Rogar moves swiftly, calling up a wave of earth and sending it at the closest troll.
Wulfram detonates a fireball in the midst of the trolls, but two of the three manage to avoid the worst of it, only emerging slightly singed.
Rogar blasts the closest troll with a huge mass of earth, shoving up against the wall of the fort. Stones crack from the force of the impact.
Karla casts a spell, greatly enhancing everybody's speed.
The trolls roar as they rush forward to attack. Wulfram stabs at the least wounded troll as it moves to make room for the others, managing to pierce its side with his spear. Two trolls snap at Wulfram while the third tries to bite Eustoma. None of them manage to hit!
Wulfram stabbed furiously at the troll in front of him. He stood his ground to give Eustoma a chance to move back behind him.
Rogar taps Eustoma on the shoulder, "Look ou' there, lass." and with a flick of his wrist, directs a wave of rubble at the troll standing in front of them, blasting into it and sending it reeling.
Eustoma fires two arrows into the most wounded troll's belly. It groans and falls to the ground with a thud! She quickly sends a third arrow into Wulfram's target.
Wulfram stabs furiously at the troll in front of him, scoring two good hits that leaves the troll bloodied and enraged!
Rogar hurls a mass of stone that impacts directly into the other troll's skull! Bone cracks, and the troll goes stumbling back, barely standing!
Karla coats both trolls with glitterdust. The one Rogar hit resists the spell, but the other is blinded!
All three trolls are slowly regenerating, but the fallen on remains unconscious. Rogar's foe rushes back in to try to bite the dwarf while the other swings blindly at Wulfram! None of them hit!
Wulram continued to attack the troll in front of him, trying to finish it off. "This fort belongs to the Chernasardo Rangers! You're not welcome here!
Rogar blasts the closest conscious troll, hoping to take it down.
Eustoma again creates a ball of fire in her hands. She fires at the one on the ground unconscious. "Let's keep that one down shall we."
Eustoma scorches the fallen troll, making sure it stays down.
Wulfram downs the blind troll with two thrusts of his spear.
Rogar pummels the remaining troll, ssending it sprawling as well!
With all three unconscious, it's a simple matter for Eustoma to use the rest of her fireballs to incinerate them and stop them from regenerating.
When you have a chance to look around, you see a massive hole in the western wall of the fort. Chimes have been strung there, made from the bones and skulls of both humans and hobgoblins.
Charcoal drawings on the wall depict several maps of the area, including Fort Nunder and Fort Trevalay. Scribbled thoughts in Giant seem to be preliminary plans for attack on the latter fort. All the plans so far depict storming across the northern or southern bridge, ignoring the western bridge.
Eustoma studies the magic rod. Then she looks at the maps. "This is bad, very bad. Why are the trolls trying to take the forts? Who put them up to it?"
Wulfram studied the maps. He couldn't read the notes, but he had an idea of what was depicted.
"It looks like we need to finish our work here at Fort Nunder quickly, and make haste to Fort Trevalay," he said. "With luck, we might arrive before this attack gets underway.
"Maybe the dragon isn't allied with the Ironfang Legion, but is a power in it's own right? Maybe the trolls are working for it."
Wulfram grinned. "That spell you cast to make us strike more quickly certainly helped, and a blind troll is an easy target!
"Shall we head up the staircase and have a look up there?"
The enchantment on the rod is powerful. Eustoma is unable to identify it right now.
The stairs lead up to a series of barracks. Wooden interior walls and furniture have been smashed, leaving only cave-like stone rooms and floors lined with straw, splinters, and stinking feces.
Though the trolls have smashed most of the valuables, a few odds and ends have survived, including a set of masterwork sewing tools, a leatherbound book on Chelish history (worth 150 gp), several bolts of fine cloth (worth 300 gp altogether), and a mithral dagger. There's also two jars with different types of magical salves, two potions of delay poison, and a scroll of baleful polymorph.
As you come around the corner to the northeastern barracks, you see the room has been transformed into a comfortable den, straw and expensive bedding heaped together into a nest and the walls lined with pieces of shattered darkwood furniture. An elven skull lies in the corner, painted with strange symbols.
A female troll is in here, sporting fine leather gloves and a bandolier of wands. She brandishes one and roars at you in Giant. Karla can offer whispered translations.
"You smell of fire and death! Have you killed my soldiers? I'll make you regret ever coming here. I am Nashgra, the powerful wizard! I have devoured many elves to gain their magic! I have slain humans and hobgoblins alike! Not even the great Ibzairiak will be able to withstand my fury!"
Wulfram examined the rod, in case he could learn anything about it.
When they met Nashgra, he wondered what information they might be able to learn from the boastful troll. "Greetings Nahgra, I am Wulfram," he said, hoping that Karla could translate. "Do you truly have the power to challenge Ibzairiak?" He didn't recognize the name, and hoped to learn something from her response.
"Yes! The sniveling wyrm is no match for my mystical might! He will pay for killing my father--it was my right to kill him when the time came! He and Parthuk and all the others in their stupid Legion will burn!"
"You doubt my power?" Nashgra shouts angrily. "I have all the magic I need right here." She pats the wands on her bandolier. "Acid to melt his scales. Fire to burn his wings. I'll make my teeth and claws magical and rend him limb from limb! I'll drop a cloud of stink-gas and make him puke his guts out! If Jang and her cat try to get in the way, I'll shrink the kitty and punt it across the room!"
The troll laughs as she continues to rant. "I know all their tricks, see? I know that they rigged the west bridge to collapse. I know about the thief-roasting trap atop the tower where Ibzairik makes his lair. Nothing will stand in the way of my revenge!"
"We share your hatred for the Ironfang Legion, Nashgra," Wulfram declared. "We have been fighting them, and killing them, since they invaded these lands. They have committed many crimes, and must be destroyed!"
"Yes, I will destroy them all--right after I get done eating you!" Nashgra says with a toothy grin. "I will gain your power and be unstoppable!"
Eustoma looks amazed as the Troll actually takes the time to boast. Trolls aren't very bright are they? she murmers almost to herself.
Nashgra snarls as the glitterdust coats her, but she resists being blinded.
Nik'o runs in and bites the troll, managing to drag the big giant to the ground!
Undeterred, Nashgra gets back to her feet, the bite wound already starting to regenerate. "Ah, you will be a tasty treat indeed!" she says to Karla. She points her wand and shakes it, firing an acid arrow that burns into the sorceress's gut!
Nashgra growls back at Nik'o, but continues to ignore the cat for now.
"Foolish Troll!", Wulfram said, shaking his head. "Where you could have made allies, you made enemies." As battle had proved necessary, he stepped forward and thrust his spear at the brute.
Eutsoma fires two arrows at the troll.
"I'll get to the fire when she's down."
Sia rushes up and bites at the troll.
Rogar assembles a massive spear made of stone from the dust in the room, hurling it at the troll.
Rogar hurls a stone spear at Nashgra, but the troll proves surprisingly nimble, narrowly dodging the blast!
Wulfram stabs at the troll, but she sidesteps his attack as well.
Eustoma fares better, scoring a critical hit with her first shot, though her second bounces off the troll's warty hide. As Sia rushes in, the troll swipes at the wolf. Sia ducks under the attack and sinks her fangs into the troll's leg.
Karla blasts Nashgra with a magic missile, while Nik'o claws and bites. The troll howls in pain as the cat viciously tears flesh from her body and drags her to the ground again!
Very angry now, Nashgra remains prone as she tries to bite and claw Nik'o. But Karla's companion's magically enhanced defenses prove superior!
The acid in Karla's gut burns her some more before the spell expires.
Rogar pulls a stone out of the ground, sending the block flying at the troll. "Ah thins she might nah be so interested in allying wi' us!"
Realizing that he was blocking Eustoma's line of fire, Wulfram dropped his spear and tried to get around Sia to move beside the fallen troll, drawing his mace as he moved. He swung his weapon at his prone opponent.
Eustoma fires two more arrows at the prone troll. "We're going to try to make friends with her?
Sia bites at the troll again, but she misses.
Rogar tries to smash the troll again, but between her laying prone and the animal companions in the way, his blast misses again.
Wulfram moves up and swings his mace, but fails to hit Nashgra. Eustoma's arrows and Sia's bite miss their mark as well!
Nik'o continues to be a combat machine, tearing at the troll with her teeth and claws. Karla blasts Nasghra with a magic missile again.
The troll continues to try to rip the lynx apart, but again she fails to land any solid hits!
"Is this really a good idea, Nashgra?", Wulfram asked, as he swung his weapon down again and again.
Rogar angles for a better shot at the troll, trying to strike her from behind the animals, and eventually just tries to lift a massive rock above her and drop it.
Sia steps to the right, and bites again. Her shifting causes her to miss.
Eustoma fires two shots again.
Rogar manages a good hit this time, smashing Nashgra with a massive rock. Wulfram bashes her with his mace, and Eustoma fires two accurate shots into her chest. The troll groans and lies still, though her wounds are still slowly regenerating...
"OK, Karla, what is it that you have in mind?", Wulfram asked. He held off burning the troll with fire, for now.
With Nashgra defeated, you are able to search the room. Partially buried under rubble and destroyed furniture, you discover a locked stone door. Cirieo told you about this door--it leads into the vault built into the Nunder Scarp. Fortunately, you are able to find the key inside a desk that is one of the few pieces of furniture still intact.
Beyond the door, a short east-west corridor leads to a larger one that runs north and south. Two iron plaques are mounted into the stone of the east wall, each three feet above the flagstone floor. The northern and southern halls both curve to the east.
The southern plaque reads, "A whirlwind of blows assures victory. —Dargrit Foehewer," while the northern plaque reads "Strike safely, strike quietly. —Ekaterin Fletcher."
Wulfram healed Karla's acid burns.
Then he examined the wands and the gloves.
When they reached the plaques, he considered for a moment before speaking: "Maybe the southern route favors stealth, while the northern one favors martial prowess."