion.

Eight hours ago we were fighting for our lives. Now look at us.

“You did well.”

“Excuse me?” Thal had not been expecting his large friend to interrupt the silence.

He’s not the silence-interrupting type.

“In the cave. There is a saying among the southlanders. You pulled your own weight, I think it goes.”

“You’re saying I pulled my weight?” Thal smiled.

“Not literally. It is only a saying, Thal. It means you did your part.”

“… Thanks, Toka.”

“If you hadn’t made your… light ball… and burned the thing as you did, we would still be there, as the escaped ones are. You did well.”

Thal tried to thank Toka for his own heroics. Saving Thal from falling boulders and stabbing a troll in the face so hard his spear came clear out the other end were noteworthy accomplishments in Thal’s book. However the goliath brushed those away as if merely path of the course.

I wonder if all goliaths are so modest.

“Thal, I consider you my ally.”

Thal had taken that for a given, but Toka paused as if anticipating a reaction.

Does that mean something more serious among goliaths? What am I supposed to say?

“I consider you an ally as well, Toka.”

“Good.” Toka’s stone features melted into a warm smile that encompassed all of his enormous face. Thal repressed a relieved sigh.

I guess I said the right thing?

“As allies, I should tell you what will happen next. We will return to Berrus and we will split the bounty evenly, as the party has always done. Then Boss will ask you to join the party permanently, and to come with us when we leave. We will not remain in the city long, so that is all the time you will have to make your choice.”

Thal didn’t know what to say.

Join them? Am I ready for that?

Thal knew how close he had come that day to a violent death.

But I’ve never cast anything as big as that fire… thing I made.

“Do not think you must say yes because we are allies. I will understand if you wish to stay in your city.”

Thal smiled. He must think that’s why I’m so speechless.

Truthfully Thal found it quite charming that the goliath would assume homesickness were giving him pause, and not almost dying horribly, in the dark, at the hands of a troll.

“I… Thank you, Toka.” And with that the two went back to comfortable silence.